Chapter 344 -: 343 The Invincible one.

"Where am I?" Julius opened his eyes, but what he saw made him question whether he had actually awakened at all. This wasn’t the first time he had opened his eyes only to find himself somewhere completely unfamiliar, but each time it happened, the world around him seemed so absurd that his mind needed several moments to accept that he was actually seeing it. For a brief moment, he even wondered if that wretched witch had somehow dragged him into another nightmare. Considering what had happened before he lost consciousness, it wouldn’t have been entirely surprising. Even now, merely remembering Lyra sent a burst of anger through him. If it weren’t for that damn woman, he would have been able to attend the Grand Tournament with Rosalina. After witnessing the spell Rosalina had used, Julius was confident that she could have handled the Rank One spellcaster and reached the tournament without much trouble. Instead, that woman had ruined everything, and somehow Julius had ended up in this strange place after Rosalina had used a spell to disconnect his consciousness from his body so that he wouldn’t have to experience the pain caused by his injuries. "Ugh..." Julius let out a low groan and rubbed his forehead, only to realize that even that felt strange. His hand was transparent. He stared at it for several seconds before slowly raising his other hand and examining it as well. Both were translucent, almost like they had been carved from pale glass, with the scenery behind them faintly visible through his fingers. There was no weight to his body either. He could move, but his movements felt fundamentally different from what he was accustomed to, as though his consciousness had been separated from everything physical. At first, Julius had genuinely wondered if he had died. Perhaps this was the legendary afterlife, and some elderly cultivator somewhere had finally been proven right about ascending to the heavens after death. Maybe he was supposed to cross some golden bridge, meet an ancient immortal, drink a cup of reincarnation tea, and begin another ridiculous life. Then he remembered that he wasn’t inside a cultivation novel. "Then why the fuck does this world look like one?" Julius cursed at the sky for what felt like the hundredth time. The scenery around him certainly wasn’t something he had ever seen in the real world. The land stretched endlessly in every direction, but almost none of it remained intact. Mountains had been reduced to broken silhouettes, enormous craters covered the ground, and gigantic cracks ran across the earth like wounds carved into the world itself. Far above, the sky was even worse. Space itself appeared to have been torn open in places, exposing strange darkness beyond the clouds, while other areas twisted unnaturally as though reality had forgotten how it was supposed to behave. Time was equally distorted. Some objects seemed frozen in place, while others moved so slowly that Julius could barely notice their movement. A stone falling from a collapsed mountain remained suspended several meters above the ground for what felt like an eternity, while a distant flame flickered through hundreds of stages of growth and decay within the span of a few seconds. Then there was the fire. Black flames covered portions of the battlefield, devouring everything they touched without producing the ordinary glow of fire. They burned rocks, corpses, broken weapons, and even patches of empty space, leaving behind nothing but distorted darkness. Yet the most disturbing thing was the liquid flowing across the battlefield. Ichor. Rivers of it ran through the shattered earth, collecting inside craters and flowing between the corpses that littered the land. The golden-red liquid stained everything it touched, and Julius could immediately tell that this wasn’t ordinary blood. Even without touching it, he could feel the terrifying energy contained within it. His gaze slowly moved across the battlefield. Three enormous landmasses were rising in the distance. Julius stared at them. They were enormous enough to resemble entire continents, and they were slowly moving upward through the sky. Unlike the floating continents he knew from the present era, however, they had not yet reached their final positions. They were still climbing, dragged upward by some unimaginable force while pieces of earth continued breaking away from their edges and falling into the devastation below. Julius’s expression gradually became serious. "Is this..." He narrowed his eyes. "During that war?" There wasn’t much room for another explanation. The three rising continents were unmistakable. According to everything Julius knew about history, the floating continents had once been part of the original world before they were torn from the earth during the ancient war between the Invincible Path spellcaster and the three Supreme Gods. And if this truly was the past, then Julius was standing in one of the most important moments in the history of the world. The battlefield where a single human had fought against gods. The battlefield where Space, Time, and Destruction had supposedly descended personally to erase him. The battlefield that had eventually become the foundation of the modern world. Julius slowly exhaled. "Interesting." His body might have been nothing more than a transparent spirit, but the excitement in his eyes was very real. Still, one question remained. Why was he here? He looked down at himself again. This wasn’t a dream in the ordinary sense. The Nightmare Forest could cause strange phenomena, but humans weren’t supposed to experience the same nightmares as Zlycons. The entire reason the forest was dangerous to Zlycons was because their nightmares could manifest into reality and birth calamities. Humans who entered the forest didn’t normally fall into endless dreams. And Julius certainly didn’t remember falling asleep. His physical body was still somewhere inside the Nightmare Forest. He remembered being injured, remembered Rosalina disconnecting his consciousness from his body, and then...nothing. "Could this really be connected to her spell?" Julius frowned. Perhaps Rosalina’s technique had done something unexpected. Perhaps the damage he had suffered had caused some strange reaction. Or perhaps the Nightmare Forest itself had interacted with his consciousness in a way that nobody had anticipated. There was no point guessing. The only thing he could do was move forward. Julius took a step. His foot passed through the river of ichor without disturbing it. He looked down for a moment before continuing. Corpses were scattered everywhere. There were humans wearing priestly robes, their bodies lying among shattered weapons and broken armor. Some had expressions of terror permanently frozen onto their faces, while others appeared to have died while still fighting. There were also enormous figures, easily twice the height of an ordinary human, their bodies covered in wounds that Julius couldn’t even begin to understand. Some possessed wings. Their forms resembled the angels described in ancient scriptures. Except these angels were dead. Golden blood poured from their wounds and merged with the rivers of ichor covering the battlefield. There were other giants as well, beings whose bodies were so massive that Julius initially mistook some of them for mountains. Their corpses lay across the landscape like fallen monuments, their enormous limbs buried beneath rubble and shattered earth. Julius walked between them silently. For the first time since arriving, the amusement in his expression faded. He had heard countless stories about this war. He had read about it. He had listened to Zlycons describe the Nightmare Forest as the place where the Invincible Path spellcaster fought three Supreme Gods and their armies. Some Zlycons even believed the entire story was propaganda created by the Solarian family to glorify the ancestor. Julius had never cared much about which version was true. Legends became exaggerated over time. Heroes became gods, gods became monsters, and ordinary battles became wars that supposedly shook the heavens. But standing here made it impossible to believe that this was merely propaganda. This battlefield was real, the destruction was real and so were the corpses. And somewhere ahead of him was the man responsible for all of it. Julius continued walking toward the center. He didn’t know how far he had to go, but something inside him seemed to be pulling him in that direction. It wasn’t a physical force, nor was it something he could clearly sense with his mana. It felt more like an instinct, a vague connection between his consciousness and something existing far ahead. Perhaps that was the purpose of this strange dream, perhaps he wasn’t here to change anything, perhaps he was here simply to witness. Julius’s lips slowly curved upward. "Well then, let’s see what kind of man you were." He had heard the legends, the Invincible Path spellcaster, the human who challenged Heaven. The man who killed gods. The spell caster who fought against Space, Time, and Destruction and somehow survived. But Julius wasn’t particularly impressed by the fact that the man had killed gods. After all, Julius had already seen enough monsters and powerful beings in his own life to know that strength alone didn’t make someone interesting. What truly fascinated him was something far more ridiculous. The man had apparently married a goddess. Julius stopped walking for a moment. He stared ahead with an expression of genuine admiration. "Now that’s impressive." The legendary spell caster was supposedly an extremely stern man who spent his entire life pursuing freedom, challenging Heaven, and fighting against the very concept of Fate. According to the stories, he had ignored countless beauties and devoted himself almost entirely to his path. Yet somehow, in the end, he had managed to win over an actual goddess. Not some minor deity worshipped by a small village. A true goddess. Destiny herself. Julius couldn’t help but chuckle. "So you ignored all those beauties only to end up marrying a goddess. Not bad." He resumed walking, his curiosity growing with every step. If the legends were true, then somewhere ahead was a man who had accomplished something Julius could hardly imagine. Someone who had spent his entire life trying to escape the control of Fate, only to eventually capture the heart of Destiny herself. There was something almost poetic about it. The man wanted freedom from Fate. And Destiny fell in love with him. Julius wondered what kind of person could accomplish something like that. Perhaps he was cold, perhaps he was arrogant. Perhaps he was some terrifying old monster who viewed everyone beneath him. Or perhaps the legends had misunderstood him completely. After all, history had a habit of simplifying people. Heroes became saints, villains became monsters. And men became legends. Julius wanted to see the person hidden beneath the legend. He continued forward for several more minutes, passing through the remains of armies and shattered divine weapons. Eventually, the strange pull guiding him became stronger. Then Julius stopped. A faint smile appeared on his face. "There you are." Far ahead, beyond the ruined battlefield and the rivers of ichor, a figure stood beneath the distorted sky. Even from this distance, Julius could feel the overwhelming presence surrounding him. The man was alive though just barely. And yet, despite the destruction surrounding him, despite the countless corpses scattered across the earth and the divine ichor staining everything in sight, the figure remained standing. Julius’s eyes narrowed. For the first time since arriving in this strange world, he felt something other than confusion. It was...curiosity. He had finally found the man who had challenged Heaven itself.