With a single step, as Gaia's figure reerged, she found herself at the entrance to her orchard. As the embodint of the earth, such distances were clearly insignificant to her.
She surveyed the orchard that appeared to have gone untended for a long while, Mother Earth furrowed her brow once more, then she pushed open the wooden fence and slowly stepped inside.
However, after only a few steps, Gaia quickly realized sothing was amiss.
"Is this... moved by soone?"
"No, they left on their own."
As Gaia walked through the orchard, she couldn't find what she was looking for. The spots that should have been planted with vegetation were now empty, leaving behind only pits of various sizes.
Without a doubt, they had been dug up by soone, but this was certainly not the work of an outsider. Even if there really were external enemies, they would have been brought into the orchard by a nymph, otherwise, no matter how powerful the intruders might be, they would have been stopped by the force left by Mother Earth, and then awakened the ancient Primordial Deity.
This wasn't even coercion, but a voluntary act... After all, their essences were protected within the orchard, and as long as no one was willing to lead the way, outsiders would never be able to enter.
After a mont of silence, an ominous premonition rose in Gaia's heart. Previously, she had thought that the nymphs of the outside world had provoked a deity and were thus casually killed, which admittedly made her sowhat displeased, but not truly enraged—after all, the nymphs were not that important, and they had not died completely.
If only she found that deity and made him express his sincere apologies, Gaia felt she wouldn't really care much about it. However, the scene before her now proved that things were not so simple.
To deceive or seduce Gaia's maidens, to stealthily infiltrate the Golden Apple Orchard... If the intruders claid ignorance of this inevitably bringing Mother Earth's thunderous wrath upon them, that would be an impossibility.
He knew too much, even aware of the barrier Gaia had left behind, and yet he dared to do so, which ant there must be so imnse temptation worth the risk.
And in this orchard, the only thing of sufficient value...
A flash of yellow light, and in the next instant, Gaia stood in the very center of the orchard. Stay updated with mvl
Golden branches swayed with the wind, the tall Golden Apple Tree posed elegantly, seemingly no different from usual on the surface. But this ridiculous and stiff illusion couldn't even deceive the attentive nymphs, so how could it ever fool Mother Earth, who had been with the Golden Apple Tree for tens of thousands of years?
With a grip of her right hand, as power surged, the illusion shattered, revealing the true scene before Gaia.
A huge pit, with a few golden leaves scattered around. Like other areas of the orchard, the once-tall sacred tree was long gone without a trace, leaving behind nothing but a mockery of a hole in the ground.
"..."
Staring at everything before her, the atmosphere above the entire Delphic Great Plains, centered on the orchard, beca oppressively still, as if everything had frozen in ti. After a while, with an expressionless face, Gaia reached out and grasped faintly, and in the next mont, amid a surge of light, a slender nymph fairy tumbled and fell at her feet.
"...Cough cough, who dares... Your Highness!"
"Your Highness, thank goodness, you have finally awakened!"
The initial vigilance turned to joy, as the loyal maid got up from the ground, bowing slightly in front of Mother Earth. The recent rapid changes had left her at a loss, but fortunately, she had waited for Mother Earth to awaken. Yet in front the maid, Gaia did not even glance at her, continuing to look at the pit.
Awakening to such circumstances made it difficult for Mother Earth to articulate her feelings. All she wanted to know now was what exactly had happened during this ti.
"Speak... tell what you know."
"Explain all of this... who has been here, when it turned into this... and what have you done?"
"...Your Highness, I do not know."
Shaking her head, the nymph did not know what to say.
Previously, the Oracle was managed by Moanda, so much so that when she disappeared, it was a long while before anyone noticed the missing Life Vase.
It was only after the situation in the Golden Apple Orchard was discovered, did they consult with everyone on the great plains about the matter, and then they shockingly realized that quite a few nymphs had silently vanished. Along with them, the Divine Artifacts within the Grand Temple had also disappeared.
"Not long after you fell into slumber, the Divine King His Majesty had gone to the Temple for sacrificial worship... After that, the situation in the orchard was discovered, the Golden Apple Tree seed to have a problem, and many people went missing."
"Everyone was afraid, and many fled, but so stayed behind. We went to the Temple to investigate, and your Life Vase was gone——"
"—What did you say?!"
Boom——
The ground trembled slightly, causing all creation to shake along with it. The nymph did not keep her footing and fell back to the ground, while before her, Gaia's shock and anger could no longer be contained.
She had not noticed this before or rather, she thought it was because she had just awakened, so much so that she hadn't felt the lively essence from the symbiotic Divine Artifact. But now, as the nymph's words ended, Gaia nearly instantaneously searched for the Life Vase's aura.
However, the result disappointed her once more; in Mother Earth's perception, not only was the Divine Artifact nowhere to be found, but even the mysterious connection between it and the symbiotic Divine Artifact seed to have been severed. She was like she had never owned the Life Vase at all, unable to detect the slightest trace of it.
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