In the Forbidden Zone, everything was shrouded in thick mist. No trees, no grass—no sun or moon. Just an eerie, colorless void.

Ethan's figure emerged first from the haze.

"What the hell is this dump?" he muttered, eyes scanning the strange surroundings.

The ground beneath his feet was paved with bluish stone slabs, and through the fog, he could make out towering stone pillars scattered in the distance. The whole place gave off a weird, unsettling vibe.

And the pressure—there was this invisible weight pressing down on everything. It wasn't just visual; even his senses felt dulled, like something was actively messing with his perception. He couldn't see far, and what little he could see felt... off.

Somewhere out there in the white void, danger was lurking. He could feel it.

The golden energy he'd been tracking earlier? Gone. Not a trace left.

"Don't tell me... the teleport dropped me in a random spot?"

It sure felt like a separate world altogether—just like when he first landed on Originis. Once you stepped in, there was no telling where you'd end up.

With no clear direction to go, Ethan started walking. A short distance ahead, he spotted three stone pillars standing upright. Each was a little taller than a person, perfectly shaped, and—oddly—identical.

He gave them a quick once-over. Strange markings were etched into the surface—symbols that looked eerily similar to the ones on his Star Map tablet.

Maybe he was getting closer to cracking the mystery...

The pillars didn't react to him, so Ethan didn't pay them much mind. He walked past them and kept moving forward.

But he hadn't gone far when a deep rumble echoed behind him. The three pillars were moving—fast.

They didn't attack him, though. Instead, they zipped past and planted themselves right in front of him again.

"What the...?" Ethan frowned.

Were they trying to block his path?

With no landmarks around, the scene in front of him looked exactly like when he first arrived. It was like he hadn't moved at all.

"Interesting..." he murmured, starting to get a sense of what was going on.

This place—it was some kind of illusion maze. A trap designed to keep him wandering in circles forever.

He needed to be sure.

So he tried again. Walked forward, same as before. And just like clockwork, the pillars rumbled behind him and reappeared ahead, same distance, same formation—like the whole thing had been reset.

Curious now, Ethan shifted direction, blinking forward in a flash, trying to outmaneuver them.

But no matter how fast he moved, the pillars kept up. The moment he stopped, there they were again—standing tall in front of him, like they'd never left.

Exactly the same as before.

"Alright, alright..." Ethan muttered under his breath, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

This illusion maze was clever—definitely not your run-of-the-mill trap.

But tricks like this? They meant nothing in the face of raw power.

He already had a plan forming.

With a flicker of movement, he darted forward again, the pillars trailing him like gum stuck to his shoe.

But this time, as one of them passed by his side, Ethan raised his fist and slammed it into the stone.

"Game over."

BOOM.

The ground shook violently. His punch unleashed a shockwave of raw force. The runes on the pillar lit up, forming a powerful shield—but under Ethan's blow, they flickered like a dying lightbulb.

CRACK!

He didn't hesitate. Another punch followed, and the runes went dark for good. The pillar shattered into pieces.

At the same time, the other two pillars froze in place. The illusion maze? Broken.

"Now that's more like it," Ethan said, satisfied. His method had worked—perfectly.

Before Ethan could even process what had just happened, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble.

The stone slabs lit up with glowing patterns, slithering across the surface like serpents, crawling up and around him. The destruction of the stone pillar had clearly triggered another trap.

The runes flared to life, and a powerful suction force erupted from below, pulling at him like the earth itself was trying to swallow him whole. The ground beneath his feet started to collapse, crumbling away into a dark void.

It felt eerily similar to the Mountain God's Sigil Lockdown—a binding technique meant to trap and crush.

But Ethan didn't panic.

He stuck to his usual method: brute force.

Lifting one leg, he stomped down hard. The impact cracked the stone beneath him like glass under a hammer. The glowing runes shattered along with it, and the oppressive force vanished in an instant.

Even the collapsing ground stopped, as if the entire mechanism had been forcibly shut down.

With a quick leap, Ethan launched himself to a safer spot nearby. He glanced back—only rubble remained. The shattered pillars and fractured ground were all that was left of the trap.

First an illusion maze, now a sigil trap. For most people, this place would've been a death sentence—too fast, too sudden, too dangerous.

Ethan cracked a grin. "Alright... let's see what else you've got."

With the three pillars gone, the scenery finally began to shift.

Through the thick, ghostly fog, a row of massive stone statues emerged.

Each one towered over thirty feet tall—about the height of a seven-story building. They had humanoid bodies, but their heads were grotesquely oversized and canine, like monstrous dog-headed gods. The sight was downright bizarre.

Ethan counted them—twelve in total—lined up side by side like a wall, completely blocking his path forward.

"Let me guess... they're gonna come to life?"

He narrowed his eyes, already preparing for the worst. But instead of waiting to find out, he went on the offensive. Better to smash them now than deal with them later.

With a burst of speed, he shot forward and leapt into the air like a hawk diving from the sky, aiming straight for one of the statues.

Sure enough, the moment he got close, something triggered.

The statues' eyes lit up with golden light, and their massive bodies began to rumble. One by one, they started to move.

But Ethan was already mid-strike.

His fist connected with the head of the nearest statue—an impact like a meteor crashing down from orbit.

BOOM!

The entire space shook. The statue's oversized dog head exploded into rubble, and the golden glow in its eyes flickered out instantly.

But the others were already on the move.

Ethan looked up—dozens of massive stone hands were descending from above, blotting out the sky as they all came crashing down toward him.

He vanished in a blink, dodging backward, and at the same time, projected a psychic illusion of himself in his original spot.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The stone hands slammed down one after another, shaking the ground like an earthquake. Dust and debris flew everywhere.

When the tremors finally settled, the air grew still again.

Ethan now hovered above the statues, his white coat fluttering in the air, eyes cold and focused.

"Domain of the Dead."

In an instant, a crushing wave of energy descended like a mountain falling from the sky. The pressure was overwhelming—even the towering statues couldn't withstand it.

Their knees buckled under the weight.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

One by one, they dropped to their knees, forced down by Ethan's sheer power.

He stood alone, dominating over a dozen colossal statues—an image of absolute strength.

But while things were going smoothly for him, elsewhere in the Forbidden Zone, two other humans weren't having nearly as much luck.

A heavily damaged Command Cruiser had crash-landed on the stone slabs, smoke billowing from its wrecked hull.

Ricky stepped out, dragging Aria with him.

"Nice going, genius. You wrecked the damn cruiser!" Aria snapped, struggling in his grip. "Now let me go!"

Ricky ignored her, eyes scanning the foggy surroundings. "Where's the Master?"

No sign of Ethan.

Though they were all in the Forbidden Zone, it was clear they'd been dropped into different areas.

Still, the environment was the same—thick white mist, senses dulled, and visibility shot to hell.

And just ahead, barely visible through the haze... three strange stone pillars stood silently.

...

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