Chapter 267: 60,000 Mile Divine Sense

...

Whisp!

The wolf-kin pilot didn't even get the time to fully construct his exclamation as a crimson-colored energy invaded his mind and seemingly took over his motor functions for half a split second.

"How long until we arrive!?"

A voice entered inside the pilot's mind, and as if he had turned into an automated AI, he responded, "four days till we reach the landing location on the second step."

"Very well."

Following such apathetic words from Azmond, the crimson energy seemingly faded out of the captain's mind before he came back to his senses.

And, along with his soberness, the tall, handsome figure that was once there disappeared.

"Huh? What was that? Did I black out for a second?? And why does my memory seem a little hazy?"

He went on to question the events that he had no recollection of for another few seconds before he set them aside and focused back on piloting the Swan Serenity.

FWIP!

Azmond reappeared back in the lounging area meant for the guests before he took back the seat he was sitting at not even a few seconds ago.

His voice sounded out not long after he settled down:

"Four days."

|Huh?| Boundless wasn't following.

She had seen him disappear a second ago, but she had just assumed he went to go get a snack!

Boundless never would've guessed that he went to 'extract' the arrival date from the captain of the ship they were riding on.

"Four days until we arrive," Azmond repeated with a patient tone.

Which made the second step around three times larger than the first step!

Azmond had originally assumed that he could gauge both the first and second steps with his divine sense before he entered the Luminous Grounds; however, he was quickly proven wrong upon truly entering the second step.

What Azmond saw in the beginning should've just been a few protruding spots on the first step that gave him the illusion of it being the second step, when in reality the entire scope of the place called the 'Luminous Grounds of the Nightmare Council' went completely beyond his expectations!

And he doubted his surprise would end with just the second step, as he still had 18 more steps to traverse (not including the illusory 21st step).

WHIZZ!

Azmond, Boundless, and even Emu continued their observation of the crimson-stained worlda world that lay tens of thousands of meters below as they noticed that every layer of this new world was a blood-red color, similar to the first floor; however, the red here was far cleaner and more pristine-looking than the red glossy world on the first step.

There were also weird blood-colored streams and lakes on the second step as well. Which was something that the first step was lacking in.

Azmond didn't know how the denizens on the first step were able to acquire any source of liquids without a proper water source.

But he did see them drink some type of liquid in the taverns and bars on the first step, so he presumed they had some way to transport materials from the higher floors to the floors below.

His best guess was that they used some type of teleportation spell or formation, like the one that the BranchMaster of Riverbloom-

"Wait!"

Azmond abruptly stood up as he suddenly recalled something!

"I forgot to visit the BranchMaster and his disciple, Elara!" He blurted out with a strained tone.

Azmond couldn't believe he forgot something like that! What about his noble adventurer status!? He was supposed to climb the ranks of the Adventurers Association until he surpassed the SSS-Rank!

Now what was he supposed to do after essentially dragging his own name through the mud!?

"Mhmu??" His katana squeaked a little.

Emu, along with Boundless, watched Azmond go through both external and internal freak-out sessions with perplexed looks on their faces.

They had never seen him show so much emotion as he was at that moment. They almost couldn't believe their eyes