A Sorcerer’s Journey

Chapter 1201: Chapter 1202: Only Lacking... Strength!

A few days later.

After round after round of battle, rumbling on and on, by this time there were no more challengers. The four Casket Ascenders gathered once more, and Green had the good fortune to behold the true forms of all four Casket Ascenders.

Aside from the Paper Man and the Skeleton Monster, the other two were, respectively, a strange cloth doll whose half a body had been burned away, and a humanoid warrior with four arms of blood-red light-blades. On its body, the wrinkled, emaciated flesh was densely stitched together, looking extremely similar to the consequence of Tutor Peranos cultivating Rejection Dual-Force Wizardry with a complete Earth Vein Stone.

Huff, huff, huff...

Although, facing the unending succession of challenges, not one of the four Casket Ascenders had been defeated, at this moment, from their reactions, their strengths were clearly uneven.

The relatively weaker ones should be this Quad-Blade Arm Warrior and the Skeleton Monster, whose auras were now in extreme disarray, while the one Green sensed as the most powerful was, without question, this Demon Doll!

Like a bottomless vortex, that sky‑shrouding shadow that made Green, even now, feel a lowly urge to look up in awe—this Terror Creature, in terms of Strength, was probably even more powerful than the King Abaddon Green had seen back in the Evil God Playground!

This was simply a monster!

Just what kind of rule‑structure horror world could give birth to such a terrifying lifeform, then have it Sealed into the Dimensional Esophagus, awaiting the fate of being digested by the Endless World.

”You came from the Dimensional Gap?”

The Demon Doll turned the half of its body that remained toward Green and asked in a low voice, its single remaining eyeball sweeping over Green without pause.

”Mm. I was accidentally Sealed into the Dimensional Gap, nine deaths and one life, but I finally escaped. I’m going back to take revenge!”

Green had disguised himself.

”To come back alive from there, it seems your potential is extremely great. Then make good use of your time rampaging around in the Dimensional Esophagus. If you’re still alive after a few epochs, and haven’t found a new way out, come back again. I can still afford to wait a few epochs, but those three might already be gone.”

Hearing the Demon Doll’s words, Green’s heart chilled.

Already this powerful—who knew how many epochs this old monster had survived in the Dimensional Esophagus; from its tone, living a few more epochs, even more than ten epochs, seemed to pose little problem. Could it be immortal?

Just what kind of world had this monster escaped from!

A monster like this indeed should be Sealed into the Dimensional Esophagus and left for the rules of the Endless World to digest.

And unlike those weak‑grade World Masters in the Dimensional Esophagus still slaughtering one another for food to evolve, these Casket Ascenders clearly no longer harbored any distracting thoughts and had reached the ultimate limit of their own possible evolution. Their one and only, greatest pursuit was to leave the Dimensional Esophagus, return to the Material World, and escape the fate of being digested by the Endless World.

Yet, in pursuing a way out of the Dimensional Esophagus, weren’t these Casket Ascenders also helping the Dimensional Esophagus digest the exiles here?

In this gathering alone, after attracting the Dimensional Gap phenomenon and then triggering the challenge of the Casket Ascenders, several hundred powerful World Masters had been digested by the Dimensional Esophagus.

”Sigh... Once again, no one managed to successfully challenge us. The few of us have already reached our respective ends; there’s no need to try anymore, is there?”

The Quad-Blade Arm Warrior shook its head with a sigh.

Among the four, its soul was the weakest, and at most could only hold on for another thousand years.

”Why don’t you accept sacrificial summons to extend your life?”

Beneath the Green Truth Mask, the Three-Colored Light Eyes looked at the Quad-Blade Arm Warrior and asked.

”It’s useless. I’ve accepted too many times. Now, even if I accept the maximum thousand‑year sacrifice, for me it would amount to only a few months. When you’ve accepted enough times, you’ll understand.”

The Quad-Blade Arm Warrior shook its head and departed desolately, while the Skeleton Monster on the side slowly melted into the bones under its feet, waiting for the next gathering to challenge the Casket Ascenders.

”Every thousand years, the fresh blood in the nearby region gathers once, stirring up the Dimensional Gap phenomenon to disrupt the rules here, then the Casket Ascender challenge is carried out. At your current level of life‑essence, you are far from having fully unleashed your potential. Come back in a few epochs, after you’ve drawn out all your potential.”

With that said, the Demon Doll actually turned into a sky full of ash and dispersed.

”Hiss...”

Green was shocked. On the one hand, the other had actually seen through his Source of Oblivion disguise and perceived his life essence; on the other hand, Green had actually sensed the aura of the Ashen World from it.

Could it be that it had been Sealed into the Ashen World, then escaped from the Ashen World into the Dimensional Esophagus?

”Right. If you encounter decent powerhouses at other gathering points, you can try recommending them over.”

Under the observation of the Green Truth Mask, the ash that the Demon Doll had turned into bore no trace of movement. A small portion of ash assembled into a mouth to add this sentence, then dispersed again.

As the shattered, rift‑scarred land was left with only Green and the Paper Man, for a moment there was actually a faint sense of melancholy. This kind of waiting to be ground down and digested by the irresistible operation of the Endless World’s rules filled one with despair.

”A few epochs, huh?”

The Paper Man shook its head.

”I’ll do my best to hold out. Maybe by then a few stronger, more special lifeforms will come over. Who knows? You escaped from another Illusory World just like the Demon Doll. I hope you’ll be stronger than it.”

Rustle, rustle...

Countless scraps of paper fluttered through the sky, and the last Casket Ascender left as well.

”A few epochs?”

Green secretly shook his head, then, sensing the guidance of the Robe of Appearances, he probed in all directions for possible Temporal Faults and walked off into the distance.

With passive evolution, Green had the Philosopher’s Stone to assist in super‑accelerated evolution. By his estimate, in just a few hundred years he should be able to reach the peak of his body’s passive evolution, far from needing to wait several epochs as these four Casket Ascenders imagined.

As for ascending to a Sixth Level Elemental Stigmata Grand Sorcerer, unlike the gradual growth of passively evolving creatures, Elemental Wizards, after promotion, need only meditate their spiritual power to its full value to complete an instantaneous qualitative transformation. What determines an Elemental Wizard’s achievements is only wisdom and knowledge, not the accumulation of time.

Thus, bearing an urgent anticipation, Green continued on the road to seek the corpse of the Sovereign of the Light of Hope.

Clues to methods of escaping the Dimensional Esophagus, powerful and terrifying collaborators or enemies, the extremely difficult means of opening it, and the final resort Green would bear—the consequence of forcibly opening the Coffin of Hope with the Scepter of Hope and then facing three foes alone!

All of Green’s paths and objectives within the Dimensional Esophagus now seemed to be growing clear and distinct.

And the only thing Green lacked was Strength!

By Green’s estimation, among the four Casket Ascenders, the Skeleton Monster and the Quad-Blade Arm Warrior were at least on the level of a Tower Stigmata Wizard of Heisuo, before their fall, if not even stronger.

As for the Paper Man from the House of Cards, even if it was somewhat weaker than the King Abadon of the Inferno, it would still be sufficient to face him head‑on.

As for the incomparably bizarre Demon Doll, in Green’s perception it was at least stronger than the King Abaddon in his Evil God Playground state!

Even with four such powerful Casket Ascenders gathered, they were still far from being able to open the Coffin of Hope, and this was merely one of the gathering points in the Dimensional Esophagus. There were quite a few other such gathering points as well. No wonder such a terrifying event had once occurred here—where Dominators were ripped apart alive.

The Dimensional Esophagus truly deserved its name as one of the deepest Illusory Worlds, a place of terror!

Here, even simply surviving was an act of resistance against the digestive instinct of the Endless World.