"This..."
The two men's eyes went wide, yet when they clearly saw the thing buried beneath the rubble, both of them were struck dumb.
It was actually a fiery-red thing shaped like a silkworm cocoon.
Only it was enormous to the extreme, its diameter a full seventy to eighty feet.
"Th-this... what is this thing..." the Silver-Haired Elder murmured.
"You're asking me? How would I know?"
As the black-haired elder spoke, he slowly walked over. That enormous cocoon was still giving off heat, and the color on its surface was even more vivid to the extreme.
However, it was not fiery red from head to toe. On its surface, there were also some black patterns.
At first glance, those patterns seemed extremely messy, yet they were also exquisitely beautiful, giving one the feeling that they were some kind of ornamentation from ancient times. They appeared incomparably mysterious, yet also carried an indescribable pressure.
That was right, pressure!
Bead-sized drops of sweat had already begun seeping from the black-haired elder's forehead of their own accord. Then he drew in a breath and raised his right hand. A flash of spiritual light passed, and his entire palm was wrapped in a blue barrier. After that, he reached toward the cocoon.
"Hiss..."
The instant he made contact, a sound like water being poured into a wok of boiling oil entered their ears.
At the same time, white steam billowed up. The black-haired elder's face changed drastically. He felt the magic power throughout his body actually draining away at flying speed. In only the span of a single exchange, that layer of barrier wrapped around his palm was already on the verge of collapse.
He hurriedly drew his hand back.
His face was filled with horror.
Then footsteps entered his ears. The Silver-Haired Elder