Nick narrowed his eyes as he looked at something very noticeable about two kilometers away.
Just because there were no plants didn't mean that there weren't things looking like plants.
In the endless pointlessness of dust and dirt was a lush green forest with a beautiful lake in the middle.
All in all, the forest was about twenty meters wide.
There were fish, birds, trees, fruits, berries, and beautiful water in the small forest.
It was brimming with life and vitality.
Sadly, this entire forest was the doing of a Specter.
There were no plants, animals, fish, or whatever in the forest.
All of these things were created with Zephyx, and they all only looked like their real counterparts.
The forest was essentially a three-dimensional cardboard cutout of a house.
There was nothing to be gained by entering one of these forests.
Anyone who entered one of these forests would be consumed by the Specter.
Naturally, before Nick had left the city, he had researched the outside as much as he could.
Information about the outside world was not kept confidential.
These small forests were all over the world, according to the information Nick had gathered.
While the existence of these forests was not secret, the closer details were.
Luckily, Nick, thanks to his position as Chief Zephyx Extractor, had the authority to access classified information.
After all, Crimson City wanted the city to capture and suppress more Specters, and keeping vital information about the outside world secret would only result in unnecessary death.
Of course, people with access to the information were not allowed to give that information to just anyone.
They were supposed to handle the information on a need-to-know basis when talking to their Extractors.
So, while Nick knew about the Specter behind these forests, he couldn't tell his team since knowing the Specter's background wouldn't increase or decrease the group's chance of survival.
The forest was created by the False Hope, an extremely powerful Specter.
In fact, it was an Adversary, a level eight Specter, just one level below an Eternal.
These forests were all over the world, and all of them led to death.
The False Hope gained power by consuming life.
The distinction between gaining power by consuming life and by killing people was important.
Since the False Hope gained power by consuming life, it also became more powerful by killing animals and plants.
Luckily, the False Hope was doomed to never become an Eternal.
After all, there was no more life left, and every human that could be found outside the city would never enter one of these forests.
The False Hope was stuck at its current level.
According to Aegis, the False Hope didn't have sentience, which meant that it wouldn't just suddenly change its approach.
For all eternity, the False Hope would destroy its forests and create new ones in other places, doomed to never reap another life.
But what about the life inside the city?
Couldn't some seeds or animals from the city leave and rebuild in the outside world, which would then strengthen the False Hope again?
Yes, from time to time, a couple of seeds floated out of a city and started to turn into plants in the surroundings.
However, these plants didn't survive for even a day.
That was due to a second extremely powerful Specter.
Nick saw something moving in the huge dusty valley in front of him.
About a kilometer away, Nick saw something black slowly moving forward.
It was a big black oozy blob.
It was about two meters high and just as wide.
There were five human arms growing out of its front, which were grabbing the ground and pulling the blob forward.
As it moved forward, the blob left a black trail behind, which seeped into the ground, turning it black.
This black blob was a minion of another powerful Adversary.
It was called the Eternal Hunger.
The Eternal Hunger gained power the same way as the False Hope, by devouring life.
However, compared to the False Hope, the Eternal Hunger created these huge black slimes to consume life.
The black slimes scoured the world for all life.
When they sensed something alive, they immediately attacked it.
It didn't matter if they saw humans, animals, or plants.
They attacked everything.
Additionally, the black ooze they left behind poisoned the land, making it even more difficult for plants to grow.
These black oozes were also the main reason why going outside of the city was forbidden for most people.
These black oozes were quite common, and the weakest of them had the power of a Mid Newbie, while the strongest could even reach the power of Veterans.
Luckily, the really strong oozes were exceptionally rare.
The black oozes grew more powerful based on the amount of life they had reaped in their lifetime.
Not only was it difficult for an ooze to grow stronger, but oozes also didn't tend to live long.
The ooze suddenly sped up, shooting forward at a speed of over 100 kph!
It had just found life!
The ooze charged right into the small forest.
The ooze exploded as soon as it entered the forest, and the black slime seemed to turn into smoke before completely disappearing.
At the same time, the forest's width shrunk by a couple of centimeters.
This was why these oozes often didn't live for long.
Aegis wasn't sure if the oozes knew that the forests were made by a different Specter or not, but whenever they saw one, they immediately charged in.
When an ooze charged into a forest, both sides would lose a significant amount of Zephyx, and one side would always die.
Either the ooze was destroyed and turned into nothing, or the forest vanished, leaving a smaller ooze behind.
This interaction happened all over the world, and Aegis wasn't completely sure about the reason behind it.
Did the oozes think that the forest was real, or was this some kind of war between two predators that hunted the same prey?
In any case, Aegis wanted more of these interactions to occur since these interactions seemed to weaken the two Specters.
Extractors all over the world were encouraged to lead oozes towards these forests.