Is that a Wisp?

"Where am I?" a man in his forties muttered as he massaged his forehead, easing the pain. He looked around his surroundings, eventually finding himself to be within a forest. There weren't any trees in his immediate vicinity, surrounding him by a radius of five meters.

On the other hand, beyond that point, a thick forest covered him on all sides. Moreover, the trees seemed to steadily grow in height the further one went deeper into the forest. For a couple of seconds, the man remained standing in place, unwilling to take any rash decisions that would cost him his life.

He then unleashed his Divine Sense, making a sweep of the area to double-check if the trees were just regular trees. There wasn't anything suspicious in the area, except for some animal bones that he noticed at some places.

He called them animal bones since they were just too small to be labeled demon beast bones. Upon failing to find anything that could threaten his life in the forest, he then entered the stretch of trees, moving through their gaps. The tree barks were rough as they made grating sounds whenever they scraped past his armor.

He had been completely prepared for this trip, donning a set of armor and carrying a variety of weapons in his storage ring. He then took out a sphere and placed it in his mouth. It seemed to be a special item he had prepared as it was filled with Godly Energy, a rather dense concentration at that even.

He seemed to have prepared it extensively, precisely for his use in the Sub-Realm. Through his Divine Sense, he noticed how there were no traces of Godly Energy in the surroundings, frowning as he moved forth cautiously.

Without any Godly Energy in his surroundings, he had to be cautious in his approach to anything. After all, once expended, he couldn't recover his Godly Energy reserves naturally. Moreover, he had to use up the precious God Stones he had saved up.

'Thankfully, this item can last me for a year,' he thought as he swallowed the sphere in his mouth. Once the sphere entered his stomach, it began to emit a gentle stream of Godly Energy that flowed through his body, constantly replenishing his reserves.

He could not help but frown as he moved forward, having noticed something amiss through his Divine Sense. He could feel something flashing past in and out of his range of Divine Sense. On top of that, it was fast, too fast for him to even make sense of it.

"Hah!" Followed by a long exhale, the man increased his focus, strengthening his Divine Sense using an innate technique of his race, now able to perceive everything clearly. He saw the entity flashing in and out of his Divine Sense.

It was tiny, only the size of his fist. Nevertheless, it had a needle on its mouth that was twice the length of his body. Moreover, it exuded a pungent thirst for blood, making it seem as if it lived just to feast on the blood of others.

Currently, it had been flashing in and out of his Divine Sense because every time it entered the range, it used its legs to grab a tiny wisp of the Godly Energy that made up the Divine Sense. It then seemed to be using the Godly Energy for something, after which it returned to take away some more.

The Godly Energy it had taken away was in minuscule amounts that he hadn't even noticed the first few times. Only through his heightened senses did he sense it. He could now sense the creature's cultivation base, which was only at the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm.

With a thought, he unleashed a flaming tongue that lashed out on the creature, causing it to pop into a pool of blood. He immediately frowned as it popped way too easily. His attack should have swatted it away before continuing to burn it into a crisp.

Unfortunately, the reaction seemed different. He immediately became vigilant as he could smell a whiff of a bloody tang in the air. In an instant, something seemed to have changed in the surroundings as faint buzzing sounds resounded, followed by the swaying of the trees and the falling of the leaves.

His face turned pale as the man immediately unleashed a torrent of flames and wrapped them around himself, increasing its size and range as much as he could. A dark cloud flew through the gap in the trees as it headed straight towards the man, slamming into the tornado of flames he had surrounded himself with.

Upon the slightest touch, they splashed into a pool of blood, slamming into the tornado of flames and began to douse it. From the top, from the sides, and even from the bottom, the cloud swerved into the fire and continuously doused it.

The man had no choice but to absorb a greater stream of Godly Energy from the item in his stomach and increase the intensity of the flames he unleashed. Some of the creatures managed to penetrate the flames and land on his body, piercing their needle through his armor before penetrating his skin.

"Aaargh!"

The intermittent screams of a man resounded throughout the forest as it was enveloped in a sea of flames.

…

"Ouch!" Cultivator grunted as his face kissed the ground. He tried to get up soon after but felt that his body had become heavy, incredibly so. Moreover, a thin stream of blood leaked out of his nose that had been smashed on the hard floor upon his impact.

He grunted as the flowing blood paused before moving in reverse, returning into his nose before all traces of it vanished. Cultivator slammed his hands on the ground and craned strength in them, causing them to bulge as the veins popped.

"Argh!" Followed by a grunt that was akin to a bellow, he lifted himself, entering a seated position as he panted as he felt pain all over his body. His head felt heavy, straining his neck to the extent he felt that it would snap.

His eyes darted around as his mouth opened, muttering through gritted teeth, "So...this is a field with increased gravity, huh."

The gravity was definitely increased, but the shocking thing was the existence of a couple of floating islands before him. On top of that, unlike the floating islands he had come across before, these floating islands were miniatures, spanning dimensions in the mere tens of meters.

There was a floating island positioned 20 meters away from him as Cultivator barely managed to get up, watching how he was able to see the entirety of the floating island's surface now. It hovered 10 centimeters from the ground and had a height of 1 meter.

On its center were a couple of mountains, each spanning a meter each. So overall, Cultivator was able to see their entirety.

It was then he noticed something squirming on the floating islands, like ants. He unleashed his Divine Sense, feeling that it was also a bit sluggish in the area. Through his Divine Sense, he noticed how the ants were actually humanoid beings, possessing numerous horns on their heads as if they had been haphazardly stacked upon each other.

The height of the tallest among them was only one millimeter. They were too small to see for the naked eye. All he could make out was a cluster of dots moving about from 20 meters away. And it was only through his Divine Sense he was able to sense their figures.

Cultivator was curious about them, wondering how such small beings could exist and even cultivate. After all, he noticed how their cultivation bases were mostly in the God Foundation Realm. There were even hundreds in the God Core Realm and some tens in the Nascent God Realm. Moreover, at the peak of the two mountains—with respect to their body size—were a miniature figure each. Both of them were at the Semi-God Realm.

'How can their tiny bodies even store enough Godly Energy?' Cultivator was curious as he took a step forward, grunting at the gravity that made him struggle to even take a single step. Moreover, when his foot landed on the ground, a heavy noise akin to a massive boulder being dropped on a rock from atop a hill resounded.

The intense sound startled Cultivator, who then noticed the populace on the floating island getting stirred up. Then, like a waterfall, they spilled out of the floating island and slowly touched the ground. It seemed that their sizes did come with their respective advantages, for they were unaffected by the gravity, at least based on their gait.

They all then closed in on Cultivator, taking almost a couple of hours to reach him. In the meantime, the two Semi-God Realm cultivators on the floating island had taken off to the air, flying through it as they arrived before Cultivator, taking almost a minute to do so.

The two of them stopped right before Cultivator's eyes, gazing into one each. Then immediately took out their weapons and began attacking his eyes.

"Ouch!" Cultivator instantly closed his eyes. But, the force from the action of his eyelids moving to shield his eyes caused a violent gale that sent the two immortals flying far away. It took them more than five seconds to return to their previous spots.

They then began to accumulate energy for a second attack. Even though Cultivator wasn't affected by their attacks, he felt something was strange. After all, his body felt a tad heavier than before. Moreover, his line of sight seemed to have subtly shrunk. The difference was so minute that only a thorough verification using his Divine Sense displayed it.

Upon discovering that, Cultivator's expression turned serious, realizing that the tiny insignificant dots before him were dangerous.

…

"Ugh..." Krune kneeled on the ground, reeling from the effect of the teleportation. It was slightly weird as he felt nauseous. A couple of seconds later, Krune returned to normal, looking around to see he was within a cave.

Surprisingly, it was so hot as if he was inside an oven. The cave was only big enough for him to lay flat within. After taking a couple of steps forward, Krune peered out, gazing at bubbling lava for as far as his eyes could see.

He then quickly retracted his head, watching a column of lava move past, blocking out the cave's entrance.