Chapter 1427: Going Or Staying

"Can you give me more details?" Roland inquired.

"There's nothing else." Silent Disaster was obviously guarded against the human king. "You have little knowledge towards the Sky-sea Realm, even if I explained, you wouldn't understand."

"That might be so in the past, but it is different now. Graycastle's Western Region has undergone attacks from demonic beasts, and there were traces of Sky-sea Realm within them." Roland did not care about Silent Disaster's tone and narrated the encounter with the Skeleton Monster in detail. "This is our first time encountering it away from the sea."

"Tell him what he wants to know," Valkries said slowly. "Regardless, it is better than having the human's legacy shard falling into the hands of Sky-sea Realm."

"If you put it that way..." Serakkas nodded her head helplessly. "Listen well, human. The thing that you saw is called a Nest Mother, they are the nucleus to the Sky-sea Realm's ability to expand. They do not wield fighting capabilities, but are able to control many subordinates to fight for them—"

"Like a brain?"

"You can say that, but do not interrupt me again," Silent Disaster replied impatiently. "These creatures are much more ancient than you think, and might have already existed since the beginning of time—But time, no matter how long, has few effects on it. Their form and abilities barely change, until recently in the past few months..."

After her explanation, Roland roughly understood the reason for the Sky-sea Realm's sudden change.

According to the demons, they were able to evolve as well, but not unlike the regular evolution of ability, the Sky-sea Realm's every new transformation involved its entire race. For example, the nest was the nest and the blade was the blade. There were no outstanding individuals like the humans or demons, where everybody was an independent entity. It might be because of this trait that their evolution was extremely slow and required a few centuries to see the change in them.

But the most recent change proved that they were completely wrong. No one was sure on how many evolutions the Sky-sea Realm had undergone in the past few months. The only confirmation was the exponential growth in strength. For example, the blade beasts were previously mere hunters for the Nest Mother. As long as they were locked in place, even Mad Demons were capable of destroying them. But not only had they grown several times in size, their strength, endurance, and reaction speed had greatly increased. Their claws which were abundant with magic power even posed a threat to Senior Demons.

Although a higher ascendant was capable of killing a blade beast with ease in a direct confrontation, the issue laid in the fact that the evolution was universal.

It could be compared to having a single Witch being awakened as a Transcendent, evoking all the other Witches to turn into Transcendents as well. As long as there were a sufficient number of them, the change in quantity would result in a qualitative change.

The demons which were barely maintaining the defense line was no longer capable of resisting the invasion of Sky-sea Realm as countless enemies crawled out from the ocean and inundated the battlefield like a roaring tidal wave. It forced the King to do the unthinkable—give up on the Blackstone region.

It was bad news for Roland.

If the demons were truly unable to hold their ground, it gave the humans a new pressure—the attack on the Western Region was merely the beginning.

"Human, I suggest for you to move your legacy shard." Silent Disaster advised. "With your current strength, it is difficult to fight against the Sky-sea Realm's large army. Valkries is right, we cannot allow the Sky-sea Realm to seize the legacy shard."

"I have no plans to hand it over to them." Roland shrugged his shoulders. "Aside from that... Don't you find their moment of evolution quite a coincidence?"

"Oh?" Valkries raised a leg and crossed it over the other. "Tell me more about it."

"The Blackstone region has always been fighting against Sky-sea Realm, so your estimation of their evolution should not deviate too far from that. And three to four months ago was when the Oracle ambushed Zero."

"You suspect that the Sky-sea Realm's substantial evolution is linked to God?"

"Just a guess." Roland answered solemnly. "But there is one thing I'm worried about... Has your race ever communicated with Sky-sea Realm before?"

Valkries expression gradually turned serious.

"I guess not, right? But all other participants in the Battle of Divine Will have interacted with each other before." Roland spoke unhurriedly. The humans and demons have interacted before in Cloud School. And the destroyed underground civilization had once 'communicated' with the Witch Organization, which resulted in the God's Punishment Army plan. He believed that the other party likely had similar experiences as well, and this could be seen from the Nightmare Lord's expression.

The only exception was the Sky-sea Realm.

History had not left any documents or materials pertaining to them. If the reason for it was humanity's inability to step into the deep ocean, it was extremely strange for the demons to have the same experience with Sky-sea Realm.

After all, interaction and communication was a trait to civilization, even if it was a hostile relationship.

And from the looks of it, Sky-sea Realm was a silent warrior apart from the three races.

With this train of thought, the reason behind the Sky-sea Realm's evolution would cause people to tremble with fear.

"What do you plan to do?" Valkries asked.

"To head to the Bottomless Land before everything becomes irrecoverable." Roland looked at the two. "I hope that you can stop your attack on humans and focus on defeating the Sky-sea Realm."

"That's impossible," Silent Disaster immediately refuted. "Firstly, ignoring the fact that the Divine Will and God are mere claims of yours, the current Commander of the Western Front is Mask, and all the Symbiotic Demons are under his control. Also..."

"Also what?"

Serakkas did not reply immediately but maintained her silence for a moment. "I want to talk to Valkries alone."

"Phew..." Roland sighed. "Fine, but don't forget the time."

...

Silent Disaster followed Valkries out of the door and walked to the side of the apartment corridor.

Standing there, an indescribable and majestic city appeared. All the rectangular and gray skyscrapers were in abundance and no less inferior to the Birth Towers, but their numbers were several orders of magnitude more. The buildings followed along the intersecting roads that seemed to extend forever without an end, where even the Deity of Gods would never be able to accommodate such lofty buildings.

This impact stifled Silent Disaster.

Previously, a single glance into the city had shaken Serakkas to her core, but the scene she saw upon walking out of the building far surpassed her imagination.

What was even more inconceivable was the number of figures walking in the middle of the city. They were neither magic power wielders who were sucked in, nor were they rigid creatures formed by the domain. That was the largest difference between the Dream World and the Presiding Holy Sea.

No wonder that human calls this a 'world.'

"Here would be fine." Valkries stopped.

Her words broke Silent Disaster's train of thought. She gathered her focus and calmed herself before speaking, "There are other magic power wielders in the room!"

"Yes, I know. They are Witches," Valkries replied indifferently.

"..." Her reaction came unexpected to Serakkas. "You... knew?"

"I even talked to them while waiting for you; although they don't really like me." Nightmare Lord nodded. "Their main goal is to protect Roland, but he don't really need protecting. It is just to put everyone at ease."

Even a Transcendent would never relax in front of a Senior Lord, much less a normal human? Silent Disaster discovered that this truth was far more shocking than the farce of the Battle of Divine Will.

"What else could it be? If he was that easily dealt with, I would had done so already." Valkries stopped at this point, as though feeling somewhat regretful. "Of course... That's my thought at the beginning."

"The Witches didn't follow us." Serakkas grabbed her hands. "Tell me, how can I bring you out of this Realm of Mind?"

Valkries looked at her for a moment before shaking her head. "Didn't you realize it? I can no longer leave this place."

"No, if I can come in, you can definitely get out. Right! If I bring your body along..."

Nightmare Lord extended her hand upwards and brushed her hair away. This action caused Silent Disaster to widen her eyes.

"Lord Valkries... your magic stone..."

"I'm different from you now, and different from the Witches." Valkries did not refute the formal address. "If our race loses the magic stone, the only outcome is death. But not me—it might be related to the way I entered the Dream World. Now, I am already a part of this world, and no longer able to return with you."