NOVEL NEXT Chapter 347: Unknown place
Leon stepped forward, voice steady but not unkind.
"What are you two exactly? You guys should know that I can see you clearly now."
The girl's translucent eyes went impossibly wide with genuine shock and mounting fear.
Can he see us? He can actually see us?! That's not supposed to be possible!
She had complimented this strange silver-white-haired man earlier on his striking, unusual looks, which had made her brother Mars start bullying him playfully since Mars could clearly tell the living man couldn't perceive their presence at all.
When the stranger had started casually taking various objects from their abandoned city without permission, her brother had gone completely nuts with territorial anger, trying desperately to punch and physically stop him despite knowing it was futile.
But the living weren't supposed to see or hear souls at all under any normal circumstances. The first time this man had made them aware he might somehow be different was when he'd called out "Who's there?" to seemingly empty air.
Ivy had known then that this unknown species resembling a human was definitely different somehow—his soul structure was far too unique and complex despite his superficially human-looking physical appearance.
But now he can fully see us? Actually perceive our forms? How is that even possible?
His strange, mystical eyes—filled with swirling colors like shattered glass—were looking directly at her and her brother Mars, who had just backed away several feet in confusion and growing fear.
The ancient teaching of their elders suddenly replayed with crystal clarity in her mind—the serious warning given to every single soul in their community, though none of them had ever genuinely believed it would actually matter or come true.
"If someone living can see you in the outside world, you should run for your soul without ever looking back! Never engage, never communicate, just flee!"
Terror gripped her completely, flooding through her ghostly form.
She grabbed her brother's translucent hand tightly and screamed at the absolute top of her ghostly lungs.
"RUNNNN, MARS! LET'S GO BACK HOME RIGHT NOW!"
Both their translucent figures immediately started floating rapidly toward somewhere deeper in the city, moving with desperate speed.
WHOOOOSH!
He hadn't meant to frighten them. He just wanted answers—not to make children scream like prey.
Leon saw their panicked escape attempt and immediately followed without any hesitation whatsoever.
"Stop right there, you two! You've been playing with me for so long—you can't just run away before giving me a proper explanation!"
He began running alongside their floating figures easily. They were moving impressively fast, yes, but Leon's enhanced physical speed far surpassed their supernatural floating ability, so he was able to catch up effortlessly and match their pace exactly.
His commanding words only caused the girl to scream even louder in absolute terror, which he heard clearly, and the boy to repeatedly say "Sorry, sorry, sorry! I should have listened to you, Ivy!!" to his sister for getting them into this dangerous situation.
But they absolutely didn't stop at all, continuing to flee desperately toward some destination.
They were flying frantically toward somewhere specific, passing directly through solid stone walls as if the physical barriers didn't exist at all for their spiritual forms.
Leon simply teleported cleanly through each obstacle they phased through naturally.
FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWOOSH!
If it wasn't for my overwhelming speed advantage, I would have lost them already. They know this city intimately.
He called out again and again to stop, insisting repeatedly he wasn't going to hurt them and just wanted to talk peacefully and understand what was happening here.
But his reassurances didn't work at all. They kept fleeing in absolute panic, ignoring his words completely.
Until suddenly, Leon found himself inside what appeared to be an ancient temple structure far larger than the previous one. They arrived at the centre, where he could see a gaping hole in the middle. The two souls flew downward rapidly into a massive well positioned at the chamber's center.
Leon didn't hesitate even slightly and jumped directly in after them, completely unworried about the fall.
I can fly too. This isn't a real threat to me.
As he fell through darkness, he saw far below—maybe fifty meters down in this ten-meter-wide black stone well—a glowing red portal covered with strange white symbols he couldn't read from this distance.
The little souls' speed suddenly accelerated dramatically as they passed through the mysterious portal and vanished completely from sight.
Leon was falling steadily downward, still not particularly worried about his safety. As he reached just above the red portal entrance with its incomprehensible symbols glowing ominously, he tried to activate his elemental abilities to hover and investigate it properly before entering.
Nothing happened.
What?
He immediately tried teleporting to grab the side wall.
That didn't work either.
"Oh shit!"
Leon then desperately tried to physically grab onto the black stone wall of the well to stop his descent manually.
His fingers caught the surface for just a millisecond—
Then an overwhelming, completely irresistible force pressed down on him from above with crushing pressure, making him lose his grip instantly and fall directly toward the red portal below.
"Urgh! Shit! Me and my terrible luck..."
He couldn't use his elemental abilities at all down here. Some kind of powerful suppression field completely blocked his powers, leaving him helpless, unable to fly.
He had absolutely no choice but to fall.
WHOOOOSH!
Leon's body was swallowed completely inside the unknown red portal covered with strange white symbols, disappearing from the abandoned city entirely.
For a few seconds, Leon could only see intense red light flooding his entire vision—nothing else was visible at all, just overwhelming crimson brightness.
And then suddenly he felt himself falling through open air. Wind slammed against his face and body with tremendous force, his long silver-white hair flowing wildly behind him like a banner.
His mystical adjusted to the new brightness level, then he saw it.
He was falling from an absolutely incredible height—the ground was terrifyingly far away below him, so distant it looked like a painting. This was the highest altitude he had ever been at in either of his lives.
The fall was happening rapidly, accelerating. As the wind screamed past his ears, he could see the horizon stretching in all directions—far and impossibly wide.
What am I looking at?
He could make out mountains in the distance, their peaks jagged and imposing. Active volcanoes spew smoke and ash into the red sky. Rocky plains that seemed to stretch endlessly. Strange small structures scattered across the landscape—probably houses or settlements of some kind, but he was far too high up to determine exactly what they were.
He could see so far and wide in every direction, as if he had entered an entirely new world altogether, completely separate from everything he knew.
The question running through my mind is: what IS this place?
This place felt too free, too vast and open to be something like a dungeon or enclosed space. The sheer scale was overwhelming.
He was falling like a meteor hurtling toward impact, wind resistance creating a deafening roar around him.
Leon immediately tried desperately to access his mana and use his elemental control to stop or slow his descent.
"Please work, or I'm actually going to die here!"
His voice carried both sarcasm and genuine seriousness—he was legitimately freaking out because he was literally like a meteor flying uncontrollably toward the ground at terminal velocity.
Come on, come on, work!
And suddenly, he felt it—air beginning to compress beneath him like an invisible cushion, creating resistance and slowing his fall.
WHOOOOSH!
Leon released an enormous sigh of profound relief.
"Phew!"
His luck hasn't completely abandoned him after all, which he appreciated tremendously right now.
Thank god. I can still use my abilities here, whatever 'here' is.
But as he gained control of his descent using a careful combination of air, light, and fire affinity to create stable flight, he noticed something extremely weird about his surroundings.
The sky was red. Completely, utterly red—not sunset red or dawn red, but a deep, unnatural crimson that stretched across the entire visible sky like blood.
And the sun burning overhead was far too intense. He could actually feel its oppressive heat radiating down on him, the temperature having clearly surpassed eighty degrees Celsius easily, maybe approaching a hundred.
This heat is abnormal. Dangerously so.
As he descended while maintaining controlled flight, carefully adjusting his trajectory and speed, Leon felt with growing certainty that the sun seemed much closer than it was normally supposed to be.
Not just brighter or hotter—actually physically closer to the surface than any normal astronomical body should be.
Am I just seeing things due to the fall, or does it genuinely feel like the sun is too close to the surface?
The oppressive heat continued beating down on him relentlessly as he flew, making sweat bead on his forehead despite his enhanced physical resilience.
Feeling the oppressive heat beating down on him relentlessly, Leon used his mana to activate his ice affinity, creating a thin mist of cold air around himself to cool his body down effectively.
FWOOSH... CRACKLE!
The heat—he could bear it with his enhanced body thanks to his newer Divinordial race physiology—but still, it was making him sweat profusely. The feeling of intense heat spreading all over his skin wasn't pleasant at all for him.
Much better. At least I won't be slow-cooked alive while trying to figure out where I am.
The cooling mist provided immediate relief, creating a comfortable bubble of temperature around his descending form as he continued surveying this strange, crimson world below.