The rain that had slowed for a while now poured down harder again, droplets falling fast from the sky and soaking the ground.

The wind grew stronger too, almost like it was trying to push the two of them away.

It didn't take long before they saw a massive water channel that seemed endless, and beyond it there appeared to be another island.

And a dirt and stone bridge stretched between the two islands, connecting both sides.

"We arrived.." William said.

Daniel glanced at the bridge. It looked long and sturdy, as if it had no end, yet its end was clearly visible.

He looked across the blue canal. For some reason his intuition was warning him that under no circumstances should he go there.

But did he really have another choice? He still remembered how much Lana had warned him never to enter the central layer.

Yet looking at their current situation, the only option left was to go there and hope they could find those Federation rank S Awakened.

"Let's go." A complicated light flashed in William's eyes as he spoke quietly and started walking.

Daniel followed at his side without saying anything, and the two stepped onto the bridge. He glanced at the blue canal below.

Although it was clearly water, just looking at it gave everyone a sense of dread and terror, as if something truly horrifying was hidden in those waters.

"Be careful not to fall down. Whatever is down there will probably swallow you whole." William warned after catching this from the corner of his eyes.

"The wind here is really strong." Daniel took one last look and stepped back from the edge of the bridge as he spoke.

Even though the bridge was long, at best it took only five minutes to cross it. Yet the wind kept pushing them back again and again.

That alone was strange. Both of them were rank A and possessed extremely strong physical power and resistance.

Yet the wind could push them back. No matter how hard they tried to resist it, it was useless.

What was even stranger was that the wind felt completely normal, nothing like a storm. They couldn't even sense its strength until it directly hit them.

"I agree. This is the strangest wind I have ever seen." William nodded, even with his vast knowledge and experience, this wind still felt bizarre to him.

"There's also something strange about these raindrops. Whenever they hit the bridge or the ground nothing happens. But look at the water. Whenever the rain falls into it, it causes a small explosion under the surface." Daniel pointed out another oddity.

Their eyes locked onto the water. It didn't take long for a raindrop to fall in front of them. Then—boom! A small explosion went off under the water.

William frowned. This time he looked straight ahead as a raindrop landed on the bridge. To his surprise, nothing happened.

As for themselves, from the very start they had covered their bodies with layers of mana to avoid getting wet.

Under William's confused gaze, Daniel suddenly cut his hand and let several drops of blood fall onto the ground. At the same time he stepped back.

Seeing this, William frowned and also stepped back.

"What are you doing?"

"I want to confirm something. Look there."

A raindrop suddenly collided with Daniel's blood on the ground. To their shock—

Boom!

A massive explosion went off, and both of them were forced back several dozen meters by the shockwave. Even their defensive layers were damaged and nearly shattered.

"So if it touches blood it creates a huge explosion." Daniel muttered, his expression turning grim.

"If we're in a fight and get injured, this will be a huge problem." William wasn't stupid and understood instantly. His face also darkened.

"We need to be careful. One explosion can't hurt us, but if we're wounded and covered in blood, with this nonstop rain, the explosions could be dangerous even for us."

"I get it. But why didn't this happen in the outer layer? When the Awakened were fighting there was blood everywhere while it was raining, but no explosions."

"It's probably a mechanism, one of the features of the inner layer." Daniel wasn't sure and could only guess.

Although they hadn't entered the central layer yet, this was the only explanation that made sense. At least nothing better came to mind.

Still, even if that was true, he felt like the rain in the inner layer could still harm them somehow. He just didn't know how yet.

William nodded. From his perspective, this was also the best and most likely explanation.

They continued walking, strengthening their defensive layers to make sure no raindrops touched them. Now that they knew the rain could trigger explosions when it touched any liquid, they naturally had to be more cautious.

They were close to the end of the bridge when suddenly both of them felt a terrifying sense of danger. Instinctively they leapt to opposite sides of the bridge.

At the same moment, massive claw marks tore across the ground, carving a meter-deep trench.

"Damn it, what was that?" William shouted angrily, his eyes locking onto something flapping its wings in the sky.

"A monster, a really huge flying one." Daniel frowned. He could faintly make out the figure of the beast circling above.

If he wasn't mistaken, it was over three meters long, massive in size, with wings alone that stretched more than six meters.

Each flap of its wings created gusts of wind. Wind that felt normal at first glance, but when it reached them it could push them back.

One phrase came to William mind.

"Sky Titan."

The Sky titan—he didn't know much about this kind of creature.

However, William had read a bit about them in books. According to his knowledge, back in the eras when titans were not yet extinct, this creature was considered one of the rulers of the skies.

Their speed and strength were terrifyingly high, and there were even rumors that they could fight against S-ranks even before actually reaching S-rank themselves.

Looking at this creature now… could those rumors be true?

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