Damian extended his full mana sense, but nope.. It was exactly as he could already sense. This was it — The all-powerful Sun God really was a presence barely strong enough to be called near Legendary rank.
Damian flew near the real body of Sun God and used his mana threads to analyze the black chains from inside. Nothing — not a single mana node, runic array, or even that familiar creepy enchantment feeling. If he wasn't touching the thing, he wouldn't even believe that this was in any way magical. It could be a skill.. But those did not outlast the user.
If the pigmen warrior had done this and the guy was dead.. This shouldn't exist either. Well, these were matters of three ranks above him, so he wouldn't assume he knew all their weird shit. The material looked somewhat similar to those neck chains bound on Alex and Maelor's necks.
"Boy, you are very misunderstood if you think I cannot make your life hell even in this condition of mine. Do not underestimate my rank!" The ghostly figure appeared beside Damian once again, continuing his threats.
"How do you speak our language if you never met our kind before this?" Damian asked, turning to the side to face the guy.
"You are not the first human I have come across.. We had dungeons of some of your worlds," the Sun God replied.
And everyone spoke English? What weird-ass coincidence was that? But Damian did not voice that out loud. Even in Vidalia's world, only the ancient elves had a different language other than them. All around the world, people only spoke English, and even that with the same accent since no one knew any other language at all.
"Dungeon.." Damian said, explaining their situation, "That's how we are here. We were in a dungeon in our world, the dungeon was about your world — I met the dungeon version of you. We were suddenly transported here forcefully. I believe you — the other you — threw us out of the dungeon. Into this world."
The ghostly figure's old, sagely eyes showed a hint of surprise, but he soon regained his composure and started staring at Damian as if seeing him for the first time. After a few seconds, he asked,
"What is it that you did in the dungeon before that happened?"
"Used the same portal spell to reach a friend.. He was trapped in the lower levels," Damian replied truthfully.
The Sun God shook his head in disdain. "You cannot cheat the Divine that easily, kid. No one, no matter how powerful — using even the most bizarre skill — can skip the levels of a dungeon. That is sacred, and the Divine never forgives anyone who tries doing such a thing. It's not my astral copy that threw you out of the dungeon — it's the dungeon itself."
Divine? Even the most powerful beings of the entire planet didn't know much about the system itself? They still believed it to be some kind of divine intervention. Well.. Maybe it was one at that.
"I thought you were the Divine, Almighty Sun God. I have learned quite a lot about your famous deeds from the dungeon," Damian replied.
The Sun God wanted to rebut, but then he just sighed and looked away. "Guess that would indeed make a good dungeon. Must be about Heiuryul and his legendary stories, right?"
Damian replied, "Is that the name of the warrior who fought against you?"
The Sun God just nodded, and then his eyes lost focus as if he was remembering past memories of his long life. Damian continued his questioning though,
"What is an Astral copy? Does every world have a dungeon reflecting the biggest feats of that world's civilizations? What is the purpose of all these dungeons?"
The ethereal form of the Sun God however, suddenly jerked his head back in Damian's direction, as if he just remembered what was happening, his teeth gritting with anger as he bellowed loudly, "You want to talk? Bring my children back, and I will tell you everything you want to know! I am not saying a single word before they are back!"
Damian raised his brows. This guy.. Well, he was also a bit worried about the others. Hopefully no one was dead yet.
"My spell — cancel whatever you did. Only then can I do it. I will stop the fight and bring my people back. Yours will have to stay put for a while. I will see what I can do for the Red Demon and Sulthar.."
The Sun God looked at Damian with suspicion filled with anger, but he didn't have any other choice either. Frustrated, the ethereal figure closed his eyes, and once again a strange pulse was released from the Sun God's main body. Damian let it hit him. Once it passed, Damian immediately activated his sacrium bracer's waygate spell, and to his relief, it finally activated. Before it could form fully, Damian canceled the spell. That one was targeting Toph.
He waited for a few seconds, the three mana cubes producing liquid mana at full power. The next one he opened near the Red Demon — that guy was the closest to reaching space and getting fucked by some nearby planet or Sun's gravity. He half expected the guy to be dead by now in space, but the waygate opened successfully. Damian could sense the guy nearby as he propelled himself toward the waygate and came out beside Damian and the Sun God a few seconds later.
As one might expect, the guy was about to launch an attack on Damian, but the Sun God stopped him and ordered him to leave the shrine. The guy — even though almost equal in strength to the Sun God — obeyed, gritting his teeth towards Damian before going away. The Red Demon had exhausted over 90% of his mana.
Next, Damian needed to open a waygate to Sulthar, he walked outside the massive shrine door. Damian wouldn't let the guy come back though — he waited for a while to gather as much liquid mana as he needed and then created two 700-meter-wide waygates centimeters close to each other.
Damian sensed as Sulthar's still rising body crossed the waygate above him without any resistance from the guy — he couldn't stop himself even if he wanted to. The other waygate was to a barren land away from both the lava zone and the pigmen city.