Kim had barely grasped the scale of the destruction around him when he felt a faint tremor under his feet.
Shadows began to move unnaturally through the rising gray mist.
Monsters… but unlike any Kim had known before.
Their bodies were twisted, limbs mismatched, eyes glowing with a faint, unfocused flicker, driven only by a blind hunger for all living things.
One dragged its body along the ground, leaving a dark trail, while another stood on uneven legs, its head tilted at an impossible angle.
Kim clenched his fist instinctively, feeling a faint pulse returning from the Dark Stone… but it was no ordinary pulse—it was a warning.
Korai spoke in a low voice:
"These are not natural monsters…"
One of the creatures stepped forward, emitting a strange sound—a mixture of a roar and a moan, as if pain itself kept it moving.
In that moment, Kim realized the danger was different.
These monsters were not driven solely by instinct… something had twisted them into this grotesque form.
Standing before them in the midst of a ruined world, Kim understood that the coming battle would not just be a test of strength… but a test of survival.
As the twisted monsters' eyes fell on him, they paused for a brief moment,
then lunged at once, their misshapen bodies moving at terrifying speed, their sounds piercing the silence.
Kim stepped back, but before he could attack or defend, Korai suddenly stepped forward.
He raised his hand, and a complex magical circle expanded beneath Kim's feet, its runes glowing with mysterious light.
Korai spoke quickly, with decisive authority:
"Not now…"
In the next instant, Kim felt as if the ground had vanished beneath him.
No light, no explosion, no sound… only a sudden sense of falling, then nothing.
The monsters' sounds vanished, the heavy air faded, as if the world had closed all at once.
After a moment, sensation returned to Kim's body.
He opened his eyes slowly… he was somewhere else.
The ground beneath him was solid and cold, the air lighter, yet filled with a strange energy he had never felt before.
He stood quickly, looking around in confusion:
"…Where am I?"
Korai appeared beside him quietly, as if he had not moved at all, and said in a low voice:
"I moved you away from them… that place is no longer safe for you."