A System That Beats Death

Instead of the sensation of being rapidly relocated, cloned and replaced, being warped, or going through a wormhole, he merely felt the ground disappear. One second, there was nothing and in the next, air resistance returned. Initially, he waited for the ground to return as well but then he started falling. Plummeting at such a height that he traveled downwards at terminal velocity which caused a sonic boom and a crater in the lake that began to be filled back up with water.

If the forest had any wildlife, the deers and smaller creatures would have scampered away. However, even though this forest was bountiful and verdant, it housed no such animals as if having been marked as the territory of a great blight.

Upon hearing the explosion, Nanling was alarmed. The sound was not foreign to her as if she or Longzhan tried hard enough, they could actually replicate it through their explosive speed. She just did not expect a loud sound in a such a desolate area that was also devoid of life. She then shivered involuntarily. Was there something under the water?

Removing the excess moisture, Guren then began to walk above the lake through a more subdued version of Aerial Stride. Due to the lake being massive, he was unsure as to where the sword was.

Slightly frightened by the noise, Nanling immediately grasped the mystical sword. The sheath let go and the platform began to crumble. Even though she had not been given the opportunity to wield her new sword, she could feel its immense power and began to grin. Her visage did not remain joyful because tendrils began to emerge from the deep lake bed.

Guren who had been caught in the crossfire was incredibly dissatisfied. Is this the guardian of the sword? Why was I not informed of this?

Swing after swing, she sliced each tendrils in one try. She was quite content with the sword's sharpness but grimaced when she felt the tendrils multiply and once again, wrap around her leg. If they went any higher, the situation would have resembled the situations she had read about in those more risque novels right before the male lead would save the damsel in distress.

Despite panicking, she still managed to stop her emotions from affecting her swordplay. If she was any less skilled, she would have failed to free herself from the tendrils and likely have accidentally cut her foot off in the process. Angered by the persistence of the monster underneath the water, she leapt into the air and began to unleash a grandiose display of strength.

As she was about to, Guren dove straight into the depths of the lake. Avoiding every single tendril which aimed at him and breaking through the wall of tendrils that began to form, he soon arrived at the head of the creature and saw a gem. He assumed the gem was part of the sword which he will have to search for later on and with a smirk, then evaporated the entire lake. In mere seconds, Nanling watched as bubbles and steam formed right before the entire lake evaporated. As soon as the moisture disappeared, cracks visibly formed on the squirming creature which started to malfunction. The eyes first dimmed, movement ceased, and then it began to crumble like the platform and in a manner that suggested that it required water to exist.

What a unique golem, Atlas thought. As he was about to examine the wreckage which had already became dust, he then heard a scream while he outstretched his hand to take the core.

A soaking wet female in her birthday suit, fell right into his arms to his complete and total bewilderment. After a few moments of awkward contact, Nanling finally registered what had occurred and thought that it would be better if she just died.

Disregarding her intense and unrelenting glares, Guren walked towards the now-clothed Nanling.

"I will not ask as to why you thought it would be better to skinny dip. However, I am requesting to borrow your sword"

Despite having been carried by him out of the canyon that used to be a lake, she was still wary of him due to his odd mask and extremely embarrassed.

Feeling combative due to having a wounded dignity, she spat out scornfully, "What will I defend myself with then?"

Guren then began to snicker.

"You think that sword can stop me? That entire lake didn't even last a second", Guren retorted.

Hearing that, she reluctantly allowed him to take the sword.

He immediately inserted the gem into the empty socket on the center of the sword's hilt and a beacon like light shot towards the sky.

He memorized the direction it pointed towards and even the intensity of the glow.

"So that's where the Kingdom is...", he muttered while staring at a titanic rock formation that pierced the sky.

It seemed... a bit too obvious. However, a clue was better than none.

He returned the sword to her and began to walk away. Before he took 10 steps, she shouted, "Take me with you"

Hearing this, he turned around and eyed her suspiciously.

"Reason?"

She clenched her fist in frustration before admitting, "I ran out of supplies"

Having been teleported to this place, rather than having traveled here, he could not suggest an alternative and so remained silent.

Faced with the silence, Nanling cursed the forest. Literally, the only thing that oasis had was the lake. Besides the trees, there were no other lifeforms which confused her greatly. It was such a beautiful forest too, why were there no animals? Were they all blind or unable to appreciate beauty?

She at least had wanted to roast a boar or two as she was starving for fresh meat but there were none. She then settled for fruit but to her shock, the forest did not even have any berries to forage for. Finally settling for the salty and preserved crap that she had been consuming for quite a while now, she ate the salted fish and accidentally drank the remaining supply of water that she had left.

It caused her to panic but luckily, there was a lake.

Now, even the lake was gone...

She silently muttered, "Usually male leads would be grateful for beauties to owe them favors"

"Beauties? Usually, proper female leads wouldn't tolerate the possibility of a harem"

She then stared in shock as she did not expect that he would understand what she was talking about. Weren't those novels exclusively for women? Most of them were written for empresses and high-ranking consorts who were insecure about their position and enjoyed manipulating power behind the scenes. As for why it did not appeal to men was because they did not enjoy thinking about the possibility that their white lotus was not as innocent as they seemed.

Atlas then sighed. Even though it would be more convenient to ditch her, there was the possibility that the sword might still be needed. It was also her sword and he was not a greedy person.