Ding!

---

[You have entered the "Blood Mist"]

[Lives loss rate: 5,000]

[Description: Very similar to the "Land of Mist" except that your vision is blocked by the tainted red mist.]

---

Stark took a slow breath, his expression calm as the new environment settled around him.

The air was heavy, almost thick, and every breath carried a faint metallic taste, like iron.

The ground under his boots was soft, wet, and stained red.

'Five thousand lives loss rate,' he thought, narrowing his eyes, 'Hah... that's brutal.'

No wonder barely anyone ever came back from this place when entering.

Dying once here meant losing 5,000 lives instantly.

A handful of high-level players might've had enough lives to survive that penalty, but most didn't.

For them, entering this place was simply suicide. Still, Stark didn't stop.

He stepped forward, and right away—

Ding!

[Strong Bleeding: 5%... 6%...]

"Oh."

A familiar mechanic.

Just like the [Land of Mist], this place had its own [Status Meter].

But this one wasn't about summoning anything, it was about killing you slowly.

[Strong Bleeding] was a direct evolution of [Bleeding], a nasty status effect.

Instead of dealing a small periodic loss of HP, it shredded through your health over time.

The longer he stayed inside, the more dangerous it got.

Stark kept walking, his staff ready, eyes sharp.

'Some players managed to reach the boss in my past life,' he thought, watching the meter climb.

'So there must be a way to manage it.'

[Strong Bleeding: 16%...]

"What the fuck," he muttered under his breath.

That thing was climbing way too fast.

Even with his high Spirit resistance, it didn't seem to slow down at all.

He could barely see a few meters ahead—the red mist distorted his vision worse than the normal one ever did.

'I can't take my time here,' he realized.

Immediately, Stark started running.

His boots splashed into the blood-colored ground as he rushed through the haze, keeping his eyes on the faint silhouettes ahead.

'Every zone in [Eternal Soul] is possible. There's no such thing as an impossible zone.'

He just had to find the boss before his HP drained too far.

The first monsters appeared soon after.

They stepped out of the blood mist, red shapes forming into bodies that were both familiar and terrifying.

---

[Blood Slime (Level 50)]

[Rank: Legendary]

[HP: 1,200,000]

---

[Blood Mist Reaper (Level 50)]

[Rank: Legendary]

[HP: 1,100,000]

---

[Blood Mist Wolves (Level 50)]

[Rank: Mythical]

[HP: 1,250,000]

---

A dozen monsters surrounded Stark in an instant, crawling out of the mist like ghosts made of crimson smoke.

He immediately noticed it, they were the same species from the [Land of Mist].

Only now, they'd been transformed.

Their bodies no longer gave off gray vapor, but dense red fog, pulsing with power.

'So they're stronger versions,' Stark thought, tightening his grip on his staff.

The monsters howled, hissed, and began to advance.

[Strong Bleeding: 58%]

"Alright then," Stark muttered, "Let's do this fast."

Bind of Silk!

White silk exploded outward, wrapping around half the monsters before they could react.

Blazing Meteor!

Torrent of Lightning!

The spells chained together almost instantly.

A massive meteor descended from above while bolts of lightning shot through the mist.

-789,360! -789,360! -789,360!

The bound monsters couldn't move.

The air shook as the meteor slammed into the ground.

BOOM!

A wall of red mist burst outward, vaporizing everything in front of him.

-1,578,720!

The impact alone was enough to wipe out most of them.

Only the [Blood Slimes] and one of the [Blood Mist Wolves] managed to survive, the rest erased completely.

Lightning crashed again.

-1,184,040! -1,184,040! -1,184,040!

And just like that, they were gone.

The bodies dissolved into red vapor, fading into the air like smoke.

'As expected,' Stark thought, watching them disappear.

Monsters here didn't leave corpses—just like in the [Land of Mist].

Still, the fight gave him confidence.

Ding!

[You have gained 319 Lives!]

A small grin tugged at his lips.

These things were stronger, yes, but they still weren't strong enough to stop him.

His damage output was too high, his cooldowns too short.

He could chain-cast endlessly. And so, Stark kept going.

He sprinted through the [Blood Mist], slashing through every monster that dared to appear.

Dozens of them fell under his spells.

The ground trembled again and again as meteors rained down, lightning split the air, and silk tore through the fog.

It was destruction without pause.

Still, even as he cleared everything, the [Strong Bleeding] kept rising.

[Strong Bleeding: 89%...]

He frowned.

'I still don't get how other players reached the boss,' he thought. 'Even if they were strong, they couldn't have killed everything this fast.'

It didn't make sense. Unless they didn't fight at all.

'Or maybe the boss came to them.'

He didn't stop moving. Minutes passed.

The mist got thicker, heavier.

Even with the [Mist Repellant Ring], visibility was dropping fast.

Finally—

[Strong Bleeding: 100%]

The crimson meter hit its limit.

And right after—

Bam!

Stark winced as a sharp sting spread through his chest.

His body started to leak faint red trails: blood.

-300 HP! -300 HP! -300 HP!

He looked down and exhaled.

Every second, 300 HP drained away.

It wasn't fatal right now, he had more than 100,000 HP, but it would wear him down eventually.

The only way to stop bleeding was to heal, or use an item that countered status effects. He had neither.

'Would've been nice if Grace was here,' he muttered, 'At least she could heal.'

Still, he didn't panic. The loss was manageable, and thanks to the [Revenant Bell], dying wasn't even a real threat.

Even if he died, he'd just revive and try again. For now, he needed information.

So he kept walking. But at that moment, something changed.

Thump!

The ground shook faintly.

Thump! Thump!

It was rhythmic, like a heartbeat.

Stark stopped.

'What is that sound?'

The thumping grew louder, echoing through the mist.

And then came the whispers. Faint, unclear, but definitely there.

Dozens of overlapping voices, whispering words in a language he couldn't understand.

They crawled into his mind like a cold wind.

"...aah... eth... rha... uun..."

Stark froze for a moment. He knew this.

[You are hearing the whispers of the ancient gods.]

'So that's what it is.'

These whispers were rare and EXTREMELY dangerous.

They weren't just background noise.

If a player listened to them too long, they started losing control, sometimes even attacking allies.

Not that Stark had to worry about that.

He'd already experienced it before. He focused his mind, tuning out the whispers.

'But it seems like these whispers are faint.'

The [Whispers] he knew about were much louder and could actually affect you almost instantly.

And it didn't surprise him as he was way too early in [Eternal Soul] to be hearing them.

They would only appear in their true form later.

And as for the reason why they appeared? Nobody knew.

Most people assumed it was because the monsters or zones related to these whispers were linked to the [Ancient Gods].

Still, Stark focused back.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Something massive was approaching.

The pressure alone was enough to make the mist swirl.

And then, through the red haze, he saw it. A shadow, no, a giant silhouette walking slowly toward him.

Each step it took made the ground vibrate.

When it finally emerged from the fog, Stark's eyes narrowed.

It was tall, almost five meters, and its body was made entirely of shifting blood mist.

Its face was hidden beneath a mask of bone, and from its back, faint trails of red energy floated upward like flames.

When it spoke, the air trembled.

"The scent of blood... and such immense Spirit..."

The voice was deep, echoing from everywhere at once.

"Incredible. A feast has appeared."

Ding!

[Kaiser, The Spirit Devourer (Level 50)]

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