Chapter 6: Work Smarter, Not Harder!

"Is this what an apocalypse would look like in real life?"

Crimson lightning flashed across the sky without warning as Lydia wiped the sweat from her forehead.

To be honest, she had no idea where or how to find Ephraim in this vast barren desert. It was scorching hot with no sign of life.

"I think this place is the perfect definition of living hell.

This place screamed of pure terror, where nothing seemed capable of surviving. Even the silence felt oppressive.

She had no choice but to keep moving.

The endless sand dunes gradually gave way to cracked, blackened earth. The farther Lydia went, the more barren the land became.

Then even the cracked earth disappeared. Lydia slowed as the ground ahead turned into lava.

Red-hot liquid bubbled beneath the surface, sending waves of scorching heat toward her. The temperature became almost unbearable, and Lydia immediately stepped back.

"You’re kidding me..."

There was still no sign of Ephraim. This place was way too huge!

Before Lydia could think of another way forward, something moved beneath the sand. Then more of them slithered beneath her feet.

"Aaah! Snakes! Why are these cobras rushing for me?!"

Dozens of snakes suddenly burst from the dunes. Lydia turned and dashed forward to a cave.

The cave was dark and narrow, but at least it was better than being surrounded by the snakes outside.

Lydia moved down and cautiously searched deeper into the cave. There was a huge black door at the far end of the passage.

A strange, heavy-looking door.

She had barely taken a few steps when something suddenly moved in the darkness.

Thick red tendrils shot toward Lydia.

"What?!" Lydia jumped sideways.

One tendril whipped past her shoulder and slammed into the ground.

Hissssss!

Smoke rose from the spot where it slapped. The ground began to burn and radiate intense heat.

"They seem to have a mind of their own."

Lydia rolled backward as another tendril lashed toward her, missing by barely an inch. The ground where she had stood seconds ago was already smoking.

"I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if one of those things touched me."

She had barely finished that thought when countless things dropped from the ceiling.

Countless scorpions were crawling across the cave ceiling and dropping straight onto Lydia.

"AAAAAH!"

Lydia ran for her dear life as hundreds of scorpions landed all around her. Their claws snapping as they crawled across the floor.

She ducked beneath one, jumped over another, and nearly slipped when a third dropped directly in front of her.

Then something even worse happened.

A ring of fire suddenly appeared in front of her, hovering upright like a giant flaming hoop. Lydia stopped so abruptly that she almost fell.

"What now?! Am I supposed to jump through that thing?!"

She jumped sideways. Another ring of fire appeared. They kept appearing out of nowhere, forcing Lydia to jump, twist, and dodge as she desperately tried to make her way toward the door.

The cave had turned into complete chaos.

"Why is everything in this place trying to kill me?!"

Lydia finally reached the door. But something about it was unusual. There were locks all over it, more than she could count at a glance.

"This is a lock pretending to be a door..."

She placed her palm against it to try to open it.

"Aaaah! It burned me!"

The door was scorching hot.

Lydia gritted her teeth and pulled her hand back before forcing herself to touch it again.

"Come on..."

She poured her mental power into the locks to guide them open, but they barely budged.

"Seriously? All that effort just to break one lock?"

Lydia stared at the remaining locks. There were still far too many of them.

"At this rate, I’ll never get through this door. I won’t find Ephraim in time."

Her fingers curled into a fist.

"And if I can’t even reach him, how am I supposed to guide him from inside his own Spiritual Domain?"

This eerie place wasn’t helping either. There were too many scorpions and snakes behind her. Lydia swallowed and stared at her trembling hand.

"No. I’m not dying like that again. And I can’t risk forcing my mental power into him, not when his Resonance Stress is this high. I’ve seen Guides die gruesomely from the backlash and I have no intention of joining them."

Lydia racked her brain for another way. Their unusually high compatibility suddenly came to mind.

"Maybe I can make use of it. Especially since I’m inside his Spiritual Domain."

If she couldn’t force her mental power into Ephraim, she would have to make her own stronger.

Lydia took a deep breath and focused on her own mental power. Instead of reaching for Ephraim’s Resonance, she turned that power inward.

"My high compatibility with Ephraim made it possible to draw on our connection without touching his unstable Resonance." Lydia’s eyes lit up. "I’ll use our high compatibility to buff myself!"

A warm glow slowly gathered around her body. It was still the same power she used to guide others, but it was stronger than before. Lydia could actually feel the difference.

Her previously weak ability to guide had become more concentrated and far easier to control.

"So it really works. Let’s put it into action."

Lydia clasped her hands and gathered her mental power around herself.

"Guide Amplification."

Her mental power surged and growing stronger around her body.

Lydia focused that power and directed it toward the door with all her strength. Much to her surprise, the scorching red door that hadn’t budged even a few minutes ago was blown apart, fragments flying into the darkness!

"So my amplification really worked? I never knew I could use our high compatibility to enhance my own guide power."

Lydia clapped to herself and smiled sweetly. "Thank you for being such a useful stepping stone, Ephraim. Work smarter, not harder!!"

She turned around and stepped through the remains of the doorway. The moment Lydia entered, everything went silent.

The scorching heat vanished, snakes, scorpions, red tendrils, fire rings, even the door were gone.

There was nothing in this room. No walls or floor markings. Just pure white empty like a blank canvas.

Lydia’s footsteps echoed softly as she dashed forward.

"Wait... what’s that small thing in the middle of this empty room? A small lion cub? Ephraim?"

The tiny lion cub sat quietly in the middle of the pristine white room, its small golden body looking completely out of place against the endless blank space.

But this was a Spiritual Domain. Anything could be hiding beneath its harmless appearance, so Lydia couldn’t let her guard down. She approached the tiny creature cautiously.

CRACK!

A thin crack suddenly appeared across the ceiling. Another split opened beside it, followed by several more.

Within seconds, fine fractures spread in every direction, multiplying faster and faster until the entire white surface was covered in them.

"Ahhh! The cracks are oozing blood! S-So much blood...!"

A sickening bloody red slowly spread across the pristine white ceiling. One after another, countless bloodshot eyes opened across the crimson surface.

A hysterical, maniacal laugh echoed throughout the room. It was the deranged, lunatic kind, like someone had completely lost their mind.

"What the...."

The temperature suddenly became scorching hot, burning Lydia’s skin with every breath.

"It feels like I just stepped into hell. No. This isn’t like hell."

The heat grew even more intense, wrapping around her like a furnace.

"This feels like hell itself was dragged into this place."