The adventurers of the Beast Guild carried great sabers and giant axes, stepping over purple, writhing flesh as they advanced deeper inside.
At this moment, they were within the Pain Demon Dark Field.
Hera walked at the very front of the team, holding a folding fan in her hand, humming a little tune, looking completely relaxed.
For top-tier adventurers like them, the first ten layers before a monster rift were like returning to the pastures of their own home.
There was no threat at all.
As the group continued forward, Hera suddenly stopped.
Her eyes scanned the surroundings, as if she had sensed something.
Behind her, several adventurers holding longswords, gripping magic staffs, and drawing bows also became alert.
A faint glow flickered along the silver longswords of the warriors. Magical auras shimmered around the mages, while the archers placed three arrows onto their bowstrings, fully prepared.
A huge man with bulging muscles, carrying a giant axe, squeezed out from the team and asked Hera in a muffled voice, "Boss, why aren't we moving?"
"Shh."
Hera slowly closed her fan, holding it upright against her lips in a gesture for silence.
Her gaze slanted to the side, and behind the fan that covered her mouth, an oddly excited smile spread across her face.
"I smell it. The scent of humans."
"Mhm, mhm. Such a clean smell."
She lightly waved the fan in one direction.
"Over there."
Hera walked off on her own toward where the fan pointed, while the adventurers behind her were somewhat confused.
The burly man scratched his head and didn't say much, simply waving at the team to follow.
———
Inside that otherworldly space, the scenery had changed drastically compared to before.
The stone walls of the entire space were shattered, with many green stone slabs peeling off in pieces from the walls and ceiling.
Churning dust was kicked up from the ground, turning the entire space gray and hazy.
Purple-black blood flowed between the stone slabs, forming strange, eerie patterns.
Countless monster limbs were piled atop the shattered stones, making it impossible to tell which part belonged to which monster.
Although the monster bodies were heaped together, their flesh seemed to split endlessly in midair, turning to ash and slowly drifting away.
Under Viktor's massive-area magic attack, the so-called beast tide had already been completely annihilated.
Viktor stood quietly in place, his coat no longer fluttering.
The red patterns faded from his neck until they disappeared completely.
He loosened his grip, and the staff vanished instantly from his palm.
War magic, too, was divided into ranks.
A one-time, large-scale screen-clearing spell like this didn't require Vega's help. With the assistance of the staff Urusst, it was already more than enough to cast it.
That said, casting such terrifying war magic alone also placed tremendous pressure on him.
Fortunately, the power of calamity was sufficient to support him in releasing such magic.
Viktor stood calmly, feeling the surrounding temperature gradually cool, while the space he occupied slowly began to twist and tear apart.
Soon, the massive room lost its shape, and space itself turned into nothingness.
Standing within this pitch-black void, hollow sounds gradually echoed from the rolling emptiness.
[Challenger: Viktor·Clavenna]
[Time Spent: 1:11:11]
[Challenge Successful: Rewards Issued]
The voice faded away. In front of him, a beam of light began to flicker.
The golden light pulsed rhythmically like breathing, slowly drifting toward Viktor.
Then, it landed before him.
Feeling warmth in his palm, the golden glow gradually receded, revealing the true form of the crown-shaped, wondrous object.
Two golden branches twisted around each other, forming an enormous crown.
At the center of the crown, a strange gem: like a monster's heart: trembled continuously.
Within that heart, a tiny eye examined the surrounding void.
A swirl of purple entwined with two rings of gold, creating an extremely eerie sight.
[Imperial Relic: The Remnant Beast That Hates Pain]
[Skill: Piercing Screech from the Void: After the user enters combat, if no damage from any source is taken within a certain time, this item's restrictions will be lifted.]
[Five seconds after the restrictions are lifted, a Void Portal will be created. Countless powerful Void entities will descend into the world, tearing apart and devouring everything they see.]
[During the descent of the Void entities, if the user takes damage at any point, the summoning will immediately end, and the Void entities will be dragged back into nothingness by a mysterious force.]
Imperial Relics are equipment without any attributes.
At the same time, using them does not occupy any other equipment slots.
Each Imperial Relic's skill is related to its challenge mission.
Their effects are extremely powerful, but likewise, their restrictions are astonishing.
How to use them properly is a serious matter.
After obtaining the Imperial Relic, Viktor's expression showed no particular change.
He loosened his grip, and the crown automatically entered his inventory.
He raised his head and looked at the newly regenerated door before him.
"Let's go."
———
A group of adventurers walked through the purple flesh-lined caves, continuously feeling their way through the darkness.
The paths were extremely complex. Even for a full team, it was difficult to find the correct route.
Hera narrowed her eyes slightly, carefully staring at the several branching paths ahead.
She fell silent.
'…'
Lost.
These caves were far too strange. She had never seen a place this bizarre and complicated.
Inside monster rifts, the internal space could change at any time.
Perhaps today's path had two forks, but tomorrow, they might appear in completely different locations.
And inside monster rifts:
No one could ever reach their end.
There were once Tier-4 adventurers who tried to find the end of this world within the safest Pain Demon Dark Field, from floors one to ten.
But the roads seemed to generate endlessly, leaving them forever unable to find an edge.
No one could guarantee one hundred percent exploration here.
Fortunately, Hera had been following the scent left behind by that person.
The branching paths before her had already disrupted her route.
But even being lost didn't matter.
The terrain of the abyss could be destroyed.
Even if the terrain was broken, it would automatically repair itself the next day.
It was just that the endlessly extending roads before her made her feel that there might be some secret deep within.
But… she couldn't see through it.
And she didn't want to explore it.
Such matters were best left to low-tier adventurers.
Hera was only here to find someone. Nothing more.
Suddenly, faint sounds came from the dark depths of the cave.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
She raised her head and looked forward.
Listening carefully to the echoing footsteps, step by step, she finally identified them clearly.
They were human footsteps.
The adventurers behind her immediately went back on guard.
Longswords were raised, bows drawn, giant axes hoisted onto shoulders.
Hera opened her fan, covering her mouth.
Everyone's gaze focused on the depths of the cave where the footsteps echoed.
Finally, a figure slowly emerged.
The man wore a pitch-black coat, with faint runes seemingly engraved on its collar.
On his shoulder stood a crow.
The man's gaze was icy, his eyes in the darkness like two sharp blades stabbing toward them.
The crow's deep black single eye also flickered with a faint, elusive glow.
A heavy sense of pressure slowly bore down on the adventurers.
They stood on guard, but their muscles stiffened in waves.
He was clearly just a human, yet the feeling he gave them was like facing an unbeatable monster.
The man's voice sounded, calm and indifferent.
"I recall notifying you that this place was reserved today."
Looking at them, Viktor's eyes were cold as ice, his tone entirely unwelcoming.
"You really enjoy showing up uninvited, don't you?"
The tense atmosphere felt ready to explode at any moment, and the adventurers tightened their grips on their weapons.
But Hera raised her hand behind her, signaling the others to stop.
Her strange gaze bloomed like a flower as she quietly stared at Viktor, a bizarre smile on her face.
The patterns at the corners of her eyes slowly extended, sharp spikes protruding outward.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Hera, guild master of the Beast Guild."
"But I've never seen you before. You're not from the south, are you?"
Before Viktor could respond, Hera suddenly smiled and continued, "Oh, what a silly question. You probably don't want to answer me."
"But I'm very interested in you~"
Hera covered her face with her fan, as if unable to control herself, sticking out her tongue to lick her lips.
The surroundings suddenly fell silent, leaving only a single sound, like playback resuming after a pause.
"Excuse me."
A violent burst of air exploded, and Hera's figure vanished from where she stood.
In the next second, she appeared right in front of Viktor.
Her palm transformed like a claw, and behind her, five bone spears suddenly shot out.
They followed her palm, stabbing rapidly toward Viktor.
An overwhelmingly terrifying chill and sharp killing intent surged straight at him.
The adventurers immediately broke out in cold sweat.
The speed was terrifyingly fast: far too fast to react.
But at the critical moment, Viktor raised his right arm.
A round shield radiating an evil aura instantly blocked all the bone spikes.
Hera's eyes widened at once, the patterns at the corners of her eyes trembling and curling inward.
A sudden wave of dizziness flooded her mind, making her instinctively retract the bone spears and leap backward more than ten meters.
'That sense of danger… that reaction speed just now: was that something a human could do?'
'And that shield…'
It actually made her feel an inexplicable dizziness.
What exactly was that thing?
Perhaps the man before her wasn't the mage she was looking for.
Was he a knight? Or… a warrior?
But if this man truly was as strong as she thought:
Then in that brief moment of dizziness, he absolutely could have counterattacked her.
Yet he didn't…
Hera raised her head, the patterns at the corners of her eyes slowly relaxing, twisting like two vines.
Her gaze toward Viktor grew even more excited.
"Are you pitying me?"
Then Viktor's voice sounded calmly, "There's no need to take advantage of someone."
Hera froze slightly upon hearing that answer.
An extremely dangerous light flickered in her eyes.
The vine-like patterns began to whip wildly, and at their tips, a black flower bud suddenly burst open.
Sharp bone spikes rapidly erupted one by one behind her.
"Alright~"
Hera raised a hand to caress her face, her eyes filled with excitement and intoxication.
"I can't wait to make you mine~"