“Aaaaaah—!!!”
Theia's scream was torn to shreds by the violent air currents.
This acceleration was far more intense and crude than any before.
The entire world frantically receded, elongated, and distorted in their vision.
The flying vessel raced through the thick mist above the Wailing Corridor.
The grayish-white mist was forcibly plowed open, creating a straight vacuum channel.
The scenery on both sides—
Withered giant trees, hideous rocky bones, and wandering spectral demon shadows—
All turned into blurry blocks of color that vanished in a flash.
Behind them, the furious howl of that crimson female thorn demon finally arrived.
“Roar—!!”
The sound was sharp and ear-piercing, carrying a violent soul-level shockwave.
But the howl lasted for only an instant.
In the next second,
It was left far behind, rapidly weakening and dissipating.
It became blurred and unreal, as if separated by a thick curtain of water.
Within just a few seconds,
The surrounding pressure suddenly lightened.
The persistent crimson killing intent had vanished.
Lin Gui grit his teeth and took the lever that limited the flying vessel's speed.
He pressed it down to the bottom with all his might!
The wind pressure cannon at the rear of the vessel abruptly went silent.
The twelve wings distributed along both sides of the hull simultaneously adjusted.
Shifting from their tilted “sprint” angle, they leveled out completely, unfolding like the outstretched wings of a giant bird.
“Screee—!!”
The sound of intense air friction immediately turned sharp and grating.
The speed of the vessel, which had been as fast as a meteor, began to decelerate at a visible rate.
However, the process of slowing down was neither smooth nor gentle.
The immense inertia caused the hull to tremble and jolt violently.
Theia and Eve were slammed back into their seats by the inertia, nearly unable to breathe.
The grayish-white mist ahead was arrogantly pushed aside and churned by the vessel.
Long, tumbling wakes were pulled out from both sides of the hull.
Lin Gui counted down frantically in his heart.
69... 68... 66...
The numbers jumped in his tension.
He simply let out his voice and roared hoarsely:
“55... 54... 53!”
The flying vessel's speed was indeed dropping.
But the reckless burst of acceleration from moments ago had been too violent.
The speed had once soared to the point of near loss of control.
Even though the wind pressure cannon had been off for more than thirty seconds now,
The flying vessel still maintained a heart-stopping high speed.
The process of deceleration was despicably slow.
This staggering speed and energy disturbance were like throwing a giant rock into a stagnant pool.
Ripples began to spread into the distance.
Over ten kilometers away, within the territories of several other Epic demons.
Those terrifying existences, which had long lain dormant and rarely moved significantly, simultaneously...
Cast their perception toward this direction.
To the East, deep within the soul-frozen tundra that was perennially covered in thick ice crystals.
A pale skeletal mountain shuddered slightly.
Within the countless hollow eye sockets on the mountain's surface, eerie blue cold flames lit up at once.
Bone-chilling spiritual ripples spread out like a tide.
To the West, in the domain churning with pitch-black mire and grudges.
At the center of the mire, a giant face stitched together from rotting faces slowly surfaced.
It grinned with its hollow mouth, emitting a silent, greedy swallowing fluctuation.
Viscous malice rippled along with it.
Further away, several blurry and massive outlines loomed within the thick mist.
Some spread phantom wings that blotted out their vision.
Others extended twisted limbs as massive as mountain ranges.
Ripples of souls, each different in nature yet equally horrific,
Acted like invisible tentacles, piercing through the barriers of space.
Intertwining, enveloping, and searching toward the trajectory where the flying vessel was racing.
Lin Gui's countdown was broken in the gale.
“42... 41... 40!”
He could feel those cold gazes from afar,
Like physical shackles, stacking layer upon layer on his back.
Worse still, these disturbed Epic beings...
Did not seem satisfied with merely looking.
The skeletal mountain in the ice crystal domain began to slowly rise.
The sound of countless icicles shattering faintly carried over from more than ten kilometers away.
The giant face in the mire dragged its viscous body, flowing toward this direction.
The massive outlines in other directions also began to shift.
They did not move fast.
But every step caused a dull tremor in the ground and a violent fluctuation at the soul level.
The thick mist across the entire Wailing Corridor began to churn and change color erratically.
The deathly silence was broken; a grander and more chaotic commotion was brewing.
“20... 19...!”
The flying vessel's speed finally dropped into a controllable range.
The twelve wings were fully extended, vibrating violently as they provided maximum resistance.
Lin Gui's hands were as steady as stone, precisely fine-tuning their direction.
His eyes were locked on the front; that fluctuating membrane was getting closer and closer.
Speed, angle, distance... everything was part of his frantic calculations.
The countdown neared its end.
“10... 9...!”
The blank zone of Avalon was right before them.
Lin Gui's left hand once again rested on the activation button of the wind pressure cannon.
His heart beat like a drum.
If Avalon wasn't ahead...
If behind that membrane lay a precipice, a nest, or the mouth of another demon...
He would activate the wind pressure cannon without hesitation.
Following the second escape route he had planned long ago, he would flee for his life.
“5... 4...!”
Unease, like cold vines, wound tightly around Lin Gui's heart.
He was afraid.
Afraid that this journey through forests, rifts, the seabed, and precipices...
Afraid that Theia's expectations, Eve's prophecy, and his own judgment...
Would ultimately come to nothing.
“3... 2... 1!”
The countdown hit zero.
The nose of the flying vessel touched that invisible, fluctuating membrane.
In that very instant,
A calm, ripple-less voice, sounding as if it resonated directly within the depths of his soul,
Rang out in Lin Gui's mind precisely on time:
【Long-term commission “Escort Theia to Avalon”...】
【Conditions met. Determination: Completed.】
His suspended heart crashed down to its place at this moment.
The flying vessel shuddered slightly as it passed through that membrane.
It was as if it had passed through a layer of cool water.
The scene before his eyes changed abruptly.
The thick, oddly colored grayish mist vanished instantly.
The soul-suppressing whispers and shrieks disappeared without a trace.
Below, there were no longer hideous rocky bones or wandering specters.
Instead, there was...
A city-state with flickering lights.
It sat quietly within a basin enveloped by a soft glimmer.
In the center of the basin, a massive black pillar towered, propping up the veil that isolated this city-state from the outside world.
Like a giant umbrella, it shielded everything within from the dangers outside.
And beneath that veil,
The city walls were low, and the houses were scattered.
There was no heaven-shaking killing intent, no terrifying pressure.
Only a sense of peace, as if it were...
Disconnected from the world.
Rate on N.U.
