Thea took out the compass and paced around the area. The needle swung south, then north; when she reached a certain point, it spun wildly like a windmill.
"This is the place!" She sat down on the spot. More than twenty days of searching had left her thoroughly exhausted. Her physical stamina was still abundant, but mentally she was inevitably fatigued. She needed to recover a little and face any possible sudden situations in a relatively good state.
"There's nothing in the sky, so it must be underground?" Thea did not simply close her eyes to rest. In the original timeline, Nick Necro had recklessly meddled and been tricked by that fake Book of Magic, causing a series of changes in Nanda Parbat. Only then did Paradise Lost extend a single tendril from the spiritual world.
Now, with nothing having happened, this small world had remained hidden for tens of thousands of years, evading the scrutiny of innumerable true gods. Its ability to conceal itself was indeed exceptional.
Thea first used several detection methods from Sargon and Morgan le Fay to probe the spatial structure here. The results were encouraging. Several spells indicated that directly beneath her feet there was indeed a layered structure—faint, but unmistakable.
Next, she began searching for the entrance. Activating the Eye of Horus at full power, her vision extended extremely far—almost as if she could see Mars—yet she saw nothing at all. This proved that the entrance was not in the sky.
She turned to continue scanning the ground, but after penetrating only two layers of rock, her vision could go no further. It encountered an invisible energy barrier and was immediately absorbed.
"Underground!" Thea was overjoyed. After nearly a month of constant effort, the moment of revelation had finally arrived.
She took out the Dead King's Scepter. This staff was capable of sinking continents. Even in Thea's hands—despite not being Atlantean—with less than a tenth of its original power remaining, opening a hole was still no problem.
The scepter lightly touched the ground, and she felt the tremor of the earth veins beneath. This Atlantean artifact revealed to her that there was a cavern among the rocks below.
Without hesitation, Thea flew into midair, gripped the scepter in reverse with both hands, aimed its tip at the ground, and struck down with full force.
"Rumble—!"
The power of the blow was nothing short of earth-shattering. Violent tremors spread for several miles. Countless rocks collapsed, large numbers of trees were toppled, and wild beasts throughout the mountains fled from their lairs.
Even the League of Assassins' base on the outer edge of the mountains was affected. Talia thought an earthquake had struck and hurriedly led her people out of the cave, scanning the surroundings in alarm.
Thea had no time to care about them. She stared at the massive hole she had blasted open and couldn't help baring her teeth. The power was excessive…
The hole was over thirty meters in diameter and so deep that its bottom could not be seen. Even a professional drilling team with the hardest drill bits would need at least half a year to accomplish something like this.
Thea now found herself completely unclear about the true function of this scepter. Against enemies, it was merely adequate—but against the Earth itself, it was devastatingly effective. Just how much must the Dead King have hated Atlantis back then, to turn a water-aspected artifact into such a terrifying excavation tool?
Setting aside her internal grumbling, once the dust settled, Thea flew down along the opening.
After descending for only half a minute, cool gusts of wind rushed toward her. The air was fresh and comfortable, with hardly any stale odor.
When she reached the bottom, countless alabaster formations came into view—stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars, and towers—pure and elegant, like white snow.
"It seems this place has been sealed off by mountain rock for a very long time." Thea surveyed her surroundings. Aside from the skylight she had just created, there were no other passages nearby. She reached out and touched a nearby stalagmite. It was not a natural formation, but something condensed from mental energy. Suppressing her excitement, she knew the entrance was close.
The scenery within the cavern was breathtaking. The deeper she went, the more mental-energy-condensed alabaster appeared. Grand and magnificent sights that would normally be rare were commonplace here. Thea ignored the scenery and the profound silence around her, advancing with steady, resolute steps.
There were many narrow paths within the cave, winding and twisting. The strength of the alabaster along the way guided her direction; judging by the energy fluctuations, the closer she drew to the entrance, the stronger it became. She finally stopped before a petrified dragon statue nearly forty meters tall.
The statue was lifelike. The dragon—or dragon-like creature—had two heads. Its body was not as slender as those depicted in spellbooks, but stocky, with a high-ridged back. It also had two tails, both quite short.
The enormous statue completely blocked all passages beyond it.
Thea looked at it and called out loudly, "The entrance is behind you, right? I'm not a bad person. Can you let me in?"
"Did you hear me? You're not already dead, are you?"
"If you don't move, don't blame me for being rude. I know you're still alive!" After shouting for quite a while with no response, Thea tightened her grip on the Dead King's Scepter and assumed an attacking stance.
The dragon realized it could no longer hide. The weathered crystalline layer covering its surface was rapidly absorbed. In less than half a minute, its true form was revealed. It shifted slightly and exhaled a burst of mist.
"A dragon without a physical body?" Thea had assumed it was a true dragon, but once its real form appeared, she realized she had been mistaken. This was a completely different form of life—not a natural being at all. To put it imprecisely, it was more like a dragon composed purely of mental energy.
"You cannot enter. You have not received authorization." The dragon had no vocal organs and communicated instead through telepathy.
"Human, withdraw. I know you are not a bad person, and I do not wish to become your enemy."
"I have a reason I must go inside." After spending a month on this, Thea had no intention of being stopped here.
"No."
"Please, I must enter."
"No."
…
Thea exhausted every polite argument she could think of, but the guardian remained rigid and refused to let her pass.
The guardian's strength was not particularly great. To Thea, it felt similar to the Enchantress she had encountered before: abundant mental power, but a rigid form that required enormous mental energy just to maintain movement. Its actual combat strength could not even reach thirty percent.
Against this kind of incorporeal opponent, in the past she would have had no choice but to rely on massive reserves of magic and fight a prolonged battle of attrition. Now, things were different.
Grinning, she took out Excalibur. This fantasy-type holy sword was an aggregation of countless wills and had long reached the pinnacle of spirit influencing reality. It could be said to be the ultimate nemesis of all spiritual beings.
"Hey, take a look at this sword of mine."
"Uh—!" The two-headed dragon's spiritual form flickered violently the instant the holy sword appeared. Although it had never seen this blade before, it instantly understood its nature.
This sword could casually destroy dozens of beings composed purely of mental energy like itself. Against physical enemies, it might be manageable—but against an incorporeal entity like it, the threat was absolute. The dragon panicked.