【 THE SEAL BREAKS 】

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A vast tide of energy continuously gathered above the ruins’ plaza, before slowly being absorbed by the black figure suspended in midair.

From the body of the Shadow of the Night, Eris, traces of an ancient and timeworn aura began to rise.

That aura swelled without end, growing and expanding, swiftly surpassing the strength of a demigod and reaching the true mythical-rank. It continued to surge upward, climbing relentlessly until it finally stabilized at the peak of intermediate divine power.

Sensing the overwhelming divine might, the players’ expressions shifted. Almost instinctively, they began searching for cover, quickly retreating behind the massive monoliths of the sealing formation.

As veteran players of Elven Kingdom, they had witnessed battles between mythical beings more than once.

After suffering several losses, they had long come to understand one simple truth within the game:

That is, beneath the true gods, all beings were nothing but ants.

So if they wished to avoid being caught in the crossfire and respawn back to the World Tree, they needed to find shelter from the aftermath of the battle at once.

Not only that, they even had to prepare in advance for the possibility that the Goddess might be defeated, considering their escape routes ahead of time.

Of course, that thought only flashed through their minds for a brief instant.

After all, as they gazed upon the sacred and beautiful female figure in the sky, who has remained undefeated until now, they still held great confidence in her strength.

The Goddess was after all the most popular NPC, the great leader of their faction.

Hiding behind the massive stones, they observed with both curiosity and excitement the shadow elf who had appeared in midair, as well as the goddess, whose expression was unreadable.

The players knew.

The most crucial part of the questline was about to begin.

→⟐←

Gazing at the familiar figure before her, Eve’s eyes revealed a trace of surprise.

Although she had already formed some suspicions upon seeing the black coffin and sensing a faintly familiar aura, the appearance of the Shadowshade Clan’s guardian demigod still stirred ripples in her otherwise tranquil mind since entering the ruins.

Their gazes met.

Reflected in her vision was a pair of unfathomably deep black eyes.

Those pupils were profound and ancient, like an abyss.

They bore no resemblance to the fragments of memory regarding Eris, the Shadow of the Night, recorded in the World Tree’s inheritance.

In those memories, Eris had been a figure cold and aloof, yet when looking upon the World Tree, her gaze had always been filled with reverence and trust.

But the eyes of Eris before her now were weary, aged, and heavy.

And within those depths, Evé could also sense a faint trace of wariness.

Clearly, although the body before her belonged to Eris, the soul within it no longer did.

Evé narrowed her eyes slightly, her voice devoid of emotion:

“Should I address you as Demon Lord Leviathan, or as the Ancient Sea God Pontus?”

She had seen the vague, massive face moments before with perfect clarity.

That octopus-like appearance…

There was no mistaking it, it was the face of Leviathan.

At the same time, however, the name engraved upon the stone pillar was equally clear.

It was not the true name of the one who had made the seal, but rather the real name of the being who had been sealed, inscribed to strengthen the seal itself.

Pontus.

A far more ancient god of the sea than Leviathan himself, even after the latter had obtained dominion over the oceans.

His existence predated even the former World Tree.

Seeing their similarities, Evé was deeply curious about the connection between the two.

Upon hearing Eve’s words, the gaze of “Shadow of the Night, Eris” shifted slightly.

In the next instant, her figure vanished from where she stood.

When “Eris” reappeared, she was already directly above Evé.

A phantom trident materialized in her hand, radiating a dazzling brilliance as it thrust downward toward Evé.

With a thunderous roar, an immense surge of divine power erupted, and a blinding light engulfed everything.

In the blink of an eye, the violent explosion of energy formed a mushroom cloud nearly three thousand meters high.

The fierce shockwave spread outward, tearing apart everything in its path and giving rise to a massive energy storm.

Even the colossal monolithic stones within the ruins trembled under the force of the storm, as though they might collapse at any moment.

“Your Majesty!”

Kelez’s expression changed abruptly.

Yet as the energy fluctuations gradually subsided, he froze in astonishment.

There upon the ruins’ plaza, Evé stood completely unharmed.

Not even her armor had suffered the slightest damage.

In contrast, “Shadow of the Night, Eris,” who had thrust the trident, remained frozen in place.

Moreover, behind her, several golden chains had appeared, tightly binding “Eris” body.

This was Eve’s divine spell: Chains of Divinity.

“Eris” struggled relentlessly, yet could not break free in the slightest.

Then a golden triumphal arch gate slowly emerged out of nowhere, as flecks of golden and emerald light rose continuously around it.

The radiance enveloped the entire plaza.

As the sacred light descended, “Eris” lost all ability to resist.

The Domain of Life and Nature.

Once this domain was deployed, Evé was confident that no mythical being below the rank of higher divine power could escape her restraint.

Seeing that the Goddess was completely unharmed, Kelez let out a breath of relief.

Soon after, that relief turned into exhilaration.

He had assumed that, having revived for only four years, the Goddess’s strength would still be quite limited. He had not expected her to have already reached such a height.

However, when his gaze shifted to the restrained “Shadow of the Night, Eris,” particularly those aged black eyes, his expression quickly became uncertain.

“Usurpation of Divine Body…”

He seemed to realize something, uttering the term with difficulty.

Hearing him, Evé lowered her gaze slightly.

—Usurpation of Divine Body

This was a type of divine art.

Within the World Tree’s inheritance, there were related records pertaining to it.

As a matter of fact, for a time, Evé had even suspected that her own transmigration might be connected to such a divine art.

It was an ability possessed by certain mythical beings who had lost their original bodies, most commonly employed by ancient gods.

They could preserve their divine souls to a certain extent, hide themselves, and wait for an opportunity to invade the bodies of other mythical beings in order to be reborn.

Of course, after such a rebirth, aside from the original soul, even their race and divinity might be completely altered.

Her gaze swept across “Eris” who’s currently suspended in midair as Evé slowly raised her hand.

A platinum radiance gathered in her palm, and a silver longsword gradually took form.

It was the Sword of Damocles.

Just as the triumphal arch gate had regained its normal state, this divine artifact had also recovered its inherent power.

Without hesitation, Evé slashed toward the “Shadow of the Night, Eris.”

The latter’s eyes widened abruptly, a trace of concealed fear flashing within them.

“Eris” tried to struggle, yet remained utterly unable to break free.

The arc of the blade descended, piercing through the body of “Eris.”

Faintly, it seemed as though a muffled groan could be heard.

Absolute Severance.

This time, Eve had targeted the connection between the sealed entity and the body of Eris.

As her blade fell, a gray mist began to rise from Eris’s body.

In the next moment, it hastily transformed into a hazy mass of light and plunged into the stone pillar.

“Trying to flee back into the seal?”

A trace of mockery flickered in Eve’s eyes.

With a casual motion of her hand, she cast Eris’s body toward Kelez. Leaving behind the words, “She is still alive,” before she transformed into a streak of light and followed into the stone pillar.

Kelez instinctively caught his teacher’s body.

Upon hearing the Goddess’s words before her departure, he was momentarily stunned, then overjoyed.

“Teacher!”

He supported the unconscious demigod with great emotion.

Though faint, he could truly sense the lingering trace of life within his teacher’s body.

Only then did the ten players cautiously emerge from behind the massive stones.

They stared in shock at the devastated surroundings, their understanding of the goddess’s power rising to an entirely new level.

At the same time, they curiously examined the figure before Kelez.

Only Demacia looked toward the stone pillar at the center of the plaza, which shimmered with a hazy glow, his face full of regret.

“Tch, lazy developers… they entirely skipped the cutscene of the goddess fighting the main quest boss once again…” he muttered irritably.

Meanwhile, Li Mu and several other players quickly gathered around Kelez, assisting him in tending to the unconscious demigod left behind by the goddess.

Although their attempts to appraise her returned nothing but question marks, based on the background information from this storyline quest, they had already formed some guesses about the real identity of the female elf rescued by the goddess.

→⟐←

As though passing through a dimensional passage once more, Evé arrived in a world of flowing, radiant light.

A world of brilliant colors.

It was an incomparably magnificent space, filled entirely with shimmering, multicolored light.

Within this space, however, one could see chains inscribed with runes stretching endlessly into the distance.

Around those chains, along the boundaries of the space, thick and ancient roots extended continuously.

They resembled the roots of the World Tree.

Of course, they were not the real roots of the World Tree.

Sensing that familiar aura, Evé curled her lips slightly.

These were the roots of that evil Tree of Life.

As for the surrounding multicolored radiance, it was none other than the origin core of the World of Mindel.

Evé cast a long glance at the streams of multicolored light being drawn toward the roots, as well as the sealing chains that, under the entanglement of those roots, were clearly becoming increasingly loosened…

This was the true location of the seal.

The fleeing gray mist had managed to vanished without a trace.

Yet Evé was not in the least bit anxious.

If, when facing the Tree of Life earlier, she had not been entirely certain of capturing the force behind the scenes, then arriving here meant that her opponent now had nowhere left to escape.

Of course, Evé did not believe that the other party would simply wait for its death.

That fragment of divine soul which had fled back into this space had not done so out of fear alone.

More likely, it was part of some deeper scheme.

As if responding to Eve’s thoughts, the gray mist reappeared, rapidly condensing.

Before her, that massive face resembling Leviathan materialized once again.

This time, however, its form was even more immense.

The enormous visage carried an ancient and weathered aura, with chains coiled tightly around it.

Gazing at the aged face and sensing its vast power, Evé understood that the entity sealed within this space was precisely the mythical soul before her.

Yet, observing its Leviathan-like appearance, her doubts regarding its true identity only deepened further.

Is it really the Ancient Sea God Pontus?

…No.

Although the ancient sea god predated even the World Tree, the World Tree’s inheritance still contained records of this Ancient God’s appearance.

In the knowledge left behind by the former World Tree, the Ancient Sea God Pontus bore no resemblance to the octopus-headed form of Leviathan at all.

At that moment, the entire space suddenly began to tremble.

Immediately after, several of the chains extending deep into the void broke away and lashed toward Evé.

Her expression sharpened.

She instantly understood what had occurred.

Her entrance into this space had triggered a reaction from the seal itself.

The residual force of the seal had mistaken her as a target to be bound.

Under normal circumstances, this would not have been an issue.

But the seal was already on the verge of collapse.

At such a moment, if part of its power were diverted, the consequences were self-evident.

Evé instinctively moved to stabilize the seal, to prevent the entire sealing construct from collapsing and granting her opponent a chance to escape.

However, when she noticed the roots of the Tree of Life rapidly absorbing the world’s power of the origin core, along with the faint yet chaotic aura emanating from Pontus’ divine soul, a thought stirred within her.

She halted her actions.

In the next instant, the seal finally lost control.

The entire space trembled violently, and cracks began to appear along the chains.

The fractures spread at an astonishing speed, soon covering every chain.

Beneath them, the enormous illusory face cast a mocking gaze toward Evé.

Then, with a sharp, brittle sound, the chains binding it shattered completely.

A flash of delight appeared across the phantom face.

Immediately after, it cast a resentful glance at Evé before transforming into a streak of light and surging toward the roots of the Tree of Life within the sealing space.

However surprisingly, Evé made no move to stop it.

Thus, under her cold observation, the entity managed to swiftly entered the Tree of Life.

In the next moment, the sealing space collapsed entirely.

→⟐←

Outside, in the ruins world, the players were still gathered around Kelez.

At that moment, a series of cracking sounds echoed from ahead.

Looking up, the players saw that the stone pillar into which the goddess had entered was now covered in fractures.

Then, before their astonished eyes, it shattered completely.

Seeing this, Kelez’s expression changed drastically.

“This is bad!”

“The seal has been broken!”

No sooner had he spoken than a column of dark gray light shot skyward.

The beam pierced the heavens, surging directly toward the World of Mindel above.

In the next instant, the entire world trembled faintly.

Before the players’ astonished gaze, the space above the plaza twisted violently. The Tree of Life, which had originally stood upon the slopes of New Rivendell, suddenly appeared at the center of the plaza amid rippling distortions.

The magical power throughout the ruins began to surge toward the Tree of Life, as though drawn by an irresistible force, forming a vast vortex that poured downward.

Upon closer inspection, one could see that streams of multicolored light were also being absorbed by it.

The Tree of Life, now standing within the plaza, erupted with vigorous vitality, growing rapidly.

At the same time, an ancient and weathered aura slowly emerged from within it.

Faced with this sudden upheaval, both the players and Kelez were left stunned.

Only when a flash of radiance appeared before them did Eve’s figure reemerge.

She raised her head, gazing meaningfully at the towering tree that continued to grow before her.

Upon the trunk, the brown bark shifted, forming a massive face.

That face looked toward Evé, its gaze filled with mockery.

Evé met its stare head on, her expression unreadable.

“Oh, so you intend to evolve into the one and only World Tree?”

Her voice carried a faint trace of amusement.

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