What… is happening?
Roland tried to speak or move his body, but received no feedback. Images of varying brightness flashed before his eyes, like a slideshow.
Countless black dots moved back and forth beside the sinkhole, like nesting ants, and gradually, a high platform rose from the ground. However, compared to the immense sinkhole, the huge platform was only a slight bump on the surface.
But he was surprised to discover that he had seen this building made of rough stone.
—In the murals of the Cursed Temple.
With his thoughts, the screen filled with snowflakes also zoomed in a lot with a "hissing" sound… Those black dots turned into wriggling creatures, whose appearance corresponded to the "main body" of the murals, the Radiants.
Soon, the scene in front of him seemed to overlap with the content of the murals.
More than a dozen main bodies held the relics of the gods on the high platform and surrounded it in a circle, their bodies expanding and contracting, as if performing some kind of ritual.
Below the high platform, tens of thousands of stick figures were escorted to the edge of the sinkhole, and then pushed into the bottomless pit during the Radiants' frenzied dance…
In this fanatical atmosphere, the last piece of relic was pieced together, and the crystal clear prism became complete and smooth. It bloomed with dazzling light, floated towards the sinkhole, and then fell straight down, soon disappearing from sight.
He suddenly realized that this might be the "Bottomless Realm" that Lan mentioned.
However, this was only the beginning.
The next scene made Roland's eyes widen.
A pillar of orange light rose from the sinkhole, reaching straight into the sky, a spectacle similar to the phenomenon when ancient witches opened the dream world, but much more magnificent. And the position in the sky happened to be directly opposite the "Red Moon," which was the location of the Erosion. For a moment, heaven and earth seemed to be connected, and the so-called Bottomless Realm and the Mouth of Erosion were only at the two ends of the pillar of light.
The Radiants flocked to the sinkhole like moths to a flame.
But they did not fall into the abyss, but floated lightly, as if supported by something, and rose towards the end of the sky.
For a time, countless black dots appeared in the pillar of light.
This is… the ascension of civilization…
Looking at the black dots disappearing into the clouds in the soft pillar of light, Roland couldn't help but think, breaking free from the shackles of the earth and entering a new world… Such a magnificent scene would probably shake anyone's heart.
But precisely in such a scene, he heard a deep sigh—that voice seemed to echo directly in his mind, so clear that it couldn't be an illusion.
After the sigh, the flow of time obviously sped up a lot, and the snowflake-like noise became more and more dense.
The constant changes in the picture made the earth seem like a vast sea turning into mulberry fields.
Scattered towns appeared beside the sinkhole. Apparently, not all Radiants chose to throw themselves into the pillar of light, but a small portion stayed behind. Was it out of nostalgia for this world, or fear of the sky and the unknown? Roland didn't know. He only saw that occasionally, black dots would still walk into the passage connecting heaven and earth, like the adventurers in legends who pursued the deeds of the sages and embarked on the unknown path, but compared to the scene of the clan gathering at the beginning, they seemed much more lonely.
And the light of the pillar of light also became dimmer and dimmer.
Until a certain moment, it flickered twice and then disappeared completely without a trace.
Dense snowflakes had covered every corner of the field of vision, as if foreshadowing that the story was coming to an end—according to this situation, the world would return to peace, and the legend of the road to heaven would be preserved in the Radiants' biographies, for future generations to read. Perhaps there would be unresigned later generations who would delve into the sinkhole, trying to find the road to ascension and regain the glory of the gods, but that would be a long time in the future.
Just when Roland thought the picture would end like this, a "high wall" suddenly appeared at the end of the earth.
He initially thought it was just an illusion, after all, the dense snowflakes had seriously obstructed his vision, but as the wall approached the sinkhole little by little, he finally saw clearly what it was.
A giant wave even higher than the Imprisoning Mountain Range was pressing towards the earth with irresistible force, instantly swallowing the towns like jigsaw puzzles. The height of the crest of the wave was even level with the clouds, reflecting a new skyline under the sunlight.
Roland could imagine how desperate the Radiants who witnessed all this must have been.
But this was far from the end of the disaster.
As soon as the tsunami passed, volcanoes rose in the distance, and the violent eruptions dimmed the sun, and the volcanic ash rushed into the sky, forming a special discharge phenomenon. Then came torrential rain and severe winter, as if the earth's crust suddenly entered its most active period. In the face of this doomsday-like scene, the original appearance of the world had long ceased to exist.
"Hiss… hiss…"
The picture gradually distorted, and the noise now almost filled everything he saw.
Before all the scenes disappeared, the last scene he saw was the melting of glaciers, and a tenacious plant poked its head out of the soil, opening its new buds.
“Your Majesty…”
“Your Majesty… are you alright?”
Roland felt someone gently shaking him, their tone full of worry.
He suddenly opened his eyes, and the ubiquitous snowflakes had disappeared. Everything in front of him returned to its clear appearance. It was still the inner river wharf.
"It's over…?" Roland looked at his palms and muttered to himself.
Phyllis, however, thought he was asking her, "Yes, all the enemies have been eliminated, not a single one escaped. Those magic cores also dissipated together, the process lasted for several minutes. Only you stood there motionless, as if… you were asleep. Your Majesty, are you really okay?"
Roland didn't know whether he was okay or not. The various things he had experienced before were not an illusion. Now, if he thought about it slightly, he could reproduce all the scenes he had seen, as if a ball of unknown origin had suddenly appeared in his mind. If that was all, it would be fine, but he could even feel the fatigue and weariness brought about by the passage of long time, as if in a few short minutes, he had walked the path of thousands of years.
That sigh also became an expression of his empathy.
Roland's mind suddenly flashed with what Lan had said.
"Compared to what I tell you, what you personally comprehend is the real answer."
Is this… the final outcome of the Battle of Divine Will?
"I'm fine," he took a deep breath, "I just saw some strange scenes."
"Strange scenes?" Phyllis blinked, then skipped the sentence, "Now is not the time to talk about this, Your Majesty. The light just now almost illuminated half the sky. Many people should have noticed this area. If we don't leave as soon as possible, we may be noticed by the Association."
"I understand. Return in order according to the original groups." He nodded.
Whether it was the memory of a divine messenger or something else, Roland couldn't tell for the time being, but he believed that these unknown questions would one day find answers.
And that day would not be too far away.