Elion moved swiftly through the forest, heading deeper into the inner layers of the dungeon.
The trees here grew denser, their massive trunks towering like ancient guardians of the land. The air became heavier with mana, signaling that the beasts ahead would be much stronger than before.
As he ventured further, the low growls and rustling of creatures echoed around him. Soon, a pack of beasts emerged from the shadows.
They were massive, hulking creatures with jagged, rocky scales covering their bodies. Their eyes glowed with fierce, primal intelligence—peak Thrid Stage beats and low Fourth Stage beasts, comparable to Soul-Strengthening Realm Realm fighters.
Elion's body tensed, but there was no hesitation in his movements.
He focused his mind, channeling lightning energy through his body, the familiar crackling sensation igniting his blood.
His katana gleamed in his hand, infused with the same electrical power, ready to strike.
The first beast lunged at him, jaws wide, aiming to snap him in half. But Elion was faster.
He sidestepped with ease, delivering a quick slash across the creature's neck. Lightning arced from his blade, stunning the beast before it could react.
In a fluid motion, Elion spun and struck again, decapitating it with a clean, precise slice.
Without missing a beat, he teleported a few meters away just as another beast charged at him from behind. The second creature crashed into where he had been standing, smashing through trees in its blind fury.
Elion reappeared at its side, and with a single thrust of his katana, he sent a surge of lightning straight into its core. The creature convulsed violently before collapsing, its life force snuffed out.
Three more beasts approached, growling and snapping. Elion narrowed his eyes. His power had grown, and while he had once struggled against such enemies, now they were within his ability to handle.
He raised his hand, opening several space cracks in the air around him. One of the beasts tried to pounce, but as it entered the range of the cracks, it was violently pulled apart by the distorted space, its body torn in a flurry of blood and fur.
The remaining beasts hesitated but quickly regained their aggression, charging together.
Elion welcomed their reckless attack. With a swift teleportation, he appeared between them, his katana slicing through their thick hides in one fluid motion. Lightning flashed in the air as his strikes disoriented and paralyzed them.
A final beast, the strongest of the group, roared and rushed him, its mana radiating powerfully.
Elion braced himself, his eyes glowing with determination. As the beast closed in, he rotated his core to the maximum, drawing in the remaining energy from the space cracks around him to his sword.
When the creature leapt, Elion unleashed a burst of condensed space and lightning energy directly into a single thrust.
The slash of energy was enough to vaporize the creature's torso, leaving nothing but smoldering remains as the beast's body crumpled to the ground.
Breathing steadily, Elion sheathed his katana and looked around. The battlefield was littered with the corpses of beasts.
He hadn't even taken a scratch, his strength now well beyond what it had been before.
[You handled those well, kid. I see you've reached a level where these things are just pests.]
Elion gave a small smirk, 'I've come a long way, haven't I? But there's still a lot further to go.'
With that, he continued deeper into the dungeon.
Along the way, similar scenes unfolded repeatedly.
Elion encountered numerous heavenly treasures and beasts, though none matched the rarity or potency of the Aquanimae flower.
His inventory steadily filled with beast cores and magical plants, each a valuable prize in its own right.
Though these finds weren't immediately useful to him, Elion knew their worth. Some would serve him well in the future, and others—like certain herbs and cores—could prove helpful to Valeria right now.
As Elion ventured deeper into the dungeon, he spotted something unusual—a strange glowing rune etched into the ground, faintly pulsing with energy.
It was hidden beneath some vines, and as he approached, a low growl rumbled through the trees.
A late Fourth Stage beast appeared, its massive form moving protectively around the rune.
The fight ensued, intense and drawn out. After half an hour of battle, Elion finally managed to bring the beast down with a well-timed strike of lightning and space energy.
Breathing heavily, he wiped the sweat from his brow and turned his gaze to the mysterious rune that had been guarded so fiercely.
He crouched beside it, intrigued by the intricate patterns that seemed to shift and twist before his eyes. The glow intensified as he reached out cautiously, his fingers hovering above it.
'What is this...?' he thought, feeling a strange pull emanating from the rune. He hesitated for a moment but then decided to channel a small amount of his mana into it, curious to see what would happen.
As soon as his mana flowed into the rune, the ground beneath him trembled. The glow of the rune brightened to a blinding intensity, and before Elion could react, his surroundings warped.
Suddenly, he found himself in a completely different place.
It was an empty void, vast and silent. There was no sky, no ground, no walls—just a space devoid of anything, stretching out infinitely in all directions.
Elion stood in the nothingness, his senses dulled. He couldn't even hear his own breathing.
His body tensed as he realized he was completely alone in this mysterious place. The silence was oppressive, yet the space felt alive with an ancient power.
Mana flowed through the void in an unsettling way, as if it was watching him.
'Where am I?' Elion thought, looking around for any sign of life or movement. But there was nothing—just the void and the strange sensation that something was out there, waiting.
"Welcome to my domain. I have been waiting for you for thousands of years," a deep, echoing voice resonated through the void.
Elion's heart skipped a beat. His eyes darted around, but there was still nothing, just the endless emptiness stretching in every direction.
"Who are you?" he asked, his voice steady, though tension gripped his body.
"I am but a defeated mage," the voice replied, calm yet heavy with ancient sorrow. "One whose world was devoured by demons. This fragment of land... it's all that remains—a small piece torn from my world as it was consumed."
Elion frowned, trying to process the information. "A defeated mage? Devoured world?"
The voice remained emotionless, but there was a strange undercurrent of power in its tone.
"What you stand within now is not my body, but my lingering will, waiting... searching for one who could inherit what I have left behind."
Elion stiffened, suddenly on guard. "Inherit your powers?" he echoed.
"Yes. I watched you. I saw how you wielded the void, an advanced form of space magic. Few can manipulate space as you did, and fewer still can grasp the concept of the void itself. That power makes you worthy, or at least... a potential successor."
Elion's mind raced. "Void magic? I've only begun to explore space magic... but the void?"
"You are only at the beginning of understanding it. But the path is before you, should you choose to walk it. The void is not merely the absence of space. It is a force, the ultimate boundary of reality itself. Those who master it... can transcend even time and fate."
Elion's pulse quickened. He had never heard of such a thing, but the prospect of mastering a power so vast, so unbound by limits, stirred something deep within him.
"And what is it that you want?" Elion asked cautiously, his instincts sharp. This could be an opportunity, but there was always a price.
The voice lingered in the void, carrying an ancient weight. "I ask for only one thing—a promise," it said, its tone more solemn than before.
"I will teach you everything I know, all of my knowledge, my magic, my experience. I will pour it directly into your mind. In return, I want your word. Swear to me that you will destroy every last demon. Avenge me. Avenge my world."
"Hah, you didn't even need to ask me. I'd do it regardless. The demons are after my world too," Elion said, his voice edged with resolve. "But what do you mean when you say they 'devoured' your world?"
A moment of silence hung in the void before the voice answered, colder and darker. "The demons consume worlds to feed on their essence. They seek out the world's core—its very life force—and drain it dry. Once they've devoured the core, that world ceases to exist."
Elion's grip on his katana tightened, a chill running down his spine as the voice continued.
"They do this to strengthen their king. Each world they consume brings him closer to ascending to the God Realm, to becoming something beyond mortal comprehension. Every core absorbed, every world destroyed, makes them stronger."
The thought of such a being, a demon king gaining godlike power, made Elion's heart race. It wasn't just Alastor in danger; the entire balance of existence seemed to teeter on the edge of annihilation.
Elion stood firm, his resolve burning like a flame in the void. "All right, teach me. I'll carry your will. What you couldn't finish, I will. I'll defeat the demons and send them back to hell."
For a moment, the void remained silent. Then, from the darkness, a figure began to materialize.
A tall, robed mage, his face obscured by shadows, stood before Elion. His form was ethereal, flickering as if he existed between worlds. His eyes, glowing faintly with power long forgotten, locked onto Elion.
"You are brave," the mage said, his voice resonating with ancient power. Slowly, he raised a hand, his long, skeletal finger pointing directly at Elion's forehead.
"Then receive my knowledge. All that I was, all that I've learned, all my centuries of battle and study... it's yours."
The moment the mage's finger touched Elion's forehead, a surge of unimaginable power flooded his mind.
His body stiffened, every muscle tense as waves of arcane knowledge—spells, incantations, strategies, and the experience of an entire lifetime—poured into him.
It was overwhelming. Elion's vision swirled as he felt countless years of battles against demons, the intricate mastery of space and void magic, and the secrets of realms he had never even dreamed of learning.
He staggered but kept his footing, clenching his fists as the torrent of wisdom filled every corner of his mind. The mage's voice echoed inside his skull, guiding him through the storm of memories.
"Do not falter. Use this power to crush the demons. Every spell, every lesson, was born from their destruction."
As the last drop of knowledge settled, the mage withdrew his finger. Elion's body relaxed, though his mind still swirled with the newfound weight of millennia of experience.
He opened his eyes, now glowing faintly with a deeper understanding of the magic that had once been beyond his reach.
The mage's form began to fade, his voice lingering like a ghost. "Now go, my successor. Do what I could not. Destroy them."
And with that, the void around him dissolved, leaving Elion standing once more in the forest, the rune at his feet destroyed. His heart pounded, but his mind was sharper than ever before.