Damien was a man of great destiny. Upon almost dying in the uncharted territory, he found his way to a treasure and made great gains.
However, this experience was only limited to those who had great fortune. For those who weren't so lucky, it was completely different.
Gerald died immediately. Pria was luckier because she was further away, but her fate wasn't much better than his in the coming days.
She had to endure and endure in an environment where she was no longer an illustrious God.
Where Gods were the norm and all those who were weak would be killed.
She had to struggle to survive. She barely even made it back to the area past the boundary stele where she could find some safety, and when she did, she learned that most of those who entered the realm with her were dead.
There were a few Demigods left, those who stayed back in case of an emergency situation, but that was it. Their numbers weren't great nor was their strength.
It was impossible to strike Veritas again no matter how much she wanted revenge.
She didn't know where Damien was, and without Gerald, she couldn't stand against the Veritas Grand Elders.
It was unfortunate, but it was reality. She had to grit her teeth and push down her personal feelings.
There was still time left before the secret realm closed. Was she supposed to just sit around and wait until she could go back to the Heavenly World and report the situation to her superiors?
No.
If she did that, not only would she die, her reputation would be sullied and she wouldn't gain peace even in death.
If she wanted to survive, she had to show results that offset their failure against Veritas.
Thus, with the few that were left from her clan, she went into the uncharted territory to explore.
Pria spent several days there before she managed to escape. She was hiding for most of it, terrified of creatures like the one that killed Gerald, but she at least knew more about the ecosystem than the Kyushu Federation's team.
With that knowledge, she led her expedition team deeper into the realm with incredible speed. As the months passed, they gained knowledge of the habitats and habits of several creatures that didn't exist in the Heavenly World, gathered resources that would benefit the Straea Clan, and overall made good progress.
Today was no different than any other day.
Or at least, it wasn't supposed to be.
They'd been trekking in the same direction for a while now, and it was almost time to switch paths so they didn't run into the Kyushu Federation group.
"Everyone, be careful."
Pria gave the same warning she'd given many times thus far. She couldn't stress it enough how wary they needed to be.
And despite the repetition of the warning, nobody in her group complained. After staying in the uncharted territory for some time, they'd seen enough to traumatize a grown man.
It was a truly horrid environment.
There wasn't a place in the Heavenly World where Gods could die so easily.
Even when they died, it was usually either a big event of some sort or a duel that deserved to be their end.
Regardless, they'd die after a hard-fought battle.
Here?
Here, there was no such thing as battle.
At their level, if they got too close to the wrong creature or organism, their deaths would be instant. They probably wouldn't even realize they'd died until they found themselves in the afterlife!
Nevertheless, with the caution they'd exercised until now, they'd managed to survive. It wasn't a caution they were willing to let go of.
They quietly made their way through the tall and thick leaves that densely packed the rainforest.
Completely unaware of the predator stalking them from the dark.
***
"It's time."
Damien grinned.
Truthfully speaking, he didn't do much.
His job was just to bring together certain elements to make natural processes take place far faster, but in reality, the "trap" he prepared was just taking full advantage of the ecosystem to kill outsiders who knew nothing of its function.
The start of this process was simple.
What was a rainforest without rain?
It had been over a year since Damien entered the Forbidden Secret Realm, and though he'd spent several months in the ravine, unaware of the outside world, he hadn't seen rain at all in the time he spent on the surface.
It was strange, wasn't it?
When he dug into the truth of this matter, he found that this realm didn't actually have weather. It was created with a day and night cycle, but its weather would remain consistent regardless of condition or season.
So, then, why was the ecosystem able to breed into a rainforest? It was quite literally impossible without any sort of weather conditions.
The answer to that was simple.
'It should be arriving by now.'
Damien put the bait down a few days ago. Accounting for the time it would take for it to arrive here from its perch, its arrival was imminent.
He glanced over at Pria's party.
They were roughly one million kilometers away, extremely close to said bait.
'I want to watch from closer, but it's a shame that I'd die if I tried.'
He shrugged and watched as it happened.
A shadow appeared over the land, blotting out dozens of millions of kilometers of rainforest with its size.
The clouds in the sky parted under its weight, and the textured outline of a creature appeared in the eyes of those below.
'Godbeast: Thunderbird.'
An existence beyond Divine Beasts. An existence that established its place in the heavens and became one of the countless bloodlines that created the basis of all beasts.
It was a true Godbeast, perhaps the first of its kind.
When Damien discovered it, he almost couldn't hold his excitement and curiosity, but he was forced to because of its strength.
Instead, he spent great heaps of time watching it carefully from a distance as it went about its duties.
It mainly preyed on larger carnivorous species, but it had a soft spot for a certain type of herb called the Silver Moon Leaf. These were like a delicacy to the Thunderbird, and when Damien found out that fact, he immediately established the entire plan he was currently putting into action.
In fact, while Pria and the rest didn't know, they were surrounded by Silver Moon Leaves right now.
And as the Thunderbird came to collect them, its natural abilities were activated.
The Thunderbird had a role in this realm that couldn't be replaced.
It was the reason for the flourishing ecosystem that existed here.
It was the rain.
Drops of water fell from the air, guided by the Thunderbird's presence.
Everything under its body was enveloped in heavy rainfall, and as the mist rose over the rainforest, countless creatures came out of their hiding places.
This was step one of the plan.
The Thunderbird didn't care about humans. It would leave after it took the prize it came for.
But what about the rest?
Damien made sure they wouldn't let go of the appetizing prey he prepared for them.
