After Feng left, the riverside cottage fell silent.
Alan stood at the window, gazing out at the Bloodline Galaxy.
The cottage's proximity to the Bloodline Styx created a higher concentration of ambient magic, making it easier to connect with the ancestral spirits within the galaxy, hearing their grudges and cries.
The closer the distance, the easier it was to enter a deep meditative state, and naturally, the more efficient one's cultivation.
In short, "those who are near the water tower first catch the moon."
Higher cultivation efficiency meant more magic stones were consumed.
In Origin City, Alan's meditation consumed two wind magic stones per session.
In the riverside cottage, meditation efficiency was ten times higher than in Origin City, and the magic stone consumption was also ten times higher.
Such an extravagant cultivation practice was unaffordable for the average person!
Luckily, Alan was not an average person.
He exchanged one thousand wind magic stones from the castle steward, enough for a month's retreat in the riverside cottage.
Following Feng's instructions, Allen placed twenty Wind Magic Stones before him.
The extremely high concentration of magic power in the hut made it easy to absorb the magic stones.
Alan didn't need to touch the magic stones; simply placing them beside him allowed him to absorb their essence through the air.
After preparing himself, Allen knelt on the ground and began to meditate.
No external aids like concentration incense were needed.
As soon as he closed his eyes, he automatically entered a deep meditation.
The smooth experience reminded Allen of an exaggerated metaphor:
"As soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep."
Meditation was different from sleep; Allen's consciousness remained clear.
He could even clearly feel a trace of his consciousness emanating from the window and floating above the Bloodline Galaxy.
Across the endless, boundless river, all the ancestral spirits connected to his bloodline immediately sensed something and collectively stirred.
They rose to the surface, inviting him to merge.
They hoped to share their memories of joy and sorrow, and help them fulfill their unfulfilled wishes.
In the past, when Alan meditated, he had always chosen his own ancestral spirits.
The ancestral spirits passively awaited fusion, appearing rather indifferent.
This grand and enthusiastic welcome was his first experience, like the beauties in the harem anticipating the emperor's presence.
After careful consideration, Alan chose his old friend, the ogre wizard ancestral spirit who had served as a guide for the demons.
After merging with the bloodline of the Sky Behemoth, he had the confidence to confront the charming Lady Bayara head-on.
He might even have a chance to rise above his superiors and escape the witch's manipulations!
Furthermore, Alan wanted to verify a bold hypothesis.
If this were true, he would no longer be the demon's lackey.
From a demon's lackey, he transformed himself into a hero who endured humiliation and undercover in the enemy camp for ten years, ultimately thwarting the demonic invasion of the human world with his courage and wisdom!
In the riverside cabin, the silence was so profound that the passage of time was imperceptible.
Alan lived alone in the cabin, undisturbed, focused on his spiritual practice.
After four weeks of seclusion, Alan's fate in the meditation world reached its most crucial turning point.
…
After a decade, the ancestral spirit Alan had merged with finally returned to the place of his birth and upbringing.
The orc fortress, once occupied by the combined forces of humans and elves, once again raised a glorious banner bearing the Behemoth totem!
Ten years ago, the ogre wizard ancestral spirit Alan had merged with was betrayed by its allies in the swamp tribe, and the castle was captured by the combined forces of humans and elves.
He fled alone, hiding in the Underdark, where he was threatened by the drow warlock Orlando, the drow priestess Elina, and two necromancers.
Desperate for survival, Allen had no choice but to contact Anzus, the demon general of the Burning Legion, through the Mirror of the Abyss.
From then on, he became a guide for demonic forces to infiltrate the human world.
With the help of demonic forces, Allen gained a foothold in the Underdark, accumulating strength for a counterattack on the surface world.
After a series of bloody battles, Allen finally reclaimed his lost territory and restored his rule over the orcish territories.
Over the course of a decade, goblins, orcs, wargs, ogres, trolls, dragons, and even cyclops, who had suffered under the oppression of humans and elves, responded to Allen's call and rallied under his banner.
Alan's power expanded rapidly like a snowball.
Today, Allen has not only recovered all his lost territory but also plundered vast tracts of land, thousands of slaves, and rich resource deposits from humans and elves.
Nearby beast tribes, suffering under the oppression of humans and elves, have flocked to Allen's rise to power.
Less than a year after returning to the surface world, Allen has become the leader of all the major beast tribes and the supreme chieftain, enjoying immense honor.
However, behind this triumphant success lies a hidden danger.
The beast warriors are Allen's compatriots and his loyal followers.
The demon mercenaries are the external aid Allen relies on to turn things around.
When his fortunes were in decline, he had no other choice but to rely on the demons.
No matter how much he disliked the demons' atrocities, he had no choice but to endure them.
Now, Allen commands a powerful army, with over eight thousand beast warriors under his command!
In contrast, the size of the Demon Mercenary Corps did not grow in tandem with Allen's expansion.
There were fewer than two thousand Demon Mercenaries in total, the vast majority of whom were cannon fodder like the Suicide Demons.
In every battle, Allen always placed the Demon Mercenaries at the forefront, sacrificing them without hesitation.
This situation had already caused dissatisfaction among the Demon Mercenaries.
The friction between Allen's Orcs and the Demon Mercenaries was also increasing.
Group fights, even small-scale clashes, were commonplace.
While Allen nominally ordered his subordinates to refrain from infighting, he actually turned a blind eye to the conflicts between the two sides.
The conflict always ended in the Orcs, who outnumbered and had more power.
The Demon Mercenaries, having suffered losses, sought legal reassurance from Allen, so they simply turned to Bayara to file a complaint.
As the spokesperson for the Demon Mercenary Corps, the rift between Baiara and Allen was widening.
She was deeply dissatisfied with Allen's use of his demon mercenaries.
She saw that Allen was deliberately consuming demons to prevent the "Burning Legion's" vanguard from becoming too powerful and becoming the enemy's master.
Even more displeased was Allen's petty use of the Abyss Mirror.
In past wars, countless casualties had been suffered on both sides.
The souls of the dead were precisely the treasure coveted by the demons.
Allan had already collected a large number of the souls of the fallen, yet he was only willing to exchange a small portion for demon mercenaries.
The demons he received in exchange were mostly low-level troops, below level 4.
So far, Baiara was the only high-level demon.
Baiara repeatedly urged Allen to exchange for more high-level demons to bolster the mercenary group's combat capabilities.
Alan always evaded the issue, saying, "More soldiers isn't enough," "Enough is enough."
However, when it came to recruiting and training Orc troops, he was all about the more, the better.
Alan's differing attitudes toward his own troops and mercenaries reflected his selfishness and ambition, which Baiara could clearly see.
This rebellious brat was becoming increasingly arrogant!
Biyala withheld her anger, knowing only that he was still useful.
However, a recent incident had completely infuriated Madam Chongmei.
She realized that Alan was no longer a meek lackey, but was about to transform into a venomous snake devouring its master!
The root of the conflict lay in whether to accept the peace agreement proposed by the Human-Elf Alliance.
The Orc territory Alan had recaptured was just one of the many colonies being divided between the Human Empire and the Elven Court.
From a strategic perspective, it wasn't that important.
The Holy Griffin Empire was now plagued by internal and external troubles.
Internally, Princes Rolando and Archibald waged a fierce civil war over the succession to the throne.
Externally, the Undead Lords, taking advantage of the empire's civil unrest, were encroaching on human territory and transforming the living into undead.
The Elven Court, in a struggle for the treasure beneath the mountain, had a complete falling out with the Dwarves, whom they considered "barbaric and stubborn."
The Dark Elves seized the opportunity, stormed out of the Underdark, and delivered a stern blow to their distant surface kin.
The main forces of both humans and elves were distracted by these more powerful hostile forces, leaving them unable to spare the energy to deal with the Ogre Wizard Prince, who was making a comeback in the bitter cold of the North.
To avoid being attacked from both sides, both the Griffin Empire and the Elven Court sent envoys to Allen's castle, hoping to establish the current occupied territory as the de facto border and seek peace. Alan returned with a vengeance, conquering cities and plundering territory along the way, swallowing up too much territory and too many people in a short period of time.
The morale of the frontline troops was high, but the internal affairs of the rear were a mess.
Signs of over-expansion and indigestion were already appearing.
It was time to pause the conquests and recuperate.
Alan agreed to a truce, but not too easily.
He deliberately put on a greedy face and demanded a large war reparations from the Griffin Empire and the Elven Court!
Twenty thousand gold coins, plus two magical artifacts.
To the orcs, who were penniless and had only their underwear left, this was a huge fortune.
But to the rulers of the Griffin Empire and the Elven Court, it was nothing.
Sprinkle some water!
The orc chieftain's insignificant appearance made the envoys of both countries laugh. Afterwards, the literati of the diplomatic corps even wrote many funny jokes mocking Allen, the country bumpkin.
Alan was unconcerned with these sarcastic jokes.
In reality, the 20,000 gold coins were just a cover.
What he truly cared about were the two magical artifacts.
The "Crown of Farsight" of the Griffin Empire.
The "Unicorn Chalice" of the Elven Royal Court.
These two magical artifacts, at best, were mid-range collectibles in the treasuries of the two royal families.
But for what Allen was about to do, they held irreplaceable value!
The "Crown of Farsight" was a platinum crown with a gem of true knowledge embedded in its forehead, which enhanced detection magic.
The "Unicorn Chalice" was carved from the horn of a unicorn.
A pristine white horn cup, covered in delicate threads.
Once a day, fill the cup with water and wait a few moments. The water will automatically transform into a healing potion.
If you add healing potions or antidotes to the cup, the healing and detoxification effects will automatically increase by one level.
On the first day Allen received the Unicorn Holy Grail, he experimented with his own blood.
His blood can dissolve toxins up to level 8.
After being blessed by the Unicorn Holy Grail, the system calculates that it can dissolve level 9 toxins with a high probability!
For example, when he merged with the Sky Behemoth ancestral spirit, he was injured by a poisonous dragon and infected with the level 9 Leviathan toxin.
Even Allen's toxin resistance couldn't withstand it, and he lost his five senses, becoming a mobile source of infection.
Almost everyone who came close to him would be infected.
The poisoned lacked Allen's poison-resistance, and not only did they lose their five senses, but eventually even their intuition, losing their ability to think, and becoming a living dead.
The Behemoth clan, to which Allen's ancestral spirit belonged, crossed the strait and sought refuge in a secret realm.
Unfortunately, during their escape, most Behemoths had already been infected with the poison.
A strong physique could only temporarily suppress the poison. Once in the secret realm, their bodies and minds relaxed, and the poison began to take effect.
High-level elemental Behemoths, including the elders, who had once joined forces to repel the poison dragon, were also infected with the ninth-level Leviathan poison during the battle, just like Allen.
After the poison took effect, various senses gradually lost, until they lost consciousness.
Alan's blood could not cure the elder's poison.
However, blood blessed by the Unicorn Holy Grail could cure the disease!
Unfortunately, this Holy Grail did not exist a thousand years ago.
The elder, relying on his immense magical powers, barely suppressed the poison.
He managed to reach the secret realm, but his condition could no longer be controlled.
As a last resort, he gathered all the survivors of the tribe, a total of 108 Behemoths, into the valley and cast a spell to petrify them collectively.
Rather than waiting to die from the poison, it was better to actively petrify them and prevent the disease from worsening. At least there was a slight chance of recovery in the future.
However, it was a very slim possibility.
Alan witnessed this firsthand and was deeply moved.
During the Great Flood, the Behemoth ancestral spirit he had merged with was unable to save his fellow Behemoths from collective petrification.
Thousands of years later, the flood had long since receded. Could the Ogre Wizard ancestral spirit he had merged with find the Behemoth Secret Realm and awaken the slumbering Behemoths?
The two ancestral spirits lived in the same world.
The time difference was a thousand years.
As an ogre wizard, Allen's quest for the secret realm where the Behemoths rested proved far more challenging than unearthing ancient artifacts.
The greatest challenge was that the Behemoth's secret realm didn't exist on the main plane of the warlock's world, but rather in a relatively independent demiplane!
An invisible and insurmountable dimensional barrier separated the two.
Ordinary detection spells, including the fourth-level "Scrying," couldn't overcome this barrier and locate targets within the secret realm.
Alan resorted to the next best option: discovering the entrance to the secret realm.
However, after millennia of vicissitudes, the entrance to the secret realm was no longer what it once was.
Alan's search, relying on the memories of his ancestors from millennia ago, was a futile effort.
Now, with the "Crown of Farsight," this hurdle was easily solved!
Alan donned the "Crown of Farsight," gently caressed the crystal ball, and silently recalled the Behemoth Elder's appearance after his petrification.
The "Scouting" technique activated, and the crystal ball glowed.
Soon, the scene Allen had been waiting for appeared in the crystal ball.
A massive moss-covered stone statue sat atop the cliff, as if lost in thought.
Alan took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement.
He zoomed out, observing from a wider perspective.
Yes!
This was the Behemoth Secret Realm!
The silent valley, the steep stone walls, and the behemoth stone statues leaning against the stone walls, knees hugged, all matched his memory!
After millennia of wind and rain, the Behemoths still slumbered.
The "Crown of Farsightedness" truly, as the legend said, could enhance "Scouting" and enable reconnaissance across dimensional barriers!
The Space Secret Realm, as a demiplane, could not exist completely independently of the main plane.
If the main plane is a glass ball, the demiplane is a small bubble bulging on the surface.
Somewhere between the two planes, they are tightly connected.
The intersection is the entrance from the main plane into the secret realm.
Alan used the "Crown of Farsight" to locate the secret realm.
Projecting it onto the main plane, the resulting coordinates were the exact location of the secret realm entrance.
Alan switched his detection perspective and locked onto the secret realm entrance.
The scene in the crystal ball was surprisingly familiar.
"This wetland seems to be the territory of the Swamp Alliance..."
Alan stared at the crystal ball, searching his ancestral memories.
Just then, hurried footsteps were heard outside the door.
Alan's face changed slightly.
He took off the "Crown of Farsight" and quickly stuffed it into his storage bag along with the crystal ball and the "Unicorn Holy Grail." Bang!
The door was violently flung open, and Baiara burst in.
"Alan! You deliberately sent me away and refused to share your senses with me. What the hell are you doing?"
Madam Chongmei demanded angrily.
"Nothing much, just entertaining some distinguished guests,"
Alan said nonchalantly.
"Haha! What distinguished guests? They're actually envoys from the Griffin Empire and the Elven Royal Court, right?" Baiara sneered.
Alan nodded in acknowledgment and poured her a glass of red wine.
"While you were away, I signed a peace agreement with the envoys from both countries."
"The war is over, madam. Let's toast to peace."
"Dream on you!"
Biyara poured the wine on him, her beautiful face grimacing with anger.
"Short-sighted fool, you've fallen for the humans and elves' delaying tactics!"
"The peace agreement is nothing but a piece of waste paper!"
"Once both races recover, they'll tear up the agreement and resume the war. Then you'll regret your compromise!"
"If you're not completely foolish, you should tear up the contract and exterminate both humans and elves!"
"Madam, please calm down." Allen wiped the wine stains from his face and smiled bitterly. "I'm sorry, but my forces are insufficient to fulfill your ambitions."
"The Orcs don't have enough troops. Why don't you use the Abyss Mirror to summon the Burning Legion?" Bayara demanded sharply.
"Because I don't want to draw too much attention and provoke public outrage among the races."
Alan sighed.
"Madam, you must know that the Burning Legion has a poor reputation in this world!"
"Unrestrained expansion of the Abyssal forces will inevitably alert the higher-ups of the human, elf, giant, and dragon clans, urging them to put aside their personal grudges and unite against us!"
"Just like when they united to encircle and suppress the expeditionary force led by you and Lord Anzus, forcing you to flee back into the Abyss."
"Madam, I don't want to repeat your mistakes!"
Alan's words were both a statement of fact and a veiled rebuke.
Biyara's face darkened, and she was momentarily speechless.
Alan smiled and poured himself a glass of wine.
"Madam, the main reason I signed the contract with humans and elves is that I don't want to be bogged down in a multi-front war."
"What do you mean? We just said we were celebrating peace, so why are we going to war again? And who are our opponents?" Baiyala asked in surprise.
"Hehe... a war not declared is not a war."
Alan smiled mysteriously.
"Madam, to be honest, after the ceasefire here, I plan to lead an elite force into the southern wetlands and launch a surprise attack on the Swamp Tribe's military stronghold, Titania!"
"Ten years ago, these mud-dwelling country bumpkins betrayed the alliance they made with our orcs and sold me out!"
Alan gritted his teeth, hatred brimming in his eyes.
"Now, it's time to teach these treacherous bastards a lesson!"
"A surprise attack on Titania?" Baiara shook her head repeatedly. "I advise you to abandon this crazy idea!"
"Titania, known as the Swamp Tribe's invincible fortress."
"With your current forces, it's impossible to capture it!"
"Your stubbornness will only bury your troops in the stinking swamp."
"Unless..."
Biyara suddenly smiled charmingly and stepped forward to gently caress Allen's chest.
"Unless you're willing to summon more mercenaries from the Abyss, such as Berserkers, who are perfectly suited to fighting in wetlands."
Berserkers are a fifth-level unit of the Burning Legion.
Resembling giant humanoid toads, they are amphibious and indeed well-suited to fighting in swamps.
Alan feigned hesitation, his face showing hesitation.
Baiyala took advantage of physical contact to cast a charm spell on him, attempting to force him to submit to her will.
Alan initially intended to activate Requiem Meditation to resist her charm.
Unexpectedly, the "Wild Will" ingrained in his Behemoth bloodline immediately triggered a conditioned reflex, automatically resisting Baiyala's charm!
Wild Will, to put it simply, uses physical attributes to enhance mental resistance.
This leads to a strange phenomenon:
Contrary to the stereotype of strong limbs and simple minds, the stronger the Behemoth, the greater its mental resistance!
When Alan is subjected to mind control such as charm hypnosis, Wild Will takes priority.
Only after Wild Will fails to resist, Requiem Meditation becomes his next move.
In fact, the upper limit of "Wild Will"'s resistance to mental control is higher than Requiem Meditation!
Alan's Level 6 Requiem Meditation can only resist mental control up to Level 6.
There's no hard cap on Savage Will; it's simply that the higher the level of Mind Control, the lower the chance of resistance.
The high but unstable Savage Will perfectly complements the stable but fixed-limit Solemn Meditation!
After a moment of feigned ideological struggle, Allen laid his cards on the table.
"Madam, stay out of military affairs. Do as I say!"
Biyara's charm failed, and she grew angry and scowled.
"To do as you say would mean pushing the Abyssal Legion into the swamp as a stepping stone, wouldn't it?"
"Alan, I've had enough of your selfishness and shortsightedness!"
"From today, I will take control of the Abyssal Mercenary Corps!"
"Don't even think of giving orders blindly and using my trusted associates as cannon fodder!"
"If you insist, madam, it's up to you!"
Alan didn't give Baiyara a good look either.
The two parted on bad terms.
…
A month later.
The troops led by Allen approached Titania Fortress.
Despite their secret march, the Swamp Tribe had already taken precautions.
Alen knew that a spy had leaked the marching route to the Swamp Tribe in advance.
He knew who had betrayed him.
Outwardly, he pretended nothing had happened.
Placing his troops in a valley near the swamp, Allen went out alone.
The so-called scouting mission was actually a search for the entrance to the secret realm.
Thousands of years ago, the cave leading to and from the Giant Beast Secret Realm was located halfway up a mountain, a thousand meters above the ground.
After undergoing countless changes, it was now buried in the mire deep within the swamp.
How could it have been found without the help of the "Crown of Farsight"?!
Alan, draped in a camouflage cloak, sailed alone in a flat-bottomed boat through the reed-covered, maze-like swamp.
At dusk, a shadow suddenly drifted across the sky.
A chilling, evil aura wafted on the wind.
Alan plunged the oars into the mire, lifted the hood of his cloak, and looked up at the sky.
Under the dim sky, seven enormous dragons flew in a flock.
Judging from their size, they were an adult green dragon accompanied by six young green dragons.
It was obvious that these evil dragons were coming for him.
After spotting their target, they impatiently cast spells in the air.
Lightning, fireballs, and icy rings bombarded them.
Alan remained unfazed by the dragons' concentrated fire.
An anti-magic barrier protected him from these low-level spells.
The small boat beneath him wasn't so lucky.
It was blown to pieces in an instant!
Before the boat sank, Alan activated his Phantom Step.
He transformed into a cloud of silver mist and teleported to a nearby plateau.
As soon as he landed, the solid ground, covered in red tree roots, inexplicably turned soft and muddy.
Alan's legs sank into the mire.
Before he could jump out, the surrounding tree roots came alive, stretching out and binding him tightly.
Then, a golden magical halo shone from the mire beneath his feet.
As he watched, the soft mud transformed into solid rock.
In less than three seconds, Alan's legs were pinned to the rock.
This series of trap magic was activated incredibly quickly and suddenly!
Alan was unaware of the magical fluctuations from outside.
All of these spells were unleashed from within him.
It seemed as if he had cast his own spells, only to be trapped within himself.
"Well done, Baiyala!"
Alan muttered to himself, a cold glint in his eyes.
The Pampered Lady finally couldn't help herself, revealing her true colors.
The "Witch's Embrace" she inflicted on Alan was a double-edged sword.
For Alan, the benefit was a boost in attributes, but the downside was that it became the Witch's spell anchor.
When the two were in love, Baiyala often used the spell anchor to bless Alan with protective magic or to directly cast spells to kill enemies around him.
Objectively speaking, she had helped him a lot.
Now, their conflict was irreconcilable, and the point of a falling out had finally arrived.
Alan was ruthless, and Baiyala showed no regard for their past.
Snares, turning stone into mud, mud into stone... a series of vicious magical traps were cast upon Alan, trapping him securely.
Alan was in no rush to escape, so he first cast a "Break the Barrier" spell on himself to dispel the "Witch's Embrace."
Untying this invisible bond, he and Bayara... would be completely severed.
At this moment, a swarm of dragons from the sky had already closed in.
The adult green dragon in the lead roared arrogantly at Alan.
"Ogre Wizard! Before you now stands the third-ranked general of Titania, the great and glorious Titus Nightmare! I command you to surrender the Abyssal Mirror immediately!"
"You know about the Abyssal Mirror?" Allen nodded in realization. "Foolish green dragon, it seems you've been bewitched by Bayara and become her thug."
"Wizard! Stop testing my patience!" the green dragon roared. "A coward like you doesn't deserve the Mirror!"
Alan sneered, ignoring the arrogant reptile and unleashing his three-phase illusion!
Alan, in his gaseous form, easily escaped the trap and immediately transformed back into flesh and blood, standing on the solid stone ground.
"Damn it! Cunning wizard! Die!"
Titus, furious, unleashed a venomous dragon's breath.
The other six green dragons surrounding Allen also exhaled.
Allen was well-versed in the green dragon's attack patterns, and he calmly unleashed his pre-prepared "Wind Wall" technique.
"Surre!"
A whistling stream of air surrounded Allen, forming a transparent barrier.
The green dragon's poisonous gas was blocked by the wind wall, swirling back and obscuring their vision.
Encircled by the wind wall, a giant blue beast rose up!
After merging with the bloodline of the Sky Behemoth, Allen's vision was enhanced, capable of penetrating the murky smoke.
Including the green dragon's poisonous gas!
Alan raised his hand, and a fiery red vortex appeared on his palm.
A nearby green dragon was grabbed by the Flame Dragon Claw and pulled towards him.
Puff!
Alan exerted force with his five fingers, combining armor-piercing Electric Claws with Flame Dragon Claws!
The green dragon's head, like a fragile egg, was crushed by the massive claws.
The next second, accompanied by a thunderous roar, the behemoth Alan transformed into a streak of blue lightning, shooting straight into the sky!
The arrogant Titus was pierced through the chest by the "lightning shock."
Like a bird with a broken wing, he fell screaming.
He collapsed face up in the swamp.
The dragon scales on his chest, shattered by the lightning, bleed profusely.
Alan transformed back into his behemoth form, flipped mid-air, and like a blue meteor, smashed into the spot where the evil dragon had fallen.
Bang!
The green dragon Titus had barely managed to stand when the behemoth dropped from the sky and slammed him back into the mud.
His bones crackled and shattered!
Blood and mud splattered everywhere!
Alan, stepping on the dragon's corpse, roared fiercely!
A bloody war cry!
A terrifying roar echoed through the vast swamp.
The green dragons, accustomed to intimidating their foes with their might, looked like helpless chicks before this hundred-foot-tall behemoth.
Instantly, they were terrified and fled in panic.
Alan sneered and suddenly leaped into the air, transforming into a mighty roc and soaring high.
Soon, they reached a reed-covered wetland a hundred miles away.
"This is it," Alan muttered to himself as he descended.
The three-phase phantom transformed into liquid form.
The transparent body merged with the swamp and slowly sank.
Deep in the mire, they found the location they had previously explored and, as expected, discovered the entrance to the secret realm.
Alan activated his "Wind Wall" underwater.
The whistling air pushed aside the mud and water, revealing ancient runes engraved on the rock.
These runes were magically reinforced, remaining as clear as new after millennia.
Alan cut his palm and dripped blood onto the runes.
He silently prayed to the ancestral spirits.
The blood of the behemoths answered his prayers, activating the magic circle.
After a moment of trance, Alan completed his teleportation.
After a thousand years, he returned to the Behemoth Secret Realm as an ogre wizard.
A deathly silence reigned within the secret realm.
The skeletons of birds and beasts lay everywhere, and the vegetation withered, devoid of life.
The air was thick with the millennia-old Leviathan poison.
Alan retrieved the Unicorn Chalice and grasped it.
He hurried forward, entering the valley where the behemoths had been collectively petrified.
Colossal stone statues leaning against the stone wall appeared before his eyes, their bodies draped with withered vines.
At the far end of the valley, a massive black stone statue sat quietly on the edge of a cliff.
As Allen approached, he activated the statue's permanent magic mouth mark.
"Welcome home, child..."
The elder's message emanated from the statue.
After thousands of years, it remained as familiar as ever.