Chapter 1 The Dog-Cannon's Might

Lily's dog-cannon, a display of divine power, blasted through the ruins and the mountain itself, stunning everyone, including herself—because she never imagined she could cough up a laser cannon. It reminded her of the first time she roared out a light cannon, when she had scared herself silly, just like today. This time, she even coughed half of her cough back…

She felt like she would be startled by her own dog-cannon every time she used it in actual combat for the rest of her life…

Compared to the dog-girl, who was frightened by her own power, the others reacted faster. Vivian immediately descended from the air, looking at the gaping hole blasted by the light cannon, and couldn't help but click her tongue. Even she thought this husky’s attack power was ridiculously exaggerated. Lily, already invincible in close combat, had become a super DPS capable of flattening armies at both long and short range after gaining the light-cannon ability. If it weren’t for the cannon’s exorbitant energy consumption, Lily could only fire a dozen shots even after a full meal, she would have thought this dog was invincible.

After clicking her tongue, she carefully examined the remaining traces at the scene to confirm whether the Holy Flame “monster” was truly dead. The monster's form of existence was so bizarre that she couldn't be sure if it had been killed by a single energy cannon.

Meanwhile, Becky stared dumbfounded at Lily, who was still emitting smoke from her mouth, stunned. She never imagined that Lily’s strength had advanced to such a degree. She still remembered the chaotic battle with the demons in the Beinz Diocese, when they could only charge in headfirst, swinging their swords and claws in a chaotic dance. Only two years had passed, and the husky-girl had become a drunken immortal who could spit out light waves (because she spat them out after drinking, Becky believed that Lily had advanced to the drunken immortal class). In fact, Becky didn't need to belittle herself so much; her improvement in strength would be considered monstrous by the people of Holleta, after all, she was one of those who freeloaded on heavenly treasures at Hao Ren’s house…

The pungent smell of burning hadn't dissipated, but the high temperature caused by the light cannon was gradually being calmed by the cold aura around Vivian. Hao Ren stared wide-eyed at the area swept by the dog-cannon, and suddenly, his eyes twitched.

On the charred ground left by the beam, a cluster of silver-white flames suddenly sprang up, rising higher and higher!

"Holy crap! It’s still not dead!?" Hao Ren cried out in surprise, wondering what kind of monster those magic emperors had created in this experimental base back then. At this moment, the flame had risen to nearly the height of a person, and it quickly twisted and trembled, forming a shape close to that of a human—which immediately caused the surrounding knights and mage apprentices to exclaim in alarm.

But the worst-case scenario didn't occur. The Holy Flame struggled to condense into a human form, then violently shook and disintegrated back into a pile of fragmented flames. After repeating this several times, it finally stabilized, but its aura was so weak that it was inferior to even the mage apprentices present. The flame was so dim that it seemed like it would extinguish at any moment. Hao Ren knew what was happening at a glance: repeated heavy blows had finally exhausted the monster's stored energy, and it had lost its combat ability.

Hao Ren, Vivian, Becky, Haimer, and Lily, who had just recovered, slowly approached with high alert, completely surrounding the Holy Flame incarnation. The latter struggled a few times, but couldn't even stand up. The flame continued to recede, finally unable to maintain its burning state. To everyone's astonishment, the flames suddenly extinguished, and the scattered sparks swirled, condensing into a mercury-like form. Then, the metallic luster of the "mercury" faded rapidly, eventually transforming into a petite woman—a woman of flesh and blood!

She had a head of silver-white hair that almost completely enveloped her entire body. The hair shimmered with phosphorescence, as if embers were still burning. The features revealed between her strands of hair were extremely outstanding, delicate and beautiful to the point that it was impossible to associate her with the "monster" from before. A pair of slightly pointed ears peeked out from under her long hair on both sides, causing Archmage Haimer to mutter softly, "An elf?"

Hao Ren noticed the clothes she was wearing: a white dress that could be described as gorgeous. Although there were no jewels or ornaments on the dress, the pure color of the fabric still conveyed a sense of delicacy and splendor at a glance. The dress was cinched with an emerald green belt, which further emphasized the wearer's slender figure. The material of the belt seemed to be some kind of green jade, with pieces of jade strung together, emitting a misty glow.

She didn't look like a combatant, nor did she look like an imprisoned test subject—or a newly born demon hunter.

No biochemical laboratory would dress a “sample” in a culture tank in such gorgeous clothes.

Vivian had also noticed the suspicious points revealed by the dress. She frowned thoughtfully, "...I've never worn such gorgeous clothes in my life."

Okay, she didn't notice it.

"She's completely passed out," the data terminal flew around the "elf woman's" head, scanned her, and reported back, "Severe mental damage, physical exhaustion, internal bleeding or decreased function of multiple organs, and soul damage from being struck by a dog-cannon containing divinity. Other than that, there's nothing too seriously wrong with her."

Hao Ren thought that those problems weren't small at all…

"Is she an ancient person?" Lily leaned forward, her golden eyes full of curiosity. "Is she an experimental subject created by those magic emperors ten thousand years ago?"

"Doesn't seem like it. Experimental subjects wouldn't wear these kinds of clothes," Hao Ren shook his head, but his expression was still happy. "But no matter what, she definitely came from that era—sealed in this time-stopped relic for ten thousand years! We've really struck gold this time. She definitely knows a lot about what happened ten thousand years ago!"

"That's only if we can communicate with her," Vivian poured cold water on the situation from the side. "Don't forget the commotion she was causing earlier. This is probably an out-of-control 'sample,' and most likely insane."

Hao Ren nodded. "No matter what, let's lock her up first and study her after she wakes up. Oh right, we have to treat her injuries, at least treat the mental and soul damage. Maybe then we can communicate with her."

As he spoke, he took out various pieces of equipment from his personal space—the kind that wouldn't explode. First, he used a restraining device to tie the unconscious elf securely, then tossed her to the portable medical equipment for treatment. Seeing her condition gradually stabilize, and confirming that she couldn't break free from the restraints even if she suddenly woke up, Hao Ren finally breathed a sigh of relief, and turned his attention to the "second gate."

The mysterious elf woman had rushed out from that place. If he wasn't mistaken, the reason why this ancient experimental base was urgently closed should be behind that second gate.

After leaving a few high-ranking knights to guard the "prisoner," Hao Ren and the others walked towards the gate.

Passing through the gate, a ravaged space was presented before everyone.

"...Looks like this is the reason why this place was abandoned in such a hurry." Looking at the scene before her, Vivian said in a low voice.

The space behind the second gate was unrecognizable. It had not only suffered severe physical damage, but had also been subjected to the cleansing of powerful magical energy, so that the entire space was in a strange state of "distortion." In the nearly circular hall, there was almost no complete furniture that could reveal its original appearance. Around the hall was a circle of semi-melted black substance, like the product of some kind of crystal being melted by high temperature and then re-solidified. A crack spanning the entire hall covered the ground, and the charred ground was cracked with countless huge openings. Dark blue light floated in those openings, and occasionally sparks of light leaped out of them. Above the hall was a curved and deformed dome. The dome was a deep black, and light purple cracks covered it. In the most densely cracked areas, even space seemed to be twisted and collapsed. Some bizarre lights and shadows gathered there, and one could vaguely see the scenery outside the Dark Mountains.

Some charred corpses—or rather, fragments of corpses—were scattered around, but because they were severely damaged, it was difficult to discern any clues from them. Hao Ren could only roughly speculate that they were probably the staff of the laboratory, and the cause of their deaths… was mostly high temperature, or the energy storm that caused the high temperature.

"So miserable…" Archmage Haimer frowned, walking forward slowly. A pungent smell permeated the air, and even the free-floating magical energy hadn't dissipated, as if the disaster behind the door had just happened—in fact, it really had just happened, after all, time in this relic had stood still for ten thousand years.

Hao Ren noticed the center of the room, which should have been the origin of the disaster. All the radial cracks on the ground and the most severe traces of distortion on the dome above pointed to the center of the room. The original structure there had been severely melted, and a pile of strangely shaped, still radiating heat, black material was piled there. One could only vaguely discern that it had once been the base of some kind of equipment, and around this base, one could still see some charred and shriveled pipes and traces of wires. The traces extended in various directions, allowing one to determine that the base was the core of the various experimental equipment in this hall.

Hao Ren guessed that the out-of-control “Holy Flame incarnation” had broken free from this base.

The damage to this hall was so shocking that Hao Ren immediately thought of a question: why was the outer hall completely intact?

Driven by this question, he immediately turned his gaze to the surrounding walls. Sure enough, there was something hidden on the walls.

After wiping away the blackened parts of the wall, the still solid and intact wall was presented before everyone. The wall was covered with dense runes, which shone brightly under the light of the data terminal.

They weren't Letta runes. In fact, they weren't any known runes on this planet. Even a learned archmage like Haimer couldn't recognize these things.

However, Hao Ren could recognize them, because he had seen the exact same thing in another place: on the battlefield of the Gate of Surun, the inner layers of the reverse sons' vehicle armor were covered with these symbols containing divine power.