The group, plus an extra guest, was now descending on the other side of the mountain. Raze was looking at the dark orange ground, a stark difference from the snowy area they had just come from.
“The whole area, it looks demonic itself. I wonder if that has something to do with their name. Even the Dark faction is a place that is just full of regular land, well apart from the Academy,” Raze thought.
He was keeping up with the others, but he could tell that they were holding back. Raze was physically running, and he struggled to find stable footing, especially downhill. He was trying his best to follow the path they had created. When the others traveled, though, they were taking single steps to leap all the way down, almost as if they were floating on air.
It was the first time Raze had been around all high-level skill Pagna warriors and it was quite the experience.
One of the dead giveaways that they were holding back was that Kirk, who was at the back of the group, other than Raze at the very back, would turn his head once in a while and wait. Then, when Raze was close enough, he would set off again. At the front of the group, Fixteen and Dame were quite a bit ahead of the others.
“You know, there’s a good chance we will get blamed for what is about to happen in that portal,” Fixteen said.
“I know, but the circumstances were just unlucky for them,” Dame replied. “If we stayed, we would have gotten in trouble, and even if we helped, we might not have been able to defeat the Dimension boss.”
“Yes, but if the Light faction group gets eliminated, or if it gets reported back what happened in there, since they had seen you, they will blame this whole thing on us, giving them an excuse to attack.”
“Then we will just have to deal with that situation when it comes to it. For the future, the Dark Magus is more important,” Dame answered.
Based on the footsteps in the snow, Fixteen knew that a group of Light faction warriors had entered the portal. Since it was a low-level portal, most likely the group that had entered were low-level as well. They would have entered with the aim of taking out a few beasts and then, before they had taken out too many and summoned the Dimension boss, they would have left. There was usually a time frame of how many deaths of beasts within a certain amount of time had to occur in order to summon the Dimension boss. This number was different for each portal, but if this was one of the ways to activate the Dimension boss, the Clan in charge would have made note of it.
What they wouldn’t have expected was for a group to have entered before them and left just after summoning the Dimension boss. Considering how they hadn’t seen the Light Faction members on their way back to the portal, it meant that they had to have been somewhere in the city already, in the middle of the chaos.
Inside the portal, that very thing was occurring, and Fixteen’s fears were right. A group of six from the Light faction had entered. All of them were wearing white clothing with bands wrapped around their waists and swords by their sides. The group was covered in dust and filth, while one was severely injured, with a strange green liquid having hit his arm. The skin had fallen off, and he had no choice but to slice his own arm off, while tying it up with part of his clothing. Two of them had already perished.
“How could this have happened, we only killed four beasts!” one of the warriors shouted.
“We should have gone back the moment we saw the other dead beasts, we should have known something was up!”
“This is not our fault, men!” one of the older warriors shouted with a lightly bearded face. His name was Jallen, and he was in charge of looking after the group. “These things don’t happen by accident, it’s quite clear that someone has entered without permission, but we must focus, and survive!”
After shouting those words, they could feel the rumbling sensation in the ground below. Quickly, Jallen leaped away, jumping onto one of the building rooftops. However, the other three were too slow. Breaking out of the ground, a large green serpent burst through, opening its mouth wide. It swallowed the men whole. The only saving grace was that their lives would end quickly, as they were dissolved in the special acid the serpent had in its body. It wasn’t like the typical serpent where their bodies would slowly be digested.
“I tried my best to look after them… but now I have failed. The only thing I can do now is head back and report this matter,” Jallen thought.
The beast would be too strong for him to handle, and it would burrow itself back into the ground again, as it had done so far. This was the only chance Jallen had. He sprinted, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, hoping that it would be harder for the beast to track him.
“According to the information obtained by the other members, the Dimension boss won’t touch the wall or go past it. If I reach there, I can make it in time!” Jallen had run with everything he had.
When he was close to the wall, he leaped up through the air. From the ground beneath, he could see it rumbling, and breaking through the ground moments later was the serpent again, with its mouth wide open.
“Crescent moon strike!” Jallen shouted out as his sword lit up, and he swung it through the air. Qi emitted from his strike and hit the serpent’s mouth, causing it to flinch and close. Meanwhile, Jallen had made it onto the wall. He was huffing and panting, and when he looked down, he could see the beast retreating back into the ground, burrowing itself. He felt the vibrations lessen, signaling that the beast had gotten away.
“I must report this as soon as I can.” 𝐎𝒱𝗅xt.𝔠𝔬𝓜
Jallen had exited out of the portal, and immediately he descended down the mountain. Perhaps he should have rested, but he didn’t. The thought of those who had died in front of him stayed fresh in his mind. He needed to do this, to avenge them in any way possible.
He did whatever he could to get to the clan base as quickly as he could, and when he eventually arrived, he reported everything.
The news of what had occurred in the portal had spread, and it had reached the ears of a certain individual. It was none other than Beatrix Highborn from the Dawnblade Clan.
Immediately she burst into the dojo-styled room where an older woman with ash grey hair sat on top of a chair. Beatrix bowed down on one knee with her hands in front of her.
“Master, I have no doubt that what happened at the mountainside portal today occurred because of the Demonic faction using our portal as they pleased. Please let me take revenge on the Demonic faction by leading the attack myself,” Beatrix requested.