Chapter 240: Demonic Fear, High Combat Power

[Demonic Fear] was one of Godrick’s signature abilities, a skill designed not just to intimidate, but to completely overwhelm his opponents mentally, forcing fear into their minds to the point where they couldn’t even function properly.

Even those with slightly higher [Combat Power] than him could be affected if their will wasn’t strong enough.

And once caught in its effect, it became incredibly difficult to even use skills properly, as hesitation and fear took over.

It was one of the main reasons why Godrick was so dangerous. Even now, the effect was immediate.

Alicar and Oasis both reacted slightly, their bodies stiffening for just a moment as the pressure hit them, though they managed to resist it without too much trouble.

Violet, on the other hand, didn’t react at all, her expression remaining completely unchanged as if the ability didn’t even exist.

Godrick, however, wasn’t paying attention to them.

His eyes were locked on Leon, fully expecting him to collapse under the pressure, to fall to his knees, unable to resist.

But that didn’t happen. Not even close.

Unshaken!

Leon stood there, completely unaffected, his gaze steady as he looked directly into Godrick’s eyes without the slightest hint of fear.

His title’s passive activated instantly and erased any influence the skill might have had on him.

"You..." Godrick’s expression shifted slightly, surprise flashing across his face for a brief moment before it turned into something darker, "...so you can resist that."

Instead of calming down, that only made him angrier.

The fact that Leon didn’t react the way he expected only fueled his frustration, and without hesitation, he raised his arm again, preparing to strike with far more force than before.

The previous attack had been nothing compared to what he was actually capable of.

But just as he was about to bring it down—

"Don’t."

Violet spoke.

It was the first time she had said anything since Leon arrived, her voice calm and cold, yet carrying a weight that instantly changed the atmosphere around them.

Her aura rose slightly, just enough to make her presence known, and even that small increase in power was enough to make Leon feel a faint tremor run through his body.

The sheer difference in strength between them became even more apparent.

’She really is the strongest here,’ Leon thought, his eyes narrowing slightly as he remained still.

Violet was from [Ember], one of the three eternal-level worlds Leon knew about, a place that stood at the very top in terms of power and influence.

1

Even in the [God-Rank] assessment, that difference was still clear.

Godrick, despite his arrogance, knew that. Everyone did.

He hesitated for a moment, his fist still raised, before slowly lowering it, letting out a frustrated breath as he stepped back.

"You’re lucky the dragon is speaking for you," he muttered, turning away slightly, "If we were alone, I would have crushed you without hesitation."

"You’ve got serious anger issues," Leon replied calmly, not raising his voice or showing any reaction to the threat, "This isn’t a competition, I just want to find a way out of here."

That statement immediately drew reactions.

Oasis blinked in surprise, glancing toward Alicar as if to confirm what she had just heard.

"Didn’t you already explain that to him?" she asked.

"I did," Alicar sighed, rubbing the back of his head slightly, "But he seems pretty determined to believe there’s a way out."

"That’s kind of cute," Oasis said with a small smile, "He probably hasn’t seen what’s waiting further ahead yet, once he does, he’ll understand."

"Foolish," Godrick added with a scoff, crossing his arms as he looked at Leon again, "He’s the weakest among us, and he seriously thinks he can do something none of us have managed to accomplish?"

"Who knows," Alicar replied with a light smile, "The more people survive here, the better our chances become over time, especially if we keep getting stronger."

"Yeah, sure," Godrick muttered, clearly unconvinced, "And considering how long it took for someone new to show up, I wouldn’t get my hopes up."

Meanwhile, Leon remained silent, his mind already racing as he processed everything he had just heard.

If even these people, individuals far stronger than him, hadn’t been able to complete the assessment, then that meant one of two things.

Either the way out was extremely difficult to find.

Or they had already found it, but something was preventing them from actually reaching it.

Neither option was reassuring.

And as Leon stood there, surrounded by people who had been trapped in this place for an unknown amount of time, one thing became painfully clear.

This [God-Rank] assessment wasn’t going to give him a single moment of rest.

At that moment, Alicar decided that it was time to actually explain the situation properly, likely realizing that leaving Leon in the dark would only cause more problems later on.

Leon didn’t interrupt him this time.

He simply listened, his expression calm but focused, knowing that whatever Alicar was about to say would determine how he approached everything moving forward.

And the explanation was straightforward.

Violet had been the first to arrive in this place, a long time ago, far longer than Leon could even imagine, followed by Godrick, then Oasis, and finally Alicar himself, each one appearing at different times but ultimately ending up in the same situation.

"Wait," Leon raised an eyebrow slightly, "you’re the last one who came here? That doesn’t feel right."

"I’m not," Alicar replied immediately, his expression shifting as if he was recalling something unpleasant, "two others arrived after Godrick, and then two more after me."

"Oh."

Leon didn’t need anyone to explain what that meant.

The conclusion was obvious: they had died.

Not in the sense of disappearing completely, but in the sense of failing the assessment, which meant that whatever had killed them here had been enough to push them past the point where they could continue.

Out of the nine people who had arrived in this place, including Leon himself, four were already gone.

Still, what mattered more was what came next.

According to Alicar, the only way to escape this place was by reaching a specific location, something that none of them had been able to accomplish so far despite all the time they had spent here.

At the very center of the [Forsaken City], there was a place known as the [Forsaken Castle].

That was where the gate leading out of this assessment existed.

But reaching it was another matter entirely.

"We can’t even get close to it," Alicar admitted, letting out a quiet sigh as he glanced in the direction of the castle, "the area around it is filled with monsters that are on a completely different level, especially the [Forsaken Minotaur] and several others that guard the entrance."

Even after all these years, even after growing stronger over time, they still couldn’t get past those defenses.

Leon’s gaze instinctively shifted toward Violet at that moment, sensing that she had more to say, and he wasn’t wrong.

"She’s the only one who ever made it inside," Alicar added, nodding slightly in her direction.

Violet didn’t react immediately. She remained silent for a moment before finally speaking.

"I avoided most of the monsters," she said, her eyes fixed somewhere in the distance as if she was reliving the memory, "and I managed to reach the final chamber."

Leon’s attention sharpened instantly.

If she had made it that far, then she had seen what was waiting at the end.

"The [Forsaken King] is there," Violet continued, her tone steady but firm, "and we cannot defeat him, not even if all of us fight together."

It’s also the same world which [WyvernKing] came from, the same guy Leon fought the projection of in the [Myriad Arena].