Chapter 1 A Strange Magic

Under An's precise control, a super-large magic formula gradually took shape in the air. Complex lines and runes shuttled through the air, forming a complex three-dimensional array in mid-air more than two meters above the ground. As energy nodes were lit up one by one, the three-dimensional array gradually materialized and formed a strange structure that was large at the top and small at the bottom.

Hao Ren was not familiar with the magic arrays of the Colo world, so he didn't see anything profound in this array. However, the surrounding Sanctuary monks widened their eyes one by one, as if they were watching some unheard-of spectacle. Seeing this, Hao Ren couldn't help but step forward, coming to Kalaxius's side: "Hey, uncle."

Kalaxius had been focusing all his attention on An and her magic array, and hadn't even noticed that Hao Ren and Lily had arrived. At this time, he turned his head sharply and breathed a sigh of relief: "It's you... I was just thinking of sending someone to find you."

"Oh, we saw some movement here and came over on our own," Hao Ren waved his hand. "Are you preparing a space gate? You all seem surprised."

Kalaxius turned his gaze back to the magic array in mid-air: "I have no idea what she's doing—I consider myself well-informed, but I've never heard of this kind of magic! She's building this thing entirely with mental power and magic energy, without using any casting materials or incantations. This way of controlling magic is as if she herself were a magical creature. This An... do you know her background?"

The high-level monk's answer was unexpected, but Hao Ren couldn't answer the other party's question at all: "I don't know either. You know, I'm a foreigner—I first met this woman in Rudolf III's palace. She's an inner court knight of the Taros royal family. That's all I know."

"Inner court knight? This is definitely not the means of an inner court knight," Kalaxius frowned. "I've never heard of anyone letting a grand magister of at least the Saint level be a head of spies."

As he spoke, An's large magic was ready. The magic array in mid-air was full of energy and began to hum and operate. Streams of blue light were surging inside the magic array, making it hard to believe that it had appeared out of thin air in front of everyone. An breathed a sigh of relief, put down the hand she had been raising during the spellcasting, and thrust the long crystal "staff" into the ground. She was surprisingly strong, and the blunt crystal staff was directly inserted more than half a meter into the ground. At the junction of the staff and the ground, a large number of blue lines and magic runes suddenly spread out, forming a rune array in the blink of an eye that echoed the three-dimensional magic array in mid-air.

The upper half of the staff then shattered, turning into a large number of crystal clear fragments scattered on the surrounding ground, forming a ring of crystal stone nodes.

An took two steps back and pointed to a point where the lines of the rune system on the ground intersected: "Mr. Kalaxius, put your holy seal here—it is a fragment of Asu Man. After being catalyzed, it will serve as a 'waymark' for the passage, guiding us to the Sanctuary."

Perhaps in order to get the high-level monk, who was always suspicious, to cooperate better, An rarely explained a few words in detail this time.

At this moment, Kalaxius stopped thinking wildly. He took a breath and stepped forward to place the crystal fragment in his hand on the energy node as instructed.

The next moment, the entire magic array shone brightly.

All the light streams pointed to the crystal that Kalaxius had placed on it. The crystal hummed under the energy stimulation and rippled in circles. As the ripples rippled, the light streams gradually deflected and connected. Between the magic array in mid-air and the magic array on the ground, a door woven from a large number of light rays gradually took shape.

Flickering light and shadows appeared faintly in the door, seeming to be another continent in the distance.

However, the image was shaking very violently and was mixed with black stripes and斑块, as if it was being greatly interfered with.

Kalaxius looked at the establishment of the portal in surprise. He didn't expect that the channel mentioned by this mysterious woman was really just a space gate. What he didn't expect even more was that in the current situation where the Chaos Storm was rampant, this space gate could actually be established!

"Sanctuary!" A church knight called out in a low voice. "It is indeed the Sanctuary. Those are the mountains near Luan. I have been to that place."

"The gate can last for four hours. You have plenty of time to consider, but if you want to pack your luggage, it's best to hurry," An said without looking up. Her voice finally had a little fatigue in it. It seemed that using this special "space magic" was also a big challenge for her. "There is only one chance. Even if you don't go, I must go to the Sanctuary."

"No need to consider," Kalaxius took a step forward first, then turned back to look at his followers. "Compatriots, we have no choice. In the current situation, there is no other way but to make a desperate gamble."

As he said that, he looked at Hao Ren and Lily again: "Head Wolf, and this... Mr. Landlord, although we haven't known each other for long, but..."

"No need to say more," Hao Ren waved his hand and pulled Lily forward. "I was planning to help anyway. The safety of the Sanctuary is related to the survival of the entire Colo world."

A commotion came from outside the crowd. Lily's head wolf guard also pushed and shoved their way in. They looked at Lily expectantly, their intention to continue following her revealed without a doubt.

"You guys come along too," Lily waved her hand. "The more people there are to fight, the better!"

The magical beasts immediately shouted and yelled, all saying that Head Wolf was right.

It was said that they should pack their luggage as soon as possible, but in fact, everyone didn't have much luggage to pack—the Sanctuary investigation team had been reduced to a group of refugees. All the supplies had fallen into chaos with the sinking of the *Sacred Hammer*, and the remaining supplies and supplies obtained at Black Crow Fortress were all in the personal dimension bags of Kalaxius and another deputy leader. Hao Ren and Lily's luggage was even more easily thrown into their personal space. The magical beasts' supplies were even simpler—they brought some food with them, and the rest was to eat along the way...

So after only a dozen minutes of preparation, the team reassembled in front of the portal and began to pass through the gate under An's command.

The moment he entered the portal, Hao Ren felt dizzy and the world spun around him. His senses were all reversed and disordered. He saw countless strange and bizarre scenes flashing before his eyes. Endless darkness and streams of light appeared in his field of vision. These scenes were almost identical to the visions he had when he fell into the Kasu An Temple that day.

This was definitely not a comfortable space teleportation—either An's magic itself was like this, or the Chaos Storm's interference with this portal was far beyond imagination.

But this uncomfortable process didn't last too long. Hao Ren was only dizzy for a dozen seconds before he felt a flash of light around him and his vision stabilized again.

He found himself standing on a small mountain, and beams of light were popping out one after another beside him. With each beam of light flashing, a dizzy Sanctuary warrior or magical beast barbarian would fall out, one after another vomiting violently.

It seemed that his situation was still good.

Finally, Lily also fell out of the teleportation channel. The husky girl was obviously dizzy as well. After landing, she landed on all fours and had to think for a moment before remembering to stand upright. She got up and staggered to Hao Ren's side. Before she could speak, she was pushed back by the latter: "Puke over there!"

After a while, several bear monsters also carried a large cage through the portal.

The cage contained that weird and mysterious monster—even Hao Ren couldn't tell what this thing was. Before they could find out the origin and hidden secrets of the other party, Kalaxius felt that they couldn't rashly release or kill this "Nightmare Shadow", so they had no choice but to bring this monster along as well.

The last one to pass through the portal was An, who was responsible for maintaining the spell. Compared to the embarrassed others, this mysterious woman didn't seem to be affected at all. She walked out of the channel steadily, the light around her dissipated, and then she glanced at the embarrassed crowd: "The interference is strong. Maintaining the channel in this situation is already the limit."

"It's already... already okay," Kalaxius bent over, panting while raising his hand and waving it. "I didn't expect it to really succeed..."

After a moment, the warriors of the Sanctuary investigation team finally recovered, and they finally discovered the abnormality of the surrounding environment.

This was indeed the Sanctuary, but it was no longer the homeland they were familiar with.

"This... is this the Sanctuary?" A church knight stood on the top of the mountain, straightened up and looked at the horizon in the distance, his tone full of disbelief. "God bless... the power of chaos has actually eroded to this point?!"

The dark clouds were low and the shadows surrounded them. The small mountain was almost shrouded in a layer of substantial gloom. On the horizon, you could see turbid, dim yellow light constantly rolling, and the sunlight of nature had long faded into a vague bright spot behind the clouds. You could barely see a thin layer of faint light through the gaps between the dark clouds. That should be the eternal barrier of order in the sky above the Sanctuary—but in Hao Ren's view, that barrier could almost be said to have dissipated.

Standing on the mountain and looking around, the earth that could be seen was shrouded in a haze. Some vaguely visible markets spread out lifelessly, the cold lights seemed to be tinged with the color of dusk, and no vitality could be seen at all.

This was the glorious and brilliant human pure land in the legends of the Colo secular kingdoms, forever shrouded in holy light, the last miracle left in the world by the creation goddess: the Sanctuary.

It had been eroded.

"This is indeed the Sanctuary," Kalaxius was stunned for a long time after seeing this shocking scene, but after all, he had some psychological preparation, and with the firm will of a high-level monk, he still forced himself to calm down. "It should be near Luan, some distance away from the City of God's Grace. But the exact location is hard to determine."

Everyone's eyes fell on An, waiting for the mysterious woman to speak.