Chapter 606: Hidden Element (1/2)

”1000 miles left people! Come on, we so close!” Raven stated in order to make his teammates feel better.

Although he himself didn't feel any encouragement from his own words, he figured that he should still remind them about this. Anything works so long as they could reach their destination.

Obviously, a few weeks passed and the team was doing their best to reach the peak as soon as they could. They encountered spikes and increases in pressure which delayed them even further but the team powered through them and were nearly adjusted themselves at the increased pressure within 1000 miles distance away from the peak.

Looking at the faces of his teammates, Raven sighed to himself. It was obvious that all of them, including him were battered. It was as if they've been fighting against an endless wave of enemies all this time without any rest.

This might all seem unnatural, and that's because it is. Raven figured this out a little too late, and couldn't do anything against it.

Typically, although the pressure is heavy and irritating since it increases ever so often to delay them in their journey, that shouldn't be enough to leave visible traces of severe fatigue and mental distress to his teammates, or even himself however for some reason, it does.

Raven of course noticed this and investigated it but unfortunately, he's a little too late in his discovery.

As it turns out, the pressure contained a hidden element that completely evaded Raven's senses, bypassing even his ocular technique as if it was nothing. It had to be known that Raven's ocular technique allows him to see a lot of things, even Heavenly Laws couldn't escape his gaze through its use but for some odd reasons, this hidden element completely rendered his ocular technique useless.

However, even though this 'hidden element' was invisible to Raven, it doesn't mean that he's out of ways to discover what it does. And to his surprise, the effect was more scarier compared to what he originally suspected.

The 'hidden element' could be mentioned at the same air as the 'irritating' nature of Asphodel's temperature.

Asphodel's temperature was hot, not only that it was also cursed by the Deadly Sin of Wrath, causing anyone exposed to it to be irritated. The more irrational they got, the more reckless they get and the more they are susceptible for corruption.

This concept was practically the same with this 'hidden element'. It contained an 'intent', and by Raven's estimations, it is the reason why they are feeling extremely battered right now even though they were getting enough rest.

Raven theorized and he came up with a possible answer. The hidden element in here, drains their energy faster and contains some form of mental pressure. This isn't surprising considering that the pressure could even slow down the rate at which their energies circulate throughout their bodies.

Due to this, they get tired faster and it would also seem that that closer they get to the peak, the faster this exhaustion gets to them. Additionally, since the pressure spikes/increases at certain distances, they were delayed again and again, causing them to feel like this trip is never going to end, increasing the mental burden even more.

Raven discovered this way too late. He tried to fix this problem but lo and behold, none of his trusted runes so far worked. Well...it's not like it's completely useless. His intent was strong due to his soul being stronger and will was firmer compared to his teammates, therefore this hidden element didn't really affected him greatly.

That being said, he discovered that any rune he creates in this place that has his intent and will, will be eroded swiftly and wouldn't even last for a day. The rune was still effective, but without his intent and will, it's effects were greatly diminished and didn't have much effect towards his teammates.

This really bummed him out. This was actually the first time that his rune had failed in solving his problems. He wasn't so upset, just bummed out. He already knew that sooner or later, someone or something will come to prove that his runes aren't going to solve everything, and he already accepted that.

The reason why he's bummed out, is because he can't see what's causing it. That's all there is to it.

Raven was of course worried about the mental states of his teammates. Although he didn't inform them what was going on, he still tried to lessen the effect of this hidden element to them for as much as he could.

Unfortunately, he couldn't much from here on out. And if his theory proves him right, then his assistance will greatly diminish the closer they got at the peak.

'Hopefully they could prevail from this. We're so close. Failure isn't an option now.' Raven thought to himself as he placed incense sticks and lit them up, placing them within their tents.

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