The third layer was similar to the first... except that there never seemed to be a sunrise for ages. Darkness reigned in the third layer for so long that its existence had turned tangible, a murky presence that clutched his senses.
As for the suppression... he felt it the moment he entered through the gate. The speed at which [Wings of Radiance] was going slowed down to half unless he pumped more energy through his radiant heart.
He didn't try to go for that at this moment, as he planned on scouting and inspecting this part of the subspace first. However, the tangible presence of the darkness was already getting on his nerves; he wondered how worse it was for the rest.
Agnes will probably be fine, he thought. Her affinity to dark essence made her somewhat impervious to the suppression. She might not have full access to her full capacity, but she should have enough to boss around.
He flew around for only about half an hour and finally found some sign of life. Unfortunately, it wasn't humans, but a pack of forsakens, including a couple of trolls and half a dozen orcs. They were moving without any signs of worry over the damning presence of darkness or suppression.
He deliberated for a moment as to whether he should end them here or not. He really didn't plan on fighting right now without any cause, but thinking these lots would only make it difficult for them when they joined up with the rest of their numbers.
So instead of worrying over it, he landed before them, withdrawing his glowing wings. They didn't seem to notice him at first with the murky darkness, so he made it easier for them by waving his hand.
"Hey, fellas," he called loudly. "Would any of you be kind enough to provide me with some information about this region? I'm kind of lost..."
It only took a moment and the screeches kept coming before the group of forsaken shot at him, brandishing their swords and blunt weapons.
Then he groaned, remembering his promise to Ariha. He promised not to wield void essence any more than necessary.
"Fine, I'll try, but only after I get out of this place," he mumbled.
He enabled [Wings of Radiance] once more and flew away. He encountered another couple of groups of forsaken. He eliminated them neatly without leaving much evidence of the act, even though he didn't need to.
"I wonder how many corpses were rotting in my subspace," he mumbled. It had kind of become a bad habit of his, collecting corpses, thinking they would be worth a small fortune. Like, he wasn't even poor anymore—well, technically he didn't have much wealth on him after the shopping spree at the emporium, but he could earn a sizeable amount of credits and essence gems doing runesmithing work.
He shifted his attention back to the ground, finally coming across something that looked like a tent and wards erected by civilised people. He didn't come down instantly, instead hovered at the top of the dome-like ward. A single glance of inspection told him the security of the wards was heavier than normal.
There were three layers of barrier, which would likely withstand a blow or two from even a gold ranker, while anything below would have to work for over an hour to even make a scratch on it. There were even alarms, isolation, and another script in place, which made it an absolutely great ward construction for a place like this.
He was wondering how to disable a part of the ward and make his way in without alerting the people inside, when he saw a gate opening in the face of the barrier as a figure shot out. Followed by another person on foot who shouted after the person flying and gave chase.
The slender figure and voice indicated both were women, while the dark essence wings spread behind one of them revealed that she was someone he was familiar with.
That's Agnes, he thought, narrowing his eyes at the woman flying away. Then he turned his eyes to the woman sprinting on the ground. Who is this, though?