With his new energy reserves, Atlas breezed through the next few steps up until the second bottleneck, which was the fortieth step.
As soon as he attempted to pass the fortieth step, he was transported into an illusory space much different from the ordinary illusory spaces and more like the previous bottleneck step. This time around, though, it was a vast desert riddled with multiple dunes.
Atlas had his guard up from the beginning, body rejuvenated and strengthened from the quick injection of Empty Void energy.
That wasn't enough, as one of the sand dunes collapsed and a figure could be seen sinking even further into the ground. Immediately after, a wide pit appeared before him and a large figure jumped out to reveal its full silhouette.
It was a creature covered in golden scales that completely blended in with the golden grains of sand. Its tail alone was two times bigger than the Silverback Falcon from the previous bottleneck step.
