Chapter 355: Lily Learns True Fear..

At that moment, the Devourer’s gaze sharpened. Piercing. Searching.

Somewhere far below. Beyond countless layers of existence. Beyond realms deemed insignificant.

a Devourer Dragon had awakened.

And its blood…was not merely strong.

It was absolute.

At that same moment. across the Galaxy of Devourer Dragons. the stillness shattered.

In distant palaces forged from voidstone and bone, figures paused mid motion. On floating continents where ancient clans resided, conversations ceased abruptly. Within the endless void, where colossal draconic forms drifted like silent gods, massive eyes opened one after another.

Golden. Crimson. Obsidian.

Each pair ignited with awareness.

They had all felt it. The same pulse.

The same impossible signal.

It spread through their blood like a call that could not be ignored, resonating with something deeply buried within their very existence.

A return. No. something beyond return. Something… superior.

Back within the throne hall, the man’s lips curved slightly.

Not into a smile. But into something far colder.

Far more dangerous.

“…Interesting, why would the bloodline of a Devourer appear in a low level world, at such ablow rank nonetheless…”

His voice echoed softly, yet the moment it did, the constellations above trembled, their movements becoming erratic for a brief, fleeting second.

For the first time in an age that even he no longer bothered to measure. his interest had been stirred.

And across the endless Galaxy of Devourer Dragons. the silence that had endured for countless eras. was finally broken.

Meanwhile, Bruce, oblivious to the recent developments unfolding far beyond his awareness, teleported back home with Ash.

The shift was instantaneous.

One moment, he stood within the depths of his Labyrinth, surrounded by dense, suffocating mana… and the next, the familiar calm of home settled around him.

His gaze lifted. And immediately found Lily.

She was still there.

Dressed neatly. Prepared. Waiting.

Yet unmoving. She hadn’t left.

Bruce’s brows slowly drew together, a faint crease forming between them as he took in the subtle stiffness in her posture, the way she stood as if caught between two decisions she couldn’t reconcile.

“You haven’t gone yet?” he asked, his tone calm, but edged with quiet confusion. “Won’t you be late, Lily?”

Lily hesitated. It was brief. but noticeable.

Her fingers tightened slightly against the fabric of her sleeve before she answered, her voice softer than usual.

“Aunty Sophie offered to take me… but I refused.”

Bruce’s frown deepened, not out of anger, but curiosity.

“Why?”

Silence followed. A fragile kind of silence. one that lingered just long enough to carry weight.

Lily lowered her gaze, avoiding his eyes, as though whatever answer she held required more courage than she expected.

“…Because I have to understand fear,” she said quietly. “I need to prove something to my instructor.”

Bruce’s eyes narrowed a fraction. There was something off about that.

“Your instructor told you to understand fear?”

Lily shook her head.No explanation followed.

She simply stood there, shoulders slightly tense, lips pressed together, as if afraid that saying more would expose something she wasn’t ready to share.

Bruce watched her for a moment longer.

He noticed everything. the hesitation, the silence, the way her breathing wasn’t quite steady.

Whatever this was… it mattered. And more importantly. It was something she had chosen.

He exhaled softly, the tension in his gaze fading into something more thoughtful.

“Alright,” he said at last, his voice steady. “Come with me.”

Lily barely had time to react.

Bruce stepped forward and rested his hand gently on her shoulder. And the world disappeared.

Everything. Light. Sound. Space itself.

For a fraction of a second, Lily felt like she had been torn apart at a level she couldn’t comprehend. her body stretched into nothingness, her consciousness suspended in a void that refused to exist.

Then. Reality snapped back.

Violently.

Her vision returned. And with it. Terror.

Her body froze. Completely.

Every muscle locked as if seized by something unseen.

Her pupils shrank violently, her breath catching in her throat. Because less than a centimeter away from her face. Something was staring at her.

An eye.

No.

Eight.

Each one massive.

Each one cold.

Each one reflecting her image with horrifying clarity.

For a moment, her mind couldn’t process what she was seeing.

It simply refused. But her instincts. Her instincts understood immediately.

Predator. Behind those eyes, a monstrous form loomed into existence within her awareness, vast and overwhelming, its sheer scale eclipsing everything around it.

An enormous spider.

Its body towered like a grotesque mountain of chitin and frost, its surface glistening with a pale, unnatural sheen that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. Its limbs stretched outward like colossal pillars, jagged and curved, each movement. though minimal. carrying the weight of something far beyond human comprehension.

It didn’t need to move. It didn’t need to attack.

Its presence alone was enough.

A breath washed over her.

Cold. Rotten.

Thick with something toxic that made her lungs tighten instinctively.

Even with Bruce’s Heal silently wrapped around her, filtering the danger before it could harm her.

She felt it. That wrongness.

That overwhelming, primal signal etched into the deepest layers of her existence.

Run! Run! RUN!

But her body refused. Her mind had gone blank.

Her heart slammed violently against her ribs, each beat louder than the last, drowning out coherent thought.

Her breathing shattered, breaking into uneven, desperate gasps that refused to stabilize.

Everything narrowed. Everything collapsed.

Until only those eyes remained.

Watching. Waiting. Hunting.

Then.

“AHHH!!”

The scream tore out of her before she could stop it.

Raw.

Unrestrained.

Her body moved on instinct alone.

She leaped. Straight into Bruce.

Her hands clutched onto him desperately, fingers digging into his clothes as if anchoring herself to the only thing that felt real. Her entire body trembled violently as she buried her face against his chest, her breath ragged, her mind still trapped in that moment of absolute fear.

Only then. did she realize something else.

They weren’t on the ground.

They were suspended in the air.

Bruce stood calmly atop Ash’s back as it hovered, unmoving, unshaken, as if the monstrous existence below them was nothing more than part of the scenery.

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