The Record of Unusual Creatures

If Hao Ren had not met Hercules, the secret of the actual owner of the wand would have been buried in history forever.

Since the maker of the wand had lost her memory, 90 % of the people who knew about this wand had died during the attack from the demon hunters, and all written records of the wand were destroyed in the war, Hercules was only one who knew the truth.

But what happened to Vivian before and after she made the wand? What did she know at the time? What was her intention of making the wand? These questions were still mysteries. According to Hercules, Vivian was in a state of frenzy before her hibernating cycle set in. But she still barely maintained her sanity and must have sensed that the core had fallen into Zeus’ hands. Struggling to control herself from the effect of her pre-hibernation frenzy, she stormed into Mount Olympus to demand the return of the core. Every hibernation would take away her strength and knowledge. On the other hand, she was more powerful and knowledgeable before the hibernation, which meant she knew about the truth of the wand.

She might even know how to deal with that thing.

Hao Ren heard the sound of cracking of the glass out of nowhere, and then the grass on the ground fluttered as a violent wind was blowing in the wilderness. The Mount Olympus, hanging high in the sky, became a blurry image.

“It’s almost time,” Hercules said, looking up at the sky. He looked relieved. “I can finally rest.”

Hao Ren’s pupils contracted; he knew what Hercules meant.

But at the same time, he realized that he could not save the old hero. The evil energy in the celestial object had twisted Hercules’ body so much that his flesh had become dead. Even his soul was maimed. Already a dead man spiritually and physically, Hercules was now only the carrier of the wand’s power. Under these circumstances, medical treatment had become meaningless.

“Is there any way to save your soul?” Hao Ren still hoped he could do something.

“It’s unnecessary,” Hercules replied and shook his head slowly. “Even if you can save me, I don’t need it. I have gone too far and been through too many things. Half of my life doesn’t belong to me but the gods and the humans. I have been fighting for them, but now, I have decided to stop. I need a rest.”

Hao Ren looked at the Hercules. He had wanted to convince the hero, but after looking into his eyes, his words choked in the throat. This demigod did not need to be persuaded; he was not in despair and have no regrets. Having fulfilled his wishes, he was in peace with himself. The future could no longer interest him; the past would no longer bother him. All he wanted now was to take a long rest.

It was a unique way of dying for one of the longest living races. Life was long enough that it had lost its color; he had had enough and wanted nothing more.

“Before you leave, allow me to ask you one last favor.” Hercules suddenly turned his head and looked at Hao Ren.

“What is it?”

“Thank Hesperides,” Hercules said with a smile, “for everything she had done for me.”

Hao Ren nodded. Hercules seemed to have finally accomplished the last thing in his life, he let out a long sigh, and his body quickly faded. Behind him, the sky began to crack like glass.

Something suddenly crossed his mind, Hao Ren immediately took a step forward and looked into Hercules’ eyes. He silently recited the name of the most potent force in the universe, and following exact in the manual, linked the name together with the soul in front of him. At last, he opened his hands to Hercules. “Please rest in peace. May the goddess bless you.”

Puzzled, Hercules looked at Hao Ren before he closed his eyes slowly.

An almost unnoticeable plume of black smoke drifted out of his fading body, and then he turned into a light and disappeared.

Behind him, the Mount Olympus in the memory shattered along with the sky, turning into a stream of light and falling into the endless darkness the spiritual world.

The world shook violently.

In reality on the outside, the large body of Hercules began to crack.

Battie, what should we do now?” After form-shifting back into a human, Lily was covered in dust and dirt. She looked at the ever-expanding rifts of darkness around the giant. The wand had been sealed, and Hercules was disintegrating, but the evil energy that had escaped from the boundary would not merely go away. These residual force, appeared in the form of the black tide, was launching its final wave of attack, trying to bring everyone to perish with it together.

Perhaps the evil energy that had lost its source would soon run out of steam, but before that happened, this alien dimension would probably disintegrate first.

What was even worse was that Hao Ren was consciousness. Vivian looked back at the man lying behind him. After Hao Ren sealed the wand, he fell off Hercules’ body. In a split second, Lily had reacted quickly and caught her landlord before he fell into the tide of monsters down below. The husky maiden’s brave action must have been derived from her usual frisbee practice.

And Lily’s wretched appearance was also a by-product of this brave action.

“He is still in the deep-connection state,” the MDT said after circling a few times above Hao Ren’s head. “Strange, strange! Hercules is dead. Then who is he connected with now?”

“Is he in danger?” Vivian asked quickly.

“He is not in danger. I have shared senses with him; his spiritual world is safe.”

Vivian breathed a sigh of relief. But Hesperides was worriedly watching the expanding black tide. “As long as he lives. The most urgent thing now is to solve the problem before us before it gets out of hand.”

Lily became anxious as her eyes darted between the black tide and Hao Ren. The situation at hand was troubling her like never before. Hao Ren had always been the backbone of the team, who led them through crises and challenges. Now, for some reason, this man had lost consciousness; Lily became panic suddenly.

Vivian looked into the distance. The shadows kept swelling with no signs of slowing down.

Nolan was getting her artillery ready. But now everyone was trapped in this alien dimension, without Hao Ren and the protection of his shield, the spacecraft was not prepared to launch its aerial strike. The chief concern was that this dimensional might not be able to withstand another round of bombardment.

Lily licked Hao Ren’s hand and found, but he was not responding. She looked up again but saw Vivian was already in the air with a bloody whirlwind growing larger around her.

“Battie, what are you doing?” Lily froze.

Vivian did not answer but just controlling the power that she had not used for a long time by recalling the skill from her memory. Her long hair, stirred by magic, fluttered in the air with a red glow on the tips.

As the energy intensified, she faded into a shadow, as if some power had sent her out of the real space and time.

A hot sensation surging in her blood veins, Vivian almost felt like she had a beating heart. The billowing energy in her body was giving her the illusion of a heartbeat. As it grew, it became a burden. Vivian frowned, gritting her teeth.

It took Hesperides a moment to finally remember what this energy surge meant. She was shocked. “You are going to—”

“Don’t look up at the sky, don’t look directly at the moon.” Vivian’s voice came from the air.

A red light column descended from the sky. Vivian’s figure, as if draped in a blood-red dress, was wholly immersed in the primordial power that was powerful enough to bend reality.

A crimson moon rose.

It was a bizarre sight. Vivian had summoned the crimson once three years ago. At that time, the moon only appeared for a short while. Before she could bring it into the full-blown state, she was interrupted. But this time, the real crimson moon was here.

The crimson moon expanded as if the celestial body was falling onto Earth. The moiré was gradually becoming apparent as the moon surface expanded. Energy filled these lines. When they shone, a reverberation, as of the ringing of the bell, would fill the entire world.

When the first bell rang, the moonlight shone on the earth.

When the second bell rang, all the dark servants could not help but look up at the sky and dissipated like phantoms under the moonlight.

When the third bell sounded, everything in between the heavens and the earth returned to its original balance state and order.