Chapter 1295: Chapter 1294: The Judgment of the Goddess of Magic

In the center of the defied Court shrouded in chaotic darkness, a giant golden oak tree stands majestically like a small castle. The faint radiance surrounding the golden oak tree disperses the surrounding gloom, its grand canopy like a sky emitting faint light, creating a "sanctuary" with light and vitality deep within the shadow realm. Within this sanctuary, around the oak tree, vibrant seedlings have already formed a scale, various plants flourish on the fragmented ground and extend all the way to the near vicinity of the defied Fortress gates.

Even the criss-crossing, seemingly dangerous ravines and crevices on the ground are now covered by overgrown vines and sturdy wooden bridges, becoming traversable paths.

Gawain stood before the golden oak tree, somewhat startled as he looked up at this plant which clearly doesn’t seem to have grown naturally. After a while, he turned his head to look at the Holy Giant Stag beside him—having fully gained his freedom, Amon had retracted his body significantly, yet to humans, he remained a huge figure: "...So this is the ’little yard beautification’ project you mentioned in the report? You’ve planted another Reincarnation Giant Tree here?"

"No, it’s just a tree, a tree where I can rest," Amon spoke gently, seemingly somewhat proud, "During this period, I’ve been contemplating what to do after gaining ’freedom,’ something... more personal. I’ve thought a lot, and found that I still like tending to flowers and seedlings, which has nothing to do with the clerical status that once bound me, but rather, it is a genuine hobby."

Seeing the peaceful, serene expression in the Holy Giant Stag’s eyes, Gawain couldn’t help but ask, "Not playing cards anymore?"

Amon’s eyes instantly lit up: "Play, now?"

Gawain: "..."

After a moment of awkwardness, Gawain cleared his throat to change the topic: "Ahem, I just mentioned it casually... I’m here today for official business."

He looked up at the giant stag standing beneath the golden oak tree, while not far away, Milmina’s figure leaned against the thick trunk of the golden oak tree, sitting on the ground. Around her, the air was filled with numerous changing magic symbols and numbers, and fleeting geometric shapes—she seemed to be resting with her eyes closed, but upon sensing Gawain’s gaze, she slightly raised her eyelids and nodded lightly in curiosity.

"We just completed our exploration in the deep-sea," Gawain steadied his spirit and made his expression serious, saying gravely, "We boarded a spaceship left by the Voyager and entered deep into the Land of the Gods."

"Amon and I heard about this," Amon slightly lowered his head, his tone becoming serious, "What did you discover?"

"We discovered the secret of the sentinel," Gawain said straightforwardly, then his gaze swept between the two Retired Deities in front of him, "as well as your former kingdom."

The radiance surrounding Amon contracted visibly, while Milmina, who was curiously listening nearby, suddenly sat up. Her eyes, clouded by magical mist, widened slightly, and a short, questioning gasp reached the ears of Gawain and Amber: "Huh?!"

"What we found on this journey far exceeds your imagination, but before that, there’s another somewhat urgent matter to discuss," Gawain gestured with his hand, signaling the royal mages who followed him to step forward. It was only then that Amon’s attention shifted to these "followers" accompanying Gawain. He saw the humans carefully holding a rather large ice crystal cube with The Sculpture Hand, within which something appeared frozen.

"This is..." Amon faintly sensed a familiar aura from deep within the ice crystal but couldn’t guess the origin of the frozen vines and flowers for a moment.

"These are the real Fyrna and Lelena sisters. In the deepest part of the deep-sea, we found the ’sentinel’s’ true body, a facility left by the Voyager, an exceptionally large ’Mother Harbor,’ and your kingdom’s main body, the ’Reincarnation Giant Tree’... was withered at one of the ports of that Mother Harbor," Gawain indicated for the mages to release the magical power within the ice crystal while explaining to Amon the origin of the objects, "Just as we were concerned about before, the ’Elven Twins’ active in the wasteland now are fake. Their true appearance is the artificial intelligence ’sentinel’ of the Voyager’s Mother Harbor, while the real Elven Twins have been trapped in that Mother Harbor for over a thousand years, protected by the residual power of the Reincarnation Giant Tree, surviving for several hundred years..."

Gawain recounted his experiences in the sentinel’s Mother Harbor as succinctly as possible. Amon listened to this incredible story quietly, and even he couldn’t help but widen his eyes slightly. Meanwhile, the mages finally jointly lifted the magical restrictions left by Victoria within the ice-bound cube—the extremely hard ice crystal surface, which hadn’t melted at all during the journey, was suddenly shrouded in a layer of white mist. Then, within seconds, the whole ice rapidly melted and dissipated, and the vines frozen inside were gently lifted by invisible Magic, slowly settling on the grass around the golden oak tree.

"...This is what the Fyrna Sisters ultimately transformed into," Gawain had finished recounting the story of the Elven Twins, pointing at the vines and twin flowers on the ground, "I heard a voice in the ruins of the Reincarnation Giant Tree—although no one else heard it, I believe it was information conveyed to me by the Reincarnation Giant Tree. It asked me to take the Fyrna Sisters away, so I brought them to you."

Amber beside him looked up at Amon, who seemed to be in a daze: "Do you know how to handle this? In their current form..."

"I know." Before Amber could finish, Amon spoke softly, slightly lowering his head, allowing his crystal-edged antlers to gently touch the flower vines on the ground.

In the next moment, a point of green light spread out, and the flower vines floated lightly, winding around Amon’s antlers! After a while, the leaves and branches on the vine seemed to absorb nutrients, starting to stretch and extend, while the two pink-white small flowers at the top of the vine quickly became energetic, lightly attached to the top of the antlers, swaying gently as Amon lifted his head.

At this moment, Amon squinted, slightly tilting his head, as if listening to a voice coming from afar. After a long while, he gently nodded, and the corners of his mouth seemed to show a slight smile.

Honestly, even Gawain himself couldn’t figure out how he could see a "smile" on a deer’s face.

"I know, I know," Amon said softly as he sat down under the golden oak, nodding and responding quietly to something, "It’s been quite difficult for so long, but don’t worry, you can rest well here... Me? Oh, it’s nothing, I don’t mind. I’ve always known about this plan; yes, I’m right here in the defied Fortress. In a sense, I was the earliest participant in this plan, even though it was for research purposes... It’s unavoidable, it’s no one’s fault, you’re just doing what is right and the only thing to do, like I did back in the day..."

Amon spoke softly for a long time until he finally finished, his gaze returning to Gawain, who also found an opportunity to speak. Gawain made no effort to conceal his surprised expression: "Who were you talking to just now? Could it be Fyrna and Lelena..."

"It’s them, you can’t hear their voices, but they’re still here," Amon said slowly, "Thank you for bringing them back."

Gawain listened to this unexpected news, his eyes gradually showing signs of relief, and he couldn’t help but laugh: "I totally didn’t expect this—anyway, it’s good news. Can they hear what I say then?"

"I can relay for you," Amon lowered his head and said, "But their souls are very weak now and can’t maintain ’conversation’ for too long."

"Don’t worry, I just want to convey my gratitude," Gawain said solemnly, "Please thank them for me. The world hasn’t truly gained safety yet, but we’ve survived many crises, and the information they’ve left for us will be key in overcoming the next disaster. But now they can rest, and successors will handle the subsequent tasks."

Amon nodded and whispered with the flower vines wrapped around his antlers for quite a while. The glow on his antlers gradually dimmed, and the "God of Nature" sighed before looking at Gawain: "They have also expressed their gratitude to you, and now they’re going to rest."

"Now we can discuss the crisis in the wasteland," Gawain exhaled lightly, nodded, and looked up at the "Goddess of Magic" sitting not far away, "Lady Milmina, I have something I want you to see."

While speaking, he signaled Amber to activate the Magic Transmission Terminal she carried. With the Projection Crystal on the terminal lighting up, a clear holographic projection promptly appeared in front of Amon and Milmina. At the center of the holographic projection, a complex and intricately wrapped cubical Rune Device rotated, surrounded by several displayed "rune plates" being dismantled, along with numerous complex energy flow direction markers. This disassembled schematic looked dizzying—but it also marked all the secrets that scholars from the Cecil Clan, Typhon, and Silver Empire had found in this mysterious cube.

Compared to the paper reports Gawain had seen from Aunt Heidi, this holographic projection presented a more complete and professional technical document. For Amber, it seemed like a book written in the sky, but to Milmina, who had "mastered all laws," understood all runes, and had recently had a massive breakthrough in the understanding of the essence of magic, the information revealed in this document was extraordinary.

"What is this..." Milmina immediately leaned over. Due to the huge difference in their sizes, when she approached Amber, she almost descended like a dark cloud, her eyes filled with energy and pulsing with pure Arcane Sparks, "Where did this thing come from?"

"The sea demons captured several of these devices in The Deep Blue Webway, where they swiftly moved amongst the energy flows, and there seem to be many of them," Gawain nodded and said, "We suspect these things are related to the evil cult followers in the Gondor wasteland—actually, I can almost confirm these things were created by the ’sentinels’ who masqueraded as Elven Twins, commanding those evil cult followers to produce them and then deploy them into The Deep Blue Webway. Right now, no one knows what these cubes are for, but I thought if it were you... perhaps you could give us some guidance."

"... Captured from The Deep Blue Webway, huh... In this case, some structures in these rune arrays can be explained," Milmina said in a pensive tone, her voice low and slow, "To be honest, there are some things here that I don’t quite understand either. These are technologies not created by mortals of this age, thus beyond my knowledge, but I can feel... the pure magic power undergoes specific changes guided by these rune arrays. This thing might be..."

Her voice paused, seeming to make careful thoughts and judgments, and after a long time, she opened her mouth uncertainly: "Maybe it’s some kind of control device. If there are enough of them and accurately placed in specific nodes of The Deep Blue Webway, they might even affect the planet’s internal power cycle... I guess."

Milmina’s choice of words was cautious. Evidently, the "Voyager components" contained within this cube had far transcended this era, so much so that even a Goddess of Magic claiming to "master all laws" did not dare to make conclusions lightly, and could only rely on "feeling" to guess the cube’s function. Her judgment still remained crucial and was enough to spur further thoughts in Gawain.

Amber couldn’t help but ask, "If the sentinels and those evil cult followers have control over The Deep Blue Webway... what would happen?"

"Anything could happen, and none of it would be good," Milmina said sternly. "The Deep Blue Webway is the ’dynamic system’ that runs throughout the entire planet, stronger and more extreme than ocean currents or atmospheric systems, and more threatening. If they really controlled the operation of The Deep Blue Webway, they could easily create terrifying natural disasters at any point on this planet, tear apart the boundaries between the elemental world and the material world, open the door to the shadow realm, and even... if these control devices are more effective, they could do things even more terrifying."

"Isn’t that terrifying enough?! What counts as terrifying? Blowing up the entire planet?!" Amber instantly widened her eyes, "Doesn’t that mean we don’t stand a chance at all?!"

"No, the situation hasn’t gotten to that extent yet," Milmina shook her head gently, "I’m saying that if these cubes really possess the functionality I suspect, and the ’sentinel’ successfully completed all their arrangements—there’s one thing for sure: the ’sentinel’s plan is far from complete. According to my analysis, these cubes need to be fixed in specific nodes to smoothly react with the energy vein within The Deep Blue Webway, and they need to work together in a complete network to affect such a massive ’planetary power system’ like The Deep Blue Webway. Based on the information Gawain just mentioned... these things are still transferring in the energy flow, and the sea demons have already destroyed several of these cubes at least, so I think the situation hasn’t reached the worst point yet."

"But the situation could worsen at any moment," Gawain said in a deep voice, looking up to meet Milmina’s gaze, "Do we have any way to destroy this control system?"

"... I’ll find a way," Milmina said uncertainly, "But more than destroying the control system, thoroughly eliminating those evil cult followers in the wasteland and the ’sentinel’ behind them is truly the ultimate solution."

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