Chapter 4634: The Portal

The most difficult Moth to deal with was one of the three that had previously been under the Godly Apex’s direct command. It was also one of the creatures that had ignored the battle against its former leader, apparently waiting for an opportunity to claim the Apex’s crystal for itself.

In any case, it was a Peak Godly Horror, and its small size and incredible agility made it a troublesome opponent. Even with their combined strength, the twins’ group had to put considerable effort into bringing it down.

Kentucky even fell victim to the Moth’s special ability: those strange, shimmering lights. As it turned out, they did indeed have a paralyzing effect. The moment the lights reached him, his body stopped responding properly, leaving him vulnerable to further attacks.

Fortunately, they discovered that the ability didn’t work through hallucinations. If it had been an illusion that required the soul itself to experience the effect, the system would have prevented it from taking hold of Kentucky.

Even so, the incident reminded everyone that these creatures had abilities they couldn’t afford to underestimate. They adjusted their positioning, coordinated their attacks more carefully, and made better use of their respective abilities. After gradually wearing the Moth down, they finally managed to kill it and claim its Godly Horror Crystal.

The other Godly Horror Moths they encountered were weaker, and hunting them became considerably easier, especially as the group grew more accustomed to fighting these creatures.

That didn’t mean everything went smoothly, however. On two occasions, the group was forced to flee.

The swamp remained a territory filled with Moths of every level, and the Godly Horror Moths could use the same ability as the Godly Apex to attract nearby creatures. By producing a particular sound with their wings, they could summon Moths from the surrounding region, creating enormous swarms that quickly turned a manageable fight into a dangerous situation.

Unlike the Godly Apex Moth, which had kept most of the surrounding creatures at bay through its overwhelming presence, the other Moths in this area didn’t enjoy the same privilege. There was always a large swarm nearby, waiting for one of the stronger Moths to call them into action. Once that happened, the group could easily find itself surrounded by far more enemies than it had intended to fight.

Fortunately, fleeing didn’t mean giving up.

Even though they had to retreat twice, the twins’ group eventually returned to finish what they had started. They had already invested considerable effort into those hunts, and they weren’t about to abandon valuable Godly Horror Crystals simply because the situation had become inconvenient. After recovering their energy and making sure the swarms had dispersed sufficiently, they went back and eliminated their targets.

Only when they could no longer find any other Godly Horror Moths did they finally decide to leave the swamp.

In the end, this stay in the Moth’s Territory had yielded an impressive harvest: one Godly Apex Crystal, thirteen Godly Horror Crystals, and almost a sixty Godly Predator Crystals. The sheer number of high-level creatures in the area had made it an exceptionally valuable hunting ground.

Little did they know that such concentrations of powerful Godly Creatures weren’t particularly rare this deep inside the Godly Creatures’ Territories. The Moths had been unusually numerous because of their special nature and their ability to gather in swarms, but other races of Godly Creatures could also be found in considerable numbers farther along their route. It was almost as if they had crossed some division where the number of high-level creatures increased exponentially.

Between the second and third years of their journey toward the Sprouting Portal, the twins’ group encountered more than fifty Godly Horrors. Naturally, those weren’t the only powerful creatures they found. They also came across several Godly Apexes, including one particularly dangerous individual at the Peak Stage.

The Demon Beasts in the group could sense a trace of Dragon Bloodline within that creature. It wasn’t a true dragon, but it possessed enough of that bloodline to make them take the threat seriously. The moment it appeared on the airplane’s radar, the twins’ group immediately changed direction and left the area without even considering a fight.

There was no reason to risk their lives just to test their strength against a creature of that caliber. They had already obtained the Godly Apex Crystal required by their quest, and another victory would offer little justification for the danger involved. Well, at least if you thought about strong Godly Apexes, that is.

This encounter also demonstrated why only Region God Experts could sense the existence of Sprouting Portals in the Grasslands. As Duze had explained, if the portals’ locations became widely known among the Regions of the Grasslands, countless reckless cultivators would attempt to reach them.

Most of those cultivators lacked the extraordinary advantages enjoyed by the twins’ group, particularly their Godly Pressure Disguise Array. Without it, their cultivator presences would continue accumulating the longer they remained outside the Influence of a Sacred Relic. Eventually, that growing presence would attract swarms of Godly Creatures, turning their journey into an endless series of battles.

The Godly Pressure Disguise Array allowed the twins’ group to reset that accumulated presence, giving them a tremendous advantage during their travels. Without such a method, only Region God Experts would have a realistic chance of reaching the Sprouting Portals, and even then, success was far from guaranteed. In most cases, those same Region Gods died along the way.

—

The journey to the Sprouting Portal was expected to take three and a half years, but that estimate assumed the twins’ group would fly nonstop at the speed of an Initial Stage Zone God. That was the normal cruising speed of Rean’s airplane, and it would have been sufficient to reach their destination within the expected timeframe.

Naturally, maintaining such a schedule was impossible.

They had stopped countless times to hunt Godly Horrors, fled from Godly Apexes, and explored areas that seemed promising enough to justify a detour. There were also the more mundane necessities of a long expedition, including collecting materials, replenishing supplies, performing repairs, and allowing everyone to recover after difficult battles. Each interruption added time to their journey, and those delays accumulated far more quickly than they had initially anticipated.

Fortunately, Duze had provided them with the coordinates of the nearest Sprouting Portal. Even when their journey took longer than expected, they could still determine their position relative to their destination instead of wandering aimlessly through the dangerous territories.

Before they knew it, the expected three-and-a-half-year journey had stretched into five years.

More precisely, five years and two months had passed since their departure.

By that point, saying the group had become accustomed to the dangers of the Godly Creatures’ Territories would have been an understatement. They had encountered enough powerful creatures to recognize the signs of danger quickly, learned when to fight and when to retreat, and accumulated a wealth of experience from their countless battles.

Even Tobao, Arcis, and Kachia had grown far more comfortable traveling through regions where the presence of a Godly Horror was no longer an extraordinary event.

Then, something finally caught Kentucky’s attention.

"H-Hey! I can see it!"

Everyone immediately turned in the direction he indicated, but they couldn’t see anything at first. That wasn’t particularly surprising. Kentucky possessed the sharpest eyesight in their group, allowing him to spot distant objects long before even Kachia and Arcis could make them out.

They continued flying toward the distant point Kentucky had noticed. Several minutes passed before the others finally began to distinguish a massive structure on the horizon.

At first, it looked like an enormous ring standing upright in the distance. Even from so far away, its size was impressive, extending several hundred meters into the air. Its shape was simple enough to recognize, but the structure itself was clearly no ordinary monument.

As Rean guided the airplane closer, the details gradually became clearer.

The ring was made of a solid, dark material that looked like stone or metal from a distance. Its enormous surface was covered in inscriptions carved directly into the structure, each one large enough to be visible from far away. The inscriptions weren’t merely decorative markings, either. Smaller runes had been engraved within them, creating intricate patterns that covered the ring from top to bottom.

Each layer appeared to serve a specific purpose, and all of them worked together as part of a much larger system.

The Sprouting Portal was essentially a gigantic ring-shaped array, built on a scale that made most ordinary arrays look insignificant by comparison. Its enormous size was likely necessary to accommodate the energy and spatial effects required to connect distant locations, although the group would need to examine it more carefully before drawing any conclusions about its exact workings.

Then, just as they were approaching the area around the ring—

*ZuOm!*

Everyone felt a peculiar sensation, as though they had suddenly plunged into a lake. It lasted barely a second before disappearing, leaving no discomfort or other noticeable effect behind.

Rean immediately glanced at the airplane’s radar.

Until then, the radar had consistently detected Godly Creatures throughout their journey, even if most of the readings belonged to relatively weak ones. With a detection range extending thirty kilometers in every direction, the device could monitor a total distance of sixty kilometers from the farthest point behind the airplane to the farthest point ahead.

However, Rean had noticed something unusual about a minute earlier. The Godly Creature readings ahead of them had begun disappearing one after another. At first, he had assumed that the creatures were simply moving away, but the pattern was too consistent to be a coincidence.

Now that they had passed through the invisible boundary surrounding the portal, the explanation became much clearer. The radar continued detecting Godly Creatures behind them, but not a single reading appeared ahead.

"Seems like we’ve entered a protected area around the Sprouting Portal," Rean commented. "That makes sense. The Experts of the Ruckus Region can’t have Godly Creatures messing with their portals."

Roan nodded as he examined the enormous ring ahead. "In any case, we’re finally here. Let’s approach it and then review our options before attempting to pass through."

Everyone readily agreed.

"Understood."

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