Kyle's body felt weightless after he passed out, and the blinding light of one of the holes enveloped him from all sides.
The swirling motion made his stomach churn, and after what felt like forever, his body was finally ejected out from the other end of the hole with a thunderous rumble.
The sudden sound startled him awake, causing him to gasp for air and blink his eyes wide open, desperately trying to make sense of his new surroundings.
At that moment, he was captivated by a mesmerizing sight—the countless stars shimmering in the dark expanse of space. However, he couldn't fully appreciate it as the powerful ejection propelled him further into an unknown destination within the vastness of space.
He gritted his teeth and tried to stop himself, to balance himself in mid-air, but the force was just too strong. In the end, he spread out his flames, now that they had stopped dissipating because he had left the ethereal tunnel. The icy flames engulfed his body entirely as he was propelled backward. But when he forcefully turned around and saw a massive planet looming behind him, his racing heart almost stopped for a second.
'Oh, shit! If I crash now, my remaining bones will surely break too!'
Kyle cursed the entire universe in his mind and used all his divine energy to create multiple layers of ice armor around his body. Then he buried his face and head inside his arms and braced himself for the impending impact, which he was certain would be excruciatingly painful.
The air around him started to get hotter, even though he was surrounded by the icy flames. But the moment he passed through the outer boundary of the planet, his face turned pale as the smell of blood and flesh assaulted his nose from all directions. It was so repulsive that it made him gag.
Kyle quickly shut down his senses, or else he knew he would pass out again from the stench alone. Right now he wasn't really in a position where he could properly check his surroundings.
After a while, his body crashed onto a solid surface, causing dust and debris to fly everywhere from the impact.
Just like he thought, the impact was so strong that the ground beneath him caved in. Moments later, the dust finally started to settle, and he coughed up blood, his vision spinning from the whole ordeal.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Pain was shooting through his entire body, and he couldn't even move his limbs while he lay inside the collapsed ground. It made his already blurry vision even worse.
Kyle let out a faint cry and dug his nails into his palms to stay conscious.
One of his trembling hands tried to grab some healing potions from his mind space, but they slipped from his grasp and dropped onto his chest.
However, he clenched his jaw and used the mana in his body to shatter the glass vials above him. The green liquid slowly trickled down his body, and he winced in even more pain as it started to heal his injuries.
His breathing started to calm down as some of the injuries started to heal. Kyle closed his eyes tightly and after a while, he gathered some strength to grab a few more healing potions from his mind space to drink them this time. The liquid trickled down his throat, and he let out a sharp breath.
"I swear... I'm... fuckin' going to tear the person into thousands of pieces... who made me go through all this... shit."
His eyes shone brightly with anger as he glanced at his battered condition. The healing potions were healing his injuries, but he knew it would take at least an hour for him to recover completely. It's rare for him to suffer so much, except for the time when the soul-eating artifact ate his soul. But now, he couldn't help but glance at his luck state again and again.
Did his luck take a nosedive for some reason? Why on earth was he suffering so much? For fuck's sake, didn't he get the nature's favorite unique skill after his luck stat increased? So, why the hell is this happening!?
Kyle's thoughts came to a screeching halt when he saw a pair of crimson, beady eyes outside the spot where his body was sprawled out like a starfish.
'Oh, crap!!'
He forgot to keep an eye on his surroundings because he blocked his senses due to the gross smell!
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})In an instant, Kyle held his breath and stayed completely still, hoping the white earring in his ear, which had been pretty useless recently, would hide his presence because he could sense the owner of the beady eyes wasn't strong. But he knew he had caused quite a commotion when he landed on this planet, so there were probably a lot of people who saw him unless they were blind.
That's why, he hurriedly spread out his scent perception skill and sensed all the presences around him, and many more heading towards his location with fast speed.
Kyle started sweating because all of them had the same disgusting scent he sensed from the dark race inside the secret realm. No, the scent was a lot stronger than the dark race! Not to mention, the strong scent of blood that oozed out from almost everywhere on the planet.
'Damn it! Damn it! Don't tell me I freaking landed on a planet that's been conquered by the dark race or the second subsidiary branch of the demon race?!'
Kyle got ready to use instant teleportation when a raspy female voice sounded above him, along with a few others.
"How strange... I can't sense anyone. But I'm sure I clearly saw something enveloped in strange flames dropping from the sky."
In the next second, a man with a pair of horns atop his head peered into the pit where he was lying. His crimson eyes twinkled with mirth as they met Kyle's.
The man's lips curled into a beautiful smile as he let out a chuckle before gazing back at someone else.
"Oh, it's a human, I think? And he's still alive."
Kyle let out a dry chuckle that got stuck in his throat as he noticed several pairs of crimson eyes peering into the collapsed ground, fixated on his body.
The man with horns on his head jumped into the collapsed ground and walked towards the human with a smirk that showed he was intrigued by the latter sudden appearance.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})He extended his ghostly pale hand, which stood in stark contrast to his dark clothes, to grab Kyle's leg. But he halted when Kyle abruptly raised his leg as if he was about to kick him.
Surprisingly, Kyle used that movement to propel himself up and stand on his feet. Then, he finally noticed the dark two-petal flower engraved on the man's neck, and he knew he was totally screwed.
The man arched an eyebrow, surprised that the human still had the strength to move despite all the injuries on his body.
"Human, does that mean you are strong? It's actually been a while since someone came to this planet."
Kyle took a step back when more people jumped into the collapsed ground.
"So?"
The man started laughing, and a woman with similar horns on Kyle took a step back when more people jumped into the collapsed ground.
her head paused behind him.
She giggled and blinked at Kyle with a sweet smile.
"Human, do you not want to introduce yourself? We are all here to welcome you, anyway."
Kyle chuckled and tilted his head.
"I don't need an introduction, and I won't give one. Simple, right? Because I'm leaving. Goodbye."
The woman opened her mouth to mock him. How could she let the prey that dropped into her lap run away? But her smile stiffened when the human vanished from her sight.
"Huh!?"
Kyle appeared in an area filled with dry trees. He let out a sharp breath and quickly used his scent perception skill to check his surroundings.
After a few minutes, he found a hidden underground tunnel tucked between many huge boulders.
He quickly set up a concealment array outside the tunnel and hid inside the space, waiting for his injuries to heal completely. This way, he could leave the planet without any trouble.
Kyle changed into a clean pair of trousers and a dark shade hoodie, then sat down with his legs crossed. The moment he closed his eyes, he tried to reach out to the phoenix.
But even though he could sense Bia at a very far away place, she didn't reply to him. It was as if she couldn't hear him clearly due to the vast distance or maybe she wasn't conscious.
"I need to find Bia and Jian first. I just hope they don't end up in some dangerous place. But at least they are together."
He let out a sigh as he remembered Jian clinging to Bia's body as if the red-haired man's life depended on it. So, he was sure the duo would have gone to the same place.
Kyle drank another healing potion. Then he quietly started to recover his mana and divine energy. Completely unaware that after he vanished from the sight of the people who found him, a massive uproar erupted throughout the entire planet Aethstria.
The same planet that has been ruled by the nightkin and dark race, the two subsidiary branches of the demon race, for the past fifty years after the fifth shadow general killed one of the strongest demi-humans in existence.
