Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 243 - 242: Close Encounter

As the highest core of the "Defiance" Fortress, this fortress facility is entirely built in an Otherworld, and its energy source is just as Gawain speculated—by leveraging the "divine-power inversion circle," it directly extracts energy from the corpse of the God of Nature, "Amoen, the Giant Stag." It is precisely due to the continuous energy supply from the divine corpses that this fortress has been able to operate in isolation from the world until today.

But this is also where Gawain’s regrets lie—the fortress’s extremely unique power source and its special environment determine that its internal technology lacks universality and reference value. At least for now, this fortress cannot directly benefit his realm.

It’s very advanced but also too unique. It’s meaningful yet too dangerous. With the current technological and production levels in the territory, neither development nor research is possible.

And that God corpse floating in the Otherworld, along with the "God-slaying weapon," is similarly beyond the current ability of the Cecil Clan to digest and exceeds the psychological tolerance of the Cecil residents. The only way Gawain can think to handle it is to temporarily seal them here, waiting for future territorial developments for large-scale research and exploration.

For him, compared to this daunting fortress, Kamel himself is the most valuable gain.

Gawain stood in front of the barrier, gazing from afar at the white giant stag, that shimmering white stag was the only source of warmth and brightness in this space of Dark Chaos. In the presence of a protective barrier, mortals cannot feel the terror of the giant stag, but can only sense the profound shock and awe from its remarkable corpse—it is so sacred and graceful, even though it has fallen and is incomplete, it still remains overwhelmingly beautiful, each line, each piece of fur, every strand of holy light exudes an unimaginable aesthetic.

It is a true mythical creature, one that would only exist in the most beautiful human imaginations and the most perfect dreams. It makes Gawain involuntarily think of the "eternal dream-realm" created by the followers of the Eternal Sleepers, but unlike the "eternal dream-realm," Amoen, the Giant Stag exists in reality, lying here genuinely, proving the real existence of the Era of Gods.

"Can the barrier be opened?" Gawain turned to Kamel, "I want to get closer and have a look."

"Absolutely not!" Kamel was startled by Gawain’s words, "Don’t be fooled by this appearance. Without the protection of a barrier, mortals who are exposed to God energy at close range will almost immediately go mad and die! The fortress no longer has usable protective equipment..."

"You might not believe it, but divine pressure is ineffective against me," Gawain smiled at Kamel, then pointed to Tiel beside him, "It has no effect on her either."

Kamel was overwhelmed with shock. To be honest, since transforming his life form and enduring solitude for so long, he rarely experiences intense emotional upheaval; however, the emotional fluctuations within him today exceeded those from his past centuries combined—his arcane body trembled, organizing words took a long moment: "Are you serious?"

"Would anyone joke about such things?" Gawain seriously looked at Kamel, "I’ve been in contact with divine flesh, and Tiel has... had close contact many times. We are quite confident in this aspect."

Kamel’s arcane magic flickered as if wrestling with intense contradictions, then floated up with a decisive tone: "I can open an exit in the barrier, but I must accompany you."

"You?" Gawain raised his eyebrows, "Didn’t you say there’s no usable protective equipment here?"

"I don’t need protective equipment," Kamel said, "After transforming my life form, I have lost many mortal weaknesses, including those affected by Divine Power... I can operate alongside you."

This ancient one’s attitude was firm, and Gawain understood his reasoning: Kamel, having waited so long for his chance to leave, naturally didn’t want to see this only hope get himself killed, so he nodded: "Alright, you come along with us. Tiel, you join me too—I’ve seen you drooling on the side for a while now."

"Absolutely not!" Tiel wiped away the drool from the corner of her mouth, following Gawain without hesitation, "I’m holding back—I even brought a knife and fork..."

Gawain was astonished: Why does this seafood bring cutlery when going out?! From where did she conjure those?!

Aunt Heidi knew Gawain’s special traits but nonetheless offered a cautious reminder: "Ancestor, please be extra careful, this place is really strange."

"Rest assured, I’ll be careful," Gawain reassured his eldest granddaughter, "You stay here with the warriors; I’ll be back soon."

Kamel approached an ancient control console by the barrier, after a series of operations, Gawain noticed a slight tremor in the energy field screen outside the barrier, and the magic light currents flowing across its surface gathered into a vague shadow, which was clearly an exit.

"Follow me," Kamel proceeded towards the exit, offering reminders as he floated, "Stay close, I don’t know if you can truly resist the influence of divine energy, but as long as you don’t stray too far from me, even if something happens, I’ll be able to bring you to safety."

After passing through the translucent protective barrier, Gawain was surprised to find... the environment outside was almost indistinguishable from inside the barrier.

Upon witnessing the fragmented land and sky, his first concern was whether there was breathable air outside the barrier, as the environment resembled the life-prohibitive vastness of space. However, once he left the barrier, he discovered that not only could he breathe freely outside, but there was also... gravitational force.

Despite the ground in sight being comprised of countless floating giant stones, and numerous fragments hovering weightlessly in mid-air, stepping onto those larger floating stones made it possible to feel the same gravity as in the outer world.

Kamel was beside him with a reminder: "Don’t stray from these stones; once you drift too far, you’ll lose gravity. Without finding a new foothold, you’ll never be able to return."

As Gawain nodded, various speculations arose in his mind.

The facts seemed to suggest that this Otherworld was still a reflection of the real world—much like the shadow realm, with peculiar yet corresponding physical laws. He looked up at the chaotic deep sky and the giant stones and debris floating high above, suddenly recalling what Kamel had said before.

"Is this really the shadow realm?"

Kamel nodded upon hearing Gawain’s words: "We have spent over a decade verifying this and have finally confirmed it. The scholars’ hypothesis about the world’s layered structure is correct; beneath the shadow realm lies an even more disordered and chaotic place. Here the land appears shattered, and the gravitational environment is fragmented due to the pulverization of the earth. It is a chaotic reflection formed by a secondary mapping from the real world to the deeper layers. While some outlines corresponding to the real world can still be found in the shadow realm, here the images from the real world are twisted beyond recognition."

"I discovered a Big Void in the Dark Mountain Range of the shadow realm," Gawain said, "It’s located right next to the magic door—is it related to the shadow realm?"

"That is the passage from the shadow realm to the shadow realm," Kamel confirmed Gawain’s supposition, "We don’t know what power creates this phenomenon, but from time to time these terrifying Big Voids are found in the shadow realm. With the right methods, they can be guided to use the Big Voids to enter the deeper shadow realm. In fact, this is the only way to enter the shadow realm—it’s relatively easier to enter the shadow realm, only requiring a strong shadow affinity, the right ceremonial magic, and some casting materials to open the door to the shadow realm. However, to enter the shadow realm, you must find that kind of Big Void."

Gawain couldn’t help but mutter, "It feels like someone drilled those apertures in the shadow realm..."

"What did you say?"

"No, nothing," Gawain shook his head, "Did you discover more voids in the shadow realm?"

"Yes, we did find others before, but we only successfully constructed one magic door," Kamel replied candidly. "This process requires an immense amount of energy and requires some ’guidance.’ Initially, we found the coordinates corresponding to the White Starfall in the real world through means of divine arts and divination, following which we built a surface ’Defier’ fortress on this coordinate, then opened a space fissure at the fortress’s base, and used the Divine Power of ’Amoen, the Giant Stag’ to push the space fissure to the edge of the Big Void in the shadow realm, finally opening this one and only door to the shadow realm. This success is almost impossible to replicate—unless we can find another fallen god opposite a Big Void in the shadow realm."

Indeed, Big Voids exist within the shadow realm, and these Big Voids are the passages to the shadow realm. Divine power can open these passages...

Various clues came together in Gawain’s mind. After a moment, he lifted his head, looking at the corpse of the "God of Nature."

It was already near at hand. The corpse was so enormous, now standing like a small hill a hundred meters away. The slight white glow emanating from the gigantic white deer’s body carried a gentle aura, and merely approaching, Gawain felt a vigorous vitality meet him.

Sensing such vitality from a corpse, it was truly a bizarre thing.

While sensing the vitality, he could also clearly feel that—something remaining in this skeleton was afraid of him.

Was it the god’s residual consciousness? A fragment of the soul? Or merely the conditional reflex of those death-defying, vigorously alive tissue cells? Gawain couldn’t ascertain the nature of this subtle feeling, but he could distinctly feel a part of the energy within this corpse rapidly diminishing with his approach, as if trying to conceal itself.

Even Kamel noticed this change. His life form had been altered by divine power, making him especially sensitive to the energy changes within "Amoen, the Giant Stag." He glanced at Gawain in horror, but in the next moment, he was even more horrified to see the half-snake creature called Tiel rush towards the body of the God of Nature, raising a knife and fork high...

"Delicious!!"

Tiel made a high appraisal of the God of Nature.