Dimensional Descent

Leonel’s gaze flickered.

With a quick sweep, he took a mental note of the state of everyone. From what he could see, the closest to returning to their full strength were Myghell and Aina. But, even then, they were restricted to about 20-30% of what they could do. It would take them at least another day or two before they were back up to their peak condition.

As for the others, they were in an even worst state, most of whom could barely even stand on their own two feet. The likes of Noah, Karolus, Elthor and, surprisingly, Savahn, had about 10-15% of their strength now.

’Hm?’

Leonel’s gaze narrowed as he locked onto the pale faced Yuri. The latter hadn’t spoken to him or even looked at him since they ’reunited’. It wasn’t that big of a deal to Leonel as he was never truly close with Yuri to begin with, but it was clear and obvious that the latter wasn’t very happy with him at all.

This wasn’t a very surprising turn of events. After all, even though he didn’t show his face as they left, Leonel had felt a very dense killing intent lock onto him when he was leaving through the portal toward the Void Palace. And, it was especially obvious when Aina called him ’King’. So, Leonel had already come to understand that the father-adoptive daughter pair hated his guts.

That said, this wasn’t the reason Leonel had locked onto Yuri at all.

’100%.’

Yuri was in perfect condition. In fact, after scanning everyone here, Leonel was absolutely certain that she was only faking her current state.

Feeling Leonel’s gaze, Yuri finally looked up to meet it. The flash of coldness that followed it made Leonel feel as though thousands of needles were piercing into his mind. However, he looked back, unwavering.

He didn’t know why it was that Yuri was hiding herself like this as he didn’t know the truth behind her origins. But, for the moment, he chose not to expose her. He gained no real benefit from it, and, in truth, things might actually be an advantage in this way.

”Let’s go. Activate your armors partially, it will help.”

Leonel turned his attention toward the center of the village, expecting for there to be some sort of prepared explanation or orientation, but he realized almost immediately that he had forgotten where he was. This wasn’t some nice and cushy organization that coddled its disciples. From the moment they had stepped foot into this place, they had entered a death trap.

The wall of black logs that formed a barrier of protection that separated Village 0012 from the forest beyond was standing tall and proud in one moment, but in the next…

The faint sounds of something large falling immediately caught Leonel’s attention. But, even within the walls of the village, the range of his Internal Sight was at most double what it had been in the forest before. There was simply no way for him to locate something his eyes couldn’t lock onto. Very soon, though, he wouldn’t have to.

It started as barely a flicker of light in the dense fog that formed the canopy of the skies. But, it very quickly became a blinding orb of fluorescence, shining as though a star was crashing down from above.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The meteors crashed down, sending a wall of pressurized air out in all directions.

Leonel was almost thrown off of his feet. He crossed a forearm over his face, his feet trying to dig into the ground but finding that it was so hard that he couldn’t find a firm grip anywhere.

Luckily, the pressure wall didn’t last very long, though the billowing clouds of dust that followed it didn’t have the decency of doing the same. However, it didn’t need to for Leonel to realized what had happened.

The wall. It was gone.

Faster than even the clouds of dust, the fog rolled in, overwhelming everything from all directions and causing the concentration of Anarchic Force to multiply several times over. As much as the others had been struggling before, very soon, they would find themselves meeting a wall of opposition they wouldn’t be able to walk out of.

”Now!”

Leonel’s command roared out again. The others had been too shocked to act on his first call, but hearing his urgency, their sluggish minds snapped awake for a moment.

Using what little strength they could muster, they poured their Force into the beast skin armor Leonel had given them. They were all greatly apprehensive. After all, they barely had any strength remaining, so how could they easily accept using what little they had left in this fashion? However, there was something about the momentum of Leonel’s voice that made them trust him.

The moment they acted, the pieces of their beast clothing seemed to vibrate to a unique cadence, a dense black fog connecting them all and enveloping their bodies. Some gained powerful horns, others gained large claws, some had longer legs than more while some gained longer arms, some even gained tendrils just like Leonel had. But, what wasn’t doubted was that each gained a large leap forward in strength.

That, though, was just the tip of the iceberg. They felt the effect of the Anarchic Force lessen, allowing them to breathe easier and for their bodies to feel lighter. It also made the process of acclimation easier, although much slower.

When the wall of fog finally made it to them, the horror they had braced for fell like a single drop of water amidst a vast ocean. They couldn’t help but look toward Leonel’s back with hardly concealed admiration and worship.

What small reprieve they gained, expectedly, didn’t last for very long, though.

Numerous pillars of light appeared in the distance. But, it only took a moment for them to begin to thin, separating out into fine, thin and breaking lines of gold before vanishing entirely.

’Markers maybe?’

It was hard to gauge distance in all this fog, especially since they seemed to have purposely made every pillar the same thickness. Leonel only got a general direction out of them.

”The True Selection Begins now. All restrictions have been destroyed and Cursed Beasts are quite drawn to loud noises. I would advise you all get moving as quickly as possible.”