Finding clues left by Erin wasn’t easy. Due to the influence of the Dark Dragon’s soul protection and Erin’s powerful strength, not even Alice could accurately pinpoint the specific location. As for the exact place where Erin engaged in a battle, Alice had no clue at all. Of course, there was also a crucial point apart from that. According to Alice, the strength of Chaos was also wreaking havoc. Even though it wasn’t that obvious, Alice was sure about it. This was the other reason that this matter raised some concerns in Rhode. In fact, one couldn’t normally realize when Chaos was up to no good. But no one could stop Alice’s ‘historical’ skills as though she were an overpowering ‘bug’.
During this period, the most important task for both sides was to find traces of Erin’s battle. If they could find anything that belonged to her, it would be for the best. But it was a pity that it wasn’t that simple. If it weren’t for the fact that items carried by someone as powerful as Erin more or less possessed the presence of its holder and the formidable beings present were sensitive to them, perhaps no one would be interested in searching for traces of clues in this large wasteland.
“What is that?”
As soon as Rhode’s group arrived at the northern wasteland under Gaya’s lead, he saw a burnt gorge that had as though been bombarded. Rhode recognized immediately that it was caused by a powerful impact. But what caught his attention was the erected, crystallized black pole at the end of the gorge that seemed like a wreckage of something. For some unknown reason, Rhode felt irritated the instant he witnessed it. It was as though his instinctive behavior whenever he saw something filthy and unbearable.
Just like Chaos… no. That’s not it… this isn’t only Chaos…
Gazing at the black pole, Rhode knitted his brows. He had a strange feeling about the pole. If he insisted on describing the feeling, it was as though abstracts were suddenly added to a realistic painting. Using a popular phrase known to Rhode on the internet, it would be ‘Teacher, his art style is different from ours’. In fact, even though the black pole seemed ordinary, its presence felt peculiar in Rhode’s eyes as though ‘the art style was entirely different’ and it didn’t belong to this world at all.
“I’m not too sure either, Your Majesty Rhode.”
Sizing up the black pole curiously, Lydia said.
“I was trying to search for Her Highness Erin’s aura, but didn’t expect to find this… how strange. Even though it feels like Chaos, it is nonetheless a product of Order. What exactly is going on?”
Upon hearing Lydia’s words, Rhode nodded in agreement. Logically speaking, 99 percent of things that seemed out of place to beings in the Dragon Soul Continent were products of Chaos. After all, this was their natural instinct just like how humans could never produce similar consciousness as a piece of stone. However, not only did this black pole not give them a fuzzy, unsettling feeling unique as Chaos did, but it also gave them a precise feeling like it was produced after being enhanced by Order. For this to be felt in a product of Chaos was… truly rare.
But…
“Indeed, I sense the presence of the moon princess from it. But…”
Rhode spoke and paused. Even though finally finding a lead was good news, the current situation was exceedingly strange. At this moment, Ion and Garcia just arrived at the scene. After gazing at the black pole, Ion turned grim. It was apparent that he had the same doubt as Rhode. But after glancing at Rhode who stood casually at the side, Ion gaped and eventually didn’t speak a word.
“Alice, can you do anything with it?”
Rhode ignored Ion’s arrival since that was all to their relationship. That was why Rhode didn’t even greet him, but turned to Alice instead. There were no detectives among them. But come to think of it, as long as civilization progressed to a certain degree, be it technology or magic, they could all replace the job of detectives. Technology could detect various residual traces and even retrieve surveillance video. On the other hand, it was even simpler with magic, where one could simply summon a spirit and ask who murdered it.
As for protagonists in American dramas with psychic abilities and were desperate to die… It could only be said that they were born to die. They had to follow the script even if they didn’t want to.
“I can give it a shot, Your Majesty.”
After closing her eyes and pondering for a few moments, Alice answered. She didn’t touch the black, crystallized wooden pole. Instead, she squatted and held her palm to the ground. Then, along with her movement, her large tome drifted in front of her and gradually flipped through the pages on its own. Looking at this scene, Ion grunted and revealed obvious traces of displeasure in his eyes. He couldn’t be blamed since he knew it was this young lady who crippled one of his beloved legendary generals. Not only that, but Ion also sensed his control over this land silently shifting away. This left him dissatisfied. Even though he didn’t know how the young lady did it, he felt an uncontrollable threat!
Meanwhile, everyone ignored him and even Alice who was under his watchful gaze continued to half-shut her eyes, totally turning a blind eye to the Dark Dragon’s prestige. On the contrary, she extended her left hand, gestured at the heavy tome, and whispered.
“Liy.”
Suddenly, in this crisp chant, the tome before her flipped its pages quickly. But unlike the past, this time the pages flipped the other way. Everyone witnessed the scenery before them transforming gradually. Be it the sky or land, they turned fuzzy as though they were rewinding in time. Not only that, but they also witnessed animals walking backward, one by one, and vanishing at the end of the field. Lydia widened her eyes curiously, admiring the scene before her. However, Alice apparently didn’t do this for everyone’s admiration. Shortly after, she moved her left hand and the pages suddenly stopped flipping. Then…
Boom———!
A dazzling radiance streaked across the night sky. Everyone looked up and was instantly stunned. In the near distance, an enormous, black dragon was engaged in battle with several beings clad in black!
“Oh-no-no, that’s Her Highness Erin.”
Looking at this scene, Lydia couldn’t help but feel baffled, yet no one responded to her. Instead, everyone including her widened their eyes and observed the battle. Even though Erin was engaging in the battle with those mysterious enemies midair, Rhode and the others were ‘By the God’ beings and Creator Dragons. This distance to them was almost the same as one watching high-definition video on full screen. Shortly after, the battle between Erin and the mysterious beings clad in black was fully displayed before their eyes, including how Erin went on to slaughter the one who escaped, and how she was eventually caught by the mysterious, grid-like net. Looking at this scene, Rhode knitted his brows because he couldn’t be more familiar with that grid-like net. Whenever his system leveled up, this thing would appear and scan the surroundings.
Could they be players too? That shouldn’t be possible…
“Big Brother, something isn’t right.”
At this moment, Rhode heard his younger sister’s voice. But unlike the usual, gentle voice, he felt urgency and anxiousness this time. But before he figured out what she meant, she continued.
“Big Brother, please hold onto the black pole. I think I can almost understand how the enemies caused Miss Erin’s disappearance.”
“Oh?”
Rhode hesitated no more. He hurried to the black pole in large strides, sized it up, and extended his arm to hold it.
“———!”
The instant he clutched the pole, his vision blurred and a string of data emerged before him constantly as though searching for something. However, the entire image was constantly twisting and trembling like it was disrupted. Shortly after, the string of data flashed across and disappeared.
“I see…”
His younger sister’s voice rang in his head again. But this time, she sounded rather uncertain.
“Big Brother, I figured out how Miss Erin went missing. There is a device in this black pole that can activate the plane channel for a short time. According to what we just witnessed, it seems like the enemies ambushed Miss Erin, but her strength was far more powerful than they had imagined. That was why the last survivor had no choice but to activate the plane channel. Miss Erin apparently didn’t anticipate it, so she was dragged into it by the enemy.”
“Doesn’t that mean we don’t have a way to rescue her?”
Rhode shrugged, at the same time observing three seconds of silence in tribute to Erin. He knew what the plane channel was; it was like a small-scale teleportation door. Even though he didn’t experience it personally, he clearly knew that its ultimate destination was random. Who knew where Erin had been brought to?
“No…”
But this time, his younger sister’s voice was filled with more doubt.
“… Big Brother, according to my observation, the destination of this plane teleportation is fixed! It is connected to a specific point in the outer plane, so it won’t transport her to a random location. But… I’ve never seen this function before. Besides, the method of activation on this black pole isn’t one that we’re familiar with. As of now, the only thing I found out is that the black pole stores energy and is able to activate the skill automatically, which links to the plane channel. Not only that…”
His younger sister hesitated, before continuing.
“… but the data that disrupted Canary’s and Bubble’s power seems to also be from there.”
