The Dreamer's POV

The ground on which she stood caved in, and bursts of flames shot from the crevices.

I coated my body with my energy and went after her. She kept leaping, making dentations on the surface she landed. I had no trouble keeping up, and frankly, she was somewhat slow compared to my flight, but it was something I could put up with.

She jumped butt naked and unbothered, crashing into crumbling structures, and just moving on and on, like an unstoppable boulder.

She finally stopped, and I hovered.

"I should warn you, there are others who seek this blade, and your presence would be known to them."

'And so what?' It wasn't like I had a choice or time to spare. I needed the blade as soon as possible.

[Time remaining to find the hellish dark blade: 10 minutes.]

'Ten minutes.' I felt my heart almost give out.

"Well, continue." I yelled, my voice hinting on urgency.

"We are here already. Can you not see the eyes?"

'The eyes.' Yes, I could see them. Despite my sensory abilities being inhibited, I could tell the many gazes that were fixed at us.

"They are wary, and they want the Hellish Dark Blade for themselves."

"Would they attack us?" I inquired.

"Not while they are unsure of your strength. People who seek this blade are usually the strong ones, and best not to make an enemy of one who's a lot more powerful than you are."

"I suppose that makes sense. Wait! The way to the blade is down?"

I had the vantage point to see a large red hot hole in the ground.

"Yes, you figured it out. The way to the blade is below, and there are guardians much more powerful than you ever faced."

'We will see about that.'

I was getting quite eager now about getting my hands on the blade, I couldn't waste any more time talking.

Suddenly, I began charging up the energy within me. Energy surged and overflowed, and I was like a star in that terrible place.

Some of the eyes that watched came further to reveal their bodies.

I smirked, glancing at a couple of them.

"I sure have your attention."

At a speed comparable to light, I stormed forward and descended. A large wall of energy was over me as I invested quite an amount of energy in my defense.

I went down and down, descending without hesitation.

I approached the impending column of flames and stormed right through it. My vision was all the hot gases for a while, but I soon zoomed past them and got to a large door that blocked the other end of the column.

I didn't give it a second thought, I wasn't going to decelerate, instead, I went through the thick block of metal. It was about ten inches thick and I thrusted through it, coming seamlessly into the other end.

The rocky column deviated vertically and I moved appropriately until I approached a door and met two large creatures guarding it.

My face contorted into a stern frown, I had no time for foes. On the chance that I got trapped in hell, I would certainly entertain them, but now, there were more pressing matters.

The guards were insectoid fiery things, they were large, and tough-looking from their aglow exoskeleton. They both held what seemed to be lances and readied for me. I didn't give them much thought. The Blade was priority, and anything else was just an obstacle that I would smash through.

And smash, I did.

One stood on my path, sensing me looming. It held forward its lance.

My body became the spear that would take its life as I created a large gaping hole through its chest and went through. Continue your journey with empire

I didn't stop there, I continued my journey, until something made me take a pause. I was close to hitting the strange film that blocked the rest of the path.

"What is this?"

<Absolute Appraisal>

[Depowering Energy Field]

[Additional Information]

A potent energy field that keeps trespassers at bay, and strips the powers of those who manage to get through.

[End of Information]

[Time remaining to find the hellish dark blade: 7 minutes.]

I gritted my teeth, the single digits. I certainly didn't want to spend eternity in this goddamn place.

However, this field complicated things, and I couldn't drive through it like I had done with the others. I had my reservations.

'If the guards didn't stop the others from proceeding, then it must be this strange wall.'

I zoomed back, creating a distance of about half a kilometer away from the field, and I hovered, holding my limbs close in a fetal position.

The energy that was within and about me began condensing. The ethereal intangible thing began taking shape, appearing seemingly solid.

It condensed, morphing into a cylindrical thing that shrunk in width with every distance away from me. I had condensed quite a lot of energy with that move, though I was sure to retain an ample amount that might be needed later.

It was either all or nothing.

I released the condensed energy blast from my hands and it zoomed, piercing through the wall and undoing it.

I then heard a loud explosive boom later, and the entire structure quaked.

[You have killed the Great Dark Spawn]

[You have leveled up]

[You have leveled up]

"Wow." It turned out the attack I charged struck whatever powerful creature was beyond the wall.

The veil was undone and I went through it. I soon came to another door, what used to be a door, as most of it had blasted off with only the edges fixed into the slot.

I slowly zoomed inside, as it was dark; there was no light save for my energy glow.

Nothing.

And then I found it, another source of radiance. A dark contrasting radiance that my eyes couldn't look away from.

And this radiance licked on the ominous sword I was looking for, and I smiled.

[Hellish Dark Blade]

[Time remaining to find the hellish dark blade: 3 minutes.]

I hovered to the blade and clenched its hilt which looked to be made out of phalanges.

It was fixed on a platform, and I had to pull it out.

It took me my all, but I managed to do it. I pulled the Hellish Dark Blade from the rock, reminiscent of the hero pulling the sword from a rock in the stories.

[Hellish Dark Blade retrieved]