Chapter 1 A Shadow

A dense shadow appeared on the desolate horizon, as if a continuous jungle of thorns had suddenly sprung up from the barren wasteland. The shadow swayed, surging towards the Mirror Tower like a tide, and gradually countless twisted and ferocious monsters could be seen within it. They were like the chaotic creatures of the real world, with thick, exaggerated bodies, as if many creatures had been haphazardly pieced together in a bizarre way, filled with an aura of madness and distortion from head to toe—these monsters jumped, shoved, and rushed wildly across the earth, and in the blink of an eye, they were upon them!

Everyone instantly panicked. Even Gordon, the King of Mountains, and his jailer brethren were taken aback when they saw the monsters appearing out of nowhere on the horizon. Beside Hao Ren, Vivian instantly spread a pair of bat wings and flew into the air. Storms of ice and lightning rapidly formed on either side of her body, while Izhaks’ eyes, nostrils, and mouth spewed sparks. The power of demonic fel energy steamed from beneath his skin. Lily jumped up and down in the group, shouting loudly, "Landlord, landlord! Monster spawn! Monster spawn!"

Hao Ren ignored Lily's antics and, with some vague premonition, turned to look towards the Mirror Tower.

Sure enough, another tide was surging from that direction.

It was a human army, or at least it appeared to be mostly human. In the rolling dust, countless soldiers and generals with blurred faces charged forward on horseback. They wore tattered armor, and the swords and spears in their hands were covered in rust. Each of them was covered in scars, scars that made their bodies as broken as their armor. Their faces were pale, their limbs atrophied, and the skin on their heads was stretched as taut as a piece of dried parchment over the bones beneath. At first glance, they looked terrifyingly like an army of the undead!

Yet this "undead army" still charged forward without hesitation. The broken equipment and the wounds all over their bodies did not affect their pace or momentum. In the blink of an eye, the army had crossed the dust-filled battlefield and crashed violently into the chaotic legion from the horizon.

A silent collision.

The two legions collided on the plain, fighting fiercely. Swords and spears cut into limbs, claws and fangs tore through armor. Every second, countless warriors and monsters were torn to shreds and fell into the mud. Monsters roared towards the sky, and human generals roared in fury – yet everything was silent.

Like an old silent movie, the melee around them was completely silent. When countless swords flashed, only dust that had perhaps settled centuries ago was stirred up. After the initial shock passed, Hao Ren calmly saw a knight galloping through his body and realized that it was all just an illusion.

The others also gradually calmed down from their panic and curiously watched the battle. Vivian remained vigilant, floating in the air with an electric field around her—although the clash of the two armies was just an illusion, in this world labeled "Nightmare," anything related to illusions could not be ignored, and no one dared to be sure that a greater danger was not hidden within the illusion. Izhaks also did not withdraw his power, and he even put Elizabeth on his shoulder. The little demon held a blazing fel fireball high with both hands, her face full of tension, as if she would throw the fireball out if there was even the slightest abnormality in the illusion.

Even Lily did not relax her vigilance. She had arranged her barbarians on the flanks of the team, while she stared with golden eyes, searching for any possible danger in the illusion. Her pointed beast ears twitched slightly in the air, revealing her inner unease.

The battle between the two phantom legions gradually came to an end. It seemed to be an exceptionally tragic final battle for both sides. Almost all available forces were exhausted in the fighting. The monsters did not understand fear or pain, so they would naturally not retreat. But the humans also erupted with the same power by virtue of their beliefs. Until the last flag in the ranks fell, not a single soldier turned to run away!

The fighting gradually stopped. Finally, not a single soldier stood on the battlefield. Monsters and humans alike were reduced to shattered remains on the wasteland. With a scattering of starlight, all the phantoms gradually dissipated into the air.

Gordon, the King of Mountains, watched all the phantoms disappear, a lost expression on his face. Then, suddenly, his gaze narrowed, staring intently at the place where the last starlight had vanished.

Hao Ren and Vivian also noticed an additional presence there at the same time.

"This was the last battle that took place before the Tower of Reflected Images," an old, calm voice came from the flickering light, "but it is not their last battle. On the eternal battlefield, nothing will stop, until heroes turn into withered bones, until withered bones turn into monsters, until monsters turn into yellow earth, everything will continue to reincarnate..."

An old man stood before Gordon. He was barefoot, wearing a heavy robe of indistinguishable color, and held a crude cane made of curved thorn wood in his hand. The old man was extremely thin, almost skin and bones, but his withered limbs did not shake in the slightest. He stood there like a hard, craggy thorn, his messy white hair fluttering in the wind. There were two points of light in his sunken eye sockets. The gaze formed by these two points of light was cast straight at Gordon, the mountain-like King of Mountains, the powerful ancient jailer.

Ordinary people would tremble and shiver at the sight of a jailer, but this frail old man, who seemed to have no power and whose presence did not radiate any extraordinary energy, stared at the King of Mountains, his gaze firm and unwavering. There was even scrutiny in that gaze.

"Who are you?" Gordon had a strange and inexplicable feeling about this frail human old man, which made him unable to resist asking.

Hao Ren was also curiously sizing up the mysterious old man - he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he could never form any definite memory of the old man's face, as if every time he saw the latter's face, he would have a completely different impression. This strange feeling left him puzzled.

Faced with Gordon's question and the curious gazes of the others, the mysterious old man did not respond. He just turned around and walked into the distance: "Keep going, keep going, endlessly, endlessly..."

The jailers exchanged inexplicable glances, and then Gordon seemed to suddenly remember something: "That's the direction of the Scorched Earth Plains!"

Hao Ren instantly remembered the fragmented image he had seen in the monitoring point record earlier. The soldier who left the record seemed to have mentioned this place name.

He raised his head and shouted to Gordon, "We'll catch up with him!"

The mysterious old man's walking speed seemed extremely slow, but in reality, it was unbelievably fast. In just a few seconds, he was already hundreds of meters away!

Fortunately, everyone who had entered the Abyss of Oblivion this time was extraordinary. The worst were the powerful knights and high priests ranked at the top of the Holy Church. No one would lose sight of their target on the plains. After receiving the order, they immediately went to chase the mysterious old man.

But just as they were about to catch up with him, the mysterious old man suddenly disappeared.

After a brief moment of surprise, Hao Ren made a decision: keep moving forward.

Since the last direction the old man had been heading before he disappeared was towards the Scorched Earth Plains, the team would go to the Scorched Earth Plains to find clues!

As they got closer and closer to their destination, Hao Ren smelled a scent of decay and death in the air.

The clouds grew thicker, and the pollution and corruption of the earth became more and more terrible. As they approached the place called the "Scorched Earth Plains," or rather, as they moved further and further away from the radiation range of the Mirror Tower, the surrounding chaotic power was growing stronger and stronger. Gradually, the warriors even observed strange organisms formed from shadows and flesh protruding from the cracks in the ground. They looked like thorns, but they twisted and swayed like living things, disgusting to the point of nausea. And high in the sky, in the twilight like dusk, huge shadows could be vaguely seen floating, with countless tentacle-like things appearing and disappearing behind the gaps in the clouds - they were still projections of Lockmarton, but here, being able to see the projections was enough to prove that Lockmarton's power was quite close!

Going to the Scorched Earth Plains seemed to be a wise decision.

The decaying chaotic power grew thicker and thicker, and the light of order unconsciously released from Lily and the others also became stronger, but this still could not prevent the chaotic power outside the range of order from seriously interfering with everyone's senses. Just as Gordon indicated that the Scorched Earth Plains were close at hand, Hao Ren suddenly sensed a large number of energy reactions!

Almost at the same time, the Data Terminal was also reporting: "Life signals detected ahead, quantity...extremely large."

"Everyone be alert!" Kalasu raised his staff. "Level one alert!"

Under the precise guidance provided by the Data Terminal, the team bypassed routes that might expose them, advancing along a series of ridges that rose like fangs, and finally stopped on a rocky slope.

There was no more cover to provide concealment beyond this point, and even on the slope, it was enough to observe the situation ahead.

Gordon and the jailers crouched down. Although they were so huge, they could move without making a sound when acting in stealth, and completely concealed their aura and presence. Even if you stood in front of them and looked straight ahead, you would subconsciously ignore these rock giants. Hao Ren went around Gordon and poked his head out from behind a boulder.

He saw a camp.

Or rather, a haphazardly pieced together ruin made of stones, steel, and rotten wood.

In that ruin-like camp, countless ghost-like soldiers were active.

But these were far from the most surprising part. What was truly surprising was further beyond the camp, on a barren, rocky plain still smoldering with smoke, there stood a ruined city.

The city had towering walls and many towers, and although it was majestic, it was covered in scars. Semi-collapsed buildings and scorched ruins were visible everywhere. The entire city was scattered across the land in a fragmented state, as if the entire group of buildings had been thrown into the air and then fallen down, shattering into pieces.

From a distance, the city could be vaguely divided into three concentric circles. The outermost circle was made up of ordinary residential areas. In the middle circle, many tall, church-like buildings could be seen. But in the innermost circle, there was only a large area of burnt ruins, and a few scattered, magnificent towers and palaces.

"Lord..." Kalasu exclaimed in a lost voice, "Is that the City of God's Grace?"