Death... and me

Naturally, Duran couldn't hear Rean and Roan's conversation, so he gradually moved in deeper into the city. This city obviously looked different from the previous one. However, one thing remained the same. Anything they touched would crumble down immediately. Duran felt somewhat sad as he thought he could find something useful here.

Of course, Rean and Duran also found bones as they moved through the city, which also crumbled from the slightest touch. That only made Duran more aware of the possible danger as he kept his eyes peeled for everything. "Do you know anything about this place?"

Rean shook his head, saying in response, "As if! However, this city creeps me out with all these skeletons. Are you sure you want to stay here? Perhaps it's better to wait outside." Of course, Rean was only saying that to keep the suspicions away from him.

Duran shook his head in response. "No can do. We need to understand the area we're in more clearly. We might be able to find something in this city."

"Can you let me go then and go on this search alone?" Rean asked.

Duran snorted straight away. "Ha! As if!"

Duran continued to move around the city until he finally decided to head to its center. There, the biggest buildings could be found. Rean then looked at all the towers and stores in the area, trying to see which one of them would radiate the red light Roan talked about. 'Could it be that this city doesn't have one?'

Sadly, that wasn't the case. When Duran passed through a big street, Rean finally saw the red light at the end of that road. Duran narrowed his eyes as he also noticed that thing. Nevertheless, because Duran was far from it, the red light emanating from the building wasn't affecting him. As for Rean, he was ready to use Dark Element to destroy that force.

"I guess you don't know what's emanating that red light as well, huh?" Duran asked.

Rean shrugged his shoulder, saying in response, "If I said I knew, would you believe me?"

"Fair enough." Duran knew Rean was right. As far as they were concerned, Rean might simply lie to him about it and make him lose something. He could only trust his own strength as he approached it to examine the source.

'It's here!' The duo finally got close enough to the building in the distance for its soul-controlling power to reach them. Without wasting time, Rean took his Dark Star out and used it to gather Dark Element to drive the energy out of his mind.

However, unlike what Rean expected to happen, Duran didn't seem to be affected by the red light at all. Instead, Duran looked at Rean with a puzzled expression and asked, "What are you doing?"

Rean was taken aback. Why is he not being affected? Rean's plan was to escape when this moment arrived. After that, he would destroy the red sphere to save Duran's life. That way, Duran would owe him another favor. This was a gamble through and through. Rean thought that since Duran didn't kill him because Duran owed him and Roan something, things would get even better if he owed his life to Rean as well.

Sadly, that didn't happen at all! Nevertheless, Rean quickly calmed down as he worked to drive the energy from the higher realm out of his mind while he answered Duran, "What are you talking about? Can't you feel it?"

Duran became even more confused after that. "Feel what?"

Rean felt like crying. "What do you mean by what? I'm talking about this annoying thing trying to enter my head! There's some kind of energy trying to damage my soul! I'm using Dark Element to destroy it! I told you to not enter this city, shit!" At the very least, Rean's excuse was very good...since most of it was true.

"Something trying to damage your soul?" Duran was also taken aback when suddenly, one thing came to his mind. Soon after, he pulled out a green pendant that he was wearing around his neck. That green pendant shone with a faint green light, which streamed into Duran's body. "This..."

Duran obtained the pendant from the inheritance of the expert from the Realm of Gods. He always wore it even though he didn't know if it had any use at all. After all, it was an item from the Realm of Gods. Surely it had some good effect, right? Turns out Duran was right. That green pendant was the reason why the energy from the higher realm couldn't seep into his soul. "So that's how it is..."

Immediately, an idea popped into Duran's mind. 'I refuse to believe this is a mere coincidence. Does this mean that the expert from the Realm of Gods came to our planet because of what's happening in this Bestial Sacred Ground? However, he died in the end, and Fikin nor I knew how that happened.' The more Duran thought about it, the more it made sense. 'That must be it! After all, why would that expert come to our planet in the first place? There shouldn't be anything here to catch the attention of someone like that. This trip to the Bestial Sacred Land is becoming a lot more complicated every minute.'

'The good thing is that the Divine Demon Beasts might really not have anything to do with what's happening here. Of course, I won't put my hand on the fire for them,' Duran concluded his thoughts there.

Duran then asked Rean something else, "How long can you resist it? I'll see if I can destroy the source of that red light."

Rean kept using the Dark Element coming from his sword as he answered, "I'm fine for a few minutes. However, I'll be even fine if you simply leave the range of this power. Do you remember? It didn't affect us from afar, so it has a distance limit."

Duran shook his head as he told Rean, "It's fine, it's fine. If you see you're reaching your limit, let me know. Until then, let's go." Without waiting for Rean's answer, Duran rushed towards the tower.