When I finally woke up, I couldn't tell how long I had been unconscious.
Minutes, hours. Maybe longer.
My head felt unbearably heavy, and every movement sent sharp waves of pain throughout my battered body.
The first thought that struck me, wasn't even about my injuries.
How were we going to find the cadets?
That concern disappeared quickly.
Or rather…
It became unnecessary.
Unfortunately for the Terror that nearly killed us…
The cadets had found us first.
I slowly forced myself upright and examined my body.
Most of the wounds had already been treated. Rough makeshift bandages were wrapped around my chest, arms, and several deep cuts across my torso. My head had also been bandaged tightly where the impact had nearly split my skull.
An elf girl among the cadets had apparently performed healing magic before treating the remaining injuries manually.
At least they were competent enough not to let us die.
Then my gaze shifted toward Milo.
His condition was far worse.
He hadn't woken up at all.
Of course he hadn't.
That idiot had nearly killed himself forcing Aura Overflow.
That was what happened when someone stupidly overexerted themselves beyond their own Aura Plane.
I walked over and kicked him lightly.
Mostly because I was annoyed.
Trying to conserve my own aura had forced him into that suicidal state.
Not that it really mattered anymore.
Not then, not now.
After sleeping through what felt like an entire day and waking up again…
Milo finally regained consciousness.
I immediately went over to him and we discussed the most pressing issue before us.
How exactly were we supposed to escape the cold embrace of the Ivory Waste?
After some thought, we came to the only conclusion available. We had to train the cadets.
That was our safest bet. If we wanted even the slightest chance of surviving long enough to escape this nightmare, everyone had to become stronger.
Milo and I split responsibilities... I would personally train the three strongest cadets among the group.
Milo would handle those who possessed magical capabilities.
As for the rest…
Those with no combat potential whatsoever…
He would train them separately.
We announced our decision immediately.
Then distributed the monster cores we had gathered.
If they absorbed them properly, it would at least strengthen their aura and ekrin enough to relieve some pressure off us.
Even a slight improvement could mean survival.
Afterward I confronted Milo directly.
I warned him to stop forcing his aura progression. I made it clear. No more reckless exertion, no more suicidal Aura Overflow.
He assured me he understood.
But I knew him.
That promise meant little.
Over the following days we kept moving through the Ivory Waste.
Constant movement was necessary.
We hunted only monsters we knew we could kill without exhausting ourselves.
Nothing more, nothing risky.
And before every relocation, we scouted the surrounding environment carefully.
We had to know what dangers existed before moving.
Surprisingly…
The direct path leading toward the towering structure in the distance wasn't occupied by creatures anywhere near the level of that Terror-class fiend.
At first I found it strange.
Then something clicked in my mind.
I remembered the moment that monster had frowned while watching the cadets flee toward the distant structure.
That reaction…
It hadn't been random.
So that was probably one reason it hadn't pursued us.
When the explosion launched Milo and I away, we must have crashed somewhere inside another creature's territory.
Territory it didn't dare invade, then another realization came.
One we had discovered while scouting.
In the Ivory Waste…
Making noise was dangerous.
Extremely dangerous.
Whenever battle disturbances grew too large, monsters would come investigate.
That Terror had unleashed tremendous waves of ekrin during our battle.
The massive stream of mana had illuminated the pale forest for kilometers.
Creatures strong enough to resist its Field of Corruption would undoubtedly have sensed it. Which meant…
The monster had probably been forced to deal with rival predators.
Its meal had simply fallen onto someone else's plate.
I stared toward the distant tower structure and grimaced.
This place was far worse than I initially imagined.
Meanwhile Milo trained the weaker cadets relentlessly.
Those incapable of using aura or ekrin-based combat techniques were forced into brutal physical conditioning.
Running drills.
Endurance exercises.
Strength conditioning.
Chopping trees endlessly.
Each cadet was assigned their own tree.
Once one tree fell, they moved immediately to the next. With no complaints.
Survival didn't care about comfort.
And whenever either Milo or I noticed environmental shifts…
We relocated strategically.
Because in the Ivory Waste, the environment itself was alive.
And hostile.
But relocating constantly didn't mean trouble disappeared.
The Ivory Waste was a terrible habitat.
A cursed region where the geography itself seemed unstable.
The landscape shifted unpredictably.
Cliffs that existed yesterday vanished the next day.
Paths twisted unnaturally.
Entire sections of forest seemed to move overnight.
And everything…
Everything…
Was covered in ghostly white.
An unnatural pale substance stretched across the land like disease.
It covered the trees.
The rocks.
The rivers.
Even the corpses of fallen creatures.
No one understood what it truly was.
It resembled frozen ash.
But touching it for too long caused skin irritation and strange numbness.
The forest itself was horrifying.
Towering pale trees rose endlessly into the sky, their bark carrying vein-like black fractures pulsing faintly as if something alive moved beneath them.
The branches twisted unnaturally.
No birds sang there, no insects buzzed.
Silence ruled everything.
And yet…
You constantly felt watched.
Sometimes shadows moved where nothing should have existed, and whispers drifted through the pale woods despite no visible source...
The trees occasionally released streams of glowing white spores that floated through the air like wandering spirits.
Breathing too much of it caused dizziness.
Hallucinations.
Most of the times even violent nausea.
The Ivory Waste was not simply dangerous.
It was hostile to life itself.
Even food was difficult.
Many creatures here were corrupted beyond consumption.
Their flesh mutated unnaturally, and their mind were no longer thier, as traces of corruption enveloped them.
Eating the wrong thing or rather the wrong way could kill you faster than starvation, so we had to cook everything over intense fire.
Water sources weren't much safer.
The streams often carried pale residue that needed purification before drinking.
Everything here wanted us dead.
During one of our many dangerous encounters, we eventually found temporary shelter near a narrow stream.
By then we had drawn significantly closer to the towering structure.
Not long after, Marcus returned.
He had been assigned water retrieval duty alongside several cadets.
His expression was grim.
He reported encountering a corrupted monster deep within the forest.
The creature had attacked them without warning.
Fortunately…
Marcus had been with them.
He was one of my students.
The strongest among them.
He managed to kill what we identified as a Husk Monster.
When Milo and I analyzed the situation…
It became painfully clear.
We needed to escape immediately.
Or we would become another forgotten tragedy swallowed by this cursed land.
So Milo and I began preparations.
We gathered everything useful.
Weapons.
Remaining monster cores.
Medical supplies.
Food.
Water reserves.
Anything that could keep us alive.
Then we prepared to move toward the towering structure.
And that was when we felt it.
A signal, strange. It fluctuate.
It was a Gate Mark.
The sigil capable of transporting us out of this dreadful place.
But the signal was coming directly from the tower itself.
Which meant we had no other option.
We had to go there.
Neither Milo nor I specialized in Space Elemental manipulation.
And none of the cadets possessed such capabilities either.
So this was our only path.
I gathered my students before leaving.
I ordered them to watch over the camp until we returned.
They should rest there and reduce their training time for now.
And so…
That was how our journey began.
A desperate march toward a place we knew absolutely nothing about.
Deep within the horrors of the Ivory Waste.
Toward a destination that could either save us…
Or bury us forever.