Lo Quen scanned the surrounding deep sea, then fixed his gaze on the black stone area where the dwarf sat.
This environment was unmistakably the legendary Water Palace of the Drowned God.
With his sharp perception, combined with the prophecy of the House of the Undying and the legends surrounding the Drowned God, the dwarf's identity had all but revealed itself.
A being capable of building a palace in the depths of the sea, whose soul was tightly bound to the magic of the ocean…
The dwarf before him, identical to the figure in the House of the Undying's vision, was most likely the legendary Drowned God.
At last, all the scattered clues in Lo Quen's mind connected.
Just as the Old Gods had once told him.
There were no true gods in this world.
All so-called gods were merely powerful sorcerers who had mastered Black Stone blood magic. They sustained themselves through magic, their souls drifting across the world, acting according to obsession and fixation.
The dwarf before him was no longer flesh and blood, but nothing more than a body formed from condensed magic.
"So…"
Lo Quen's voice was low. "You are the one pulling the strings behind everything. The so-called mastermind."
After a brief silence, the dwarf's voice sounded directly within Lo Quen's mind, carrying a damp, clammy presence.
"You surprise me… In tens of thousands of years, you are the one who has come closest to the truth. Do you want to know how all of this began, and why it has reached this point? Why not… let me tell you a story?"
Lo Quen frowned deeply, his eyes devoid of any interest.
"I don't have time for your riddles."
Without hesitation, he unleashed a torrent of searing golden-white Dragonfire toward the dwarf's position.
The flames engulfed the dwarf seated on the black stone, burning fiercely.
Yet the dwarf's voice still echoed, only slightly weaker.
"Heh… You should understand my situation by now. The one speaking to you is merely a fragment of a soul drifting beyond the world, sustained by ancient magic. Even if you destroy what you perceive as me here and now, as long as the vessels that carry my magic still exist, I will awaken again somewhere else in the world. This is one of the safeguards I left for myself."
"So those vessels of your lingering magic are the Krakens," Lo Quen said with certainty, "polluted by your power and roaming the seas."
His tone was calm and resolute.
"That explains why I was suddenly attacked by a Kraken while crossing the Narrow Sea, and how Euron came to know the truth about the Black Stone. If I'm not mistaken, you were behind all of it. Truly worthy of the legendary Drowned God, hiding so deeply and treating the fate of the entire world as your toy."
The dwarf let out an amused laugh.
"You've uncovered my identity. To be honest, I find your abilities increasingly fascinating. This magic that allows you to transform into a dragon is powerful and unique. It belongs to no known system in this world. Much like us Old Ones who touch the forbidden through the Black Stone, it is an anomaly beyond the rules."
Lo Quen sneered.
"So what if it is? So what if it isn't? That won't change the outcome waiting for you."
"Outcome?"
The Drowned God's voice carried a trace of mockery.
"No. What cannot be changed is the destined future. Your earlier battles, destroying the Yellow Emperor's projection and eliminating the Twin Children of Ice and Fire, did indeed display remarkable power. But it is still far from enough to end the true crisis of this world."
Lo Quen's expression darkened.
"What do you mean?"
The Drowned God's voice became distant and ethereal.
"As long as the true Twin of Ice and Fire is born and descends, using it as both anchor and sacrifice, the Outer God slumbering beyond the stars will inevitably be summoned. Its true form will descend upon this world."
The descent of an Outer God!
Lo Quen's heart shook violently.
That word stirred an extremely dangerous memory buried deep in his mind.
Yes. The vision he had seen back then, when he activated the Black Stone using Marwyn's method.
Within the core of that Black Stone was reflected a colossal planet, slowly rotating in the depths of cosmic space, its surface dominated by a single crimson eyeball that flickered with manic intensity.
The planet seemed alive, constantly beating out an otherworldly celestial rhythm that drove sanity to the brink of collapse.
That terrifying planet was very likely the Outer God the Drowned God was referring to.
If all of this was true, then stopping the Twins from fully descending and preventing the Outer God from being summoned had become an urgent, unavoidable priority.
"Why would you do this?!"
Lo Quen's voice was thick with suppressed rage. "What do you gain from unleashing a catastrophe on this scale?!"
"Why?"
For the first time, the Drowned God's voice carried a clear surge of emotion.
"Because the civilization created by humanity has long since rotted beyond redemption! They deserve nothing more than to wail amid the ruins of the old world. Only the descent of a greater, more absolute existence can completely cleanse this filthy world and establish a new order that conforms to the dark truths of the cosmos!"
He seemed to sink into distant memories.
"I'll tell you… I was born north of the Juxuesnai Grasslands, above the seas of the Thousand Islands, into the most ordinary fisherman's family. From the moment I could remember, I was met with scorn and abuse because of this short, deformed body. My parents… they saw me as a disgrace. Together with those ignorant villagers, they locked me in an icy iron cage and threw me into the raging Shivering Sea. They wanted to drown me, to discard me like garbage!"
"But… fate, or perhaps something far darker, favored me."
His voice took on a feverish intensity.
"I survived by miracle, drifting with the currents until I reached the Mossovy Forest on the southern shore. There, I struggled to live like a beast, until I eventually made my way to the Grey Waste."
His tone grew solemn.
"There, I discovered the Black Stone that fell from beyond the heavens. I touched it, listened to it, and learned ancient, powerful blood magic. More importantly, I glimpsed the ultimate ritual hidden deep within it, the ritual for summoning the Outer Gods!"
Lo Quen frowned deeply.
"So because of the misery of your childhood, you came to hate the entire human race and planned this world-ending conspiracy that's lasted for tens of thousands of years? But with the power you gained back then, summoning an Outer God shouldn't have been difficult. Why wait so long? And why did the other seven original sorcerers follow your lead?"
The Drowned God let out a satisfied laugh.
"Because the ritual to summon an Outer God requires certain… extremely harsh prerequisites. The most critical of them is a paradoxical fusion born from the ultimate opposition of two primordial magical forces: ice and fire. That is the so-called Twins. So I subtly altered the contents of the scattered Black Stones, merging the blood magic of ice and fire, and packaged it as a clear path toward supreme power and eternal life."