The Record of Unusual Creatures

The black stone columns at the end of the horizon were not natural landscapes—they were grand and tall, while a bleak, ancient atmosphere lingered around them. Each column seemed to be as tall as a few kilometers, rectangular cuboid-shaped, and each one looked the same size. Hao Ren’s excellent eyesight allowed him to see the details of the stone columns from such a long distance: the black surfaces of the columns were etched with many mysterious patterns. He had never seen the style in any other world. They were somewhat like the writing used in the temple of the goddess of creation.

The magnificent stone columns were so tall that the clouds were merely hovering around halfway up the columns. Their sheer size might have disturbed the weather in the surroundings. In the upper half of the columns, whirlpools of fog were forming into cyclones, while on the lower half, lightning was dancing between the columns occasionally. Each arc of lighting could be as long as a few kilometers to a dozen kilometers. As the airships approached gradually, Hao Ren heard the rumble of thunder coming from the direction of the columns.

At the same time, the energy of the goddess of creation was becoming stronger. He had experienced several illusions of the Goddess of Creation and personally touched her celestial objects and relics so he could tell whether it was related to the Goddess of Creation.

“What are those?”

Hao Ren looked at the stone columns in the distance. By now, he could not care less to conceal his lack of common knowledge.

“You don’t know they were the Jailor’s Columns?” Sir Morian looked at Hao Ren in amazement. “As the guardian of the temple, you know them?”

“The Jailor’s Columns?” Hao Ren frowned. “I indeed don’t know. I can’t explain why, but I don’t know many things in this world. You could think that some ancient power had hindered my cognitive function. But I need you to help to tell me.”

He improvised, coming up with a lame but barely usable excuse. He believed that something similar to curse or mind magic must exist in this world. Even if they did not exist, he could cite the loss of ancient secret power as a last resort. But he did not expect the old knight did not care about the real reason: Morian had reached a consensus with Veronica that as long as Hao Ren was still on her side, they would ignore the strange behaviors of the ancient guardian. “Legend has it that it was the goddess of creation who planted the Jailor’s Columns on the earth.”

“The goddess of creation planted them?” Hao Ren was instantly wide-eyed. “What for?”

“To suppress the first renegade—the evil giant, Lockmarton,” said the old knight. “There are many Jailor’s Columns over all Collow. Planting in the earth, mountains, and rivers at every energy node in this world, they were used to lock up Lockmarton firmly in the depths of the earth. The glow of the columns receded when Lockmarton broke the earth and escaped. But even so, the Jailor’s Columns are still the most powerful miracle in this world. They have unparalleled power of Order, and even if the tide of Chaos hits, these columns will never collapse.”

The old knight said, and they told a story. “It is said that the king of the Kingdom of Torch was leading the legendary Crimson Fist legion to rise in the western part of the mainland, in the middle of a battle, they suddenly encountered the tide of Chaos and climbed to the top of the Jailor’s Columns in the middle of the western desert. So they survived. The Lord of Flames stood at the top of a column and looked around, and then he came to an epiphany and found the secret to tame the desert. Later, he attained many achievements in his life.”

Hao Ren nodded, but he was not listening. The columns were attracting his attention.

Were the columns seals the goddess of creation had made?

He was a little excited at first, but he quickly calmed himself down, after realizing that the columns were somewhat different from those in the temples he had seen in Coldpath. Though they were large, they lacked the energy field and might not necessarily be the creation of the Goddess of Creation. But the divine power they carried was unquestionably coming from the goddess. So these things were positively related to the Goddess of Creation.

The Jailor’s Columns were something not found on planets like Holletta or Tannagost. These magnificent creations were made before the goddess of creation died. And at that time, the First Borns and the guardians had not fallen.

These things were not meant to suppress the mad First Borns or guardians.

Of course, the above conjectures were made on the premise that the ancient legends that Morian told must be accurate, and these columns were indeed some prison facilities.

While Hao Ren’s mind was wandering, the three airships were approaching the spectacular Jailor’s Columns.

The black stone columns stood on the ground like a tower to heaven. When coming close enough, their scale was even more astonishing. Close up, they did not look like columns but cliffs, as the distance from one end of the columns to the other end was just crazily long. When the airships flew past the columns, they looked birds flying over a cliff—how unremarkable small.

The lightning danced overhead the airships with a strange buzzing sound. As the airship flew past a column engraved with massive ancient runic characters, Hao Ren saw blue light was still flowing in the rune.

These things were still working.

In the rumble of the thunder and buzz, Hao Ren had to raise his voice to yell at Sir Morian, “We will fly directly under the Jailor’s Columns. Is that okay?”

“Below the stone columns are safe, they are the safest place in the world!” The old knight yelled back at the same volume. “Don’t be intimidated by the thunder above; they are just conversations between the stone columns. The power of the goddess of creation will not hurt her children!”

When the airship carrying Veronica and the rest flew under the magnificent Jailor’s Columns, another team was wading through the dense jungles south of the kingdom.

There was a loud bang. An ancient jungle monitor lizard that might have lived for hundreds of years fell from the sky, and the internal organs of this lizard ruptured upon impact, and the lizard died. This monster lizard might have been a jungle overlord of a reasonably large area, it had now become a lump of lifeless meat, and soon food in a large pot.

The one who was qualified to enjoy it first was the Alpha.

Lily, wearing a wolf skin, walked up and kicked the body of the jungle lizard. After confirming that the thing was dead, she gestured to those behind her. “Monster wolf, tear the meat. Gnoll, clear the jungle and make a fire to cook. Other people do whatever you could. We will spend the night here.”

The eerie howl of the wolves began to rise as a dozen black wolves emerged from the shadows around Lily. These monster wolves first bowed to Lily as a sign of respect before they lunged at the giant dead lizard and tore it apart. Further afield, the gnolls in tattered clothes with stone rings on their fangs fell into a chaotic shrill as they scrambled and tried to outrun each other to clear the jungle and make a bonfire.

Other beasts had their tasks as well: the demonic apes climbed the giant tree to stand guard and collect fruits; the imps were dispersing to prey and clear the surrounding hazards, and the less brainy monster bears would guard the camp to prevent the weaker members from being attacked by the forest’s ‘natives.’

The forest’s natives included the wild natural wild and mutated beasts living on the mainland as well as the Servants of Chaos that have recently emerged.

Among this army of beasts, the wretched humans particularly stood out.

These humans were the passengers of the Sacred Hammer, the honored investigation team from the sanctum, still wearing their white sacred armor and robes unique to the Theocracy. But they had found it hard to keep their styles right now; they were cold, hungry as if defeated soldiers on the run. Even soil covered Calaxus’ beard, and his favorite robe had three large holes.

According to the alpha’s narrative, her team had experienced a ‘little turbulence’ and made a forced landing. Everyone had done great, and they were emotionally stable. Most importantly, they had finally landed on the ground.

But such a statement did not seem to ease the mental trauma of the members of the investigation team.

But Calaxus felt that the situation could have been worse, but they still made it: at least everyone was alive. The horrible storm earlier seemed like the end of the world. No ancient books had ever recorded this storm. It was an incident of the Chaos going on a rampage. He felt they should give thanks to the goddess of creation for protecting them.

Of course, he was also thankful to the alpha for her help although she charged him a handsome fee.