Dago composed himself and continued probing beneath the clear, mirror-like lake surface.
Deep beneath the dark blue water, the faint inverted phantoms of vast, ancient buildings could be seen.
The outlines of those spires stood silently underwater, instantly reminding him of the "Three Towers" the gatekeeper treant had mentioned with reverence.
With a plan in mind, Dago controlled the force field around him and mingled with the surrounding groups of trial wizards who had likewise only just entered the secret realm, descending beneath the lake at an unhurried pace.
However, after he had descended less than a hundred meters, a deafening roar suddenly tore through the sky above.
An incomparably violent spatial fluctuation, powerful enough to distort light itself, smashed down from above like a massive hammer.
Every muscle in Dago's body instantly tightened as he swiftly raised his head and looked upward.
On the once-smooth, cold white heavenly curtain, some brute force had somehow torn open a horrifying rift several thousand meters long.
Fragments of space along the rift's edges peeled away like solid glass before rapidly being forced outward, transforming into an enormous dark blue vortex that blotted out the sky.
Endless black gales poured out from the depths of the vortex. Mixed with a nauseating stench of blood, they condensed directly in midair into dozens of thick, terrifying tornado columns.
The raging airflow tugged wildly at the hem of Dago's robe, making it snap loudly. He narrowed his eyes instinctively, his right hand gripping the storage pouch at his waist.
The next second, a terrifying magical beast the size of a towering mountain crashed bodily out of that narrow vortex passage, accompanied by a roar that tore through the sky!
It was the ultimate killing machine, stitched together from countless nightmare elements—it possessed an incomparably massive lion's