Realm of Myths and Legends

1060  Statue of The Void

...

Approximately fifteen minutes later...

Izroth spent the last fifteen minutes searching around The Void. Or, at the very least, the area of The Void he could cover with his current capabilities.

In the end, Izroth did not discover any traces of Halls or Guan Yu having ever entered The Void. Whether this was a good or bad sign was yet to be determined; however, he understood that blindly searching in the chaos of The Void was a fruitless effort.

At the moment, he had no way of pinpointing or even approximating the location of others. Ultimately, there was too much interference in The Void that obstructed Izroth's sense of perception as well as his ability to detect others.

'It's no use. I can search for a week and still be left without a trace in sight. I can only hope that they've managed to successfully cross into the chambers of the Night Lord's Crypt before the spatial shift took place.'

Izroth believed that it was highly unlikely that Halls and Guan Yu got caught up in the incident that led to him being displaced into The Void.

Since he was the main target of that creature within the Shadahi Realm and manipulating space with such finesse from so far away required a great price, Izroth speculated that the creature would have had to time things perfectly.

If that were the case, it would not risk failing solely for the sake of dragging two more individuals into the same position.

Nonetheless, there was another troublesome matter. While looking for the whereabouts of Halls and Guan Yu, Izroth was also searching for anything that even remotely resembled an exit. However, he was left disappointed in his findings.

'With my current strength, creating a passageway that leads outside The Void is one thing, but generating a stable portal that leads directly to the Mortal Realm is something even those who specialize in void-type magic would find a challenging task. That being said, although my current level of strength may prove to be lacking, that does not mean there is no way to leave this place on my own terms.'

Izroth still had a trump card at his disposal. It was just that this particular trump card still required a bit of development to be of any actual use.

Of course, this trump card was the Boundless Emperor Void Perfection.

"If I can increase the rank of my Boundless Emperor Void Perfection to unlock the Void Turning ability, it should be possible to escape from this place. I still won't be able to exert absolute control over my destination, but arriving back in the Mortal Realm should prove doable."

Void Turning—during his time in the Seven Realms, it was this ability that allowed Izroth to escape from various dangers. Additionally, before he reached his peak, it gave Izroth a method of defeating enemies many times stronger than him by taking them by complete surprise.

Woosh! Tap.

Suddenly, as Izroth landed on one of the floating islands, a dense wave that seemed to exude a boundless nothingness rushed past him.

〈System Alert: Your efficiency with the skill «Boundless Emperor Void Perfection» has increased.〉

'This aura—it's close.'

Izroth felt intense traces of the Law of Void in the dense wave that had just passed him.

More importantly, even though he was not close to the source of the Law of Void, Izroth could already feel the shackles that suppressed his progress start to tremble.

"The Boundless Nullifying Expanse is but a prerequisite to the true first step of the Boundless Emperor Void Perfection. It is the equivalent of having one's hand on the door but not yet opening it. In order to take that first step and obtain the means of using Void Turning, I must achieve the Great Void Merging and tap directly into the power of The Void itself."

Out of nowhere, Izroth came to an abrupt halt. However, despite his sudden stop, there was nothing out of the ordinary in Izroth's surroundings.

If someone were to view his current actions from an outside perspective, it would seem as though Izroth was standing alone on a desolate floating island in The Void.

But, in the seemingly empty space in front of Izroth was a bizarre-looking statue that could only be perceived by those who had some connection with the Law of Void.

The statue stood three meters tall and appeared to be some kind of creature—one that Izroth had never seen before in RML.

The creature had no defining facial features outside of four orifices that mimicked eyes. It possessed four wings and three tails that curled around it in a protective manner or maybe even one of slumber. It was composed of a dark metallic-like alloy that was in a constant state of flux. Most importantly, it gave one a feeling of instinctual terror.

"Even though I'm standing right before it, it is as though nothing is here. This statue... Is it a natural creation of The Void itself? Or, was it created and left behind in this place by someone?"

Izroth narrowed his eyes as he carefully examined the statue. However, no matter what methods he used, be it his natural perception, Energy Vision Sense, Appraisal, or even Deep Insight, he could not unravel any of the object's secrets.

'This level of detail... It doesn't seem like a natural occurrence. But, I'm afraid that even a powerhouse at the peak of the legendary realm wouldn't be capable of creating something this mysterious. The fact that it's able to hold the Law of Void must mean that it's an item of the divine rank.'

A divine-ranked item below the firmament was something virtually unheard of in RML. However, The Void was different. It was not bound by the laws of the world and existed in a place completely isolated from that above and below the firmament. This made it possible for divine-ranked items to exist inside The Void without suffering any serious consequences.

Ooooooommmmm...!

'Hm?'

Suddenly, a faint humming sound echoed from the statue that grew louder with each passing moment.

Izroth's eyes narrowed as his Soul Sense sounded a fierce warning.

Woosh!

Without hesitation, Izroth unsheathed his Sword of the Storm as a powerful gust of wind exploded forth from his position. In the same motion, he swung outward with a tightened grip on the hilt of his sword.

BANG!

'?!'

An unknown force crashed into his Sword of the Storm, causing his entire arm to tremble. Then, in the blink of an eye, Izroth was sent sliding back tens of meters away from the statue.

Crack!

Izroth stabbed the tip of his sword into the ground, creating a shallow fissure that increased in depth the further back he traveled. It was not until Izroth was almost thirty meters away from his original position that he finally managed to quell his momentum. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Izroth glanced down at his trembling hand before briefly closing his eyes. When his eyes reopened, the trembling in Izroth's hand ceased as he stood upright with his gaze locked onto the statue.

Just now, if he had not reacted in time, he would have been sent flying off the floating island!

'Is it a defensive measure? No, if it was the defensive measure of a divine-ranked item, I wouldn't have gotten off so lightly. Then, is this its way of testing me? Or...'

When his Soul Sense went off, Izroth felt a sense of impending danger; however, what he did not detect was killing intent. This led him to believe that the statue was evaluating his worthiness. No, rather than testing him, it was something else entirely.

"I haven't come across much information regarding divine-ranked items, but it's been rumored that magic items that surpass SSS-rank develop a consciousness. In a sense, it's not all that different from an Immortal Persona like the Dragon Lord of the Abyss. However, if it's the consciousness of a divine-ranked item, forget testing me—it's more likely to treat me like a buzzing insect to be swatted away."

Izroth sheathed his Sword of the Storm as his gaze turned distant.

"To think there would come a point when I'm looked down on to this extent by a mere statue. How interesting..."

Izroth began to walk back toward the statue in a casual manner as if he were simply going for a stroll.

"I don't know how long this statue has been in The Void. Years? Decades? Centuries? Millennia? In that time, it's bound to have forgotten how to open its eyes. Then, shall I help it to see clearly past the arrogance of its gaze?"

Despite its inherent arrogance, Izroth did not look down on the statue. In the end, it was still a divine-ranked item. If something like it appeared in the Mortal Realm, another war would break out over who got to claim ownership.

Furthermore, Izroth understood that even someone at the peak of the legendary realm may not necessarily enter the sights of this statue. Nevertheless, Izroth was not in the habit of walking away from a challenge. Even more so when he was being looked down upon.

(Unedited)

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