Twilight City, top-level platform.
The pale-yellow shield radiating chaotic light hung over the city as usual. Mysterious patterns of light that ordinary people could not understand drifted across its surface. Outside the Twilight Barrier, Midgard's sky remained dark and murky. On that indistinct dark canopy, only the strange patterns formed by the churning clouds could be faintly seen.
At that moment, the senior councilors of the Steam Council, the guardians of the Iron Throne, Hao Ren's little group, and several other respected leaders from across the city had gathered on the platform. Each had their own thoughts as they gazed into the murky darkness overhead and at the barren land in the distance. Not far behind them was the Grand Elevator Platform, where a fierce battle had broken out shortly before. The smoke had already cleared from the steel platform, but an unpleasant smell still lingered around it—the stench of burning gunpowder mixed with engine oil. It left Lily looking somewhat listless. The Husky Girl drooped her ears and swayed beside Hao Ren, her tail brushing against his arm every now and then. "Landlord, I'm hungry. Is it still not done?"
Hao Ren casually stuffed a packet of snacks into Lily's hands and continued looking toward the distant horizon. There, he could vaguely make out a series of black shadows stretching and rising like mountains, yet somehow unlike mountains. Dim red lights flickered behind the shadows, barely illuminating the terrain of the Dark Wilderness. Those "mountains" still showed no sign of changing, but Hao Ren knew that a powerful force was surging and brewing there.
That was the "Runic Body" of the Firstborn Yggdrasil.
He looked up at the sky above the city again. Through the thin radiance of the Twilight Barrier, he could see a blurry white light leaping