Lin Gui shook his head.
"That record should... be true."
He looked toward that domain, which was gradually returning to its "normal" state, his gaze complex.
"Because the figure just now and the 'Soul-Devouring Sovereign' described in the book..."
"Are almost identical."
He recalled the descriptions in that tattered ancient book.
"The book says it resembles an ancient giant whale floating through the forest."
"Surrounded by translucent tentacles that hang down to the ground and sway slowly."
"It lives by devouring malicious thoughts and wandering spirits and does not enjoy slaughter."
"Its appearance... matches the one that passed above us just now perfectly."
Theia still wore a look of disbelief.
"So... you believed it just because it looks like what's in the book?" she asked.
"More than that,"
Lin Gui said.
"During the reconnaissance, I used the Eyes of the Netherworld to vaguely outline its soul from a great distance."
"It felt familiar even then."
"I only fully confirmed it once I 'saw' those tentacles up close just now."
"Its soul form perfectly matches the depiction of 'Soul-Devouring Sovereign Apophis'..."
"In that ancient book I saw in the City of a Thousand Towers, which was said to have been excavated from a primeval tomb."
He paused.
"Precisely because of this, I believe that book is not a later forgery."
"And I dare to believe that the record stating it has a 'gentle disposition'... might have some truth to it."
"That's why I decided—"
His voice dropped, carry a sense of resolution.
"To officially cut through its domain to reach Avalon."
Theia opened her mouth but didn't argue further.
Eve spoke softly from the back seat:
"The Wailing Corridor contains more than just one Epic spectral demon, right?"
"Yes."
Lin Gui nodded, shifting his gaze to the map.
"In my observations, there are at least ten."
"The side with the Soul-Devouring Sovereign is relatively 'calm.'"
"However, after crossing its domain, on the final stretch toward Avalon..."
He pointed to a crimson marker on the map.
"We will be blocked by the domain of another Epic demon."
And that was the demon that had been staring at him during the reconnaissance.
Lin Gui did not tell Theia and the others this.
He didn't want them to get nervous because of it.
Capitalizing on the brief "peace" that followed the Soul-Devouring Sovereign's departure.
Lin Gui instructed in a low voice: "Alright, that's enough for now. Hold me tight; we're about to start redlining."
He did not urge the flying vessel forward.
Instead, he stopped it completely, hovering in place.
It was as if he were waiting for something.
Indeed.
He was waiting for "it" to come over.
That crimson spectral demon had been watching him.
Now that he had stepped into its territory, it was impossible for it not to come.
Perhaps...
In some corner of the mist that Lin Gui could not observe.
It had already been lurking in silence, only refraining from acting because it feared the presence of the Soul-Devouring Sovereign.
Now, that momentary suppressor had left.
This void was the perfect time for "contact."
The wait did not last long.
The crimson mist ahead began to churn and condense wordlessly.
A sharp, overwhelming killing intent erupted without any warning!
All the spectral demons still wandering about scattered like frightened fish.
Lin Gui's left index finger pressed down hard on the button of the wind pressure cannon.
He suddenly looked up and shouted:
"Hold me tight!!"
His head, which had been bowed, snapped up instantly.
Deep within those gray eyes, the soul light points exploded with unprecedented brilliance!
【Eyes of the Netherworld】, fully operational!
The world in his vision changed completely.
It was no longer just vague soul outlines and halos.
He "saw" clearly—
Deep within the churning crimson mist ahead.
A giant female figure, woven and coiled from countless blood-colored thorns.
Was slowly "standing" up.
She stood over ten meters tall, her torso made of thorns twisted and hideous.
Her head had no face, only a bottomless darkness.
Countless sharp thorns spread out from her body, piercing into the surrounding space.
It was as if she had turned the entire domain into a part of her cage.
Her appearance triggered a dramatic shift in the environment.
The ground cracked, oozing viscous, dark red "blood."
The whispers in the air turned into piercing shrieks.
The moment any grayish-white mist touched the domain surrounding her.
It was dyed a desperate, stagnant deep red.
She was the absolute sovereign of this crimson domain.
With just a single glance.
The attack arrived.
The entire withered forest seemed to come alive, transforming into countless shooting blood-red thorns!
It wasn't growth; it was an explosive piercing!
The speed was fast enough to tear the air, yet weirdly, there wasn't a single sound of whistling wind.
Theia and Eve could not see the thorns.
But that bone-chilling killing intent, and the trees and rocks around them being silently severed, shredded, and turned to dust.
Made them realize instantly—
A massive terror had descended before them!
Eve's face turned pale, and she grit her teeth.
The disguised dark brown in her eyes instantly receded, revealing their original, mysterious purple.
Immediately after, a brilliant golden light shone from her chest!
The outline of a pair of wings composed purely of light vaguely appeared on her back, about to spread!
The aura around her surged wildly, instantly breaking through the Transcendent boundary and rushing toward the Legendary rank!
"Don't do it!!"
Lin Gui's roar exploded, drowning out everything else.
"You'll get us killed!!"
Eve's body shook, and her rising aura came to a grinding halt.
The golden light and the phantom wing outlines vanished abruptly.
She let out a muffled groan as a trace of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
In that split second!
A few bits of grass and wood chips, shredded by invisible blades, came flying over.
One fragment with an edge as sharp as a knife grazed Theia's cheek.
It left a tiny but clear bloody cut.
A bead of blood welled up.
Through those gray eyes, the bolstered Demon Eyes saw through all the darkness!
He locked onto a single gap amidst the sky full of thorns!
Lin Gui hesitated no longer.
He completely released the suppression on the flying vessel's mana fluctuations.
Massive amounts of mana instantly flooded into the wind pressure cannon at the tail!
"BOOM————————!!!!"
A dull roar, born not from sound but from pure energy eruption, resounded.
Behind the flying vessel, a visible distortion of air from the cannon blast exploded!
A violent shockwave boomed forward in a fan shape!
The ground below, as if struck by an invisible giant fist, instantly caved in, blasting open a crater over ten meters in diameter!
Dirt, gravel, and even the afterimages of those Low Rank spectral demons were blown away and annihilated together!
The flying vessel itself, under this terrifying reactionary force.
Turned into a meteor!
It did not retreat but instead charged forward toward...
The rapidly disappearing gap in that sky full of slashing blood-red thorns!
The first second.
The flying vessel collided with the foremost torrent of thorns.
There was no explosion, no loud noise.
Those thorns, sharp enough to cut through metal and tear souls.
The moment they touched the ghostly light on the flying vessel's surface.
Seemed to hit a layer of an absolutely slippery barrier.
Wrapped in wind pressure compressed to the limit.
The vessel "squeezed" into a narrow, fleeting gap at an angle and speed that nearly distorted the rules of physics.
The second second.
The flying vessel swept past...
Directly above the ten-meter-tall crimson female demon made of thorns!
The distance was so close that the moment Lin Gui looked up.
He could "see" clearly that on that featureless, dark "face."
There seemed to surface a very human trace of...
Astonishment.
Even that overwhelming, domain-stagnating killing intent faltered for a moment.
The third second.
Just as she reacted and countless thorns manifested into a giant hand that blotted out the sky.
And slammed down toward the flying vessel with a force that crushed space itself.
The flying vessel had already turned into a gray streak, disappearing deep into the thick blood mist.
Within the vision of the entire crimson forest.
All trace of them was completely lost.
Only the giant crater left by the wind pressure cannon and the thorn fragments slowly scattering in the air, brutally broken.
Bore witness to that...
Desperate crossing of less than three seconds.
Rate on N.U.
