The first thing Sylas felt wasn't a warp to his sight, but rather a violent pang of danger that made his chest feel as though his heart was doing backflips.
Without hesitation, he summoned the scorpion king corpse.
A wave of pressure hit Sylas, a splattering of thick blood coating his body as he was sent flying backward. Several cracks appeared in his Scorpion Warlord Armor as though it was already prepared to collapse right before his eyes.
He tumbled along what he assumed was a hard stone ground before he flipped to his feet, digging his toes and a hand into the ground to grind himself to a halt.
Finally, he could see the situation around him.
Rather than the World of Mirrors he was expecting, there was nothing but an endless black around him. And yet, he was able to see as though there was a pointed source of life illuminating every living being present.
'What is that? A snake?'
A long, tall figure stood in the distance. It was clearly not human, but even though there was a pointed source of light on it, its body itself seemed a form of shadows.
Sylas was immediately filled with anticipation when he thought that it might be a snake. If he was so lucky, then this final Leg wouldn't be nearly as dangerous as he thought it could have been.
In front of his Beast Totem, no F-Ranked Serpentes could even put up a fight against him. The battle would be over before it began.
But there was something off about this snake.
'Another Rotten Beast... its Genes are mutated and aren't perfectly recognized as Serpentes. That's why I didn't feel its subservience immediately... that and the fact it's under the control of someone else.'
Sylas looked around, ignoring the blood that now caked his illusory armor. But he didn't find Cole, Alex, and the others.
'Did they get transported somewhere else?'
Sylas frowned. That wasn't good. They would most likely die without his support.
This Dungeon recommended 5000 Will for a reason. Without him, their odds of survival were next to nothing.
They had also been useful to him several times. The convenience of having capable allies couldn't be understated.
'Something went wrong.'
A harsh hissing sound filled the air as Sylas felt the snake lock onto him again.
Sylas shook his head, the Beast Totem appearing.
The sudden fierce momentum of the Rotten Python plummeted.
With a step, Sylas' figure flashed and he appeared by its head. His fist shot out like a rocket. BANG!
The snake shuddered once and then collapsed to the ground, its headless corpse writhing. Whether Rotten or not... at this point, Sylas was already invincible in the face of Serpentes of the F-Grade.
'It has a Silver Gene.'
Sylas pressed a hand to it. The creature only had one Silver Gene compared to the three of the Rotten Chimera, but it was invaluable nonetheless.
The Madness Key finally broke free of its constraints, beginning to expand once again. It had long since reached its limits from absorbing excess Bronze Genes. Now that it could absorb Silver Genes, it had begun to grow once more.
This would have been very useful to Sylas in the past, not because of the size, but rather the help it would provide in meditating on Madness. But his Madness Comprehension had long left the Silver Grade behind. He would need Gold Genes before the Madness Key would be helpful in his meditation again.
The sudden voice caused Sylas' eyes to narrow. He looked up from the corpse before him, but he couldn't find anyone.
That was when a sudden realization overcame him.
'When I first got here, the snake attacked immediately, but after I moved, it took time to lock onto me again. Could it be...'
Sylas focused on his visualization again, this time training his Will.
It was then that the world of black around him began to clear up and he could seem to see in color again.
However, that didn't change much about the dreariness of the atmosphere.
He found Cole, Alex, and the others. They were in a stun lock because they couldn't seem to see or hear anything. Their Will wasn't strong enough to penetrate the darkness. Or maybe they just hadn't figured out what Sylas had.
Right now, though, Sylas couldn't spare them the attention. That was because he could finally see the mirror that Richen had been speaking about, and in each fragmented piece, the face of Aki reflected in them all as though there were hundreds of him.
The hive of mirror pieces formed the layers of this world, making it look like they were trapped with nowhere else to go.
Aki, though, was still in a stunned silence, looking down at his dead Rotten Beast as though
he couldn't believe it.
How had... it died so easily?
And what was that ability Sylas had just used to take out its Gene? Why had he never heard of such a thing before? How could the pitiful Human Race possibly have such a thing?
Sylas stood to his full height, exiting his crouch. He had been ready for danger to come in spades, but he could sense that Aki was nothing more than a projection, while the only danger
that was here was the snake he had just killed.
Let alone Aki, even he couldn't believe it.
What Sylas didn't know was that the Rotten Chimera was the strongest beast that Aki had had time to prepare for Earth. This Rotten Python was the second strongest.
According to the normal pace of the Split Realm, Sylas was supposed to be too late to stop Aki from gathering all the Will he needed to manifest personally. Then, the final battle would be against Aki himself, and that would no doubt be a battle for the ages. But...
Sylas was simply too fast.
[Split Realm Dungeon Cleared]