Lian jumped down from the tree and took one last look at the battlefield.
In the distance, the battle was still continuing with insane intensity, blue thunder was splitting the sky, fiery explosions were rising from the forest.
The roars of the Fallen ones were shaking the ground, thousands of people were engaged in a battle that was taking victims every moment, and in such chaos, the disappearance of one person would not even be noticed.
Besides, unlike the outside world where he was completely known in the country, many of these people had been in this Ruined Realm for a considerable time and did not recognize him.
This meant that his disappearance would not attract attention for a while.
He took out the book of treasure to pinpoint the location of the treasure, and the book would not stay calm, it was trembling more intensely every moment.
As if something in the depths of the river was calling him, something that had been waiting for him for a long time.
Lian did not waste any time, he crossed the path and reached the riverbank, the river water looked like a living liquid.
He took a deep breath, then threw himself into the water, at that same moment he realized something was wrong.
"Damn it, what is going on here?" Very wrong... his body suddenly became heavy.
The water around him was not like normal water, every movement required more effort, as if he was moving inside liquid metal instead of swimming in water.
The river’s current was also wilder than what could be seen from the surface, hidden forces in the depths were pulling his body in different directions.
Even with his current power, he had to inject mana into his muscles to maintain his balance, and it was very dark here, and it was hard to see anything, as if light from outside could not penetrate into this place.
But it was not a problem for him, and his eyes shone in the darkness, Night Eyes was activated.
The dark world around him suddenly became bright, he could see the real riverbed, massive rocks, deep pits, and cracks that were left open like the mouths of monsters in the darkness.
Was this really a river? This looked more like an ocean than a river.
He had heard that everything inside the Ruined Realm could be bigger and more terrifying, but seeing such a thing was still amazing.
And the creatures moving among them, one of them suddenly jumped out from beside a rock.
It had a slender and semi-transparent body, nearly two meters long, and its mouth was full of metal and needle-like teeth.
The system notification appeared.
[ River Fang Eel ]
[ Rank: Normal ]
[ Level: 20 ]
The eel attacked directly toward Lian’s throat, but Lian was faster, a massive ice claw formed on his arm.
[ Glacial Reaper Claw ]
The water around him froze, the ice claw passed through the eel’s body, and the creature’s blue blood spread in the water.
The eel’s body was split in half.
[ You killed a level 20 River Fang Eel ]
[ You gained EXP ]
[ You gained 9 stats ]
[ You obtained a skill ]
But this was not the end, three other shadows came out from the cracks.
Then two more, within a few seconds six River Fang Eels surrounded him.
Lian frowned a little upon seeing them, he did not expect another race to live inside this river, and according to the book of treasure, these monsters lived near that unknown treasure.
And this made him even more interested in that treasure than before, something that could attract so many monsters... God knew what it could be.
Using Thunder Calamity here was dangerous, the lightning would spread in the water and might trap him too.
So he had to fight in a different way, the first eel attacked from the left.
He turned his body, the ice claw severed its neck.
The second attacked from behind, Lian hit its head with his elbow and the monster’s skull bones shattered.
The third managed to bite his arm, but its bite could not pass through his armor, let alone reach Diamond Skin.
Lian punched its head and the creature’s skull exploded.
System notifications appeared one after another.
But his attention was elsewhere, the distance to the target was getting shorter every moment.
187 meters.
162 meters.
141 meters.
The deeper he went, the stranger the river became, the color of the water had changed, it was no longer colorless and blue, dark red veins could be seen in it.
The rocks were covered with black crystals, crystals that sometimes pulsed like hearts.
And worse of all... the sound.
Beats that were heard directly in his mind, not in his ears, but in the depths of his mind.
Boom...
Boom...
Boom...
The book of treasure was almost going crazy, the red point was constantly flashing.
Distance:
120 meters.
98 meters.
73 meters.
51 meters.
Then suddenly his body stopped, something had moved in the darkness, at first he thought it was a rock wall, but the rock wall moved.
Massive eyes opened in the darkness, Lian felt the blood in his veins freeze, and every cell in his body was screaming one after another: Danger! Run!
The system notification appeared.
[ Abyssal River Drake ]
[ Rank: Fallen ]
[ Level: 35 ]
The gigantic creature was swimming calmly in the water, its body was larger than many of the base’s buildings, and its dark scales were covered with red veins.
Its golden eyes pierced the darkness, but there was something strange, the monster did not attack Lian.
Instead, it was swimming in a specific circle, as if protecting something.
At that same moment, Lian understood, this creature was a guardian, and what it was protecting... was the treasure itself.
He breathed with difficulty, now he understood why the book had identified the threat level as high, if he entered a battle directly, he would not survive even a few seconds.
And the fact that the monster was not attacking him right now was itself a stroke of luck, if it attacked him, he would really be in great danger.
Not that he would be in danger of death, because he could still use the exit ability and save himself.
But fortunately, he did not always fight with raw power alone, sometimes intelligence was more valuable, his eyes fixed on his number of fragments.
He made his decision.
[ Shadow Skin ]
A skill that could be useful here, but not with this rank, it was time to upgrade.
The system notification appeared.
[ Shadow Skin ]
[ Upgrade Available ]
[ Cost: 15 Fragments ]
Lian confirmed without hesitation, the fragments disappeared.
[ Shadow Skin has advanced to Great Rank ]
But he did not stop, and the notification appeared again.
[ Upgrade Available ]
[ Cost: 65 Fragments ]
This time he paused, sixty-five fragments, it was not a small number, but what was in front of him was also not normal, for his safety and to obtain that treasure, it was necessary.
He confirmed.
Suddenly a massive wave of mana covered his entire body.
The shadows around him were drawn toward him, the river water became darker for a moment.
Then a new notification appeared.
[ Shadow Skin has evolved ]
[ New Skill Acquired ]
[ Abyss Veil ]
[ Rank: Divine ]
[ Description: The user is covered in a veil of absolute shadows and merges with them, and can move freely within them. As long as he does not attack or directly collide with a target, his presence, mana, sound, and physical trace are hidden from the perception of surrounding creatures. Consumes 7 units of mana per minute. ]
Lian’s eyes sparkled, the ability to hide had reached a level beyond normal skills, and this level of hiding was unmatched.
Although 7 mana per minute was very high, he had to do his work quickly, or his mana would run out.
He activated the skill, the shadows swallowed his body, and within a few seconds his presence disappeared, even he himself felt like part of the darkness.
Then he calmly moved toward the center of the guardian’s range.
The Abyssal River Drake passed by him several times from a few meters away.
Each time Lian’s heart beat faster, if the monster noticed... everything would be over, but it did not, and the guardian continued swimming on its path.
Lian moved forward calmly.
Ten meters.
Eight meters.
Five meters.
Then finally he saw it, but he was surprised by what he saw, there was no chest, no weapon, and no legendary plant.
In the middle of the riverbed... a massive egg was lying.
It was more than three meters tall, red and black veins covered its entire surface.
Every few seconds, a dark light passed through it, as if something inside it was alive.
The book’s notification appeared.
[ Unknown ]
[ Condition: Dormant ]
[ Physical Contact Required ]
Lian moved forward calmly, his eyes fixed on the guardian for a moment, the monster still had not noticed him, then his gaze fell on the strange egg again.
Could it be the egg of that monster? But his intuition told him that was not the case.
He just had to touch it, just one touch... he reached his hand forward.
His fingers slowly approached the egg’s surface, and the moment his skin touched its surface... the system notifications appeared.