The abyssal gap was northeast to the Stroop forest and far away from Nature’s Residence. There was also the space disorder caused by the unsteady gap. Therefore, they were not teleported over but flew towards the destination.
Looking at the ocean of trees below and hearing the singing birds, Natasha suddenly asked as if her soul of a musician had been awakened. “What is nature?”
It was one thing to learn from books that elves would turn into trees after they died, and it was a whole different thing to observe it in person. She had a lot of mixed feelings.
“Yes, what is nature?” Lucien repeated and looked at Malfurion and Lankshear.
What is nature?
Malfurion suddenly had no idea how to answer the question. Every elf and every druid had their own definition of nature. Whether they followed Abhorrence or Balance, they all considered themselves to be nature’s guards. Also, it was exactly because their definitions and opinions on nature varied that the ‘Nature’s Hearts’ that druids formed and the powers they were capable of were different.
“Nature is the world, including both plants, animals, humans, elves and other lives and volcanoes, swamps, fog and other phenomena. All those things constitute a balance system where everybody is interdependent with each other. Once the balance is lost, nature will decline into a lifeless wasteland.” Considering for a moment, Malfurion spoke of his understanding about nature, in which balance and life were the core.
Lankshear had the unique pride of the elves. Although he was not exactly a follower of Nature’s Abhorrence, he was not interested in discussing the question with humans. He merely stressed, “Nature must include life; a lifeless desert cannot be called nature.”
His eyes closed, Atlant said with a smile, “We’re arriving at the abyssal gap.”
The five of them were all legends. Even though they had intentionally lowered their speed in case of dangers, it did not take them long to finish the journey.
At the center of the forest down below, the bloodstained dust enshrouded a fairly large territory. A giant crack that was as hideous as a centipede could be found at the center. Through the crack, the bumpy, Scarlet Plain could be vaguely seen on the opposite side, spreading out the intense air of blood and slaughter.
In the middle of the dust, a rather prosperous town stood at the edge of the crack.
It was exactly Town of the Anonymous.
……
During the long history when the abyssal gap was steady, demons which were chaotic and bloodthirsty in nature had been attacking the gap and hoping to arrive at the main material world to transform this world into a land of mayhem and destruction like abyss.
As for the human adventurers, although demons were horrible, their body parts were precious materials. It was not a bad choice to capture demons without entering the abyss. Therefore, many adventurers had gathered in this place and set up a town.
After that, the grand knights and the radiant knights realized that it was a perfect battlefield to improve themselves. They had often come from thousands of kilometers away to gain battle experience. For the senior-rank knights, unless they had extraordinary blood powers and gifts, they could only find opportunities of breakthrough in fighting.
The situation on the continent was relatively steady, and adventuring in the Dark Mountain Range or the Swamp of Dragons, where level-nine magic creatures were frequent, could prove very dangerous. The gap in the Stroop forest, on the other hand, capped the strength of the invading demons, relieving the senior-rank knights of their concern that they might run into Demon Lords or Demon Dukes. Therefore, the town was more and more prosperous and became one of the places with the highest population of senior-rank experts.
Of course, the battles here were not entirely risk-free. Many radiant knights and senior-rank sorcerers had died here. The adventures below the senior rank often had huge casualties, too. Therefore, the town had been named as ‘the Anonymous’:
“You will leave with glory, or die without a name!”
Mason, the Azure Dragon, looked at the wood plate that had stood in Town of the Anonymous for hundreds of years. He sighed yet again and said anxiously, “When can we leave?”
The elves who watched over the gap had always been indifferent to the adventures, but the strangers’ operation did save a lot of their work. Therefore, they had been turning a blind eye to Town of the Anonymous.
The young, brown-haired man next to Mason took out a special cigar made in Brianne and lit it. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Brother, stop upsetting yourself. Until they figure out why the gap is expanded, the elves won’t let us go.”
“I feel that my lungs are full of sand and filth.” Mason accepted his friend Fred’s cigar. “You know that I promised my family that I would return in half a year, but I’m now already two weeks late. If they come to look for me, they will be hurt in this crazy place.”
Fred exhaled smoke and smiled bitterly, “We should’ve left earlier… Elves forbid us from leaving because they fear that we will expose the change in the abyssal gap to the sea clans. Until they figure out a way to resolve the problem, or the sea clans obtain intelligence through other channels, we will have to stay here.”
“If the abyssal gap loses control again…” As a level-six radiant knight, Mason couldn’t help but feel scared when he remembered the swarming army of demons and the frightening Demon Lords and Dukes. They were the nightmare that he would never forget. If it were not Malfurion, Mentor of Night, who guarded the place at that time, many radiant knights including himself would’ve died!
Hearing his words, Fred couldn’t help but tremble, too. He remembered the ‘Sovereign of Blood’ who had two heads, crimson scales, and gold and cold eyes. “I hope that elves ask for reinforcements as soon as possible…”
“Elves are a proud people. They will never ask for help unless they really can’t handle it on their own.” Mason often praised elves’ pride, but he couldn’t have hated it more at this moment.
Then, he moved his eyes back and looked at the half-burnt cigar in his hand. “Something is wrong in the town…”
Fred squinted. “Yes, something is indeed wrong…”
……
Lucien, Natasha and Malfurion descended and approached the abyssal gap. At this moment, two figures, one green and the other brown, flew over from down below and stopped before them.
“Honorable guests, thank you for coming to help us.” The brown figure was a tall, middle-aged human male, who was holding a wood staff with a symbol of balance in his hands. It was exactly Lodell, Hand of Balance.
On their altitude, the view of the abyss behind the crack was very obvious. It was a bloodstained plateau, with weird white rocks standing everywhere.
On the plain, there was nothing but red mud and sand except for a few plants that were full of scales. A sandstorm was raging whenever there was a wind.
In the sky, Lucien saw a pale sun that was half blocked by the dust. It was enshrouded in a weird red halo because of the bloodiness.
Everything was so dim and depressing. It was the best announcement of slaughter and destruction.
“Elder.” The green person was a mini lady who was only the size of a head. She had deep green hair and a beautiful face. She was slim, with a pair of transparent wings on her back. She was surrounded by the dense air of the forest.
She was exactly Selinda, a nymph known as the Green Guardian.
After greeting Malfurion, Selinda did not say anything. For nymphs, human beings, who destroyed forests, were unpardonable villains.
“Selinda, what is nature?” Lankshear suddenly asked.
Selinda looked at Lankshear angrily, not too friendly with the elf. “Nature is the greenness that represents life and allows all creatures to flourish. It is vulnerable and calls for our protection. Anyone who sabotages nature is our enemy.”
Lankshear smiled, “Evans, what is nature? Do you have an answer to the question you asked us?”
Lucien looked at him. Although he did not know what was on the elf’s mind, the elf obviously had his own purpose. Perhaps, he was trying to reach a certain purpose by instigating conflicts at this moment?
Malfurion seemed too absent-minded to stop Lankshear from asking. Perhaps, he was interested in Lucien’s and Atlant’s answers, too.
Lodell opened his mouth and tried to say something, but he eventually fell silent.
Lucien smiled and pointed at the Scarlet Plain. “Is this not nature? There are lives that are demons, and there is mud, wind and the sun…”
“It’s a polluted and damaged nature that is escalating into destruction.” Replied Selinda solemnly.
Lucien shook his head. “Nature in my mind is a cycle.”
“As long as its constituents can make up a cycle from life to death and from death to life, it will be nature. Therefore, swamp is nature, volcano is nature, abyss is nature and nature is abyss, too…”
Before Selinda refuted him, Lucien went on, “Nature has a myriad of meanings. The nature we see and get in touch with are different from one another. Therefore, the nature in our mind is a unique nature that is based on our own experience and knowledge. It’s nature from our own perspective. Just like the microscopic particles, we will see different results when we choose different methods of observation. As to exactly what they originally look like, that is a meaningless question.”
“Therefore, my nature is nature from the perspective of human beings. The nature that is suitable for us and facilitates our development is good nature. The purpose of our environmental protection is also simple, which is to build a better nature where we can live more comfortably. In that regard, we recognize nature with ourselves as the center, and I think that elves are the same!”
Malfurion and Selinda were about to speak, when roars of slaughter and destruction suddenly burst out from down below. An army of demons surged out of the gap again.
Those demons were in an assortment of appearances. The one thing that they had in common was their aggressiveness.
“The Sovereign of Blood has driven his army of demons to attack again…” Lodell was greatly relieved and hurried to change the topic.
Looking at what was inside the gap and calculating the distance, Lucien suddenly extended his right hand and chanted a long spell:
“Eternal Blaze!”
Boom!
A scorching sun suddenly rose from the center of the Scarlet Plain. The terrifyingly high temperature could be felt clearly even though it was in a different world.
An unimaginable energy storm swept out, drowning everything with the glow.
Watching the rolling mushroom cloud and the shaking abyssal gap, and sensing the world-destroying power, Lankshear and Selinda fell silent.
Whatever you are trying to manipulate us to do, you’d better consider if you are strong enough first!
Lucien moved his right hand back into the pockets of his double-breasted suit.
