Chapter 157: Nicole

Outside the Human Emperor's Tomb.

As exotic beasts arrived one after another, the entire plain and the surrounding mountain ridges had become their domain.

In the very beginning, some high-level explorers offered stubborn resistance.

However, as time went on, these people either evacuated into the Human Emperor's Tomb or perished in the aftermath of the attacks unleashed by these exotic beasts.

These exotic beasts, originating from the Mountains and Seas Realm, refused to reason with human beings.

To a certain extent, they even regarded humans as food.

As the number of exotic beasts grew, distinct factions formed among them.

The most striking of all was a fiery red giant bird. As it flew, a strange energy trail followed in its wake, keeping the surrounding space in a state of blistering heat. In the reconnaissance reports of the explorers, this exotic beast was designated as the [Phoenix]!

Nicole, the Blood Elf Mage, had already arrived near the Human Emperor's Tomb. Looking at the mountains teeming with exotic beasts, she did not feel much pressure and walked straight toward the Human Emperor's Tomb.

Following closely behind Nicole were two shadows with vacant expressions, as if their souls had been stripped away. The combination of a hulking brute and a shadowy figure appeared rather conspicuous even among a horde of exotic beasts.

Soon, an exotic beast known as the "Hook Serpent" spotted the trio of Sovereigns and began trailing them closely, watching with a predatory gaze.

The Hook Serpent was over twenty meters long, with claws bearing black scales, and it attempted to launch an attack on Nicole.

Nicole merely raised her hand, and an ice screen materialized right in front of the Hook Serpent.

When the Hook Serpent's strike descended from above, its claws were instantly encased by the ice screen.

The very next second, the ice elements morphed instantly into a bizarre web, violently wrapping around the entire Hook Serpent and deterring all other surrounding exotic beasts from stepping forward.

Scarcely ten seconds had passed from start to finish.

A special set of golden runes appeared upon the giant web, suppressing the Hook Serpent's struggle until it soon stopped moving altogether.

Faint wisps of energy flowed out from these runes and converged onto Nicole's arm. The aura within her body took on a faint trace of a Mountain and Sea exotic beast's energy, yet she did not absorb it.

Because these exotic beasts could only be described as digitized entities re-cultivated from the Mountains and Seas, absorbing their energy would risk contaminating her with the digitized aura. Therefore, Nicole would only temporarily borrow their power rather than absorb it.

Some exotic beasts let out whimpering cries, while others gathered around.

Yet until Nicole walked all the way to the vicinity of the Human Emperor's Tomb, no other exotic beast dared to make a move.

The aura they sensed from Nicole was no less oppressive than the pressure emanating from the Human Emperor's Tomb itself.

This suppression of bloodline surpassed their innate hunting instincts.

Upon entering the Human Emperor's Tomb, Nicole glanced at the three gates and ultimately chose to walk through the gate of the Celestial Clan.

The space she entered afterward was not an underground cavern, but a peculiar crystal palace.

There were some strange creatures inside the crystal palace, which caused Nicole to pause for a moment and even frown slightly.

She recognized these creatures.

She simply hadn't expected digitization to have progressed so far temporally that it could actually reconstruct a secret realm from the ancient era.

Pushing further back, this would likely involve even deeper and more profound secrets.

Nicole did not deny that they had once failed in their resistance against digitization.

However, this did not mean she wished for her own civilization to become merely a "history" within the data.

Her awakening by the Blood Clan meant that the Blood Clan had managed to carve out a space for survival. Just as they had predicted beforehand, the infinite expansion of digitization would inevitably give birth to certain loopholes—effectively creating a pathway to escape and evade digitization.

As one of the initiators of the Twilight Protocol, Nicole felt she might need to accelerate her progress.

Her resurrection possessed a certain degree of randomness. Judging by her current contact with the Blood Clan, the Blood Clan should not yet be aware of her true identity, or perhaps the few remaining members of the Blood Clan only knew that the resurrected Sovereign had signed a contract with them, oblivious to the events of the past. Otherwise, they would never have assigned a Blood Elf and a low-born tribe like the Banner Sorcery Clan to the same team as her.

Although her route differed from Yi Shen's, Nicole also arrived at the Ancient Battlefield shortly after.

She did not kill the monsters on the battlefield, instead blinking directly toward the Human Emperor's Tomb.

This process was extremely rapid, and she soon reached the palace housing the Human Emperor's Tomb.

At that moment, a few monsters attempted to bar her way, but the two controlled shadows at her side proactively stepped forward to dispatch them. Once the Banner Sorcery Clan's chess piece was unleashed, a wisp of black aura filled the battlefield, and the surrounding monsters collapsed one by one, absorbed by the banner.

The surrounding explorers noticed Nicole's presence.

At first, everyone assumed Nicole was merely some high-level explorer.

However, when they attempted reconnaissance, they were astonished to discover that not only Nicole, but even the two black shadows flanking her, yielded completely zero information upon inspection!

It was not the kind of unprobed state indicated by question marks.

Rather, the reconnaissance skill failed to lock on entirely!

Even within the adjudication of the data panel, Nicole's existence did not register at all!

Of course, at that moment, most people simply assumed it was an accident or that Nicole possessed some special item, and did not think in other directions.

Nicole wore a dark green cloak on the outside.

Beneath the cloak, fair skin and arms were visible, and the occasional glimpse of her profile gave people a sense of peculiar sanctity.

And when Nicole similarly swept away the monsters around the Human Emperor's Hall in a simple manner—with a few explorers even being wiped out in the process—

Everyone finally woke up to the danger posed by this woman.

Shen Shimao had originally intended to step forward and communicate, but before he could even lift a foot, he felt an instinctive wave of danger!

"Fall back! There is something wrong with this woman!"

"She is probably not human."

As a Ranger, Shen Shimao was extremely observant by nature, and he quickly noticed that the hulking brute and the black shadow beside Nicole were completely under this woman's control.

Not only that, but their combat methods were entirely different from ordinary explorers.

There was no casting time for skills, and they had even broken through certain rules.

It was as if every single action had transcended the boundaries of the domain!

Sure enough, some explorers failed to evacuate in time and directly entered Nicole's attack range.

In truth, Nicole had no intention of attacking them; she merely wiped them out in passing while clearing the surrounding monsters, instantly causing casualties of over twenty people across two teams!!

Only because Shen Shimao pulled his team further back did the majority manage to clear out the main path leading to the outer perimeter of the temple.

Nicole ignored the actions of these explorers, her gaze already fixed upon the interior of the temple.

She discovered that inside the temple, there seemed to be an unusual little fellow.