Chapter 125: Chapter 96 Tartarus_2

He said as much, but Cronus followed closely behind. Although he too wished for his rebellious son to take a few more beatings, he was acutely aware that the divine battle playing out on Earth, and the skirmishes among the gods, were but a facade.

What lay hidden behind it was the question of what kind of retribution would befall when half of a great deity’s might was unleashed upon the world.

Mother Earth herself was a part of the creation of the present world, and considering that she seldom directly displayed her power, the impact on her was more like being slowly sliced by a blunt knife. However, whether or not the actions of other beings would provoke a more direct response was the focal point of this test.

Currently, with the lingering Divine Authority serving as a shield, all consequences from the ‘test’ could be covered by it. The faster it faded, the more intense the reaction from the present world.

And when that power completely vanished, Laine’s true body would have to leave. After all, there was no being in Chaos that could stand against the present world just yet.

A distortion in space-time ensued, and in the next moment, Laine and Cronus arrived in this strange world one after the other.

Stepping through this ‘gateway’, their connection to the Underworld was severed. Even if they retraced their steps, they could no longer return to where they had come from.

Currently, Laine could still rely on the link between his avatar and the Spirit Realm to find the right path, much as Zeus relied on the faint power of the Divine King to travel back and forth from the Titans’ prison. But once deeper inside, whether that connection could be maintained was uncertain.

However, while the connection might be broken, the synchronicity of thought would not. Not even Tartarus could block the Sovereign of Spirits’ execution of his authority.

“Let’s go deeper in, the outer forces here are too weak. If we choose this place for the transformation, it might take thousands of years to complete,” Laine said after surveying the surroundings.

“The power here is indeed somewhat thin, but within Tartarus, how do you distinguish ‘inside’ from ‘outside’?” Cronus asked, somewhat baffled, given that he had been here before.

There was a gap between the Cronus of the past and Laine’s true body, but not so much that he should be outdone by an avatar. If he couldn’t perceive it, neither should the other.

“Do you remember the Chaotic Source Force I took when Themis was legislating?” Laine extended his hand, and a serpentine mist appeared in his palm. Cronus recognized it at a glance—it was the externalized form of the Chaotic Source Force.

“I do have some understanding of Chaos. One of the preparations I made for this trip was taking some of it to form the basis of this avatar. Hence, I might not notice subtle changes in the Abyss, but I can still discern the broad strokes of strong and weak areas,” Laine explained.

After determining the direction, Laine led the way.

“Follow me, if we get separated, I’m not sure I’ll be able to find you again. By that point, you’ll have to rely on luck,” he cautioned.

Without a word, the former Divine King dutifully followed Laine. Now, left only with his immortal essence, if he strayed from Laine’s vicinity, he couldn’t even affect his environment.

Strictly speaking, his current state was just a step away from eternal slumber. It was only because of a previous agreement that the power of spirituality kept him conscious.

In the Abyss, they moved forward slowly. Their path twisted and turned, sometimes circular, without any logical sense to their actions. But as time ticked by, even with just a fraction of his essence remaining, Cronus could feel the surrounding aura becoming increasingly dense.

However, as they ventured deeper, at a certain moment, Laine suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

Though the aura indicated deep penetration into the bowels of Tartarus, Cronus was certain they were still far from the center.

“Nothing much, I’ve just noticed something strange.” Laine furrowed his brow and gestured lightly through the chaos surrounding them.

The next moment, the space fluctuated, and a mysterious, ever-changing rune appeared in his hand.

At first glance, the rune resembled the one Laine had left in Delphi, with its shifting, uncertain feel of being both tangible and intangible. But upon closer inspection, one could sense a vast difference between the two.

The rune Laine left behind not only had a much higher nature, approaching the origin of ‘writing’, but it also bridged the gap between order and chaos. Just by observing it, one could gain a wealth of conceptual knowledge. Even from the perspective of witchcraft, such a symbol, representing the Lord of the Spirit Realm, could be used for meditation.

But the rune in his hand was different. Perhaps because it originated in the Abyss, Laine felt its sole purpose was to be meaningless.

Of course, if one considered ‘naming’ as meaning, then it did have one. However, since there were no other life forms or objects in Tartarus, this sole value of ‘naming’ was also rendered worthless.

“Writing? There’s something like that in the Abyss too?” Cronus couldn’t help but express his surprise. The present world had innate divine writing, Laine had created the original Spirit Script, Metis had created Hydrology, and there were also ordinary scripts taught to Humans that lacked transcendent power, but those all presupposed a user.

First there was the Deity Race, then came the innate divine writing. The Lord of the Spirit Realm and spiritual life formed, and the original Spirit Script followed. It was only after the myriad Oceanides appeared that Hydrology emerged. And without Humans, ordinary scripts would not have been created.