The strange sound rang out once and then disappeared.
The entire square was eerily quiet, with no wind, and it seemed completely normal.
Ronan was certain he hadn't hallucinated. He recalled the location of the sound and turned his gaze toward the dragon statue of the Dragon Wizard Chief, Bahafus.
Ronan remained calm and slowly walked toward the statue.
Beneath his Wizard Robe, Ithium flowed like water across his skin.
The Spirit Space contained no free energy particles, but that didn't mean spells were completely impossible to cast. Without the external energy particles to amplify them, spells would be significantly weaker, relying solely on the energy generated or stored within the caster.
"Tap—tap—"
The high-quality Magical Artifact boots, made from the hide of a third-tier magical beast, made clear and steady footsteps as they hit the ground.
Ronan approached the dragon statue step by step, observing it meticulously from the top of the black dragon all the way down.
Nothing had changed.
Ronan had an excellent memory. The moment he stepped into the statue square, he had been captivated by Bahafus's dragon statue, and he remembered every detail of it. He was certain that the statue hadn't changed at all.
But when his gaze fell to the base of the statue, Ronan's eyes paused slightly.
The shadow had changed! The shadow cast by the dragon statue on the ground had shifted and grown larger.
Ronan looked up and scanned his surroundings.
At the edges of the square stood black stone pillars, with orange flames silently burning atop them, providing the light that illuminated the entire square.
The light source hadn't changed.
So why had the shadow shifted?
Ronan's eyes flickered, and he continued to approach the statue. When he reached the spot where he had previously attempted to receive the inheritance, he hesitated but ultimately decided not to place his hand on it again.
Ronan walked to the side of the statue, his mental power spreading out as he began to circle the base.
Most of Bahafus's dragon statue was hidden in darkness. Ronan slowly stepped into the newly observed shadow, intending to circle around to the back of the statue.
But the moment he stepped out of the light, he felt the heavy, icy darkness surge toward him like a tide, enveloping him layer by layer.
The darkness felt cold and slimy, as if it were alive, writhing over Ronan's body. Ronan frowned and instinctively stopped.
He glanced back toward the direction he had come from.
The boundary between light and shadow, which he had just crossed, now felt strangely distant.
It was like standing on the bank of a wide river on a dark night, gazing across the calm waters to the opposite shore. Ronan turned his head back.
"Snap—"
He snapped his fingers, and a flame leaped from his slender fingertips, illuminating a small area around him.
The fireball spell, cast solely with the residual energy particles in his body, was severely weakened, hardly befitting a third-tier wizard.
Ronan was about to continue deeper when he noticed the flame in his hand dimming at a visible rate.
Though the size of the flame hadn't changed, in less than two breaths, the light that had once illuminated a radius of four to five meters could now barely reach a foot in front of his toes.
"Something's wrong…"
Ronan's heart tightened, and he immediately abandoned the idea of continuing forward.
He stepped back.
But the moment he turned, his right hand still holding the flame, an endless expanse of darkness rushed toward him.
The boundary between shadow and light, which should have been behind him, had now vanished without a trace!
Not only that, but the statue of Bahafus, which had been right beside him, was also gone. The entire statue square had disappeared.
All that remained was a vast expanse of nothingness and darkness. It was as if time had rewound to the moment he and Evaque had first entered. Even with all the mental preparation he had done, Ronan couldn't help but feel his hair stand on end.
"Gurgle—gurgle—"
At that moment, the strange sound rang out again.
And this time, it was close—very close, just a short distance in front of Ronan.
"Hisss—"
Ronan took a deep breath and flung his right hand forward.
The fiercely burning fireball, which offered him no warmth, shot through the darkness like a meteor, heading straight for the source of the sound.
The explosive fireball struggled to emit its fiery light, illuminating the surroundings as it flew.
In that moment, Ronan saw dark scales reflecting cold silver light, and a terrifying, massive silhouette slowly emerged from the icy darkness. Just as the fireball's light was about to extinguish.
Ronan saw—a pair of enormous eyes, staring fixedly at him from the shadows.
The owner of those eyes seemed to be trying its best to remain still, like a statue.
But no matter how high it held its head, those dark yellow eyes remained locked on him.
They burned with a heat and greed that seemed barely contained.
It stared at Ronan as if he were a succulent steak laid out on a dining table.
"Gurgle—gurgle—"
The strange sound rang out again.
This time, Ronan both heard and saw it clearly—
The sound came from the creature before him. It was the sound of it swallowing saliva as it stared at Ronan, unable to contain its hunger!! In that moment, Ronan's heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly, and the flow of blood in his body seemed to pause for an instant.
He quickly stepped back.
And the evil, greedy creature, realizing its "clumsy" disguise had been exposed, no longer bothered to hide.
It opened its massive maw toward Ronan, then swiftly raised one of its enormous claws—"Whoosh—"
A fierce wind suddenly arose, blowing Ronan's long hair and Wizard Robe backward, pressing them tightly against his body.
Then, an indescribable, terrifying pressure descended upon Ronan like a sudden deluge, crashing down on him with a deafening "boom."
In that instant, Ronan felt suffocated.
An overwhelming sense of impending death engulfed him completely.
Within his consciousness space, ten Mental Power Crystals shone brightly as Ronan desperately released his mental power, frantically trying to activate the Ithium.
But a claw, several times larger than his entire body, was already rapidly expanding in his pupils, roaring toward him.
Ronan only had time to instinctively cross his arms in a defensive posture, and then—
"Boom!"
It was as if a thousand thunderclaps had exploded simultaneously, or as if a stampede of wild beasts had trampled over him.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
In that instant, Ronan felt as if he saw countless versions of himself, each one suspended in midair, flying backward. "Am I…"
"Being beaten so hard that my soul is leaving my body?"
In his dazed state, this thought quietly crossed Ronan's mind.
The next moment, a tidal wave of excruciating pain pulled him back to reality.
"Boom!"
He found himself back in the statue square, with Bahafus's statue now far away. It was as if he had teleported, instantly moving from one end of the square to the other.
Then.
Ronan realized—he had been blasted away from Bahafus's statue and landed here! Half of his body was embedded in the base of another statue, countless bones shattered and broken, his Wizard Robe soaked in blood, and the metallic taste of iron filled his mouth and nose.
How long had it been since he had suffered such severe physical damage, ever since he had mastered [Ascetic Body Forging]? "Cough—cough—"
Ronan coughed violently, spitting out blood and fragments of internal organs. The vitality sphere within his body, like a white sun, continuously released warm energy, desperately trying to repair his injured body.
Ronan struggled to climb out of the crater his body had created, and when he looked up, he saw that the statue he had crashed into was the oldest, most cracked one in the square—a humanoid statue that looked as if it might collapse at any moment.
He shook his head, wondering how much closer his collision had brought the slumbering soul of the Wizard Chief within the statue to its demise.
He silently apologized in his heart, then staggered to his feet.
At that moment, accompanied by a series of heavy footsteps, the creature that had caused his current state slowly emerged from the shadows beneath Bahafus's statue.
Now, Ronan could finally see the creature in its entirety—a massive, elegant body, undulating scales like waves, broad wings like curtains, and sharp horns like spears. The only thing missing was its tail, which appeared to have been forcibly bitten off.
The creature before him was none other than… a legendary dragon!
A dark silver dragon.
It was smaller than Bahafus's statue, but to Ronan, it was still enormous.
Compared to the dark silver, tailless dragon, Ronan was as small as a pebble beneath a giant's foot. Even with the entire square between them, Ronan could still clearly feel the overwhelming, soul-piercing… terrifying dragon aura emanating from the creature! "Damn it!"
Ronan's expression turned grim.
Evaque hadn't mentioned that such a terrifying creature was hidden in this level of the square.
A living one.
A living dragon! Or perhaps it was "dead," and this was just its soul form. Ronan couldn't be sure, but it made no difference to him. The dark silver, tailless dragon had already demonstrated a fraction of its power, proving that—
No matter its current state, it could easily crush Ronan into pulp! A mere third-tier wizard… how could he possibly stand against a legendary dragon?!
The dark silver dragon, having emerged from the shadows, immediately locked its gaze on Ronan.
Its eyes burned with the same heat and inexplicable greed as before.
It flapped its wings and roared, swiftly diving toward Ronan. Just that single action stirred up a fierce wind in the square, as if it intended to sweep away any obstacle between it and Ronan! Ronan gritted his teeth and began sprinting around the square.
Facing this legendary creature, and having already experienced its brutal power, Ronan had no intention of confronting it head-on.
He tried to use the terrain to circle around the dark silver, tailless dragon, buying time until Evaque emerged from the trial and could help him escape this hellish place! But while the plan was sound, reality was often cruel.
The dark silver dragon's wings cast large, moving shadows across the square, and its speed was unimaginable. Even as Ronan's figure blurred into a dark streak, the dragon closed the distance in less than two breaths.
"[Ancient Frost]!"
As his figure was rapidly swallowed by the shadow beneath him, and the overwhelming pressure from above descended like an ocean, Ronan roared. His barely healed body emitted a series of bone-cracking sounds as he activated the bloodline of the [Ancient Frost Hydra], entering the [Ancient Frost] combat state.
Massive clusters of black-blue frost surged from his body, and the phantom of an eight-headed serpent faintly appeared behind his towering figure.
Ronan came to an abrupt halt and turned sharply.
His face, now covered in serpentine patterns, was both handsome and eerily sinister, his pupils radiating an otherworldly light.
In an instant, an endless stream of law domain energy poured from his body, and the black-blue frost swirling around him condensed into the outlines of ice spells. With the [Multiple Mirror Image] seal enhancing him… the ancient, icy domain formed, then rapidly collapsed. Under the [Ethereal Mind] state, the preparatory steps for [Snowy Kingdom in Hand] were completed in less than a breath.
A deep-blue orb, containing an entire ancient snowy kingdom, appeared. Dark-blue arcs of light intertwined, and vast, dazzling ice flowers floated into existence. Without any external energy particles to amplify it, Ronan could only rely on the frost energy generated by his bloodline to construct this spell.
Its power was diminished by more than half compared to its normal state, but it was still terrifying.
When Ronan raised his hand and hurled this ice spell, laden with his ambitions, toward the diving dark silver, tailless dragon, the dragon merely extended a claw—"Crack—crack—"
Ronan's [Snowy Kingdom in Hand] was crushed like a fragile bubble by the dark silver, tailless dragon!
"Boom!"
The orb exploded, and amidst the dispersing torrents of icy energy, Ronan's dark-blue hair whipped wildly in the wind.
"Hisss—"
He stood firm, chanting strange, trembling incantations, his arms spread wide. Drops of blood, tinged with blue, flew from his body and quickly merged into the void. In an instant, the scattered icy currents in the void were gathered by an invisible force.
Beneath the feet of the man and the dragon, the ground of the square rapidly froze, transforming into a smooth, mirror-like ice lake.
And within this ice lake, five massive, indistinct "serpents," exuding an ancient, domineering aura, slowly emerged.
At that moment, thick, dark-blue lightning bolts, as large as pillars, suddenly fell from the void above the square, and a sense of taboo quietly permeated the air. Ronan, looking up at the dragon, wore a fierce expression, his eyes burning with intense fighting spirit and madness.
The ferocity of the [Ancient Frost Hydra] bloodline had been fully awakened.
Even against a legendary dragon, he was ready to face it head-on! Ronan raised his hand toward the sky, and the massive, ferocious dark silver, tailless dragon was now "held" in his palm.
His slender, pale fingers seemed to correspond to the heads of the ancient serpents.
Ronan clenched his fist.
Within his consciousness space, the [Multiple Mirror Image] seal flickered rapidly, emitting a strained "crack—crack—" sound. On his character panel, the proficiency of the [Mirror Soul] spell began to slowly increase. At the same time, on the icy lake, the five ancient, majestic serpent phantoms raised their heads and let out a collective roar, then lunged toward the dark silver dragon at the center, tearing into it with all their might!
"Secret Art—
[Five Heads. Hekalto's Ancient Devour]!"
Ronan's eyes reflected the massive dragon being bitten by the five serpents as he coldly uttered the spell.
It was a pity this was the Spirit Space.
If this had been outside the Spirit Space, this spell… would have fully entered the realm of "Taboo"!