Apocalypse Forecast

It seemed like after midnight, the whole world had changed.

Laughter vanished without a trace, replaced by endless despair and torment, where even breathing was filled with pain, frustration, and self-blame. Countless unbearable past memories surfaced in the heart, turning into nightmares lingering in the dead of night, entangling your mind.

It’s like accidentally thinking about past mistakes before falling asleep.

Then, you have to be prepared to say goodbye to sleep.

In the midst of self-blame and regret, you constantly struggle with the foolish mistakes of the past, until you’re utterly exhausted, closing your eyes with tears, stuck in endless regret and apologies in silence.

Born as a human, I am very sorry.

But in reality, Huai Shi felt an odd sense of satisfaction.

There’s absolutely no apology, not only did he not want to apologize, but there was even a little sense of embarrassing accomplishment.

Even though the mood was inevitably bad, there was a constant flow of power from every limb and bone, and the negative energy engine received an unprecedented boost.

Even the excitement of his soul led to an outburst of divine nature, temporarily increasing the assimilation efficiency of the Eternal Beast’s flesh in the Ruins by six percent!

Helios is truly a wonderful place!

Beautiful mountains and waters, even the air nourished people...

For a moment, he even wanted to pitch a tent and stay there. Yet, it couldn’t offset the constant sense of crisis surfacing in his heart, and everything perceived by the extreme interpretation.

It was like the echoes of a bat.

He could perceive the movements from all directions through countless subtle vibrations on the ground,

Countless twisted steps crawling through the darkness, when he closed his eyes, he could detect strange tremors from the faint echoes conveyed by the Resentment Water.

A colossal formless entity was operating in this darkness.

When Huai Shi daringly removed a glove, his fingers sensed the eerie torrent rushing silently through this pitch black from the vibrations carried by the wind.

Sticky, wriggling, agitated...

Everywhere.

Merely passive perception, it felt like experiencing the unpleasant sensation of one’s body slowly sinking into the mud.

The talent of the Dark Windbreaker provided the best protection.

Even if he couldn’t wield divine nature, the Great Priestess was still the Great Priestess, perfectly shielding his presence in the darkness. By concealing all his aura, he almost disappeared into nothingness.

Like an inconspicuous Iron Stone, he blended into the darkness, avoiding the attention of that phantom thing.

Yet someone made the worst choice.

—Lighting a lamp.

In the distance, on a spacesuit, a headlamp that had remained off was flusteredly turned on by a panicked Explorer.

Then, it illuminated countless floating colors in the air.

Like ink floating in water, it was everywhere. The moment the light was turned on, it seemed to perceive something, and instantaneously contracted towards the place where the light was.

Thus, the formless space seemingly gained substance, the countless threads of pitch blackness contorted like frenzied hands, entangling the terrified Explorer’s body, inching in, ’gripping’ tight!

A constant snapping noise ensued.

The defensive Border Relic instantly shattered.

Painful screams erupted, piercing everyone’s eardrums.

"Go away! Go away!!!"

The Alchemist roared hoarsely, waving both hands and actually ignoring the spacesuit he was wearing, forcibly mobilizing the Mystic Rituals inscribed on his arms and body, incinerating the cumbersome spacesuit.

Immediately, a massive amount of slippery flame-like grease emerged from the areas around his burnt body, expanding madly to the surroundings.

But even flames capable of melting steel instantly couldn’t make the darkness recede.

Instead, they blended into that roiling stickiness, cloaking it in an eerie hue—just like that, instantly contracting, with one final snapping sound.

The greasy flame seeped out from the crunching pitch blackness, spreading, illuminating the nearby dazed figures submerged in sorrow.

Revealed—

"—Crack!!!"

In that moment, the writhing darkness seemed to have been activated, twitching in spasmodic convulsions, emitting a screech like steel grinding, countless scarlet pupils emerging, opening and gazing all around.

Like a flying rag, enveloping above their heads, it slowly shrank, squeezing out a torrent of blood like a storm, collecting into a river on the ground.

The blood river surged, following a pre-set program, swallowing all the corpses on the ground, dissolving everything irrelevant into a viscous slurry, raging and frothing.

Even the Border Relic dissolved among it.

Now, darkness and blood were converging towards the predetermined Boundary Marker—on the ground, infiltrating the mouth and nose of the last surviving body, occupying all space, causing the lifeless heart to beat once more, grotesquely expanding.

Bringing that grotesque face, terror-stricken unto death, back to life.

At that moment, he, no, ’it’ opened its eyes.

As blood tears flowed, the corners of the mouth curled up into a smile filled with happiness.

—The final step of the Alchemy Secret Rite had begun!

"This is impossible..."

The Alchemist nearby fell into a stupor, unable to accept the bizarre transformation.

Or rather, finally understanding what was going on.

Those who came here, those hiding near the Gate of the Kingdom, the Alchemists were not ’survivors’ or ’lucky ones’ at all, they were ’guards’ deliberately left here!

Like guard dogs tied at the door, unknowingly becoming puppets of the masterminds behind the scenes.

This was a trap...

From the beginning, they were never able to escape the control of the nightmare.

The so-called lingering on, was merely a part of a coldhearted plan.

Someone intentionally kept them alive here, enduring torment, struggling to survive amidst illusions and pain, sinking day by day into this living hell.

Like seeds sown in fertile soil, they took root, sprouted, and bore ugly fruits.

Transforming humans into objects of alchemy.

Through the environment left uncontrolled by Helios, these survivors were tortured, force-fed pain, joy, despair, and happiness like ducks being stuffed.

In the end, this hell-like space turned into a ’furnace’, igniting the invisible fire, agitating the source substance split along with the mind, creating seeds of disaster from people’s souls.

Even all the border relics here became nourishment for the seeds.

When the vast miracles transformed into disaster in an instant, the last person’s soul faced destruction, and a brand-new monster emerged from the shell!

This is the man-made Hell Swarm, a freak capable of rivaling the ’Clothed’ with just one person!

A famous forbidden mystic ritual in alchemy.

——[Mutated Spirit of Birth!]

"This is... troublesome."

Iz extinguished his cigar, exclaiming in astonishment.

Only the alchemy ’rookie’ Huai Shi didn’t understand, completely unaware of what exactly happened, only knowing that the BOSS cutscene suddenly started, dumbfounded.

Just wanting to run away.

"The Mutated Spirit of Birth is born relying on the curse of the deceased, its essence ever-changing, you could say it’s absolutely unique, and it can’t be killed unless completely destroyed..."

Iz lowered his voice, explaining: "But what’s more troublesome is, this should be a unique skill of Grandmaster Pobrus!"

This is the point that all alchemists cannot accept.

Because Publius had already died before they left the Moon!

And before dying, he suffered seventy years of imprisonment by the Astronomical Society...

So, what is this that appears here at this moment?

"Run, Huai Shi."

Iz took a step back: "Getting entangled by that thing would be trouble."

Screams then rang out.

It was Rachelle...

Accompanied by the sound of an exploding corpse, the Mutated Spirit of Birth broke out of its shell, an indeterminate, sticky darkness like flesh dripping continuously from its body.

Like a centipede that swelled thousands of times, it stretched out numerous long, slender limbs, crawling swiftly, heading straight for... Rachelle!

"Give it... back to me!!!"

In the writhing darkness, a human face seemed to emerge, blood-red eyes staring grimly at Rachelle, pursuing relentlessly. Rachelle ran in terror, pulling out an unknown potion from his pocket, injecting it into his body, moving with unbelievable speed.

Then, gritting his teeth, he pulled out something resembling a dagger from his backpack.

"——In the name of Asclepius!"

Though it pained him, he couldn’t afford to worry.

He chanted the activation incantation, turning around and tossing out the dagger, the one engraved with twin snakes, flying through the air, stabbing straight toward the spirit of nativity behind him.

Like a red-hot nail, it quickly extended, plunging into its waist, pinning it to the ground. The curse from the Greek god of healing caused the massive creature to stiffen, gray stone colors surfacing on its body.

Unable to kill it, it became increasingly ferocious instead.

It struggled fiercely, causing cracks to appear on the petrified shell...

Rachelle had no time to catch his breath before seeing its gaping maw open, a waterfall of sticky sludge pouring out, engulfing him, surging, pulling, not allowing him to escape.

"Help! Help!"

Within the sludge, he struggled madly, calling for help to those beside him, but no one paid him any attention.

The alchemists from the Stone Pot Society included, all retreated unanimously.

Such a cold situation drove him to collapse, screaming: "You can’t do this, the Grandmaster still needs me... I won’t tell anyone... You can’t do this! You are ungrateful!!!"

But the five alchemists from the Stone Pot Society remained unmoved, merely protecting the most important ’Jet Engine’, retreating swiftly.

"Rachelle, the contract between the Grandmaster and you has been fulfilled." The leader told him: "You sought your death out of greed, he owes you nothing."

Rachelle’s face changed drastically, roaring with resentment: "You want to kill to silence! Don’t dream! I have backups of those things, I have..."

But no matter how he roared, those alchemists had already vanished apathetically into the darkness.

In desperation, he could only cast his pleading glance toward Huai Shi.

While Huai Shi, could only shrug helplessly.

Gripping the boundary marker.

Bro, I’ve already started the Hearthstone here.

You’re on your own now...

As soon as he noticed something amiss, Huai Shi immediately slipped into a corner to teleport back to town, his actions extremely swift, his reflexes remarkably quick.

Now, with the twinkling of the boundary marker, a light has already risen, covering him.

The next second, he should have appeared on the bridge of the Child of Leviathan...

At least, that’s how it should have been, but if everything in the world happened as expected, there’d be no such thing as an ’accident’.

As the light dissipated, Huai Shi only heard a crisp snap from his hand.

There was no ’biu’ sound of being teleported away.

Still in the same spot!

Huai Shi looked down in astonishment, eyes wide open.

His boundary marker, actually shattered?