Greatest Legacy of the Magus Universe

Chapter 1376: Time Distortion

Several minutes later, or perhaps... several weeks later.

Adam stood amid the scattered corpses of the mutated creatures, their twisted forms sprawled across the ground.

His staff dripped with thick, black blood, each drop hissing as it touched the earth. The air around him was silent and still, the last echoes of the battle still lingering.

Strange limbs, warped jaws, and corrupted flesh lay frozen in grotesque positions. Countless tiny tendrils could be seen writhing incessantly inside these corpses.

The raven-haired youth’s stance was steady, breaths controlled, as he surveyed the aftermath in grim silence. He was surrounded by all sides by the remains of what he had just cut down.

Some were at the Mana Vortex Rank, while others were at the Mana Liquefaction and Mana Foundation Rank. Some corpses were humanoid, while others resembled four-legged beasts. Yet, all of them had mutated beyond imagination.

Suddenly, Adam’s stomach grumbled, and he couldn’t help but frown.

”How long have I been here?” he murmured.

According to his own sense of time, he had maybe spent at most an hour since he woke up. Yet why was he feeling so hungry already? Ideally, thanks to his strong physique, he could last days without food. But now...

Time truly is distorted in this forsaken place, he thought with a grim look on his face.

How long did I fall for? How long was I out cold? How long has truly passed?

Although one of the main reasons he’d come to the Dark Valley was because of the abnormal flow of time here, but when he actually experienced it, he couldn’t help but feel solemn about it.

He observed the corpses intently for a few more minutes. When the tiny tendrils inside of them finally fell still, he retreated.

I need to find some place safe to camp, he thought to himself as he continued his journey into the heart of the valley.

Thankfully, the Stealth Cloak, a Grade 4 artifact, came in very handy in such a situation. Moreover, he carried enough rations in his space-type storage ring. It would last him a few years if he was frugal about it.

But will it really be enough? The frown on his face deepened even more.

His only source of food and water in this damned place was the rations he was carrying. For obvious reasons, he couldn’t eat anything tainted by the corruption in this place.

Several... weeks later, Adam finally found the cliff face.

The cliff face of the Dark Valley was sheer and uneven, rising straight up like a massive, jagged wall that disappeared behind a curtain of darkness.

Deep cracks ran across its surface, and chunks of blackened rock jutted out at sharp angles. Strange markings carved by time or something far older lined parts of the stone.

The entire surface looked worn, unstable, and hostile, as if the valley itself rejected anything that dared to climb it.

Of course, Adam couldn’t sense that far. At the moment, he was in a haggard state. In the time it took him to reach the cliff face, he had fought off several more groups of mutated creatures.

To him, it felt like it had only taken a few minutes to traverse that distance, but deep down, he knew... he knew that it had taken him a lot longer.

The time distortion is mind-boggling!

He couldn’t help but think that as he pressed his palm against the cliff wall. He extended his senses outward, trying to look for a suitable place to settle down.

Several minutes—or hours?—later, he heaved a sigh of relief. Not far away, he found a naturally made cave inside the cliff face. It wasn’t situated on the ground level. He’d have to climb a few dozen meters to reach the cave.

The raven-haired youth took a deep breath and pulled himself up the rough cliff face, using cracks in the stone to steady his ascent. The rock was cold and brittle, with loose gravel giving way under his boots more often than he liked.

After climbing for a while, the cave was finally within reach. A final heave brought him level with the mouth of the naturally formed cave, half hidden behind a natural outcrop.

At last, he slipped inside.

The interior was naturally dark, but that didn’t matter. Adam was long used to it. The air was cold and stale. The walls were uneven and ribbed, with strange mineral streaks running through them.

The cave extended further back into the darkness, making the place oddly spacious.

Adam finally had some time to relax a bit. He rested against the cave wall and thought to himself:

How long has passed?

Days? Weeks?

...Years?

The flow of time severely messed with his senses. If it wasn’t the sinister and alien voices that perpetually echoed inside the Dark Valley that drove him to insanity, he felt like the abnormal flow of time would.

He clutched at his forehead and gritted his teeth.

No! I need to forget about the flow of time here!

What I need to focus on is food and water. I feel hungry and thirsty every few minutes. Meaning... what feels like minutes to me may actually be weeks!

I fear my rations won’t even last that long.

If these mutated creatures don’t kill me, I’m afraid the lack of food and water might.

Adam’s physique wasn’t robust enough to last a long time without sustenance, after all. This had turned out to be a very big problem for him.

But the unexpected silver lining in all of this was...

The ravings of the Faceless Mask no longer bother me, he thought to himself with a bitter smile.

I haven’t felt the urge to laugh in... however long I’ve spent in this damned place.

But more importantly...

Adam’s smile gradually vanished.

Just what is the source of these sinister voices in the Dark Valley? If I assume that it originates from that abomination, then...

His expression turned utterly grim as he thought of a terrifying possibility.

How powerful must that abomination be to be able to clash on even grounds with the ravings of an artifact forged by a God?