Angel’s figure flickered and appeared on the stone with the Old King’s carving.
After standing firm, he quickly tore open a Magic Rune Scroll and set up an energy defense field nearby.
Although this place has seemingly become the only safe zone amidst the raging battlefield, it’s still difficult to avoid the impact of explosions completely. Moreover, fire elemental crystals are continuously falling from the sky, and just a slight touch can lead to an "artistic" expression.
Therefore, to prevent any issues with the stone that might involve the mini passageway, Angel added a defense field as insurance.
However, Angel’s actions were interpreted differently by Dangross —
Just after Angel had praised the greatness of the Hearthfire Xiluya, seeing the explosion threatening the image of the Old King, he rushed here to protect it without hesitation.
"He... is showing his respect to the Old King!"
After reaching this conclusion, the previous anger Dangross felt towards Angel somewhat dissipated. However, unwilling to admit it had accused the wrong person, it remained silent. It held its breath, hoping to step in and plead for clemency for the "suspected spies" once the new king ended the battle.
Dangross was filled with mixed emotions and didn’t want to speak; meanwhile, Angel remembered something and wanted to get answers from Dangross.
While discretely deploying Illusion Nodes as a backup, Angel subtly shifted the topic to the drawing on the stone.
Since he was already at the stone, Angel wanted to take the opportunity to find out if the fire-element lives were aware of an exit here?
Perhaps because of Angel’s apparent respect for the Old King, Dangross surprisingly didn’t maintain its usual pride and answered a few questions.
Angel couldn’t fathom why Dangross had suddenly changed, but seeing it cooperate, he quickly steered the conversation to the matter he truly wished to inquire about.
"...This earring looks very similar to the new king’s nose ring."
Angel seemed to point at the earring, but upon close inspection, it was clear that the location he pointed to was exactly where the mini passageway was.
Dangross glanced at it, replying nonchalantly, "That nose ring was handed down from the Old King to the new king."
Observing Dangross’s gaze carefully, Angel realized it did not look toward the mini passageway, confirming Dangross was indeed unaware of its existence.
Then, could other elemental creatures possibly know?
As Angel pondered, Dangross seemed to think of something and spoke proactively: "I once secretly asked Teacher Magu about the origin of the Old King’s earring. Teacher Magu said, a long time ago, it was a gift from an otherworldly savior."
An otherworldly savior?!
Angel’s pupils contracted, could this refer to Feng?
He only intended to verify whether elemental creatures had discovered the mini passageway, not expecting to obtain such crucial information.
Dangross is truly impressive!
"Otherworldly? Savior?" Angel feigned ignorance and looked at Dangross.
"You don’t even know this?" Dangross shot a glance at Angel with a ’how ignorant can you be’ look, then continued: "Otherworldly refers to outside this world. Teacher Magu explained there are other worlds beyond ours. I’ve never been, but I’ve heard they’re different from ours."
"As for the savior, you definitely should know. A long, long time ago, there was an elemental upheaval that swept across the entire world, shattering all beings who reached Monarch level and above on the continent. Luckily, the Old King was only a half-step Monarch; otherwise, he would’ve been engulfed by the disaster... This disaster was ultimately ended by an otherworldly visitor, who brought a vast amount of elements from outside, calming the world disaster. That person is who we refer to as the savior."
Angel: "Does this savior have a name?"
Dangross thought for a moment, then shook its head: "There probably is, but I don’t know it. Perhaps, Teacher Magu knows."
Angel asked about Teacher Magu’s identity, and though Dangross warily questioned why Angel wanted to know the Sage’s name, it was deceived into revealing the answer.
Teacher Magu is a fire elemental being from the same era as Hearthfire Xiluya, the final resting place of countless ’sprouts’ in the Lava Lake, the Sage of the Region of Fire, and Dangross’s teacher.
Angel initially considered kidnapping this Teacher Magu if he were small like Dangross... but learning that Teacher Magu is so massive it occupies the entire Lava Lake, unable to even move, Angel abandoned the thought.
As for personally visiting Teacher Magu to ask about the past, that’s even more unrealistic... Considering they are currently absolute enemies.
Angel sighed, temporarily setting aside thoughts of Teacher Magu, and returned his mind to the previous mentions of "world disaster" and "otherworldly savior."
Although Dangross described only a few details, Angel could somewhat piece together the narrative.
The "world disaster" can essentially be confirmed as a catastrophe caused by plane fusion.
Once plane fusion begins, the merging plane undergoes a struggle of the world wills. To prevent interference from powerful beings of the subsidiary plane causing the fusion to fail, the main world’s will unleashes a horrific disaster in the subsidiary plane, annihilating all high-order creatures and strong beings within, leaving only lower energy level life.
This fits Dangross’s account: elemental creatures above Monarch level in the Tides Realm perished in the disaster.
As for the otherworldly savior, it should indeed be Feng.
According to Dangross, Feng possibly did something, introducing a massive elemental energy from the outside, quelling the world-destroying catastrophe. This also resulted in the Old Earth Continent becoming a place devoid of elements.
However, Angel is somewhat curious, how did Feng achieve this?
The commotion of plane fusion is no small affair; how did he manage to conceal the fluctuations of the fusion from the Wizards’ Realm entirely?
"Perhaps, it’s a legendary method?" Angel couldn’t figure it out, so he temporarily set it aside.
...
The Illusion Nodes Angel secretly set up are almost in place, now just waiting for the right opportunity.
However, the battle in the sky remains at a stalemate; under the elemental tides, no sign of victory for either side is visible.
While waiting for the opportunity, Angel continued to extract information from Dangross.
Since Dangross knew little about the "otherworldly savior," Angel mainly focused on the Old King’s image.
He wanted to know how other elemental creatures regarded the image of the Old King.
Dangross found it strange: "We hold it in great respect; we usually avoid this place to prevent our fire from scorching the image."
"Have you ever thought of protecting this image?"