Tower of Heaven

About six months ago, a scene occurred that left many people's life paths permanently altered.

Atlas left the 40th Floor and immediately focused on saving his friends, but he had been consciously avoiding all thoughts about their safety and status.

He didn't want his own resolve to be broken by what he might find, so he did not think about it at all. In his mind, only a few facts were present.

Artemia and Horus were alive.

They were in the underworld.

If he wanted to bring them back to the overworld, he had to go there and drag them out. They had been trapped indefinitely without a means to escape.

It was all a plot of the Cosmic Dragons meant to draw out the Heavenly Dragons and affect their strength somehow.

However, the two people who'd been caught by such a plot had no means or time to be considering "why" they were in their current situation.

They could only think about survival.

"Khh…!"

Horus woke up to pain and darkness.

The last thing he remembered was the scene of the 40th Floor Cumulative Trial ending. He saw the man who clearly had enmity with Artemia pulling out some sort of artifact, and the next thing he knew, his world was black.

His consciousness only returned to him here, but the moment he opened his eyes, he wished that he had just remained asleep.

If he had to describe what a "hell" was supposed to look like, it would be the scene displayed in front of him.

The ground was crimson like the color of blood and extremely arid. It was cracked and rocky, unable to sprout or contain any sort of life.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The crimson ground rolled into the horizon in the form of various hills, mountains, and structures. Each of them was separated from the rest by lakes and rivers of an ominous black and red color.

There was no sky at all. Only darkness. The darkness spread into the distance further than even the horizon, making it look like the realm had a definite end.

However, if one actually reached the place where the ground disappeared, one would find that it was an illusion. There was only more hell awaiting in the void.

Horus didn't know any of that. He only knew that the scenery was terrifying. He immediately tried to move his body, but he was greeted by a strange metallic sound.

Clang!

'I can't move.'

Finally, he directed his eyes at his limbs.

Finally, he was able to actually feel what kind of position his body was in.

Surrounded by this hellish scenery, he was splayed in the air with his arms and legs spread wide. They were forced to remain in that position by chains that connected his wrists and ankles to the ground and sky.

The clear resistance he felt made it obvious to him that escape wouldn't be an easy thing.

He tried to access his qi, only to realize that it would not respond to his call.

Perhaps the situation was more than just a little concerning.

Horus immediately entered a contemplative mode.

He forgot that he'd awoken to a feeling of pain. His adrenaline completely overwrote the feeling for the current moment, but it was bound to come back eventually. This was not a place where one could exist without being in pain.

'That artifact must have been some sort of trap device.'

If the space was any smaller, he would have believed that he was stuck inside the very same artifact, but the sheer expansiveness of the realm he observed made him believe that he had instead been transported to another place.

'Status.'

The air in front of him fizzled, but that was the end of it.

Horus sighed when there was no response.

'If I cannot see my status, then this place is extremely far from the reaches of the Tower System.'

Atlas was an old-fashioned cultivator who still didn't know about the "Status" function, but if one only called out the word in one's mind, the Tower System would display before them a window containing their information.

It outlined their name, age, titles, current cultivation, and tower skills. It wasn't useful for much, but it was definitely a good way to see if one was still within the Tower's realm of influence.

Horus was surprisingly fast on the uptake. The matters about Cosmic Dragons and the underworld were foreign to him, but it was enough to know that this was a hidden realm connected to the Tower somehow.

'And I am trapped here.'

His eyes narrowed.

'Was this Set's plot?'

He looked up at the sky with vengeful eyes, but quickly changed his mind.

'No, the Ennead has no connection to Heaven's Gate. If Set was going to use the Tower's forces against me, they would come from elsewhere. Perhaps the Den of Mysteries or one of the sub-societies we have established in the Tower.'

The person who attacked them also had no relation to his Society in the slightest. He didn't believe that he was the one being targeted.

'Atlas has many enemies, but he is a man who remains under the radar. None of them know his location well enough to target him so directly.'

The only one left was Artemia.

'He was also a dragon…'

Horus shook his head once more.

Abruptly, he was forced to grit his teeth as waves of pain pulsated through his body. It was as if his organs were failing while he was being pricked with thousands of needles all over his skin.

"KHHH…!"

Spittle joined the strained voice that left his mouth as he coped with it, but there was also an odd smile on his face.

'This reminds me of the past.'

Was he going to be tortured in these chains, or was he already in the process of being tortured?

'It doesn't matter. Now that I am awake, I must escape and find the others. Atlas and Artemia should also be in this realm somewhere.'

Rather than responding with fear, Horus took the situation on the chin. Since it was already happening, the most he could do was ensure that it would not break him.

In the end, no matter where he was and no matter what was happening, he was going to find a way back to the world.

The pain could be disregarded. The shock and surprise could be disregarded.

As long as only that single conclusion was left in his mind, Horus could act with courage.

Vaguely, he observed the shadow of a being appearing over the horizon. It was a being whose eyes were completely focused on him as it walked in his direction.

It seemed his very first real clue about the realm was showing up on his own.

Every step carried weight that made Horus worried. Every action seemed malevolent even when it was as innocent as it could get.

As the man came closer, Horus was able to confirm one thing as an absolute fact.

'That person…'

With a single horn coming out of her head and sclera as black as the sky, with skin as translucent as silk, and a rosy complexion that seemed too fake to be real…

'That person is not alive.'

Undoubtedly, the person walking towards him was an undead being.

And facing such a being from a species known to crave human flesh was Horus, stuck in his chains and unable to move.

Certainly, it was not an ideal situation in the slightest.