Desolate Era

by RWX

  “How can anyone create such a gigantic, powerful weapon?” Autarch Bolin asked.

  “It is overwhelming. I can feel that it is on a completely different level from Exalt-class Daoguard Towers. Not even the strongest Sithe weapons we faced during the Dawn War could even come close to comparing with this thing.” Autarch Mogg found it just as hard to believe that this realmverse-sized object was a manufactured weapon.

  “The Sithe heartlands contain an energy generator which powers their Daoguard Towers,” Autarch Titanos said solemnly, “While this titanic, terrifying weapon also holds an energy generator within it, which is what allows it to function and forcibly tear away energy from the Chaosverse and devour it. That’s why I said it reminded me of the Sithe heartlands.”

  Ning and the others were all rather shocked. The Sithe heartlands had been created at incredible cost. This thing before them was apparently on the same level of power?

  “The Sithe have been biding their time for countless aeons. We should’ve expected their first move to be an extraordinary one,” Autarch Bolin said with a grim smile.

  “We’ve been making preparations ever since the last war concluded. It seems the Sithe have kept themselves busy as well,” Autarch Stonerule agreed.

  “Let them come. We’ll handle anything they can dish out.” A murderous look flickered through Autarch Mogg’s eyes. The danger which had just manifested before them had stirred all of the Autarchs, awakening their combative instincts which had lain dormant for so long.

  The final war against the Sithe had yet to truly begin, but the Sithe had already made an absolutely terrifying opening gambit!

  “We have to destroy it, and we need to move fast,” the golden-robed Ning said. “But… how? I can vaguely sense that this behemoth hive is filled with tremendous danger. Even if all seven of us go, we still wouldn’t necessarily be able to successfully deal with it.”

  “The behemoth hive is definitely dangerous.” Autarch Titanos glanced at the other six. “And what if the Sithe suddenly launch the war after our avatars go inside and then are somehow trapped? Only half of our total combat power would be available to fight in the war, and we could very well be defeated.”

  “Right.”

  “We can’t all go inside! We need to be ready for the war to breakout.”

  “How many of us should go inside?” The Autarchs and Ning began to discuss this matter.

  Adding in their avatars, they had a total of fourteen Autarch-class combatants! Based on their previous experiences, they had to have at least ten Autarch-class combatants in order to keep a handle on the situation and not be caught flat-footed. However, given how long the Sithe had been biding their time, it was entirely possible that they would unleash something completely unexpected. Even ten Autarch-class combatants wouldn’t necessarily be enough.

  “Let’s send in two to take a look,” Autarch titanos said. “That way, we can still be at close to peak power if the war breaks out.”

  “Who should go inside?”

  “I’ll go inside!” Ning was the first to volunteer.

  “You, Darknorth?” Autarch, Titanos, Bolin, and the others all looked towards Ning.

  Ning stared at the enormous silver vortex and the behemoth hive at its heart. “We don’t know anything about what this thing holds or what dangers might be present. We’ll probably have to destroy the entire thing in order to stop it! Of the seven of us, I am the most well-rounded and am the best at dealing with unknown dangers. I have some skill in every single Dao.”

  Titanos and the others all nodded in agreement. Ning was very well-rounded and was quite skilled in every Dao. He had mastered even the Karma Sword Dao and the Numerancy Sword Dao. He was indeed the best of them in dealing with unexpected dangers.

  “Very well.” They all nodded in agreement. Without question, Darknorth was going to be one of the two to go inside. He would be given the primary responsibilities for destroying this behemoth hive.

  “I’ll go as well.” Autarch Mogg smiled. “I’m the master of the Space Daobirth Essence and have the keenest understanding of how space works. I’m the best at scouting out nearby dangers.”

  None of the other five Autarchs disputed this. They all agreed once more. Everyone knew where their respective skills lay and who would be most effective in dealing with this behemoth hive.

  “The other Autarchs should all return to their respective stations and prepare for war to break out at any time,” Autarch Titanos said. “Darknorth and Mogg, send in your avatars! I’ll stay here to stand guard and keep a watch on things, to prevent anything unexpected from happening.”

  “Very well.”

  “It is settled.”

  ……

  Ning and Mogg had both sent their avatars to this place, and so all they had to do was make some minor preparations before flying together towards that silver vortex. As for the other five Autarchs, they watched from afar as Ning and Mogg flew off into the distance. The five only departed after seeing the two safely enter the vortex.

  “I hope they can destroy that thing,” Bolin said.

  “Even if they cannot, they have to stop it from functioning,” Autarch Titanos chuckled. “I’m confident in Darknorth’s skills. Even if he fails, he should be able to get a clear sense of what lies within that behemoth hive and how it operates.”

  “Right.” Ekong, Skyfeeder, and Stonerule all nodded. They could all vaguely sense that after 6 million chaos cycles of training, Darknorth was now most likely the strongest of them all… and he was also the most well-rounded!

  ……

  Space twisted around the golden-robed Ning and the tall, thin, azure-robed, scale-faced Mogg as they continued to fly forwards through a dimensional tunnel that led into the silver vortex.

  The gigantic silver vortex was filled with apocalyptic power. Only Exalt-class beings would be able to just barely be capable of surviving this place. However, Mogg’s dimensional tunnel was quite stable and it brushed aside all the power which clashed against it.

  “Almost there.” They continued to fly through the silver vortex, the behemoth hive slowly growing in size as they moved closer and closer towards it.

  The countless tunnels covering the hive were dark and unfathomably deep. All forms of energy which entered those tunnels vanished without a trace, never to be seen again within this Chaosverse.

  Whoosh. Whoosh. Ning and Mogg both descended towards the surface of the behemoth hive. The hive was protected by layers of frenzied, semi-translucent energy which furiously assaulted the two of them, but they were brushed away before they even got close. Ning and Mogg landed on the icy surface simultaneously.

  This enormous weapon, the size of an entire realmverse, was so vast that ordinary Hegemons and Emperors couldn’t even see it in its entirety. Ning’s gaze transcended spacetime, and so he was able to see it clearly.

  Book 43, Chapter 17 - Autarch-Class Creatures

  Ji Ning and Mogg were in no hurry to immediately rush inside the behemoth hive. Instead, they flew across its surface and began to inspect it.

  Ning and Mogg were able to cross hundreds of billions of kilometers almost instantly, and they continued to fly for a full hour as they reviewed the hive up close. The hive’s surface was a mixture of dark black mixed with silvery white. Black was the main color, but some strands of silvery-white energy had crystallized in certain regions. As for the tunnels, they ranged from being a hundred kilometers wide to a trillion kilometers wide.

  Ning and Mogg came to a halt and descended upon the surface once more.

  “We can’t see anything from outside,” Ning said. “It seems we’ll still have to go inside to take a look.”

  “My senses are telling me that the interior isn’t uniform in nature. We can’t simply blink in and out of it,” Mogg said. “Our only choice is to accept the risk of flying inside.”

  The two knew that the insides of this behemoth hive were undoubtedly very dangerous. The gloomy darkness was capable of swal
lowing all forms of energy. Any godsense or heartworld projection energies would be swallowed as well, making it impossible to scry what was inside. They had been hoping to first learn what they would be facing, but they still knew nothing after that long inspection of the surface.

  “Let’s go inside.” They chose an ordinary-looking tunnel that was a hundred million kilometers in diameter. There were countless tunnels like this across the surface of the behemoth hive.

  Ning and Mogg stood at the edges of the tunnel, staring downwards. It was still furiously swallowing energy at an astounding pace. Ning and Mogg exchanged a glance, then flew downwards.

  Whoosh! They quickly began to descend into the dark depths.

  ……

  The golden-robed Ning held two Northmoon swords at the ready as he began to rapidly descend into the abyss, while Autarch Mogg wielded a pair of long sabers.

  “No wonder we couldn’t just blink inside.” Ning glanced at the walls of the abyss. Sphere-shaped spacetime bubbles dotted the walls, each of them ranging from ten thousand kilometers to over a hundred million kilometers in size. These spacetime bubbles simply hung there, connected to each other while channeling an enormous amount of power.

  “Why are there so many spacetime bubbles here?” Autarch Mogg was puzzled. “Let me see what happens when I destroy one of them.”

  “Be careful.” They had come here to destroy this thing. Ning naturally wouldn’t object to Mogg’s suggestion.

  “Break!” Autarch Mogg let out a loud shout, sending out a mighty surge of energy that transformed into waves of folded dimensional attacks that could be seen with the naked eye. The attacks slammed against a distant spacetime bubble, causing the bubble to tremble for a few moments before bursting apart. However, nothing was held within it.

  Rumble… nearby, a new spacetime bubble appeared out of nowhere. This one was exactly the same size as the previous one, roughly ten million kilometers in diameter.

  “I broke one, so this thing made a new one.” Autarch Mogg frowned. “I can see at least a million of these bubbles. I can’t imagine how many the entire behemoth hive holds! I can sense how all these spacetime bubbles are linked to each other, channeling a powerful force which is used to furiously swallow everything within the outside world.”

  “Let’s attack at full power and see if we can wreck them,” Ning said.

  “Alright.” Mogg nodded.

  Both of them were searching for clues for dealing with the hive. They could easily tell that the countless spacetime bubbles were important tools in allowing the hive to devour energy from the outside world.

  The golden-robed Ning manifested three heads and six arms. Six Northmoon swords in hand, Ning began to furiously attack the surrounding spacetime bubbles with abandon via his Spacetime Sword Dao. Sword-light flashed everywhere, causing the various bubbles to be instantly destroyed on contact.

  Ning also expanded his Sword Dao Domain to cover a large radius, reinforcing it with the power of his heartworld projection! Alas, the spacetime bubbles were so tough that Ning had to attack with his Spacetime Sword Dao if he wished to break them apart quickly.

  Autarch Mogg manifested six arms as well. He used his Space Daobirth Essence with his six sabers, furiously destroying spacetime around him.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The two worked together to crush everything before them, almost instantly destroying over ten thousand spacetime bubbles. But… it was like they were swimming through a vast ocean, with each wave producing countless new bubbles.

  They were able to destroy ten thousand spacetime bubbles in a flash, but the gloomy, dark walls of the abyss simply rippled slightly before manifesting ten thousand new bubbles. It would create as many as were destroyed!

  “Halt,” Ning said.

  “Why should we halt?” Autarch Mogg glanced at Ning, puzzled. “Even if we can’t destroy the spacetime bubbles faster than they are being created, at least we are forcing this thing to use up more energy. If we continue, we might be able to eventually run it dry.”

  Ning shook his head. “It is useless. I can sense that the power of the destroyed bubbles is being completely absorbed by the hive, which then uses them to recreate new bubbles. The hive isn’t losing a single shred of energy during the destruction/creation process.”

  “What?” Autarch Mogg was shocked. The cycle of destruction and rebirth didn’t cost any energy at all? “Then what should we do?”

  “These spacetime bubbles are nothing more than a tool this hive uses,” Ning said. “There are other things that matter far more, such as its energy generator! If we can destroy its energy generator, it’ll be finished.”

  “But this thing is the size of a realmverse. How are we supposed to find it?” Mogg was worried. Realmverses were enormous in size. If they tried to search without any clues, even ten chaos cycles of time wouldn’t be enough! It must be remembered that this thing was continuously devouring energy from the outside world, causing the Chaosverse to gradually weaken. They couldn’t afford to waste any time.

  Ning said, “Give me some time. I can find it.”

  Autarch Mogg blinked in surprise and delight. He fell silent, not wanting to disturb Ning.

  Ning carefully scrutinized the countless spacetime bubbles around them. It must be remembered that Ning had infused the Dao of Formations into his Sword Dao, and so he was now highly attuned to how formations functioned and operated. These countless spacetime bubbles were clearly part of a single vast formation of incredible complexity! What he needed to do was find the critical points of this formation.

  Ning wasn’t strong enough to create or set down a formation of such magnitude, but by inspecting how it functioned he would still have a chance to find its critical points.

  He continued inspecting for roughly the time needed to boil a kettle of tea. He then turned to Autarch Mogg and said, “Follow me.” Ning reached out to cover Mogg and himself with his Spacetime Sword Dao, then began to advance at high speed.

  “Have you already found the energy generator for the hive?” Mogg was surprised.

  “I’m not sure, but I’ve definitely found one of its critical points,” Ning said.

  They continuously warped through spacetime, advancing at high speed. Suddenly… whoosh! An enormous, fiery-red tail tore through spacetime, instantly appearing right in front of Ning.

  “Huh?” Ning’s face changed as he immediately brandished his Northmoon sword, delivering a crushing blow.

  BOOM!!! An enormous explosion rang out.

  Ning could sense a surge of tremendous power pass through his Northmoon sword and into his own body. He couldn’t help but stumble several steps backwards, and a look of shock appeared on his face. His Sword Dao was the most offensively lethal Dao there was. How was it that he could actually be knocked backwards in a frontal collision?!

  “Grr… you finally come!” A deep voice rang out, followed by a towering form appearing and drawing near.

  Ning and Mogg both stared at this new creature. It looked humanoid but was so towering as to seem like a mountain! Its entire body was covered with fiery scales, and it had a pair of sharp claws for hands, while its lower legs were reverse-jointed. It also had a long tail ! It had a triangular head and a pair of cold, murderous eyes. An aura of flames was blazing across its entire body.

  “What a powerful creature!” Autarch Mogg immediately sent mentally, “Darknorth, this has to be an Autarch-class void dweller.”

  “Autarch class?” Ning was secretly shocked. His own ‘Stonefire Pearl’ had been acquired from an Autarch-class lifeform the Autarchs had slain. These creatures were incredibly rare, and they were viewed as the kings of the Infinite Void outside the Chaosverses.

  “I’ve been waiting you for a long, long time,” the towering monstrosity rumbled.

  “Waiting for us for a long time?” Both Ning and Mogg were rather puzzled. But right at this moment…

  Boom! Boom! Two more powerful auras warped through spacetime and appeared before them. Ni
ng and Mogg turned slightly pale as they stared at the two similarly massive creatures which had arrived. The first was a furry humanoid who only had a single eye and who radiated a vile, evil aura, while the second was something that looked like a dragon turtle. The dragon turtle was the largest creature of the three.

  “You finally made it.” The tall, skinny cyclopean creature spoke in a shrill voice. “We’ve been waiting for ages.”

  “There’s three of us but only two of them. How are we supposed to divide them up?” the dragon turtle complained in a booming voice.

  Book 43, Chapter 18 - The First Clash

  “I got here first! One of them is mine,” the towering creature with fiery scales said as it stared at Ji Ning and Mogg.

  “You only got here a half-second before we did, and you’ve already attacked them. Clearly, however, these two cultivator leaders are completely unharmed. Why the hell should you get a second chance?” the cyclopean creature argued shrilly.

  “Are you trying to start a fight, One Eye?” The flames surrounding the fiery-scaled creature suddenly rose higher. Clearly, it was quite offended by this.

  “Do you think I’m afraid of you?” the cyclopean creature laughed.

  “Heh, you two are already squabbling before the battle has even begun! So far, only two of the local cultivator leaders have arrived. Let’s just kill them first! I bet the cultivators will then send more, at which point we can get rid of a third one, right?” The dragon turtle roared, “Let’s attack and kill these two!”

  The three Autarch-class lifeforms spoke in thunderous voices, not disguising their intentions in the slightest. Ning and Mogg exchanged a glance upon hearing all of this.

  “It sounds as though they have to kill a total of three cultivators,” Ning sent.

  “Autarch-class void dwellers aren’t easily managed. The Sithe probably reached some sort of a deal with them,” Autarch Mogg sent back. “They can be considered the true rulers of the vast Infinite Void which lies beyond our Chaosverse, and they undoubtedly had to slaughter a path through their fellows in order to reach their current heights. They hardly understand the Dao at all, but they have such incredibly powerful bodies that they are very difficult to deal with. Killing three of them will be very hard!”