The chase stretched on for hours. Max slipped through the endless forests of the Greenwood Region, his figure invisible as he stalked the three figures flying overhead.
They moved quickly, Victor and his men flying in a straight line with the confidence of people who knew exactly where they were going.
Max, in contrast, darted through the ground below, his feet whispering over leaves and roots, his body flowing between shadows, always careful not to disturb the air with flight mana.
His Three Dimensional Body mapped their every motion above, making sure not a single movement was lost.
The terrain gradually shifted as the forest thinned out. The towering trees grew sparser, replaced by rocky ridges and jagged hills, each one covered in stubborn grass that swayed in the wind. The red tint of the Greenwood Regionâs skies grew more intense as they drew closer, painting the horizon in the color of blood.
Max narrowed his eyes. The feeling in the air was changingâdenser, heavier, as though the very atmosphere was pressing down with watchful hostility.
Finally, after scaling a steep ridge and dropping silently into the valley beyond, Max froze. His eyes widened slightly, though his invisible form betrayed no sound or movement. Before him, sprawled across the basin of a massive canyon, was a city.
It wasnât marked on any map he had ever seen. He had brought various maps of Greenwood Region before coming here and this city wasnât marked on any of those maps.
The city was unlike the proud metropolises of the Middle Domain. This one seemed carved directly into the land itself. Massive stone walls surrounded it, etched with runes that shimmered faintly in the dim light.
Towers jutted upward, some crowned with eerie violet crystals that pulsed rhythmically like beating hearts. The glow they gave off wasnât just for illuminationâthey were surveillance beacons, their arcs of light sweeping across the skies like ever-searching eyes.
Inside the walls, Max could see sprawling avenues, packed with activity. Dark-robed experts moved in groups, their faces cold and sharp, the insignia of the Void Soul Tower gleaming on their chests.
In another section of the city, different banners flutteredâlightning-etched sigils belonging to the Thunder Monarch Hall. What startled Max most was that they werenât clashing. They werenât glaring or fighting as usual. They were... cooperating. Moving side by side, coordinating patrols, manning watchtowers together.
His gaze drifted to the far side of the city, where an enormous black obelisk rose high above the rooftops. The structure looked ancient, its surface carved with lines of shadowy script that seemed to writhe faintly when stared at too long.
Around its base, masked figures in black hoods stood silently. They didnât patrol, they didnât move aimlessly like the othersâthey simply stood, motionless as statues, their presence suffocating even from this distance.
Max felt his chest tighten. Even through his invisibility, even with his aura suppressed to nothing, he felt as if their unseen eyes could pierce the veil and find him at any moment. âSo these are the masked individuals... no wonder the Void Soul Tower dogs trembled at their mention.â
Above him, Victor and his men descended gracefully, flying straight toward the northern gate. The guards there saluted quickly, stepping aside to let them through without a word. Clearly, they were not outsiders here.
Max crouched low against the jagged ridge, his body pressed against the stone like a shadow. His sharp eyes narrowed, taking in every detail of the city sprawled before him. The runed walls pulsed faintly with violet light, towers speared upward into the crimson sky, and the eerie black obelisk stood like a heart of darkness at the center of it all. Yet none of this captured his attention as much as the subtle, undeniable pull in his chest.
âLenavira is here. I can feel it.â
It wasnât mere intuition. Back in the Lost Continent, he had learned something strangeâbecause of their shared bloodline, he could always sense her faintly, like a thread tying them together.
And now, in this hidden city buried deep within the Greenwood Region, that thread burned stronger than ever. It was faint, buried beneath layers of barriers and formations, but it was there. Her bloodline pulsed within the city walls like a beacon only he could perceive.
Maxâs gaze swept across the runed fortifications again, studying the glowing sigils woven across the walls. âFrom the way I got here, this city is deliberately hidden. Even if someone were to fly directly above it, they wouldnât see a single brick. These rune formations donât just concealâthey warp perception itself. Only those guided here would ever find it.â
The realization sent a cold clarity through him. If he had come searching blindly, trusting maps or rumors, he would have been led instead to one of Greenwoodâs visible citiesâthe decoy cities. And there, he was certain, entire armies of the Void Soul Tower and Thunder Monarch Hall would have been waiting to crush him.
âThey really prepared well for me,â Max thought with a low hum in his chest. His lips curved faintly into a smile, but it wasnât one of amusementâit was sharp, edged with danger.
Above the city, flying drones buzzed, their violet lenses scanning in sweeping arcs, and the runes embedded along the ridges hummed faintly, alert to any unnatural disturbance. In the streets, dark-robed patrols marched with rigid discipline, their weapons gleaming faintly in the violet light. Every layer of security screamed of preparation for him.
Invisible, silent, and determined, he shifted his stance and began to move again. His body hugged the terrain, his movements precise and deliberate. He circled the ridge slowly, studying the angles of the rune arrays, marking the gaps in the dronesâ surveillance, and testing the blind spots between patrol routes.
Each step was calculated; each pause perfectly timed.
The city thought itself impenetrable, hidden so well that even the heavens themselves couldnât spy upon it. To anyone else, this labyrinth of runes woven into the land would be an unbreakable wall, a veil that consumed trespassers before they ever set foot inside.
But Max was not "anyone else."
His eyes glimmered faintly with a deep azure light as his Blue Soul came alive within him. Lines of energy spread across his vision, turning the very air into a living map. What was once an invisible barrier of concealment became a detailed network of glowing threads, each rune like a star pulsing in the void.
Maxâs mind raced, dissecting the countless layers of protectionsâthe alarm wards, the distortion barriers, the perception sealsâall designed to repel or destroy intruders.
A faint smile curved his lips. âSo intricate... but to me, it might as well be painted in broad strokes. A puzzle already solved.â
He crouched low against the ridge and pressed his palm to the earth. His fingers brushed across the faint grooves hidden beneath dirt and stone, tracing the shape of the nearest sigil. His mastery over runes was formidable, but combined with his Blue Soul, it was perfection.
He didnât destroy the runeâdoing so would alert the entire city. Instead, he touched the flow of energy with precise control, redirecting its circuit by a hairâs breadth, creating a silent blind spot just wide enough for his body to pass.
Max moved like a shadow through the gap.