"They can... create world secret realms out of thin air in such a short time?" Watching the distant war through the Gospel Book, Yaxiu was as shocked as a textile mill worker staring at a fully automated workshop, wondering if he was about to be made obsolete. "And they're this powerful?"
He knew how formidable the Forgotten Ones were. These killing secret realms hadn't even been fitted with eternal wonders yet, yet they were already butchering the Forgotten Ones wave after wave. If he were in their place, he wouldn't fare any better. Even so, Yaxiu felt puzzled: if killing secret realms far surpassed ordinary secret realms in sheer might, why hadn't the six-winged angels been equipped with killing secret realms?
In truth, almost all world secret realms possessed some degree of "natural lethality." Leaving aside a realm like the Sword Rain Pool that could threaten demigods, seemingly normal realms like the Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood, Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon, and the Wishing Pool were also forbidden zones for life. The air in the Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood was teeming with viruses and bacteria; the currents and rays of light in Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon could inflict harm; and the waters of the Wishing Pool had once been used to test the mental fortitude of legendary sorcerers... They were often "holy grounds" born when a particular sorcery faction reached a certain pinnacle, and their raison d'être was to deduce and hone that sorcery to its absolute limit. And things that were too pure often turned out to be poisonous.
Even the most harmless Garden could captivate explorers with its overwhelming beauty so completely that they refused to leave, starving to death in the garden just to keep gazing upon it.
In the ancient lore Sonia had looked up in the library before, there were often little tales like: "Deep in the Magical Beast Forest lies a perilous secret realm; almost everyone who enters perishes, yet a precious few emerge with rare sorcery spirits or secret inheritances." She had generally treated them as light reading to unwind between her studies.
While those stories might have been fabricated, the kernel passed down through them likely reflected the past: to mortals, naturally formed world secret realms were mysterious lands fraught with extreme peril yet brimming with opportunity.
Yet even with the fiercest of them, the Sword Rain Pool, its "natural lethality" fell far short of the Morning Star Yaxiu was witnessing right now. When the purely natural was getting utterly trounced by the man-made, why did the Divine Lords still seem to insist on all-natural?
"The price is that these secret realms cannot be absorbed into a Temple of Sorcery, nor can they be housed in any Kingdom of Heaven."
Dead Frenzy chuckled softly. "They can only be placed out in the great world, where no one can monopolize them... Amusing, isn't it? A naturally formed world secret realm becomes a sorcerer's most prized personal possession, yet a world secret realm created by a sorcerer's own hands gains freedom instead, leaving no one capable of being its master."
"Every Divine Lord who has researched world secret realms knows how to fabricate one quickly. It's just that the cost and the return are completely disproportionate. Take the Morning Star as an example: first, use a wonder of light and dark as the core, then order a large number of gods to burn their lives as the price to forcefully cram the power of universal laws into that wonder." Dead Frenzy said, "Though an immense amount of waste is inevitable, as long as enough gods are sacrificed, the wonder of light and dark will rapidly swell into a world secret realm."
"However, these rapidly catalyzed secret realms... calling them evil would be a bit too childish, but they're like bewitching lotuses blooming from filthy soil—seemingly gorgeous, yet impossible to pluck. They yield no output whatsoever—or rather, they pour all their output into augmenting the realm's lethality, constantly expanding outward without end. If anyone dared stuff one into their Temple of Sorcery, they could expect to be torn to shreds from the inside out."
"In fact, they continuously ravage their surroundings in reality as well. It's just that reality is sturdy enough to endure the damage they cause. As for the sorcerers' temples and Kingdoms of Heaven... if reality is a reinforced concrete building capable of withstanding an earthquake, then a Divine Lord's Kingdom of Heaven isn't even a thatched hut."
The cost was so exorbitant, yet the payoff was a world secret realm that could neither be swallowed nor utilized. No wonder the Divine Lords stuck to all-natural.
"Yet in this current situation, they're perfectly suited," Yaxiu remarked.
"Indeed. Rapidly fabricated killing secret realms are the strongest line of defense against the Forgotten Ones," Dead Frenzy said. "If the Hell demigods didn't have these five killing secret realms, they would have long since been routed and slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands of Forgotten Ones... But this can only delay the inevitable until now."
"Aren't things going great for them? They have the upper hand," Yaxiu asked, perplexed. "Why won't they be able to hold out?"
"Did you think a world secret realm truly possessed infinite energy?"
Yaxiu froze at Dead Frenzy's counter-question, then caught on as he stared at the Morning Star in the projection. "You mean..."
"The Divine Lords call wonders within secret realms 'eternal wonders' because no sorcerer has ever been able to deplete a secret realm's resources. Naturally, a wonder powered by a secret realm's resources is considered eternal," Dead Frenzy explained. "One sorcerer can't do it, ten can't, a hundred can't—but what about a thousand, ten thousand, or hundreds of thousands of sorcerers? And what if those hundreds of thousands of sorcerers can draw upon the near-infinite energy of the World-Swallowing Serpent to bombard it relentlessly for an entire month?"
"As long as the base number is large enough, even so-called eternity comes within arm's reach."
Dead Frenzy's voice was aloof, like a physician who had seen too much death watching a dying patient's final heartbeats.
"The moment the Sixfold Hells were swallowed into the serpent's belly, all was doomed to be in vain. All eternity will dissolve into fireworks, and all might will become relics of the past. Because Ouroboros... is the end of all sorcerers."
As if to prove Dead Frenzy right, dozens of squads of demigods suddenly surged out in all directions from the Hell Fortress enclosed by the five secret realms, charging into the enemy ranks with complete disregard for death.
Whatever their mission might be, the mere fact that they had voluntarily abandoned the fortress to plunge into a hopeless situation was proof enough that the stronghold was teetering on the brink of collapse—so much so that the demigods were forced to risk their lives in search of a glimmer of hope!
The scene resembled a swarm of flies catching the scent of rotting meat. The Forgotten Ones hungrily pursued these dozens of demigod squads; even from afar, Yaxiu could see the dense "swarm of flies" roiling in agitation, as if indulging in a feast.
He saw an orc demigod turn back to intercept the Forgotten Ones, wielding fire and lightning with unrestrained fury to buy five precious seconds for his companions to flee, laughing maniacally as he melted away amid thunder and blazing flames;
He saw an elf demigod bloom like a blossom of death amidst the Forgotten Ones, performing a dance of death within the enemy ranks. Every second, hundreds upon thousands of throwing daggers flew from his hands, each blade piercing every defense and ricocheting endlessly, possessing both the ferocity of Divine Might and the exquisite lethality of Divine Prison. Each time the elf flickered to a new spot to dance, he carved out a hundred-meter death zone. He blinked six times, tearing six gaping voids into the massive swarm of flies until his origin power was entirely exhausted, withering in the most graceful posture upon the bloodiest of battlefields;
He saw a human demigod wielding twin blades engaged in close-quarters combat with the Forgotten Ones. Even while facing countless attacks from every direction at every second, the human blade dancer remained calm and composed, cutting through the enemy lines like flowing water and floating clouds, slipping past every danger like a gust of wind with skill so masterful that Yaxiu couldn't help but marvel in admiration. Only when dozens of Forgotten Ones blocked him with their very bodies did this wind finally come to a halt, never to blow again.
He even spotted a Lalafell clutching a staff and healing companions, but when he rubbed his eyes, it had already vanished from sight.
Chapter 1221