The east gate loomed ahead, its massive iron doors glistening with dew, half-shrouded in the creeping fog spilling in from the dark fields beyond. Torches flickered along the walls, their flames struggling against the damp air. Guards lined the battlements, some steady, others fidgeting with their weapons as if trying to drive the fear from their bones.
Rein, Lyra, and Sylvara reached the gate at a sprint, boots striking the cobblestone with sharp rhythm. The moment they stepped into the front line, Rein felt the air change—tense, charged, almost humming with danger.
A captain with a dented pauldron turned toward them, voice tight.
"You three—reinforce the center! The small ones come first, then—" He froze mid-sentence as a distant howl cut through the fog, long and guttural, shaking the wood of the gate. "…then whatever that is."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The ground trembled.
Shapes bled out of the mist—jerky, hunched silhouettes with limbs far too long. The first wave of spider-like aberrations scuttled forward, claws clicking against the earth.
[Multiple Hostiles Detected]
[Threat Level: Moderate]
"Archers!" the captain barked. A volley hissed down from the walls, skewering several, but more slid through the gaps.
One lunged for a guard—its mandibles wide—only for Rein to intercept mid-air. His blade snapped upward, splitting the creature clean in two. Black ichor sprayed warm across his forearm, the stench like rotting meat.
Sylvara blurred past him, weaving between foes, her twin daggers flashing. She slashed low at one creature's legs, then flipped backward as another lunged, slicing it across the jaw mid-flip.
Lyra stepped forward, eyes glowing faintly, her staff humming. She slammed it into the ground, releasing a shimmering wave of light. It knocked several creatures off their feet, sizzling their carapaces where it touched.
But the ground's tremor grew stronger.
The fog tore apart with a thunderous roar. A colossal figure emerged—an armored aberration with tusks jutting from a skull-like mask. Every step it took cracked the earth beneath it.
[Elite Aberration – Threat Level: High]
[Vitality: 100%]
It lowered its head and charged.
"Move!" Rein shouted. The front line split, some guards diving aside. Rein stayed put, planting his boots. He angled his sword low, waiting until the last second. The beast swung a massive arm down—Rein rolled under it, dragging his blade along the inside of its knee.
The monster roared, staggering slightly. Sylvara darted in from the right, climbing its back like a shadow and jamming both daggers into the gap under its shoulder plate. The beast bucked violently, tossing her off. She flipped in mid-air, landing beside Rein.
Lyra chanted quickly, weaving a chain of glowing glyphs in the air. A spear of condensed light formed and shot forward, striking the monster in the chest. It punched through the armor with a hiss of vapor, but the beast didn't fall—it just got angrier.
It charged again, sweeping an arm wide. Rein ducked, but a guard beside him wasn't so lucky—he was thrown into the gate wall with a sickening thud. Rein gritted his teeth and activated his skill.
[Skill Activated: Flowing Edge]
Time seemed to stretch. Rein stepped forward, slipping past the creature's next swing. His blade traced a clean, fluid arc from the beast's hip to its ribs, black ichor spilling in a wave.
It staggered.
"Now!" Rein shouted.
Sylvara dove for its legs again, severing a tendon with surgical precision. Lyra's staff erupted in light, binding its movements in chains of radiance. Rein leapt, twisting mid-air, and drove his sword deep into the gap in its neck plating.
The roar it gave was almost human in its pain—before it collapsed, shaking the ground one final time.
[Elite Aberration Defeated]
[Experience Gained]
But as the System notifications faded, the fog beyond the field began to shift again. More shapes—bigger shapes—moved in the darkness.
The east gate battle was far from over.
The elite aberration's body twitched once, then went still. Steam rose from its wounds, the stench of burned flesh mingling with the cold mist. Rein ripped his blade free, flicking black ichor onto the cobblestone.
Guards around them cheered, but the sound died almost instantly.
The fog outside the gate began to churn—not like mist moving with the wind, but as if something inside it was stirring. Shapes emerged again, dozens this time. Tall, thin, humanoid silhouettes with elongated necks and featureless faces, their movements disturbingly smooth.
[New Hostiles Detected]
[Threat Level: Severe]
"They're… walking," Lyra muttered under her breath, her grip tightening on her staff.
The first one stepped into torchlight. Its skin was like slick obsidian, its limbs too long, ending in hands that hung below its knees. The thing tilted its head at an unnatural angle, as if curious about the humans before it. Then it screamed—a shrill, metallic wail that rattled the teeth in Rein's skull.
The entire front line faltered.
"They're not supposed to be here…" Sylvara hissed. "Not this far inland."
One of the creatures blurred forward, crossing twenty meters in a heartbeat. Its claws came down—Rein blocked, but the force rattled his bones. A second creature slipped behind him, forcing Sylvara to intercept with crossed blades.
The air became chaos. Guards were ripped from their positions, some screaming as they were dragged into the fog. Arrows flew, spells flashed, but the enemy was too fast, too precise.
Lyra's voice rang out over the din, chanting a rapid incantation. A wave of radiant force exploded from her, buying a brief moment of breathing room. "Rein! These things are coordinated—they're not just attacking randomly!"
Rein scanned the fog. That's when he saw it—far beyond the skirmish line, barely visible. A figure standing utterly still in the mist, its form cloaked in black and silver, a faint violet glow pulsing where its eyes should be.
The longer Rein looked, the heavier his chest felt, as if something was pressing on his lungs.
[Unknown Entity Detected]
[Threat Level: ???]
The figure raised a single hand. All the black-skinned creatures froze mid-motion, heads snapping toward the same point—the east gate. Then, in perfect unison, they began to advance.
"Everyone, hold the line!" the captain roared, voice cracking under strain.
Rein's eyes locked with the glowing gaze in the fog. He felt an instinctive chill crawl up his spine, deeper than fear—it was recognition, though he couldn't explain why.
The figure lowered its hand… and the ground beneath the gate rumbled.
Cobblestones split. Something enormous was pushing up from below, the iron gate itself groaning as cracks spiderwebbed up its frame. Guards stumbled back, some losing their footing.
A jagged, obsidian claw erupted from the ground, followed by another.
Whatever was coming… it wasn't here to breach the gate.
It was here to erase it.
Rein's grip tightened on his sword as the sound of splitting stone and screeching metal filled the air. The massive shadow began to rise, blotting out the torches and even the moonlight.
The fog swallowed the rest of the battlefield in darkness—
—and then a single, inhuman eye the size of a wagon wheel opened, glaring directly at him.
To be continued in Chapter 18…