The moment Verilux’s presence finally disappeared from my perception, I knew we couldn’t afford to remain inside the ancient carcass any longer.
The guardian had moved away.
Not given up.
There was a difference.
A creature like Verilux did not abandon a hunt. At best, it lost the trail temporarily, and I had absolutely no intention of giving it another opportunity to find us.
"We leave now," I said while standing atop one of the gigantic ribs.
The giant octopus sensed our intentions as well. The Saint-ranked beast had recovered somewhat during our stay, but it clearly had no desire to continue associating itself with the group responsible for attracting Verilux’s attention. The creature remained motionless while we exited through the massive wound in its side and stepped onto the ancient remains surrounding us.
The carcass looked even larger from the outside.
What I had originally mistaken for mountain ranges were merely fragments of ribs. The skull alone could have housed entire civilizations within its eye sockets while its spine extended beyond the limits of my vision.
"This thing must have been ridiculous when it was alive," Silver muttered while looking upward.
Aurora nodded.
"Strong enough that even after death its remains still distort perception."
The giant octopus immediately began retreating the moment we left its body. It didn’t look back once. Within minutes its colossal form disappeared into the depths of the Soul Sea, apparently deciding that being anywhere near us was an unacceptable risk.
"Smart creature," Ragnar laughed.
I walked toward one of the ribs protruding from the carcass and placed my hand against its surface.
Even after countless years, ancient soul force still lingered within the bone. The idea had come while we were waiting inside the corpse.
Verilux tracked signatures. Everything we had done since arriving in the Prime Territory practically announced our location.
The carcass was different. Its remains carried the presence of something ancient enough to interfere with perception itself.
With a surge of strength, I gripped the rib and pulled.
The entire skeleton trembled. Ancient bone groaned. Then a section several hundred meters long tore free from the carcass. The detached rib crashed into the Soul Sea and floated effortlessly upon the silver waters.
Silver blinked.
"You know, most people would just call that a boat."
"I was thinking the same thing," Aurora said.
"It is a boat."
Ragnar immediately jumped onto it.
"A very nice boat."
Soon everyone followed.
The giant rib floated surprisingly well and, more importantly, continued masking our presence beneath the lingering aura of the dead creature.
A few moments later we began moving once again. Unlike before, we avoided flying. No overwhelming displays of power. No giant soul beasts pulling us across the sea.
Just a massive ancient rib drifting through the endless Soul Sea while subtle currents pushed us forward.
Days seemed to pass peacefully. The ocean remained calm. The journey felt almost normal. Eventually a familiar landmark appeared within my perception.
A region boundary.
Region Five.
Unlike Region Three, I had no intention of entering openly. Not after everything that had happened.
The resistance information had already provided a better destination.
A hidden settlement.
One that existed outside the region itself. Concealed deep within the Soul Sea. The settlements were always spread outside the regions.
According to the information provided by Hida and the others, the settlement wasn’t hidden upon the Soul Sea.
It was hidden within it.
Eventually I gestured toward the water below us.
"We’re here."
The others immediately stood. The giant rib slowly tilted downward before beginning its descent into the silver depths.
Unlike ordinary oceans, visibility inside the Soul Sea did not disappear with depth. Strange silver radiance permeated the water itself, illuminating vast stretches of the underwater world. The deeper we descended, the more oppressive the surroundings became.
Time passed and we arrived near another ancient object.
It was a tree.
Or more accurately, what remained of one.
The fallen trunk stretched across the depths for hundreds of kilometers. Its bark resembled enormous cliffs while roots larger than cities extended throughout the surrounding seabed.
Entire ecosystems had formed upon its remains over countless years. Strange plants made of condensed soul force covered portions of the wood while crystal formations grew from cracks running along its surface.
The sheer size was difficult to comprehend. Even dead, the tree radiated a faint ancient presence that distorted the surrounding currents. Schools of soul creatures swam through openings in its bark while entire sections of the trunk had become habitats for creatures powerful enough to dominate nearby territories.
Our destination lay somewhere within it.
The hidden settlement wasn’t built inside the tree itself.
The entrance was.
According to the records, one of the massive hollows buried deep within the trunk concealed a portal leading to the actual settlement. The location had remained hidden for centuries precisely because nobody would think to search inside a dead tree lying thousands of meters beneath the Soul Sea.
The rib boat drifted toward a gigantic opening in the side of the trunk.
The entrance alone was large enough to swallow fleets.
Darkness greeted us as we crossed into the hollow interior. Wood surrounded us in every direction while colossal roots twisted through the chamber like mountain ranges. The sounds of the Soul Sea faded behind us until only silence remained.
The deeper we traveled into the trunk, the stranger the surroundings became. Natural tunnels branched endlessly through the wood while ancient formations hidden within the bark distorted both perception and space. Several times I sensed illusions powerful enough to mislead even Saints.
Then I finally felt it.
A teleportation circle. Hidden so deeply that even my perception nearly overlooked it.
The circle was woven beneath layers of spatial distortions, illusion formations and concealment arrays carved directly into the structure of the tree. Without precise directions, finding it would have been almost impossible.
Aurora smiled faintly as she sensed it as well.
"I think we’ve found our door."
I nodded.
Knight turned toward me, his gaze lingering on the concealed portal ahead before shifting back.
"So why exactly are we going to this settlement? We already have information on the regions, the settlements and the Eternals. What are we hoping to find here that we couldn’t find elsewhere?"
"Because right now Verilux is the biggest problem standing in our way. It doesn’t matter how much information we gather or how many regions we move through. As long as that thing can track us across the Soul Sea, every plan we make is going to end with a seven-headed monster crashing through it."
Silver grimaced.
"Fair point."
I nodded.
"Hida told me there’s someone living in this settlement who knows more about Verilux than almost anyone else in the Prime Territory. Whether it’s a weakness, a limitation, or simply a way to avoid attracting its attention, I don’t know. What I do know is that every resistance group she spoke to pointed us toward the same person."
Aurora folded her arms.
"So we’re here to ask questions."
"Not just questions," I replied. "We’re here to find a solution. Running worked once because we got lucky and stumbled into the Portal Field. I don’t intend to rely on luck a second time."
Ragnar snorted.
"A wise decision."
I looked back toward the hidden gateway.
"First we go inside, then we find this person, and after that we’ll see whether he actually has something useful to tell us. If he does, great. If he doesn’t, then we’ll move on to the next lead."