The degree of perception and recognition was different, while Night and the others considered the Forest of Silence a middle ground to cross or the territory of a friend and a future potential territory. The others considered it a deadly zone, a place that should be avoided. It wasn't only the players, the NPC civilians as well as common soldiers avoided the Forest.

This fact was fully taken advantage of by the followers of Artemis, more specifically, Pope Moonstar. Nobody would know what was actually going on, anything that happened in the forest was blamed on the Guardian, even the summoning of a beast. The general public of Genesis didn't know how Shade looked, especially in his other form.

​​

[The people's faith in Goddess Artemis, the Ultimate Huntress has deepened]

[The people's faith in Goddess Artemis, the Ultimate Huntress has deepened]

[The people's faith in Goddess Artemis, the Ultimate Huntress has deepened]

A unique world message, something that caught the attention of everyone. News reporters, politicians, businessmen, intellectuals, suddenly everyone had something to say. It was revitalizing to see such a message, not for any specific reason but it was a good change of pace after the tournament.

"The Goddess Artemis? the people's faith in her has deepened? I wonder what caused the sudden change? Where exactly did this take place? Is there any way of knowing?"

"Unfortunately, Genesis isn't the kindest place, information THAT valuable will not be announced to the world. It would be horrible for the players who follow the Goddess Artemis if there are any that is"

"Isn't this an interesting occurrence? Religion in Genesis has been water under the bridge so far, however, it looks like that isn't for too long. Hopefully, we get to know more about the situation,"

The news reporters and the intellectuals who claimed they were Genesis experts, fake or not, had a point. Genesis wasn't easy. While the game did support all kinds of playstyle, it couldn't be called a place for everyone. Just like the rest of the world, Genesis was susceptible to change, as Reed once said, the world grows with the players and the NPCs. Information wasn't easily available if it was then people could actually confirm whether the disappearance of the Guardian of the Forest of Silence wasn't just a rumor.

"I wonder what caused the sudden change....." Night muttered as they walked through the intense heat waves, it was a surprise the forest hadn't burned down yet. Considering how dense it was, one would think a single match stick and the entire forest is done for.

The others were curious as to what he meant. Everzone and Layla simply dragged themself forward, they didn't really have much of a choice and the uncomfortable feeling was slowly growing on them. "Did you mean the world message or the heat waves?" Eve asked as she wiped the droplets of sweat forming on her forehead.

"Actually both, but right now I was talking about the world message. How could someone's faith just randomly deepen?" Night replied with a complicated expression. It was clear that he had something to say, something that could only be said when he was alone with Nate and his two loyal subjects.

'Gods and Goddesses and then there's Primordials. Do people still think of them as an object of faith or do they realize that they are real beings?'

The existence of Gods and Goddesses was not known to the rest of the world. As far as they were aware, a Myth was an untouchable and omnipotent being. It makes sense that they feel that way, KYOJIN only mentioned the rating go up till "Myth", why would someone have a reason to question them?

Perhaps through the spread of Religion, the existence of beings above the Myth grade will slowly be revealed. However, it was only a fleeting hope, it would take quite a while before the rest of the world progresses that much or before Religion is spread to that level. This is what Night thought until now, however, the sudden deepening of faith made him question his thinking.

"Who knows? Genesis is scarily wide, there's no way we can know," Nate dismissed the topic, they were closer to reaching the source of the heat. The waves of heat blasted into their face, very slightly and slowly their skin was taking a toll.

"I see something," Night replied as he used his Umbrakinesis to look at the area ahead. It was the same technique he used when he had his weapon aura. "Someone actually, no wait, multiple targets, standing in a circle, their hands are raised up? I don't understand, the heat's disrupting my sense..."

"How many targets?" Nate asked. He saw Night struggling to answer that exactly, the latter was trying to recall exactly how many he had seen in his mind. "Gimme an approximate number, that will be more than enough," Nate reassured, they didn't really have the time to loiter around and think about the exact number.

"Around 10, they had this dark red glow inside them, I'm not sure why or who they are though," Night said as he opened his eyes. Trying to force past the heat took a lot from him. It wasn't like he used this method very often, the number of times he did use it can be counted on one hand.

"Ten huh? there are seven of us here, Noctis and Shade included. It shouldn't be hard assuming the opponents are the same power level as us," Nate spoke, though in his heart he was panicking, in a way this was his first time fighting NPCs that are humans, "but first we need to confirm what it is that they're doing, I think it's safe to say that if they don't intend to do any harm we can simply walk away, however, that's unlikely considering the heat,"

"I'm ready," Night said as he equipped his Glacial Balance, however, it was the one made out of his Umbrakinesis and wasn't actually the weapon.

'What the fck?! Is nobody going to talk about what he just did?' Eve frowned as her eyes remained wide open, she looked around to see the others carefully stepping forward, it was as if nobody saw what just happened. Everzone simply accepted anything that Night did as usual for him, he wasn't surprised anymore, however, he was impressed and excited that he joined this clan. Layla, on the other hand, didn't care anymore, she knew Night and Nate had a lot more hidden, however, the weapon formation did surprise her a bit but this wasn't the time or the place to question it.

Meanwhile, Eve was going bonkers, she just witnessed Night casually form a weapon out of his darkness and somehow sense people who weren't in sight yet, and accurately as well. 'Whatever, I guess it's actually pointless to question him,'

"I see them.....huh?" Night muttered as he walked out of the cover. In front of him were twelve individuals all dressed in dark blue robes, they formed a circle and in the center were some kind of runes? inscriptions? scribblings?

"Who goes there??!!!!" one of them screamed as they looked at Night with deadly eyes. It seemed as if Night interrupted something dangerous, something he never should have.

"Followers of the Goddess Artemis?" Shade muttered as he looked at the symbol on the robes. Naturally, there was no way he wouldn't know something so important, he recognized most of the Divine Symbols.

"What do you mean followers of Artemis?" Nate whispered as he stepped into the view of the robed men. "Who are you? How dare you interrupt us??!" the man continued to question, it seemed as if this was something they genuinely shouldn't have seen.

"Oy you baldy stop screaming, we were simply passing by," Night replied as he scanned the crowd, most of them were bald which was weird. Were all bald men followers of Artemis? wasn't she called the Ultimate Huntress?

"B-baldy??? You insolent brat! You have no idea what you just stumbled across! Not to worry, since this is where you and your friends shall die. You have to understand, I have nothing against you guys, at least against the rest of them, but you, I shall make sure I torture you properly, the perfect offering to Goddess Artemis,"

'Level 130.....I think we can take them but what is it that they're doi-....huh?' while Nate was trying to think about a plan, he suddenly felt another source of heat, except this time it wasn't from the followers, it was from Shade.

'Aahh...well sucks to be them I guess...'

"An insolent brat....you called My Lord an insolent brat...and you threatened to kill and torture him? A mistake you filthy follower. The first and most important one was to even say something against My Lord, second and final one was to do so in my presence,"

"Prostrate yourself in front of My Lord, then perhaps I'll give you a painless death," Shade said as he stepped forward. An aura similar to Night's emanated from him, black thunder-like strands ruptured all around him, his dark eyes looked down on the bald man as if he was no longer worth breathing around, his black armour adding to the overall image. His pale skin paired with the darkness he radiated gave him a demonic vibe.

Shade tilted his head to the side and looked at the cowering bald man,

"Kneel..."