Lynn was now trapped in the first layer of Netherworld Hell, Foggate Pass.
A gray-white stone gate blocked his path. Nether script flickered on its lintel through the mist, like a row of eyes that could never close.
Countless Wraiths charged at him, shouting, "You are guilty!"
The Black-Armored Nether Guards on either side of the gate moved.
They stepped down from their stone seats, their nether-iron halberds scraping across the ground with an ear-piercing screech.
Each Nether Guard stood twenty feet tall, its heavy armor of black mist and bone covered in dark red markings.
They formed two ranks and crossed their halberds, sealing off the stone gate completely.
They guarded Foggate Pass, beings much like earthbound spirits, bound to the mist gate itself.
They were far from weak, each possessing Fourth Ring, Stigma-level combat strength. However, they could not leave the mist gate's vicinity and could only move within that area.
Lynn did not stop. With a beat of his Starlight Wings, he hurled himself toward the stone gate.
The Black-Armored Nether Guards thrust their halberds in unison, gray-white light flaring on twelve spearheads.
Lynn activated Analysis at full power, sweeping his gaze over the Nether Guards' armor.
The heavy armor formed from black mist had hairline gaps at the joints. Those gaps were empty; the skeletal joints were not fully enveloped in the mist.
He twisted aside to evade the first rank's halberds, then flicked Soul Threads from his right hand, winding them around a Nether Guard's halberd shaft on his left and yanking it back.
The Nether Guard stumbled forward a step, exposing the gap at its knee.
Lynn shot a Soul Spike into it. The Soul Fire within the gap was shredded, and the Nether Guard's entire leg dissolved into black mist. Its massive body