SWNOVELXO Chapter 44 - The Ancient Calamity
“Not good,” Yang Che shouted in his mind as he fired his weapon while retreating, thoughts racing rapidly.
It was clear that the dark figure that had suddenly leapt down was the target of their operation. However, with his teammates falling one by one, Yang Che was now the only one barely able to continue fighting. The situation was dire.
Fortunately, the number of flesh monsters rushing at him was dwindling. Even if the enemy had a small underground base, they couldn’t maintain a large-scale force. By now, the team had killed hundreds of these creatures—it had to be nearing the end.
As the onslaught of flesh monsters slowed, Yang Che finally had a moment to assess the other side of the battle. He had assumed that the ruthless black-haired man could at least hold off or defeat the target. Yet, to his surprise, the situation was entirely different.
Qiao Long slowly fell to his knees, emitting a guttural growl like a wild beast. His muscles turned crimson, blood vessels bulged, and faint traces of dark red scales appeared on his skin. His body was visibly changing.
Under the influence of the disturbing flute melody, Yang Che quickly scanned his fallen comrades and leaped toward one, yanking the tactical backpack from their back. From it, he retrieved several small blue-and-white canisters.
He pulled the pins, aimed at the stone pillar where the sound emanated, and hurled them with force.
Boom!
The canisters burst midair, unleashing a sharp, piercing soundwave that reverberated through the cavern. Unlike an explosion with fire and shockwaves, these were stun grenades designed for this mission, and now they finally came into use.
The ear-splitting noise was like a million whistles blowing simultaneously, causing intense auditory and visual disorientation. Even thought processes temporarily ceased. The dark figure’s flute melody abruptly stopped.
Protected by his tactical noise-cancelling headset, Yang Che remained conscious, though the effects of the stun grenade were significantly diminished for him.
He swiftly moved around the stone pillar and, spotting the faint outline of his target, opened fire.
The blue streaks of his shots flashed through the darkness, striking the shadowy figure. But the bullets only managed to inflict minor wounds, unable to penetrate the specialized gray-black bodysuit the figure wore.
The shadow endured the attack, stumbling and rolling to dodge further shots. Using Qiao Long as a shield, the figure crouched behind him.
Briefly alleviating the crisis, the figure took out a capsule from their suit, tossed it into their mouth, and began to recover rapidly from the disorienting effects.
Seeing that his shooting angle was poor, Yang Che closed the distance, determined to leave no time for the enemy to recover. But he was still one step too late—the capsule had already been swallowed, and the figure was back on their feet.
The unique taste of the capsule jolted the figure’s mind into clarity. They evaded Yang Che’s shots and resumed playing the flute, trying to control the disoriented Qiao Long into attacking.
But the earlier sonic blast had partially cleared Qiao Long’s mind, allowing him to suppress the chaotic surge of power coursing through his blood.
This power surge wasn’t a boon—it was an eruption triggered by consuming his life force. If he couldn’t suppress it now, he would likely age decades overnight, with his strength permanently crippled.
Changing his angle, Yang Che resumed firing at the retreating shadow, landing several hits. Yet, none were enough to bring the figure down.
Wounded but relentless, the figure fled deeper into the cavern. Yang Che dropped his cumbersome electromagnetic rifle, quickly drawing a lightsaber hilt from his waist and giving chase.
The dark underground tunnels were filled with stagnant water, and the uneven rocky floor beneath slowed the figure’s escape. They stumbled several times, nearly falling, as the water hindered their movement.
Yang Che caught up, igniting the brilliant yellow beam of his lightsaber. Sparks of crackling energy surrounded its edge, illuminating the pitch-black surroundings.
Spotting the figure ahead, Yang Che drove his blade into the pool of water, sending a surge of electricity through the liquid. The shadowy figure convulsed, paralyzed by the shock.
While the current wasn’t lethal to a transcendent, it left them vulnerable and unable to resist.
Yang Che pulled a spare tranquilizer dart from his tactical vest, expertly throwing it into the figure’s exposed back. The dart embedded itself deeply, releasing a chilling liquid into their bloodstream.
The figure, a specialist in pharmacology, immediately recognized the danger and yanked the dart out, stabbing it into the cavern wall to ground the current. However, their body was already succumbing to the tranquilizer’s effects.
“Damn it,” the figure cursed, slumping into the water. They fumbled for a device on their wrist, a watch-like apparatus. Pressing it, they injected themselves with a pre-prepared solution.
The substance coursed through their veins, causing their body to convulse. Though it couldn’t counteract the tranquilizer entirely, it restored some motor function.
Backed against the rocky wall, the figure panted heavily, steam rising from their skin. Their pupils turned a deep crimson.
Yang Che abandoned the electric attacks and closed in with his lightsaber.
Whoosh!
The blade sliced through the air, cutting through a stone pillar the figure had used for cover, leaving a scorched gash across their back. The wound was cauterized instantly by the blade’s intense heat.
Cornered, the shadow retrieved a cylindrical object from their belt, twisted it open, and hurled it at Yang Che.
The lightsaber struck the cylinder midair, shattering its casing. A strange gray mist emerged, spreading rapidly.
The oppressive sensation that followed was overwhelming—chaotic, disorderly, corrupting everything it touched. Magic energy became erratic, consciousness wavered, and even the surrounding rocks and water began to distort, turning into a fractured, grotesque mosaic.
This was…
Yang Che staggered as dizziness overwhelmed him. His lightsaber flickered and died, its magic supply disrupted.
Snapping out of it for a moment, he retreated quickly to distance himself from the spreading mist. Yet, the cavern was already filled with its corrupting presence.
Corpses of flesh monsters began to twitch and transform, grotesque organs and eyes emerging across their distorted bodies.
The scene sent a chill down Yang Che’s spine, dredging up memories from humanity’s collective history.
This was the calamity that had destroyed human civilization at the end of the Twilight Epoch—the Chaos Phantom!
But wasn’t this calamity completely eradicated and resolved by the sages of humanity in the Fourth Epoch? How could it still exist?
The unimaginable consequences of such a dreadful calamity resurfacing made Yang Che abandon his pursuit of the fleeing shadow. All he could think about now was reporting back as soon as possible—this mission was bound to end in disaster.
In the darkness, the culprit behind the chaos continued fleeing, splashing through the stagnant water as he ran, cursing incessantly.
“If it weren’t for you people, I wouldn’t have exposed the things I found in that ancient ruin. Sure, it’s a disaster that destroyed an ancient civilization, but it’s also the key to unlocking the door to transcendence. With this unique existence, advancing becomes so much easier. I can’t understand why the previous civilization didn’t make better use of these.”
“No, wait! The humans of that era must have used them. Otherwise, how could the Fourth Epoch have had so many Sequence 9 individuals, while even Sequence 8s are extremely rare now?”
“The techniques and secret arts haven’t been lost. Otherwise, there’s no way to explain why civilization is still regressing.”
He cursed the shortsightedness of the ancients, who destroyed such “treasures” capable of enhancing transcendent power for the sake of so-called peace.
“Life isn’t precious—it’s as disposable as rats. Even if this calamity causes massive deaths, it’s a small price to pay compared to the greatness of continuous advancement toward godhood!”
As he fled through the underground waters, he searched frantically for the location of a subterranean river. If he could escape Arpeggio City’s jurisdiction via the dark river, he could lay low for a few years and then resume his research elsewhere.
However, as he waded through the water, the lingering crystalline mist on his clothes began to glow a faint blue, shimmering like ghostly flowers blooming underground.
Suddenly, the ghostly blue light points floated into the air, gradually shifting to a violet hue, converging into a rift. From the rift descended a slender, dark-haired figure.
The figure was a girl clad in an elegant black gown, her long legs wrapped in black stockings adorned with golden thread patterns that shimmered with magical brilliance. Her shoulders were draped with a sleek black silk shawl that revealed her flawless white collarbone, while a violet flower adorned her neckline, with a gemstone at its center radiating magic.
Holding a black parasol with violet edges, the dreamlike girl floated down gracefully.
Thilan, now adjusting to her magical ceremonial attire, hovered silently in the air. Gazing down at the shadow below, she recalled how she had indeed returned home earlier. However, inheriting her sister’s spatial abilities had granted her the power to perform short-distance spatial traversal, and the crystal she had given Qiao Long served as a beacon.
Initially, she had only intended to observe events through the crystal and monitor their development. However, things had escalated far beyond her expectations, forcing her to intervene.
During humanity’s first golden age, they had encountered a magical tide shift in the Aijeka Sea. This had instantaneously destroyed the three crowns that supported their civilization and wiped out all transcendents within the sea. The resulting residue of trillions of twisted human souls later birthed a world-distorting virus known as the “Chaos Phantom.”
To escape this galaxy-wide calamity, the surviving remnants of humanity scattered and hid. It wasn’t until tens of thousands of years later that they reemerged to reclaim the stars.
According to the Eternal Covenant between human sages and Loransia, this calamity should have been eradicated at the conceptual level of universal law. How could it possibly reappear?
Thilan couldn’t fathom the reason, but for now, it was best to stop the culprit, whose actions threatened her world.
“Who are you!?”
The shadow below gazed up at the descending girl. She appeared no older than sixteen, still youthful and immature, yet her transcendent abilities and luxurious magical attire demanded caution.
Thilan said nothing. She saw no point in wasting words, which might only give the enemy an opportunity.
With a simple wave of her hand, a series of icy blue crystals floated behind her, then shot forward like sharp swords.
The shadow managed to smash one crystal with his remaining arm, but others soon pierced his body and the surrounding water. These crystals weren’t highly penetrating, but their coldness was utterly bone-chilling.
The water beneath him instantly froze, trapping him in place. His lower body became numb, and icy tendrils crept toward his chest, wrapping around his beating heart. A sharp, agonizing pull radiated from his chest as the cold tightened its grip.
In his last act of desperation, he twisted open a cylindrical object, releasing a smoky manifestation of Chaos Phantom. The spreading, writhing fog warped everything it touched, disrupting minds and fracturing memories.
So, this is Chaos Phantom? Thilan mused. She had only sensed it before, but now, encountering it up close, she still felt no danger. It was as if it were nothing more than a chill in the air.
How strange—why did she feel completely unthreatened by this thing? Could it be creating an illusion to deceive her?
Thilan swung her parasol and teleported hundreds of meters away to observe from a distance. Yet, everything remained the same—no abnormalities.
Odd. Closing her eyes, she meticulously scanned her body and soul for signs of distortion or deception but found none. Reassured, she reopened her eyes.
It really didn’t seem dangerous. Tilting her head in thought, she approached again. Raising her palm, the swirling fog coalesced, condensing into an ashen crystal that rested in her hand.
So, it’s just this, she thought.
After a moment’s consideration, she decided it would be best not to keep such an object. She sealed the ashen crystal back into the cylindrical container and secured it.
By then, the shadow trapped in the frozen water had stopped breathing, reduced to a rigid statue.
She tossed the cylinder onto the statue, then surveyed the area once more. Sensing no immediate pursuit, she began her preparations.
After a short time, her arrangements were complete. With a final glance around, Thilan disappeared once again into a violet rift.
Approximately 30 minutes later, hurried footsteps echoed through the underground cavern. Heavily armed soldiers arrived, illuminating the area with floating autonomous drones that turned the darkness into daylight. Scanning beams swept the cavern, reporting every detail.
[A-141 reports no other life forms in the vicinity.]
[C-U25 scan complete. Underground topography mapped.]
[Trace distortion detected in the environment, matching historical records.]
[Ambient magic detected: Tide Sequence magic, consistent with target.]
[Target deceased. Cause of death under analysis… Determined to be drowning after losing consciousness.]
[Soul fragment retrieval in progress… Residual traces found but irreparably corrupted.]
[Searching for critical items…]
Minutes later, two special cylinders were retrieved from the deceased and placed in sealed containment boxes.
“Report! Search complete. Key target and items secured. Preparing to seal the site.”
The underground cavern was fully sealed off, and the chaos finally drew to a close.