Chapter 355: Chapter 355: Sword of the Forgotten Emperor

"Yelen?" Eren called out, but he received no answer. It took him a moment to realize that the spirit contract mark was missing.

The mark on the back of his hand was gone. Even the mark from his contract with Felona had disappeared.

"Identification!" He tried to use the Identification skill on a simple rock, hoping to find a clue, but the skill did not activate.

"Inventory!" He called out his inventory, but the outcome was the same. The inventory screen he had become extremely familiar with didn't appear.

"Flight."

"Strengthen."

"Speed."

Eren tried using the Dragon Tongue, but the result didn't change. No matter which skill he used, nothing worked. It was as if he had lost everything he had come to rely on.

"Is this the work of the Holy Church?" he wondered, his expression darkening.

He already knew the Holy Church was planning a trap, but this looked too surreal to be their work. Moreover, he had a guardian to protect him or at least wake him up.

The Guardian was connected not only to his body but also to his soul. So how could he fall for this trap with such ease?

Lost in thoughts, Eren stepped forward. To understand just what kind of place this was, he had to at least step out of the crater first, which was no different than a grand valley for someone of his size.

If one were to measure the depths of this crater, Eren was sure it was more than a few hundred meters at least. Compared to the sheer diameter of this crater, the depth felt almost insignificant.

It took him several hours before he finally managed to claw his way out of the crater.

His clothes were covered in dust, and his body felt completely exhausted, but a sense of accomplishment washed over him as he surveyed the world beyond the crater's rim.

He reached out his hand, grabbing onto the Sword to pull it out, despite the presence of the shackles. Unfortunately, he wasn't strong enough to pull the Sword.

Even as his muscles bulged, the sword didn't even come out an inch from the ground.

At that moment, it made sense to give up. It was impossible to pull out the sword, especially without his abilities. Still, he refused to give up.

If he could use the Sword Emperor's Aura, that meant this world wasn't as restricted as he thought.

"No matter what happens, I will pull you out today!" Eren exclaimed as he strengthened the Sword Emperor's Aura even more.

He was certain that this place held some meaning for him. There was a nagging feeling inside his heart that if he gave up now, he might regret it a lot.

He still had one use of the Pendant of Poison left. Eren didn't know if he could use that in this world when he couldn't even see the pendant of poison around his neck.

He tried to connect to the Pendant of Poison, similar to what he had done when he used it to kill the Sea Dragon Prince.

To his surprise, a pendant started materializing around his neck, as if listening to his desires. The pendant of poison started shining, just as brightly as the sword.

More importantly, it boosted his Sword Emperor's Aura, merging it with the poison aura which unlocked the true potential of the Sword Emperor's Aura.

His aura became absolutely poisoned. As Eren pulled the sword with all his might, his poisonous aura started decaying the shackles around the Sword.

The sword's humming intensified while the shackles started breaking, one after another.

With the last shackle breaking, the sword came out with such force that Eren almost stumbled a few steps back before falling on his butt.

At the same time, he noticed a bright green light shoot out of his Sword that flew straight to the sky, as if targeting heaven itself.

Eren's body was momentarily frozen as he saw a crack appear in the sky, as if space itself was sliced in two.