Atlas remained standing at the same spot without moving for a long time. The rain continued falling over the area while the corpse remained split into two on the ground. Many of the people who had come out of the Guild Hall to witness the commotion had already retreated back inside, believing the Guild was the only place that could protect them if another battle suddenly broke out.
Alberion, Himalton, and the rest of the Asfalon team remained where they were. Unlike ordinary people, none of them were drenched by the rain. A thin layer of spirit energy covered their bodies, causing every raindrop to slide away before touching their clothes or skin. Maintaining something at that level consumed almost no spirit energy for individuals of their strength, so none of them paid any attention to it.
Atlas was different.
The rain soaked his clothes and hair without interruption, yet he seemed completely unaware of it. His mind was still occupied by what had happened moments ago. The feeling inside his chest had not disappeared, but neither had he allowed it to cloud his judgment any further, ’So, this...is what it feels like to kill someone?’
After remaining motionless for several more moments, he slowly lifted his head and looked toward the group standing in front of the Guild. Himalton met Atlas’s eyes and quietly observed him. His expression remained calm, but his thoughts had already reached a conclusion.
’That was definitely his first time killing another person. He’ll need time to get used to it...but killing an SS-rank while only being an S-rank, I knew from the beginning he was abnormal.’
Atlas’s gaze then shifted toward Alberion.
The arrogance Alberion had shown earlier had completely disappeared. His face remained stiff as if he had just witnessed something that should not have been possible. Atlas initially thought Alberion was simply shocked that an SS-rank had been killed so quickly, but after looking around he realized Alberion wasn’t the only one. Every member standing behind him wore almost the same expression.
After that Atlas’s eyes shifted to the corpse lying on the ground for once before he turned to Himalton again, "Mr. Himalton, I’ll see you after I return, We can discuss the Exploration details then."
The spirit blade around his right hand had already disappeared after he withdrew the spirit energy sustaining it. As soon as those words left his mouth, Atlas vanished from his position in a blur, heading toward his second Cataclysm-rank Ruin.
- - -
Meanwhile, inside one of the deepest chambers beneath the Royal Palace at the center of Solara City, dozens of Angelic researchers moved from one workstation to another without stopping.
Each of them wore white laboratory attire along with masks covering the lower half of their faces, while several observed floating projections through the monocles attached over one of their eyes. The entire chamber remained busy as reports were written, spirit devices were adjusted, and new observations were constantly recorded.
The chamber was so vast that it stretched for more than one kilometer. Above was a completely white ceiling while the floor below remained just as white, smooth enough to resemble polished marble. Yet the truth was that it wasn’t marble at all, it was built entirely from materials recovered from Ruins themselves.
At the very center of this massive chamber stood a gigantic glass tube. At first glance it looked similar to the Bloodline Crucible the Human King Azarion had been observing, but the two were completely different. That Bloodline Crucible had several pipes attached to it, continuously sending unknown liquids inside, while this one had no such thing. It too was filled with a strange liquid, but apart from that, there was almost no similarity between the two.
There was, however, one thing both of them had in common.
Just like Project X floated inside the Bloodline Crucible, another figure floated inside this massive tube as well.
That figure was none other than...the same monster that had appeared above the Royal Palace the previous night.
Yes...that very same monster now floated inside the tube with every one of its limbs completely intact. There wasn’t even the slightest scratch on its body as it remained suspended inside the liquid with its eyes closed and body fully stretched, unlike Project X who remained curled inside the Bloodline Crucible.
That alone would have been enough to shock anyone witnessing the scene, but what was even more surprising was the person standing before the tube.
Queen Solaris stood there with her hands crossed and her eyes narrowed at the monster while several Angelic researchers continued examining it through the monocles on their eyes. Some manipulated floating spirit projections while others continuously wrote their observations on floating sheets of paper, making sure not to miss even the smallest change in the monster’s body.
Many would wonder how this situation came to be, and the answer was simple.
Immediately after failing to locate the source of that strange energy through her ability, Queen Solaris had killed the monster without hesitation and brought its body directly here for examination. The time it had taken her to do all of that and arrive inside this chamber...
It was less than five minutes.
Even that much time had only been spent because she wanted to locate the source before killing it. The moment she realized that wasn’t possible, she immediately killed the monster, arrived here in an instant, and ordered these experiments to begin.
As she silently observed the monster inside the tube, countless thoughts passed through her mind.
*’Interesting...from the reports there was a massacre of our race near the forest because of these kinds of monsters, and it isn’t happening only around Solara. Reports from across Celestara mention the same thing...something is wrong. Ruins have never produced monsters like these.’*
She remained silent for a moment before another thought followed.
’More importantly, this one was forcefully raised from SSS-rank to EX-rank. That strange substance must be the reason behind it...but if someone can mass produce this and use it on thousands of monsters, it will become disastrous. Someone is clearly behind all of this...’ The moment that thought crossed her mind, another memory surfaced.
It was the parchment Eliana had sent only the other day through Alberion, Solaris’s eyes widened slightly as a possibility suddenly formed inside her mind, ’Is...Azarion behind this?’
Just as that question appeared in her mind, one of the Angelic researchers standing nearby stepped forward before bowing slightly, "Your Majesty, we’ve found something. If you permit me, I would like to explain it."
Solaris turned towards him before giving a slight nod, "Go ahead."
The researcher nodded before tapping the monocle over his right eye once. Instantly, a large projection appeared before everyone present, drawing all of their attention toward it, "Please look carefully at this dense mass of spirit energy. Mixed within it is that same ’Unknown Energy’, although I wouldn’t exactly classify it as an energy."
Everyone looked at the projection.
Inside it, an extremely dense mass of transparent spirit energy moved as slowly as possible while something else remained mixed within it. Tiny empty spaces continuously appeared inside that spirit energy, but those weren’t empty spaces at all.
They were Null.
No explanation was needed for anyone present to realize that. Every person standing here had already witnessed that same phenomenon outside the Royal Palace. This projection was simply a highly magnified image of the same strange substance that seemed capable of erasing anything it came into contact with.
After observing it for a long moment, Queen Solaris finally shifted her gaze back toward the researcher.
"What do you mean when you say it isn’t exactly an energy? I can understand why you would say that because even to me it doesn’t truly feel like one...but have you discovered the reason behind it?"
The researcher slowly shook his head.
"No, Your Majesty. Unfortunately, I still haven’t been able to determine why it behaves like an energy in some situations while completely ignoring the properties of every known energy in others. However, there is one thing we have confirmed."
He paused for a brief moment before continuing.
"From the experiments we did on some animals and other monsters we found that this strange substance can forcefully increase an individual’s overall strength by nearly fifty times. Not only that, it can also forcefully raise the target by one complete rank beyond their current limit. Even a single minuscule fragment of it is enough to achieve that."
The entire chamber became silent.
The researcher looked directly at Queen Solaris before speaking the last part, "And when I say target...I don’t mean monsters alone, It works on every living race there is."
That revelation made Queen Solaris’s eyes widen immediately, but before she could question or speak anything the researcher continued, "Though the strangest part is that even after we extracted all of it from this monster...neither it’s strength nor its rank decreased."
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