Gu Qing Shan turned to this man.
He had a relatively round face, a long beard, the outside of his left eye had a long scar that looked like it was caused by some sort of weapon, and appeared to be in his late 20s.
An insignia was engraved on his shoulder pad.
Black background, yellow accents, a round insignia with a lion and hawk.
Searching through his memories a bit, Gu Qing Shan quickly found the background this insignia represented.
This was the family insignia of the Duchy military affairs minister, Count Heath.
In this world, noble clans and families use their faith as a basis to take in subordinates with similar beliefs, turning them into a part of their forces.
In other words, this person here was a knight from the Count’s manor.
Gu Qing Shan tried asking: “May I ask how I may be able to help your grace?”
“Ahaha, easy, easy. Milord had simply run into some minor troubles, if you are allowed to mature for a few more years, comprehending more techniques from the Condemnation Codex, I’m sure you’ll be able to help us at that time” the man answered straight.
——so it was something like that.
They’ve already done their research and found that only a Condemner is capable of resolving their problem.
Gu Qing Shan chuckled and replied: “As long as it isn’t a wicked deed, you have my words”
The man appeared really glad and said: “Young master Rhode, I know about you, but not that you’ve already become a Condemner, I am a cavalry captain of the Heath family, Moore”
He pointed behind himself——-
Several rows of full-armed soldiers appeared from the void of space in an orderly manner.
“These brothers are all my men, we belong to Count Heath’s 2nd cavalry troops, dispatched to guard the border on your side since the beginning of this year”
Gu Qing Shan greeted the men.
Moore was about to say something else, but both he and Gu Qing Shan suddenly went silent.
Everyone looked up at the sky.
From high above, a crimson shadow slowly descended.
This faint shadow had covered the entire sky, rousing a deep feeling of unease.
“What is this? Have you ever seen such a thing before?” Moore asked.
“We do not have such a thing here” Gu Qing Shan replied.
The Viscount envoy also scowled: “Such a gigantic shadow, what exactly——–”
He suddenly went quiet.
Two cylindrical beams of bright red light appeared from the shadow, striking the rocks and gravel in front of the group.
Zi zi zi zi—– psssh——–
The ground first sizzled before it crumbled to dust layer by layer.
The two beams of red light moved together sweeping through the village.
Wherever the light went past, everything would be reduced to dust and vaporized.
“What kind of magic is this!?” Crow couldn’t help but shout.
Moore abruptly turned around, looking at a certain knight, and quickly asked: “I remember that you were a worshipper of the God of Secret and Truth”
The knight was sweating bullets, his expression completely pale as he answered: “Sir, I’ve investigated, those are gazes, they’re gazes!”
He practically screamed the latter part of his answer.
Complete silence.
——-gazes.
In other words, that crimson shadow that covered the sky was actually some sort of creature?
Everyone couldn’t help but look up again.
The crimson shadow continued to look through the entire village.
It seemed to be looking for something.
As the two worlds overlapped, its figure slowly became solid; almost as if it was about to descend on this world.
Moore swallowed his spit and muttered: “Even its gaze had such power, damn it, what kind of thing is that?”
Gu Qing Shan’s mind began to move as he silently grabbed the Earth sword.
No one was paying any attention to him right now.
Holding the Earth sword tightly, Gu Qing Shan looked up at the shadow and focused his thoughts.
Lines of glowing text quickly appeared on the War God UI:
[Using Earth’s choice to completely slay this extinct monster will require the following amount of Soul Points:]
[?????]
Gu Qing Shan was shocked.
This is…
Incalculable?
This was the first time he had seen Gu Qing Shan give such a notification!
Gritting his teeth, he released the Earth sword and let it fade into the void of space, then placed his hand on his Inventory Bag.
In the worst-case scenario, he had prepared to ignore everyone’s shock and draw the [Bow of Fallen Souls].
This Dreamscape Soul Artifact had the power to corrode everything, which should be usable, even if for only a while.
From the void of space, the crimson shadow continued to grow increasingly solid.
——its physique could now be seen clearly, apparently similar to humans.
It was lowering its head to stare down at the village.
Since the villagers had all gathered to the shelter, there was nothing on the ground that could catch its attention, except——-
The large red eyes slowly moved back, dragging the two beams of red light along the ground towards Gu Qing Shan’s group.
Everything that the beams passed through was completely destroyed, leaving nothing but two parallel deep trenches.
“Saint Mother above, how are we going to defeat this monster…?”
Someone muttered in a low voice.
“The village’s space had been restrained——- we won’t be able to escape!” another knight exclaimed.
Moore’s expression was unprecedentedly serious. He held the clan insignia in his hand, quickly saying something to it, most likely reporting the situation.
He suddenly put the insignia away, then shouted in a low voice: “We won’t be able to escape. All troops prepare for combat!”
Everyone quickly drew their weapons.
All of a sudden, the large crimson shadow abruptly looked up.
The two beams of red light quickly went away from the village and peered into the boundless darkness.
The humanoid crimson shadow seemed to have realized something, so it swiftly disappeared.
It left.
The group was already preparing themselves for a desperate fight to the death, never did they expect the monster to simply disappear.
A second later.
Gu Qing Shan and Moore both tilted their bodies, vanishing from where they stood.
A dark shadow flew through the darkness, passing through their original spots.
The dark shadow crashed into a wall and became visible.
It was a big piece of black carapace.
Its head was a single large pincer with sharp serrated teeth.
「 Save… save… 」
It spoke.
Everyone was stunned.
What exactly is going on here?
While everyone couldn’t react in time, another dark shadow crashed down, fusing with the black carapace.
The carapace coiled around itself, slowly disappearing and leaving a single thick blob of ink.
The blob of ink then suddenly manifested a pair of pincers that heavily pulled to either side.
“What… is it doing?”
Crow couldn’t help asking.
A split second later, a large hole could be seen torn into the void of space.
There was nothing to be seen in the murky water on the other side of the hole, everything was perfectly obscured.
A moment later, some sort of dark, evil, and rotten aura could be sensed from within the hole.
The pair of pincers that were keeping the hole opened quickly turned into a wall of writhing flesh.
No one had ever seen such a thing occur before, so they couldn’t help but hold their breaths.
Gu Qing Shan knew for a fact that the other side was the extinct monster world.
He silently released his inner sight to evaluate the hole.
The other side of the hole was actually a large ocean.
There was a single crimson shadow that stretched from the bottom to the very top of the ocean.
——-the same monster from before.
Its hand was as large as a mountain range, currently grabbing a constantly writhing black shadow.
The two beams of red light from earlier now peered through the murky water, focusing on the black shadow, which also revealed the black shadow’s true form.
It was a giant crab whose carapace was full of sharp black spikes.
The giant crab struggled nonstop, but couldn’t escape from the crimson shadow’s hand.
「 You… only… you…I’ve been waiting for you… 」
「 Save me! 」
For some reason, it recognized Gu Qing Shan’s inner sight and even spoke to him through it.
Gu Qing Shan sighed.
Save you?
Never mind how I don’t have that ability, doing so would only anger the crimson shadow, I can’t do it.
“I’m sorry, I can’t do that, I’m not a match for it”
Gu Qing Shan sent his voice in return.
As he was about to retract his inner sight, the giant crab heavily struggled again.
It hurriedly said: 「 I tried to flee this far because you are the only person who can save me, I’m on your side! Please give me a hand, I will surely repay you—– 」
Gu Qing Shan shook his head, his inner sight slowly pulling away from the hole.
Seeing him leave, the giant crab sent its voice again: 「 Wait a moment! I have a message for you, you have to save me, Gu Qing Shan! 」
Gu Qing Shan froze.
The extinct monster world.
All the creatures in this world are monsters that had long gone extinct within the space vortex.
Why does it know my name?
Could it be another message from a parallel world ‘me’?
Gu Qing Shan looked carefully at the crimson shadow, clenched his teeth, but still backed out.
Outside, everyone continued to remain cautious.
“Do not approach, this hole seems very strange. The other side should be a completely different world” Moore shouted.
Gu Qing Shan remained still.
Even the [Void War God] mission announced by the War God UI didn’t cause him this much disbelief.
Too powerful, the crimson shadow was truly too powerful.
Even if the giant crab brought me information from a parallel world ‘me’, I still have no way of saving it.
It’s very possible for me to end up being killed by the crimson shadow as well.
While he was thinking, his gaze was attracted by something.
A countdown was ticking away on top of the War God UI:
[3:59]
[3:58]
[3:57]
…
Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but ask: “What is this?”
The War God UI replied: [A countdown to 10 minutes. Once this number reaches 0, the fragment of the extinct monster world that had overlapped with the village would move away, no longer capable of returning here]
Gu Qing Shan paused a bit, then looked back at the countdown.
[3:45]
[3:44]
Wait a minute——
Everything still isn’t over!
Gu Qing Shan abruptly released his inner sight, sending it back into the murky ocean water through the hole.
The crimson shadow was trying everything it could to break open the shell of the black spiky crab.
The giant crab was still managing to struggle, but since it was being held tightly in the crimson shadow’s hand, it couldn’t really move away.
It didn’t give up right away, instead, it was shooting its sharp spikes outwards to cause the crimson shadow to be cautious, thus stopping its attack.
However, the giant crab was clearly weakened a lot after shooting the spikes.
“Try your best to hold on for a while, I only have one chance to save you” Gu Qing Shan suddenly called out.
Hearing that, the giant crab seemed to have awoken, continuing to hold off the crimson shadow’s attacks.
「 How long do I have to wait? 」
“Soon”
…
「 How much longer? 」
“There’s still a bit of time, persist for just a bit more”
…
「 I’m nearly at my limits 」
“Keep at it, just 20 seconds more!”
…
「 Goodbye forever, I’m dead—— 」
“I’m coming!”
After sending his voice, Gu Qing Shan threw his bow down on the ground.
On the War God UI, the countdown displayed the last 10 seconds of the two worlds overlapping.
The first second——
Gu Qing Shan’s figure disappeared as he jumped into the ocean.
“Shannu, draw its attention for a brief moment, then immediately return!”
“Understood, gongzi!”
The fourth second.
Shannu flew up.
In an instant, boundless black fog enveloped Shannu.
She turned into a dragon that charged straight towards the crimson shadow.
The crimson shadow immediately looked up cautiously at this Demon Dragon.
Taking this fleeting chance, Gu Qing Shan landed in front of the black spikey crab, pressed his left hand against its carapace, and took out a black-cover book in his right hand.
The sixth second——-
The black dragon that Shannu turned into had disappeared.
She had already done her job as soon as she drew the other party’s attention.
Almost instantly, she directly used [Ground Shrink] to return to the village.
Gu Qing Shan quickly chanted: “All things live and die in the fleeting moment, with my power of Condemnation, your suffering will surely be eased—-”
[Divine Word: Cleanse]
—-one final second.
The black-cover book erupted in a flash of holy light and struck the crimson shadow’s hand.
It loosened its grip.
At this moment!
Gu Qing Shan and the black spiky crab both abruptly vanished.
Divine Skill, [Shadow Shift]!
In the murky water, a single wooden bow silently drifted.
The two worlds no longer overlapped.
Roar!!!!
The crimson shadow uttered a helpless furious howl.
