AS Han Shuo approached the monument, he saw a row of words engraved in it from far away – Ayermika Cotton!
It was actually Ayermike Cotton's name! This simple row of text shocked Han Shuo greatly. As a citizen of the Lancelot Empire, he had heard a great deal about this person. Every citizen would speak of his deeds in great detail. As the peak existence of dark magic in the Lancelot Empire's history, Ayermika was a divine dark magus that was said to have a demigod's strength in the legends!
Five hundred years ago, Ayermika Cotton had helped the first king of the Lancelot Empire to establish the Empire. It was only with this person's help that the founding emperor of the Lancelot Empire was able to conquer all of the foreign tribes, exile the barbaric beastmen, drive off the greedy and despicable goblins, and stand above the various factions to establish control of the land. Even now, the Lancelot Empire stood firmly upon this land.
In the legends, Ayermika Cotton was a divine dark magus with the abilities to destroy the world. In that era, not only did such a powerful being bring about the existence of the Lancelot Empire, it had also deified his being, resulting in adoration from all citizens of the Lancelot Empire for five hundred years!
Even now, there hadn't been any descendants who could surpass his glory and game!
Ayermika's entire life had been glorified with the legends of greatness. He'd defeated countless powerful people, expanded the borders of the Lancelot Empire, and shattered the fighting spirit and confidence of the foreign tribes. His power had caused the all the tribes to submit to the Empire's reign as soon as the Empire's iron hooves landed on it.
However, such a terrifying demigod existence had suddenly disappeared at the peak of his life. The Lancelot Empire had been in its grandest era, having already conquered several countries around it. It was at that time that Ayermika should've been enjoying glories and honor.
However, he'd disappeared mysteriously, just like that. The first king of the Lancelot Empire had been unable to accept the departure of his true friend, and used all sorts of ways to search for him. They were still unable to discover anything in the end.
There were quite a few versions of the rumors surrounding his mysterious disappearance. Some said that he grew sick of conquest and went into hiding by himself. Others said that he surpassed everything and ascended to become a true god. There were those that said although he'd defeated countless powerful foes in his life of conquest, he had been injured several hundred times. The frail body of a mage was unable to withstand the wounds in his old age, so he'd died in a depressing way.
However, the legends were still just legends in the end! All words were mere illusions before any tangible evidence was produced. Ayermika Cotton's mysterious departure five hundred years ago remained an unresolved mystery!
However, there was a monument with Ayermika Cotton's name engraved on it in such a strange place enclosed by black mist. From the shape and engraving of the monument, Han Shuo was certain that it was a tombstone to memorialize the deceased buried here. Seeing this filled Han Shuo's heart with shock. He wanted to draw close to the tombstone and carefully inspect it.
Just at this moment, Gilbert started moving towards Han Shuo, using their mutual connection. Han Shuo could even feel Gilbert's anxiety.
Han Shuo had already planned to examine the tombstone closely, but due to Gilbert's anxious and swift approach, he set the idea aside. He then increased his awareness so that he was ready before leaping up and landing behind a huge boulder. At the same time, he also sent out a yin demon to fly in Gilbert's direction.
Gilbert, who'd changed into his dragon form, approached swiftly with an enormous roar. He actually wasn't flying, but was using his body to slither forward like a huge python. The gigantic cyclops was chasing him relentlessly, while the golden dragon that had originally been fighting with the cyclops was slithering on the ground like Gilbert, forgoing a dragon's natural talent to fly.
"Great master, come quickly and save your pitiful servant!" As Gilbert approached swiftly, his eyes shone with frantic light as he continuously bawled out in his deep voice.
Hearing that Gilbert was shouting for Han Shuo to save him, Han Shuo couldn't help but curse quietly behind the boulder, "Dumb dragon, with you shouting like this, anyone would know that there's someone waiting ahead. How can I ambush them then!"
Seeing that he couldn't set up an ambush, Han Shuo cursed lowly as he leapt up into the sky and flew in Gilbert's direction. Then, he let out a dominating whistle in order to notify Gilbert of his presence.
Through the yin demon's surveillance, Han Shuo saw that the cyclops and golden dragon seemed to be chasing Gilbert. Who knew what sort of shitty thing Gilbert had done in order to piss off two enemies enough for them to work together to kill him?
The terrified Gilbert calmed down slightly when he heard the piercing whistle. He then furiously "crawled" over and started complaining before he reached Han Shuo, "Two on one, this is too shameless, too wicked!"
"Damn stinky bug, you nearly ambushed and killed both of us when we were tired from the fight! But whatever, you actually brought us to this forbidden land, making us have no way out. You're the most shameless and wicked!" To Han Shuo's surprise, the cyclops actually let out a thundering curse after a furious roar.
"A shameless person that ran over to someone else's place to steal stuff doesn't have the right to scold others!" Gilbert was clearly more confident with Han Shuo around, so he turned around and mocked the cyclops. He then swiftly moved his huge body and stood in line with Han Shuo.
"You're pissing me off, you damn reptile, I'm going to kill you!" The cyclops was enraged. He roared at the sky and his single eye began to shimmer with a terrifying light as he leaped towards Gilbert.
The majority of the cyclops' body had been scorched by the Lord of the Flames. Its two large azure palms were a mess of blood and muscle. It seemed that the fight with the golden dragon afterwards had caused it quite a lot of harm.
"Shut up! You can beat him and curse him, but you aren't allowed to use the words 'reptile' and 'stinky bug' in front of me! Otherwise, I'll kill you first, you damn one-eyed thief!" The golden dragon roared furiously and howled loudly behind the cyclops.
The golden dragon's body condition was equally as bad. Not only were large patches of its golden scales black, there were also some scales that were splattered with blood. Even its large head had a trail of blood dripping from it. It seemed that the fight earlier had caused it to become severely injured.
"You crazy dragon, do you think I'm afraid of you!" The cyclops and golden dragon had fought their entire way out of the valley, and had become quite angry with each other. Although the cyclops was extremely furious with Gilbert's shameless actions, he had no good feelings towards the golden dragon either. He immediately turned around to argue with the golden dragon, as if they were ready resume their halted fight at any time.
The truth was this as well. The proud golden dragon just couldn't take any provocation. Right after the cyclops' initial thunderous shout, he'd already rushed up with a howl and started fighting with the cyclops. They'd already forgotten about Gilbert and completely disregarded him.
"Eh… What's going on?" Han Shuo was confused by the two enormous beings fighting in front of him. He couldn't help but look at Gilbert, asking him with a wry smile.
"Haha, I saw that they fought along the entire way, so I followed them, and took the chance of moving a large rock that was the size of a small mountain when they were both tired in hopes of smashing them both to death. What I didn't know was that they were rather nimble and managed to dodge it. Afterwards, they chased me all the way here.
I started running frantically without caring where I went, and ended up rushing into this strange place. The two of them had already lost their sense of reason, and also followed without thinking. Then, I noticed that my power was restrained. Not only did I lose the power of my tribe to spurt poison, I couldn't fly anymore.
"Of course, that dumb golden dragon couldn't fly anymore either. He could only crawl like me. It seemed that like even the cyclops has his power restrained. After a brief moment of shock, they treated me as their main focus of attacks. They started attacking me together with great shouts. I had no other way, so I could only come find you!" Gilbert didn't mind in the slightest, and laughed evilly when he explained his shameless actions to Han Shuo. Looking at his prideful look, he was clearly honored instead of ashamed!
"You truly are despicable!" Han Shuo commented upon hearing Gilbert's description.
"I learned all of this from you!" Gilbert yelled, blaming it all on Han Shuo, as if he'd been that pure when he left the underground world!
Rumble…
Loud collision sounds rang out from where the cyclops and the golden dragon were fighting. Dark colored boulders around them exploded outwards, whilst the cyclops and golden dragon collapsed limply on one side, a large pit between the two of them.
Just as the two enormous beings struggled to stand up and continue their fight, the cyclops shouted in a thunderous voice, "Wait, why isn't the human affected by the environment and is still able to fly in the sky?!"
Upon hearing that, the golden dragon and Gilbert also looked confusedly at Han Shuo, seeming to be filled with surprise and confusion. They suddenly seemed to regard Han Shuo, still able to fly in the sky, as a really special sort of existence.
"Human, there is no magical essence in this forbidden place, so how are you still in the sky?" The golden dragon coiled up from his limp posture with difficulty and raised his head up high. Even now, he still did not forget about the innate pride of his tribe, and seemed to want to suppress Han Shuo in his atmosphere. He gazed at Han Shuo from above and asked with a tone that was used to interrogate criminals
"None of your damn business!" Han Shuo replied very sharply with a very disparaging tone towards the golden dragon.
Just as the golden dragon was about to roar with anger, the cyclops couldn't help but jeer, "Dumb dragon, do you think someone who can stay in the sky in this forbidden land would be scared of you? Have you not heard about the legend about this forbidden place? Do you really want to die?"
The golden dragon surprisingly shut his mouth the moment the cyclops voiced this thought. His two eyes, that were as large as a human head, quickly shone with a strange brightness. They focused on Han Shuo as he shook his head with disbelief. He rumbled, "Impossible, how is it possible!"
"Great demigod existence, you must have exceeded the barriers of mankind. Please, you must shine your merciful light and take us away from this forbidden place!" Sincere pleading filled the cyclops' eye. Furthermore, his humongous body bent in a weird manner to display respect for Han Shuo.
Even the golden dragon stopped his muttering and gazed at Han Shuo silently. The pride within him made him unable to immediately bow before Han Shuo, but he also conveyed urgent pleading with his eyes.
"What do you mean?" Han Shuo didn't know what to say and looked at the two enormous beings in confusion. He scratched his head in silence for a moment and couldn't resist asking with confusion.
"All the super rank beings in the Dark Forest know of the legend of this forbidden land. There was a shocking battle here five hundred years ago. The legends say that even true gods participated. That battle caused all of the beings in the Dark Forest to tremble. The enormous commotion lasted for three days and two nights. Nobody knows what happened."
The cyclops showed an expression of lingering fear and continued in his thunderous tones, "None of the powerful beings that tried to come in to observe the situation were able to walk out of the forbidden zone. Furthermore, none of the beings that accidentally entered the forbidden zone made it out alive either.
Legends says that all magic and fighting aura is restrained in the forbidden area. All beings can only use pure physical abilities, and they cannot leave the forbidden place. Only demigods that have surpassed the divine stage will be unaffected by the limitations of the forbidden place. Great human demigod, please take us away from here!"
Although the golden dragon hadn't said anything, his gaze towards Han Shuo was completely different from before. His gaze clearly contained a bit of pleading, and he couldn't help but dip his proud head.
"I think that you're mistaken!" Han Shuo looked helplessly at the two enormous beings, then explained with a shrug. "I'm very sorry, but I'm not some kind of demigod existence!"