The air in the Forbidden Zone was already wrong, but when the first true battle hit, it was like the entire world decided to scream. The landscape shifted subtly the moment they touched the edge of the clearing, like a ripple in code being rewritten in real-time. One moment they were walking through warped trees and mist-soaked ruins, the next—silence.
Too much silence.
It was Luna who whispered it first: "They're watching."
Then all at once, the silence shattered.
Dozens of corrupted beasts erupted from the fog—twisted amalgamations of what used to be animals, monsters, or maybe even people. One looked like a lion but with gears instead of muscles, a second head spinning on a rotating joint. Another dragged itself across the ground with claws that flickered like holograms, limbs shifting in and out of alignment with reality. Some didn't even look like creatures, just chaos wrapped in a vaguely physical form.
They were surrounded.
MC immediately tried to copy the nearest beast's movement ability, but his System glitched—he got the power, yes, but the interface stuttered and for a brief moment his right arm phased out of reality. Iris reached out and yanked him back into the material plane before his elbow fully disappeared.
"Stop copying things randomly!" she snapped, flicking her wrist and halting time on the advancing beast that was just about to slash at his side. It froze, mid-motion, a hiss of corrupted growling locked in its throat.
But that pause—barely a few seconds—was all the others needed.
The swarm of monsters descended. Kaela's shield lit up like a star as she blocked three beasts in one blow, her armor cracking from the impact. Lina leapt high into the air, flames bursting from her sword, cutting a jagged arc of searing heat that melted one of the mirror spiders into slag.
Jax, drunk but enthusiastic, played a chord that accidentally activated an AOE fear aura. Half the beasts stumbled back—more confused than afraid—but it bought them breathing room.
Then came the scream.
It wasn't from the monsters.
It was Kira.
A shadow moved where it shouldn't have, slipping past Iris's time spell—an agile, serpentine beast made of smoke and razors. It lunged from a blind spot, faster than thought. Kira was too busy dual-wielding against a corrupted boar to notice—until the blade-toothed creature raked across her back with a slash meant to kill.
Blood sprayed. She dropped to one knee, biting down a cry of pain, but still turned in time to land a retaliatory stab into the thing's eye. It recoiled, but didn't fall.
Iris's pupils flared as time slowed again, the world reducing to still frames. She bent the seconds around her like silk, launching herself toward the beast mid-air and planting her blade into its heart in one motion that took place in a moment between moments. The beast turned to data and dissolved.
Time resumed. Kira slumped forward, breathing hard, hands shaking.
MC ran to her side, his eyes wide, frantic. "Kira—!"
"I'm fine," she muttered through gritted teeth. "Just… a scratch." Which was a lie. She was bleeding heavily, and Luna was already sprinting forward to heal her, a pale golden glow forming at her hands.
Lina hovered protectively, her eyes scanning the battlefield. "They were waiting for us."
"No," Luna whispered. "They were testing us."
The rest of the beasts began to retreat, their shapes flickering back into the mist as if they were never there. Not fleeing in fear. Just… satisfied.
They'd been observed.
Assessed.
And someone—or something—had found what it needed.
As Luna sealed the wound on Kira's back, MC felt the familiar tingle of his System pulse.
[Corruption Level: Rising]
He didn't know what it meant yet, but he knew one thing: this wasn't just a zone. It was a message.
And they'd just passed stage one.
END OF CHAPTER 58