I'm not just human!

It was fully clad in heavy metal armor, which was covered with mysterious and intricate patterns, making it appear both eerie and imposing.

Not only that, its warhorse was also fully armored, with even the horse's head covered by a helmet.

They even deliberately covered the horse's eyes, leaving only its nostrils exposed for breathing.

This strange creature resembles a heavily armored cavalryman from before the steam and mechanical age, but it is several times larger than a human heavily armored cavalryman.

It held an extremely heavy giant axe in its left hand, which it carried on its shoulder, and a round shield that was also engraved with patterns in its right hand.

Even though it's just a sketch, people can feel the kingly majesty and the arrogant disdain for everything emanating from it.

And hanging from its waist is a palm-sized compass, covered with nebulae, as if dozens of constellations were gathered there.

Xia Fa's gaze was fixed on the compass. Without a doubt, this was the Star Spirit Secret Compass that he needed most for this trip.

Immediately, his gaze, along with that of the others, began to carefully examine the strange portrait.

Previously, when everyone was hunting this strange creature, it would ride a horse and quickly disappear into the suddenly appearing gray fog, no matter where it was.

This was the first time they had observed it so closely and meticulously, even though it was just a full-body sketch.

Brar is still drawing, adding a few small details to the eerie full-coverage helmet.

As a businessman who almost became a painter, he was very ambitious in his pursuit of art.

Finally, he finished filling in the spiral pattern on the helmet.

Brar was quite pleased with his painting. He proudly tapped the paper with his pencil, making a clean and crisp "snap" sound.

But the next moment, an extremely terrifying scene unfolded!

As soon as the bizarre full-body sketch was completed, the paper suddenly shook!

Immediately afterwards, the portrait above began to be erased inch by inch out of thin air!

As if some mysterious force descended from the sky, it took a wiping cloth and quickly cleaned the eerie portrait.

Then, the drawing paper spontaneously combusted without any wind.

A scream, as if one had endured the most severe torture in hell, suddenly burst forth from the drawing!

The screams sounded like the combined voices of countless old people, women, and children, almost piercing everyone's eardrums in an instant.

"ah------!"

The screams spread rapidly through the vast, dark underground world. Everyone, including Chestnut and the others, as well as Archbishop Glenn, covered their ears in pain, their expressions turning ferocious.

Xia Fa instinctively covered his ears, because the screams from the burning drawing paper were so painful and torturous, like being stabbed in the brain with a knife, or like being in a burning village after a war, with only mournful and shrill sounds filling his ears.

At that moment, an electric current seemed to surge through his spine and into the back of his head.

Sensing the presence of that electric current, Xiafa instinctively wanted to relax.

But immediately, his pupils contracted sharply, revealing an expression of extreme surprise.

The electric current, which could normally neutralize the effects of whispers about the unknown, was utterly useless against the screams emanating from the burning drawing paper!

The screams, still filled with endless shrillness, pierced his ears without diminishing or amplifying in the slightest.

"Ah ah ah ah ah!"

Brar had covered his ears early on, but suddenly, thick black blood seeped from his eyes, nostrils, mouth, and other facial features.

He seemed to have suddenly reached the extreme of pain, howling in agony as he rushed out without regard for anything else.

"Brah!"

Ethan reached out to grab his wrist, but grasped only air.

Brar covered his ears and desperately tried to run towards the cave exit.

But black blood began to seep from his hands that were covering his ears, gushing out like a spring that couldn't be stopped.

Bang! ! !

He had only run a dozen steps when his obese body suddenly stopped, exploded, and turned into a rain of blood that pattered down.

The moment he exploded, the drawing paper burned to ashes, and the screams that seemed to penetrate the very marrow and soul of everyone present ceased.

Glenn acted decisively, pressing his hand on the hilt of his sword at his left waist, taking a step forward, and drawing his sword with a swift motion.

Wow!

A dense wall of wind formed under his sword strike, several meters high, like a real wall, which blocked the flying flesh and blood from the crowd.

As the wind wall disappeared and Brar's flesh and blood fell to the ground, everyone stood there stunned, as if petrified, not knowing what had happened.

Why... the moment Brar finished drawing that bizarre full-body sketch, the image was suddenly erased, and the paper began to burn?

Furthermore, why did the burning drawing paper emit such a shrill, heart-wrenching scream, as if it came from hell?

And... why did Braal's body explode, but... everyone else was unharmed?

One doubt after another, accompanied by a deep sense of fear, descended from the sky and enveloped everyone.

Even Xia Fa couldn't calm down.

The mysterious electric current within him, which was effective even when whispering to the unknown, had no effect whatsoever on the screams emanating from the burning drawing paper, casting a heavy cloud of unease over his heart.

But before everyone could recover from their shock, an even more astonishing change occurred!

High above, in the vast sky, a semi-transparent beam of light slowly emerged from left to right, seemingly spanning the entire underground world.

Then, this beam of light, of unknown length, swept across the entire world from top to bottom.

Immediately, the light formed an enormous, transparent barrier stretching between heaven and earth, like a piece of glass without boundaries, piercing into this underground world.

The transparent barrier swept towards the direction where everyone was at an extremely fast speed.

No, rather than sweeping towards everyone, it's more like... it's rapidly sweeping across the entire underground world!

A strange change occurred. As the transparent barrier that stretched across the sky swept across the land, the jagged, strange trees suddenly disappeared, transforming into even more peculiar stone pillars.

The glowing purple mushroom trees turned fiery red and even began to spew out sparks and iron flowers.

The damp soil beneath our feet dried up quickly and cracked, and the lakes and ponds evaporated completely.

The human-headed crocodile lying inside didn't even have time to struggle before it quickly turned into skeletons, without even being able to extract any extraordinary essence.

From underground came a series of infantile screams, suggesting that the giant jawed beast lurking in the soil had also been completely roasted into a dried corpse.

In an instant, the originally dark and damp cave world was transformed into a dry volcanic landscape covered with stone forests!

"What... happened?"

Ethan's eyes widened; at this moment, even this superhuman with a military background could no longer remain calm.

Xia Fa raised an eyebrow suddenly, but did not answer, because he did not know what had happened either, but he remained calm.

thump--

thump--

thump--

His heart began to pound violently, and that burning sensation appeared as if by reflex, spreading from his heart meridian to his entire body.

It seems that because of the changes in this strange realm, his body sensed danger and raised his strength to a whole new level!

Xia Fa silently pondered, realizing that this time, this burning sensation would likely last for quite some time.

Suddenly, a sharp light flashed in his eyes, and he abruptly looked towards the southeast.

Even he, who was usually calm, could not quite control his expression at this moment.

However, this is not solely due to the sudden changes in the strange terrain and environment.

But...

In the far southeast of his field of vision, a jet-black pillar of light suddenly rose up!

The jet-black beam of light shot straight up to the sky, as if it were about to pierce through this suddenly transformed underground world.

It contains an immense power that is both terrifying and incredibly alluring!

To be precise, that power was incredibly astonishing and extremely strong, and should have made anyone who sensed it keep their distance, but... Xia Fa sensed a fatal attraction from it!

It was a feeling similar to summoning Baal's Blade, but far more powerful and of a higher rank!

Within the jet-black pillar of light... lies a sealed artifact!

Or rather, it was that sealed artifact that unleashed this jet-black beam of light that pierced the heavens and earth like a spear!

Baal's Blade is a sacred artifact-level sealed object, so what level of sealed object does this jet-black pillar of light represent?

Xia Fa had a feeling that the sealed object was responding to him, calling to him, wanting to embrace him, fight alongside him, and even conveying a sense of intimacy.

But something trapped them.

He looked away and realized that, apart from himself, no one else seemed to have noticed the dark beam of light.

Logically speaking, this should be impossible. At this moment, in this place, the soaring black pillar of light should be the most eye-catching thing.

But Chestnut and Glenn were frowning and deep in thought, Ethan was looking at the pieces of meat that had fallen to the ground in the distance, and Fensny was still in a daze.

Not a single person looked at the dark pillar of light.

Then there's only one possibility left...

"Could it be... that I'm the only one who can sense the fluctuations of that unknown, powerful sealed artifact?"

"Am I the only one... who can see that dark pillar of light?"

Xia Fa had a guess; after all, too many strange things had happened to him, and now there was another one.

For some reason, he had a feeling that the biggest gain from this trip to the mysterious cave might not be the Star Spirit Compass, but this sealed artifact!

Suddenly, at that moment, the two archbishops, Chestnut and Glenn, who were well-versed in occult knowledge, shuddered and both showed expressions of horror.

They had been frowning in thought, but now they seemed to have figured something out, and their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.

"I understand... It's the Ghost Domain... The Ghost Domain has been upgraded! From an exploratory Eagle-level Ghost Domain... it has become a high-risk Elephant-level Ghost Domain!"

Glenn spoke, his voice trembling uncontrollably, as if he had already foreseen the danger that everyone was about to fall into.

Fungi, insects, eagles, wolves, elephants, whales... This underground cave realm, which was originally only an eagle-level realm, has now... suddenly increased by two ranks?!

Moreover, it has changed from an exploratory ghost realm to a high-risk ghost realm?