Chapter 3453: Dense Biosphere
The vibes of the continent were shockingly distinct from Genora, not just in the density of fauna and flora, but also in the atmosphere in the air of the continent.
Genora’s environment felt like a haven.
It resembled a paradise and was the most beautiful place that Rui had ever visited in his entire life. So much so that Amare wanted to settle there and raise a family with him if she could. It truly was the image that came to mind when one thought of a nature paradise.
Kiriket was the opposite.
It embodied the crueler aspects of nature. It embodied the mechanism of survival of the fittest. A cruel, harsh environment with resources that were scarcer than the lifeforms that needed them to survive. Only the fittest would survive and repopulate the entire region, until the same process would start over and continue once more.
It was not a place for the faint of heart.
This became especially clear as they drew closer and closer to the continent, covered in Rui’s stealth, until they eventually reached the continent, finally setting foot on it.
STEP
They cautiously set foot on the sandy coast, quickly heading inward.
Under the darkness of the night and Rui’s active stealth, they remained undetected to all the surveillance measures that the therianthropes had deployed.
They quickly headed into the forests of Kiriket, quickly confronted with a diversity of fauna unlike anything they had ever seen. They found themselves surrounded by the most populous phylum of living organisms in the entire world.
Insects.
It was difficult to overstate just how many insects there were, dense and overflowing not just the land of the forest but also the trees and even the air. They were extremely overabundant compared to virtually any other environment that Rui had ever seen.
But it wasn’t just insects.
The giant trees that stretched across much of the continent had more birds and critters than should have been ecologically viable. At the same time, Rui’s senses could detect that fauna infested even the land beneath the surface of the soil with all manner of creatures from insects to rodents and snakes, making their homes beneath the ground.
Each of them was not natural.
Rui could sense that quite clearly.
They were abnormal creatures that were genetically modified to be superior to what they were prior. Many of them were entirely artificially created species with a specific purpose. His Tree of Life Enlightenment showed him exactly how genetically modified all the fauna he could sense was.
"They truly are the beast equivalents of elves in their approach," Rui muttered as he studied the environment, his stealth as active as ever.
However, it wasn’t just critters that were present in the environment.
RUMBLE...
The entire forest shook as tremors spread through the ground.
The land erupted as a gigantic serpent the size of a mountain blasted from within the ground, causing immense seismic radiation to wash over the land while it slithered away, killing who knew how many billions of lives.
Rui could sense that the creature was a Master-level beast.
Something that Rui could easily dispatch with it if it attacked him.
In fact, there was probably no single creature in Kiriket aside from the Dragon Emperor that could truly threaten his life.
Still, that didn’t mean he could let his guard down.
"Their power is in numbers." Rui sharpened his eyes. "We have limits, and eventually they could overrun us if we fought for long enough."
It was the same with being in Genora.
There was simply no end to the assault, such that even Rui had to ultimately withdraw from the battlefield after killing the Mother of Nature who had attacked him.
"What should we do now?" Amare turned towards him even as her eyes remained fixed on the environment around them, wary of threats.
"Our first goal is to meet up with the Harmonist Faction. And more specifically, the Gajanan Clan," Rui replied. "Thankfully, I know their location, but the bad news is that it is quite some ways off. We will have to get there before I run out of stamina."
Thankfully, Rui’s stamina was incredible with the Blood of Solaris and Nature Breathing. If not for the price of his realms, he would almost be able to fight indefinitely.
"Let’s get going immediately. We have a lot of ground to cover."
And thus, the two of them set out into the darkness of the Kiriket night in the direction of the Gajanan Clan.
Rui had memorized it and had even memorized potential routes that he could take based on the research that he had done with the data that the elves and the True World Intelligence Organization. He had even used prophecy to try and figure what was the best way to travel through the continent and what paths would be good or bad.
This allowed him to act effectively and efficiently as the two of them headed deeper and deeper into the forest.
Each step they took only deepened the dark impression that the Kiriket Continent gave them. A mixed odor of the freshness of the forest and the corpses of the dead hung in the air in an unpleasant turn of events. The high density of life and the stealth that they were using meant that they couldn’t just avoid the fauna by scaring them off with their aura.
This ended up with an unfortunate run-in with not just the critters, but also the many insects that swarmed the forest. Amare’s eyes twitched as she felt her skin crawling with disgust, although that might have been the insects.
Compared to Genora, it was so absurdly inhospitable and uncomfortable that it made the journey to the Gajanan Clan that much harder. Rui knew that it was more fauna-dense than any other continent in the entire world, but he hadn’t anticipated how much the discomfort would impede his journey.
Half of him wanted to use Authority of Alpha to make all of them go away, but that would alert the Dragon Emperor right away, unfortunately.