After everything that had happened, Evra knew he had to run as fast as he could. Jalal, who was on his back, seemed to be on the brink of death. The moment Evra saw the ground cracking, he changed direction like Mais and Darius. However, he was much slower than them. He was carrying someone on his back, so it was uncertain whether he could escape the erosion. At that moment, he could only trust his feet and run. He tried using his ordinary origin energy techniques, but they were meaningless. He was incapable of applying his techniques. These techniques were inadequate in the Core realm.
Evra could feel his feet hurting and the ground becoming softer. It was getting softer and softer with each passing moment. He was slipping. Without looking back, Evra knew he was slipping. At that moment, he could hear Jalal whispering in his ear,
'You can leave me.'
The voice was right next to his ear. It was the voice of a child in pain, whispering for death. Evra didn't believe he could leave him.
'There's no one left who will miss me anyway.'
No, everyone has someone who misses them. Even now, he was begging someone to let him die. Didn't that mean someone didn't want him to die?
'Do you think my drunk father would care about me?!'
But there was more to his life than just his drunk father. There were people who knew him and cared about him. Despite the sweat on his forehead and the fear pumping through his veins, Evra kept running.
Jalal lifted his pale face and looked at the man over his shoulder. Jalal looked very tired, his eyes sunken. There were still traces of blood under his lower lip. At that moment, he whispered once more:
'Let go, or we'll both die here.'
They both knew the erosion was slowing down. However, it had already reached their necks. Once they fell in, the earth would pour over them, and this canyon would become their grave.
They both knew this. Finally, Jalal gathered his courage and pulled his hands away from Evra. But Evra panicked at that moment and grabbed his hands. He turned his head.
"What are you doing, you idiot!?"
Evra could only turn and grab him. The instant he did, Jalal opened his mouth and spat a huge glob of phlegm into Evra's face.
It was too late when Evra reflexively let go. Jalal disappeared into the collapsing dust with a playful—and, given the situation, rather painful—smile on his face. There was no time for Evra to be shocked. He had to keep running.
But even though he managed to run for a short while, he could see the collapsed earth in front of him. He had fallen below the surface. He struggled to find solid ground. The erosion had almost stopped, but Evra was tired and already several meters below.
'Come on, Evra!'
With his last ounce of strength, he pushed himself up and jumped over a few pieces of soil. All he could see was more soil.
The erosion had stopped, but Evra hadn't jumped high enough.
His head and entire body slammed into the soil before him, which stood like a wall. No matter how high he stretched his hand, it wasn't high enough. A few small pieces of soil fell down. They disappeared in the dust cloud below. Evra's head also broke free from the soil and began to fall slowly backward.
THUD!
Evra was surprised when he felt a strong hand grab his wrist. When he lifted his head, he realized that a young man with black hair had saved him from death. Evra thought he recognized the young man, but he still couldn't believe it was him. Opening his eyes slightly, he whispered loudly,
"Ulam?"
***
The earthquake, caused by erosion, alarmed all of the figures chasing the legacy, as well as the monsters in the forest. Maria and Malehit had now found a new team member. They found Lima while running through the forest and advanced together toward the legacy. They were probably the group that suffered the least damage on the journey. They probably were. They hadn't even been in a battle yet.
Not counting the chase Maria experienced, of course.
They saw the lights of the Legacy. The enormous door reaching up to the sky was impossible to miss. They didn't know when the door had become visible.
Maria raised her head and looked at the gate, her expression serious—partly to hide her excitement. She could hear the excited chatter of those around her.
"What lies beyond the Realm of Ascension?"
Maria felt the need to ask this question only then. The enormous gate and the immense height of Taoist insight hid the gate from them.
Taoist insight. These words described only one person to her.
'I wonder where he is now?'
"The Ascension Realm is where humans begin to step towards the heavens. My fellow capital geniuses and I have a good chance of reaching it. Even Gomez and Lima have a chance, though much less. But beyond that... beyond that is like a dream. For all of us."
At that moment, Malehit could only gaze in awe at the door silently rising into the sky. There were three lines on the door.
But that didn't matter now. All these young people could do was look at the door with reverence. Such power was beyond human limits.
"The Meridian Realm. Beyond the Realm of Ascension lies the Meridian Realm. At this point, one must open their meridians to break free from human limitations. Each meridian can inflict fatal wounds. Walking in the Meridian Realm is like walking on the Siraat Bridge. Falling means certain death, but if you make it across, you reach paradise."
Malehit lowered his head slightly and watched Maria as Hades's lights fell on him at a 45-degree angle. He could see how intently she was watching him. Seeing this, he decided to be completely honest with her.
"The Meridian Realm is the realm of the transcendent. The people there are called the Transcendent. They are beings beyond humanity: They are leaders of clans and great unions. They are stars that can only be looked at with admiration. Stars we cannot reach."
Malehit really didn't want to dash Maria's enthusiasm, but that was the truth. Maria had reached the peak of the Core Realm surprisingly early, at only 16 years old. It was an unexpected achievement. If she returned successfully this time, she could reach the Sage Realm. Malehit didn't want to admit it, but he knew her talent surpassed his own. Still, the chance of this taking Maria to the Meridian Realm was slim.
"What about... Kasuur?"
The words that came out of Maria's mouth froze Malehit. Lima and Gomez looked at Malehit curiously.
Maria didn't believe that she couldn't reach the Meridian Realm. However, with the risks she had taken and would take, she might not live that long. She needed to take risks to become a transcendent.
But was that also true for Kasuur? By the age of 12, he had reached the peak of the Core Realm. He had completed his journey from beginning to end in less than a year. If he succeeded here, he could enter the Sage Realm at age 12.
Given his success, could Malehit say that he couldn't reach the Meridian Realm either?
Kasuur probably didn't need to take risks. He probably didn't want to take risks and put his life in danger.
But Mais was pushing him.
Mais was just a ten-year-old child. He was probably in the Core Realm. Even when they first met, Mais was in the middle of the Origin Energy Realm. On top of that, she soon began to fail to understand Mais's cultivation realm. After a year, it was impossible for Mais not to be in the Core Realm.
Was his chance of ascending to the peak of the Core Realm, or even the Sage Realm, before the age of 13, like Kasuur, very slim?
At that moment, as they stood in front of the massive door, each of them was thinking about different things. They were all lost in their thoughts. Malehit refused to answer the question. His pride completely silenced him.
Suddenly, the sound of a few drops caught their attention. Malehit's desire to abandon these thoughts instantly prevailed.
"It's not raining," he said. He had clearly noticed it before anyone else. He turned from the door, reached up to the sky, and saw a young girl leaning against a tree in a different part of the forest. She had a large wound on her head, and blood was flowing from her mouth. Her clothes were covered in dirt. There were clear traces of blood on her. She held her arm, a painful smile on her face. Blood dripped from her fingertips.
"You weren't expecting to see me here, were you?"
Delia stood there, badly wounded. After seeing her, he realized Daniel was the only one missing from the Malehit team.
Lima took a step forward. She was a healer. She could heal the young girl.
"What happened to you?" she asked again. At that moment, however, Gomez frowned and grabbed Lima by the arm.
"Wait a minute."
Due to the amount of blood she had lost, Delia didn't notice Lima stop. She focused on the question. A momentary look of fear flashed in her eyes.
"A damn Origin Heart Monster."
Delia was where Darius had found the monster. Since the others weren't part of the team, however, she had managed to escape the first Origin Heart monster, badly wounded. They hadn't tried to protect her at all. If Darius and the others hadn't distracted the monster, she would have died long ago.
"This far—aaah..."
Delia's words caught in her throat. She lowered her head amid Malehit and the others' ugly, frightened stares and saw the sword embedded in her chest.
She couldn't turn her head to see who had stabbed her. The owner of the sword raised the blade, and Delia's body rose into the air with it. She couldn't spit out the blood coming from her throat. At that moment, she was drowning in her own blood.
The owner of the sword swung it quickly and threw it aside. As Delia lay dying in agony, her killer emerged from the darkness of the forest and took a few steps forward.
Those old, slightly bloodshot eyes. Though they seemed narrowed and tired, they held great power. This old man with a white beard was familiar to everyone here.
"Wuma!"