Chapter 404 404: Depth Of Abyss

The two Envoys from the Temple of Time got closer to the Empire but before they could step inside, they saw the bright tower of light disappear. The next moment, a barrier appeared around the Empire when they were just a little outside the border.

The two Envoys were taken aback at the sudden appearance of the barrier, especially when they hadn't managed to enter the Empire of Arecia yet.

On another side of the Empire, the Holy Priests had also started arriving, only to be greeted by the barrier.

The Holy Lord of Flames clenched his fist and punched the barrier with his full strength! Even his fist was surrounded in deep blue flames as he attacked.

Boom ~

The Holy Priest's fist landed on the barrier, creating an explosive sound. However, what the others saw was something they didn't expect. They saw the Holy Lord of Flames flying back uncontrollably.

Not only was the barrier completely unharmed, but it was the Holy Lord of Flames who suffered. It was only after the Holy Lord of Flames was pushed back a few hundred meters in the air that he managed to regain his balance.

"What kind of barrier is it? It's stronger than anything I've seen. Not only does it prevent me from passing through, but it uses my own attack against me by reflecting it?" The Holy Lord of Flames frowned, moving closer to the Holy Priestess of Earth.

"Can you tell us what is going on here?" The Holy Priestess of Water asked. Since she was the last to arrive here, she thought that the others had some idea at least.

"I don't know what's happening. However, it's definitely not good. It's related to the one who destroyed the Church of Flames," the Holy Priestess of Earth responded.

"The barrier is really hard to break. Even if we all attack together, it'll take at least half an hour to break it by my estimates," the Holy Lord of Flames muttered. He turned to the Holy Priestess of Earth. "Can we use the earth to pass through the barrier?"

"You mean enter from under the barrier?" The Holy Priestess wondered. Even though she didn't know just what this barrier was, she felt that it wasn't easy to pass through it even if she tried making a tunnel under earth.

Still, just to be safe, she landed on the ground. Her figure turned Illusory as she submerged inside the earth, disappearing. It was as if the earth had become her water and she was a mermaid born to travel through it.

After around five minutes, she came out again with disappointment on her face.

"It won't work. The barrier covers everything, from sky to earth. We can only destroy it if we want to enter!"

No matter how strong a barrier was, at the end of the day, its energy was limited. It was impossible for any barrier to last for an eternity against all the Holy Lords combined.

"Then so be it!" The Holy Lord of Flames exclaimed. "I will let that bastard live for half an hour more!"

As there was no other option, all the Holy Lords combined their strength and started attacking together with their strongest of spells, slowly wearing down the barrier.

****

Back at the side of the Temple of Time, things were much more different.

Unlike the Holy Lords, they didn't use brute strength.

Both the Envoys were quite unphased. The man simply placed his hand on the barrier. He didn't use any force behind it, so as to not be countered.

As soon as the man placed his hand on the barrier, the red gem around his neck started shining brightly, as if releasing a strange power.

The power didn't fight against the barrier at all. Instead, it just controlled the surrounding space of the barrier. It was as if the time was moving in reverse by a few seconds to the time before the barrier was cast in that space.

Even though time moved back by only a few seconds in a small space, it was still enough to almost exhaust the man entirely. He was barely holding on as his entire body felt weak. It was a struggle to even remain standing.

Fortunately, within a few seconds, an opening was created in the barrier. The two Envoys passed through the small opening, finally stepping foot inside the land of Arecia.

As the two passed through, the man stopped using his strength! The time that was revered by a few seconds returned to normal and the barrier appeared once again.

"Are you alright?" The woman known as Litvia asked. "If you're tired, you can stay here and recover. I'll handle everything else."

"No need." The man called Ozen was weak after using barely only a little bit of power of time, but he didn't show weakness.

He was still calm even though weak. He brought a small gem from his pocket and placed it under his tongue, regaining some of his strength.

Litvia didn't question him anymore. The two started flying toward the Garden of Legacy.

****

At the same time, the garden of legacy had transformed completely! The ground had turned into a dark abyss, filled with the aura of death. However, that abyss wasn't just limited to the ground!

As soon as Gabriel spoke the last word of the chant, the darkness shot out of the garden, swallowing Gabriel inside it!

Gabriel was stunned but he couldn't even resist. Everything around him turned pitch black and even he was unable to see anything.

For him, the entire world had turned dark! He flew higher and higher, but he couldn't come out of the darkness for some reason.

Somehow, he even felt as if he wasn't outside the garden anymore, but in a different place entirely.

After trying to get out of the darkness for a long time and still failing to get out, he stopped wasting time. If there was nothing to be done, he wanted to see just what this place was.

"Come to me." He raised his right hand, calling for his Grimoire of Necromancy which he could still feel around him, even though he couldn't see.

Other than the Grimoire of Necromancy, he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't even feel the other Grimoire that was under his control. It was as if in this place, only his connection with the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy was the eternal truth.

The Grimoire of Necromancy listened to his commands and flew straight into his hands.

"If only you could talk, I could've known just what was happening. Everything is so bizarre." Gabriel held Grimoire firmly. He stopped flying higher and instead went down. If under him was an abyss, then he believed that going to the depth of this abyss was the answer.