Chapter 781

Chapter 781: The Demon God Said, Let There Be Light

There is a dream known as the “lucid dream.”

In such dreams, the dreamer can possess the same level of thinking and memory as when they are awake. Some people can even make their dream experiences feel as real as the waking world, yet they are aware that they are dreaming.

At this very moment, Dark had a similar feeling.

He was aware that he was in a dream, but did not feel the urge to wake up.

Indeed, once the desire to wake up arises in such dreams, it usually signals the end of the dream.

With a clear mind, he observed his surroundings and found himself standing inside a temple.

Memories he had never experienced before kept surfacing in his mind.

This quickly made him realize that he was not standing before the statue of the Sun God in the right temple, but rather in a much larger and more magnificent hall.

Behind him should stand statues of the Sun God and the Moon God—statues not like those he had seen before, but larger and taller.

He stood in front of these statues, seemingly playing the role of a high priest. People coming to worship occasionally called him “Divine Messenger.”

A divine messenger, an apostle of the gods, an earthly representative of the divine.

This term frequently appeared in certain novels and stories.

But in an age where the gods truly existed, so-called “divine messengers” or “devotees” were actually minor deities’ secretaries.

When there’s work, the secretary does it; when there isn’t, they do nothing…

Wearied believers poured into the three main gates of the temple and eventually gathered before the small area in front of the statue.

Some stood at the edges, hands over their hearts, heads bowed in prayer.

Others knelt in the center, performing three bows and nine prostrations, shouting out the names of the gods.

Through this, Dark finally learned the races and names of the Sun God and Moon God.

These two gods were both Beast Gods.

The Sun God was the [Devouring Solar Lion], whose name was [God of Fiery Dawn].

The Moon God was the [Moon Devouring Wolf], whose name was [God of Eternal Ice and Moon].

Both were extremely powerful Beast Gods.

And indeed, they were a couple.

The followers who believed in these two gods included humans, beastmen, and various half-human, half-beast sub-races, making for a diverse group.

Races that would normally clash now coexisted peacefully under the rule of these two gods.

Whether they were coerced or willingly joined… it was hard to tell from the surface.

In an era filled with gods, most intelligent beings were already struggling just to survive, perhaps lacking the energy to engage in racial conflicts.

If they could find a powerful and benevolent protective deity, that would have been the greatest blessing of the time.

Clearly, although the [Devouring Solar Lion] and [Moon Devouring Wolf] were Beast Gods, they were not malevolent by nature.

They did not eat humans, only livestock, and had little interest in gold and treasures. They also disliked tall buildings soaked in blood, and their tastes differed greatly from humans and sub-races. Moreover, they were a couple and would not become hysterical due to loneliness, boredom, or emptiness like some other gods.

Furthermore, they were powerful enough to provide strong protection to their followers.

The only problem was that their wild nature required some热血as a调剂.

They were particularly fond of “duels.”

…

However, in that era, merely paying this kind of price to receive protection was something many people longed for.

Strong life forms roamed freely, while weak ones struggled to survive.

The law of the jungle was taken to its extreme.

Yet, when the [Dawn of the Gods] arrived, even powerful gods like the [Devouring Solar Lion] and [Moon Devouring Wolf] could not withstand the pollution and destruction from the Abyss.

…

Time passed unnoticed in the dream.

Spring, summer, autumn, and winter flashed by.

The “snake” appeared in the realm of the [Devouring Solar Lion] and [Moon Devouring Wolf].

Initially, they transformed into humans, covering their eyes with bandages and mingling among the believers.

Later, they used wealth to sway people, words to divide them, spreading rumors and diseases, causing the divine realm to gradually decay.

As a divine messenger… Dark watched coldly, observing chaos and disease erode the divine realm, watching hunger and disasters claim lives, seeing darkness and filth seep into the faith system, gradually accumulating and thickening, ultimately turning into deadly poison.

He saw everything, but did not warn anyone.

Because he too had been polluted and corrupted.

…

At that time, the gods might build divine realms and protect their followers, but it was akin to a gang leader building a fortress to protect his gang. The gods themselves did not think they had any inherent connection with their followers.

Their power came from themselves, not from faith, and they did not have the concept of “faith fire.”

They never imagined that a virus could use this “faith network,” which was useless to them, to invade, pollute, dissolve, or plunder their divine authority.

When they realized it, the [Dawn of the Gods] had already arrived, and the “snake” from the Abyss had opened its mouth large enough to swallow the world.

The divine realm collapsed in a single night.

Countless “snakes” flooded into the divine realm.

Polluted believers writhed in pain, black snakes emerging from their abdomens, bursting their throats, devouring their brains, crawling out of their mouths to join the snake army.

The entire divine realm was submerged.

As the end approached, the divine messenger, sensing something moving in his abdomen, raised his empty eyes to the sky.

Fire clouds and ice rapidly approached, as if splitting the sky in two.

The [Devouring Solar Lion] and [Moon Devouring Wolf], rulers of the divine realm, finally descended.

But deep in their eyes, darkness had already taken hold.

…

The scene shifted, and Dark suddenly woke up.

Like most dreams, even a lucid dream fades upon waking, and he could only recall bits and pieces of standing before the statue, watching the world change.

Yet, witnessing the epic rise and fall of a divine realm left him deeply troubled, unable to calm down for a long time.

After a moment, he turned his head and noticed Olivia had awakened and was already by his side.

His heart warmed, and he wanted to say something, but all that came out was, “What time is it?”

Olivia softly replied, “It’s past four.”

“Hmm.” Dark responded and fell silent again.

He began to recall the details of the dream.

The figures he saw in those dreams were rapidly blurring, but the appearances of a few individuals who had deeply interacted with the divine messenger still remained vivid in his mind.

But they were all dead people; even if their images lingered, well, they still had some significance.

Gradually, he recalled a snake tamer named “Drive-Zebra.”

Drive-Zebra was a young girl with brown skin. She couldn’t speak and was mute, yet she could play beautiful melodies on a flute.

She kept her snakes in cages, and whenever she played her flute, the snakes inside the cages would slither out, swaying their bodies to the music.

Her snake was a pitch-black oil snake!

“Drive-Zebra,” he whispered thoughtfully.

…

“Drive-Zebra.”

Aurora suddenly woke up. She had the same dream, but in her dream, she played the role of Drive-Zebra.

The girl admired a divine messenger named “Bach” from the depths of her heart, but the messenger’s eyes never noticed her.

She wasn’t disheartened by this; she simply continued to visit the temple every morning to pray, gazing at the divine messenger’s seemingly unchanging face.

When the end times came and the divine realm decayed, she was not consumed by the “snake” like most believers. Her “oil snake” protected her.

But everyone must die, and Drive-Zebra was just an ordinary person. She witnessed the rise and fall of the divine realm and the fall of the gods, ultimately meeting her death amidst the ruins of the divine realm.

…

Lily rubbed her eyes and yawned before slowly waking up. In her dream, she played the role of the “divine disciple” always accompanying the divine messenger Bach. The events she experienced were almost identical to what Dark had recounted.

…

After all three woke up, they instinctively looked at each other and immediately knew they had all had dreams.

In the cool morning air, they gathered around, drinking the porridge Olivia had prepared while listening to Dark recount his dream.

Dark tried to be as detailed as possible, with Aurora and Professor Lily occasionally adding their own insights.

Soon, everyone understood the origins of this divine temple.

Olivia spoke after listening, saying, “So, does that mean the [oil snake] is actually the snake of the snake tamer Drive-Zebra?”

Aurora nodded, “It should be. Although the [oil snake] has grown much larger, I still remember its details. I didn’t expect such a small oil snake to grow so huge after so many years. It likely received protection from the temple while shielding it.”

Dark said, “This right chamber hasn’t been damaged by outsiders. The divine power within those two statues should have been absorbed by the [oil snake], which explains why it’s so weak.”

Then he smiled and added, “Since it’s Drive-Zebra’s oil snake, can we use a flute like she did to awaken and control it?”

Lily blinked and asked, “Didn’t Aurora play the role of Drive-Zebra in the dream? She should know how to do it, right?”

Aurora frowned, struggling to think.

Dark couldn’t help but laugh, “It’s just a dream. We can’t remember everything. When we return, we’ll look for some books on snake tamers. Maybe we’ll find something useful. From what I see, this [oil snake] seems stronger than the [Thunderbird] and [Earth Bear]. It might have the potential to become a divine beast.”

“Cheep cheep!” [Toy Chick] expressed dissatisfaction.

But there was no effect.

The strength of the [oil snake] was visibly formidable, and it had not only absorbed the divine powers of the [Sun-Eating Divine Lion] and [Moon-Eating Divine Wolf], but also the power of the snakes.

If properly cultivated, it could potentially evolve into a beast form divine being like the [Sun-Eating Divine Lion] or [Moon-Eating Divine Wolf].

And for a magus, the value of the [oil snake] went far beyond its own power.

Given this, it might be the greatest gain they had made since entering the divine temple.

…

After discussing the [oil snake], they inevitably turned to the collapse of the divine realm.

Dark did not witness the fall of the [Sun-Eating Divine Lion] and [Moon-Eating Divine Wolf] in his dream, but Aurora did.

The [Sun-Eating Divine Lion] and [Moon-Eating Divine Wolf] truly lived up to their names as divine beasts. When they revealed their true forms, they towered over the world, as if they could devour the sun and moon.

However, after the divine realm collapsed, countless black snakes, controlled by the power of the abyss, merged together, forming a “snake” even larger than the true forms of the [Sun-Eating Divine Lion] and [Moon-Eating Divine Wolf].

That “snake” opened its massive mouth and swallowed both the [Sun-Eating Divine Lion] and [Moon-Eating Divine Wolf].

Inside the “snake,” the sun and moon manifested, with the burning sun and icy silver moon bursting the “snake’s” belly open, allowing the [Sun-Eating Divine Lion] and [Moon-Eating Divine Wolf] to roar out.

But afterward, the [Sun-Eating Divine Lion] and [Moon-Eating Divine Wolf] did not retaliate but fled in panic.

From a human perspective, one couldn’t discern what exactly happened to them, but they clearly seemed terrified, with no intention of fighting back.

For deities who had become divine through the transformation of beasts, this was extremely inexplicable.

“I wonder which era our dream realm belongs to.”

“Based on current evidence, it’s likely the most recent era.”

No one could tell how many eras this world had gone through.

The entire historical trajectory was like a cycle, revolving around the revival and fall of the gods.

Generally, humans referred to the time after the gods’ twilight as a new era.

Thus, the [Sun-Eating Divine Lion] and [Moon-Eating Divine Wolf] were very likely deities from the previous era.

And mentioning this naturally led to another question: how did the previous era end?

Originally, they knew nothing about this, but now they had some clues.

The “snakes” they saw in their dreams might be one of the reasons.

…

But discussing these matters from their current perspective didn’t seem to have much meaning.

Therefore, after speaking, they could only put it aside for now.

After ending their discussion, they regained their spirits and prepared to head to the final divine temple, where they hoped to discover more clues related to the “snakes.”

However, before setting off, they didn’t forget the statues in this right chamber.

Dark took out paper and pen, asking Aurora to make a brief note and add a map, copying three copies. Then, he summoned three [Imp] golems with Lily’s assistance, sending each copy to the temple entrance, the Ninth Exploration Team, or another team.

Those who received the message would naturally try to dispatch personnel to move the two statues.

After completing this task, the group

Restarting the journey.

But what they had seen in the dream indeed affected them, and even Professor Lily no longer rushed recklessly, becoming much more cautious.

However, within this temple, there were indeed no mechanisms or traps powerful enough to stop them, so they continued forward. After more than three hours, they finally arrived at their final destination.

“Found it!”

On the cliff, Lily flew in the air, shielding her eyes with her small hand to look down.

Less than a hundred meters away, a temple directly facing them appeared in sight.

Dark quickly caught up and carefully observed, discovering that this temple was magnificent and grander than the previous three temples.

If it weren’t for last night’s dream, he might have considered it the “rear chamber.”

However, at this moment, he was very clear that this temple was the central temple of the entire divine realm!

…

“Unexpectedly, it really is like this.”

Dark couldn’t help but sigh as he observed the scenery around the temple.

From his view, most of the central temple was submerged into the rock wall, and outside the walls on both sides of the temple, there were also steep rock walls stretching endlessly.

This showed that although this temple was located centrally in the divine realm, in this “temple” under the Free City, it was already the deepest part.

This meant that the entire divine realm was divided into two halves, and the other half might be elsewhere, or perhaps it had long vanished into the dust of history.

And this “temple” remaining underground in the Free City was only a part akin to an “inner city” of the remaining half.

“Let’s take a short rest, then go down.”

Dark raised his hand, proposing the suggestion.

This time, no one objected, and everyone took a break on the spot, preparing to summon any magic golems they might need.

Professor Lily summoned a large number of [Imps] besides her constant companion, the [Illusion Faerie Dragon].

These [Imps], upon receiving orders, flew off in all directions like a swarm of bees, scouting the area.

Dark summoned the [Solo Sword Sheath] and [Draconic Ballet].

Olivia and Angrey immediately began to dress up.

…

Approximately ten minutes later, everyone descended from the cliff to the flat ground, and Professor Lily’s [Imps] reported back the information they had gathered.

Apart from the central temple being inaccessible, there were no dangers found within a kilometer radius.

And the central temple itself did not emit any extremely dangerous aura like the right temple had.

Everything seemed very calm.

At least on the surface.

Dark walked forward, slowly recalling what he had seen in his dream.

In the dream, the divine messenger “Bach,” who played the role of the only divine messenger in the divine realm, had spent most of his life in this central temple.

He was more familiar with this temple than anyone else.

Thanks to him, Dark’s impression of this central temple was more profound than other places.

But the current temple was completely different from what he was familiar with.

The doors and walls of the entire hall were covered in black substances, and in front of the door was a pitch-black swamp, which had clearly solidified.

A faint black mist drifted in the air, emitting a stimulating odor.

Olivia, wearing the [White Ram Palace Legacy], stepped forward, releasing pure white light from her magic card, purifying and dispersing the potentially toxic black mist.

Angrey stomped his foot, and water surged out, covering the dark swamp, then rapidly froze, forming an ice bridge.

Dark and the others crossed the ice bridge and finally arrived in front of the central temple.

The stone statues that should have been on either side of the main gate were long gone, and even the main gate was only half intact, but the black substance covering the door and walls was extremely polluted. The [Imps] summoned by Professor Lily tried to pass through it and disappeared due to pollution.

“These black substances should be of the same origin as those snakes.”

After observing for a while, Dark said, “Cut open the door.”

“Okay.” Olivia responded, instantly raising her hand to condense a light sword on the hammer, and swung it toward the main gate.

“Boom!” The black substance on the gate was wiped away, leaving a long sword mark on the wall.

Olivia remained composed, continuing to strike.

After a few strikes, the wall was broken, revealing the inside of the central temple.

Almost simultaneously, black fog spewed out, but it was quickly purified by the light.

Professor Lily waved her hand, and a group of glowing [Imps] entered, illuminating the inside like glowing orbs, revealing the interior.

Inside the temple, it was as expected very dilapidated, with signs of collapse and corrosion everywhere. The black substance was scattered all over, some piled in corners, some hanging from the ceiling like webs.

In front, the giant statue seen in the dream still stood on the high platform, but the upper parts of the two statues were corroded, leaving only the lower parts covered in black substance.

A hint of confusion appeared on everyone’s faces.

The [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] pushed aside its bangs, opened its third eye on its forehead, and shot divine light forward.

After a while, it closed its eyes and said, “Although it has been damaged, there remains a faint divine power and divine aura. Moreover, in the corrupted Moon Wolf statue, there is still a trace of the original divine essence of the Moon Goddess.”

Dark nodded, but did not enter lightly.

The situation inside the hall was somewhat eerie.

Strange things often happened when things were abnormal. Even the two temples before had dangers, and the quietness inside this central temple was strange.

But after careful observation, he found nothing suspicious.

Professor Lily’s [Imps] entered the hall and began to scout everywhere, even drilling into the ceiling and beneath the floor, but found nothing.

Dark and the others had to face reality; there seemed to be no dangerous objects like the [Divine Guardian] bones and [Oil Snakes] inside this temple?

“I’ll check first!”

Lily could not hold back and said immediately.

Dark and the others could not see anything, so they could only advise her to be careful.

Lily mounted the [Illusion Faerie Dragon] and flew into the hall.

The place where the temple connected to the main gate was the place for worship. There were three doors in the hall, and behind it were various dwellings.

Lily entered and circled the edge of the hall, then observed the two statues for a while before waving at the people outside.

The people outside looked at each other and entered the hall one by one—still not sensing any danger的气息。

That殿堂, which he had seen in his dreams for decades, cautiously approached behind two statues of deities and then waved towards the 【Soul of the Moon Goddess】.

The 【Soul of the Moon Goddess】 immediately flew forward, absorbing the last trace of divine essence within the statue of the 【Moon Devouring Divine Wolf】.

【Moon Goddess (3%)】→【Moon Goddess (4%)】!

“4%!”

The 【Soul of the Moon Goddess】 appeared very excited.

But that unsettling, eerie aura grew increasingly thick.

Suddenly, Dark’s eyelid twitched violently.

Without any warning, light was stolen away.

The little imps flying in the air did not let out any cries.

Their white glow continued to illuminate this hall buried underground for countless years.

Yet, all living beings with consciousness within this hall were swallowed by darkness.

…

The panic brought about by that instant’s change almost suffocated them.

…

Light reappeared half a second later.

Olivia calmly raised her warhammer and released the healing light of the 【Aries Sacred Robe】.

The healing light dispelled the darkness within one meter, illuminating the faces of those around her.

And the sound that had disappeared simultaneously with the light suddenly returned.

However, a circle with a radius of one and a half meters was too small, only Dark, Aurora, 【Soul of the Moon Goddess】, and 【Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes】 were within this range.

Lily flew even further ahead, while Angrey was slightly behind.

The little Nue, Imp Beast, Tiny Magnet, and Toy Chick, originally sitting on the back of the 【Heavy Armor Rhinoceros】, were slightly off to the side.

A scream suddenly entered their ears.

It was the little Nue instinctively flying towards Dark at the moment the light vanished, colliding with its back with a “thud.”

Then, the Tiny Magnet and Imp Beast also flew frantically over, landing on Dark’s left and right shoulders.

Following closely, Angrey and Lily squeezed in, both sighing in relief.

“The connection between me and the mana spirits has been severed,” Professor Lily said as soon as she squeezed in.

Aurora and others frowned sharply and nodded in agreement.

“It seems we are no longer in the temple,” Lily made a decisive judgment.

But as soon as she spoke, she suddenly looked at the Imp Beast and asked in confusion, “Could it be that familiars are different?”

The familiars summoned by the Selection Cards were naturally also a type of mana spirit.

The Imp Beast bared its teeth at her.

Dark quickly said, “It seems this place can only accommodate beings with consciousness. My Draconic Ballet has not lost contact.”

Aurora wiped her hand and pulled out the Flame Sun Elemental: “Elemental spirits are also still present.”

Olivia swung her warhammer and said, “The armor hasn’t vanished either.”

Lily immediately took out a mana spirit card from her deck and usually summoned it.

But after successfully casting her usual summoning spell, the mana spirit in her hand was indeed glowing, yet the summoned mana spirit did not appear before her eyes.

She smiled and said, “It seems only mana spirits disappear.”

Dark speculated, “Armor can be brought in because it is considered similar to clothing? And weapons have not vanished either.”

Lily nodded, “Yes. It is not aimed at mana spirits, but mana spirits have indeed been mistakenly affected. What should we do next?”

Olivia whispered, “My healing light is a secret technique of the Aries Sacred Robe, consuming a lot of mana.”

Both Dark and Professor Lily had seen her use this healing light to revive the physical body of the 【Intelligence Deity】, and they were very clear about it.

Dark said, “Olivia won’t last long. We must find an alternative source of light or solve the problem quickly before her mana runs out… But that’s difficult. The range Olivia’s healing light can illuminate is too small. And alternative sources of light…”

His gaze quickly fell on the Flame Sun Elemental in Aurora’s palm.

Aurora’s heart stirred, and she threw up the Flame Sun Elemental.

This tiny elemental spirit flew upward, releasing red light beyond the range of the healing light, indeed dispelling more darkness.

Although it could illuminate a smaller area than the healing light, with a radius of less than half a meter, having a persistent alternative light source still slightly eased everyone’s tension.

Humans are creatures that live under sunlight, inherently fearing darkness.

After calming down a bit, Dark immediately woke up his Flame Sun Elemental.

When he left the main hall, his Flame Sun Elemental had gone back to sleep, but because he hadn’t fed it more 【Pride】, it slept lightly, easily awakening with just a slight touch.

“Fortunately, we have two Flame Sun Elementals,” Dark said.

Lily immediately suggested, “One of them could go scout.”

“That’s a good idea,” Dark threw his hand up, and the Flame Sun Elemental released more red light under his command.

The red light… illuminated a space three meters in radius almost instantly!

The difference in the illumination range between a three-meter radius and a one-meter radius was significant.

The abandoned Toy Chick finally appeared in the light, flapping its wings towards Lily.

Including Dark himself, everyone showed a slight look of surprise.

Of course, there was also a hint of joy.

This was undoubtedly a very pleasant result.

And this result gave Dark new ideas.

He took out a 【Magical Beast: Ibut】 card from his deck and first summoned it.

Then he took out another card with a magical pattern made through crafting, 【Pride II】, and summoned it.

When the light of 【Pride II】 shone upon the 【Magical Beast: Ibut】, its forehead revealed the emblem of 【Pride】, and its ultimate skill became 【Mimic】, 【Full Moon (Pride)】, 【Help】, and 【Great Sunny Day (Pride)】.

Dark squatted down and gently stroked Ibut’s head, commanding, “Ibut, use 【Great Sunny Day】!”

“Yi Bu~”

Ibut let out an invigorating cry, immediately looking up to the sky and releasing the field spell—【Great Sunny Day (Pride)】.

A bright light ball like the sun rapidly ascended into the sky, as if the sunrise, bringing new light to the entire world.

Under the illumination of this light, the darkness in this unknown space was instantly dispelled, the range illuminated expanding from three meters to over ten meters in an instant.

Although it didn’t reach walls or other boundaries, such a large illumination range immediately made people feel secure.

Dark’s heart also calmed down significantly.

Professor Lily immediately looked up and asked, “How long can it last?”

The method could be sustained.”

With that, he summoned another 【Magical Beast: Ditto】, transforming it into a 【Magical Beast: Eevee】.

When this 【Magical Beast: Ditto】 released 【Bright Sun (Pride)】, he could summon a new 【Magical Beast: Eevee】 in advance, instructing it to use 【Mimic】 and record down 【Bright Sun (Pride)】.

Thanks to his research on 【Secondary Refinement】, Dak had plenty of 【Magical Beasts: Eevee】 and 【Magical Beasts: Ditto】, making seamless transitions entirely possible.

Moreover, besides 【Bright Sun (Pride)】, he had other means… which will not be mentioned for now.

【Bright Sun (Pride)】 was not perfect; its flaw was that the emitted light could not move.

Therefore, when it came to regular lighting, they still needed a Flame Sun Elemental.

…

“Since we can ensure the light source, let’s start exploring.”

Professor Lily flicked away the 【Toy Chick】 and immediately waved her hand.

Her tone hinted at excitement.

To her, being brought here from the Central Temple by unknown forces was merely switching to a different adventure area – even more intriguing!

Perhaps influenced by her mood, the others also perked up.

Dak said, “Let’s first find the boundaries and see if there are any doors.”

Everyone agreed and started moving.

In just a few minutes, they gained a detailed understanding of their current location.

“Analyzing the information we just gathered, we seem to have been brought into a roughly square space.”

“The dimensions of this space are about twenty meters long and wide. The reason why 【Bright Sun】 couldn’t reach the edges is because we are right in the center.”

“There are no markers or dangers inside. However, there are doors on three walls, and each door has a puzzle.”

“The puzzles themselves are simple; as long as you can see them, you can solve them…”

“Based on this, this space might have been specifically set up for the apprentices of the 【Sun-Eating Divine Lion】 and the 【Moon-Gorging Divine Wolf】. Only those with the power of the sun or moon can dispel the darkness.”

“If this logic holds true, this place may not be a dangerous area.”

“But the question now is, which door should we choose?”

After Dak finished speaking, he looked at everyone.

Three doors, three divine messengers.

If this space indeed wasn’t a dangerous area, then one person per door would be most reasonable.

However, the reality was that they didn’t know where exactly they were.

Even though they had a long lucid dream before this, most of the details were forgotten upon waking up, and none of the three had any recollection of this space.

Thus, they couldn’t possibly split up to explore.

“Perhaps we can analyze the information behind each door through the puzzles?” Lily suggested.

Dak silently replied, “If you can deduce information from problems like 【1+1=2】, 【1+9=10】, and 【11-0=11】, then we would have to admit defeat.”

“(^__^) Hehe…” Lily scratched her head, trying to bluff her way out.

After a while, Aurora said, “It’s hard to make a choice with almost no information.”

Dak then said, “Since that’s the case, let’s just pick a path randomly.”

Speaking of which, he summoned a 【Magical Beast: Destroyer God】 using a regular summoning spell.

The 【Magical Beast: Destroyer God】 glanced at the nearby 【Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes】 and immediately beamed, saying to Dak, “My dear master, what do you need me to do?”

Dak smiled, “Use your 【Annihilation Proclamation】 to make a prediction. Which direction should we take among these three?”

The 【Magical Beast: Destroyer God】 paused for a moment, finally understanding Dak’s meaning, then pointed in a direction as if posing.

Dak: “Good, eliminate one option.”

【Magical Beast: Destroyer God】: “???”

Dak: “Choose between the remaining two directions.”

【Magical Beast: Destroyer God】: “ヽ(｀⌒´メ)ノ!”

…

A moment later, Dak and company arrived at one of the doors.

There was no gap between this door and the wall; touching it did not reveal its presence.

The door was inscribed with numbers in symbols of that era, reading 【11-0=?】.

Without the previous lucid dream, Dak and company wouldn’t have recognized these number symbols, let alone say them aloud… yes, this was a voice-activated door.

Only by speaking 【11】 in the language of that era could the door open.

When Dak uttered 【11】, red flames ignited around the outline of the door, then the entire door burned up, revealing the passage behind it.

Dak waved his hand: “Imp Beast… Draconic Ballet, go scout ahead.”

“Daklon!” The 【Draconic Ballet】 immediately entered the passage.

The Imp Beast pouted, tightening its claws on Dak’s shoulder.

The group cautiously entered the passage, proceeding carefully.

About five minutes later, they passed through the passage and entered the second room.

If the first room was meant to confirm the identity of those entering, then this second room… was likely meant to test their abilities!

Dak and company encountered three living members of the 【Divine Guardian】 clan here.

Two of the three were the same size as the skeletons they encountered in the left temple, while the third was even larger.

“Is it because all three of us entered the same passage?”

Dak pondered briefly and immediately ordered the 【Magical Beast: Eevee】 transformed from 【Magical Beast: Ditto】 to use 【Bright Sun (Pride)】.