Looking ready and excited, the cadets followed us, but they had no idea what laid ahead.
We led them through the parts we knew would be less of a hassle. Then we passed through the site of the battle, where the forest seemed to have been… burned, carved apart, telling the tale of a desperate struggle.
Most of the cadets winced as though they knew what had transpired here, but purposely did not tell me. I simply glanced at their unsure, restrained expressions and turned back to the road.
Whatever. At least we would soon view all of this as a distant memory.
However, when we got to the site of the ruined cathedral, the students began whispering among themselves about how haunted the place looked, but how it would still make for a fine resting place.
Fine indeed.
Emphasis on the rest, because it would make for an eternal resting place in a world like this.
Falling in there would have been a blessing, because it was the closest thing to civilization I had seen in the entirety of this waste.
If only they knew of the wretched monsters lurking inside.
We circled around it from a safe distance, making sure not to attract the attention of anything.
Milo and I paved the way forward, while the three strongest cadets followed behind, guarding the camp.
We entered through the quiet grounds of the Seraph Path.
Then it was smooth sailing from there.
We soon arrived without running into a single monster.
I saw it as luck.
Yes… we had been lucky all this time.
Even though we traveled as fast as we could without inviting sudden death with reckless haste, we were still quite early. The slumber of a monster like that would last far longer.
The presence of the well filled the cadets with dread.
Looking at their twisted faces, I knew.
Even the three strongest frowned after quickly understanding that this was our escape route.
But strangely, seeing something like this didn't shake them enough to make them spill their insides.
Good.
They had grown stronger.
We observed for a bit before stepping out from the shadows of the pale forest and under the red, empty sky above the well.
We used the rope from before, left behind so escape would be easier.
Each of them glided upward with the help of my gold enchantment woven into the rope.
Then, when we had all reached the top, our bodies still camouflaged against the tower's material, we immediately hurried down.
When we got to the rough grounds, the monsters were still buried within their own tunnels.
So we ran toward the large one where the gate mark was located.
Upon entering, we slowed our pace.
Sudden agitation could bring rapid death.
We were walking a path whose details and size we knew nothing about.
Indeed… the belly of a monster.
Getting killed was a very high possibility.
The cadets winced at the foul stench filling the tunnel, inhaling sharply before exhaling.
This would have made inexperienced newbies foam at the mouth, but these kids had grown.
Finally, we reached the gate mark.
Its sigils pulsed with unknown markings engraved into the wall, glowing with white light.
The illumination brightened the entire tunnel, dismissing most of the darkness.
The monster that lived here was nowhere in sight.
It was probably still sleeping within thicker shadows.
That was good.
We were all relieved seeing that light, as though it were salvation itself.
The glow sweetened our nerves.
As I placed my hand on it, emitting my aura, the grotesque heavy breathing suddenly ceased.
I realized then—
We needed to leave this place immediately.
And Milo needed treatment.
The gate warped open.
It presented itself as a white void.
Before we could move—
A black tendril protruded and severed Marcus's arm.
Apparently, he had instinctively moved in front of one of the cadets and protected them.
From behind the darkness, rageful crimson eyes emerged.
Something spoke of corrupted blood…
Corrupted blood that was driving its mind into chaos.
It spout something about smelling the blood, that was worsening its madness.
It lunged out of the dark.
Then the gate's glow revealed its true form.
A Terror Monster.
I stood frozen as the thing emerged from the gloom.
It moved like a rat…
A giant, horrifying rodent that had been unmade and reassembled by something with no understanding of mercy.
Four spindly legs carried its bulk, each joint bending the wrong way, hooves stained dark as if they had waded through ancient blood.
Its hide was the color of drowned flesh, stretched so tightly over its frame I could see every twitch of muscle beneath.
But what stopped my breath were the slits.
They ran in rows along its flanks, its neck, even the sides of that terrible head.
Not wounds.
Openings.
Lined with pale ridges that pulsed and flexed like gills—or the teeth of some second mouth hidden beneath its skin.
Rust-colored rot crept upward from its feet, darkening every joint as though the creature was slowly burning from the ground up.
Scarlett flashed through it's eye cores.
Its head was nothing but an elongated split—
A vertical maw crammed with needle-like teeth that caught what little light there was.
No face.
Only hunger.
Opened wide…
And its mane—
Where hair should have been, a wild tangle of black tendrils rose from its spine and neck.
They were alive.
Coiling and uncoiling through the air like living serpents, glossy and wet, each tipped with a faint violet glow pulsing in the darkness.
I watched them taste the wind, lashing toward sounds I couldn't hear.
From the slits in its flanks, thinner black whips emerged and retracted, grasping at nothing.
Grasping at everything.
Its tail was a nest of those same black ropes, writhing violently and leaving trails of dark slime that hissed against the stone floor.
From the backs of its knees, more tendrils dragged and coiled, spreading webs of sticky black filaments behind it.
The entire beast seemed to breathe and reach at once—
A pale rotting mass crowned with grasping darkness.
Expanding and contracting like a living shadow that had learned to hate.
It seemed wounded…
Was that why it had slept for so long?
Milo charged in with his sword.
I noticed immediately and followed.
Golden footholds formed in the air as I launched myself above the monster.
Milo plunged his blade downward and released a field of massive flames that made the giant frame stumble backward.
I drew golden lines across the tendrils it had used to block Milo's flames.
So this thing was probably why that other Terror hadn't invaded.
The tendrils I cut began transforming into gold.
But then it discarded the corrupted appendages, tossing them at me like they were nothing.
The moment they got close—
They exploded.
A wild flaming impact.
I landed barely intact, just grazed.
Aurum shook violently along with my entire body.
I turned back toward Marcus, who had sustained a grave injury.
Then I yelled at the cadets—
"Get in now!"
They hesitated, but obeyed.
I looked back at the monster, then charged.
We were leaving this place, no need to conserve aura anymore.
Relief washed over me as golden light spiraled outward.
Milo surged ahead, crashing spheres of flame into the monster and tearing up massive chunks of pavement around them.
The monster retaliated, unleashing more explosive tendrils.
I forced myself forward and blocked the attack using Destruction.
Cutting through every lunging tendril and shielding Milo from the impact.
I turned toward him.
He gave a faint grin.
Then together we faced the monster.
Deflecting and destroying tendrils as they exploded around us.
Massive shockwaves rippled through the tunnel.
It felt as if the entire place would collapse at any second.
Then suddenly—
The monster unleashed a deafening roar from all of its mouths.
I think if we had been all the way back at the first landmark we passed entering this realm…
We still would have heard it.
The scream disoriented us.
I think I blacked out for a moment.
Blood sprayed from my mouth.
I felt warmth run over my ears as my hearing became muffled.
I blinked back into the battle, hearing my name through ringing ears.
"Noah… Noah…!"
It was Milo calling me.
But too late.
The monster crashed its hooved legs into me.
Though I redirected most of the attack with my sword—
The force still launched me deep into the tunnel roof.
I coughed out blood.
Then fell alongside chunks of shattered stone.
I hit the ground and jerked violently.
Looking forward, my vision was blurry at the edges—
Milo's entire body was now engulfed in blue flames.
He was landing attacks relentlessly, but the monster evaded with tremendous speed before hurling him backward.
"This bastard has crazy speed!"
His voice was ragged, but I understood perfectly.
For something that size…
Escaping it would be difficult. I stretched out my hand.
My blade flew back to me.
Looking at the sea of flames before me made me nauseous,
I grimaced.
I couldn't move properly.
My body was still trembling from the previous strike.
If we didn't hurry—
The gate would close,
I tried forcing aura into it to keep it active.
Then suddenly—
The monster came for me.
Its tendrils wrapped itself between me and my blade like a serpent's snare, as we struggled weakly.
Before it could tighten—
Milo's Fire dome covered the creature.
Sharper.
Denser.
It sliced through the tendrils and freed me.
Then a strange thought crossed my mind.
I really didn't want to die here.
Then—
The remnants of the tendril still wrapped around me exploded.
The blast hurled me through the other side of the gate.
My consciousness flickered.
I saw the gate blink once—
And vanish.
I landed on the street.
Or maybe…
My head was just fuzzy.
No.
I think it was a car.
I had collided with a parked car, then I fainted.
Out of the fifty-two of us who entered that realm—
Only thirty-six returned.
All of this…
Who knows.
Maybe it was always just madness speaking.
Besides—
What do I know of the horrors within the Ivory Waste?
And that concluded Noah's report…
As well as the information prepared for the live broadcast back at Terran.