Chapter 297: The Aftermath (3)

Chapter 297Han stepped into the unfamiliar landscape and his chest went cold. His danger sense screamed and the system burst into red: DANGER. DANGER. DANGER. But it wasn’t the alarm that made him stop. It was the world that had unfolded before him.

The sky was a searing black, streaked with red stars that bathed everything in a devilish glow. The ground underfoot looked like soil but felt wrong .... soft, almost alive .... and even the act of stepping on it crawled under his skin. Han’s eagle-eye and analyzer flared as he scanned the horizon. This place was bigger than he could imagine. At Eagle-eye’s current rank it could sweep thousands of kilometers, but even that failed to find an edge, the world kept going.

Worse: the moment he locked on one of the monster races that lived here, the creature met his gaze. For a second Han felt like the hunted. He quickly withdrew his stare.

He faced the group, voice low and steady. "I’ve got good news and bad news."

Elexa and the others leaned in. Han ran them through what he’d seen: the world dwarfed Earth; its inhabitants carried auras of at least A-ranker caliber, maybe even stronger. "Things don’t look good," he finished.

"You just gave us two worst pieces of news and no good one," Jay said, calm, eyebrow raised. "At least give us some hope."

Han shrugged. "I was getting to it." He met Jay’s look. "Maybe this counts as good: we’re in a safe zone for now. None of those monsters are nearby. We have time to plan."

A heartbeat later Lightrunner .... who’d been standing beside them one moment, gone the next ....reappeared as if he’d never left. He gave a silent nod. "Safe, for now," he said.

"Okay. Move to a better spot," Han ordered. They moved, slipping into a narrow alley between two mountain cliffs and dropped into a tense circle. Since this world was far larger than Earth, lingering and fighting any of those monsters would be suicide. They wouldn’t even kill half of them before the portal’s time limit ran out and the portal broke.

Han’s plan was blunt: go straight for the portal boss and take it down. Kill the boss, and the world would collapse; the portal would close. Simple in theory. Immensely hard in practice.

The best strategy was simple... deadly simple.

"Go straight for the portal boss," Han said, voice steady but laced with steel. "End it, and this world collapses. The portal closes. Everything else dies with it."

But as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew that was the easy part. The real question wasn’t how to kill it, it was how to find it.

Jay crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. "In a world this massive? With nine of us together, we’ll light up like a damn beacon. Even if we split up, we’ll never find it before the portal breaks or before something finds us first."

Han nodded. "A fair point." He paced, thinking, then stopped. "The safest approach is to let Lightrunner scout ahead. He’ll locate the boss’s position and then bring us there one by one. Less chance of detection that way."

Lightrunner didn’t argue. He just nodded once, and in the next breath, he was gone... vanished like the wind he commanded.

Clara raised a hand, her voice calm but heavy. "Even if he finds the boss, it won’t be alone. It’ll have underlings, strong ones. If the boss of a red portal was an S-rank, then the one ruling this black world... it’s got to be stronger. Maybe way stronger."

Her words hit like stones. No one wanted to agree, but every instinct in that room told them she was right. If this world’s creatures already radiated S-rank auras, then whatever ruled over them had to be something far beyond. Something they couldn’t even define.

Han’s voice cut through the tension, calm and firm. "Don’t worry about the portal boss. I’ll handle it."

They all turned to him. His tone carried no arrogance, just raw conviction. He didn’t know how strong the boss really was, but if it was anything like the Dark Emissary or worse... he’d still face it head-on. With Nova Phase active, Han was confident he could take it down... or die trying.

A faint rush of wind whispered through the cracks between the cliffs. Then, in a blink, Lightrunner was back.

He stood still, composed, but the absence of his usual grin said enough. Whatever he’d seen, it wasn’t good.

Han stepped forward. "You found it?"

Lightrunner nodded once. "I did."

Relief flickered across the group’s faces, short-lived.

"But..." Lightrunner’s voice carried a weight that froze the air. "I don’t think there’s a way for me to take you there."

Silence.

He saw their confusion, so he continued before they could speak. "I didn’t locate the boss directly, but I found its domain. There are countless strongholds scattered across this world, like cities back on Earth. But one stood out." His gaze darkened. "At the far end of the largest stronghold... there’s a floating tower. Not tall, but it radiates pure dread. That’s where the boss is."

There was no shortcut. If they wanted to take down the portal boss, they’d have to carve their way through its underlings first, every last one of them.

"Before you start formulating any plan in your heads," Lightrunner’s voice cut through, deeper, heavier than before. Aiden glanced at Ronan and whispered, "Is it just me... or does he sound scared of what he’s about to say?"

Ronan shrugged. "Wait and hear him out."

Lightrunner paused, letting the weight of the silence settle. Then he exhaled sharply, and the bomb dropped.

"From what I’ve seen... every underling isn’t just a B-ranker or even an A-ranker," he said, voice grave. "They’re all... S-rank monsters. All of them."

The words hit like a hammer. The room froze.

S-rank. All of them.

Based on Lightrunner’s scouting, there were easily hundreds, maybe three hundred or more. If they were all S-rank, then... this mission was impossible. Pure insanity.

Little One’s voice cracked in disbelief. "Wait... someone explain how the hell we’re supposed to face.... and kill.... hundreds of S-rankers?"

Only one of them could even come close: Lightrunner himself. And even with the power Han had demonstrated... it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. Facing hundreds? Impossible.

And the rest? Just A-rankers. Two of them weren’t even ranked.... no skills, no combat power. Clara and Jay. Zero.

Han’s eyes darkened. He had suspected it while observing one of the monsters with Eagle Eye, but now there was no doubt. This world was far deadlier than anyone had imagined. Every monster here? S-rank. And with the world being this vast... there could easily be thousands.

The thought alone sent shivers down his spine. Thousands of S-rank beasts breaking through to Earth... the very idea made him tremble. That was how the calamity years ago had happened. If this scale broke through, humanity wouldn’t last an hour. Earth only had about ten.... or slightly more.... S-rankers. Magic, miracles... none of it would save them.

The tension in the room thickened, heavy as iron. Everyone felt it... the crushing truth. The black portal they had stepped through wasn’t just a death zone. This... this was on another level entirely.

Little One groaned, unease crawling up his spine. "Why the hell did I step into this portal? I knew this could happen... why didn’t I just run, find a safe place for my family?"

He knew the answer, deep down. Even if he ran, even if he hid... if thousands of monsters flooded Earth, there would be no safe place left. No refuge. No escape.

The group stayed silent, each lost in the same grim realization. Then, cutting through the tension, a calm, steady voice spoke.

"I think there’s a way."

All eyes snapped to the speaker. Ronan stood and walked closer to Han. From his system space, he withdrew something and held it out.

"Here."

Han took it, and his expression shifted instantly. A mask. Not just any mask, it was the artifact he had given Ronan back in Maurina City to alter his appearance and avoid unwanted attention. Its power to change one’s visage was absolute.

Han studied it through Analyzer Eye, a small, knowing smile tugging at his lips. To anyone watching, it looked like a child seeing a new Christmas gift. But this wasn’t about joy. This was about survival.

At last, he had a way.... a way to reach the portal boss without drawing dangerous attention.

The pieces were falling into place. And for the first time since entering this death zone, a spark of hope flickered in Han’s eyes.

---

To Be Continued......

AUTHOR’S NOTE


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