Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Chapter 1374: Dark Valley

Time screamed.

Space drowned.

Yesterday returned.

Concealment devoured all.

Adam was unaware how long he had been knocked out unconscious. To him, it felt like several weeks had passed, but at the same time, it also felt like only a few minutes had passed.

It was this strange incongruity in the flow of time that stirred Adam’s broken mind. As he slowly came to his senses, his mind was assaulted by strange voices.

However, these voices weren’t the ones he was familiar with. They did not originate from the Faceless Mask.

No, these were different. More primal. More... sinister.

Adam exhaled, sending a small cloud of dust curling across the ground.

Wait, ground? His brows furrowed.

When did I...

He abruptly rose to his feet, the Staff of Calamity clasped tightly in his hand as he prepared for battle. He extended his Sphere of Resonance to scout the surrounding area.

Adam couldn’t remember when he landed on the ground. The last thing he recalled was the sensation of plunging into the depths of the Dark Valley.

That seemed to happen... a long time ago.

What... what’s going on? He thought to himself with a dark frown on his face.

Didn’t I just descend? Why does it feel like weeks have passed?

The concept of time was twisted in this forbidden zone, and that was the reason why Adam felt the way he did.

And what are these strange voices?

The frown on his face deepened. These new, unfamiliar voices seemed to be trying to corrode his mind, but it was very subtle.

Strangely enough, the ravings of the Faceless Mask and the sinister voices emerging from the bottom of the Dark Valley had reached a stalemate!

His mind soon drifted to his surroundings as he received feedback from the Sphere of Resonance.

The ground of the Dark Valley was uneven and wrapped, as if the land itself had melted and then solidified in the wrong shape. Jagged ridges split the earth at irregular angles, forming patterns that resembled claw marks. These marks were too large to belong to any living creature.

The soil seemed dark, perhaps ashen black, coarse like crushed bone, and every step released a faint puff of dust that refused to drift naturally, swirling in strange, erratic motions.

Patches of the terrain around him bulged upwards as though something beneath the surface was breathing slowly. Adam frowned when he noticed that. Though he sensed no danger from those protrusions, he ultimately chose not to go near them.

In some places, the cracks on the ground seem to whisper soft, indecipherable murmurs. The moment Adam tried to listen to them, they vanished.

Nothing grew here. No grass. No fungus. Not even rot. Only twisted stone formations curled upwards like petrified remains of once-living things.

”What the hell is this place?” Adam murmured, dread slowly gripping his heart.

He inhaled deeply, smelling the surroundings. The air felt unnatural. It felt thick, almost gelatinous, brushing against his skin like it was alive. At times, the air trembled without wind, as though invisible currents were shifting in strange directions.

The more Adam noticed his surroundings, the more frightened he became. This place was vast, and nothing made sense here. He had hoped that the map provided to him by Cedric Acadia would prove to be useful here, but he couldn’t be more wrong.

Even though he couldn’t confirm it, he had a strange feeling that the terrain at the bottom of the Dark Valley shifted all the time.

Dragonshit!

Adam could only pick a random direction and begin his journey into the unknown. He took a deep breath and continued walking forward. He made sure to keep the Sphere of Resonance activated at all times.

Although he couldn’t sense any living beings in his immediate vicinity, he wasn’t sure that that would always be the case. He even doubted that anything could live here.

He had several questions in his mind. So while he carefully treaded the uneven, abnormal terrain, he also pondered on some of the things that were bothering him ever since he set foot inside this strange place.

First of all, it’s that strange dream I had in Mabi, he wondered with a dark frown on his face.

I can’t remember the exact details of that dream, but two things stand out the most.

Eyes and tendrils!

These key details were mentioned in the founder’s journal as well.

But... what about the rest? Why can’t I remember them?

Dreams were a rare phenomenon for Magi, but when they came, they were seldom meaningless. They often showed glimpses of the unseen currents of fate and fragments of truth carried from beyond time.

Some dreams showed glimpses of what was to come, concealed in symbolism. While other dreams warned of calamities waiting for the dreamer just beyond the horizon.

Adam knew that the dream he had in Mabi held crucial details. But he just couldn’t remember them. And there was only one reason for that that he could think of.

The damned ravings of the Faceless Mask, he mused.

Not only had the Laughing God’s whispers driven him half-mad, they had also left him emotionally unstable and prone to memory loss. Even now, he had already forgotten fragments of events from the past few years.

The voices, he thought to himself.

Ever since he arrived in this forbidden place, sinister voices crept inside his mind.

But strangely enough, these unfamiliar voices ended up clashing with the ravings of the Faceless Mask, and for the first time in a long, long time, Adam’s mind felt slightly more tranquil.

But what are these voices? Who do they belong to?

Just what is this place? And...

Adam felt a strange sense of familiarity with this forbidden zone. He couldn’t quite put a finger on it, but it felt oddly familiar for some reason.

Like he had visited this place before.

But how can that be possible? I’ve never visited this place before. So then, where does this sense of familiarity come from?

The more he thought about it, the more it didn’t make sense to him. The frown on his face deepened with every second that passed.

Until suddenly, he froze.

At the edge of the Sphere of Resonance, he sensed something.

Or rather... someone!