Slave's breath began to grow ragged, and his vision started to blur… Anyway, with the mana circulation disorder, his health was far from normal like everyone else. Especialy, He even was running with a speed like that.
He could no longer breathe properly. At this moment, to maintain the oxygen in his lungs, he could only open his mouth instead of using his nose.
"F-Fuck! The final gate is dissipating!"
Thanks to the Principal's prior warning, the students were cautious with the Gate of the Nameless God, so most of them chose other gates. Sure enough, the gates of the Sun and Shadow Gods quickly disappeared once enough people had entered.
Now, he could only choose the most dangerous of the three gates… but he had no choice but to accept it.
"Curse these chains."
Slave gritted his teeth in anger at the chains that restrained his movements and speed. He glanced behind again.
This was bad—the grey wolf was closing in, but he needed time to reach the gate. He managed to control his panic as he took the next step, and as the grey wolf lunged, nearly reaching him, Slave instantly summoned a massive stone egg to block its momentum and kept moving toward the gate.
Hearing the impacting between the wolf and massive stone egg echoed, he guessed his plan had succeeded.
"Damn! I didn't think I could use my summon like that."
Finally, he was just 2 meters away from the Gate of the Nameless God… But unlucky, this time the grey wolf reached him before he could step through.
The grey wolf strongly slashed its claws across Slave's back, leaving a deep, bleeding wound.
Slave fell and yelled in pain, but he managed to struggle back up and keep running, ignoring the burning agony on his back.
However, he was nearing his limits. He stumbled again, stood up, and then fell once more.
"HAHAHAHAHA! GOOD JOB, MY PET! TEAR HIM INTO HUNDRED PIECES!"
Slave gritted his teeth and stared at the dissipating gate… It was almost within reach, just a few more steps. He resumed struggling, ignoring both the wolf and the mocking shouts from behind.
The grey wolf licked its lips and slowly approached its prey. It seemed intent on toying with Slave before feasting. That was true to the nature of a wild beast.
But before the grey wolf could finish its little performance, it suddenly collapsed, as if sick or something else. It couldn't move, no matter how its master shouted or tried to command it.
"Your struggle has already convinced me. It would be a disgrace for a professor like me if I just stood by and watched."
"Best of luck, kid."
The slave glanced behind for a second, barely seeing a vague old-looking figure. But at this moment, he had no time to thank anyone; he would do that after passing the challenge… if he survived.
With that, he stepped forward hastily and vanished just before the gate dissipated.
***
"A slave?" a confused voice rang out.
"Screw him… he's got a pretty bad wound on his back. With that, he'll be dead soon anyway."
Dizzy and disoriented, the slave slowly stood up and looked around. Even though everything he saw was just a blurry mess, he could still tell this place didn't belong to the world of humanity.
A few seconds later, he lifted his eyes upward.
The sky was completely blanketed in blood-red colors. Not only that, but at the center of the sky was the sun—hidden behind the moon.
An annular solar eclipse?
Oh… that explained why everything looked drenched in scarlet. But more than that, it was terrifying. Combined with the dull, suffocating atmosphere, this place looked more like hell than Earth.
Still… he liked it.
Not because he enjoyed the horror here, but because the air was fresh and comfortable—nothing like the heavily polluted air from his world. If he could live here, maybe his illness would actually be cured.
"I feel alive again…"
But that didn't change the fact that he was badly wounded. The slave quickly tore his thin, ragged clothes and wrapped them around his back like a makeshift bandage. With that, at least he would survive for a few more days and die from infection instead of dying from bleeding out in a few hours.
After roughly settling everything, he looked around, assessing the other candidates. To his surprise, he rubbed his chin as he spotted a few familiar faces among the twenty or so people here.
Morris Rhodes and Curry Leonard… children of legendary clans, both possessing Ascendant Potential Creatures.
"Lord Curry, I told you… don't choose this Gate of the Nameless God. You should've chosen the Gate of the Sun God like your sister instead," a nearby young butler said politely, though disappointment and reproach were clear in his tone. After all, his young master had just made a foolish, meaningless choice.
Curry, handsome with short silver hair, smiled and scratched his head. Despite his background, there was barely any arrogance in his expression—only caution and calculation.
"I know, sorry… but I can't let my friend go to a deadly place alone."
He glanced over at a guy with a muscular, bare torso and gave him a nod.
Morris replied coldly:
"Don't regret your decision. This gate is actually dangerous. It doesn't belong to a gentleman like you."
Curry grinned.
"Dangerous? Then why are you stubbornly stepping in here? I suppose it's because of your uncle—the only one who ever passed the Nameless God's challenge… and died three years later from some weird illness."
He added with a smirk:
"You should at least share a slice of the cake with me as a friend, right? Don't be selfish."
Morris's expression shifted from emotionless to annoyed as Curry partly guessed his true goal. But knowing his friend was smart and sneaky, he just shrugged—no denial, no confirmation. Sometimes silence was the best weapon for someone lacking verbal finesse.
"Everyone! Look at that! There's a massive egg!"
Following the shout, everyone turned their attention toward the massive egg sitting in the middle of the muddy ground. For some reason, the fog around it suddenly retreated, as if welcoming the candidates approaching.
Confused by the weird atmosphere, they had no choice but to head into the mud. Either way, they needed to know what kind of challenge was waiting for them.
"What is that? It looks kinda creepy…"
The giant black egg, covered in constantly pulsing dark veins, slowly cracked open, revealing a strange figure with twisted goat-like horns.
He stood up—bare, slender body shown to all—then smiled eerily, sending chills across every spine there.
"Welcome to the first challenge… the challenge of truthfulness."