Dimensional Descent

The moment Leonel landed, his brows furrowed in confusion. This was mostly because not a single thing seemed different. The greyish black, coarse ground was the same. The thick black trees were the same. The dense fog and the grey skies were all the same.

Leonel had expected to be transported into an all new world, but it seemed that that wouldn't be the case?

'No… That's the wrong way of thinking about things. Every Zone is technically just a projection of the history of the land it was born in. If this is the history of the Void Palace, it just means that this region hasn't changed at all in a very long time…'

Leonel felt that this made sense, but there was still something that just felt wrong. With how long the Void Palace had existed for, how could its Sub-Dimensional Zones had not all been cleared already? And, if they took the route of Valiant Heart Mountain and used special means to keep this Zone open, then the time that had passed should have long since mutated this world beyond recognition. Or, at the very least, it shouldn't have been so… identical.

Leonel then thought of the possibility that the devices the Void Palace would have access to would be beyond that of Valiant Heart Mountain. Maybe it was the case, then, that their ability to maintain a Zone within a normal range was superior. But, Leonel didn't linger on this idea for too long because the Valiant Pillars, in the first place, were a treasure gifted to Valiant Heart Mountain to begin with. It would be foolish for Leonel to draw conclusions about its quality just because of who now owned it.

With a thought, Leonel's Internal Sight stretched outward. However, even in looking, he couldn't find any oddities.

'The Segmented Cube can't hide the existence of people from a Zone, so I've essentially entered with six people. I have a feeling that that could be a problem…'

The Zone had made no attempt at limiting the number of individuals who had entered. Up until now, actually, the Void Palace had made no effort to stop teamwork either. But, Leonel didn't believe that this would continue forever. Or, more accurately, there would probably come harsher and harsher penalties for choosing to take this approach.

'Staying still won't get me anywhere.'

With this thought, Leonel shot forward once again, his mind scanning through everywhere he passed. But, he had hardly taken a third step when he suddenly felt a cold shiver rip its way up his spine.

Without the slightest hesitation, Leonel dove to the side, slamming the ground with a palm and flipping himself upward until he could land on his feet again.

SHUUU! PENG!

"Yip! Yip!"

Leonel's pupils constricted. What looked like a silver needle with a length of two feet and a thinness of barely a centimeter impaled a tree, having just barely missed the side of Leonel's ear.

Leonel slowed his breathing, his heart beating slow and steady. But, the shockwaves in his mind continued to roll like waves. That attack… it had managed to pierce the tree?!

Even now, Leonel wasn't certain if he could leave even a scratch on one of these trees without bringing his Quasi Life Grade bow out. But, even if he did, he had no certainty of accomplishing what this needle had. Of course, it had a certain advantage because of how thin it was, but it was also because of this that it was so shocking. Such a fragile piece of metal had actually managed to ram into something so hard without crumpling.

Leonel's Internal Sight stretched out once again, but he found absolutely nothing. However, now that he knew that there was something there, he realized there were only two explanations instantaneously.

The first was that this person had targeted him from outside the range of a hundred meters. The second was that this person could hide from his Internal Sight.

Regardless of what the answer was, though… He was still Leonel.

Even as he was still dodging, Leonel had already calculated the direction the needle had come from. His free hand, grabbed at the air, forming a Radiant Core and allowing a dreadful amount of Bow Force to rotate about it like a drill.

Falling through the air, he spun, whipping his arm backward.

Leonel had no way of telling exactly how far away this individual targeting him was. However, there was one thing about this environment that was in his favor: the trees.

Even with the power of the needle, it had only managed to pierce into the tree by about three inches. And, Leonel hadn't picked up the sound of it going through any trees before it. That meant that wherever this person was, they needed a clear line of sight between themselves and Leonel. In addition, because Leonel hadn't sensed the use of Bow Force, nor had the needle seemed to deviate, it was most likely that it had followed a perfectly straight path.

Taking all of this into account, and adding onto it some other small tidbits of sensory information, Leonel had made a decision. This person wasn't further than a hundred meters away, they were just capable of hiding from his Internal Sight.

'87% likelihood that they stand right there…'

BANG! BANG!

'Two sounds?'

Leonel landed nimbly on the ground, sliding his feet quickly and ducking behind a tree trunk.

If it had just landed on ground, there wouldn't have been two sounds. It was more likely than not that this individual had been forced to attack twice to dispel Leonel's attack. But, if that was the case…

'It means they can't casually use the strength they had to impale the tree…'

Leonel's figure flickered, rocketing toward the direction of the noise. The closer he was, the more control of the situation he would have. At least he would be able to lay eyes on who he was fighting. Since this individual knew he could find them once, they'd be more cautious the next time.

However, that was when something unexpected happened. Wise Star Order actually spoke unprompted.

"Ah, the young truly fear nothing."