World-Ending Forbidden Spell

Cindy nodded helplessly.

The two arrived at a deserted place.

The Dragon-person priest tidied her thoughts and spoke slowly:

"Before I tell you the most crucial part, you must know one thing.

On Mystra, there was once a very ancient kingdom.

Its name was 'Tallen'."

Roger said impassively:

"I already know that."

Cindy was not surprised.

She simply nodded, then asked with a smile, "Do you know of any other prehistoric civilizations besides 'Tallen'?"

Roger honestly shook his head.

The Dragon-person priest's exotic eyes stared directly at Roger, her tone gradually becoming serious: "'Ether Society'."

"That is the designation for another prehistoric civilization."

Roger's eyebrows lifted slightly: "A magical civilization?"

On Mystra, Ether was the old name for the Elements.

Cindy affirmed: "Indeed."

"According to the information we have, Tallen was once the ruler of Mystra. The King of Tallen possessed all the territories on this planet.

Until that catastrophe descended—

I believe you've heard from elsewhere about a very terrifying 'World-Ending Forbidden Spell'.

The forbidden spell destroyed Tallen.

Mystra has since been plagued by magic pollution, with only a very few surviving that catastrophe.

The terrible magic pollution made the planet's environment uninhabitable.

But it also rapidly gave rise to a more prosperous magical civilization.

And the leader of this magical civilization was the 'Ether Society' I just mentioned.

Not long after.

The 'Ether Society' replaced Tallen's rule, becoming Mystra's supreme regime.

But..."

At this point, Roger, who had already had a premonition of something ominous, slowly picked up the conversation: "But the 'Ether Society' also became a prehistoric civilization."

Cindy pursed her lips, nodding unconsciously: "That's right."

"The 'Ether Society' was also destroyed by the World-Ending Forbidden Spell."

"This is the secret I want to tell you—the World-Ending Forbidden Spell wasn't just once."

Roger took a deep breath.

Following Cindy's description, his thoughts also raced.

"Tallen and the Ether Society were destroyed by the 'World-Ending Forbidden Spell' at two different points in time."

"If there was a first time and a second time, then naturally there would be..."

"A third time!"

At that moment.

Roger's expression turned extremely grim.

What a terrible secret!

If Cindy's statement was true, then Mystra's situation was ten thousand times worse than he had imagined! "When was the third World-Ending Forbidden Spell?"

After a moment, he asked calmly.

Cindy's long eyelashes trembled slightly:

"After I kill Hanfulan, I will tell you the exact time."

"If you're interested, we can chat about some rumors."

Roger was silent for a moment, his voice a little dry: "Okay."

"The value of this secret... is indeed enough."

From Cindy's mouth.

Roger received three pieces of secret information about the 'World-Ending Forbidden Spell'.

The first was about the World-Ending Forbidden Spell itself.

The two World-Ending Forbidden Spells that destroyed Tallen and the Ether Society.

In reality, it was a single spell manifesting in two different time periods.

In other words.

The Celestial God's forbidden spell not only cleansed Mystra completely in terms of space.

It did the same in terms of time.

The second and third points both relate to the "Ether Society."

After Tallen was destroyed.

The "Ether Society" conducted in-depth research on the World-Ending Forbidden Spell.

Their leader wrote the precious research findings into a manuscript.

Unfortunately, the second forbidden spell struck too suddenly, burying this manuscript in the dust of history.

Sitaroya.Muse's mother was a powerful Emerald Dragon lord.

She had once visited the leader of the Ether Society.

According to her memory.

The manuscript was stored in a floating laboratory, guarded by numerous arcane constructs.

After the Ether Society was annihilated, the Emerald Dragon lord went into the ruins to search for the manuscript.

Unfortunately, her efforts were in vain.

And before the second World-Ending Forbidden Spell arrived.

Some highly prescient mages foresaw the spell's arrival.

They planned to jointly construct a "Golden House" that was immune to magic, hoping to survive this calamity.

However, some accidents occurred during the construction of the Golden House.

It was eventually abandoned.

The Emerald Dragon lord also searched for traces of the Golden House.

But due to certain special circumstances, she was forced to leave the ruins of the Ether Society.

Finally, after laying a clutch of dragon eggs that would become Muse, she left Mystra.

And the ruins of the Ether Society are now known as—

Gem City.

Tallen. Clear Spring Sect Headquarters. Ether Society.

All clues pointed to Gem City.

This made Roger restless.

That night.

He stayed up all night.

Every brain cell was working at its peak, constantly replaying the underlying logic hidden within this information.

Why did the Celestial God want to destroy the world? Did the mages of the Ether Society encounter accidents while building the Golden House, but were they truly just accidents? Where did the Golden House and that secret manuscript end up?

How did Sitaroya.Muse's mother survive the World-Ending Forbidden Spell? Did she tank it with her physical body? Cindy mentioned that she left Mystra for other planets.

How did she manage that? ...

Roger felt like he had a "Ten Thousand Whys" operating at full throttle in his mind.

There was so much he wanted to know! He repeatedly forced himself to calm down and not think about these things, only then falling asleep at dawn.

The next evening.

Roger, having temporarily put these questions aside, set off to assassinate Hanfulan.

He traveled north along Lettuce Avenue.

Then, following Cindy's directions, he turned east.

After traveling about ten miles, Roger spotted some low-lying buildings in the reeds.

This was a settlement for Marshland Refugees.

After the Gray Dwarves invaded Yellowstone Island, they had a fierce conflict with the refugees.

Hanfulan had intended to ally with the Gray Dwarves.

Who knew that the hot-headed Gray Dwarves would instead drive away the Marshland Refugees first.

Currently.

Hanfulan had built a village in the eastern part of Yellowstone Island to accommodate the countless refugees from the marshlands.

After leaving Yellowstone Island.

His influence seemed to be growing stronger instead.

The sky was gradually darkening.

Roger used the reeds as cover, slowly approaching the Marshland Refugees' village.

Along the way, he saw many Marshland Refugees.

These people looked very disheveled.

Although they had a similar appearance to humans, the aura they exuded was not much different from that of monsters.

Like the Gray Dwarves, the Marshland Refugees also had fleshy tumors of various sizes growing on their necks.

They seemed to have difficulty controlling their emotions.

Roger had already witnessed Marshland Refugees violently brawling with each other more than once.

Their eyes were vacant, their faces numb.

Sometimes they would stand there motionlessly, like statues.

But other times they would, like zombies, tear at any creature that approached them.

Roger quietly tested them with the Sin Mark.

As expected.

According to the Sin Mark's judgment, the Marshland Refugees fell into the category of "monsters."

However, he did not attack these people, but quietly bypassed them.

Night.

Outside the Marshland village, in a heavily guarded orchard.

Using the Ladder Cloud Steps technique, Roger easily scaled the five-meter-high wall and entered the orchard.

A dense and intense magical aura washed over him.

"Such high magic abundance."

Roger pinched his nose and reached for one of the fruit trees.

The fruit tree bore sparse yellow fruits.

He casually picked one and examined it in his palm.

"Foul Fire Orange (Magic Abundance 13): A highly mutated, demonized plant. Consume with caution."