Chapter 412: The First SSS-Rank User

CRACK!

One warrior swung a massive hammer, and storm force gathered around the weapon as lightning crackled across its surface. The air itself seemed to tremble as he brought it down with enough power to shake the surrounding space.

"Mjolnir: Thunder of the Nine Realms!"

Another warrior’s fist became shrouded in spectral energy. Enormous ghostly jaws materialized around his arm as he lunged toward Caelus with killing intent.

"Fenrir’s Ragnarok Bite!"

A third released spiraling venomous force that coiled through the air from multiple directions.

"Jormungandr’s World-Coil!"

Three powerful skills descended upon Caelus simultaneously.

However, he did not even bother dodging.

[Skill Activated: Origin Lock]

The moment his authority touched the attacks, the air distorted.

The storm disappeared before Mjolnir could complete its descent. The spectral jaws vanished around the berserker’s fist and Jormungandr’s spiraling force collapsed into nothing.

The Norse warriors froze in confusion.

One of them desperately tried to activate Mjolnir again. He swung the hammer with all his strength, expecting lightning to answer his call.

However, nothing happened.

Another attempted Fenrir’s Ragnarok Bite. He threw a punch while screaming the skill’s name at the top of his lungs.

Nothing.

The third started frantically waving his weapon around, hoping that his Jörmungandr skill would suddenly decide to cooperate.

Caelus looked at them with an almost sympathetic expression.

"You should probably check whether your skills are still there."

The Norse warriors were horrified to discover that their skills had not been destroyed. They could still feel the abilities within their souls, still sense their presence.

But the connection was gone.

Caelus had severed the conceptual link between them and their skills. The skills existed but could no longer be accessed or activated.

They were effectively useless.

"What did you do?!"

"My skills! I can’t use any of them!"

"This is impossible!"

The ensuing battle became almost humiliating. Without their skills, the Norse warriors were reduced to ordinary fighters facing an Overlord who reached that rank in 3 days.

Caelus dismantled them with minimal effort.

Within moments, the Norse faction lay defeated at his feet.

Caelus activated Endless Extraction.

[Ding! You’ve obtained the skill: Mjolnir: Thunder of the Nine Realms (Divine, 4-Star)]

[Ding! You’ve obtained the skill: Jormungandr’s World-Coil (Epic, 3-Star)]

He examined the notifications with interest.

Jörmungandr’s skill caught his attention in particular. The name reminded him of Faust, who remained missing somewhere within the vast expanse of Origin Network.

Then, his thoughts drifted toward the deeper mechanics of the Origin Network.

Jörmungandr was not merely a fictional concept. It was an actual living existence within the wider cosmology and it was with Faust right now.

Skills could not simply be created by players, meaning an ability bearing the name and authority of such a being must have been generated through the Origin Network itself.

The Mystic Codes embedded within the network had to have preserved something from the original source.

Caelus wondered just how powerful the Prime Jormungandr must have been for such a skill to exist.

He shook his head and decided there was no point dwelling on it for now.

Meanwhile, Sylvia approached the corpses with a cheerful expression.

"My turn."

Dark energy swirled around her hands as she activated her Ender of Death authority. Shadows began rising from the fallen bodies, twisting and coiling before taking humanoid shapes.

The spirits of the defeated Norse warriors stood before her, bound by her power and unable to resist.

Sylvia examined them carefully before letting out a small sigh.

"They surprisingly have such weak willpower."

Three former Overlords now existed as Level 1 Overlord summons.

Sylvia accepted them without complaint. Three additional Overlords were still useful additions to her forces, even if they needed time to grow.

"Let’s keep moving."

Caelus nodded.

The two continued deeper into the Hidden Ruin.

The environment shifted constantly as they traveled. One moment they walked through crystalline caverns, and the next they crossed bridges suspended over bottomless abyss. The architecture seemed twisted with logic tied to it.

Along the way, they encountered several other groups.

Some attempted to fight them.

Those groups were swiftly eliminated.

Others were simply avoided, either because they posed no threat or because engaging them would waste valuable time.

Eventually, they encountered a powerful presence.

It was a level 5 Overlord.

They wasted no time in hiding and leaving the area.

Level 5 was not something they could take on casually.

After continuing through the ruins for what felt like hours, they eventually discovered another enormous door.

This one was different from the others they had passed.

Ancient symbols covered its surface, and the energy radiating from it felt distinctly powerful. Caelus examined the surroundings and noticed something important.

Nobody appeared to have reached this location before them.

"Looks like we’re the first ones here."

Sylvia moved closer to the door and studied the markings with genuine curiosity.

"Whatever is beyond this must be valuable."

Caelus nodded in agreement.

The two entered together.

The moment Caelus crossed the threshold, his Ender of Origin authority suddenly reacted.

His vision flashed white.

For an instant, he was no longer standing within the Hidden Ruin. Instead, he found himself within the strange paradise he had encountered before. The same golden light filled the endless sky. The same vibrant landscape stretched beneath his feet.

The same six children played together in the distance.

Then the vision disappeared.

Reality snapped back into place, and Caelus found himself standing exactly where he had been.

Sylvia immediately noticed something was wrong.

She pressed against his shoulder with a look of concern. "What happened, hubby?"

"My Ender of Origin power activated on its own."

Sylvia’s eyes narrowed at his words.

"This has been happening more frequently, have it not?"

Caelus nodded slowly.

"We should be careful."

The two continued forward with heightened awareness.

The chamber beyond the door was unlike anything they had seen within the Hidden Ruin. Gigantic knight statues lined the walls, each one standing dozens of meters tall. Their armor gleamed with mana, and their weapons remained raised as though frozen in the middle of battle.

Flames burned throughout the room, casting shadows across the architecture. The fire provided illumination but also created an atmosphere of unease.

At the center of the chamber floated a strange glowing matrix.

The instant his eyes fell on the matrix he felt something stirring within him.

it was a pull.

Something within the matrix was resonating with his existence.

"There’s something inside that matrix."

"It seems like there is some sort of mental attack in that matrix?"

Sylvia acknowledged the danger with a nod. Her playful demeanor had disappeared, replaced by the focused intensity of someone who understood that they were walking into something significant.

"We’ve already come this far. We might as well find out what it is."

"If you get pulled in again. I will pull you that." Sylvia added.

Caelus acknowledged this.

The two approached the matrix together.

The closer they got, the stronger the resonance became. Caelus could feel his Ender of Origin power stirring within him, responding to whatever presence existed within that glowing structure.

The instant he got close enough, the matrix erupted.

BOOM!

Energy exploded outward as the chamber began glitching violently. The knight statues distorted, their forms flickering between solid and fragmented. The flames bent unnaturally, burning in directions that made no sense.

The walls seemed to break apart into fragments of raw information before reforming into their original shapes.

Then a voice echoed throughout the chamber.

"Greetings."

Caelus and Sylvia immediately became alert, scanning the surroundings for the source of the voice the instant it rang out.

"I am Adam."

"I know that name means nothing to you."

"But the fact that you reached this place means that you possess some kind of connection to me."

"I am the world’s first being to ever possess an SSS-Rank Talent."