044 The Endless Staircase

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the corridor as Hishore and the other members of the party ran up the outer staircase of the high tower.

Behind a hole at the back of the wardrobe lay a short passageway, where they soon discovered a stone staircase spiraling upward. Hishore and his companions had no leisure to ponder why stairs had been built in such a secret place—from the moment they started running up, the muffled sounds of explosions outside and the crashing of giant trees began to grow distinct. Dust showered down in clouds from the cracks in the stone walls, giving the entire tower a sense of imminent collapse.

"Christine and the others still haven't come in. It seems something is indeed happening outside, and if the records in that diary are correct, them coming in might actually be a bad thing..."

"But they're so strong, surely..."

"Those are mages from the Ancient Magic Empire!" Hishore waved a hand, cutting Mengzhu off. "Besides, you've all seen the various situations that have occurred recently. The conclusion we can draw now is..."

Hishore looked toward Snow-Song Illusion-Ice: "This place has a corresponding countermeasure against overwhelming power—probably a mechanism where it scales with the strength of whatever enters."

The figure in the black cloak nodded.

"Since this thing is effective against us players, it should be effective against NPCs too. Did you really think that pair of sisters didn't want to go all out and sweep through the forest? They've probably suffered losses before, which is why they didn't dare to strike rashly. We could tell that from the first time we met Christine. But right now..."

As he ran, Hishore pointed toward the source of the noise beyond the wall: "They are fighting."

"If a battle of that magnitude breaks out, it's hard to imagine how the forest will react. But no matter what..."

"We're definitely going to be in trouble."

Hishore tapped his own nose, then pointed at everyone. "The crux of the problem is that if we were in a typical virtual gaming world, the appearance of a special mechanism governing such a region would be normal. But... this is New World."

"What's wrong with New World? Isn't it just a name..." Liu Qingniu was already plunged into bewilderment.

"Because it's a completely realistic virtual world that prides itself on realism, so..." Hishore paused, then said word by word, "You can use any reasoning to explain what happens here, except for the excuse of 'game mechanics'."

"A forest this bizarre could never exist in reality. Now that it has 'truly' appeared, there must be a logical reason for it... Hmph, it seems the name Emerald Forest really isn't a misnomer after all..."

The sound of running continued to reverberate through the corridor, but silence settled among them for a time. Although they had not read it in full, knowing the contents of that diary gave them entirely different feelings upon hearing the name "Emerald" once again. After a moment, Mengzhu was the first to speak up: "You mean... all, all of this is because of that Emerald Stone..."

"Hard to say right now. After all, more than a thousand years have passed. I have no idea what era the so-called Phoenix Calendar belongs to, nor why that room didn't decay with the passage of time. But my intuition tells me a very long time has passed here. Heaven knows what the Emerald Stone has turned into, or what kind of impact it has had on this forest..."

"There could be all sorts of unimaginably bizarre things happening in this forest now, and it might even bring about a catastrophic disaster. When Freya came over earlier, she probably sensed this as well, which is why she didn't act rashly. Instead, she had her sister send us in and left us to deal with it."

Running for so long caused even Hishore, with his dozen or so points of strength, to begin panting. "That's my guess for now. As for the rest, everything should become clear once we climb to the top of the tower. Damn, this staircase is a bit long. How many times have we rested now..."

Due to the stamina bar system, apart from high-level players like Snow-Song Illusion-Ice and Break-Mountain-Peak, the others could not sustain high-intensity physical exertion for long periods. Therefore, every time they climbed for a stretch, they had to stop briefly to wait for their stamina to recover—though this usually took only a few seconds.

Ever since they started climbing the stairs, Hishore and his group had not encountered a single fork in the road, nor had they seen what the other floors of this tower looked like. It seemed this secret passage was likely a direct route from the bottom to some upper floor. As for whether it led straight to the top, it would depend entirely on their luck.

"To sum it up: even Christine and Freya cannot unleash their full strength because this forest..."

"Probably. These are all speculations for now; we can't predict whether they possess the strength to resist, and we aren't even sure if they can perceive this..."

"We can see it, so they're so powerful they must be able to tell, right..."

"Hard to say. We are players, using gaming logic. They are the product of mainframe computations; we're not from the same world..."

"Remember the first time we met that big sister in blue? She did run away later..."

"Hey, big guy over there, didn't you encounter anything strange when you arrived? Help us verify our current conclusion."

"Heh, I am not called some big guy. And I've already told you about the things I encountered. What, do you want to hear the story of how your Wings of Freedom ambushed us? Shall we settle accounts right now..."

"You know she didn't mean it that way, Second-in-Command... Fine, Break-Mountain-Peak, aside from that uncle proficient in all eighteen martial arts, did you encounter any other strange NPCs..."

"Oh right, right! Have you seen Trick? Uh, someone who looked like he might be Trick..."

"Who is that again? Can you guys speak one at a time..."

Abrupt light suddenly appeared before them amidst this noisy bickering. Break-Mountain-Peak, running at the front, was momentarily blinded by the sudden brightness and stumbled, knocked forward by someone crashing from behind, tumbling two steps into the room ahead.

It could hardly be called a room anymore. Half of its ceiling had collapsed, and a large number of stone bricks were scattered everywhere. The gloomy sky loomed through a massive hole above. While it wasn't large enough to fill their entire field of vision, it was enough to illuminate everything inside the room.

Hishore flashed forward two steps and instinctively looked up toward the exposed sky.

"Whoa..."

"This..."

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

The group let out various sounds of astonishment. Through the opening above, they saw the tall body of the Emerald Tower that they had previously viewed from the outside.

Only this time, they were seeing it from the inside—the interior of the tower was hollow. Aside from the thin wall built of gray stone bricks, there was literally nothing inside.

Except for the stairs.

To Hishore and the others, countless staircases intertwined and entangled, extending upward endlessly until they vanished beyond sight. The Emerald Tower had looked very tall from the outside, but now, even with their necks craned until they ached, they still couldn't see where the top of the tower was.

Perhaps due to its great antiquity, the stone-built walls leaked streams of light, with large and small openings dotting various sections. Beams of light of varying lengths and thicknesses crisscrossed the interior of the stone walls, shining upon the wooden and stone staircases. Intersecting with the steps, they made the entire interior of the tower emit a mesmerizing radiance.

In reality, it looked very much like a perfect labyrinth.

"A structure like this... how does it even stand? It's so unscientific..." Snow-Song Illusion-Ice seemed to be talking to herself or perhaps asking her companion.

"Don't dwell on questions like that. The entire Emerald Forest is abnormal. As the center of this forest, this place is naturally going to be... even more abnormal." It was Hishore who spoke. Snow-Song Illusion-Ice looked toward him and found that he was no longer gazing at the wondrous sight before them, but had begun inspecting the contents of the room on this floor.

Perhaps because of the damage above, this place was noticeably different from the previous room—the aura of antiquity was absent here, and decay had reclaimed the world. Hishore looked around; everywhere lay shattered bricks and tiles, scattered wooden pieces, collapsed staircase walls, and fractured utensils. Time had completely ravaged the place, leaving no trace of its original appearance.

Opposite the entrance they had come through was another decaying wooden door, leading to goodness knows where. To their side stood a stone staircase, but only the bottom half remained; the upper half was nowhere to be found. The fractured surface of the stone steps bore distinct cracks. Hishore stared at those cracks for a long time before saying, "It seems this still isn't the topmost floor..."

"You're just stating the obvious..." Snow-Song Illusion-Ice rolled her eyes.

Hishore shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, when a whistling sound of tearing wind came from above.

A dark shadow suddenly appeared in the opening overhead. Hearing the sound, several of them looked up, but before they could clearly make out what it was, the shadow flickered and vanished. Before Hishore could figure out what was happening, a wave of intense heat washed over them.

Through the opening above, the gloomy sky was growing increasingly bright, and the entire room was becoming scorching hot.

A gigantic fireball instantly flew down. The moment it was about to collide with the tower structure, the spherical flame suddenly disassembled on its own, transforming into a flurry of starry sparks, much like a ball of yarn being unraveled in an instant. Wisps of flame scattered into strip-like shapes, fluttering and flying off in another direction.

The intense heat felt just a moment ago slowly dissipated. Even so, everyone broke out in a sweat, unsure whether it was from the heat or from the fright of the preceding spectacle.

Just as the group wanted to let out a long breath, another figure flashed above the opening once more.

Their nerves tightened again, then relaxed—the figure was wearing a gorgeous blue mage robe.

The figure stood still in mid-air, holding a staff, raised it toward the front, and slowly swept it from left to right. In front of her, a massive ice wall materialized, shining with an aquamarine glow in the air.

"Everyone, you should have some understanding of the current situation." Christine's elegant voice echoed through the modest-sized floor, accompanied by explosions from the side. Hishore could tell that this grand mage, who had always maintained an air of boundless charm, had not lost her composure at all: "Since you've already seen what's in front of you, then..."

A crisp shattering sound rang out. Before her, a corner of the massive ice wall was suddenly struck and pulverized. The wall crumbled downward with a clatter, turning into specks of blue light in mid-air before fading away. The players below quickly shielded themselves, fearing that some fatal attack might suddenly crash down before them. Yet the blue-robed woman in the air remained extremely calm. The next moment, she even turned around to look at the opening in the roof of the tower room. Her gorgeous mage robe fluttered slightly as she turned, revealing the smooth, fair calves of the grand mage before they vanished once more from everyone's sight beneath the falling hem.

"My, what a great angle..." Hishore sighed. While Mengzhu stood beside him with a puzzled look, Snow-Song Illusion-Ice chilled her face and softly spat out, "Pervert..."

"I know you have many questions, but our situation is quite... deadlocked, as you can see." Christine maintained a calm mage's smile as she looked down at the party in the opening below: "So I'll cut to the chase."

She suddenly flicked a hand backward, and blue light flashed, followed by another crisp sound—presumably, something else had attacked from that direction and been blocked by her ice wall. "What you see is a labyrinth. Its actual appearance differs from what you currently perceive. If you intend to just walk across, you will likely soon become lost within infinite space."

"In the world of mages, we are accustomed to calling this phenomenon an endless labyrinth, passed down from an ancient spell."

Several players held their breath, not daring to miss a single word she said. Yet, just as Christine had put it, the immediate situation allowed her very little leeway to do anything else.

"Unfortunately, aside from what I am telling you now, you probably won't receive any other substantive help..." At this, she cupped her cheek with one hand, striking a mournful pose: "How trying..."

On the massive ice wall behind her came another loud crack, and the entire structure grew precarious.

"We... already understand the gravity of the situation, respected lady," Hishore said, pressing a hand to his chest as he looked up. "Please rest assured, we will resolve the issue at the top of the tower."

He smiled. "This is our responsibility as adventurers, and at the same time... your hope, isn't it?"

"That's why, out of all these younger brothers and sisters, you're my favorite." The blue-robed woman looked quite pleased, even excitedly shaking her arm as if cheering them on. "I have a lot of confidence in you. You'll definitely break through these shackles and reach the very to—Oh, you old fogey, you're so annoying!"

The woman suddenly whirled around, swinging her staff forward. A massive crash echoed from afar; it seemed some place had suffered her furious assault.

"Are you sure we'll have a good end..." Snow-Song Illusion-Ice covered her mouth and asked quietly.

"Uh... anyway, there's no way out. Whatever happens, happens," Hishore replied, wiping cold sweat.

"Well then, a final tip: if you decide to go up, remember during your advance... do not trust your eyes."

Christine finished saying this without looking back. In the air ahead, the massive ice wall finally collapsed amidst its countless cracks. Flicking her right hand, she spun her staff in a graceful arc and readied herself to fly back into the battlefield when Hishore's shout rang out from behind.

"Grand Mage lady! I have one more... professional question."

In the open ceiling above, the blue-robed figure was no longer visible, but Christine's voice still drifted down: "Time is limited... what else do you want to know?"

In the open-roofed room, several gazes focused on Hishore, seemingly waiting for him to ask some critical question. Instead, Hishore cleared his throat and posed a query none of them anticipated.

"Excuse me, what is the Planck effect?"

The others behind him dropped their jaws in a universal expression of "I don't get it, but it sounds impressive."

"Heh... though I don't know why, but..." Christine's voice began to grow more and more distant: "For example, think of that Trick you encountered..."

"I understand," Hishore muttered softly before shouting, "You guys, be careful too."

No response.

A hint of a smile appeared on Christine's face as she whipped her right hand forward. Ahead of her came another muffled sound; amidst the dissipating blue light, a silent attack was deflected away once more.

"I have confidence in you, so you... must have confidence in us too..."

She murmured softly.

"It seems... your mood is quite good, cough, cough..."

From a treetop below, the emaciated figure of Convener finally revealed a corner: "Though your conversation went smoothly, whether what follows goes smoothly will depend on their performance..."

"They will manage it," Christine said. "They are exceptional adventurers..."

"Adventurers... Heh, I understand..." The old man's hoarse voice sounded thoroughly grating, making even Christine frown.

"Do you really think that just the two of you can protect them..."

"It seems... we've been underestimated, oh ho ho ho..."

The old man vanished once more into the dense canopy. In the sky on the other side, Christine raised her staff again. A massive explosion suddenly erupted in the forest across from them, and a red fireball belonging to another battlefield soared into the air, illuminating Christine's profile.

The battle was about to escalate.

"Do you really think, cough, cough... we would allow those adventurers to act freely..."

"What... did you say?"

Inside the Emerald Tower, Hishore was still explaining something to the rest of the group. Before them, the unopened wooden door was kicked open with a loud *bang*.

Several figures broke in.