Noan stopped and made his way toward the spot where the light had flashed.

In truth, it wasn't actually emitting light—it simply reflected the glow of his 'Hellfire', making it look as if it were shining.

Noan saw that it was a broken sword lodged in the skull of a monster—though he couldn't even identify what kind of creature it had been.

The sword had snapped in two, one part embedded in the monster's spine, the other stuck in its skull.

The blade was badly damaged, the edge cracked as if on the verge of shattering, yet it was still so sharp that it reflected the light of 'Hellfire'.

As Noan approached the sword, he instantly felt an overwhelming pressure weighing down on his back.

"What terrifying pressure," Noan muttered, stopping in his tracks, not daring to get any closer. "No, it's not just pressure—it's also killing intent and resentment, all fused into a kind of negative energy that blankets this whole area."

"But… it's strange. Why isn't there this kind of energy anywhere else?"

Noan looked around, frowning, and realized this place was like a black hole, constantly absorbing all the surrounding negative energy.

"It's terrifying," Noan shuddered and muttered. "Even just standing this far away, I can feel the negative energy is so heavy it could crush my heart."

He took a deep breath, brow furrowed. He was genuinely intrigued by that sword.

And of course, he knew perfectly well this sword was anything but ordinary. After all, after so many years—even with creatures as powerful as dragons reduced to nothing but bones—how could this sword remain so pristine?

However…

BRUM!!!

"Huk!" As Noan took another step forward, the gravity and evil aura pressing down on his back felt like a mountain, making him gasp and drop to his knees.

"Unbelievable…" Noan gritted his teeth, struggling to rise, but the pressure was monstrous—growing heavier and heavier until he thought his body might be crushed.

Still, Noan forced himself onward, crimson energy enveloping his entire body, making him look like a blazing torch shining brightly.

BAM!

The energy within Noan collided with the pressure surrounding him and instantly exploded.

The resulting blast sent a wild gale tearing through the area.

The streams of energy drawn to this place grew chaotic, creating a temporary void.

Noan felt the crushing force lift from his back. Without hesitation, he shot forward toward the sword like an arrow.

The moment his hand touched the sword, he immediately activated his 'Storage Space' function.

Whoong!

The sword radiated black light, spreading out in circular waves like ripples in water, with itself at the center.

Those waves washed through Noan—not leaving any wounds, but causing him agony as if his organs had exploded.

"What the hell?!" Noan gritted his teeth, desperately trying to force the sword into his 'Storage Space'.

At that moment, a voice echoed in his mind.

"Who… are you?"

"Huh?!" Noan was startled, but before he could pinpoint where the voice came from, the sword had already been pulled into his storage space.

The pressure and searing pain vanished. Noan collapsed to his knees, bracing himself on trembling arms, sweat pouring down his body.

"That voice just now… who was it?" Noan scanned his surroundings, eyes sharp and alert.

But the voice was gone, and there was no way to trace its source.

He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

"Those streams of energy… seem to be dispersing." Noan looked around. The negative and sinister energies began to drift away like aimless snakes slithering into the darkness.

He ignored those swirling currents, his eyes turning to the other half of the broken sword still embedded in the monster's spine.

This creature resembled a snake, but it clearly wasn't one.

Around it were bone fragments shaped like bat wings, its body long and serpentine, and three long horns sprouted from its head, each one etched with strange magical symbols.

"If it's such a bizarre monster, I'll bring it back for further study." Noan chuckled, then stored both the skeleton and the remaining half of the broken sword in his storage space.

Seeing that his storage only had a few empty slots left, he sighed, "If only there were more spaces, I could take everything here with me."

Currently, his 'Storage Space' had reached 999 slots, with each slot able to stack up to 9,999 units of the same item.

But even now, it felt lacking. He thought to himself, If only it could be increased to 9,999 slots, I'd be much more comfortable.

Noan continued using 'Lepi's Wings' to travel through this space.

He had no idea how vast it was, but if he couldn't find a way out to save Vylyss, he'd end up trapped here himself.

Looking at all these bones, it was clear those who'd come before had never escaped this space.

It felt like a prison for countless mysterious creatures and even humans—without any exit.

Noan flew on, not knowing how long he'd been at it, just heading endlessly forward.

The farther he went, the more he realized this space was incomprehensibly huge.

"From the outside, this castle isn't nearly this big, is it?" Noan muttered.

Indeed, from the outside, the castle looked as big as a city, but this space inside was so vast it made no sense.

Noan calculated silently—he'd already flown more than 400 miles and still hadn't found any sign of an endpoint.

And he was certain he wasn't lost in a maze.

A maze is a term used when someone loses their sense of direction and ends up moving in circles.

Noan was different—he kept that in mind and always paid close attention to his surroundings.

And indeed, by relying on the environment, he could confirm that he wasn't lost in a "maze."

"How strange… just how much farther do I have to fly?"

Noan sighed, raising his sword, a blinding red sword light shooting out.

Whoong!

A beam of light flashed from the tip of his sword, streaking straight ahead. Noan frowned as he watched it—but strangely, the light only traveled about 500 meters before seeming to hit something invisible and stop.

Startled, Noan immediately flew to where the light had been stopped.

Whoosh!

"Heh?!" Noan stopped, hovering in midair, looking around.

He frowned, waving his hand, conjuring countless fireballs to illuminate the entire space within a 1,000-meter radius.

"How odd… there's nothing here at all." Noan muttered, staring at the spot where his sword light had just been blocked.

It was still just empty space—no obstacles, nothing out of the ordinary.

Noan frowned, circling around the spot where his attack had been stopped.

"There's really nothing blocking it." He reached out, touching the air, but sensed nothing unusual.

"So what exactly stopped my sword light?"

He raised his sword again and—

Whoong!

KENG!

"Ack!" Noan jumped back in surprise as the sword light, upon hitting that odd spot in midair, was instantly reflected back toward him.

Fortunately, he was quick enough to dodge to the side.

Whoong!

The beam was reflected, shooting off into the darkness over a thousand meters away—then seemed to hit something else and instantly vanished.

Noan's eyes widened as he seemed to realize something. He immediately took a deep breath and checked the remaining energy inside his body.

"I hope my guess is correct." Noan raised his sword again, but this time, instead of slashing, the blade gradually transformed—becoming a laser gun like something out of a sci-fi movie.

Whoong! Whoong! Whoong!

The barrel spun, gathering energy, and then—

WHOONG!!!

A piercing sound rang out, its frequency so sharp it was almost painful.

A crimson beam shot from the muzzle, heading straight for the strange spot Noan had discovered earlier.

BANG!

The beam struck the odd point, then refracted, bouncing off in a new direction.

Noan didn't pause—he started moving, searching for the next refraction point.

At that moment, the beam struck another barrier, refracting again.

The laser kept firing, and the chain of refractions looked like a spiderweb, endlessly bouncing between countless invisible points.

"That's…"