When Damien made it down the small hill where the group of geniuses originally arrived at, the first thing he was met with was a vast and seemingly endless forest. From within the forest, the cries and howls of beasts could be heard.
Ignoring any unnecessary thoughts, he continued to charge forward, his speed enhanced by lightning and a hint of space.
This was something Damien only learned how to apply recently, but had been pondering over for a long time. It was a new movement technique that specialized in short linear bursts rather than free movement like teleportation.
The reason he had never prioritized its development was simply because with the freedom of teleportation, why should he? His teleport skill was incredibly versatile, and it was able to carry over momentum when he moved through space, so there was no need for a technique like this.
But he still put some spare time into developing it. After all, it wasn't the concept of the technique that mattered, but what it represented.
Right now, every time Damien moved, a flash of lightning would slightly swirl and mix with his restricted spatial mana, creating a new illusory form of lightning. This lightning would then burst, causing him to essentially teleport forward close to 5 meters at a time.
But unlike normal teleportation, this effect was mainly brought about by pure speed.
And the reason it was important? Damien had reached a preliminary understanding on how to fuse his different elemental manas as one. Although his foundation and knowledge on the principle were lacking, he was totally fine with taking things one step at a time. He would eventually reach the proper answer as long as he kept trying.
Damien flashed forward speedily, ignoring all the low-rank beasts that littered the surroundings. In the first place, most of them had already been killed by the other geniuses. But even if they weren't, Damien wouldn't care.
He was familiar with this kind of setup. It was more efficient to hunt a smaller number of stronger beasts than a large number of weak ones. It'd probably reap him better rewards as well.
Damien's steps didn't halt even when he came to the edge of the forest, instead, speeding up. He didn't have a target location, but he at least wanted to get somewhat farther into the small realm.
"A trial of simply strength and hunting. Although I would prefer it if it was something so simple, I highly doubt a venerable old monster like the Primordial Undying Tree wouldn't have a few tricks up its sleeve."
Damien had a lot of spare time as he moved since there weren't any beasts in the area that could threaten him, so he decided to ponder on the nature of the trial.
"Not only that, but the trial window also didn't mention any treasures or rewards for the winner. The only reward is moving forward to the next trial.
"But the Elf Queen had clearly stated that there would be rewards in every trial. Sometimes, the treasures we could gain wouldn't be from completion but instead from participation.
"A secret realm within a small realm in a secret realm? Haha, imagine. But still, there has to be something."
Damien recalled the trial window once more, trying to find flaws in the wording. It would always be some sort of loophole or suggestion within the original text that would contain hints at times like this.
"Hmm, according to the trial window, it isn't just beasts and contestants within this realm. Another lifeform? Maybe an indigenous population?"
Damien's thoughts raced. 'If there's an indigenous population of sentient beings living here, the trial probably won't be simple. Although we outsiders can start a war here without worries since we won't be staying for long, I doubt the Primordial Undying Tree would appreciate us committing genocide of people it chose to house in its realm.'
The line of thought came out of nowhere, but Damien couldn't stop thinking of it. After all, he needed to plan for unexpected situations.
Unbeknownst to him, the answer to his questions was only a few tens of kilometers away from him.
Within a murky swamp, a little girl had fallen into the muddy ground in front of her, her legs unable to move anymore. Still, she did her best to move. Her immature hands clawed at the ground in a bid to inch her body forward.
"Huuu…Huuuuman…" a low growl was emitted from the space behind her.
"Human…kill…"
"Kill…kill…"
It was soon accompanied by tens, maybe even hundreds of other similar growls. The atmosphere of the swamp was dark and gloomy, making it hard for the sun to show its color, but the faint outlines of the groaning creatures could still be seen.
Their bodies varied in size and girth, some being 3-meter tall giants while others were merely 1-meter tall like dwarves. Their bodies also ranged from fit to lean to fat without any sort of rhyme or reason. But they all had similar features otherwise.
The creatures stood on two legs and had humanoid shapes. Their heads and bodies were riddled with holes and wounds and their gait was awkward and unnatural.
But the most striking feature was their eyes. The eyes of these creatures were hollow and caved in. Their eyeballs were entirely blackened as if they had been corrupted by poison.
These creatures seemed to move with one will. The will to kill and devour the human they sensed in front of them.
And the little girl knew this. She knew this, but she didn't want to die. Glistening tears streaked down her face as she continued to claw at the ground. If only her legs worked, she might've had a chance to escape. If only the ground was more solid, movement might've been easier.
But unfortunately, none of those were the case. As the little girl tried her best to move forward, she was soon blocked by one of the many massive boulders that littered the land.
"Ah…" a slight murmur was all she could get out of her mouth. She had been running and running for days on end. Her eyes were muddled and her throat was dry, but she couldn't stop running.
'Somebody…somebody please…!' The words she wished to say couldn't make it out of her throat. She knew she no longer had hope of surviving.
For the first time, the little girl decided to turn back and take a look at her approaching murderers.
The crowd of humanoid abominations hadn't stopped moving, uncaring of her pleas. By this point, they had already arrived near her.
The little girl closed her eyes. 'Remember! Remember to never let them get you! No matter what, you have to remember!'
A mournful voice rang out in her head. The little girl gritted her teeth before reaching under her torn shirt and grabbing the final measure of protection she had been left with.
The dagger in her hand was rusted and already broken in half, but the rest of the blade was enough to do what she needed to do.
The memories of what happened to her village, to her mother and father, were still fresh in her head. Without a hint of hesitation, the little girl pointed the dagger towards herself and plunged it forward.
But…the pain never came.
"Eh?"
When she opened her eyes, she saw a large hand in the space between the dagger and her neck. No matter how much she used her small strength to push forward, she wasn't even able to leave a scratch on that hand.
The little girl looked up with her watery eyes and saw a face filled with warmth and pity looking back at her.
It was the first time she had seen eyes as mystical as the ones in front of her.
