The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

The Scorched Plains was as its name suggest—wide and deserted. The only thing you could see on this wide stretch of wasteland was charred earth, ruined by nightmare powers. Cracks spread across the plains, and the place looked like it was once covered in flames. The Lord of the Mountains remembered a time when the field was rich with life, and people roamed the lands. This was before Collow was broken into pieces, and before this world became the “old world”. Geddon remembered that this field was located in the northern hemisphere of Collow, either in the temperate zone or farther North still. There was once a beautiful city called Lavender City, ruled by a mortal female saint. She was a devoted follower of the goddess of creation and she guided her people with her wisdom as well as religion to settle in the middle of the wilderness. She was very close friends with a few Wardens too. During that wonderful era, Collow had an evil god imprisoned in its core, but the planet was still brimming with life and hope. Loken led the Kings’ Antecedents and formed the Empyrean Congress to rule alongside the mortals on this planet…

Back then, the sun always seemed to shine brightly.

They would never be able to go back to their past.

Geddon was momentarily lost in thought. When he came to, he saw a tornado slowly dissolving into the air. Numerous twisted and evil creatures were steadily forced back into the depths of Chaos by the knights and the Lord of Fire with their magical powers. The storm that came with Chaos was subsiding for now.

This was the Scorched Plains of the present—a cursed place, roamed by countless beasts.

“Are you all right, Geddon?” He heard Alftina’s voice approaching him. The female giant summoned a healing halo over Geddon’s head. “You look distracted.”

“I was just thinking of the past.” The Lord of the Mountains shook his head and looked at the mortal army before him. “We have defeated another wave. These mortal soldiers are stronger than I expected.”

“They have always been strong. After all, they are creations of our Mother as well, and are directly linked to us,” Alftina said gently as she warned Geddon. “Focus. We are very close to Lockmarton’s territory. It may have already begun to influence our spirits.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let it get to me again,” Geddon replied in a low rumble.

At that very moment, in the sky above the army, three of the strongest enchanted warships of Fidelinopolis were slowly cruising forward.

Transporting Fidelinopolis itself from the real world was already an immensely difficult task, especially when the main pathway was sealed off. Many Spirit Braves gave their lives to make the transportation of the city possible. They were unable to send anything more to this world. Nevertheless, to win in a war against Lockmarton, mortal flesh was simply not enough. To that end, the pope and the Spirit Braves did everything to increase the conversion efficiency of every gram of matter they had and managed to transport three enchanted warship near Fidelinopolis to this world as well.

Light of Dawn, Apostle, and Daybreak were the most powerful enchanted warships in the Sanctum, and perhaps in the whole of Collow. Geddon was not optimistic about the roles these ships could play in the battle, but they were the only major weapons the army had.

To ensure that all three warships could be saved for the final battle, the army kept them well protected during their journey. They were kept out of battle most of the time and only used in combat in their last two encounters with the enemy force.

On the front deck of the Apostle, Hao Ren and the pope stood together as they watched the dark horizon in front of the army.

The pope was quieter now compared to when they first departed from the city. He stood firmly on the deck like an old stubborn tree, his withered hands holding tightly onto his staff. His eyes focused on the horizon without emotion.

Hao Ren could hardly imagine what the old man, a combination of the souls of all popes in history, was thinking — the elderly man was himself something quite unusual. He was born mortal but ended up becoming a non-mortal being. With experience and wisdom accumulated from 10,000 years, what could he possibly glean from what he saw? What could he be thinking about?

“That is Spiral Hill.” After a long silence, the pope spoke up.

Hao Ren followed his gaze and noticed a massive shadow at the horizon that slowly came to view.

Spiral Hill was not exactly a hill, but a tall and odd-shaped spiraling structure.

The structure rose up from the horizon at the distance like an obelisk. Huge rocks and an unidentified black substance spread out from the base of the structure like the tentacles of that towering structure. It spiraled upward toward the sky like a spring, and inside this “spring” was dense smoke that was spinning rapidly and flashing with thunder.

Behind Spiral Hill, a thick mist that looked as solid a white pillar rose from the ground to the skies. Strange creatures could be seen lurking within the mist, like monsters in a dream.

This must be the Sea of Turmoil that the old pope described.

The army continued their swift advance with the aid of magic. The soldiers marched across the plains, getting closer and closer to Spiral Hill.

“It knows we’re here.” The elderly pope watched the strange spiraling “tower” and said quietly without emotion. “Calaxus, have our men sound the bugle. The final battle is about to begin.”

Right above Spiral Hill, clouds began to gather. Tentacle-like things sprouted out from the smoke and thick mist before they made a slow dive into the ground. The dim sunlight barely penetrated the gaseous cover, casting evocative slivers of light on the massive form that was accumulating in size. A massive and powerful being gradually took form.

More and more pillars of smoke were coaxed into existence by the tentacles. Terrifying howls were heard from all around them as Lockmarton’s minions gathered following its awakening. Smoke and dust coalesced in just seconds into physical beings.

Rhaa —

The low sound of the bugles came from all three enchanted warships like a somber but heroic battle cry.

“Unsheathe your swords, Chaos is coming!”

The general’s orders reverberated across the battlefield. The army flags burned brightly. The holy runes on their armor glowed, bathing the soldiers with light that challenged the darkness in the Nightmare Realm.

Compared to when they first left Fidelinopolis, the army had already lost close to a third of its strength. Thousands of warriors had perished in their journey across the Scorched Plains. The army had survived over a dozen battles and two chaos storms. Psychological attacks from their nightmares never stopped. The soldier had barely recovered from their last battle before they had to fight again in this final battle.

Nevertheless, not one of them ran away. None of them felt regret. This was a battle against evil, and nothing short of death can stop them from fighting it!

When the general’s orders came, the warriors raised their weapons again to meet the growing enemy forces ahead!

The dark mass of corrupted monsters finally reached the front line of the Sanctum’s army. Silver and black clashed like waves, bringing time to a standstill.

The decisive battle was afoot.

Torn limbs from both human and monster were flying everywhere. Sparks of fire and severed body parts flew as the two armies crashed into one another. Both sides were pushed back from the violent contact, but quickly rushed toward each other again in the next moment!

In this brute exchange of forces, the silver front line of the Sanctum’s army was slower compared to its enemy, but the soldiers did not stop marching forward as they forced their way toward Spiral Hill.

On the deck of the Apostle, Lily observed the battle at the front line anxiously, occasionally circling back to Hao Ren to ask, “Landlord, Landlord, when do we make our move?”

“Just a while more.” Hao Ren watched the transformation of the cloud above Spiral Hill, knowing that with every second passing, more courageous soldiers would die in battle. However, he could not throw in all his chips into the battlefield in front of him yet. These soldiers were sacrificing themselves to give their second wave of attack a chance of succeeding. He had to understand that. “Follow the movement of Geddon of and others. We will join in when they enter the battlefield, but take care to reserve your strength — the is a greater challenge ahead of us.”

“Okay!”

Lily nodded vigorously and proceeded to monitor the Wardens’ movements.

Geddon, Lord of the Mountains, was following the battle closely.

The front line was pushing forward. The warriors of the Sanctum were forcefully paving the way to Spiral Hill using their own flesh and bones. Spiral Hill was now surrounded by a thick perimeter of minions, but the Sanctum’s army plunged their way in like a razor blade slicing through rotten meat, overcoming Lockmarton’s defenses.

The front line warriors opened up the way for the soldiers behind them to continue their march forward.

Suddenly, a powerful mental presence invaded the battlefield.

It felt like a powerful shockwave, disrupting the minds of all the soldiers. Strange hallucinations of negative emotions flooded their minds, leaving them gasping for breath. The higher level warrior priests used magic to repel the mental attack, but the unsettling feeling persisted in the army.

The Lord of the Mountains narrowed his eyes. He saw something odd happening in the thick smoke pillars at the front line when the mental attack struck.

Two huge tentacles reached out from the smoke pillars. Countless monstrous and bloated creatures that reached up to five meters tall appeared around the tentacles and moved toward the soldiers…

“The Lockmartonian Constructs have appeared!” The Lord of the Mountains roared in his resonant voice. “Wardens, prepare for battle!”

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