BANG!

A body cut through the air and slammed into a pure white wall. Despite the wall's seemingly soft appearance, the impact between it and the man's body was thick and absolutely one-sided.

"Kah..!"

The man coughed up a mouthful of blood as his body collapsed to the floor. Before he could regain his bearings, a lithe figure appeared behind him like a shadow and sliced through his neck, letting his head fly into the air like a firework.

That man was the 16th to die.

From the group who originally entered the flower space, only 4 remained.

Of them, only one was familiar.

Alexandra stood in a corner with solemn eyes. Surrounding her were four bodies.

These bodies were a show of what would happen if one messed with her, as well as her temporary peace bringer.

She'd been attacked five times so far. The first four's fates were evident. After they died, nobody else dared to provoke Alexandra.

At least, for the most part.

The fifth time she was attacked, it was by the same lithe figure who killed that man. The figure was hidden by a cloak of shadows and remained both faceless and genderless, however, if one thing was certain, it was that person's strength.

If it wasn't for her twice-tempered body, she would've died under the force of a single one of that person's punches.

However, it was strange. After she survived the first attack, that person no longer paid attention to her, instead targeting the remaining experts in the flower space.

Now, they'd killed 8 of the 16 who died.

Alexandra was wary of this strange individual, but more than that, she was extremely wary of the flower space itself.

'Their bodies disappear when they die. They're likely being consumed as nutrients by this flower.' Alexandra surmised.

It wasn't a unique tactic. Most plant species and even several beast species used this same method of evolution to gain strength.

It was just..

'The scale of this time is massive. If this plant is truly able to steal our essence, it will grow into something calamitous.'

Alexandra's eyes rapidly moved from side to side as she followed that strange person's battles with the remaining two experts.

It was one against two, but that person didn't seem to be at a loss at all. In fact, it was more accurate to say that they were dominating.

'The soldiers and Nox below late-stage 4th class are probably already being slaughtered and absorbed. We can't let any more extreme peak 4th class experts die and feed this thing!'

"Stop!" Alexandra shouted just as that person went for the kill.

Their shadowy head turned towards her, however, the trajectory of their weapon didn't change.

Two heads flew into the air, two spouts of blood showered the pure white flower space in red.

"Fuck!" Alexandra shouted. "Why don't people listen?!"

Before she knew it, that person was in front of her face.

They stood silently. Even without their face showing, Alexandra could clearly feel their eyes scanning her.

"You are..not a dog of Asuran Gate." The mysterious person muttered.

"Hm?" Alexandra made a sound of confusion.

"Why..ask..stop?"

Alexandra furrowed her brows. The last time she heard this choppy speech pattern, she ended up without a body.

Nevertheless, this person was a potential ally she couldn't lose at the moment.

"It's like this.."

Alexandra rapidly explained her reasoning to the mysterious person. She didn't leave out many details, as long as they didn't concern greater secrets.

"..the rewards in these flower spaces are probably real, but there's probably corruptive mana hidden within. I don't doubt that those who consume these materials will become slaves to that vine."

The mysterious person stood silently for a short moment.

"How..fix?"

Alexandra shook her head. "It's impossible for us. The only solution is to kill the heavenly vine so its mana loses effect. Our best path forward is to escape this flower prison and spread awareness, but it doesn't look like that's easy."

It was as she said, the flower petals that enclosed the space were harder than most heavenly materials.

Every piece of this heavenly vine was a treasure, though that didn't quite matter if they couldn't survive this situation.

The mysterious person glanced at the petal walls and nodded.

"Will..break..5..minutes."

"What? Are you sure you can do that? Wait, in the first place, who the hell are you?!"

The mysterious person flinched at Alexandra's exclamation. They hesitated for a second with their back turned.

"Alexandra..Arcadia..Guild.." that person muttered.

They turned around, the shadows covering their body slowly vanishing.

Long iridescent blue hair, the divine body of a goddess, this person's form looked far too perfect for it to remain hidden under a veil.

However, her face..

It was a mangled mess. Shadowy black energy pulsated through the exposed veins in the woman's face, only somewhat contributing to its gruesomely mutilated appearance.

If it wasn't for the fact that it was attached to a body, it would've been hard to even call it a face at all.

Alexandra's eyes widened. The disgust she felt for a split second was replaced by pity almost immediately.

'This person is..'

No, this person used to be..

"Rilia..Sterhaven..Sanctuary..Guild.."

One of the first-round entrants of the Void Corridor, and also the strongest of them.

How did she end up like this?

***

The battles on the ground and the battles in the flower spaces were all extremely fierce. The stench of death clouded the atmosphere and almost took physical presence due to the sheer amount of it in the area.

However, these battles meant nothing compared to the one taking place in the clouds.

BOOOOOM!

A massive blast of mana enveloped the sky. Shaped like a dark phoenix, holding the properties of both fire and metal, this attack formed a blazing inferno of death that enveloped the enemy and melted them while corroding their insides.

This dark phoenix slammed into a valiant man who stood across from it. A golden-red light barrier formed around him and clashed against the phoenix, causing sparks to fly into the air.

"Sir Theon, you've become weaker!" Lucas shouted jovially.

"Let's see if you can still take my attacks!"

Lucas raised his weapon and pointed it. Swirls of mana covered its blade like will-o-wisps as he pushed it forward.

"Divine Sword Style: Split Sword Enhanced Style!" historical

Lucas' sword split into several thousand pieces, each sword carrying a different concept from the Bloof and Metal Laws that Lucas studied.

These swords were already powerful individually, having more than enough power to destroy cities, however, when they came together..

B-B-BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The proceeding explosion was heaven-shaking. Clouds of flame and metal fragments rushed to cloud the entire atmosphere around Sir Theon.

The metal fragments were already extremely enhanced, but when they were combined with the force of the explosion and blood element, they became dangerous even for someone at Sir Theon's level.

"Tch!" He clicked his tongue as he swerved through the air and dodged the rain of attacks. His murky black mana acted like a ribbon, trailing his hand and forming a flexible defense that reflected most of Lucas' attacks.

Yet, Theon wasn't happy at all.

'If I was at my peak, dealing with this would've been no problem at all, however, I cannot exert myself to my full capacity due to that conspirator's tricks!'

The battle was fine right now, but if they prolonged the fight, Sir Theon would absolutely lose due to his existing injury.

Theon knew this and Lucas did too. It was obvious what the latter's intentions were at this point.

Sir Theon gritted his teeth in rage.

'Dammit! After I kill this fool, you will be next!'

Sir Theon immediately charged back into battle, exchanging several thousand attacks with Lucas every second.

And as the two fought, they lost the ability to watch their stray mana.

Below them, an almost unnoticeable suction force began emitting from the dual flowers at the vine's peak.

The mana that these two experts left in the surroundings..

Was slowly absorbed and turned into power by the heavenly vine below them.