Disconnected and Reconnected

If Enyo was promoted to apostle by the Supreme Heaven because of war...

Akropolis did it simply because of his talent.

Lizardman are older than elves. In the age of dragons, they were the epitome of Short-lived Races.

That was an era before the sun was born; the world was shrouded in darkness, illuminated only by a solitary moon. The entire world consisted of swamps, seas, and wastelands. In this humid and dimly lit world, there were only three major races: those with Scaled Ones, those with Winged Ones, and those with Mammalian Ones. All sorts of strange and wonderful creatures gathered together, communicating with each other without language or writing.

Snake people, Lizardman, Harpies were all ancient races that existed at that time.

Dragons were the darlings of that era because they all inherited the bloodline of the "God of Scales and Feathers," the Lord of Scales and Feathers. Therefore, dragons could transform into any race at will, and they had extremely long, almost infinite lifespans.

Akropolis was the first to discover that if the blood of the snake people was taken from those who were "Blood of Leaping," then that blood could heal wounds; but if it was taken from those Blood of Stillness, " then it was a deadly poison.

He realized that everything in the world has duality, and that poison and medicine can transform into each other. Thus, he received the blessing of the power of balance and embarked on the path of creating potions... In this sense, he can be considered the oldest alchemist. This is also why both alchemists and Physician can concoct potions.

However, when he created potions, he didn't pursue "why," but rather cared more about "how to achieve it." As a result, he gradually veered from the Equilibrium Path to the Path of Adaptation, which attracted the attention of the Lord of Scales and Feathers.

As Akropolis was about to reach the end of his life, the Lord of Scales and Feathers gave him three drops of his blood, wanting to see what kind of medicine he could concoct.

Akropolis used all his knowledge and power to concoct three unique potions, intending to leave them as a legacy for his daughter. When all the potions were completed, he died, unable to withstand their miraculous power—his daughter held him and wept for a long time, ultimately deciding not to keep the three divine potions her father had left her, but instead feeding them all to his corpse.

The first pill brought the dead back to life; the second pill made Akropolis young again.

After taking the third pill, the Lizardman, whose lifespan was only about thirty years, reversed his fate of being born Short-lived Races and transformed into an immortal and incomparably powerful dragon!

He lived as a dragon in the Human World for a long time before venturing into the Dream Realm. But few knew that the long-deceased Akropolis had already transformed into a dragon. He used the dragon's transformative power to revert to his former form as that withered old Lizardman.

Akropolis doesn't know any fighting techniques.

He was simply physically powerful, reaching the limit of the concept of "health"! As a dark green dragon, Akropolis flapped his wings and stirred up a poisonous wind of emerald green.

The two storms collided violently, and the cracks in the man-made microcosm became even more pronounced.

Akropolis flapped his wings and clenched his fists.

In the midst of the storm, His body vanished suddenly and appeared instantly before Enyo.

The claws swung down without any pattern.

Enyo raised its invisible giant hammer and clashed it violently with the enormous dragon! After a brief pause, the earth began to tremble more violently.

The surging force swept out in all directions, and the scarlet storm resembled a split tree, revealing a straight, Deep Blue line in the middle—the original color of the sky.

As if the heavens and earth were being created, the Deep Blue line suddenly expanded, transforming into blue blocks of color.

The crimson storm instantly dissipated to both sides! The constantly shaking earth turned into dust, and the space finally could not withstand it, making a crunching sound as it was trampled on the snow, cracking open in all directions.

The warm amniotic fluid around them flowed in from the cracked space.

After being hit hard, Enyo only swayed his body.

She coughed suddenly, and her right hand went limp for a moment. The plague, which even an apostle's body couldn't withstand, was accumulating within her.

Even so, she grinned and was ready to retaliate fiercely.

He suddenly swung the invisible hammer in his hand, smashing countless black cracks in the space like a hedgehog!

Like a sharp blade, the typhoon re-emerged from the breach in that world!

Akropolis exhaled a breath of dragonfire, shattering the newly formed typhoon. Enyo's body was increasingly weakened by Akropolis's poisonous dragonfire.

The two apostles were engaged in a fierce battle in a small, temporary world.

Iver, however, only felt himself drifting into a deep sleep.

Just a moment ago, Isabel was teaching him the details of the Shadow of Avalon Ritual. Then his consciousness suddenly became blurred... as if he had accidentally fallen asleep.

When I awoke again, the entire world around me was ablaze.

"... What happened?" Iver was immediately startled.

He was still at the Moriarty Manor, even in his own bed. But Moriarty Manor had been reduced to a sea of fire. Outside, there was commotion and screams— Iver looked out the window and saw Golem faintly visible in the distance.

The Golem shot out a whistling beam of light, carving a scorching line through the ground.

Under the night sky, the gargoyles flying everywhere blotted out the sun like bats.

Iver opened his eyes wide and paused for a moment.

... Holy crap, how did Star Antimony hit Glass Island in an instant?

How long did I sleep? Or did someone erase my memory for several days? "Dad, are you back?!"

Lia let out a sound of surprise.

"Lia," Iver immediately asked the flying Flame Butterfly, "What happened? Have I lost my memories?"

"No, Dad."

Flame Butterfly answered without hesitation, "Your memory is fine. It's just that the Promotion Ritual suddenly became unstable."

"...ceremony?"

Iver was somewhat surprised.

How could there be a problem with the Promotion Ritual?

"Yes, the dream has become unstable. It continues to function, but you ascendants seem to have lost control."

Lia, the Paradox Flame Butterfly, gave a clear answer, "Two or three days have passed, and it's the early morning of the fourth day..."

Upon hearing this, Iver understood.

The Promotion Ritual was based on a kind of shock that caused these promoted individuals to lose all control over the "roles" they were playing.

—It's like I've been "disconnected".

Fortunately, even after they disconnect, the characters can still act autonomously and won't turn into puppets and be exposed...

Fortunately, I took the Drunken Dream Tincture, so I wasn't thrown out directly when the dream fluctuated—I still had a chance to "reconnect."

Fortunately, the Paradox Flame Butterfly, was able to transcend its manipulators and exist independently during the Promotion Ritual.

As a result, just as I got back online, the dungeon time jumped directly to the early morning of the fourth day.

What happened in between was completely unknown to Iver.

Damn it, this doesn't match the original plan at all...

Iver pounded his thigh to calm his somewhat agitated emotions.

—He had just told Isabel that he would arrive in the Theocracy at dusk the following day.

Isabel must have left by now... but apparently she didn't arrive in the Theocracy the following day, otherwise the Promotion Ritual would have been over. So she's somewhere before she arrived in the Theocracy.

On the fourth day, Avalon was finally attacked by Star Antimony.

... Damn it, I can't contact Isabel at all now. I wonder how she's doing, and whether she's following my instructions.

This time, we really can only rely on our teamwork.

Hopefully, she won't enter the Theocracy only at dusk on the fourth day...

Iver resisted the urge to shout "Is anyone there?" and calmly opened the door and went out.

Soon, as if hearing the sound of his door opening, the door to the next guest room also opened.

Emerging from inside was Sherlock, dressed in pajamas and looking utterly astonished.

Without giving him time to think or organize his thoughts, Iver said with a stern face, as if he were just an NPC, "It seems something has happened, Mr. Hermes."

"...What?"

"Look," Iver pointed out the window, "the Stibnite Person have broken in."

"...ah?"

Sherlock exclaimed in disbelief, "How could this be... what am I...?"

He clearly hadn't figured out what had happened, and in an instant, he was plunged into self-doubt.

Meanwhile, when the stranger awoke, he found himself in a village.

He had just opened his eyes when an Alchemy Bomb landed right in front of him.

An old man's body was blown to pieces, and half of his lower leg flew up and hit him in the face.

The stranger's eyes widened instantly, and his brain went blank for a moment.