After observing and not finding any clues until the end, Ashtel and Riku could only leave the temple in disappointment.

"Miasma is a very stubborn power... it won’t let a creature escape its grasp once it marks them as its prey..."

"It’s quite unbelievable that this particular Sortilegan managed to escape the destruction of its race at the hand of the sea of miasma..."

"This adamantium slab might be the only thing we know of that has successfully come out of the sea of miasma for the first time... usually nothing seems to be able to come out of that thing..."

Hearing Riku’s words, Ashtel shook his head.

"We still don’t know if this being is from the sea of miasma or it was created by some other phenomena; its existence here is just too bizarre..."

"Even if it was from the sea of miasma, the time period just doesn’t match... Their race got destroyed by the sea of miasma thousands of years ago... so why would this creature still be alive until now, and where was it for so long?"

The creature wasn’t even an awakener; it was just a normal, ordinary being. It had no mana or miasma traces in its body, which means that the creature should have already been dead by now due to age alone!

Ashtel and Riku have both analyzed its body and have already figured out through its cell activity that the creature is 30 years old and it should only have a lifespan of about 70 years at most.

But that just doesn’t fit with the timeline of their world being destroyed thousands of years ago.

"Is it possible that this creature got frozen inside some kind of wormhole or something and that caused time to become frozen for him?"

"That way, time would go on in the outside world, but he wouldn’t age a single second till the wormhole throws him out..."

Riku’s theory did seem very convincing, but even that had a flaw.

"But if that was the case, the normal ’laws’ of ’space-time’ would have immediately noticed him reappearing after thousands of years and would have taken effect on him immediately..."

"All the time that was frozen for him would rush to him at once, and his body would turn into dust in an instant..."

"The main reason why awakeners that have space- and time-related abilities do not dare go too forward or backward in time is also because of the same reason..."

"The ’laws’ of space and time are not very friendly to being with... offending them like this would be even more deadly..."

No matter how much Riku and Ashtel tried, this bizarre creature did not seem to fit in any theories, and his existence seemed to be stuck in many mysteries that seemed unsolvable.

"This creature... with how weird its state is... I feel like it’s showing us something that we are ignoring..."

"I have a feeling that something is definitely not good... something is about to happen soon... very soon..."

Ashtel couldn’t put a finger on exactly what this feeling was, but he could sense that something was brewing in the dark somewhere, and it was definitely not a good thing for them.

’It’s the same feeling I was getting when the Demon King was muttering random things on his own...’

’He did say that a change was inevitable... sigh...’

Looking at the distant setting sun on the horizon, Riku sighed as he spoke,

"This creature seems to be an echo from an ancient past that seems to be trying to warn us of something that might bring us harm..."

"I just hope we will be able to realize the truth of his strange arrival here before the disaster that it’s predicting comes looking for us..."

Seeing the depressed look on the other party’s face, Ashtel patted Riku in the back as he spoke.

"Don’t be depressed, man; if even the strongest pillar of support of a nation starts feeling defeated and depressed, the nation won’t be able to last longer in the face of trouble..."

"We still have the option to ask the world tree, so let’s stop worrying about it for today..."

Ashtel smiled as he returned to his usual optimistic self.

"I have heard that the Beast Archipelago has amazing wine; let’s go. Today’s drinks are on me..."

Hearing those words, Riku immediately shook his head.

"No way, you are the guest in this nation. I am the one who’s going to arrange it all for the guest, so obviously the drinks are on me too!"

Ashtel wanted to persuade Riku, but the other party refused to accept it.

"Let’s go. I know a good place that offers the best wine... I am sure you won’t even be able to walk back home by yourself after drinking it!"

A smug look appeared on Ashtel’s face after hearing that.

"Hoh? Is that a challenge? I am the world’s strongest man! There’s no such wine that can make me collapse!"

"Let’s go! I must see what makes you so confident with my own two eyes!"

With that said, the two SS-rankers opened a portal and teleported away in a hurry.

What they didn’t know was that just as the two of them left, the flow of mana and miasma in the area suddenly started to change at a rapid pace.

In the basement of the temple, the magic circle cracked and started to break apart as the dead Sortilegan suddenly opened its eyes and sat up with an eerily calm look on its face.

The creature didn’t seem to be the least bit surprised after finding itself in this new environment, as if it knew what was happening and how it had gotten here in the first place.

The guards and staff members stationed in the temple didn’t even seem to notice anything odd happening as they went about their day normally, without noticing anything abnormal.

The four-armed creature walked past everyone without anyone noticing it as it muttered to himself.

"It’s time..."