UNLIMITED SPEED

Noah came to being not too long after the event. His healing kicked in and he was back to normal in no time. Of course at the cost of essence. He was left basically empty.

Noah woke up to the experience of floating without his will. His eyes swept his surrounding and he found the other experts around him. They had resumed their journey, but they walked close to the giant bird this time.

A dazzling young lady walked with them; Erolia. And the moment she saw that he had regained consciousness she jumped at him.

Noah was let down by whatever force had kept him afloat. It had been Yuno's doing.

"How long was I out?" he asked inspecting his insides. He sighed in relief seeing he was okay.

"About an hour," Erolia revealed, now calm. She could quite literally feel her master's wellness. Before then she had been dealing with her worry silently.

The others halted their steps to observe that scene—The sight of a fully grown lady no less of a jade beauty all over an equally stunning man felt quite intriguing to those experts.

They all could sense the similarities between the duo, especially the weird energy that powered their existence. It evaded even their senses, but they expected as much. He was the heir of the god of speed after all.

"It's a good thing you're awake now," Yuno cleared his throat, even he was curious about the beauty that had appeared right after Noah passed out.

Noah's attention finally fell on those experts, but something else in the environment caught his attention.

Among the cluster of huge trees, equally large stone statues lay around, seemingly randomly positioned in that environment.

That would not be all, those strange statues exuded powerful magic, and despite their ancient-looking state, they managed to fill the area with their magic.

"What is this," he asked, furrowing his brows. His instincts already reacted negatively.

The stone statue he inspected had the shape of a giant baby, only that its face was the combination of a grown human, a bear, a monkey, and an eagle. Creepy to say the least. Especially with the unsettling smile that had been carved into its features.

Strange red patterns pulsed on the statue's surface, and the very soil beneath it had turned scarlet. Its surroundings were also void of plant life.

"These are the ancient statues of Tensiro. They hold great meaning to the saints of the Papine nation," Elder Velsvon started, grasping Noah's attention.

"Although most of their origin is unknown, It is known that some of them are gateways to separate dimensions."

"These expertly crafted dimensions contain challenges fashioned after whatever the creator wanted. Each statue houses something different."

"Okay… but why do they pose trouble to us?" Noah asked already on the same page. He frowned deeply now.

Something felt terribly wrong about those ugly statues. Each one had amalgamated features of different beasts. None resembled the other.

Elder Velsvon's tone fell grim. "They are used as protection by the saints. And are hostile to anything that does not bear the mark of a saint, or does not exude a similar aura to this enclosed flora."

"This is a region where many met their end. A cruel and brutal fate." The expert shook his head in pity.

"It is called the Scarlet Graveyard."

An air of severity fell on that group, even if it quickly vanished.

"We only just arrived here... after a few miles of walking. Dealing with them will be easy for us." Yuno revealed plainly, opening his palm.

Bronze runes flickered into existence and they broke up into bits that floated toward everybody present there.

"Bearing this mark allows us to mimic the influence of the saints. But it requires a steady stream of mental waves to function. So we needed you awake.

Surprised by that level of preparation, Noah allowed that rune to land on his palm, and he stared at it trying to comprehend its components.

It was complex.

"How did you get this," he questioned, feeling his mind establish a connection with it. It required a considerable amount of mental energy. Or rather, it put pressure on his soul island.

Furrowing his brows he turned to Erolia. "You will have to return into your soul realm–" he was cut short when he saw that a rune similar to his appeared on her forehead, and the pressure on his mind almost tripled.

Noah furrowed his brows.

"It stretches to anything you have a soul connection with," Yuno revealed, as a rune identical to his appeared on the right wing of his pet. It was significantly larger.

"I see," Noah nodded, finding the process convenient.

"So I get to remain outside," Erolia stated, content. She remained at a touching distance from Noah.

"We can move on now," Lady Edna who had been silent all this while finally spoke.

Their passage through that region had been uneventful. After donning the runes even Noah's instincts calmed down. The statues in the area could not attack them or did not recognize them as strangers.

Still, he felt chills run down his spine at the sheer amount of statues planted in that region.

Easily hundreds.

The sight of giant bones belonging to both beasts and humans riddled that area. Those remnants of life had turned scarlet and pulsed with an aura identical to that of the statues.

Apparently, those skeletons would become animated with the magic of the statues to hunt down whatever entered that region.

After the lifeform had been killed their corpse would become part of the army of that cursed location.

To show how terrible that place was, not even magical beasts approached it. Now at the center of the area, Noah could experience the malevolent presence in that region. It was heavy.

Even he didn't feel confident in being able to take care of that immense amount of offensives. Tens of Thousands of undead warriors already existed around that place.

One would even think flying would solve the problem. But even atop the trees were huge skeletal figures. Kept there for aerial offensives.

'Terrible indeed.' Noah concluded at some point.

That area void of life saw his group traversing its lands—untouched by the normally violent nature of that region.

The entire region had been quite large, and it ended up taking them a full day to cross. No breaks. After which they arrived in an area filled with vibrancy and life.

Unfortunately, that vibrant scenery would not continue for long since not too long after that they arrived at the edge of the entrance of the Papine nation.

It was the last hurdle they would need to face. The Chasm.

It was a cater-like spiral cavity directly outside the forests. And despite its significantly low elevation compared to the terrain they had been traversing earlier, it still exuded dense magic of ancient origins.

'This is at least a four-hundred meters drop,' Noah concluded inwardly, whilst inspecting the jagged landforms that filled the insides of that landmark.

Its size was easily immense. Stretching as far as they could see from that position.

"This was something done by a tier six battle," Lady Edna revealed, and Noah could only marvel at the size of that cavity.

Hundreds of miles of land area rendered useless by reason of the conflict between horrendously powerful individuals.