The ground shook violently, the trees swayed, and the sound of footsteps was getting closer. Just as the footsteps were about to emerge from the forest in front of them, the shaking suddenly stopped, and only the rustle of the leaves as they shook gently echoed around. Accompanied by the rustling of leaves, there is also the sound of heavy breathing, which can be heard from dozens of meters away.

"Look, what's that. Lina's face suddenly became very exciting, it was difficult to describe what the expression was, and she pointed to the forest in front of her and said, "Denya, its size is really big. ”

In front of the six people, a head poked out of the forest, and two round eyes blinked and looked at everyone curiously. The head is oblate and spherical, and it doesn't look big, about the size of an adult's upper body, but at its base drags a long neck, which is more than thirty meters long, and can be twisted and coiled at all angles, like a snake. The base of the neck is connected to the body, and the body part is very short, only about ten meters long, but the height is twenty meters, dragging the slender tail of the same more than twenty meters, like a moving hill.

The giant beast looked at the six people for a moment, as if wondering what these never-before-seen creatures were, but it quickly lost interest in these creatures that were slightly larger than its toes, propped up its thick legs, straightened its neck, and leisurely tore at the young leaves hanging from the giant tree. While enjoying breakfast, the slender tail habitually whipped back and forth on the ground, making a dull crashing sound, as if two monsters were fighting here.

Tearing off the young leaves of a few trees, the huge monster flicked its tail in satisfaction, walked a few steps slowly outside the forest, stretched its neck to smell in front of the six people, then ignored everyone, turned around and walked along the rock wall in the other direction, and soon got into a huge cave, the roar of the dong continued to go away in the cave, and gradually disappeared.

"That's one of the passages to another Trace of the Earth. Ike explained, "These giant monsters don't have their own territory, they don't have any natural predators, and their huge tails can easily cut the neck of any monster, so they're fairly safe in the Scars of the Earth." As you can see, it eats plants, and it eats every hour or two, and it eats very much. ”

"yes, that's huge. Vivien muttered in a low voice, "Among the creatures on land, I'm afraid only dragons can compare to it." But the monsters here are all of this size? That's too bad. ”

"No, it's the biggest. Ike explained, "You're lucky to see the largest and the most docile of all. Most of the demonic beasts here are much smaller than him, and they are more than ten meters long, even if they are large, and their height is generally about five or six meters, if you fight them, the difficulty will not be too high, after all, most of them only have the strength of the golden level. ”

"I don't really want to fight them. Freya sighed softly, shook her head, and said, "These demonic beasts are all ** strengthened, I see that the three types I see now are like this." ”

"Three?" Catherine was stunned, "In addition to the dragonfly and this one, have you seen anything else?"

"You've seen it, but you don't know it. Freya shook her head and said, "In the fog layer, I didn't see the small demonic beasts rushing around, but those birds flying in the sky are actually not birds, but some flying demonic beasts. I could see what they looked like, their forelimbs were similar to those of bats, but they had pointed heads and short hind limbs, which looked like they could crawl on the ground for short distances. They have sharp teeth in their mouths, and the teeth are so dense that it is difficult to think that they belong to birds. ”

"It's true that the wings are closer to the bat, but the body is more like a lizard. Pannis nodded: "This creature has never appeared in the outside world, if you have to make an analogy, the tone is like a bat, it is better to say ......"

"Like dragons?" Lina was the first to react, and after a long time in her backpack, she took out a book, turned to the illustrated page, and said, "Although I haven't seen dragons, I feel that Freya's description is very similar to the portrait in this illustration, are they really distant relatives of the Guardian family? ”

Freya looked at it and nodded, "Yes, it's a bit similar, but there are still some differences." ”

"Actually, they should be said to be distant relatives of the dragon clan. "Although they are not related by blood, they are actually more closely related to the dragons than blood. ”

"What do you mean?" Vivien asked, puzzled, "What could be closer than a blood relationship?"

"Origin. "Their origins are exactly the same as those of the dragons," said Pannis. As you remember, Ike and I mentioned that the creatures here have probably lived here since before the First Age, and have continued to multiply from generation to generation. ”

"Yes, you did. Catherine nodded, "But what does this have to do with their origins, do you want to say that they were all created by Lord Yara? But apart from the dragons and the gods, I have never heard of any race created by Lord Yara." ”

"Remember what Yara's Song says?" Pannis asked rhetorically, "How did Yara, the Creator, create the Guardians?"

"How could I possibly know. Catherine gave Pennis a blank look: "Even the gods don't know this." ”

"Well, I asked the wrong question. Pannis scratched his head: "In the song of Yara, it is said that the form of the dragon is similar to that of the creator Yara, remember, this is not a coincidence. In fact, I suspect that both the dragons and these creatures are generated by some unique signals that Master Yara inadvertently escaped, and it is because of this that the dragons resemble Yara, and these monsters are more or less similar to the dragons. ”

"So, do you think that the dragons and the monsters here are homologous creatures?" Vivien said very seriously: "No, no, no, no, it doesn't have to be here, it is the same as the creatures before the First Age?"

"Haha. Pannis laughed dryly: "No, I used to guess when I was chatting with my friends, who knows if it's right." ”

"Well, if that's the case, that's interesting. Vivien bit the pen hard, thought and said, "However, if this is the case, where did the gods of the First Age come from? Was it really created directly by Yara? Or was it also like the dragon race, which was produced under the influence of some special signal? According to Yara's song, the gods evolved slowly, what does it mean to evolve slowly? How could a race evolve out of thin air?"

"The existence of the gods is probably indeed created by Lord Yara's own hands. "In the Tertiary period, there were people who studied this problem. I don't know how they argued, but in the end I came to the conclusion that Lord Yara had created the people of God with his own hands and opened the door of wisdom for them. The slow evolution mentioned in the song of Yara actually refers to the process by which the gods slowly extract knowledge and wisdom from the same state as the beasts, and there is some truth in this statement, as evidenced by the fact that the gods of the First Age were each divine in human bodies. Only creatures created by the Creator's own hands can possess divinity, and beyond that, one must gather enough faith and be recognized by some kind of law to ascend to the altar. There is such a thing as divinity, you don't have it, I don't have it, everyone doesn't have it, but the gods of the First Age have it, which is enough to explain the problem. ”

"Neither are the dragons?" Vivien asked, "...... they're so powerful?"

"Of course the dragons don't, so I said at the beginning that the dragons weren't created directly by Yara-sama, but guardians chosen from the creatures that emerged from him. Pannis replied, "Moreover, being strong is powerful, and divinity is divinity, which are two different things." You see, since the War of the First Age, there has not been a single instance of mortals killing gods, just because the gods have divinity and no other creatures have it. In this world, a god whose strength is as weak as an ordinary person, fighting against the most powerful mortal, will not fail in the end, because no matter how strong a mortal is, as long as there is no divine existence, he cannot hurt, no, he can't even touch the god. ”

"Why?" asked Lina, very engaged, on the subject of the gods, "Are you sure so?"

"Why? How do I know why, this is the law of the world, there is no why. Pannis's expression was calm and terrifying, but his pupils shrunk like pinpoints, and his hands behind his back trembled slightly in an invisible position: "I'm pretty sure so, this is the gap between God and man, an obstacle that can never be crossed." ”

"How long are you going to talk here?" Catherine asked, coughing dryly, "Instead of caring about these inconsequential matters, let's decide what we're going to do next." Now that we're standing in the Marks of the Earth, why don't we take a look in the range of the more than thirty Marks of the Marks and see if the mission target will be hidden in this kind of dense forest?"

"No, I don't. Pannis shook his head and said, "All the surface parts of the Traces of the Earth in this area have been explored by explorers, and if there was a target for our research, it would have been discovered a long time ago." ”

"Then let's go underground?" Catherine didn't doubt Pannis's judgment at all, and asked, "It's a big underground, where are you going to start?"

Pannis looked at Ike and asked, "Ike, are you sure you have traveled all the first eight floors within fifty kilometers of Phillias Peak?"

"I'm sure. Ike said, "And even if I'm not sure, fifteen days is only enough to explore two floors." ”

"Then let's start on the eighth floor. "Give the ladies some time to get used to it, lest you get used to going straight to the ninth floor." (To be continued.) )