Heroes' Prison-Chapter 1322 - 1256: Charging Toward the 300th Floor!
The spirit bestowed upon the Spirit Demon by the system is "Revenge," clearly related to his own experiences.
Back then, he and Huang Yi participated in the Hero Trial at Oskan Royal Academy, where the Vice Dean, Divine Marksman Ica, gave the last Heroic Aura to Huang Yi. Later, he became a hero by his own means and killed the Vice Dean, Divine Marksman Ica, successfully exacting his revenge.
Now, as a hero, he has advanced to the Epic Tier before all player heroes worldwide, achieving revenge on a much larger scale.
The status of an Epic Hero brings significant enhancements, far exceeding that of a Legendary Hero.
A Legendary Hero can ignore status levels. For example, a Level 100 Primary Holy Domain Legendary Hero wouldn’t be suppressed by a Level 199 Top-level Holy Domain.
An Epic Hero crosses one status hierarchy. For instance, a Level 200 Heavenly Realm, upon becoming an Epic Hero, possesses strength equivalent to Level 300 Demigod Level!
Furthermore, Epic Heroes have a Halo Effect, boosting morale and significantly enhancing the strength of those fighting alongside them.
In the history of The Second World, while there have been numerous heroes, most were merely Legendary Heroes, and very few attained Epic Hero status.
...
The system announcement for the Soul had just concluded when the last team within Huang Yi’s group finally teleported out of the Tower of Pantheons, delivering the last Key Fragment to him.
With this, all 299 fragments were finally gathered.
Under the gaze of all, Huang Yi fused the 299 Key Fragments together.
Each black fragment automatically melted like wax and eventually coalesced into a mass, forming a key resembling black agate, with a glossy texture.
This is the key to the 300th level!
Huang Yi turned to look at the others, finally stopping his gaze on several Super-First Masters, saying, "Let’s go inside and take a look!"
With that, he formed a separate team, including all the Super-First Masters, and also included the Poet.
Subsequently, they teleported to the legendary 300th level.
Upon entry, they were greeted by a towering black door, extending indefinitely upwards, seemingly reaching the end of the sky, isolating an entire world. The door had only one deep keyhole, embodying the hope of unlocking it. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
Huang Yi stepped forward and inserted the black key into the keyhole.
"Click!" The key turned, and the enormous sealed door finally began to open slowly.
The final layer of the Tower of Pantheons gradually unfolded before everyone’s eyes.
At this moment, everyone stood beside a menacing black ocean, with raging storms and towering waves as if a boiling sea of ink, the turbulent waves crashing against the shore rocks, splashing raindrop-like mist.
In the distance, across the black ocean stood a prominent solitary peak, massive and sky-piercing, beginning from its midsection shrouded in thick dark clouds, with lightning flashing within, obscuring the view of the summit.
"[System Prompt]: You have discovered the final layer of the Tower of Pantheons[Purgatory Mountain], Experience Points +10,000,000. Successfully reaching the summit of Purgatory Mountain can unveil the ultimate secret of the Tower of Pantheons. This layer is not a secret realm but a real-world scene; everyone entering will be in the same scene."
Upon hearing this system prompt, everyone was momentarily stunned!
"The system says this layer isn’t an instance but a real-world scene... Does it mean no matter which team comes to the 300th level, it’s the same location, where they can see each other?"
"Is the Heavenly Demon inside the 300th level of the Tower of Pantheons? Could we find him just by climbing that mountain?"
"Since this isn’t an instance, dying here is like dying in the wild areas, subject to death penalties!"
All at once, everyone realized the harsh nature of this level!
The previous 299 levels were instance-based, where each person or team could open a separate instance without interference.
However, in this 300th level, once inside, everyone is together, able to battle each other or cooperate to kill the BOSS!
"Purgatory Mountain?" At this time, Heavenly Dao suddenly pondered the name, softly murmuring, "Purgatory and Hell seem very similar; is there a connection?"
"Above Hell is Purgatory!" the Poet explained, "In the legendary work ’The Divine Comedy’ by the Italian poet Dante, there is a detailed description. The unforgivable sinners in life suffer punishment in Hell after death, with varying degrees of sin being punished on different levels. Above Hell is Purgatory, located on a giant mountain in the Southern Hemisphere’s ocean. Souls not sinful enough for Hell atone on Purgatory Mountain, a much better situation than Hell."
The Poet shook his head slightly and continued, "However, this Virtual World seems to have only borrowed the concept from ’The Divine Comedy’ and not fully replicated it. ’The Divine Comedy’ is a work from the Christian cultural sphere, where Hell only has 9 layers. But in this Virtual World, Hell has 18 layers, which is from Oriental Buddhism."
"Indeed, the Hell of the Underworld does originate from your Oriental legends." At this moment, Abigail said with deep resonance. His name bestowment was King Abi, closely related to the Eighteenth Level of Hell, Abi Hell.
At this moment, Huang Yi gazed at the mountain on the black ocean and said, "Since this is not an instance, it indicates that this instance does not reset, unique, a one-time opportunity! We must hurry to catch up with the Heavenly Demon and not allow him to reach the mountain summit first. I have a premonition that the secret contained at the summit of Purgatory Mountain is the key to our breakthrough of the World-Ending Formation!"
"Then let’s go!" The Pope said, about to fly towards Purgatory Mountain in the sea.
But soon, everyone discovered that after triggering their flight capability, they remained grounded and unable to take off!
Even Huang Yi flapping his Demonic God’s wings couldn’t lift off!
"We can’t fly here, so we’ll have to cross the ocean," Thunder God said as he looked at the strange black ocean.
"This black ocean seems peculiar and probably not very safe," Abigail said, suddenly waving his hand!
A translucent soul was immediately released from his hand. The soul was shackled, its expression pained, covered in scars as if it had suffered long-term abuse and torture. As it appeared, it howled continuously, its cries mournful and terrifying, like a soul released from Hell.
At this point, Abigail’s hand suddenly pointed towards the black ocean, and the howling soul seemed propelled by an invisible force, quickly drifting towards the black ocean.
"Sizzle~" Suddenly, a huge wave crashed onto the rocks on the shore, spraying water droplets like rain.
Some seawater splashed onto the howling soul, creating wisps of white smoke as if water droplets had fallen onto hot iron.
The soul’s howls suddenly intensified tenfold!
Its body trembled violently, its expression twisted in extreme agony, as though enduring the most brutal torture in the world.
It instinctively retreated, trying to escape the waters.
"Hmph!" Abigail snorted coldly, gazing mercilessly at the howling soul, and flicked his finger forward!
"Whoosh!" The soul, under some strong command, transformed into a phantom and charged directly into the black ocean.
"Sizzle sizzle~" The next moment, the soul emitted puffs of white mist and, with a rapid, sharp howl, sank entirely into the sea, disappearing without a trace.
Abigail finally turned to the group, saying gravely, "The black seawater corrodes souls; we mustn’t touch it, otherwise, we’ll end up like that howling soul, we can’t swim across."
Thunder God rubbed his chin and said, "If that’s the case, let’s use my Ancient Godship to cross!"
As he waved his hand, a ship appeared before them!
This ship looked like an ordinary vessel, but that was just its most basic appearance. In reality, it was the most famous ship in the history of The Second World; once revealing its true form, its deck was as wide as a continent, with working platforms and cabins resembling cities, enough to accommodate everyone in The Second World.
This vessel was constructed by the Remote Ancient God Sealer, the Sea God of The Second World, modeled after the God of Life’s Noah’s Divine Ark, utilizing countless precious materials, even slaying four Void God-Level Deep Sea Demon Flesh to extract four Water Pearls installed at key locations on the Divine Ship!
Now, this Ancient Godship was fully restored, capable of carrying continents and islands, far from an ordinary vessel’s equal. Using it to traverse this black ocean, everyone felt reassured.
Next, everyone boarded the Ancient Godship one by one.
Thunder God waved his hand, and the ship automatically began to move, crashing through waves towards the distant Purgatory Mountain.
In the furious black ocean, massive waves relentlessly crashed against the ship’s bow, but the bow remained upright, courageously breaking through wave after wave.
Countless spray shattered and soared into the sky, falling like rain, but all were blocked by the Barrier on the Ancient Godship, keeping the deck dry.
The people on deck observed the impenetrable Barrier topped with black seawater, a bit apprehensive, knowing that even as Super-First Masters, a touch from the black spray would strip them to the bone.
Without Thunder God’s Ancient Godship, they wondered how they would’ve crossed this ocean to reach Purgatory Mountain.
"Roar!" At that moment, a furious roar emanated from the ocean’s depths, followed by a giant tail breaking through the black seawater, striking towards the Divine Ship.
