Chapter 235 (2/2)

Immediately, they saw many souls flying towards the terrifying mouth. Although these souls looked emotionally numbed, they still gave a desperate scream of despair when they knew what was going to happen to them.

This was the cry of the soul and was especially traumatizing to an ordinary human. The scouts were completely heartbroken by the scene, and even the Dragon Warrior Felina went pale from the heart-wrenching scene.

Annie asked Link in a trembling voice, “Why is it devouring souls?”

Link signaled for everyone to keep running as he explained, “I have injured the wielder of the Divine Gear, Auselia, just now. In order to rescue Auselia, it had consumed some of its internal power. For a Divine Gear to maintain a stable presence in the World of Firuman, it needs to have a constant supply of energy. Alas, souls are the largest and most efficient source of energy one could ever find in this world.”

Link decided to stop hiding the facts and came clean with what he knew.

The moment everyone heard this speech, they all staggered and tripped over their steps.

What did they just here? Divine Gear? Isn’t it just a giant snake? Since when did it become a Divine Gear? What is their correlation?

Felina was as shocked as any one of the scouts. She suddenly remembered something and spoke with a voice that trembled violently, “The Dark Serpent…The weapon of the Spider Queen, Lolth? Oh, God of the Dragons, bless me, no wonder it could destroy the balance of the world! It is a Dark Divine Gear. To think that I am fighting against a Divine Gear—I must be mad!”

This was an even greater blow to the scouts. They had always thought the person in the Skeletal Fort was merely an extremely powerful Magician. They had never imagined it would be a Divine Gear at work.

Thinking back upon their actions of infiltrating the Skeletal Fort, everyone felt a chill down their spine.

“What do we do now? We will not be able to defeat the Divine Gear. We will not be able to escape,” a scout cried in despair with a hint of whimpering in his voice.

Everyone looked at Link. The Magician who had gotten them safely out of many predicaments and seemed to be extremely knowledgeable was their last source of hope.

Link still had a calm expression on his face and not a shred of doubt could be seen. This was massively reassuring.

He spoke calmly and said, “Don’t panic. There is nothing to fear. Although it is a Divine Gear, it is still merely a weapon and has its limitations. Look at it now; it seems to be alive in the Soul Realm, devouring souls like no tomorrow. In fact, it is merely a projection of the Divine Gear in the Physical World. Most likely, Auselia is currently using the weapon to absorb souls. Most importantly, she doesn’t seem to have noticed us yet.”

The Divine Gear was indeed strong. However, Auselia was not. The Divine Gear could bestow Auselia with many powerful skills, but it would not be able to increase her intelligence. This was Link’s chance.

After hearing Link’s words and making sure that the Divine Gear was merely absorbing souls while staying stationary, they managed to somehow suppress their feelings of fear.

Link then clapped his hands and encouraged, “Alright, we simply have to keep running until we are out of danger.”

There was nothing more to say, and they ran for their lives at top speed.

Link followed behind the group and would look behind him from time to time to glance at the Dark Serpent’s movements. As he watched, an in-game message appeared in his field of vision.

Triggering Epic Series Mission: Skeletal Fort Step 4

Mission: Escape

Content: Escape from Auselia’s pursuit; Kanorse must stay alive and remain conscious.

Reward 1: 200 Omni Points

Reward 2: Level-7 Glyph of Soul

Two hundred Omni Points was not much. However, the Level-7 Glyph of Soul was extremely enticing. Link had once enjoyed the convenience that came with the Glyph of Soul and simply could not give this up. He accepted the mission without any hesitation and continued to run.

After two more minutes, he realized that the Dark Serpent in the sky had already stopped the devouring of souls. It started looking around and after ten seconds or so locked its gaze in Link’s direction.

Link was horrified. Could he be exposed? However, it did not take him long before he realized what was happening. The Dark Serpent was not looking for him, but Kanorse. Kanorse was enveloped in the power of the Divine Gear, allowing the opponent to locate him easily.

In other words, if they did not dispel the snake venom in Kanorse’s body, the group was akin to holding a torch in the darkness. They would never escape Auselia’s pursuit.

This was horrible!

However, more horrible things started happening—the Dark Serpent in the sky started moving towards them!

Felina also realized the peculiar actions of the Dark Serpent and could not help but cry out, “It is coming towards us—such insane speed! What do we do?”

This was a Divine Gear. They had no intention of going up against it in a direct battle.

Link had naturally realized this as well. In fact, he had found more details, saying, “Don’t panic, it’s not the end yet. We are in the Soul Realm, and the opponent is unlikely to know where we are. Look at it; it is still looking for us!”

Everyone immediately looked over, and sure enough, the Dark Serpent was slithering around in the air without any direction. Although it was traveling in the correct general direction, it would sometimes make a wrong turn and was not exactly advancing towards them.

“Alright, we are heading north right now. We have to run at full speed. The moment we go past the Dark Forest and reach the Ice Peak Fortress, we will have won the battle!”

Everyone was excited at the thought and followed Link’s footsteps. They made a detour before heading north.

In the Soul Realm, they were progressing at a much faster pace. They could cover 150 feet per second. As the distance between the Dark Serpent and the group widened, they regained confidence and their ability to run at an even faster speed. After running for more than half an hour, the Dark Serpent was already completely out of sight.

Link encouraged, “See, the Divine Gear is not as terrifying as we thought.”

Upon seeing this scene, everyone heaved a sigh of relief and moved even faster forward.

After another hour, they had already covered over a hundred miles and were well into the Dark Forest. Many trees appeared in the Soul Realm, and in addition to the fact that there was no snow on the ground, the surface of the trees was also emitting a faint light. It looked almost exactly the same as the Physical Realm, only a bit dimmer.

Suddenly, Felina came to a stop and gasped, “That is weird; did you guys see a shadow run past?”