Noah kept running. He didn’t dare slow down.
Mana surged continuously through his legs as he pushed his exhausted body farther away from the portal.
Behind him was a chaos.
BOOOOOOM!!!
Another enormous arm erupted from the crimson vortex. Its gigantic palm slammed onto the opposite side of the clearing.
The impact shook the entire forest. Trees snapped. The ground split apart. Dust, rotten vegetation, and broken pieces of wood exploded into the air.
GWRRROOOOOOOOOOWL!!!
Noah’s blood ran cold. Something was pulling itself out. The two massive hands dug into the earth, fingers sinking deep into the soil.
Then the creature pushed. Slowly something enormous began rising from the portal.
RUMBLE.
The earth trembled. Lightning flashed across the storm-filled heavens. For a single instant, the brilliant blue light illuminated the creature completely.
And an enormous shadow fell across the forest.
BOOM!
An overwhelming pressure descended.
Noah’s eyes widened.
"Argh!"
His legs suddenly buckled. One knee slammed into the muddy ground.
"What... the hell...?"
It wasn’t a physical attack. It was simply the pressure released by the creature’s existence.
Ba-dump!
Noah’s heart hammered violently.
Ba-dump!
Every instinct within his body screamed at him to escape. But curiosity—and perhaps disbelief—forced Noah to look back.
His pupils contracted.
"...Fuck."
An abomination had emerged halfway through the portal. Its body was vaguely humanoid.
Only vaguely. From its waist to the top of its head, the creature stood nearly forty meters tall—and its lower body hadn’t even emerged yet.
Its entire form consisted of the same disgusting blackish-red flesh as its arms. But that flesh wasn’t truly its own.
Hundreds of creatures appeared to have been fused together to construct its body. Arms protruded randomly from its torso.
Half-formed heads were embedded within its shoulders and chest. Faces stretched across its flesh, some frozen in silent screams while others twitched unnaturally.
Noah felt his stomach turn.
"What kind of fucking monster is that...?"
Its head was even worse. There were no recognizable features except for a mouth.
And one enormous eye. The eye opened.
Squelch.
Wet flesh peeled apart around it. A gigantic blood-red eye stared across the forest, its surface filled entirely with crimson except for a single pitch-black pupil at the center.
Noah couldn’t explain why but the moment that eye opened, he felt incredibly small.
Like an insect standing before something that shouldn’t exist. Around the portal, the corruption intensified.
HISSSSSSS
Trees withered. Grass disappeared.
The earth blackened. Even stones began cracking and crumbling beneath the spreading crimson energy.
Within seconds, dozens of meters surrounding the platform had become completely lifeless. Then something else happened.
The pale monsters stopped moving. Every single one. The creatures that had previously been pouring endlessly from the portal suddenly turned toward the massive abomination.
None attacked it. None fled. Instead, they lowered their grotesque bodies. Almost like subjects kneeling before their king.
Noah’s expression became grim.
’They’re afraid of it?’
No. That wasn’t quite right.
’They’re worshipping it.’
The enormous creature slowly raised its head. Its single red eye moved across the forest.
Then its mouth opened. The flesh around its jaw stretched impossibly wide.
Far wider than any normal anatomy should have allowed. Rows of irregular teeth emerged from folds of rotten flesh.
Noah’s eyes widened.
"Oh, shi—"
SKRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!
The scream exploded across the forest. Noah immediately covered his ears.
"ARGHHH!!"
Pain stabbed through his skull. The air itself seemed to tremble. Nearby trees violently shook before several trunks cracked from the force.
The surface of the river in the distance erupted into countless ripples. Even the storm clouds above seemed disturbed.
Noah gritted his teeth as blood slowly trickled from one ear.
He watched the abomination helplessly. What could he possibly do against something like that? He tightened his grip around his sword.
Then something moved below the creature.
A dark mass slowly emerged from the crimson portal.
At first, Noah couldn’t understand what he was looking at.
The mass was enormous, black as pitch, and covered in strange cracks. Crimson light leaked through those cracks, as though something was burning inside it.
Then the mass twisted.
Squelch.
Several enormous tentacles emerged from the portal. Dozens of them came out.
They were thick enough to crush buildings, their surfaces covered in slick, oily flesh. Crimson energy continuously seeped from them, and wherever that corrupted substance touched the environment, it immediately began to erode.
HISSSSSSS
Trees dissolved. The ground blackened. Rock crumbled. The corruption spread with every movement of those monstrous appendages.
Noah stared at the destruction unfolding around him.
"At this rate..."
His voice became quiet.
"...everything will be destroyed."
His gaze shifted toward the sky.
Akari was still somewhere within the storm.
She hadn’t regained control. And now this abomination had appeared.
’What am I supposed to do?’
Noah genuinely wondered if he was going to die.
’After everything that happened...’
His mind flashed back to the wooden house.
Training with Akari. Eating together with her, their conversations. Her lap pillows.
Falling asleep beside her. Those peaceful months had almost made him forget how dangerous this world truly was.
’After enjoying all those months with Akari... is this really how I’m going to die?’
Noah gave a bitter smile.
"Life really does suck in the most retarded way."
But complaining wouldn’t save him.
His eyes hardened.
’No.’
There was still one possibility.
’Akari.’
Even in her current state, she was still Akari. If she could regain even a little control...
’She might be able to fight that thing.’
Noah had to survive until then.
WHOOSH!!
A gigantic tentacle suddenly shot toward him.
Noah’s pupils contracted.
"Shit!"
He immediately dashed sideways.
BOOOOOOM!!
The tentacle smashed into the ground where he had been standing. The earth exploded. A wave of corrupted energy spread across the soil.
Noah didn’t wait. He reinforced his body with mana and covered himself with another layer of ice.
’I need to run faster.’
He sprinted through the forest.
BOOM!
Another tentacle slammed down ahead of him. Noah abruptly changed direction.
BOOM!
Another struck from his left. He jumped over it. Then another came from the right. He twisted his body midair and narrowly avoided it. The forest had become a battlefield of gigantic moving limbs.
Every impact destroyed another section of the forest. Noah’s breathing became increasingly ragged.
’They’re everywhere!’
A tentacle suddenly crashed down directly ahead.
Noah couldn’t stop. Instead, he stepped onto its enormous surface.
CRACK!
Ice immediately formed beneath his boots.
HISSSSS!
The ice began melting almost instantly.
"Seriously?!"
Noah poured more mana into his feet. A fresh layer of ice formed.
It melted. Another layer replaced it.
Then another. Noah ran along the tentacle, constantly creating ice beneath his feet to prevent his boots from touching the corrosive surface.
’I can’t stay here for long!’
The tentacle suddenly twisted.
Noah nearly lost his balance.
"Whoa!"
He dropped into a crouch and drove one hand against the icy surface to steady himself.
WHOOSH!
A shadow appeared above him.
Noah looked up. Another tentacle was descending from the sky.
"You’re kidding me!"
There was nowhere to dodge. Noah tightened his grip around his sword. Mana surged through his core. A pale-blue aura condensed around the blade.
He swung upward with all his strength.
SHIIIIING!!
A huge, semi-transparent crescent of compressed frost erupted from the sword. The freezing arc was several meters wide, its curved edge shimmering with concentrated mana.
It shot upward.
SLAAAAASH!!
The enormous tentacle was cleanly split in two. The severed halves twisted violently before crashing into the forest.
BOOOOM!!
Corrupted fluid splattered across the ground, immediately eating through trees and soil.
Noah landed on the remaining tentacle, ice forming beneath his boots once again. He stared at the destruction around him.
His face became grim. "There’s no end to them..."
He looked toward the enormous abomination in the distance. The creature remained standing. Its single red eye slowly scanned the battlefield.
More tentacles continued emerging from the portal. And above it all, the storm surrounding Akari continued to rage.
Noah gritted his teeth.
’I can’t keep running forever.’
He raised his sword.
’I need to find a way to survive until Akari comes back to her senses.’
He exhaled slowly. This time, the ice surrounding his body began to change.
It spread across him, forming a complete suit of armor that covered his entire body. Then the ice climbed over his head, forming a helmet that enclosed his face. Noah was completely encased in ice armor.
’Alright...’
He calm down his emotions. There were only two things Noah could do right now. One, run, run and run, then survive somehow and wait for Akari... or damn just go, fight and get killed.
He looked behind him, toward the sky where the dragon was hidden among the clouds.
Then he looked forward.
Tentacles were coming straight toward him.
THUD!!
At the same time, the abomination, which had remained motionless for so long, finally moved.
It planted one hand against the ground. Since the portal was flat and horizontal, it used its arm to push itself upward.
Then its legs emerged from the portal.
They were enormous.
Its first leg slammed onto the ground.
BOOOOM!
A moment later, its second leg followed as the creature finally pulled its entire body out of the hole.
It rose to its full height seventy meters. Perhaps even eighty. The colossal abomination towered over the forest like a living mountain.
Noah smiled. He gathered strength in his legs and dashed forward. Enough running away.
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