Reincarnation Paradise Park-Chapter 825 - 56: Eve of the World Struggle War

The "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty" is built on a circular stone disk, which resembles a millstone magnified by thousands of times. Beneath the stone disk are hundreds of stone pillars that extend deep into a circular pit, supporting the "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty" above.

It’s unclear how this "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty" was constructed. Even with the advanced building techniques of the modern world, constructing something like this would be impossible, given the depth of the pit below.

There are three five-meter-wide stone bridges at three corners of the stone disk beneath the "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty." One can reach the palace by crossing any of these stone bridges.

These three stone bridges are built extremely treacherously, with no railings on the edges—just bare stone bridges. If a battle occurs on the bridges, one might easily get knocked off, falling into the malicious pit below.

Above the "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty," some debris slowly rotates, levitating anti-gravitationally.

Su Xiao approached a stone bridge, Dragon Slash appearing in his hand, and slashed towards the edge of the bridge.

Clang.

Small fragments of stone flew off; the stone bridge was unexpectedly sturdy. Su Xiao could slice through solid iron with a single stroke.

Su Xiao placed his hand on the bridge’s surface, sensing a powerful energy surging within it. The bridge wasn’t strong by its own nature; rather, the energy within was protecting it. Destroying the bridge would be exceedingly difficult, even two Apollos might barely melt a portion of it, but complete destruction is impossible.

Realizing the abnormal sturdiness of the bridge, Su Xiao stepped onto it, heading towards the "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty." The palace exuded an aura of grandeur, making anyone standing before it feel insignificant.

Keeping vigilant, Su Xiao arrived at the palace, where two ten-meter-tall metal doors blocked the entrance. A man wearing a crown and holding a scepter was carved on the door.

The man kneeled on one knee, stretching his arm, attempting to touch a pile of flames about to extinguish before him. A twisted sword was lodged within the flames, and above the man, the sun was in a total eclipse.

Even though it’s just a carving, Su Xiao felt as if he could sense the scene within.

The sun has been swallowed by the Moon Wolf, the flames about to extinguish, and soon the world will be plunged into "darkness," into never-ending "darkness." Only the king at the world’s center strives to glean the last shred of light with which to save his subjects and defeat the evil dragon. The king’s subjects include the Human Race, Elf Clan, Dwarf Clan, Beastman Race, Centaur Tribe, Goblin Clan, Giant Race, and Troll Tribe. These eight races possessed their own territories, and although not peaceful with one another, they didn’t invade each other.

The hot-tempered dwarves and the proud elves together forged weapons, quarreling all the while. The Giant and Troll Tribes attempted to form alliances through marriage. The Centaur Tribe roamed and hunted freely on the plains, keeping to themselves, while the Goblin Clan invented peculiar contraptions daily. The Human Race facilitated trade among all races.

However, everything changed because of an evil dragon.

Although the king defeated the evil dragon, the king neared his end. Humans, elves, and giants drank the evil dragon’s blood and formed an army named the Dragon Leap Army, while beastmen, dwarves, goblins, and trolls feasted on the dragon’s flesh.

A hundred years later, on the shattered remnants of the continent, a war began between the Dragon Soaring Empire and the Tribal Alliance. Though they were subjects of the king, they were led astray by the dragon’s avarice.

[Hint: Hunter witnessed the rise and fall of the "Dusk Dynasty" across time; Hunter’s spirit resonates, Willpower permanently +2.]

The prompt from Reincarnation Paradise made the scene before Su Xiao’s eyes fade away. After a few moments of shock, the great metal door in front began to corrode and crumble.

With a crash, the ten-meter-high metal door turned into a cloud of dust and disappeared, along with the other two corners of the palace’s metal doors.

"It seems the mission isn’t without rewards."

With that, Su Xiao walked into the "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty." Within the palace, he found the terrain exceptionally complex.

The entire "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty" spanned seven levels, with a spiral stone staircase in the center running through the entire palace.

Among the seven levels, the lower six contained numerous rooms and passageways. Without a map of the place, Su Xiao would likely get lost.

Indeed, one could easily get lost. Although it’s absurd for Su Xiao, with his perceptive abilities, he found that the palace was filled with energy that didn’t corrode the body but suppressed his senses, reducing his perception circle to about four meters.

The energy was familiar to Su Xiao, identical to that within the stone bridge.

Climbing the stone staircase, Su Xiao reached the seventh level of the "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty," the highest level.

The seventh floor was spacious, with a golden throne at its deepest point, upon which sat a skeletal remains, wearing a crown and holding a scepter.

Su Xiao walked forward to scrutinize the skeleton on the throne, discovering that the energy enveloping the palace emanated from the scepter in its grasp.

Su Xiao grasped the scepter.

Crack...

The skeleton turned its head, hollow eye sockets staring at Su Xiao, who quickly released the scepter.

At that moment, Su Xiao felt an overwhelming malice emanating from beneath the palace, a terror beyond bone-chilling.

Bubu Wang curiously approached, about to touch the skeleton when Su Xiao kicked its rear, mouthing silently, "Don’t touch."

Clearly, the skeleton was the king of the "Dusk Dynasty," the one who defeated the evil dragon and suppressed something beneath the palace.

Though Su Xiao had arrived at the "Palace of the Dusk Dynasty," there was no subsequent hint from Reincarnation Paradise.

As Su Xiao pondered his next move, the World Source in his pocket floated toward the skeleton.

"The contract has arrived."

The skeleton suddenly spoke, its voice seeming to come from the depths of the abyss.

Su Xiao tensed, Dragon Slash poised before him, while Bubu Wang cowered nearby, transforming into a "Siberian Husky" statue, its cooperation with Su Xiao astonishingly seamless.

Inside the silent palace, the World Core floated to the top of the skeleton’s head, embedding itself in its forehead.

Boom!

A blast of impact swept over Su Xiao, blurring his vision; it was an exceedingly aggressive form of space-time power.

Moments later, Su Xiao shook his head clear and rose. Everything seemed normal; the skeleton still sat on the throne with the World Core embedded in its forehead, and Bubu Wang’s statue lay prone on the ground, playing its role to the hilt.

"Idiot, it’s safe."

Su Xiao sheathed Dragon Slash and nestled the scabbard at his waist.

Bubu Wang cheerfully scampered forth, hiding behind Su Xiao, baring its teeth at the skeleton as if to say, "This skeleton scared me. Boss, cut it, and I’ll back you up."

Su Xiao certainly wouldn’t attack the skeleton, knowing it to be extremely formidable; provocation would mean certain death!

Opening the war channel, Su Xiao requested two permissions from Reincarnation Paradise—one to modify names within the war channel, the other to send images, both granted.

Su Xiao uploaded an edited map and detailed records of the ancient ruins to the war channel. Upon receiving these, the contractors were bewildered; inquiries arose, such as, "Can the war channel send images?" and "Did this guy buy a membership?"

After Su Xiao sent the final message, the war channel was immediately flooded with responses.

Traveler (Loner): "The above is a detailed report of the final war site."

’Traveler (Loner)’ was, of course, Su Xiao. No sooner had he sent the information than a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.

[Reincarnation Paradise Announcement: All contractors must arrive at the Alterac Relics within 24 hours; the World Conquest Battle will commence in 26 hours!]

[Announcement: Contractors failing to arrive at the Alterac Relics within 24 hours will face forced execution.]

[Announcement: The World Conquest Battle duration: 10 natural days.]

[Announcement: All contractors must successfully defend the ’World Core’ to form a ’large space coordinate.’ Successful formation of the large space coordinate will result in victory. The formation time is 10 natural days, during which the Apocalypse Paradise contractors must be prevented from seizing the World Core.]

[Announcement: If the World Conquest Battle is lost, all contractors will face forced execution!]

...

Su Xiao sat cross-legged atop the palace roof, overlooking the scene below, anticipating the chaos soon to ensue. Twenty-six hours later, the entire ’Alterac’ ancient ruins would become a battlefield.

Contractor warfare is unlike that of natives; the contractors possess diverse abilities: elemental-surrounded mages, heavily-armored main tanks, psychic users, Ghoul Bloodline, Devil Fruit Ability Users, among others. The sheer unpredictability of abilities in a melee involving over a thousand contractors promised an extraordinary spectacle.

Su Xiao rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, focusing on two objectives: defeating his enemies and surviving.