Everyone Is A Lord: My Talent Is A Little Too Strong Chapter 2574: 1419: The Source of the Great Catastrophe

Leo Ray observed the trembling old wandering poet with a grave expression. Despite the man's visible distress, he spoke firmly, “Nicholas, I recognize that these terrifying memories are something you wish to bury, but they are vital to me and the future of the human clan. I must ask you to recount every detail without omission.”

Having voiced his request, Leo Ray waited patiently for the old man to collect himself.

“Do not worry, Your Majesty. I may be a man of little consequence, but I am no craven,” Old Nick replied with a heavy nod. He gripped the armrests of his chair to stop his hands from shaking. “Your Majesty provided a home to a nameless wanderer like me. No matter how haunting these visions are, I will face them for your sake!”

The old man took a deep breath, his eyes losing focus as he descended back into his trauma.

“The moment that overwhelming dread consumed me, my mind fractured. My limbs refused to obey, and the physical world seemed to dissolve. Everything vanished, leaving only those bizarre, watching eyes—cold, mocking, and filled with utter disdain.”

“Just as I felt my spirit breaking, a cacophony erupted in my mind. It felt as though I had been thrust into a frantic, alien marketplace where thousands were screaming into my ears at once.”

“The voices were a mix of shrill screeches and hoarse whispers, speaking with a rapid, incomprehensible cadence. They were aggressive and dissonant, like a chaotic melody of demonic mutterings. The sheer pressure made my head feel as if it were about to split open.”

Old Nick’s breathing grew ragged, the vividness of the memory clearly suffocating him.

“Time lost all meaning. However, amidst that mental storm, I managed to decipher three distinct phrases: ‘Great Catastrophe,’ ‘Announcement Messenger,’ and ‘Spreading Fear.’ Of those, ‘Great Catastrophe’ was repeated with the most terrifying frequency.”

Closing his eyes for a moment, Old Nick’s gaze finally cleared as he reached the end of his tale. “The events following that are merely broken fragments.”

“I cannot say why those entities spared me or how I was cast back into the subterranean river. I remember fleeing the teleportation gate in a state of pure madness, stumbling out of the cave, and eventually collapsing in the drifts of snow by the gates of Viennas City. I knew nothing else until I woke up here.”

Silence filled the room as the group processed the weight of his testimony.

The information provided by Old Nick was monumental. When combined with the known threat of “Corrosion,” the implications were chilling and difficult to grasp.

“It is no wonder our previous inquiries yielded nothing; the teleportation gate was the missing link.”

Gael eventually broke the quiet, turning to Leo Ray with a somber look. “Lord, when Old Nick was first discovered, I was invited by the Mercenary Guild of Viennas City to join an elite team. We investigated the very magic beast cave where he was found.”

“I recall it vividly. We discovered an ancient magic array etched into the cavern floor. However, the mage accompanying us could not trigger it, no matter how much mana he infused into the carvings.”

“Because of that failure, I simply recorded the pattern of the array and didn't investigate further. I never suspected it was an ancient teleportation formation.”

“This reveals why we found no clues at the time. The true site of the incident wasn't the cave itself, but an ancient ruin located somewhere far beyond that gate.”

Grey Elder nodded in agreement, adding his own thoughts to Gael's explanation. “I reviewed the rubbings of that magic array in the official reports. Despite our best efforts to verify its origin, we found nothing useful.”

“It appears that when Old Nick used the teleportation gate to escape those ruins, the device fell into a state of dormancy. The strain likely damaged the mechanism further, rendering it useless to our investigators.”

Kelsey’s eyes widened in realization as she listened to the exchange. “Does this mean that right beneath a common magic beast cave near Viennas City, a massive concentration of ‘Corrosion’ is hiding? If they break through to the surface, the danger would be unimaginable.”

The atmosphere in the room grew increasingly oppressive following Kelsey's remark.

Those who had survived the battle at the Dragon Nest, particularly Leo Ray and Grey Elder, understood the gravity of the situation better than anyone.

Standard Cultivation techniques and physical strikes are useless against “Corrosion.” Even the might of a Tier 6 expert falls short. Their only hope lies in the power of the [God Stone].

However, the [God Stone] can only be wielded by those it has chosen. Including Leo Ray, there are fewer than fifty such individuals in existence.

If a tide of “Corrosion” were to rise from the lightless depths of the abyss, these parasitic, madness-inducing entities would spark a disaster unlike any the world has ever seen.

In truth, if the enemy's numbers are as vast as feared, there would be no hope. The world would face total annihilation.

The power of the [God Stone] is a finite resource; once its energy is spent against the “Corrosion,” it requires a significant amount of time to recover, leaving them defenseless in the interim.