novelzi Chapter 42: Raving Entity
Chapter 42: Raving Entity
Levi had no idea how much time had passed. The sky above him remained perpetually painted in hues of blood-red, dominated by the ominous blood moon.
In this desolate place, there was no sense of day or night—only the endless, eerie twilight. Despite the unsettling atmosphere, Levi pressed on, hunting down the black cocoons one after another.
Each time he killed a cocoon, the familiar notification rang in his mind.
[You have killed a Nascent-Essence monster - Cocoon of Lunacy]
The repetition had numbed Levi to the words.
Without hesitation, he plucked his makeshift spear from the latest cocoon and retrieved the demonic crystal within. The cocoon, now useless to him, was discarded without a second thought. Carrying them was pointless, he had no means of storing so many, and they were beginning to pile up.
Levi was growing accustomed to this routine.
Hunt, rest, hunt again.
The process had become almost mechanical. However, this time, instead of continuing his systematic slaughter of the cocoons, Levi decided to venture deeper into the strange forest of twisted trees.
It was time to search for the boss of this floor.
"Let's see what the boss looks like," he murmured to himself.
Levi had avoided exploring too far into the terrain before, unsure of what might await him. But given that this floor was filled with cocoons, he reasoned that the boss would likely be something similar, just on a much larger scale.
His curiosity and determination outweighed his caution, and he set off into the unknown.
Eighteen days had passed since Levi entered the sanctum, and what was once a gathering of mere hundreds had now swelled to thousands. The crowd around the sanctum no longer consisted of just two factions; representatives from all the major families and powerful factions had converged on this single point of interest.
The news that a special type of sanctum had appeared—and that the person who entered it hadn't emerged for nearly three weeks—caused an uproar in the world of Followers. Initially, people had gathered to seize the opportunity presented by the sanctum. But as the days passed, it became clear that whoever was inside was holding their ground, clearing the sanctum bit by bit.
Now, the crowd was filled with a burning curiosity, who could it be?
Among those gathered, there was a familiar face—one that Levi would have instantly recognized if he were there.
Inside a camp marked by a flag bearing the image of a blind woman holding a traditional weighing scale, a group of people sat around a round table. At the head of the table was a woman who radiated authority and calm intensity.
"Be alert! We don't know when or what will happen. We need to seize the moment," Roze, the government representative dispatched to investigate the matter, instructed her subordinates, who sat with her inside the camp.
Her subordinate nodded, his expression focused and tense. Roze then turned to another subordinate, her gaze sharp.
"How is the support coming along?" she inquired.
The subordinate hesitated before responding, "The Mercenary Federation has blocked access to the portal for anyone other than their members. As a result, our support is coming from the nearest available portal. It will take them at least five more days to arrive, possibly a week in the worst case."
Roze's expression darkened at the news, her displeasure evident. "Those mercenary bastards are quick to act when it benefits them," she muttered, her voice edged with frustration.
The sanctum was undeniably extraordinary, and the rewards for whoever was clearing it would be significant. Roze knew they couldn't afford to let this opportunity slip through their fingers.
Her mission from the government was clear: Recruit the person who emerged from the sanctum—or ensure that no other family could claim them.
The balance of power between the government and the influential families was already precarious, teetering on a thin thread. They couldn't allow that balance to be shattered, even if it meant resorting to bloodshed.
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