Rumble, rumble, rumble...
The once-silent earth, glowing with an eerie fluorescent green, sank amid rumble after rumble.
In recent years, the irregular movements of the Earth Vein plates had triggered increasingly frequent ultra-intense earthquakes. Amid its deathly stillness, the entire world exuded a sorrowful emotion that every World Lord and Stigmata Wizard could feel.
"Let's go. There's no need to search this area any further."
The wizard riding atop a gigantic bird Demonic Beast murmured.
The superquake swallowed the mountains that had once towered high, burying the endless fluorescent-green contamination. Roaring dust surged into the sky, and everywhere they looked was a dim gray haze. The shockwaves racing through the earth prevented the skyborne giant bird from flying steadily; its two heads shrieked ceaselessly as it struggled to maintain its balance.
"It's been over eleven hundred years since we left the Wizard World. When I first followed the great Annihilation Tower Scarred Grand Wizard out of the Wizard World, I was only a Level-Two Wizard. Riding the fervor after the War of Civilization, I was determined to make my mark. Yet now, I'm already an old Level-Three Wizard who has earned a First-Class Honor Medal. Once I return to the Wizard World and gain the recognition of its will, I'll have to face the task of building a wizard tower."
Sitting atop a flying carpet, the wizard sighed in a lonely voice.
For this expedition, the wizards had borne far too much. Many had even exhausted their souls and died of old age while carrying out their missions.
"For a thousand years, following the Stigmata Wizard of the Annihilation Tower, we've grown accustomed to the hatred of the dead, the fear of weak creatures, and the curses of our enemies. Once I return to the Wizard World, I only want