Chapter 622
As I leave the A-Class suites and step into the elevator, another pulse of divine energy ripples into my consciousness.
Raven's is even weaker, becoming overshadowed by a bright True Core far away.
If I were in my greater form and released my full perception, I could get a better view of what's happening.
Instead of making my way toward the surface, I press the button to head down toward the labyrinth on the 20th floor, believing this will be a faster way to leave this base deep within the ground.
Many theories race through my mind, but none of them are concrete as the true nature of the silver sword wielder is still a mystery to me.
In my double's memories while I was recovering, I caught a glimpse of the empty entrance hall of this fortress and recalled Raven's words that she would be visiting the Apex Region to pick up a package.
I piece together that she took the white dragon statue for some reason, and the only other clue she mentioned in our short exchange was that she's part of an organization called The Order.
Prior to today, I never knew any other True Cores even existed on this planet, and now they're making themselves known left and right...
The elevator hits the bottom floor, and I waste no time activating my stealth skill and flying forward to dive straight into the glowing green portal at the back of the room.
Less than a second later, I've dungeon-walked to the furthest dungeon to the west in all of the 8 Great Regions I have access to.
I then exit to find myself in the outside world and soar high up into the sky, away from any civilization, before activating my greater form and letting out a pulse of pure True Core perception.
To the west, in the direction the pulses came from, a whole new portion of the world I've never seen before becomes clear.
Past the furthest western portion of the 8 Great Regions, there are enormous barren lands full of large lakes, hundreds of kilometers wide, and vast stretches of forest that rise upon mountains and fall deep into valleys.
Wildlife and dungeons fill these lands, and small self-sufficient civilizations can be seen around a few of the lakes. However, the further I let my sense reach out, the fewer humans I sense.
My mind settles on a portion of dense forest about 500 kilometers in diameter that has no dungeons and not a single wild animal in its vicinity.
A white marble palace comes into my senses, and the imagery of pristine white monster statues lining a walkway to its open front doors comes to the forefront of my mind while freshly obliterated trees surround the white mansion atop a small hill.
Inside, it is hard to sense exactly what is happening, as the entire white structure glows brightly with yellow divine energy, as if it's alive.
I make a split-second decision and propel myself forward toward the structure.
My senses of the woman I just fought are fluctuating and pulsing, and every time they do, her baseline of energy becomes weaker.
This is exactly what I remember my own mind, body, and core experiencing when the wounds ravaging my being were catching up to me.
The man made of threads breaks into countless pieces, and the entire mansion shudders.
My speed from the flight over still hasn't slowed, so I continue flying forward until I hit the base of the staircases at the back of the room, making the mansion rattle again.
The white marble texture stops moving up Raven's neck and toward her core, but my senses are still on high alert, as I know this isn't over.
There was no presence of a True Core in that manifestation I just cut down.
It was strong, imbued with about the same strength as the bronze dragon, but I feel the majority of this being's energy still coursing through the walls and floors of the mansion itself.
I send out a dense wave of perception, and now I'm able to see inside where I couldn't before.
Every fiber of this place is vibrating with divine threads, and they're all coming from a single point, far at the back of the second floor.
A dense, hot True Core sits at the back of the mansion, but it is hidden behind thousands of layers of thin white webbing, like a hardened marble sphere.
I can't tell exactly who or what's inside, or how strong exactly the core is, but I know this is where all of the danger is coming from.
As soon as my head turns up and toward the source, three more tall men jump down from the second floor with jumbles of white string for a face and arms that spew silky divine webs.
Each one of them has the same amount of divine strength as the single manifestation I cut down before. I'd expect more manifestations to equate to the power being spread thinner, but this isn't the case.
Still, with pure force and the overpowering nature of my attacks, I'm able to jump upward and spin my blades to cut through all three of the manifestations in a single rotation.
As soon as they're sliced through, they too fall to the floor of the mansion like a lifeless jumble of spider's web. Divine energy doesn't even stay imbued in these parts; it seeps back into the floor and walls, traveling to the source.
Following through with my upward slash, I make it to the second floor of the mansion and take in the full view of the dozens of human statues that line the long walkway toward the massive marble ball at its back.
My greater form is large, but the high ceilings in this mansion make it so my full energy body doesn't even reach halfway to the ceiling.
As the light from my burning hot blades illuminates the entire corridor, an even brighter glow pulses from the massive marble at the back of the mansion, and a loud eccentric laugh echoes through my mind, as if direct telepathy is being used.
Then, a voice enters my head too, but it doesn't feel like it's talking to me. It's more like mad rambling.
"Yes... This is it.... The hero arrives. A flaming man comes to save the invisible warrior he knows nothing about, only to burn both of their dreams to ash. In all my years, decades of searching, I've wanted to craft the perfect piece. Day after day, night after night, there was truly no perfect moment in time worth capturing... Until now..."
As his words stop, the two front doors of the mansion swing shut with a bang.
Simultaneously, every one of the human statues turns its head toward me, and their eyes glow bright yellow beneath the hard white exterior.