Darian felt like he was subrged in an ocean of darkness. He couldn't feel his body, or anything around him. He had no idea how much ti had passed, until suddenly, light returned to his eyes.
The sunlight made him instinctively shut them. When he adjusted and opened them again, he found himself in a mountainous region. In the sky, there was a large light source — but around it, he could see two smaller suns as well.
"We landed in one of the few spots that thing's power hasn't reached. Good," Gregor's voice ca quickly.
All fifteen of them were gathered nearby. Gregor turned to Leander, who nodded and pulled out a bracelet-shaped artifact, strapping it onto both wrists. Then he crouched and placed his hands on the ground.
The bracelet pulsed with a brown, earthy glow — the earth elent. Leander was also surrounded by an orange aura; he was activating his blessing and using the artifact to get a new effect.
After two minutes, he turned to Gregor.
"About three kiloters from here, there's a mountain valley. Can't see what's inside it, but... I can feel a huge power sealing the area."
"It's gotta be sothing from that Primitive Beast... Heaven's Will always leads us to a key place tied to the mission. There must be sothing essential there," Gregor muttered, thinking.
"Let's just go already, what a waste of ti," Raon said bluntly. "This is our chance to investigate. That power'll probably take a few more hours to spread across the planet, and that monster's likely weaker during that ti — it probably won't even notice us."
Gregor snorted. Their target might be weaker, sure, but so were Raon and Harper — the group's heavy hitters. If it was a trap, they'd be wide open.
"I managed to bring a short-range teleport artifact," Leander said quickly. "While that seal's still weak, I think I can move us straight inside without causing any disturbance."
Gregor nodded. That kind of artifact wasn't just expensive — it was rare. Even if you had the money, you might not find one. The fact that Leander had brought one was a great surprise. Rhea probably gave him that treasure out of worry.
"Alright. Let's take a look."
Raon and his group scoffed, but no one replied.
They moved forward carefully until they stopped in front of a vast area covered in violet mist. Everyone felt a crushing pressure on their shoulders — like sothing in there was way beyond their level.
Gregor focused ahead, his eyes glowing with orange power. After a few minutes, he spoke seriously:
"Hmm... that might be the core of this universe's mutant power. Our goal is to destroy that too. We need to get inside. If it really is what I think it is, and we manage to take it down, it'll make eliminating the target way easier."
After hearing that, Leander nodded and held up a crystal. Everyone gathered around him, and he activated his power.
*Vupt*
They shifted through space and entered the area.
Everything around them was bathed in a deep violet glow. No one could see each other, but thanks to the group crystal, they could still communicate and sense one another.
Gregor led the way. They walked for several minutes, until the mist slowly started to thin. At that point, they began to feel occasional tremors underfoot.
"It's underground," Leander said, looking around and not seeing any kind of cave entrance.
Gregor was just about to send a few people to scout the surroundings when Darian signaled to him. Then, he pointed to a distant rock covered in moss.
Everyone noticed the moss was pressed up against the mountain slope. The color was totally different from the rest of the rock, which made it clear the stone had been moved.
Matteo then shoved the big rock aside, revealing the entrance to a cave.
Inside the cave, there was an opening dozens of ters wide.
"We should move faster — we don't know how much ti we've got," Gregor said quickly.
The group hurried inside, but... Darian felt Raon's black karma stir slightly. Only he could sense that, and it was a clear sign Raon was thinking sothing potentially dark. That karma looked like a fla, feeding off people's sinister intentions and acts.
After running for a few seconds, they entered a huge, well-lit chamber.
There were hundreds of corpses scattered all around. Veyle took a frightened step back. The bodies were dried out, but not rotten — they were just... desiccated.
There were corpses of all sizes: so humanoid, so beast-like. Despite being dried up, there wasn't a single mark on them. The way they'd died was weird — weird enough to show just how terrifying the danger in this place really was.
"Let's move," Gregor ordered, after checking around and, strangely enough, not sensing any danger.
The others couldn't sense anything wrong either, so they moved forward. Carefully stepping around the corpses, they made their way to the back... and on the other side, everyone stopped.
Right in front of them was a massive and breathtaking mural.
The mural stood three hundred ters tall. Two human-like figures were carved into it, side by side. There weren't many details, but they clearly looked similar — on purpose.
The difference was that one was painted white, and the other, black. The white one radiated light, lighting up the entire space. The black one — just a quick glance at it — made anyone break into a weird cold sweat. A thin thread connected the two figures, making it all even stranger.
There was dust everywhere, but that mural alone remained untouched and glowing. Everyone could feel a sharp, dominating aura coming off it.
Darian felt a strange sense of familiarity, though he couldn't place why. He stared carefully at the mural and the two figures... then noticed sothing small just beneath them.
There were weird symbols — two of them — a few ters apart. Right below the symbols, the stone on the mural looked different — like closed doors.
Darian pointed it out to Gregor, who widened his eyes the mont he saw it.
"Those are ancestral runes... It's a language used by several universes, even ones whose natives have never left ho," Gregor said quickly.
All mission leaders were required to read and speak that language. That's because in 90% of the universes where missions took place, the locals used it.
Focusing, Gregor muttered: "On the right, it says: Battle, Death, and Courage. On the left: Challenge, Danger, Intelligence..."
Darian's red eyes had a faint glow. His senses picked up sothing interesting near one of the entrances.
"There are two paths. One leads to an extre trial, the other to a danger that can be overco with intelligence..." Darian murmured, clearly noticing a shift in Raon and his group. A faint smile crossed his lips. "Since we've got a lot of people and different ways to sense danger, I think it's better if—"
"Don't move!"
Suddenly, Raon and his group rushed toward the left side of the mural, making Gregor shout in alarm.
They didn't even look back. Raon quickly placed his hand on the mural. It was like a holographic door vanished, revealing an entrance.
"Fuck off, coward," Raon said, stepping inside with his group.
It all happened too fast, and Gregor couldn't react in ti. As soon as the five entered, the "door" closed again.
Leander and the others clenched their fists in fury. On a mission, no one was allowed to act without the leader's orders. If sothing dangerous happened, everyone could die and the mission would fail. They wanted to go after them, but just stood there frozen.
anwhile, Darian let out a sigh. 'Idiot, just needed a little push.'
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