The Emperor Bone Sea, more than anything else, taught Damien what it was like to be weak.
The hours passed drearily, almost like no time was passing at all. If it wasn't for Damien and Zara's constant state of movement and vigilance, they truly wouldn't have understood how rapidly time was passing.
After the 5,000-kilometer mark, as the duo descended deeper into the abyssal ocean, they came across self-sustaining ecosystems and magical sights they never would've expected in the ocean.
At their current depth, an early 4th class without a powerful body would be crushed by the water pressure alone.
In this environment, it was insane that so much life could persevere.
Aquatic flora was the most common sight at this level. Trees like the Unrestrained Life Tree were as common as grass, and smaller variant plants surrounded these trees, forming a symbiotic relationship in order to survive.
After all, the seafloor was nowhere in sight. If Damien had to estimate, the sea floor was a place only Demigods could survive in.
Still, the variety of flora and fauna and the way they interacted made Damien thirst for more. At the same time, he found himself constantly fleeing from unknown threats, driven to locations he never would've expected to go.
One of such places was the ruin he found himself standing in front of now.
Surrounding his body were dozens of swirling vortexes. But rather than natural phenomena, these vortexes were actually the defense mechanisms of a certain species of plant.
This plant, the Whirlwind Seaweed, didn't actually have much attack capability. Its physical body was also extremely weak, to the point where even a mortal could rip one apart like paper.
And this fact didn't change regardless of how much strength they gained. It was an inherent trait of this plant species.
To cope with their weakness, the species evolves and adapted to its environment. These vortexes were formed by the oscillation of these seaweeds as they interacted with the ocean's ambient mana. Through simple movement, they could conjure a defense mechanism that could terrify most beasts.
Of course, their actual power was limited. At most, they could redirect attackers away from them and obscure their perception. Still, this much was enough to help them survive in the wild.
What Damien saw now was a seemingly manmade ruin surrounded by this breed of seaweed. The vortexes completely hid the ruin itself from sight and perception, and if one fell into them, they'd inevitably be thrown far away from the ruin itself.
As a sort of home defense mechanism, these seaweeds were perfect.
The only reason Damien and Zara bypassed them was his spatial prowess.
'Who built this ruin? The knowledge to use Whirlwind Seaweed for both natural concealment and protection…this couldn't have been done by a human.' Damien thought.
Land species, whether they were humans, demons, angels, or any of Grand Heavens Boundary's other dominant species, were too uninformed about oceans to create such an ingenious mechanism.
And because the current location was on Death Emperor Star, it was even more unlikely for this structure to be manmade.
Damien and Zara floated closer to the ruins and began to investigate. The rocky exterior was thick and smooth, similar to obsidian. By Damien's estimate, the amount of pressure needed to create this kind of material could only be found on the sea floor.
'Strange. The sea floor is either a mystical undiscovered godland or an absolute death zone…it'd make more sense for this ruin to be located there, but why is it here? And why is it still in one piece?'
The ruin was like a small village. The fact that so many independent parts remained together and especially the Whirlwind Seaweed's presence suggested that the ruin was created at this sea level, but why would anyone use insane materials like this obsidian-like rock to build such a ruin? Damien couldn't understand it.
"Damien!" Zara suddenly called out to him. "Doesn't this pattern look familiar?"
Hearing the excitement in her voice, he hastened his pace to reach her. When he did, he found her standing in front of a circular mural shaped similarly to a bank vault door.
"This pattern…isn't this…!" Damien's eyes widened when he saw it. He didn't even have to thoroughly investigate to understand where he'd seen it before.
After all, this pattern had deeply carved itself into his subconscious.
It was the same pattern he saw in both the Storm Heavens Mystic Realm and the Challenge Gate.
"Is this…a Mystic Realm entrance?!" He exclaimed.
Mystic Realm entrances could truly open anywhere, so his guess wasn't too extraordinary. Still, this ruin didn't seem like the entrance to some newly opened Mystic Realm. If it was, the ruin wouldn't have been able to conceal itself so easily.
After all, even sea beasts would be attracted to the prospect of a Mystic Realm, especially those with intelligence.
'I have to investigate.' Damien thought to himself. He had the itching feeling that he'd stumbled upon something grand.
His hand reached out and touched the ancient engravings. With the amount of time that had passed, they'd been severely weathered down.
Still, their base structure remained.
Damien's hand traced the engraving as best it could. His eyes were closed as his entire mind focused on the pattern being etched into his brain.
'This pattern…no, this one…if you put these together then…'
As pieces of the pattern surfaced in his mind, Damien began piecing them together like a puzzle. Only, he wasn't following the pattern etched on the ruin.
Instead, he repositioned the portions in his mind in a strange new pattern. He didn't even have a grasp on what he was doing, he was merely following his instincts.
The mana was guiding him.
At first, the pattern merely looked like a circular formation without any special additions. However, as its form became more complete, it turned into a complete mural.
It was a depiction. Countless oceanic beasts littered the skies, ground, and everything in between. Their heads were bowed in reverence, and even the sun had been eclipsed for the same purpose.
The bodies of all these beasts were angled towards a signal location. There, seated atop a throne on an altar at the bottom of the sea, was a man.
A human man.
Damien's mind shook. Due to the nature of the engraving, the man's features were extremely vague. The only reason Damien knew he was a human was due to the lack of defining traits from other races, i.e, an angel's wings.
Nonetheless, as Damien looked at this human, he felt a pull from the very core of his being. He felt a connection to this mural that almost shared similarity with his connection to the Void.
'This…what is this?' Damien inwardly wondered as he tried to collect his thoughts.
Slowly but surely, he injected mana into the wall. The old debris and flora growing on the door after ages of abandonment flaked away with his touch.
And then, carefully maneuvering his mana, Damien began mirroring the mural in his mind on the ancient ruin.
The pattern changed to his will as if it was meant to do so from the beginning. The same scene Damien had seen prior manifested on the wall for Zara to witness as well.
That was the key.
The swirling vortexes caused by the Whirlwind Seaweed were sucked into the door and fused, forming a vacuum that dragged Damien and Zara inside.
Neither Damien nor Zara had the ability to resist this suction force. Yet, neither of them even thought to try in the first place.
Not only to escape the pursuers they were constantly forced to face, but also to discover the ancient secrets hidden within…
The duo fearlessly allowed the vacuum to consume them.
