A blurry shadow rushed through the fog-filled forest.
Swoosh!
A deer-like spirit beast covered in pale grey fur burst out from between the trees, its eyes filled with terror, as it blindly sprinted through the forest.
It appeared and disappeared in an instant, like a shadow in the fog.
-
Rotell's eyes slightly narrowed as she looked at the spot where the deer had vanished.
"With the fog like this, things are getting really dangerous," She muttered.
Over time, the surrounding forest had become increasingly strange. The further they traveled, the quieter everything became. Sound seemed distorted, and distance also felt weirdly warped. Even the trees looked slightly different, their bark darker and more damp, while a strange white moss had started to spread along the roots, like crawling frost formed from mycelium.
Nearby, Mellia grumbled while kicking away a branch.
"I hate this place! I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic."
Qucell hummed while lazily following beside her.
"Hehe, that's because you're short enough to drown in the fog~"
"Huh? Say that again!"
Before another argument could break out—
BOOM!
The forest floor suddenly shook.
Although they could not see it, it was clear that a fight was happening nearby.
Not far away, a massive beast standing three meters tall charged from the side, crashing through several trees as if they were nothing more than twigs. The creature resembled a gigantic armored rhinoceros mixed with a hill-sized bear. Thick grey plates covered its body, while six glowing yellow eyes lined both sides of its skull.
Its sheer weight shook the earth with each step, and its every charge was like a cannonball.
Cirsen stepped forward.
"Ha!"
The tall crimson-haired woman planted her foot down and thrust her spear directly toward the charging beast! Hum! An oppressive aura erupted as the two massive fighters clashed!
BOOM!!
A wave of crimson colored spiritual energy erupted outward as the impact shook the surrounding forest.
The gigantic beast screeched while its massive body slid sideways, guided by Cerin and gouging deep trenches into the earth. As it was slammed into a tree, after recovering, instead of retreating, it lowered its head and charged even harder.
Cirsen grinned.
"That's more like it! Come!"
Her crimson armor ignited with heat, two points expelling steam while she roared.
The unique set of armor, the Emberwing Crimson, radiated terrifying pressure as fiery lines spread across the armor like molten lines that formed a geometric—yet strangely seductive—pattern. Her long red hair, now concealed beneath a red helmet, barely peeked out from the back as it whipped through the air while she leapt forward to meet the creature head-on.
Bang!
The fight became increasingly violent.
Cirsen grabbed it, mixing spear arts with grappling techniques. She roared, lifting it above her head, before smashing it down and devastating the earth.
Trees collapsed continuously as Cirsen continued to exchange blows with the enormous spirit beast.
Every strike of her spear, every punch from her fist, each attack exploded with terrifying force, while the beast swung its massive body around like a living battering ram. These two titans, one the size of a human, the other the size of a large bear, repeatedly exchanged blows.
Cirsen was a fourth-order practitioner from the Immortal Path. She had already formed her Nascent Soul and undergone a strict regimen of body refining. Combined with her unique physique, she could easily be described as a vicious beast in human form! Of course, that description only referred to her when she fought without using her armor.
Cirsen herself was unaware that the red armor she had picked up was the legendary Emberwing Crimson, but even if she did know, she would have absolutely no intention of trading it away.
Aside from allowing her to increase her size and magnifying her already inhuman physical strength, the Emberwing Crimson also unconsciously granted her the ability to utilize the 'Law of Momentum,' a feat that few could ever achieve before reaching the sixth order.
-
Meanwhile—
Rotell and the others simply watched from the sidelines.
Mellia clicked her tongue.
"Isn't she enjoying herself a bit too much?"
"She definitely likes getting hit," Qucell muttered with a strange glint.
"Hey! I heard that!"
Boom!!
Cirsen, while striking down the beast, roared towards them.
Several minutes later, the beast had finally collapsed. Its massive body crumpled into the forest floor with a heavy tremor, before finally going still.
Cirsen exhaled deeply before rolling her shoulder.
She spit out blood, then returned to the side where Elena was already waiting.
"So, how was it?" She grinned.
Rotell nodded.
These four had a vague idea that Rotell was testing them, only they had yet to realize that what she wanted was to understand their mentalities, not their physical abilities.
Excluding Roe, the other three were big question marks in her mind: Cirsen was too combative, Millia was too impatient, and Qucell was too distractible. They each had their flaws. Rotell was trying to see if their innate talent made up for those shortcomings, as well as testing their ability to adapt.
She shook her head, then examined Cirsen's injuries.
Because of the armor, there were no visible injuries, so she pursed her lips and turned her head.
Old Man Roe walked over.
Without saying much, he reached into a bag and casually tossed over a medicinal pill.
Cirsen caught it.
"…Hm?"
The pill radiated a faint five-colored glow, while a deep medicinal fragrance immediately swept out and covered the surroundings.
Rotell's eyes flickered slightly.
A fifth-tier medicinal pill!
Cirsen raised an eyebrow before swallowing it without hesitation. Almost instantly, the wounds that had silently accumulated within her body began not so visibly healing.
Qucell: "!!"
"…Wait! You're also a Fifth Level Alchemist? What the hell? No wonder you're so old!"
The old man rolled his eyes.
It was not often that he revealed his professional skills to others, but when he did, their reactions were always the same. Not only was he a Fifth Level Beast Tamer and a Fifth Level Formation Master, but adding Fifth Level Alchemy on top of that made him increasingly terrifying the more one thought about it. In addition, he also just so happened to be a master at artifact crafting and a spirit farmer.
Silence followed.
Mellia looked horrified, "…This old monster!"
Rotell silently agreed…
-
After briefly resting, the group continued moving through the fog-filled forest.
The white haze drifted endlessly between the trees like smoke, slowly flowing across the forest floor and wrapping itself around the trunks of the surrounding trees.
Visibility had already fallen to the point where seeing ten meters ahead became difficult, and every so often, shapes could vaguely be seen deeper within the fog, only to disappear once looked at directly.
Rotell silently walked in the front of the group while keeping one hand near the hilt of her sword. Behind her, Cirsen leaned her spear across one shoulder while continuously scanning the surroundings with narrowed eyes. Mellia occasionally sniffed the air like a cautious animal, while Qucell lazily stretched beside her, and although relaxed, she had stopped acting playful.
The forest gradually changed.
The trees became larger, older, and increasingly wide as they walked towards what they believed to be the direction leading to the center of the secret realm.
Around them, the trees silhouetted by the fog seemed to darken, while the strange pale moss had begun to appear more frequently and started to spread up their trunks. Thin strands of white, vine-like growths hung downward, gently swaying despite the complete absence of wind.
Occasionally, spirit beasts could be glimpsed within the fog, silently observing the group from deeper within the forest, before retreating once noticed. Not many of them attacked, but their constant presence made the atmosphere feel increasingly oppressive.
The party continued forward.
The deeper they walked, the thicker the haze became.
At this point, visibility had dropped to barely several meters.
Rotell frowned slightly.
"…This fog isn't natural."
Qucell tilted her head. "Huh? What do you mean? Isn't this your family's secret realm? Don't you know about your own secret realm?"
Rotell shook her head.
"Not really. Most information about the Royal Ring Secret Realm was fragmented even before it opened this time. Also, this is only the second time it's opened. Back then, the first time it opened, I heard that the secret realm had yet to fully form, so it was a bit incomplete. As for now, I can only say that what we know is very limited. Excluding the overall 'goal', we don't know much else."
She looked toward the drifting fog.
"…But this place has definitely changed since the last opening." Following her words, the surrounding white mist seemed to move, slowly changing the way it drifted between the trees.
It was silent, cold, and seemed to almost be watching them, producing an uncomfortable feeling.
Even Roe slowly opened one of his eyes toward the fog, before quietly closing it again.
Nobody knew where the fog originated from, at least, it wasn't there when it had previously opened. That uncertainty made the forest feel even more dangerous, but Rotell knew that it didn't matter.
She had come here for something, something important, and only by getting 'that' could she truly begin to break free from her shackles…
-
The forest suddenly became quiet.
Rotell immediately raised her hand, causing the group behind her to stop.
Something was standing ahead.
It was half obscured by the fog; a lone figure silently blocked the narrow forest path.
"…What is that?" Mellia quietly asked.
Nobody answered.
The figure did not move. It simply stood there as a darkened silhouette, while white fog continuously drifted around its body.
Step…
Step…step…
Rotell slowly approached before her eyes narrowed.
'This armor, could it be…'
The figure was wearing extremely old armor. Its surface was dark silver, blackened in places by dried blood, while a few faded engravings could barely be seen along the breastplate and shoulder guards. The design was ancient, far older than anything currently used by the Hellion Empire, but Rotell seemed to recognize it at first glance.
Qucell frowned slightly.
"If…I'm not wrong, this style of armor was used during the migration period, right?"
Cirsen blinked. "How is that possible? Why is it here?"
The group quietly stared.
They were all on guard.
The figure looked translucent, almost unreal. Parts of its body occasionally flickered like distorted smoke, while the exposed skin beneath the armor looked pale and hollow, and almost translucent.
Rotell's expression gradually became serious.
This was another anomaly that didn't appear in the records of the first opening.
She began to mutter, "The Royal Ring Secret Realm was supposedly formed during that battle, but it was also said to be a mixture between the aura left from that period and something else." She frowned. "…But why would something like this appear here?"
Nobody knew what she meant.
Old Man Roe slowly stepped forward while calmly observing the figure. "It may not be alive, but it's also not completely dead... Hm, what a strange existence."
Mellia immediately looked disturbed.
"...What does that mean!"
Qucell folded her arms. "Do you think it's some kind of living illusion? I don't think it's the Ghost Clan…"
Roe slowly shook his head.
"Perhaps, not… this is neither a Soul Body, nor a Ghost Clan, no, it is something unique…"
Rotell's eyes flickered slightly.
"Could these things be related to the people who died during the early migration? No, could everything in the secret realm be related to that period?" She lowered her head, quickly losing herself in thought.
"Do you mean that the secret realm's layout was affected by something during the migration one thousand years ago? Hm? Wait, now that you mention it…"
Old Man Roe spoke up, "The first day was a refreshing treasure hunt, the second day was fighting the locals of the realm. Now, the third day and this fog... could it represent the unknowns related to the factions from back then? No, it should also include the disaster in the north…" He stopped talking.
Silence followed his words, but the image of the creature that appeared to disperse the beast tide suddenly popped up in everyone's heads.
Qucell quietly spoke.
"You mean they were somehow integrated into the Secret Realm?"
"This secret realm is too young. It can't have been 'created', instead it should be a mutated form of another incomplete secret realm that was still forming silently in an overlapping space." The old man thoughtfully closed one eye. "If what we're seeing now is fragments related to the migration, then I just don't know what the original, much older half was like."
Mellia's ears twitched.
"So, it's like a magpie stealing a nest?"
Roe slowly nodded.
"These things can't be called true souls; instead, 'historical echoes' are a more appropriate name." His black eyes shifted toward the silent, armored figure. "If they were really copied by the secret realm, then they should all be related to those that participated in the northern battle back then. No, perhaps it scanned the whole continent, there's no way to tell…"
"Either way, we should be careful."
Rotell frowned deeply.
"If that's true… then how many people were copied?"
Nobody answered.
'Also, was it only those who died, or everyone from back then? There's also the problem regarding the period and duration…' She thought the last line to herself.
Her words alone made the surrounding fog feel heavier.