Chapter 870 The Center [Top Five in Golden Tickets Bonus Chapter]
Vorthyx's head was buried in the ground, his neck broken at an awkward angle while his legs dangled in the sky before collapsing limply.
Sylas flipped to his feet, landing a distance away with an indifferent light in his eyes.
'… He's still alive.'
He could feel that Vorthyx's Will was still fighting. But it was hard for that to matter when your body wouldn't cooperate.
Sylas didn't care how powerful Vorthyx's Comprehension was. It was hard to change anything when your spinal cord was snapped in two.
However, Sylas still felt a danger lurking, one that didn't allow him to casually get close. There was a focused wrinkle between his brows. It just felt like… something was going to happen.
And then it did.
Vorthyx began to shift and change, but Sylas could tell at a glance that this was most definitely not Vorthyx.
A Demonic Aether began to billow out in all directions. The pop and crackle of bones filled the skies as Vorthyx's body began to oddly piece itself back together.
Vorthyx's skin blackened, a muffled howl coming from the soil beneath until the ground suddenly burst apart.
Dirt, soil, and rocks flew, obscuring an easy line of sight in all directions.
Sylas' eyes narrowed. Was he turning into a Demon?
There was an odd palpitation in Sylas' heart as he felt the Greed Seed shift. It was the first time it had acted like this since he forced it into obedience. But now it seemed like something was trying to stir it again.
Sylas' Will clamped down, suffocating the Seed until it fell into silence once again, but he had barely succeeded in doing this when a claw suddenly appeared at his throat.
Fast.
Sylas' pupils constricted as he bent back hard. The muscles in his back all tensed at once.
A blade-like claw cut across his chin, and blood spurted.
With an arc of his foot, Sylas kicked straight up, the base of his toes tearing up and into the chin of the demon across from him.
Vorthyx, or rather a thing that had once been him, was sent flying into the air as Sylas flipped back in a quick series of somersaults.
Sylas landed heavily on the balls of his feet, his quads bulging with power and compressing like a spring. With a BANG, he shot into the air, dodging out of the way of a sudden scythe of energy.
The exchange was quick, but Sylas felt his hair standing on end, goosebumps prickling against his skin.
Dangerous.
Vorthyx stood there, his neck broken again. His head hung so far back after Sylas' kick that bone stuck out from his throat. And yet, he snapped it back into place as though nothing at all had happened.
Odd, tentacle-like growths were starting to peel their way out of the Clypsian's chest, and with every passing moment, his aura only grew.
Sylas' eyes darted around. His mind was telling him that he was missing something, and that something was highly important.
And then it clicked.
Grin.
Grin, wasn't he the original person chosen by the Greed Madness Disciple as a target? And wasn't Grin also part of the Celestial Republic? And wasn't Vorthyx one of the three Clypsians that he originally met on the Celestial Wall?
'No, it's not that simple. There's something about this City of Greed as well.'
The thoughts came in a flash one after another.
'The opposite side of the world…'
Sylas' heart shook.
The United Coalition of Terranova wasn't directly across from the Celestial Republic. If you inverted the map of the world, what once was North America would match up with the middle of the ocean or even what was once Antarctica.
But…
This was the Amazonian Wilds. The coordinates of Earth had been scrambled and the portals had been purposely misaligned. That was why a cold climate like York City was connected with a tropical rainforest.
If you lined up what was once South America, it lined up perfectly with what was once Asia. If you pierced a hole right through Earth, the southern portion of the United Coalition of Terranova could have a line drawn right through it to the Celestial Republic!
Or in other words... the Amazonian Wilds and the Celestial Republic now!
Sylas' head snapped toward the golden pillar. He realized at that moment that this pillar that connected the earth and the skies was far deeper than he expected. It was a tunnel that connected all the way to the other side of the world.
The other side of the world that perfectly lined up with the Celestial Republic.
The deductions came faster and faster, but even now, Sylas didn't understand what it meant.
He had always thought that the purpose of misaligning the portals with their proper coordinates was for the sake of ruining their chances of succeeding in the Summoning.
The System Cities were a huge part of this. By corrupting their method of succeeding in the Summoning as well, they would have an even smaller shot at it.
But… the misaligning of the coordinates also made many things easier. Without this, how could Sylas have even made it to the Mountains of Giza in the first place? It would have been impossible with technology suppressed.
There were most definitely countless examples of this. All things equal, the misaligning of the coordinates had helped more than harmed.
And then the final piece of the puzzle slid into place.
—
[How do you complete a Summoning without System Cities?]
[The Progenitor Flame of a World must be lit.]
—
Sylas' expression became more and more serious.
—
[Where is the Progenitor Flame of a World?]
[The center.]
—
Sylas' jaw steeled.
The situation was far worse than he knew.
Vorthyx appeared before him, slashing down with mighty strength.
It was only the briefest instant of time. In one moment, Sylas was standing lost in his thoughts. In the next, he was wrapped in vibrant, dark violet armor.
His scorpion tail ripped through Vorthyx's chest, shattering the tentacles wiggling their way out and blasting a hole right through him.
Sparks of Glassvolt danced through the air, a beam of silvery-blue leaving a deep trench through the soil.
There was no time left. They had all been played.
Sylas rushed toward the pillar of gold with all the speed he could muster.