Chapter 217 The Demonic Hub (Part 1)
A deep darkness, almost no light can be seen around it, only some silvery-white halos can be vaguely seen in the farthest place.
Silent, strange, and eerie.
The moment Brian and Myrcella stepped into this land through the teleportation spell, the first thing he felt was that the air was turbid, and the black curtain above his head seemed to collapse at any time, giving people a sense of suffocation. feel.
“You’re not saying that this is a demiplane with a complete ecosystem.” Myrcella tossed back her long hair hanging on her chest, looked around, and asked in confusion, “Why? It will look like this.”
"That's because this demiplane is on the verge of collapse." Brian replied calmly, "If you look carefully, you can find that the ether membrane protecting the demiplane is about to disappear."
It's so desolate here. Sand and broken rocks make up the surface. A little further away, there are scattered and uneven pits, which look like the surface of the moon.
The demiplane they were in was the one he inherited from the great arcanist Opas when he and Helister were exploring the ruins of the floating city.
Originally, this demiplane, which was only the size of a square, was not as dilapidated as it seemed. At least there was a gorgeous palace standing in the center of the demiplane. The palace was surrounded by deep and dark water. surrounded by lakes.
The main reason for this situation is that he wanted to make this demiplane completely his own, so he asked Herister to help him and forcibly transform it into a demiplane seed. .
This approach naturally caused unimaginable damage to everything here.
This is like demolishing a building just to obtain the foundation. Naturally, it must be demolished first before it can be rebuilt.
Just like this, the palace in the center of the demiplane has long been reduced to ruins, and even the surrounding lakes have dried up.
Even at the edge of the demiplane, there are many bottomless cracks.
If you throw a few stones into such a terrifying crack, you will never hear any sound.
"As expected." Myrcella nodded slightly and said with emotion:
"This is indeed a demiplane with a complete ecology. It is difficult to imagine how it was formed. Unfortunately, the ether membrane appeared A local distortion has already occurred. If we don't stop it, I'm afraid it will collapse on its own in less than half a year and turn into dust in the etheric plane."
Brian didn't answer and moved forward silently.
In fact, if this demiplane had not been occupied by him, it could have survived for more than ten years at most, but it could not escape the fate of destruction.
Even if the female lord in front of him does not put forward his own plan, he will find a way to repair the demiplane after the wizard tower is established.
Now, as long as their plan succeeds, and combined with the arcane knowledge about the creation of demiplanes left by Grand Arcanist Opas, he will definitely be able to make it grow at the fastest speed.
"Actually...this kind of ritual." Myrcella followed Brian's footsteps and walked side by side with him.
As she walked, she said, "I think the more people participate, the less pressure we will bear, and maybe we can increase the success rate of the ceremony."
"That being said "Brian looked at her and explained to her:
"But for the sake of safety, I still think that the fewer people know about this kind of thing, the better, even if the chance of leaking the secret is very small. It is not the key factor in determining success, it is better to be cautious.”
After hearing Brian's insistent words, Myrcella stopped talking.
She was just worried that he would not be able to persist until the end of the entire ceremony due to his low strength. Since he said so, it meant that he was relatively confident in the entire ceremony.
Then it makes little sense for her to insist on these factors that have little influence.
Two magical auras appeared.
The figures of Brian and Myrcella appeared in the center of this demiplane, which was only the size of a square.
At this moment, the four elemental giants who were coaxed or subdued by force have been waiting here for a long time.
However, as giant spirits who have lived for countless years, they naturally will not wait for them like good babies.
During this boring period of time, the fire djinn, who looked like a piece of black coal, was arguing with the thick and burly earth djinn, and there was a tendency to fight if they disagreed.
The loud voices of the two legendary giant spirits were like the explosion of fireballs, mixed with the continuous collapse of the mountain, deafening.
Brian heard clearly the content of the argument between the two. It was nothing more than the earth djinn laughing at the fire djinn’s fireballs, which could not compare to the mortals in the material world.
The efreet djinn, not to be outdone, claimed that the earth djinn had completely disgraced the djinn clan and was beaten into submission by a material wizard whose strength did not even reach the legendary realm.
Among the four giant spirits, the only female one is the wind giant spirit who looks quite aloof. Her slender legs turned into air vortices, suspended in mid-air, with her hands folded across her chest, watching with cold eyes.
As for the water djinn, it still looked lifeless. It was sitting on a rock, its eyes were dull, and it had no interest in anything.
When the two came to the center of the demiplane, the ruins of the former palace, everyone stood up.
"Hey, Material Man, why did you bring us to this broken plane?" The efreeti spoke first, "I'm getting a little impatient with waiting. If there is any ceremony, let's start it quickly. I The batch of fire dwarves I have made is almost ready, just waiting to be baked.”
The other three giant spirits also cast doubtful glances over.
Although they did not speak as vulgar words as the efreeti, the meanings they wanted to express were almost the same.
After all, what they appear at this moment is their true form. If they die due to an accident, they will die completely.
"Be patient." Brian glanced at them and said, "It will start soon."
Then, he moved his eyes to the graceful female lord next to him.
Myrcella smiled, nodded slightly, and waved her sleeves gracefully.
A magical aura emerged.
The unpretentious black obelisk appeared out of thin air, hit the ground with a 'bang', and was located in the center of the plane, perfectly embedded in the ground.
"What is this black stone tablet?" The efreet asked curiously, eyes widening like two fireballs, "Why does the material look a bit like the obsidian I used to build the palace?"
“No wonder you are so dark. It turns out that you are smoked by the obsidian from the crater.”
The Earth Djinn did not miss any opportunity to laugh at the Fire Djinn. He walked up to the obelisk, cautiously stretched out his hand and touched it gently. Then he looked shocked, as if he had been electrocuted, and he suddenly retracted.
“This black tower is a bit weird, it actually contains huge elemental power.” The earth giant glanced at the fire giant next to him, and said with surprise on his face, “I suspect that if you come into contact with it often, It is very likely to help me break through the bottleneck of my strength."
"Really? Get out of here and let me try it too." The fire giant's legs turned into a plume of smoke and rushed towards the earth giant. In front of him, he pushed him away arrogantly.
He was too lazy to think about why the rock-solid earth giant was pushed away by him so easily, but directly placed his hands on the obelisk.
“Holy shit!!!”
The fire giant screamed in surprise, and his loud voice was like an exploding fireball, making everyone's ears buzz.
He quickly retracted his hand and shouted at the earth giant: "Fuck you, Thor Stone Monster! There is no elemental power. This thing will automatically absorb my energy and scare me." A jump. "
The water djinn, who had no sense of existence, turned around, raised his eyelids, turned around again, and continued to sit on the stone and think about his life.
The wind djinn suspended in mid-air looked at the obelisk thoughtfully, seeming to recall something, and murmured to himself: "I seem to have seen similar stone tablets like this somewhere. ”
Brian’s keen hearing captured this unexpected news.
He withdrew his attention from the noisy earth djinn and fire djinn, looked up at the wind djinn, and asked curiously: "Anaxis, where have you seen it."
"Thousands of years have passed." Wind Djinn said in a melodious and ethereal voice:
"I vaguely remember that during the Netheril period, there was a great arcanist who once Something similar was found in a mountain range called Polaris on the other side of the Nether Sea."
When he heard that it was on the other side of the Netherese Sea, Brian suddenly looked disappointed.
Because the once narrow sea has now become a group of supreme icebergs. Unless all the icebergs are melted and the narrow sea is reopened to navigation, it may be possible to find a second obelisk.
However, he suddenly remembered that the great arcanist Brysis, whom he met in the floating city tomb in the Underdark, had a title: Lady Polaris.
It can be seen from her title that the other party is definitely related to the Polaris Mountains.
If this is the case, after he makes the soul crystal left by Ms. Polaris into a tower spirit, he might be able to learn information about the obelisk.
After figuring out the problem, Brian stopped wasting time.
“Shut up!”
With a cold face, he stopped the elf djinn and the earth djinn who were still arguing, then took out a lot of materials engraved with the magic circle, and began to arrange the magic circle around the obelisk with the female lord.
The earth giant and the fire giant were silent. They could only stare with big eyes and curse silently.
Obviously, they also know that when a wizard is setting up a magic circle, he must stay focused.
Time passed quietly in this desolate demiplane.
Although only about four hours passed, for Brian, it was extremely long.
Fortunately, he finally finished carving a total of five large nine-pointed star formations.
He breathed a long sigh of relief, took out a bottle of mushroom-flavored energy potion that was a specialty of the Myconid clan in the Matte Woods, bit the cork, and drank it in one gulp.
The cool liquid entered his throat and turned into heat, reaching all the veins in his limbs, finally restoring his exhausted spirit to a full state.
There is no doubt that this precious bottle of potion contributed a lot.
Of course, if this female lord, whose strength reached the legendary realm, had not helped him create the magic circle this time, he would not have been able to complete it so quickly.
"Go to your positions." Brian ordered the four giant spirits, "Follow the method I gave you before, and there must be no mistakes."
"What if something goes wrong?" The earth giant spirit subconsciously said After another sentence, he stretched out his honest face and asked, "If you fail, will someone die?"
"Hahaha..."
Like a star. The sound of the fireball exploding sounded, obviously the fire giant was laughing.
He said to the earth giant in a mocking tone, "Look at how cowardly you are. You are so scared before you even start. No wonder you can't even defend your own territory and are being attacked by a group of Thors. The stone monster has taken over.”
"Go to hell with your Salamander uncle! I am calling you to withdraw your fist just to exert more power. I will take it back sooner or later."
Of course the earth giant was not convinced, and he used a mocking tone. Hum said:
"After all, my power of earth element has never been like that of some embarrassing giant spirits. Even the fireball that I am best at cannot compare to a mortal. I simply threw him to a salamander." The uncle's house is here."
"Fuck you, Grandma Thor!" When the pain point was mentioned, the fire giant became furious, with a black face, blowing his beard and roaring:
"Open your Cytoprine agate dog eyes and take a look. Is this material guy an ordinary mortal? If the material world were all such mortals, your grandma Thor Stone Monster would have been built on the city wall long ago. The scenery was terrible, and you were beaten until you knelt down and begged for mercy.”
"Stop arguing, just shut up!" Brian shouted coldly, ending the endless quarrel.
"Hey, material guy." The efreeti scratched his head and chuckled: "Is there something wrong that will really kill people?"
"Don't talk too much nonsense. , If you continue to talk and don't cooperate with my actions, then I don't mind killing you first and digging out your fire element crystal core to use as the power of this ceremony." Brian glanced at the super demon beside him. The curse user replied calmly, "Do you want to try it?"
Myrcella cast her beautiful silver-gray eyes on the efreeti, which was profound.
The fire djinn shrank in fear and glanced at the earth djinn, "I won't try. If I dare to try, this earth djinn is the grandma of Thor Stone Monster."
"I gave birth to your Salamander uncle!"
The Earth Giant's voice was like a mountain collapsing, but when he noticed Brian's gaze, he shut his mouth in time and hurriedly avoided his gaze. More words.
Obviously, this earth giant was left in the shadow by Brian's violent attack, and he has not yet come out of it.
“A group of djinn who are greedy for life and afraid of death.” The water djinn with a catfish-like head strolled over calmly. He patted the non-existent dust on his bloated body. , the voice is like the waves crashing on the beach.
"You are afraid of death because you don't know what death is at all? What is death? It is being buried in the branches, being immersed in the ocean, being the butterfly burning in the flames, being finally Not being bound by the land is struggling to open the vines of life..."
The female lord Myrcella on the side frowned her beautiful eyebrows and looked at Brian helplessly.
“Stop it, don’t waste any more time.” Brian’s expression was as calm as ever, without any sign of impatience, but it was his calm look that invisibly caused the giant spirit to They kept their mouths shut.
"Return to your respective positions." He gave the order expressionlessly.
After hearing this, the four giant spirits walked towards the four large nine-pointed star formations surrounding the obelisk. They each found their own positions and got ready.
"Although I have promised you that this ceremony will not endanger your lives or cause your strength to decline." Before leaving, Brian solemnly warned:
< br>
"But! If someone causes the ritual to fail due to their own reasons, causing the four of you to be hurt at the same time. Believe me, the other three will not let you leave the demiplane with your limbs intact without my intervention."
< br>"Don't worry, if anyone dares to make a mistake, I will be the first one not to do it." The efreeti assured Brian, patting his chest. "Yes, especially the guy with the darkest face. Among us, he is the most unreliable." The earth giant spirit also quickly added, "If the ceremony fails due to his mistakes, I will be the first to He stood up and beat him to the point where his Salamander Grandpa didn't even recognize him."
"Then don't talk nonsense and prepare with peace of mind." Brian said. , disappearing into the obelisk together with Myrcella.
The inside of the obelisk is a space of about 200 square meters.
Although this place is very spacious, the densely packed arcane runes, spell circuits, and magic hubs inside are dazzling.
At this moment, Brian felt as if he had entered the main control room of the power plant and almost fainted from the dazzling wiring inside.
Thankfully, the various magic devices such as crystal traces, spell circuits, and magic hubs are inlaid neatly and orderly, giving people a sense of regular rhythm and beauty.
He believes that even a person with deep obsessive-compulsive disorder will be amazed when he sees it.
Of course, it was this orderly arrangement that allowed him and Myrcella to even determine the approximate functions of the arcane runes they studied, as well as some arcane runes that prohibited contact.
Entering the inner space of the minaret, they did not waste any time and went straight to a secret room in the center.
The secret chamber is made of a dark blue crystal that even Brian couldn't guess, but he was able to tell that these crystals at least have the function of condensing elemental energy.
In the room, he could clearly see the exterior of the square tower from the four walls.
Sylvari, the water fairy, was sitting on a dark blue crystal altar built in the center of the room. She had obviously been waiting for them for a long time.
“Are you ready?” Brian walked to the altar, looked at the pure and lovely natural spirit, smiled and touched her head, and couldn’t help but rub her long, silky silver hair. .
"Yes, yes, I'm ready, Master." Fairy Shuizawa nodded obediently.
Looking at the determination in the girl's blue eyes, Brian knew that anything he said at this moment was unnecessary.
Whether it is for her or for himself, he must make this ritual a success.
“Let’s begin.” He looked at Myrcella and gave the order.
A divine light emerged, and the water fairy Sylvari took the lead in activating the dark blue altar.
Myrcella also solemnly took out a short wand with a star sapphire on the top and pointed it at the altar below the Water Fairy.
Then, she contacted the tower spirit in the material world as quickly as possible, activated the crystal hub on the altar, and allowed the element pool of her mage tower to establish a link with it.
"The link has been successfully established and energy is being transmitted..." Myrcella said to Brian, "Next, we need to rely on the energy of the four elemental planes to temporarily stabilize this space."
Standing in front of the altar, Brian nodded slightly and tapped the staff on the ground. Ripples of energy suddenly splashed on the smooth floor made of unknown dark blue crystal. , with him as the center, spreading to the surroundings.
“Buzz!”
As the energy spread, the black obelisk in the demiplane shook slightly, and the fifth magic circle that Brian had arranged around the obelisk in advance was instantly activated.
On the pivot nodes inside the magic circle, the inlaid gems shine brightly one after another.
This light is like a liquid, flowing through all the magic runes on the magic circle.
At the same time, the arrays occupied by the four elemental giants also bloomed with different lights one after another due to the activation of the fifth array.
Feeling the huge energy spurting out, the four elemental giants immediately followed Brian's instructions, each connected to their own plane, and guided the energy from the four elemental planes to the plain. black obelisk.
In an instant, the energy radiance representing the four elemental planes gradually emerged from the deep and dark demiplane.
Brian, who was inside the spire, instantly felt a trace of heavy power. Obviously, this was the gravity formed by linking the earth elemental plane. It was not the gravity of the demiplane, but the gravity of the earth giant from the earth element. The gravity transferred from the plane.
Then there is the scorching temperature representing the fire element, the wind element blowing in the face, and the last trace of warm water vapor.
This is the purest energy from the four elemental planes. They are the bricks that build the universe and the basic matter and energy in their original form.
These energies cannot be used directly, but need to be converted into pure arcane energy or natural energy through the energy conversion ceremony inside the obelisk.
A trace of elemental power is extracted from the four elemental planes.
Then the magic hub injected into the obelisk was condensed into the magic circuit along the crystal traces, and finally lit up all the arcane runes, shining like stars.
The entire magic hub system inside the obelisk is like the water purification equipment in the water plant.
Countless energy is like a flowing stream, flowing along the shining crystal traces and arcane runes, condensing into little green light spots, moving towards the person standing on the dark blue altar. Water fairies gather.
Sylvari guided the gathered energy to the dark blue altar at her feet according to the method taught to her by Brian, and spread it to the entire demiplane.
As the first ball of light green energy erupted from the top of the obelisk in the demiplane, the four elemental giants sensed it at the same time.
You can see from their horrified expressions the effect of these energies on themselves. The feeling is as exciting as walking in the desert for half a month and suddenly encountering an oasis.
Seemingly realizing something, the four elemental giants were shocked, and their work, which was originally reluctant, suddenly became more arduous at this moment.
Even the water djinn, which looked lifeless, like a dead salted fish, opened its bright eyes and excitedly guided the energy of the water elemental plane towards the obelisk.
At the same time, as the obelisk of the demiplane completed the initial connection with the four elemental planes, under the influence of the power of the laws of the multiverse, the edges of the demiplane were formed like film-like ethers. The membrane begins to repair at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Obviously, only by successfully repairing the ether membrane that protects the demiplane, the so-called plane barrier, can the condensed energy not spill out.
All this seems to be developing in a good direction.
However, the situation inside the obelisk became very serious at this moment.
I saw a blue light curtain covering the whole body of the Water Fairy, and began to rotate slowly. She looked up as if floating in the water, raised her head, stretched her arms, and her dress moved in the churning light, showing off Hair fluttering in the arcane torrent.
Brian even felt that her heart stopped beating in the blink of an eye, and then jumped again with an astonishing force that shook her weak body.
Brian was confused and shocked by what was happening in front of him. He looked at the torrent of arcane magic at a loss and felt that the entire energy field was shifting.
Before he could figure out the reason, the arcane energy began to shake violently again, and an expression of pain and fear appeared on the distorted face of Fairy Shuize.
"The energy is still out of control." Myrcella's heart suddenly sank to the bottom of the valley. She chanted the last spell again with a slight despair, but her hoarse voice hit herself like a whip, stabbing her. It hurts so much.
She could clearly feel the magic draining from her staff, but she found in disbelief that she had lost control of it...
Obviously, this is arcane magic. Caused by loss of energy control.
At her wits' end, she forced herself to calm down and put her last hope on Brian.
"You should have felt it, the arcane energy has been out of control."
She spoke quickly and anxiously to Brian through telepathy, "I don't know the specific reason yet. "Clear, do you see what's going on?"
In the gap between her words, the arcane light began to rotate crazily, and the out-of-control energy rotated faster and faster, just like the magic light flame of the Mage Tower. , tightening around the slender body of Fairy Shuize.
Sylvari screamed in pain, and her flesh and blood began to shrink in the beautiful and deadly flames.
"I've felt it."
Brian was not panicked by the sight in front of him. He said calmly, "Don't worry about what caused it. I just want to know the most effective way. How to solve it."
"Magic Network!"
Myrcella blurted out, "If we can connect to the Magic Network at this moment, we will be able to calm down the out-of-control energy."
< br>This is the only way!
Although this was impossible, seeing Brian's confident eyes and calm tone, she still chose to speak out the impossible method at the moment.
"If I can connect to the magic network, I can mobilize the energy of the elemental pool and help you control the out-of-control energy so that the ritual can be successfully completed."
Myrcella stared at the rapidly spinning The arcane whirlpool, dazzled by the dazzling light, shed tears involuntarily.
Even she is like this, the water fairy in the whirlpool can be imagined.
She could even imagine that the severe pain caused by the out-of-control energy spread through every sinew and muscle of Sylvari, causing her body to twitch and shrink into a ball.
"Then prepare as soon as possible." Brian vaguely heard the scream that was enough to tear his eardrums. He knew that he could not delay any longer. "Leave the rest to me."
Myrcella was clothed Ryan's words were shocked, but she knew that this was not the time to think about this issue. She quickly gave instructions to the tower spirit in the mage tower to mobilize the reserve energy of the elemental pool to assist Brian in controlling the out-of-control power.
The arcane energy began to jump wildly. As the magic power of the magic hub, crystal traces and spell circuits grew and spread, the violent vibrations made every stone in the entire demiplane seem to be emitting Wails.
With a thought, Brian's arcane fire floated out from his body, and under his control, dazzling blue and white flames burst out.
"This is..."
Myrcella's eyes widened in shock, staring at the blue-white flames suspended in mid-air in disbelief. Even though the burst of light stung her eyes and caused tears to flow from her eyes, she still stared at it, as if it was The most beloved item in my life.
As a super magic user with legendary power and an authority on super magic, I am afraid that no one knows the deep magic network better than this profession.
Although the Demonic Network has been banned for a long time, the Super Magician’s in-depth study of the banned Demonic Network allowed them to transform the nature of magic without even relying on any objective rules, but based on Modify them to your own will.
"I see, no wonder he can become a real arcanist." Myrcella murmured to herself, "He actually has this small magic network of his own. I'm afraid his profession even It has surpassed the arcanists of the Netheril era."
Although she was almost kneeling down by the uncontrollable energy at this moment, Myrcella saw the shining blue and white flames. It was like seeing new hope.
Therefore, in order to complete the entire ritual, she ignored the tower spirit's warning and mobilized all the remaining energy and reserve energy in the elemental pool to assist Brian in calming down the out-of-control energy.
Brian was actually not feeling well at this moment.
He controlled his arcane fire, and under the protection of the protective barrier, rushed towards the center of the arcane whirlpool.
Only by letting the arcane fire envelope Sylvari's body, which functions like a magic net, can the spread of chaotic energy be controlled as quickly as possible.
After all, she is the source of out-of-control energy.
Although under the suppression of chaotic energy, he felt that the bones and flesh all over his body began to separate inch by inch, and the pain was tormenting him like a thousand cuts, but he still had no intention of stopping.
"Sylvari, don't give up, you must hold on! I'll be here soon!" He shouted at the approaching arcane vortex.
Unfortunately he received no response.
And the closer he got to the arcane vortex, the more he felt every joint in his body being pulled apart, his eyes almost flying out of their frames, his heart about to burst out of his body, and even his brain. It was shaking crazily in my head.
He even heard his own scream, as if he understood that it was the last cry before death, but he was still unwilling to give up, just as he was determined to pursue the path of arcane magic.
At this moment, he suddenly felt a surge of arcane energy erupting from behind him, surrounding him, and the pressure around him suddenly lightened.
So, he endured the severe pain all over his body, suddenly rushed into the center of the arcane whirlpool, and at the fastest speed in his life, he enveloped the dying Shuizhu Fairy with the blue and white flames emitted by the arcane fire.
As the arcane fire spread out into ripples, the arcane vortex surrounding the two people began to slowly collapse. The solid and out-of-control arcane torrent cracked like the ground and turned into Shattered and dissipated without a trace.
The Water Fairy also gradually regained her vitality, and quickly controlled the condensed arcane energy, carefully guiding it outside the obelisk, and exploded into a piece of energy that was conducive to stabilizing the ether membrane.
Seeing the energy gradually returning to calm, Brian let out a sigh of relief. He wiped the blood that overflowed from the corner of his mouth, fell down and came to Myrcella's side.
The situation just now was very dangerous. If Myrcella's sudden burst of energy had not protected his safety, he would have even begun to think about retreating in order to protect himself.
"Have we succeeded?" He looked at the female lord. Her forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, and a few strands of soaked brown-red long hair stuck to her pale cheeks, giving people a A morbid beauty.
"As long as you keep going, let the energy cover the entire demiplane, and complete the self-circulation, you will be considered successful." A smile appeared on Myrcella's pale and pretty face.
Then, she seemed to sense something again, and her expression changed slightly.
“Oops, the energy just went out of control, causing the ether membrane in the northeast to be torn. Although it has been repaired in time, the violent energy attracted a group of spiritual world predators.”
< br>
"Leave it to me to deal with it."
Brian knew that the ceremony had reached the most critical step. Neither the four giant spirits nor the water fairy nor the female lord with stable energy could be disturbed. In this case, He could only fight it alone.
"Then be careful." Myrcella looked at him worriedly and said softly.
Brian nodded slightly, smiled, and then was wrapped in the light of the magic circle and disappeared on the spot.
(End of this chapter)