Returning to the Mysterious Era

"Did you trigger the Demonic Water Ritual to go off earlier?"

Number Five emerged from the shadows nearby. With a pale complexion and a deep-set hooked nose, he gave off a sinister aura. His expression was extremely grim.

"Demonic Water Ritual? Never heard of it," Cassius replied truthfully. The man's words were completely nonsensical.

"Never heard of it?! Hahaha!" Number Five barked out an angry laugh. "If you've never heard of it, how did you kill my men and use them as sacrifices to prematurely start the Demonic Water Ritual?"

"Oh, you mean those things? I had no intention of killing them but they were in my way. They just kept coming at me like incessant buzzing flies. Isn't the best way to shut a fly up is to swat it?" Cassius's expression didn't change at all as he spoke, as if he had smacked a mosquito rather than taken lives.

"Hahaha… Hahahaha!" Number Five suddenly burst into laughter. "It's been a long time since I've met someone this arrogant. I have to say, you fascinate me!"

Seeing Number Five's reaction, Cassius rubbed his temples, exasperated. Are all you so-called neo-humans a bunch of lunatics? You start cackling like maniacs at the slightest provocation. Do you all just love laughing so much?

He vaguely recalled the long-haired man he had initially asked for the time; he had also behaved similarly and had also been unable to speak plainly.

"I don't care who you are or what force you represent; the fact that you dare to incite the White Skulls means you're prepared for a fate worse than death!" Number Five's smile suddenly vanished, a deep-seated fury and murderous intent taking its place. "I'll capture you and skin you alive…"

A fierce gale suddenly swept across Number Five's face, parting his hair down the middle. Less than half a meter away, a towering figure appeared in the form of a blurry shadow before him.

"!!!"

Number Five stomped, and a shockwave radiated out from his feet, spreading across the ground like several steamrollers operating at full power simultaneously. The gray-white stones blew up around him, spraying stone dust and soil into the air like water splashing up. Amid the swirling dust, Number Five pushed off the ground with his toes and retreated several dozen meters back.

"What speed!" His eyes widened in shock. Although he had expected that any enemy who could charge all the way to the core plaza would be a formidable one, he was still stunned by Cassius's speed. It was too fast.

The enemy is an agility type! And a highly advanced one at that! I must keep my distance and use my wide-range shockwave…

Number Five's thoughts suddenly came to a screeching halt when he felt an intense killing intent coming behind him, as intense as a single flame in the pitch-black night. Goosebumps and cold sweat beaded across his back in an instant.

"Get lost!" With an angry roar, Number Five turned and punched, a shivering force traveling rapidly from his arm to his fist. The fist blurred, and a buzzing sound exploded in the air.

It hit nothing! There was no one behind him!

Impossible! I clearly felt…

Number Five whipped around, but a massive shadow loomed over him, arms spread wide. The rock-white fist was coming quickly, the veins on it bulging ostensibly.

"No!" Number Five screamed, desperate.

Buzz…

At the center of the white plaza, the device that had been spinning since the beginning finally broke through the ground. Gurgling black spring water burst out from the cracks, followed by a faint wave of energy.

The fist began to slow its advance as if time had slowed down by tenfold, before eventually stopping completely. Cassius's form was frozen in mid-punch.

An indescribable haze enveloped the surroundings, and all sound faded away, leaving only a deathly silence. It was as if a circular domain had fallen around them and was rapidly expanding.

Since Cassius and Number Five were both touched by this haze, they found their consciousness wavering, as though they were drifting into a dreamlike daze. The manor's pitched roof, the black streetlights on the white sidewalks, and the metal benches by the roadside all vanished, leaving only a mist-filled, blurry world.

The mist grew thicker, gradually darkening from milky white to a smoky gray, like a drop of ink diluting in water.

"It's the Void Realm! But how could it be?! This only occurs in Special Zones of the fifth hell level! Oh…right. Something went wrong in the Demonic Water Ritual; so these mysterious and dangerous changes must be…" Number Five muttered to himself.

Whoosh~

A massive fist suddenly cut through the mist behind Number Five, stirring the haze into a vortex.

Boom!

The two fists collided thunderously, sending a shockwave rippling outward. The fierce wind scraped painfully against Number Five's face.

"Elephant's Roar!"

The straight punch unleashed a powerful force as it surged forward. Cassius's right arm flexed as his muscles contracted and released.

The arm, and Cassius, were forced back, with Cassius staggering several steps backward, the stone crunching beneath his feet. Once he regained his footing, he wrapped his left hand with swirling white energy. With a slight flick, he launched a Tornado Sphere into the mist.

Hiss!

The spinning sphere exploded, instantly clearing the mist around him to reveal a monstrous hidden figure—an entity resembling a metal steam golem. Standing nearly four meters tall, it looked like a cartoon bear with its bulging belly, its body patched together with mismatched iron plates, mist billowing out from the plates' gaps.

The monster's head, like a normal steam golem, was a knight's helmet with a grid-like mask over the mouth. The eyes were a rectangular void, from which mist continuously poured out, accompanied by two flickering red lights.

Cassius casually pulled Number Five closer. "What is that thing?"

He wasn't saving Number Five out of the kindness of his heart, but Number Five clearly knew more about the situation at hand, as shown by how he had called the earlier change a Void Realm.

It seemed to be a transformation triggered by the so-called Demonic Water Ritual; even Cassius felt wary.

"This thing is a unique phenomenon in the Void Realms called a Hell Golem. It's similar to how steam golems are tied to Special Zones. Hell Golems kill all living things within the Void Realm indiscriminately, just like… just like the guardians of Pure Black Demonic Water," Number Five explained in a daze.

He knew how imperative it was to share information at this moment. Cassius was clearly stronger than him, and the two of them might have a chance of surviving if they worked together to hold out until they could leave the Void Realm. This would be within two minutes. Hell Golems were extremely dangerous and impossible for ordinary people to contend with.

"Steam golems are hunters in Special Zones, commonly found in zones two to four—danger, trembling, even the terror zones. Hell Golems usually only appear in Special Zones of the fifth level, and in extremely rare cases, in the fourth level! They are incredibly powerful hunters, capable of destroying a house with ease. They may be bulky, but they're able to defend themselves astonishingly well. They're slow, but can instantly teleport behind their target as soon as it moves out of range! With a formidable regenerative ability, they have virtually no weaknesses!"

Number Five was gasping in his rush to speak. "It shouldn't have appeared here, but the Demonic Water Ritual went awry, and the Crystallized Demonic Water of the fourth level unexpectedly attracted a Hell Golem! The only way to survive is for us to last two minutes against it. As long as we endure for two minutes, we'll return to reality!"

The concept of the two-minute time limit was the time it took for the Pure Black Demonic Water to fully emerge from the ground and crystallize. During this period, the eerie powers of the Special Zone would converge at the fissure, temporarily spawning a powerful hunter like the Hell Golem. But, of course, Number Five didn't explain this.

All Cassius needed to know was the Hell Golem was immensely powerful and couldn't be confronted head-on. The two of them needed to constantly circle around it in order to counter it.

Just moments ago, they had been enemies, but under the immense pressure of a greater threat, Number Five was willing to have a temporary truce with Cassius.

In fact, he was thinking of having the Hell Golem and Cassius weaken each other in those two minutes—no, that was giving Cassius too much credit. It was more accurate to hope the Hell Golem would kill Cassius in the last few seconds of those two minutes. That way, not only would he escape the golem's pursuit, but he'd also rid himself of his enemy.

He'd be felling two birds with one stone.

Crack!

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Hnng! AAAAAHHHHHHH…!" Number Five let out a blood-curdling scream as an unprecedented pain shot through his legs. His face twisted in agony, tears and snot coalescing together.

Blood trickled down from the cracks of his unnaturally twisted-looking legs; clearly, a tremendous force had broken them. Number Five collapsed to the ground with a thud. He was completely drenched in sweat as he turned his head, looking over at Cassius, who had just quietly withdrawn his hands.

"Why? Why did you attack me? In this situation, losing even one person means certain death! Hell Golem's power is beyond your imagination. Aren't we allies?" Number Five's voice was hoarse and filled with pain. He never expected Cassius to suddenly turn on him. Shouldn't they be working together in the face of this deadly threat?

"No, that's where you're wrong. For you, this is a situation where your death is certain. Me, on the other hand, this is nothing…"

Cassius casually tossed his black coat onto the ground. As he stepped forward, he spoke to the trembling Number Five behind him, "Whether you survive or not depends on what fate has written out for you. I still have a few questions I want to ask, but I won't hold back in the upcoming battle, meaning if you can't even withstand the aftermath, then there's no point in you staying alive. Curl up tight now…"

On the ground, Number Five shrank, his face ashen. He pulled the black coat over himself, covering his entire upper body.

As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.

Whether he died sooner or later made no difference. And just as he was staring death in the face, he was given a coat. Really, it made him want to cry…

Okay then, let's die together! You must be living in some fantasy to think you can fight the Hell Golem alone and survive. No neo-human has ever been able to do that! Your only fate is to be crushed into a pulp by the Hell Golem's terrifying fists, just like me! Number Five roared inwardly, cursing Cassius deeply.

Meanwhile, the massive Hell Golem continued to approach, its movements as slow as Number Five had described. The golem didn't have feet like a human; instead, it had metal pillars resembling elephant legs. Each step it took, fine fissures over half a meter spread across the floor.

The Hell Golem's function is very similar to that of the Decaying Knights, or rather, it's an evolved version of the Decaying Knights. Although it poses some danger to me, it's not to the point where I'm scared for my life. In other words, this golem's strength is, at most, the equivalent of a pugilist who has mastered their art… Cassius's thoughts ran quickly through his head, his face expressionless.

If our strengths are essentially equal, there's nothing to fear. It all comes down to skill. If it's a threat to me, I'm a threat to it as well. If it can crush me, I can forcefully crush it as well.

Cassius's eyes flickered. "Let's see what its teleportation range is."