I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 828 - 828 827. Escape Zone

Chapter 828: 827. Escape Zone Chapter 828: 827. Escape Zone Tap, tap, tap—

In the profound world, only the sound of the counter echoed crisply.

At such a time, the sound had become a source of comfort for everyone.

Of course, it would have been even better if the frequency of the counter had been a bit lower.

Now the sound rang out in a steady rhythm, about every two seconds. Lu Ban looked around, the flashlight’s beam reached far, but beyond the light was still darkness.

The ground they stood on was pitch black too, with no texture or outline of the land; it was like a pane of pure black glass. The flashlight’s light did not reflect off the ground but was swallowed up by it, making the boundary where they stepped invisible, as if walking in dark clouds.

The light of the flashlight swept over the area, and as Lu Ban’s gaze followed the beam, there was no information around—just leftover nothingness.

Lu Ban had imagined the deep well would be filled with countless monsters or a great deal of pollution, or at the very least endless delirium, but there was nothing here.

Empty and desolate, like a world that had already gone silent.

“Is this the inside of the deep well?”

Shia couldn’t help but remark.

Her voice was also absorbed by the darkness, failing to travel very far.

“This area is relatively safe because it’s on the outermost edge of an ever-expanding space.”

Old Song explained.

He casually took a small object from his pocket and threw it forward. Soon, before it was engulfed by darkness, it had drifted far from them, as if pushed away by something.

“The further forward you go, the faster the expansion.”

He stated.

Shia had originally thought that the deep well extended outward from the center of the Outer Gods, but now it seemed the reverse was true—this place was a space that extended inward from the edge of the deep well towards the center.

When space extends towards a central point, it’s bound to collide.

With the distortion of space and the presence of the Outer Gods, the distortion would cause a depression, making the Outer Gods and Their pollution fall into it, and with the infinite extension, this depression would grow deeper.

This was the deep well.

Shia suddenly found this name very fitting and evocative.

“There are three areas in the deep well: we are now in the escape area, where, with the right technique and a certain amount of strength, one can escape the deep well. That’s why it’s very quiet here and there’s nothing.”

Old Song illuminated the surroundings with his flashlight as he spoke.

“Moving forward is the buffer zone. Once you enter the buffer zone, the pollution intensifies, and unless you have special powers, you cannot leave the buffer zone and return to the escape area. The buffer zone is also the most expansive area, and beyond that is the bottom of the well.”

Lu Ban and Shia didn’t need Old Song to explain what that meant.

Where the Seal core is located, where the Outer Gods and the Ancient Overlords are bound, the absolute source of Pollution.

“Even we cannot leave once we enter the bottom of the well. If we accidentally fall to the bottom, the best choice is to immediately end our lives and completely annihilate our souls so that, at least, we won’t suffer too cruel a torment.”

Old Song said this and continued walking forward.

As the team moved on, the sound of the counter grew more intense.

Soon, the beam of the flashlight shone upon an even deeper wall.

The wall was infinitely high, infinitely wide, absorbing all the light, akin to a sheet of murky black fog.

Tap, tap, tap—

The frequency of the counter was approaching once per second, which, according to Old Song, meant that the concentration of Pollution had reached ten times what it had been before.

“Just ahead is the buffer zone. Our protective suits can withstand about thirty minutes of Pollution. This doesn’t mean that you won’t be affected by any Pollution as long as you wear these suits for thirty minutes, but rather that you can recover from the Pollution within thirty minutes. After that, with every second that passes, the damage will become more irreversible.”

Old Song took out the stick that had earlier dispersed the mud. It trembled slightly, resonating with the black fog ahead, causing the previously unchanging mists to ripple violently.

Continuing forward, a spherical barrier formed around Old Song, blocking the fog.

The barrier was extensive, enveloping the whole team.

Lu Ban glanced ahead.

Suddenly, a cacophony of whispering echoes filled his ears.

Most of these whispers were in languages Lu Ban couldn’t understand; the few he could make out recounted some of the darkest, most bizarre, twisted tales.

In that pitch-black expanse, a face suddenly emerged.

Lu Ban saw a face resembling Du Danping in his youth, tempting Lu Ban with a deep voice.

Beside Du Danping, the faces of many people Lu Ban had seen fall and die in the Foreign Domain gradually materialized, their voices overlapping and filling Lu Ban’s brain.

He saw on those faces complex and splendid patterns spreading, extending from the void to Lu Ban’s eyes.

Within his eyes, those dazzling patterns swiftly took over his pupils and began to spread rapidly around.

Patterns quickly covered Lu Ban’s face, and he could feel his face Melting, accompanied by an extreme itch.

Merely “seeing” this phenomenon was enough to spread the Pollution.

Shia decided to simply close her eyes, refusing to see or hear anything, to prevent herself from being polluted.

“These are just Common levels of Pollution, hmm, probably around the [Metamorphosis] concentration,” Old Song remarked.

These giants like Old Song were not affected by the Pollution; having been exposed to so many Foreign Domains, they had already undergone sufficient Mutation, and this degree of Pollution did not affect them.

“Don’t worry, so far, the Mutation is reversible,” Old Song reassured.

Old Song shook the stick in his hand, and Lu Ban immediately felt the patterns that had crawled onto him begin to fade, and his breathing became smooth again.

And the whisperings in his ears also diminished significantly.

Lu Ban could now clearly see the environment around him.

The ground of the buffer zone was uneven as if it were the terrain of The Island, but all of it was black, resembling an inkstone. In the sky, there was a red sun emitting a dim glow that illuminated the entire space. Looking directly at that sun made the whispering noises in Lu Ban’s ears grow louder, and aside from that, there were monstrous creatures made of writhing flesh hovering in the sky like octopuses, some near the ground, nibbling on the few remaining trees.

Those trees were also made of human and beast limbs, skin flaking into leaves, bones forming branches, and flesh becoming fruits—fruits resembling heads that emitted eerie laughter, with every pair of eyes bleeding tears, decrying the injustices of the world.

“That is the deep well,” Old Song pointed at the red sun.

Lu Ban saw that from the sun, red pus dripped down, solidifying midair, twisting, and turning into a giant serpent. The serpent’s body, made of decaying greenish-yellow flesh, quickly noticed Lu Ban and the others, and the heads atop the trees swayed, all turning towards them in an instant.

Plop—

A tide of crimson blood formed a towering wave, rising abruptly and surging towards them.

With the entry of the giants, the buffer zone seemed to undergo significant changes.

*

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