Death... and me

Well, that only served to prove Rean's words. The Upside Down World was collapsing from the pressure from outside. Noticing that, Liman threw caution to the wind and immediately flew south as fast as he could, not saving any energy at all.

Thanks to the size of the Upside Down World, it only took a few minutes for Liman and the twins' group to arrive where the epicenter of the earthquake was located. However, what caught their attention wasn't the cracks appearing in the world anymore. Instead, it was the bright pillar of light that looked like a spike.

That light was piercing through the ground, and due to the huge cracks on the floor, the twins saw that it went far into the world's barrier. "This..."

Liman saw Clinbay and all the other leaders of the Upside Down World gathered in front of it, so he joined them as well. "Have you guys found anything?"

Clinbay glanced at Liman for a moment. However, he knew it was not time to think about Liman's betrayal. The surprising thing was that he was carrying the twins with him. With that, he asked, "Why are you four together?"

Rean simply sent a Divine Sense message explaining how it turned out like that. As for whether Clinbay and the others believed or not, he couldn't do anything about it at the moment.

Sure enough, Clinbay had his suspicions but ignored that for now. "Whatever. The fact is that none of us can tell what's happening. What we can say is that there's a huge power around that pillar of light. We tried to get close, but none of us are strong enough to approach it."

Liman then looked at Vaz and Rean and asked, "So, what kind of formation is this? Was it any of your doing?"

"We already asked that question." Another one of the leaders and experts there said. "We can't check it since we can't get close."

Vaz confirmed the guy's words, saying, "Indeed. I'm not the only Formation Master here, you know? None of us can tell if this is a formation or not. Of course, due to the power it shows, it's most likely a formation."

However, it was then that Vaz noticed Rean's shocked expression. "Rean, did you find something out?"

Rean looked at Vaz and the others before nodding in response. "Yes. This is definitely not a formation."

"What?!" Everyone was taken aback to hear that. "How do you know?"

Rean then pointed at the pillar and said, "We can't get close to check, but it's not hard to read the energy. Senior Vaz, can you see any pattern in it whatsoever?"

Only then did Vaz understand what Rean meant as he looked back at the formation. "I'm such an idiot. Of course, it's not a formation. If it was a formation, the energy being used in this pillar would have some characteristics due to the runes used. I can't say if there are formations in the Realm of Gods that can achieve this chaotic effect. However, I don't think someone in our Upside Down World would have the ability to do such a thing."

Rean nodded in agreement. "Exactly. That's why I'm shocked. Just what could cause such a huge pillar of light to appear if it's not a formation?"

Clinbay didn't seem to care about it, though. "Forget about who or what it is. Look around. Cracks are appearing everywhere. If things continue like this, our Upside Down World will be doomed."

The others agreed with Clinbay.

"He's right."

"Should we attack it?"

"Wouldn't attacking the pillar make it worse?"

"Do you have a better idea, then?"

While they were pondering on what to do next, Rean looked at the cracks around the pillar. Obviously, the cracks there were bigger than anywhere else since it was the epicenter of the phenomenon. The cracks were so deep that Rean could see the barrier that impeded everyone from leaving. "Hey, look there."

Rean's words caught the attention of the people and demon beasts. They quickly approached the barrier and finally saw what Rean was pointing at. It's just that they couldn't see anything. "What is it?"

Rean sighed before explaining, "Can't you see? These cracks don't have those geysers of Divine Energy and Elements."

"Now that you say that..." That was true. The cracks from other places were all bursting with chaotic Divine Energy and the five main elements. However, these ones were pretty much empty up to the point where one could see the barrier of the world.

Roan couldn't help but talk with Rean through their Soul Connection, saying, 'Not Havek nor the purging organization. It's pretty obvious that this pillar of light is the real objective of the quest.'

Rean agreed with Roan. 'Maybe that's why the system gave us six months. The system knew it was going to happen. It wasn't an evil quest, after all. The system was trying to prevent everyone's death.'

Roan didn't know if the system cared about that or not, but it was true that the quest couldn't be considered bad anymore. 'However, it seems like we're too late. Whatever's causing it is already affecting the entire world. You finished your chamber with the teleport formation in the Dimensional Realm, right?'

Rean had mentioned before that he would create a very heavy chamber with a teleport formation inside. That formation would use that gap he found in the Divine Lakes to teleport the twins back to the Salt Canyon. 'Are you saying that we should run?'

Roan nodded in response. 'Yes. With the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if this world implodes in a day or two. Also, since we already found Havek, we don't need to use the Salt Canyon Lake. Instead, let's take the lake connected to the furthest point of the Pol Continent. It will save us many years of travel.' Roan obviously prioritized their own lives more than the people and demon beasts of this world. Since they couldn't be saved, then so be it. Sure, they would have to wait 70 years for their Nascent Soul to revive, but it was far better than dying.