Around half a dozen people, a group consisting of humans and magical beasts, moved in a loose formation, their steps careful, each fall of their foot deliberate and calculated, even soundless. They all had the sa eyes- an intent to conceal themselves and not provoke the terrifying beings of this land without a good reason.
The violet mist curled around their figures like living smoke, clinging to their limbs with invisible fingers. It seeped into clothing, into pores, and even into their minds, but it wasn’t drastic. However, it surely ate away at their energy. So were immune, and the others simply endured.
They did not complain since their energy reserves were high enough to survive unless they were deep into the purple mist.
Regardless, they continued to push deeper.
As they made their way, the terrain twisted in unnatural ways. Gnarled roots jutted from the ground like claws, so twitching at the edges, sensing movent. A wrong step could land a person into a pit of those roots, where they’d close in like a coffin. They passed one such hole, only to see the triangular head with three horns poking out of the soil, half-dissolved, the bones beneath it blackened.
It was the head of a Nether Devil.
That alone clenched their hearts in fear at that ti
However, sensing that it was nothing but an Immortal King level Nether Devil when it had been alive, they heaved a sigh of relief.
A little ahead, the one at the forefront, a black-purple-robed woman raised a clenched fist. The group froze.
Across their path slithered a beast unlike any known to human lands.
Its body was long and low, plated in obsidian scales that stead in the purple nether haze. It had no eyes, only a mouth that stretched too far, split open vertically as it scraped its tongue, a glowing violet appendage, along the mossy forest floor, tasting for sothing using so kind of thod.
The woman knelt and placed her hand against her bosoms, muting the sound of her heartbeat. The creature lingered for a breathless minute before moving on, disappearing into a thicket of black-leafed ferns.
The black-purple-robed woman looked behind before she nodded at them.
The others also nodded, appearing to trust her lead.
They resud their path, moving around towering fungi that leaned inward like eavesdropping giants. One pulsed with sickly light, perhaps maroon in color with veins of yellow and a strange mist different than the nether haze puffed out with every pulse.
The group didn’t approach it. They knew what would happen when the spores were inhaled- hallucinations so vivid they could do anything dangerous to the group.
Fortunately, the mushroom didn’t seem to take notice of them. It was a Peak-Level Empyrean Stage lifeform, a plant life that seed to be as rare as an Azure Tree, although no one knew if it would prove to be resourceful.
Currently, the doctrine they adopted to traverse these lands was don’t pick a fight and make it worse.
One battle pulled in nearly every vicious entity nearby.
If they t with a stronger entity, they would be hard-pressed to survive, so they were making their way carefully.
Later, they passed through a narrow canyon flanked by cliffs of stone that wept strange crimson tar that looked like blood. The air grew heavier, thick with an invisible pressure. Crawling on the walls were bone-white centipede-like creatures with skull faces and too many legs, each ending in razored hooks.
Their motion was silent, their intent dubious, but none in the group decided to have a go at them.
The centipedes didn’t either- clearly battle-hardened that they knew not to ss with the other group.
The group stopped to rest in what passed for shelter beneath a twisted canopy of black crystal leaves that sang when the wind passed through. It wasn’t safe, but it was safer than open ground.
One of them finally opened their mouth.
"Phew, today was nerve-wracking as well. Hopefully, we’re almost near to the Nether Orb Cobra Clan’s underground cave."
Vereina wiped the sweat off her forehead and body, appearing tired. She turned to look at Nyoran for her input, but the latter rely smiled wide while appearing to not know the remaining distance that needed to be covered.
Vereina then turned to look at Nadia, who could sense the location of her clan lightly as though sothing was pulling her towards it when she burned her blood essence using the thod Schleya gave her. Even without it, she could still sense the overall direction of about one-eighty degrees, but with Schleya’s technique, the direction that they needed to travel beca more accurate up to thirty degrees.
They were traveling in the south-eastern direction.
According to Azbel, the Nether Orb Cobra, his clan’s location is also in that path, according to his inherited mories. This made sense since the Nether Orb Cobra Clan, in his mories, seed to have spotted the Nether Spring Death Wolves. Otherwise, it would be difficult to spot a few Nether Spring Death Wolves in the vast and perhaps endless Nether Dinsion.
"..." Nadia blinked.
She had no idea how much distance needed to be covered as well.
"Seriously? We’re well into more than half a year in this journey. Sure, the distance we could cover each day is less due to the danger of the lifeforms here and the Nether Devils hunting us, not to ntion the air here- nether haze slowly corroding us. However, if we don’t know how long or how far we need to travel, then isn’t the obvious answer to just head back ho, regroup, decide, and co back again?"
Vereina pouted.
She had survived alone for so long alone back in her initial days, and she felt that they weren’t planning much when they were already six months here.
Everyone turned to look at Nyoran.
"Don’t look at . My portal opening species technique isn’t so versatile. We need to go back to the space where the portal rembers the coordinates to the sanctuary. Otherwise, we may land totally elsewhere. The greater the distance, the greater the chance of being thrown off way elsewhere."
Nyoran raised her hands innocently, "Therefore, we’d be looking at another six months of travel back to the portal unless we want to take our chances and land sowhere in the Third Layer of the True Immortal World, which I guess would be easier to traverse but I can’t guarantee that we’ll land around the realms or in the vast stretches of space that couldn’t be easily traversed."
"..."
"I also want to return." Nadia simply said, "But we continue."
The others had no choice but to agree.
Their mission was to survive but also to protect Nadia to the best of their ability.
"It’s as Mistress Nadia says. We continue." Illumina nodded, her deanor calm and collected.
The group then turned silent, having nothing to talk about. However, it didn’t seem like the case as Rokushi Mirai opened her mouth.
"Was that an Abyssal Netherbane Centipede above?"
Nadia moved her gaze to her. She rembered this na- a Grand Saint Magical Beast that was a requirent to activate the Hell Poison Gem’s forged treasure.
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