Chapter 520 - 481: Artificial God! Son of Divine Remains

Chapter 520: Chapter 481: Artificial God! Son of Divine Remains

The gap was only a fist wide, and a faint current of air was seeping through.

"Is this the end of the line? Or is it a dead end?"

Bronson asked, panting. A scholar’s Constitution was the least suited for this kind of environment.

Duraga leaned into the gap and examined it closely. He then used the back of his War Axe to gently tap the surrounding rock strata, concentrating as he listened for the echo.

"No, it’s empty behind it, and the space isn’t small. But this layer of rock... it’s not entirely natural. Something’s been mixed in, and it’s hard as hell. A Ratman’s claws wouldn’t be able to chew through this stuff."

"It might be reinforcing slurry that accidentally seeped in when they built that godforsaken place below, or maybe someone sealed it up on purpose later."

He spat, but his eyes showed no sign of frustration.

"But after all this time, even the toughest material develops cracks. Give me a little time. I can dig around it from a weak point on the side and break through."

With that, he needed no further orders. He pulled a few small tools suitable for excavation from his pack and began to tap and pry with precision.

Under his expert hands, the hard rock and earth peeled away bit by bit, like a tamed beast.

The others weren’t idle. Galvis and Bronson were responsible for hauling the excavated earth and stone to a wider area behind them, while Avril used faint Natural Magic to soothe the soil that might be disturbed by the work. Roland kept watch over the path they had taken.

The process was slow and strenuous, and sweat soon soaked the backs of their clothes.

Only Duraga seemed completely in his element, his movements steady and powerful. Each swing of his stout arms carried a precise rhythm.

After an unknown amount of time, Duraga’s movements suddenly stopped.

"I’m through!"

He carefully moved aside the last few loose stones, revealing a narrow opening in the rock face just large enough for one person to crawl through.

A breeze, much more distinct than before and carrying the scent of metal and old machine oil, gusted out from the opening.

Roland motioned for the others to wait, then moved to the opening himself. Holding his breath, he peered inside.

His view opened up dramatically.

But beyond the opening, there was no solid "ground." Instead, there was a massive vertical chasm stretching upward.

Their current position was high up on the side of the domed ceiling of the underground research facility’s main structure.

Below them, seen from a slightly tilted, downward-looking angle, was the full panorama of the vast, silent research facility, a composite of cold metal, crystalline components, and enormous pipes.

In the distance, the twisted, pulsating, and bizarre structure still stood at the center of the facility.

From this angle, its incompatibility with the orderly surroundings was even more pronounced, like a rotting organ forcibly embedded into a piece of precision machinery.

"We’re... ’above’ it."

Avril whispered, her voice causing a faint echo in the chasm.

"Correct."

After his quiet response, Roland quickly assessed the situation below.

The nearest solid structure was a massive crossbeam about ten meters below them, spanning the chasm. It seemed to be one of the main supports for the dome.

From there, they could use the crisscrossing pipes and equipment platforms to move down to the lower areas.

After taking a deep breath, Roland paused for a moment at the edge of the opening. He then leaped out as nimbly as a hunting owl, landing precisely on the thick crossbeam ten meters below.

The moment the soles of his boots touched the cold metal, he made only a near-inaudible sound. He then became perfectly still, as if melting into the Shadow, and quickly used his Perception to scan the area.

After confirming their immediate safety, he looked up and gave an "all-clear" signal to his companions waiting at the opening above.

Avril was the second to leap down. An Elf’s grace made her landing even lighter and more silent than Roland’s.

Duraga followed. The Gray Dwarf’s stout body landed on the beam with a heavy thud, but the structure didn’t budge.

Clutching his Lute, Galvis dissipated the force of his descent with a nimble, acrobatic roll.

Bronson came last.

With Avril and Galvis’s assistance, the scholar was lowered down on a simple but sturdy leather rope, with Duraga waiting below to catch him securely.

The entire process was swift and silent.

Once the whole team had assembled, there was no need for discussion. Roland pointed directly at the twisted structure, which stood out in the dim light like a subterranean lighthouse.

The group advanced along the beam, found a maintenance ladder connecting to a platform below, and descended silently level by level. They moved through an area of abandoned equipment like a steel forest and crossed over dormant Energy conduits.

Drawing on their experience from last time, it only took a few moments for the group to set foot on the core passage leading to the bizarre creation before continuing cautiously forward.

As the distance shortened to within a hundred meters, the sickly-sweet, rotten smell in the air suddenly thickened. One could almost taste the nauseating flavor, as if syrup had been mixed with putrid internal organs.

But this time, thanks to his Extraordinary Perception and insight, Roland keenly sensed the horror concealed within that stench.

It was more than just a foul odor.

It was a chaotic mix, an Entanglement of extremely complex and abnormally active Magic Elements.

Decaying Life Energy, the restless embers of the Fire Element, twisted Arcane Echoes, and even traces of some indefinable, blasphemous "unnatural" Energy dust.

These Energy particles, with their wildly different properties, should have repelled each other or slowly neutralized over time. Instead, they were now forcibly bound and churned together, existing in an extremely unstable, high-energy, excited state.

They were like billions of extremely sensitive, microscopic grains of gunpowder suspended in the air.

Any slightly stronger Energy disturbance could instantly shatter this fragile balance, triggering a chain reaction and releasing astonishing heat and destructive power.

’It seems...’

Roland realized, his movements growing even more gentle.

’This is the root cause of the frequent "unnatural fires" in the Lower City District.’

This discovery put him on even higher alert.

They were now standing in the very center of this "powder keg."

Any careless release of Energy could trigger a catastrophe.

But to his slight surprise, the bizarre creation didn’t seem to have "perceived" their approach.

There were no mental whispers, no fluctuations in Energy. The pulsating patterns on the structure’s surface continued to flicker in their original, somewhat chaotic rhythm.

It stood there silently, like a truly dead sculpture that just happened to have a horrifying shape. ’Or... is its "attention" focused elsewhere?’

Fifty paces...

Thirty paces...

Ten paces...

They drew so close they could almost make out the details on its "skin"—an interwoven mesh of pale white and dark red that pulsed faintly like real blood vessels. They could feel the profane fluctuations brush against their skin like a physical substance, bringing a stinging pain...

Without any warning, the "whispers" invaded Roland’s mind once more.

"Look now... another prisoner trapped in the cage of time... Are you searching for answers... or for an end? Or perhaps... you are searching for ’me’?"

"Come closer... I can give you answers... and freedom... as long as you offer... a little ’resonance’..."

Roland stopped in his tracks.

His companions behind him froze instantly, their gazes fixed warily on the pulsating behemoth so near.

This time, he did not let the whispers echo in his mind, nor was he swayed by the temptations they contained.

’Since this thing can "talk,"’ he thought, ’it must at least possess some kind of comprehensible consciousness.’

’Or fragments of it.’

He frowned, his voice ringing out in the silent chasm.

"What exactly are you?"

A brief silence.

The light on the twisted structure’s surface seemed to freeze for an instant, and its pulsating rhythm fell into a subtle disarray.

Then, a "sound"—impossible to define as a chuckle, a sigh, or merely an Energy disturbance—materialized directly in Roland’s Perception once more.

"Interesting... So direct... Not Fear, not greed, just... a question."

The whispers paused. The sense of Chaos and temptation within them strangely receded, replaced by a deeper, almost weary "clarity."

"I am... the ’Son of Divine Remains’..."

"The crystallization of Silver Radiance City’s highest wisdom and deepest blasphemy... an Artificial God, forged in pain and madness from the remains of an indescribable thing they dragged back from the edge of the sea of stars... fused with the shattered wills of billions of living beings."