He continued the exploration of the hidden realm; his Unprecedented Sense was hinting at something, so he decided to fully use it. As soon as the skill was activated, his senses changed. The smell of the grass sprouting between the walls intensified, and they felt oddly familiar. The air moved, whispering sounds.
He also sensed a hidden path in the wall he discovered.
Noah pressed on that spot. The grass grew and began to wrap around him, slowly pulling him in.
What should have been a wall of stone engulfed him like a swamp.
And as the grass thinned, a new scenery emerged.
"Wow."
He could not marvel. A gigantic tree and flowers filled his vision harmoniously. Transparent dewdrops fell from the tips of the enormous leaves.
A natural world that one would only see in paintings unfolded before him.
The ceiling was hardly visible. The area was as vast as a sizable city; despite being indoors, soft sunlight was felt.
"Fascinating."
Noah composed his emotions.
Indeed, it was an impressive sight, one he could gaze at forever, but his goal was the gigantic tree in this place. He could instinctively feel it.
At the center of the space stretched a tree reaching the ceiling.
That tree's roots must be the target of this mission; the race for the exploration of the hidden realm had reached its summit.
Noah moved forward.
No spirits were visible. However, glares from within the bushes were directed at him.
Hostility, anger, hatred. All these negative emotions were conveyed in those stares.
He ignored these emotions and arrived in front of the gigantic tree.
Smirking at the entity guarding the place, he saw.
[A spirit dwelling in bones appears.]
"A skeleton?"
A human skeleton, reduced to mere bones, awaited him in front of the tree.
Its jawbone clicked.
[Human who killed the beings of nature and destroyed the grace left by the King of Spirits. This is our realm. Go back.]
"Sorry, but I can't do that.."
Noah simply refused and pointed his sword at the huge tree.
The skeleton let out a faint groan.
[Foolish. Indeed foolish, humans are always like this.]
''You speak as if you know many humans?" Noah could not help but become curious.
[I know.]
The skeleton spoke calmly.
Noah wasn't interested in hearing as he felt like he would be wasting his time if he were to listen to more.
"Let's stop talking here. We are wasting too much time anyway.''
Boom!
Flames that melted and burned everything flailed wildly. Noah moved swiftly, dodging the flames that passed close to his head, and narrowly missed his thigh.
[You're quick.]
The skeleton said calmly and combined the whips into a giant spear of flame.
Swoosh!
Thanks to his quick reaction, he narrowly avoided it. He shook off his hand, heated by the flames.
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"Hot."
[You are strong.]
The skeleton was honestly surprised. This young Player housing an unknown yet terrifying power was indeed a troublesome foe to deal with.
But that was all. The difference in power was clear.
[The sun within me is a grace bestowed by our King of Spirits. The power of the Spirit King dwells within me. You, being merely human, cannot resist.]
The skeleton clenched both fists.
[So die like that.]
[The spirit dwelling in bones activated Artificial Sun.]
A small sphere of flames appeared in the skeleton's hand. It rapidly expanded, engulfing the entire space.
Noah did not try to escape. He calmly watched the expanding sphere. Seeing this, the skeleton sneered.
[Accepting failure and embracing death? A wise choice.]
"Hardly."
Still, the skeleton's words weren't wrong.
The power it possessed was indeed strong but not something he couldn't overcome.
The skeleton claimed the power of the sun it wielded was a blessing from the Spirit King.
The solution was simple, to overpower him.
[Night of Death!]
[Seal of Death]
[Lord of Night]
His activated his exclusive skills one after another, their synergy created a powerful explosion.
Boom!
The sky darkened and a powerful power settled inside him.
[...This power?]
Unknowngly Noah's eyes turned red for a moment. His muscles activated. Gripping his sword, hellfire surrounded it and he swung it fiercely.
Boom!
The sphere split with an explosion.