1329: Foul Odor

Foul Odor

Alarms went off in Leonel's mind. Without the slightest hesitation, he reached outward and grabbed onto Little Blackstar tight. At the same time, he used his other arm to wrap around Aina's waist.  1

A strong King's Might erupted from him like a pillar piercing through the skies. He held back nothing as he enveloped all three of them just before his vision went completely black. 

…

Leonel's head swam, however he only allowed it to do so for a brief moment before he activated Dream Sense. 

'What?'

Leonel's heart froze, his blood running cold. He tried to use Dream Sense again, but it failed once more just like it had the first time. The realization made him remember a particular conversation he had had with Wise Star Order and his brows immediately furrowed. 

Taking a deep breath, Leonel dug deep. He had managed to make a faint connection with his soul and it could be considered to be partially awakened. However, he couldn't use his own nearly as freely as Wise Star Order could and he even somewhat avoided using anything other than its passive strengthening upon being accessed. Now, though, Leonel felt that waking up his mind was far more important than anything else. 

Leonel's soul became like an anchor, stabilizing his mind and his senses. Everything slowly snapped back into place. 

First, his proprioception came back and he could feel his limbs in space once again. He could tell that his grip on Aina and Blackstar were still there even though he couldn't feel them. 

Then came his sense of smell, but he almost immediately recoiled. The air smelt like hot sulfur and rotten boiled eggs. He almost immediately began to hack and wheeze, or, at the very least, he thought he did. It was still hard to sense much of anything. He could just barely make out the shaking of his head. 

Finally, his sense of touch came back and he could confirm that he did, indeed, still have Blackstar and Aina by his side. Both were absolutely still and unmoving.

Once these senses settled in, Leonel's eyesight finally came back. But, what he saw made him narrow his eyes once again. Unfortunately, this was less due to the shocking realization about where he was and had much more to do with the fact it was as hard to keep his eyes open as it was to breathe through his nose. 

As bad as the smell was, his eyes felt as though someone had been continuously cutting onions in the surroundings. The irritation was so bad that Leonel was legitimately worried he might lose his eyesight if he kept them open too wide. 

Leonel, Aina and Little Blackstar were actually at the bottom of a tall pit. Up above, there was a hole to the sky and the air current of this pit all seemed to be converging toward this location to be filtered upward. 

Looking around, Leonel realized that this wasn't actually a pit but was actually a lot like a hive with deeply interconnected tunnels all with exits a lot like this one. The hole to the sky didn't seem to have any simple way to be used and even the closest edge of the hole was 300 meters above his head. Leonel couldn't even dream of jumping that distance especially since…

'The gravity here… Is so heavy…'

Even compared to the Void Palace which was difficult to deal with in and of itself, this place was at least double that. But, Leonel quickly shook his head. There was no guarantee that this wasn't the Void Palace.

'But my Ability…' 

Leonel shook his head. There was no point in speculating until he found out more information. The goal here was clear. To survive and reach a certain destination. To do such a thing, he couldn't speculate, he needed facts. Allowing a bias to color his deductions would just make finding the truth slower. 

Leonel released Aina, observing her intently. He didn't need to worry too greatly, though, in just a few seconds, she seemed to have regained her bearings as well. The first things she did, not much unlike Leonel, was look around, covering her nose with her hands. 

"This is a nest." She suddenly said. "This smell… Though it's disgusting, it's coming from something that's highly nutritious, albeit disgusting to eat."

Leonel's brows shot up. With Aina's ability, she had a keen sense for nutrition. Not only was she able to naturally tell how best to train her body, but she also knew exactly how to concoct the sort of nutrients she needed to supplement her body as well. This was what made her natural talent as a Force Pill Crafter so high and why she had been so greatly valued by Valiant Heart Mountain. 

The fact that her ability could be used like this was still a bit of a surprise to Leonel. Maybe this mutation of hers as a half blood wasn't as inferior as Leonel had previously concluded. 

Leonel couldn't take out the dictionary in this place. The Anarchic Force in this region even higher than it had been beyond the walls of Village 0012, it was to the point that even Leonel's ability was no longer at Tier 4 in this place. 

"Do you know what it's a nest of?" Leonel asked. 

"… No, I'm not sure. I only vaguely have the instinct that it's an egg."

Leonel nodded. There didn't seem to be any immediate danger in the surroundings. However, Leonel knew this couldn't possibly last long. He had felt the teleportation try and separate himself and Aina. If not for his quick action, they would have been thrown apart. That told Leonel that there was no more hand holding and teaming up designed for this trial. They had truly thrown them off the deep end. 

But, likewise, because they had chosen to do this, it was likely that the elders were aware that the danger wouldn't be immediate either…

"Wise Star Order, what do you know about this place?"

'It is indeed a nest… If I were you, I would probably start running. There's no way they haven't already sensed such a mass teleportation. And, the ones assigned to guard nests like these are nothing like those middling soldiers you've been fighting until this point.'

Almost as though to confirm Wise Star Order's words, a wild scream resonated through the hive, following the air currents of rushing foul smells and making Leonel feel almost as though his eardrums might burst. The howl was like a furious battlecry and a sonorous warning, echoing all before the earth began to quake.

Leonel's pupils constricted, his jaw steeling and his lips being drawn into a thin line. The Void Palace sure seemed to like to play games. They had actually been teleported into a Rapax Nest. 

"Oh, I forgot to mention one other thing. The Rapax like to build their nests in harsh environments so that only the strong amongst their young survive. You've probably guessed it already, but…

"This is a Void Battlefield. Trying to leave here and return to a Void Palace stronghold won't be easy for a fairly simple reason. The Rapax are probably the least of your concerns in a place like this."

pqdm.com