Chapter 733: The Past of the Past

...

As Roland entered the reception hall, he was immediately drawn to the light screen that covered half of the wall.

The edges of the screen emitted a flickering purple light, as if a passage connecting different dimensions had been punched through the wall. The scene on the other side was very dark, like a vast cavern deep underground. Thin rivers of crimson, flowing like spiderwebs, illuminated the rock walls and dome, and the outlines of ancient ruins were faintly visible. Judging from the realistic visual effects, this was not a fabricated scene, but a live broadcast across hundreds of miles.

A massive, fleshy tumor-like monster faced him, its tentacles splayed open, and an unfamiliar voice echoed directly in his mind.

"Apologies for keeping you waiting... Your Majesty Roland Wimbledon, King of Graycastle. I am Pasha, one of the survivors of Taqila. I presume you have heard of us from Phyllis."

"So this is how direct communication works," Roland said as he sat down opposite the light screen, accompanied by Nightingale, Agatha, Wendy, and Scroll. "It's good that you've already talked a bit, so I don't have to introduce myself."

"You don't seem at all surprised by my appearance," Pasha said, sounding somewhat taken aback. "I thought it would take a long time for you to accept the idea that we are witches."

Because of concepts like possession and prosthetics, I've seen far too much, Roland thought to himself, but he still said calmly, "The Red Moon is approaching, and time is short for both of us. Instead of hiding and suspecting each other, it's better to be honest from the start. Since you were once the rulers of the continent, you should understand this principle."

Pasha paused for a moment, then chuckled. "Phyllis was right, you are indeed a rare and extraordinary individual."

"I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants," Roland said, spreading his hands. "Let's get down to business. We share a common goal: to fight the demons. Besides searching for the Chosen One, the purpose of sending Phyllis was also to communicate with the secular kingdoms, am I right?"

"Absolutely correct," Pasha admitted readily. "Initially, we only planned to infiltrate secretly, gradually recruiting or controlling some mortals to search for the Chosen One. The Dawn Kingdom's Blackmoney was one such effort. But the Church's failure showed us another hope: to openly step onto the stage and gather all the witches in one place."

"So you set your sights on Graycastle?"

"Intelligence indicated that Sleeping Island in the Fjords possessed the largest witch organization, led by the King of Graycastle's sister. And Graycastle was the great power that personally defeated the Church, making it a very suitable first stop in the search for the Chosen One. But I didn't expect Phyllis to connect with you so quickly, and bring such shocking news. Frankly, we thought it would take at least two or three years to reach this stage."

"Very good, it seems we've saved two or three years. This achievement alone is enough to make this meeting a landmark event," Roland said with a smile.

"It seems so," Pasha chuckled. "Provided we can defeat the demons and continue to survive and thrive in the Dawn Realm."

"Of course we can. As long as ordinary people and witches put aside their differences and work together, the demons are not invincible enemies." Roland paused. "I can also help you find the Chosen One. After all, having another powerful weapon against the demons is always a good thing, but cooperation must be based on mutual understanding, what do you think?"

"Agreed," Pasha's tentacles swayed in unison. "If you want to know anything, please ask, Your Majesty."

He glanced around, made eye contact with Agatha, Wendy, and Scroll, and then slowly said, "After learning about the buried history from Phyllis, my biggest question is, what exactly did you discover in the ruins that caused Taqila to break with Falling Star City, even leading to the collapse of the Union?"

This was also one of the most critical reasons Roland decided to contact the remnants. Technologies like soul transfer were completely beyond the capabilities of current technology. For the witches to believe that they could replace the God's Punishment Army plan and completely destroy the demons' Instruments of Divine Retribution must also involve something extraordinary. He

wouldn't blindly assume that his knowledge of the tech tree was perfect. Learning from each other's strengths was a principle familiar to every modern person.

In fact, he had always wanted to incorporate magic, this seemingly omnipotent power, into technology. When he saw the other side using ancient artifacts from the ruins to precisely project real-time images into the Western Region castle, he was certain that this meeting was absolutely necessary.

Without a doubt, this ability exceeded the limits of witches.

"Pasha!"

"Are you sure you want to tell him this?"

"That's a secret of the gods!"

"How much sacrifice did we..."

In an instant, several voices flooded his mind, some worried, some dissatisfied. Only then did he realize that many people on the Taqila side were also witnessing this meeting.

"It's precisely because we made sacrifices that we can't let those sacrifices be wasted," Pasha interrupted the debate. "If we can't resist the tide of demons, are we going to take this secret to the grave, like the tombstones we found?"

Her loud question silenced the room. Perhaps she had hit the nail on the head, because no one stood up to oppose her view.

This made Roland slightly concerned. It seemed Phyllis's description of the survivors wasn't entirely false. They had indeed eliminated the influence of class and status to some extent, otherwise, they wouldn't be arguing about such an important matter on the fly. But overall, Pasha still held very high prestige among them.

"Apologies, this news is indeed crucial..." Pasha lowered her tentacles toward the reception hall, as if expressing her regret. "But now, it can no longer be a secret—at least, it shouldn't be a secret between us." After a moment of silence, she continued, "To be precise, it wasn't us who discovered the ruins, but the ruins who found us."

Roland frowned. "It found Taqila?"

"Not Taqila, but our earlier selves... Shortly after the First Battle of Divine Will began."

The "we" that Pasha spoke of, did she mean "all of humanity"? For some reason, he felt a chill rising from the soles of his feet. "That was hundreds of years ago."

"Indeed, but unfortunately, we at the time failed to understand its meaning," Pasha sighed. "What found us was a civilization... a civilization that has disappeared underground."