Chapter 578 Grateful

As Nial perceived the beauty of the entire valley, he was filled with a sense of peace. It truly felt like he had stumbled into paradise, a place where nature and ancient civilization coexisted in harmony.

Unfortunately, Nial also knew that he was about to bring forth doom upon both nature and the ancient civilization since it was necessary to destroy the entire High Mythician Dungeon to stop the chaos from spilling outside the dungeon.

With that thought and the fact that he swore himself to never show mercy to the being who stood in his way, Nial ordered Shadowmancer Dexter to attack the ancient civilization with the Army of 30 million Shadow Monsters. Ryu and the other Devils attacked as well, showing no mercy to the beings whose existence was indirectly the cause of the trouble their master had to go through.

Clearing up the mess was an obvious action, which was also why Nial chose not to feel guilty about what was bound to happen. He let the Shadow Monster Army, Ryu, and his Devils loose while he created his darkness domain the moment he reached the proximity of the Ancient City.

The Ancient City's appearance alone was enough to strike Nial with its grandeur. The towering walls that surrounded it were made of massive stone blocks that were extremely smooth. They had been sculpted by an expert and fitted properly to turn it into an impenetrable fortress. Nial passed through this impenetrable barrier without any difficulties but that was owed to the unique properties of his movement technique.

He had been able to perceive the roofs of the buildings with the Ancient City peeking over the top of the walls, their tiles glinting crimson in the sunlight. The shadows cast by those towering structures were enough to use the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique to emerge within the shadows of the city. Within the city, Nial could perceive everything with much more clarity. He was able to perceive the streets that were lined with ancient houses and temples.

The weight of history pressed down on Nial, similar to how it had been within the Colosseum in the City of Trials. However, something was different as Nial walked through the cobbled streets. The air was slick and the scent of incense and spices hung heavy, intermingled with the sound of people talking and laughing that filled his ears. Yet, Nial didn't feel bad when he heard the laughter, not even when he felt the happy emotions that were intertwined in the mana of the people from the ancient civilization.

That was a little weird, especially since Nial knew that the ancient civilization was bound to cease to exist in the near future. Everywhere he perceived something that told the city's long-forgotten past. The walls of the city were adorned with intricate carvings that were pretty similar to runic constellations. However, there were also differences in the energies of the carvings and runic constellations.

The carvings seemed much older and more complex than runic constellations, which piqued Nial's curiosity.

As he paced through the city, he could not help but feel awestruck and amazed. Nial could ignore the people around him since they could hardly perceive him either way as he walked through the darkness and shadows. But while he was in awe, he felt an oddly heavy weight settle against his chest. It was as if he landed in a place where time had stopped, in a landscape that was both ancient and eternal. And he was about to destroy all of that.

There were several places that attracted Nial's interest in the city, but his focus was clearly on the impressive structure of the ancient library that towered in front of him. Nial had used the Grasp of Eclipse Movement technique to emerge in the central region of the Ancient City where hundreds of pairs of eyes fell upon him.

For a short moment, he felt bad since he knew that soon-to-be dead people were staring at him in the last moments of their life, but the dark energy that flowed through every cell in his body calmed his emotions in an instant. Once again, Nial was not actually sure if the dark energy's influence might have taken an upper hand. He was certainly crueler than usual since it was not normal for him to be unbothered by the thought of annihilating an entire ancient civilization.

That was certainly not normal, but the thought of the High Mythician Dungeon causing problems to the Orion shelter and the people he held dearly was more than enough to disperse his doubts.

'I am really lost...'

The Shadow Monster Army had reached the walls of the Ancient City by now but Nial focused on the ancient library. He spread out his darkness domain and stored everything he could get his hands on inside his spatial ring. Some people of the ancient civilization took note of him, finally, but they could only stare at him in a stupor.

Something prevented them from moving, and it was certainly not the darkness vines that coiled around their legs. Many people of the ancient civilization were at the Keltia rank but they were turned into statues that could not even move a finger to escape his darkness vines. This was only obvious since his dark energy had been reinforced by the Essence of Darkness and the crimson moonlight. It wouldn't be easy for the Originals of the ancient civilization to escape his grasp, especially since it looked like their lives had been too peaceful and rusty.

They were starstruck and unable to move for a while. Nial didn't kill the beings who looked like beings of a race merged between different races he had already encountered. It felt like the Originals around him right now were mostly existences that were not supposed to be alive. They didn't struggle as he pinned them down to the ground and something made him feel as if they were hoping to get killed.

This sensation was extremely weird, but it allowed his guilt to die down quite easily.

'Why do they want to die?' He wondered for a moment, just to hear a stuttering voice ringing through his ears.

[T-Thank you...]

The voice in his head didn't really make sense but neither did the fact that he was not really bothered about killing the ancient civilization. Even before he heard the voice his mind had accepted the annihilation of the entire ancient civilization. It didn't really make sense before, and thinking about it now turned Nial's mind upside down.

He began to question his sanity and if everything was actually an illusion, cast from a God's Divinity. That would make more sense than him accepting and being fine with being the cause of death for hundreds of thousands of people he didn't hold a grudge upon.

However, none of that was actually an illusion. That was what Nial noticed quite easily when he heard the commotion made by the Shadow Monster Army behind him. The ancient civilization would never die without attempting to fight back. Though more and more voices filled with gratefulness rang through his mind, it was not as if everyone was willing, or able, to die just like that.

Nial took a while to digest the situation but once he was ready, he continued to collect the valuable goods within the library. All books were safely secured inside his spatial ring.

Once he had emptied the grand library, Nial's focus diverted to the Originals he had pinned down to the ground.

"Does everyone in here want to die?" He asked just to receive a reaffirmation that the Originals actually wanted to die.

"Are you bound by a Soul Contract?" Nial added another question, just for a new voice to resound within his head.

[Just kill us...you can only help us by ending our suffering...there are things much worse than being enslaved...]