Above The Sky
Chapter 575 - 575 544 Sio's Projection 33

575: Chapter 544 Sio’s Projection (3/3) 575: Chapter 544 Sio’s Projection (3/3) At first, Ian thought he had seen a Radiant Nun—but soon, as the Dragon Maiden’s phantom gradually became more focused, the image transmitted by the drone became clearer, and he understood that the person before him was not the Sister Huai Guang he knew.

But it indeed gave him a sense of familiarity.

Under the dim moonlight, Ian saw a ‘Phantasm.’ To put it more academically, it was a ‘Projection of the Phantasmal Realm.’

Yes, in the Silver Chip, these phantasms were known as Projections of the Phantasmal Realm, which essentially were the soul projections of living beings in the Domain of Void reflected back into the real world as silhouettes…

Although it sounded quite roundabout, in reality, they possessed tangible power, which, due to the intrinsic changes within the Domain of Void itself, could even make the phantasmal projections more powerful than the original beings.

What truly surprised both Ian and Tres was the appearance of this phantasmal projection.

In the light of the moon, a Dragonfolk girl dressed in scale armor was slowly walking across the plains, her fiery red hair flowing like liquid flame, cascading past her fair neck, down her slender waist, and reaching her snow-white feet touching the ground, igniting layers of semi-translucent Spirit Energy flames.

The Dragon Maiden was incredibly beautiful, with a pair of pure golden eyes, looking around the world with a hint of confusion and curiosity, appearing quite fragile and adorable—yet an innate arrogance shone through her brows, and while the scale armor clung tightly, showing off the girl’s slender waist, the densely packed dragon scale spikes made it clear she was not easily approachable.

And the continuously twitching scythe-like tail behind her, made up of many deformed and twisted bone segments, further proved this point.

——This was an extremely dangerous creature.

The thought that flashed through both Ian’s and Tres’ minds was just this.

Especially the dragon horns atop her head.

Deformed, bizarre, burning with a semi-transparent scarlet flame of Spirit Energy, like molten antennae struck by lightning or gnawed blood coral, exuding a sense of mutilated twist that was unsettling yet conveyed a different kind of deadly beauty.

“This phantasm’s power is at the peak of the Third Power Level…

basically, it’s the strongest one amongst the phantasms wandering in the wild,” said Tres softly to himself upon seeing the description below the Dragon Maiden, “Her Spirit Energy flame is not fire, but rather a ‘poison’ produced by pure mental force, which can cause those who come in contact with it to feel numb, paralyzed, lose their sanity, and even suffer memory confusion—several victims are currently undergoing emergency treatment.”

“The good thing is she generally doesn’t kill unless provoked—otherwise, at most, one would burn and fall unconscious.”

However, Ian’s shock was not due to any other reason.

It was because of the Dragon Maiden’s appearance.

“Isn’t that Anfa?

Of course, a feminized Anfa…

Wait, doesn’t that mean this is Sio?!”

The breathtakingly beautiful Dragonfolk girl resembled Anfa’s twin sister, especially those elvish golden eyes, filled with an innocent naivety.

Yet her hair and physique shared characteristics of both the Dragonfolk and the Mountain People, all in all, the most expert racial scholars could instantly identify several attributes at just one glance.

But beyond his astonishment at her appearance, Ian also felt a sinking feeling: “I know Sio’s Dragon Soul is bound by the Fiery Flame Land, which means, Sio is actually in the laboratory in the region of Avak.”

“Now, within the phantasmal phenomena of this region, Sio has also appeared—can I surmise that all the phantasms in this region are essentially projections of the imprisoned souls in the Domain of Void from the laboratory?”

This was not impossible; in fact, it could be the truth!

“We need to avoid these phantasmal Magical Beasts,” Tres said.

It wasn’t that he was scared, but rather a matter of ordinary cautious consideration: “First, we capture an Ordinary phantasm outside, complete your mission, and then we can slowly venture deeper…”

Complete the mission of His Highness Michael.

That was the unspoken part, and Ian nodded slightly, “If phantasms of the peak of the Third Power Level are appearing, there must be a Fourth Level presence at the core of the laboratory.

We can’t draw too much attention…

Let’s deploy the drone first, we’ll advance a step after scouting a region, that will be the safest way.”

While this exploration method was the slowest and they could easily fall behind other teams progress-wise, neither Tres nor Ian had any intention of earning credit for mere exploration—fulfilling their own mission was what mattered most.

The crawler off-road vehicle sped through the wilderness of the Avak region, kicking up dust.

Fields that were once vibrant with summer life had become desolate and bleak.

The former residents had either long fled or had been slaughtered by the wandering Deformed Magical Beasts and phantasms, leaving behind corpses.

Now, Ian and his companions’ vehicle passed through a former village; the place was empty and dilapidated, full of traces of vicious beast attacks.

The brownish-red stains on the ground, the mutilated bodies, and the charred houses all confirmed that a tragedy had taken place here, and the desolate atmosphere made even the Fae unusually solemn.

The speed of the off-road vehicle was slow, always sending drones ahead to detect imminent dangers.

At this rate, they would probably reach the heart of the Avak region by daybreak, the hilly area suspected of housing the laboratory, near the Viscount’s Mansion.

Ian was also continuously gathering data on the abnormal Spirit Energy fluctuations in the area.

According to the feedback from the Silver Chip, the current anomaly in Spirit Energy within the Avak region was essentially a huge ritual of the Domain of Void.

This ritual was once recorded in the “Abyssal Sacrificial Text”; its name was ‘Silent Abyss,’ originating from a large-scale Void Realm Mutation during The Lost Age a thousand years ago.

Back then, the Frontier Kingdom had yet to unify, near the Exile Lands—that was not yet called the Exile Lands, but known as the Icy Pine Wilderness—there was a child born with extraordinary Spirit Energy who was sacrificed by the local tribe to the frigid winter.

His death and the extreme hatred and pain before it connected with the fear of cold winter felt by all the creatures in the Icy Pine Wilderness, resulting in a massive avalanche in the Domain of Void.

A fragment of the Domain of Void collapsed, or rather, it connected with the real world.

In an instant, the entire Icy Pine Wilderness was enveloped by the Domain of Void, filled with extreme Spirit Energy cold.

Opening one’s mouth would result in a frozen tongue, forcing everyone to maintain silence.

Wandering within it, the undying hatred and pain of myriad beings continued to distort that space-time, creating a piece of the Exile Lands that would occasionally emerge, devouring anyone caught within it.

Anyone below the Third Power Level who entered would find it difficult to survive, even Sublimators, and could not return.

Although this time it wasn’t as severe as the collapse of the Domain of Void in the area of the Exile Lands, Ian sensed something ominous, “If I were to say that those madmen are planning to artificially trigger a collapse of the Domain of Void by harnessing the pain and despair generated from a death toll on the scale of millions…

then what is their true purpose?”

Ian did not believe that simply replicating the ‘Silent Abyss’ held any meaning; the other party must be seeking to grasp some deeper information…

Moreover, he understood why Sio had been seen as a target and caught in a trap early on.

Because Sio was a Deformed Dragon.

He, she, or even It, had a body difficult to move, trapped within the Dragon Nest, forever unable to leave.

The fear and bewilderment of the lengthy passage of time, hidden within the heart, as well as the resentment and unwillingness regarding one’s own body, were the best offerings to activate the ‘Silent Abyss’.

And more importantly…

“Once the Silent Abyss begins to unfold, it proves that the core area has already been covered by fragments of the Domain of Void.

It only remains to be seen how far it will ultimately expand…

In other words, our target, the laboratory in the Avak region, is likely already engulfed by the Domain of Void!”

Ian shared his speculation with Hua’an and Mo Feng, who were also operating the equipment and collecting data on the Domain of Void.

The Fae’s eyes widened immediately upon hearing this.

They looked at each other, clearly very surprised, “They’re creating a Phantasmal Convergence Zone?

And they’ve already succeeded?”

“Good heavens, I thought they had created a huge Ethereal Spirit Energy entity.

They put on such a big show, I thought they wanted to summon some kind of Voidrealm Machine God—I never expected it was to cause the Domain of Void fragments to collapse into the real world!”

The Fae indeed had some data and had noticed certain clues.

But as Ian had previously considered, if one starts with the wrong guess, the subsequent answers will not be correct—the Domain of Void contains too many possibilities and the signs are overly complicated, making it very difficult to fully predict.

If Ian weren’t cheating, it would also be hard for him to see this point.

“Yes, it’s precisely because this area has begun to gradually overlap with the Domain of Void that those ‘Phantasms,’ the Projections of the Phantasmal Realm, have begun to appear so frequently!” Ian speculated, talking both to the Fae and to Michael, who he was certain was listening nearby.

“But it can’t be the Voidrealm Machine God—Duke of Solin has been evacuating his own population for many years now.

The refugee crisis has already lasted nearly six or seven years.

He must be trying to use this to reduce the population density in his own territory, decreasing the likelihood of the Voidrealm Machine God’s interference!”

“Given this, we must capture one of these Projections of the Phantasmal Realm as soon as possible.”

Hearing this, Mo Feng nodded seriously, with such force that even the ink-like substance forming her hair undulated outwards, “Moreover, this will cause irreversible damage to the Domain of Void.”

“The corresponding Domain of Void space for the current Exile Lands is still fragmented and will probably take over a hundred years to return to normal.

We absolutely cannot allow the Domain of Void in the Avak region to collapse—that would be another millennial wound!”

This was indeed the correct approach.

By using the Projection of the Phantasmal Realm, one could inversely determine the progress of the current Silent Abyss Ceremony and understand many things.

For instance, the ultimate purpose behind all the actions taken by the Duke of Solin.

And after hearing the discussion between Ian and the Fae, Tres, who didn’t understand at all, at least realized they needed to go deeper.

So, he ordered the two off-road vehicles to head further into the depths instead of merely relying on luck around the outskirts.

Soon, they found a group of Projections of the Phantasmal Realm.

But the problem was, there were quite a few too many Phantasms.

In front of the off-road transport vehicle, suddenly appeared seventy to eighty riders, an entire Knight Order galloping at high speed, stirring up dust clouds that soared into the sky, and charging towards Ian and his group.

“The Knight Order of Viscount Awak?!”

Tres, who had done his homework, widened his eyes as he watched the scenes transmitted by the drone, wondering in disbelief, “What are they doing here!”

“Have they also become Projections of the Phantasmal Realm?”