Two days passed, and it was now time for William's group to resume their journey.
Haleth and a few of her subordinates escorted the three of them until they arrived at the border of their Domain.
"Sir William, please visit us again," Haleth said as she gave the Half-Elf a salute. "That goes for Chiffon and Lilith as well. I'd be happy to become your tour guide once again.
William smiled and nodded his head. "I'll take you up on that offer, Miss Haleth. We will be passing by the City of Alabaster on our return trip, so I look forward to seeing you again. Once again, thank you for your hospitality. Our short break here in the city washed away the fatigue of our journey."
After saying a few more parting words, William summoned Raiden, his Dark Qilin, which surprised Haleth and her subordinates. Bidding their final farewells, the Qilin rose up to the sky and flew southwards.
As the scenery sped past them, William, Chiffon, and Lilith noticed the subtle changes in the terrain.
They noticed that, as they neared their destination, the Flora and Fauna on the ground was getting sparse.
An hour later, William and the girls saw a giant purple dome in the distance. Tendrils of lightning snaked across its surface, and a purple mist covered its interior.
As they drew closer, all of them felt like a weight was pressing down on them. Even Raiden's speed slowed, and their altitude slowly decreased with each passing second.
"Lilith, if you still want to back out, feel free to speak your mind," William said. "Once we enter that thing, I can't guarantee your safety."
"I already made up my mind," Lilith replied. "I'm going with you."
Since the Amazon had already decided, William didn't try to dissuade her. He only ordered Raiden to land near the border of the purple dome, because they planned to enter it on foot.
Flying inside the Forbidden Ground was a disaster in the making. Not only would they not know what lay ahead, the Dark Qilin's presence might also attract the Overlords of the Domain. This would only make things difficult for William and his group, so he decided against it.
The Half-Elf firmly held Chiffon's hand as they passed through the purple dome. Lilith followed behind the two as she raised her guard to the fullest.
When they entered the domain, the purple mist was so dense that they could only see a meter in front of them.
Suddenly, William reached out to hold Lilith's hand, which caught the Amazon completely by surprise.
"Visibility is close to zero," William said with a serious expression on his face. "We need to stick together. If we get separated in this mist, we might have a hard time finding each other."
Lilith nodded in understanding. She knew that what William said was right, so she didn't reject his offer. As the three of them walked side-by-side, all of them expanded their senses outwards.
They didn't know how long they walked, but after William looked at his status page, he found out that they had already been walking for two hours.
Optimus had activated the system's compass, so the Half-Elf was sure that they were walking in a straight line.
Finally, after almost three hours of wading inside the purple mist, they finally broke out of it, and found themselves in what seemed to be a forest, whose trees extended several meters towards the sky.
Various roars, howls, shrieks, and other sounds permeated the forest, which made William, Chiffon, and Lilith tread lightly as they explored its depths.
The Half-Elf had asked Optimus to do an extensive scan of their surroundings, but just as they had anticipated, it didn't work. The map only showed the places that they had walked, leaving a vast expanse of black on William's status page.
< There is a powerful law that permeates this Domain. Be careful, Will. >
'Understood.'
Suddenly, something caught William's attention and his first action he did was to summon Stormcaller and throw it behind him.
The sound of metal hitting metal spread throughout the surrounding area as William and the two girls by his side wore a grim expression on their faces.
A four-meter tall green Mantis, eyed the three of them with its viscous eyes. The Half-Elf raised his hand, and Stormcaller freed itself from the Mantis' claws.
"Sh*t," William cursed when he saw that the Mantis in front of them was not an ordinary beast, but a Myriad Beast in its initial stages.
Even Chiffon and Lilith couldn't believe that the first creature that they ran into inside the Forbidden Ground would be a Myriad Beast that had been stalking the three of them. If not for William's heightened senses, they might have fallen to a sneak attack from this silent killer who had reaped the lives of those that had dared to enter the Seventh Sanctum in search for treasures.
The three immediately took out their weapons in preparation to fight, but something unexpected happened.
Just as they were about to duke it out with the Mantis, William's face paled when he sensed a few more presences behind them.
Sure enough, when William turned his head to look behind him, three more Green Mantises appeared in his vision. The four mantises then sprang towards them, leaving William no choice but to grab Chiffon's and Lilith's waists and activate the skill Lightning Strider.
This skill allowed William instantaneous travel at the speed of lightning, completely evading the four Mantises that had planned to slice the three of them in half.
Having lost their targets, the Green Mantises looked in the direction William had escaped, but none of them pursued him. They only glanced at each other and clicked their mandibles in frustration.
Soon, the four mantises leapt up into the trees and hid themselves once again. They would patiently wait for their next prey to come and ensure that none of them would be able to escape their grasps.
Such was the life inside the Forbidden Ground.
Only the strong would survive and the rest would end up as prey.. Although the Domain hid untold treasures within its vast lands, one must have sufficient strength in order to take those treasures and make it out of the Seventh Sanctum with their lives.
