TOMWDET Chapter 209

Final Chapter (1)

The young man’s eyes were ice-cold, his gaze skipped over the [Spirit] body and looked toward the dagger protruding from behind the sphere. His pupils were filled with ruthless indifference, “This is truly…”

“Laughable.”

His vision turned white, and his field of view gradually became chaotic.

The [Spirit]’s final memory was just the back view of the young man walking out of the room that could shelter him from wind and rain.

Outside the door, Castor tilted his head and peered into the room. Upon discovering Su Li walking out, he quickly straightened up and said, “That kind of thing should be completely annihilated instead.”

“Leaving it for my research or something, aren’t you worried I might touch forbidden territory?”

The researcher glanced at the black and white mixed sphere still pierced by the dagger inside the room.

“To some extent, this controlled thing is equivalent to the God of Light worshipped by nearly ten million people.”

“Placing a god in human hands for arbitrary observation… somehow feels… well, it’s hard to describe.”

“Instead of concerning yourself with these matters, you should think about how to proceed with the final battle.” The one interrupting Castor’s research topic was Euphia. The woman squinted her eyes, looking toward the ink-black sky, and let out a cold laugh.

“When I realized there was an even higher existence behind the [Spirit], I wondered more than once why humans were born into this world.”

“We are simply being rejected from the very source, yet continuously subjected to various disgusting demands.”

Euphia patted her clothes, which had become somewhat wrinkled from crouching by the door earlier.

After all, it was an existence equivalent to the God of Light, so the others weren’t comfortable letting Su Li go in for a one-on-one confrontation.

“We’ve finally reached the time for the final decisive battle.” Dean Asa felt the heavy pressure in the air that made breathing difficult, his voice steady.

“In our earlier discussions about the [Spirit], there were hints that there was a higher existence behind the [Spirit]. A few young ones haven’t caught on yet…”

“Do you need me to help call Qi and Willard?” Cyril raised his left hand to indicate, while walking to the side with his right hand holding a greatsword that looked somewhat familiar to Su Li. This weapon was originally used by Egbert.

Later, when the dragon youth’s strength improved and he established contact with monster beast society, Egbert had voluntarily given this weapon to Cyril.

“But the truth is, it’s not just those two children who don’t understand…” The Dark Pope emerged from not far from Dean Asa. He even patted Cyril’s head, his eyes carrying some kindness mixed with dark, amused laughter as he said, “Many people haven’t figured this out.”

“Look at the young one preparing to face this battle alone.” The Dark Pope gestured for everyone to look at Su Li. The young man carried an aura of coolness unrelated to summer.

Though the rain hadn’t yet fallen, Su Li looked as if he was stepping out from a misty drizzle.

“He looks like he doesn’t think at all that we would know there’s a higher existence behind the [Spirit].”

“I say.” Ophelia stood up impatiently from the stone block where she had been sitting. “What kind of fool do you all take Su Li for?”

“He would only make advance predictions after knowing that we’ve thought of and guessed various possibilities.”

“Instead of worrying here about whether Su Li plans to abandon us and actively confront that existence we only know exists but don’t understand conceptually, why not think about how not to hold him back in this battle.”

Leia hooked his fingertip and joined the human conversation. “The idea is good, but from my perspective, Su Li doesn’t want you to participate in this battle either.”

“When even I cannot oppose your strength, what more of a higher existence stronger than Clemens.”

Everyone’s expressions tensed, questioning gazes followed one after another, until all eyes were focused on Su Li.

The young man’s body slowly stiffened.

The idea of wanting to play solo did exist, but besieging a world boss and choosing to team up was also very necessary behavior.

However, to say he had predicted in advance that so many people already knew about the world consciousness behind the [Spirit] – that would be quite impossible.

But if one were to work backwards from the current results, it seemed not entirely impossible either.

After all, when the merman had informed others about the various information he had seen in the deep sea and mentioned the Creator God, the entire fish had gone completely mad.

Su Li cleared his throat and looked at the various gazes directed at him, his tone steady. “I haven’t become that arrogant yet.”

It seemed like an explanation, yet also seemed like no explanation at all.

Anyway, Egbert, this kind of extreme solo player, would only explain immediately: “If Lord Su Li chooses to fight alone, it can only be because we are too useless. And if the Lord chooses to let us fight together, it’s because that enemy has become so powerful that he believes even he cannot withstand it.”

“The meaning of the former needs no elaboration, unless you’re stupid enough to have completely abandoned your brains. As for the latter…”

“I believe that Lord Su Li would never survive alone when everyone else is about to die.”

“So regardless of which option, it would only be the best choice Lord Su Li could make at present.”

When various complex gazes were thrown at Egbert, he just raised his eyebrows and said with a straight face, “Do you have any objections?”

Don’t dare, don’t dare.

Cyril was the first to look away because Egbert would really drag people into fights.

While everyone was talking, the dark clouds in the sky were becoming increasingly dense.

If the [Tiger] was a monster beast that could transform into human form, and the [Spirit] was something with an unclear form that couldn’t become human and could easily escape from physical prisons unless controlled by elements…

Then world consciousness, this kind of existence representing an entire world, was precisely something delicate between virtual and real.

Visible, yet untouchable.

The dark clouds in the sky kept churning. The clock hands had long passed the dawn indicator line, but the sky hadn’t regained its brightness – the dark clouds seemed to press directly on everyone’s hearts.

“What’s happening?” Adonis frowned tightly.

The area originally cleared for placing mobile elemental cannons was now crowded with humans and monster beasts.

The gray crane looked up at the sky, filled with anxious depression, yet not knowing the true source of unease, making the entire monster beast’s heart full of irritation.

“This question is complicated to explain. I’ll explain once everyone arrives.” Julius had approached this team with more monster beasts early on.

When Su Li entered the room to confront the [Spirit], Julius and Cyril had discussed the existence of world consciousness together.

After both confirmed their conclusions, to prevent it from being just overthinking, they consulted other humans together.

With many people and diverse perspectives, everyone viewed things differently, but no matter how they calculated, the conclusion was always that there was a more dangerous existence behind the [Spirit].

This matter couldn’t be discussed by humans alone.

Therefore, Julius’s action this time was to gather various troublesome monster beasts in one place to explain everything at once.

Quite a few monster beasts had come.

Besides Adonis, there were also Asgari, Adison, and the giant dragon Elvi, the unicorn Bartholomew.

These individuals were sufficient to mobilize the remaining forces of the Beast Tribe and Winged Tribe in the short term.

Seeing everyone had arrived, Julius solemnly exhaled and said cautiously, “You should all know about the human consciousness collective that opposed Clemens before, right?”

“If we said we didn’t know, would you explain in detail?” Adison indeed didn’t know and was looking at Julius with complete confusion.

Julius: ……

Helplessly, Julius had to start from the beginning, explaining the existence of the [Spirit], as well as everything humans had encountered, the results of the collision between monster beast civilization and human civilization, the growth path of gods…

Various pieces of information were so complex they almost exploded the brains of several monster beasts.

But fortunately, each monster beast that had lived for considerable years wasn’t the type that had to get to the bottom of every detail they didn’t understand.

Knowing the general picture was sufficient.

After roughly understanding the relationship between human and monster beast civilizations, the Dark God and God of Light, Clemens and the human consciousness collective, Julius naturally continued the topic.

“When we discussed conjectures related to the [Spirit], we mentioned that the [Spirit]’s growth route might be developing the ability to control others to the extreme, then having Clemens voluntarily deliver himself to be devoured.”

“Under this conjecture, there was also the question of whether there was a higher-level existence that had controlled the [Spirit] from the very beginning, if the [Spirit]’s development path was controlling others.”

“But what does this have to do with the current situation?” Adison pointed at the pure black sky, completely confused.

Julius explained, “The connection is that after the [Spirit] was severely injured by Su Li, the weather suddenly became like this.”

“Human sensitivity to weather can hardly compare to monster beasts. Whether yesterday during the day or last night, did any of you sense that today might have such extreme weather phenomena?”

“I believe no monster beast would think that the day after a clear, rainless day with moonlight covering the earth would have such extremely abnormal thunderstorm phenomena, as well as these dark clouds so heavy they seem to want to bury the entire world.” Julius’s tone was heavy.

Those clouds above the sky couldn’t be considered the same as the white clouds that floated freely in the sky on clear days.

The clouds in the sky now looked more like solid objects condensed from some kind of power.

Just looking at those things would uncontrollably cause dizziness.

The sense of chaos and omnipresent oppressive force involuntarily tightened the strings in intelligent beings’ hearts.

“You mean the current situation is that higher-level existence taking action?” Elvi crossed her arms, the whitened eye showing no emotion, while her other pupil was filled with ferocity.

“I’m more inclined to think it’s preparing to take action.” Julius explained. “Humans have no way to fly that high. Gathering you all at this time also has the intention of having flying monster beasts see if they can penetrate deep into the cloud layer…”

“Fine, I agree.” Elvi directly interrupted his words before Julius finished speaking.

The latter was stunned for a moment, looking back at the dragon for quite a while before saying: “I’m more inclined to have Asgari explore.”

“Those clouds in the sky have been flashing with thunderstorms since they gathered, and the occasional lightning striking the ground can quickly ignite vegetation.”

“Under such circumstances, the snowy owl in monster beast form with a smaller body size obviously has significant advantages over the massive dragon.”

“But you’ve also overlooked one point.” Elvi narrowed her dangerous eyes. “My strength, my control over wind elements, is sufficient to surpass the advantages Asgari possesses.”

“Choosing not to listen to my explanation and directly denying the benefits my approach could bring – this doesn’t look human at all.”

“So what do you think humans should be like?” Julius just gave up. “The kind of foolish fellows who would give you a chance to make unfriendly requests and let you voice terrible opinions that would affect their mindset, knowing you would propose such things?”

“I don’t care whether you think that way or not, but I refuse all unreasonable requests you might make.”

Julius’s gaze was sharp.

Don’t think Elvi was staying quiet for nothing.

Humans had no way of judging when the dragon might once again bear the title she had earned in past wars.

“Having Su Li explore the situation with me – is that equivalent to unreasonable for you? That guy is also the strongest existence among you humans, isn’t he?” Elvi was determined to achieve her goal.

From the moment Julius intentionally expressed the new enemy, Elvi instantly generated numerous thoughts.

“With Clemens dead, on the human side, there’s only Su Li as a first-tier strength holder.”

“As for the monster beast side, besides me, the only ones worth noting are Bartholomew and Leia.”

“The unicorn and the merman can’t fly, and moreover, after dividing humans and monster beasts into two major categories, there’s no reason why only monster beasts should venture into danger to scout the situation while humans can sit back and reap the benefits.”

“It’s useless to tell me these things.” Julius was somewhat irritated, his no longer steady heartbeat reaching the dragon’s ears, quietly revealing the displeasure in the child’s heart.

“I won’t give you a chance to get close to Su Li.”

“Otherwise, explaining about the higher existence wouldn’t be possible for me to handle.”

“So you mean humans must sit back and reap the benefits?” Elvi laughed mockingly.

“Don’t be unreasonable.” Julius truly felt the dragon’s difficulty.

When there was no opportunity, Elvi remained silent, not at all like the kind of dragon with a massive body and arrogant temperament.

But once there was an opportunity, the dragon would seize it with everything she had.

“Unreasonable? Actively assigning danger to Asgari, whose strength doesn’t belong to the first tier – can I also understand this as you humans wanting Asgari to die?” Elvi’s face was cold.

“You know, although Winged Tribe Queen Matilda hadn’t announced stepping down from the queen position before, what she actually did was no different from stepping down from that position.”

“I previously joined the Beast Tribe and no longer consider myself a Winged Tribe monster beast. In other words, currently the only ones who can control the Winged Tribe are Asgari and Adonis.”

No one expected the butterfly spirit to become someone who grasped power.

A monster beast whose mind occasionally had thoughts of death obviously couldn’t grasp the blade of power.

“Having Asgari go…? Don’t tell me you humans plan to support Adonis in controlling the Winged Tribe?” Elvi made a suddenly enlightened expression, her gaze even more mocking. “Come to think of it, gray cranes are one of the most inexpensive natural monster beast species in the Winged Tribe.”

Elvi showed undisguised disgust.

Adonis’s breathing hitched.

“Inexpensive, destined to be destroyed by the tide of history – supporting such an existence to control the Winged Tribe, presumably within a few years, the entire Winged Tribe would no longer exist in this world.” 

“No need to sow discord.” Heavy footsteps appeared.

Su Li’s figure appeared before everyone.

“After all, you neither care about the Winged Tribe nor concern yourself with the Beast Tribe. Wanting to compete for the opportunity to explore the cloud layer can only be…”

“Looking forward to pushing me down from ten thousand meters high.”

Su Li’s voice was steady.

If not for discovering that Julius, who had left the team earlier, had never returned to the human team, he wouldn’t have come looking.

Su Li looked up at the sky. He could feel that after he had pierced through the [Spirit], the entire world was filled with boundless anger.

Why hadn’t there been direct attacks against him?

Why hadn’t the battle started yet?

Why, even after doing all this, had he still not been expelled from this body?

These were all questions.

“So what if it is?” The dragon had no idea what the young man was thinking.

“Regardless of whether the Dragon Clan was actually forced by the Winged Tribe to betray, from the day I chose to join the Beast Tribe, I’ve had no way back.” Elvi showed no expression.

“Clemens died quite readily. Before his death, he still looked like he wanted to hand over management of all remaining Beast Tribe monster beasts to Bartholomew.”

“But he never considered the Dragon Clan.”

“Can’t return to the Winged Tribe. Having killed so many aquatic monster beasts, I don’t think there’s any possibility of alliance with the merman either.”

“Forcing the Dragon Clan to this point where we can only depend on ourselves with no one to rely on – am I not allowed to be angry?”

Su Li looked at her intently. “When you previously tried to treat me as a breeding tool, your attitude wasn’t like this.”

Elvi returned with a sneer. “So what attitude do you think I, as a monster beast, should have toward humans?”

“Losing an eye was my retribution, but Victoria should never have died from beginning to end.”

“Moreover, the so-called pushing you down from ten thousand meters high is just your own speculation. I never said I wanted to kill you.”

“I just think that as the Dragon Clan’s ruler, as the one with the strongest control over wind elements in this world, I should take on that laughable yet insignificant responsibility.”

“At least compared to demanding humans to care for monster beasts, using my own life as a tool to protect you would better enable those around you to actively show consideration for the Dragon Clan.”

A loud sound suddenly came from the sky above. Lightning instantly illuminated Elvi’s features. Her eye that could no longer see, tinted with cyan-white, gradually filled with cold malice after the lightning disappeared.

Su Li couldn’t see clearly what Elvi wanted.

Rational judgment?

There was nothing to rationally judge. Elvi had already laid out her current situation completely.

As for what Elvi mentioned about using her life to protect him in exchange for human consideration toward dragons…

Even though Su Li was unwilling to believe it, it was also the most likely possibility.

With his current strength, he obviously couldn’t continue being treated as a breeding tool by other monster beasts.

But similarly…

Su Li’s lips parted and closed as he said, “But I don’t think I need your protection.”

“It better be as you say.” Elvi kept a dead person’s expression.

“Now, returning to what I said before. I demand that I go with you to explore those dark clouds in the sky. Do you agree?”

Su Li was silent for a while, then still nodded.

Julius interrupted the dragon’s attempt to immediately drag someone away. He turned to stare at Su Li. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

He glared, saying word by word: “This is the dragon who once wanted to use you as a breeding tool.”

“I know.” Su Li still nodded. “We can’t not understand what’s inside those dark clouds. Those clouds, from the moment they appeared, couldn’t possibly be just for pouring rain.”

“In fact, up until now, not a single drop of rain has fallen, hasn’t it?”

Compared to the few lightning bolts that could illuminate the dim environment, most lightning was completely within the heavy cloud layer.

Boundless anger had long filled the air.

But world consciousness, or rather the enemy, still hadn’t shown itself.

Julius fell silent.

“Are you done discussing?” Elvi snorted with laughter. In the dimness, she was brazenly staring at Su Li…

More precisely, at what was hidden beneath the fabric of his chest.

“If you’re done discussing, let’s act quickly. That existence one level higher than the [Tiger] doesn’t seem like Clemens, who would have thoughts of actively seeking death.”

Hearing this, Su Li nodded, then turned to look seriously at Julius. Their eyes met, and ultimately the latter chose to compromise.

Julius: “…I understand.”

“I won’t stop you, and I won’t tell others that you’ve privately gone off with monster beasts again.”

He said in resignation. “However, I don’t think I can hold off the others for too long. They’ll eventually know what you’ve done.”

“If possible, you’d better really be able to protect yourself and ensure you remain unharmed even when your trust is betrayed.”

“Are you done talking?” Elvi didn’t care at all about Julius’s sharp gaze now directed at her. “If you’re done, let’s go. Those dark clouds look much thicker than before.”

Su Li nodded.

After Julius took a deep breath, he actively moved his gaze away from Su Li. He looked at the other monster beasts, raised his voice, but spoke in an increasingly steady tone. “This is how it is now.”

“Next, Su Li will explore those dark clouds together with Elvi. As for whether you want to inform other monster beasts that a higher existence is the enemy, that depends on you.”

“I only hope that when facing that higher existence, both humans and monster beasts should have the awareness that we all belong to the spark of civilization under the elements.”

“That’s all.” Julius stood straight, turning to look at Su Li carefully climbing onto dragon-form Elvi’s back under the dragon’s mocking gaze.

After the young man was seated, before he could turn back, he was carried by the dragon straight into the clouds.