The entire ruin is divided into two parts: one is a dark ancient castle, and the other is a withered, shattered garden. Compared to the castle filled with magical guards, the garden is a relatively safe place. Debbie, knowing they couldn’t stay long, nodded quickly and led the two in a certain direction.
They encountered no more magical guards and safely passed through a stone archway carved with intricate patterns. The scene before them was no longer the eerie, dark castle but a withered park glowing with a strange blood-red hue. The sky above was a dark red, devoid of sun, moon, or stars, as if covered by a vast grey cloth emitting a cold light, occasionally streaked by flashes of lightning.
The ruin was a fragment of the ancient divine realm, and the sky above was an endless chaos.
“It’s relatively safe here, with no major dangers, but there’s one thing to watch out for,” Debbie said, cautiously scanning the surroundings, her small face showing a trace of nostalgia. She hadn’t expected to return here after just a week. She continued, “A terrifying creature lives in this garden!”
“What kind of creature?” Ye Chui asked, hearing about this for the first time.
“It’s an evil creation that feeds on rotting flesh. Even its body is stitched together from severed limbs. I’ve encountered it several times and nearly got eaten a few times…” Debbie explained. Having just left the castle, her tense nerves relaxed, and she deliberately used a spooky, ghost-story tone to scare them.
However, Ye Chui and Green, standing in front of her, suddenly froze.
“Does that monster also have a pair of wings?” Ye Chui asked, his voice trembling.
Green added, “One wing white, one black, asymmetrical, like they were torn from different creatures?”
Debbie nodded eagerly, “Yes, yes… wait, how do you know?”
Ye Chui shakily pointed behind her, “That thing is standing right behind you…”
At his words, Debbie’s body trembled violently. Her face twitched as she slowly turned around. The terrifying creature she had just described in her ghost-story tone was indeed standing before her.
It appeared to be a woman with long red hair, but her body was horribly broken. Her arms and face were covered in stitched scars, and her skin tone, even the size of certain parts, varied drastically, giving the impression she was sewn together from countless bodies.
On her back were two wings, one black, one white, clearly not symmetrical, as if cut from different creatures and attached to her.
Seeing this eerie, terrifying woman, Ye Chui instinctively wondered, is this a zombie?
“Ah!” After a moment of shock, Debbie quickly put on a familiar air, waving at the creature, “Long time no see! Do you remember me? What a coincidence, we were just talking about you, haha… ha…”
“Screech? Clack?” The creature seemed unable to speak properly, emitting meaningless, strange sounds. Her head tilted, her mismatched eyes sizing up Debbie. Then, she reached out with her unevenly sized fingers toward Debbie.
“Ahh!” Debbie yelped, instinctively jumping back and grabbing Ye Chui’s hand to flee, “Run!”
Ye Chui had already summoned his iPad magic book, but his remaining magic was pitifully low. Casting the [Wind Walk] spell would likely get them nowhere far…
Meanwhile, Green had already bolted into the garden. Partly, he was terrified, but partly, he felt that sticking with Ye Chui and Debbie was a recipe for disaster. The moment they mentioned the creature, it appeared! He had no idea how he’d die if he stayed with them, so he wanted to escape their bad luck. And then…
“Screech!” The creature’s asymmetrical wings suddenly spread, and with a whoosh, it flew past Ye Chui and Debbie, wobbling as it chased after Green.
This left Ye Chui and Debbie, who were about to flee for their lives, momentarily stunned.
Green’s terrified screams echoed back, “Why is it only chasing me?!”
“What’s going on?” Ye Chui asked Debbie, bewildered.
Debbie, equally confused, said, “How should I know?” She shook her head, “Never mind. Although I made it sound scary, she doesn’t actually harm people. I’ve encountered her several times before, and she just likes chasing people around. We don’t need to worry about Green’s safety.”
“That’s odd…” Ye Chui thought about the creature’s behaviour. Despite her terrifying appearance, she didn’t seem hostile. Honestly, from Ye Chui’s perspective as someone from another world, her patchwork body had a certain quirky charm… Wait, am I beyond saving?
Green and the creature had vanished from sight. After a brief discussion, Ye Chui and Debbie decided to head to the spot where Debbie had stayed for half a month.
They were in the shattered garden, a vast place, as it was once the residence of the God Clan, grand and imposing. Now, all the plants had withered, emitting a decayed smell. Huge red mushrooms grew on the rotting wood. According to Debbie, these were called Dragon Blood Mushrooms. Though odd-looking, they were edible and considered a delicacy in the outside world. Debbie had survived on them during her half-month stay.
Soon, a strange mountain appeared before Ye Chui and Debbie. Yes, this garden even had a peculiar mountain. They climbed to its peak, where they could see the garden’s full expanse, filled with terrifying cracks, deep ravines, and pits, all remnants of some ancient battle.
This was one of the battlefields of the ancient God-Slaying War.
Legend said that five thousand years ago, the gods faced their twilight. Their tyrannical rule led to rebellion by mortals. Human warriors entered the divine realm, waging war against the God Clan, ultimately causing the gods’ fall and the realm’s collapse.
This was a story known to everyone on the Castro Continent, but time had turned it into a distant legend for most. Now, Ye Chui and Debbie could almost feel the brutal reality of that God-Slaying War.
“Huh?” At that moment, Ye Chui glanced up at the chaotic sky and noticed something, squinting, “Debbie, is there something in the air?”
“Those are time echoes,” Debbie explained, looking up. “Past events, for some special reason, are preserved in space. These images occasionally reappear in the Ruins of the Gods. It’s common. During my half-month here, I saw many such echoes, but they’re very blurry, hard to make out clearly…”
As she spoke, Debbie’s eyes narrowed.
“But this time, it seems a bit different, doesn’t it?”
