Chapter 686: A Familiar Monster

Rindo looked at young Vorhelm for a moment.

Lian remained silent for several seconds.

The image of Roderick’s lifeless body falling into the depths of the crack appeared in his mind for a moment.

He knew very well what had happened to him, and Rindo also knew, but Noah and Alicia still knew nothing about his death.

"Don’t worry about him."

Noah raised an eyebrow.

"You mean you know what happened to him?"

Lian glanced at him.

"For now, worry more about the people we might still be able to find."

Rindo also realized that his friend did not want to talk about Roderick, so he did not continue the subject.

"In any case, out of the ten Chosen, we still have no information about the German representative and the second Chosen from the Twelve Ancient Guilds."

Alicia slowly nodded.

"Maybe they were in other areas from the beginning, this land is much larger than we thought."

The young Frenchman also agreed.

"They might even have found a way underground like us."

Lian looked at the floating platforms for a moment.

There were many possibilities.

The two missing Chosen might still be on the surface, they might be trapped in a distant area, or perhaps they had already become victims of one of the judgments.

They might even have been killed by the Withered.

But there was no information to reach a definite conclusion.

"If they’re alive, they’re probably looking for a way out too." He finally said.

Rindo nodded.

"But with the seventh judgment, things have become more dangerous."

Noah looked at him.

"You mean those hundred threads of light?"

"Yeah, if the number of condemned keeps increasing like this, finding those two will become harder every day, we might even have trouble saving ourselves."

Alicia thought for a moment.

"Then if we find any sign of them, we should investigate it."

Lian agreed.

"As long as we don’t completely lose our main path, that’s fine."

He still had a more important mission, he needed to prevent the death of the Hollow Sun, and to do that, he had to discover the truth about the prison’s structure and White Oblivion’s plan as quickly as possible.

Rindo let out a short breath.

"Then that’s what we’ll do for now."

’I just hope that if we find them, they’re still themselves.’ Lian thought.

That sentence had an unpleasant meaning, considering what he knew about White Oblivion.

But for now, he preferred not to say anything.

After the conversation ended, he looked at the floating platforms again.

The memories of the Fifth Ruined Realm were still on his mind, until today, he had thought that many of the prisoners in this land belonged to the Tenth Ruined Realm.

But Velian Karth had shown that this idea was wrong.

He looked for a moment at the white network extending between the floating platforms.

If creatures from different realms were being held here, the builders of the prison must have possessed extremely great power and influence.

Perhaps even beyond what he had learned about the Ruined Realms so far.

But before he could think any further....Crack.

A weak sound came from the depths of the hall.

Lian raised his head.

Rindo had also noticed the sound.

"Did you hear that?"

Young Vorhelm slowly nodded.

"Yeah."

There was silence for several seconds, and then.....Crack!

The second sound was louder.

This time, it came from a clear direction.

About a hundred meters away, a huge platform was floating between several tall pillars.

It was much larger than the surrounding platforms, and several thick golden rings surrounded it.

But now, one of the rings was glowing unevenly.

Lian immediately activated True Sequence.

[ True Sequence ]

The mana flows around that platform became visible, and what he saw made him narrow his eyes.

It’s getting weaker.

The sealing energy was not moving regularly between the rings.

Some threads were leaving their original paths, and parts of the structure were losing their light for short moments.

Rindo picked up his spear.

"Lian, what’s happening over there?"

"One of the seals is failing."

Noah immediately stood up.

"Are you kidding me?"

Lian did not answer, and his gaze remained fixed on the huge platform, and at that moment, the sound of something breaking echoed through the hall.

A long crack appeared on the first golden ring, and then its light went out for a moment.

Alicia, whose face still showed signs of exhaustion, picked up her sword.

"Is one of the prisoners being freed?"

"Probably."

Young Vorhelm took a few steps forward to get a better view.

A huge shadow could be seen among the rings of light, at first, he could not recognize the creature’s exact shape.

But a moment later, the shadow moved, and a heavy sound came from the platform...as if something extremely large had moved its body across the stone.

Then one of the rings of light trembled, and at that moment, part of the creature emerged from the light.

A huge and long body.

Covered in thick, ring-shaped layers that looked like a mixture of stone-like flesh and natural armor.

Its dark skin was cracked in some places, and a faint red light could be seen between the cracks.

The creature had no arms or legs, only a long and heavy body, part of which was curled around itself.

Noah remained motionless for a moment.

"What the hell is that...?"

Lian said nothing.

Because he could now see the creature’s head too.

Or what could probably be considered its head.

The front part of its body ended in a huge mouth that covered almost the entire width of that section, several rows of long and curved teeth could be seen deep inside the mouth.

And behind them, smaller rings of teeth continued farther into its body.

It was as if the creature’s entire body had been built for one purpose.

Devouring.

Rindo slowly raised his spear.

"This one doesn’t look anything like the previous Withered."

Lian also nodded, but what worried him more was not the creature’s terrifying appearance.

It was how strangely familiar that appearance was.

Wait...

He had seen such a creature before.

Not up close, but in the pictures and information he had studied about the Ruined Realms.

The ring-shaped body.

The huge mouth.

And the many rows of teeth continuing deep into the creature’s throat.

No way...

At that moment, the second sealing ring cracked with a loud sound, and the golden light around the platform became much brighter for a moment.

But it could not stop the creature’s movement, its huge body slowly uncurled, and part of its heavy tail dragged across the platform, causing several pieces of stone to fall from its edge.

Then its large mouth opened slightly, and a deep, long sound came from its throat.

It was not like the roar of an ordinary animal, but a sound that echoed through the huge hall and even caused several smaller platforms to shake.

Alicia took one step back.

Rindo held his spear more tightly.

But Lian continued staring at the creature.

He was now almost certain.

He had seen this appearance in information about one of the oldest Ruined Realms.

The First Ruined Realm.

In the reports about that realm, huge devouring creatures had been described, and their physical structures were very similar to this monster.

Of course, he could not be certain of its origin based only on its appearance, but the similarity was far too obvious.

The last sealing rings had not completely disappeared yet, but the creature had now raised its huge head, and its mouth was slowly turning toward the main path of the hall.

Where four humans were standing.

Lian looked away from the information window and stared again at the monster’s ring-shaped body.

A few hours earlier, in Velian Karth’s memories, he had seen clear signs of the Fifth Ruined Realm.

And now, in the same prison, another creature was waking up, one whose appearance was extremely similar to the monsters of the First Ruined Realm.

Young Vorhelm frowned.

"A monster from the First Ruined Realm?"