Dante braced himself behind his massive shield as the demon's claws raked across it, the impact sending tremors through his arms. The creature roared and struck again, harder this time.
Dante's feet slid backward across the dirt, his shield arm trembling.
"Dante!" Maya called out, already rushing toward him with healing magic gathering in her hands.
Ryker stepped forward, his expression calm. "Thanks for buying time."
His sword began to glow with a brilliant blue aura.He dashed forward, and swung his sword, cleanly separating the demon's head from its body before it could even react.
Ryker watched as the monster's corpse dissolved into dark miasma.
Although he had expected some higher-level monsters to appear, he hadn't expected them to appear so often. This was the third D-rank they'd fought.
He looked at his teammates. He supposed it was fine - they were leveling up and learning to handle unexpected situations.
After Maya finished healing Dante, she walked up to Ryker. Dante did too.
"We still haven't found Cipher yet. There are so many monsters. Will he be okay?" she asked.
Ryker sighed. "The monster spawns have been a little weird this run. Cipher was right - something strange is going on." He paused. "He probably encountered a monster and ran, getting lost in the process. Let's continue looking."
The others agreed and they kept moving.
…
[Status: Fear (All stats decreased by 50%)]
Cipher looked at the notification. It wasn't that he was afraid - he guessed that the monster had some sort of intimidation skill that forced fear upon others.
He tried his best to move, but he couldn't. It was as if an extreme weight was being pressed upon his entire body.
He wondered if this was really the end. Even after he had received the chance to change everything.
As he thought this, he suddenly saw a light appear on the demon before him. Then another. And another.
"Sword marks?" he wondered.
Suddenly, thousands of slashes appeared on the monster, exploding it into nothingness.
His eyes widened as he saw this.
"An outsider?" a cold voice cut through.
He turned around to look in the direction of the voice, but there was no one there.
"Hmm, this is unexpected," the voice spoke again. But this time, it was right beside him.
He turned around and this time he was able to catch her. The moment he gazed at her though, he felt a sharp pain pierce through his head.
[Status: Overload]
That was the last thing he saw before he fell unconscious.
"Ah, he passed out," the woman said, observing Cipher.
She held her chin in thought. "What to do now?" she wondered.
Taking him back to the "apocalypse" would just be a waste of time, but she couldn't just leave him here. Although she didn't care if he died, it hurt her pride to not help someone weaker than her.
"Argh," she cursed as she scratched her head in annoyance. "Fine, I'll take him with me. It's my fault for not considering that someone could explore beyond the created 'apocalypse.'"
She picked Cipher up and leapt away.
…
The sounds of battle reached Cipher's ears.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
His expression turned to shock as he saw what was happening before him.
A single woman stood still amidst a group of monsters, just holding the hilt of her sword. Yet all the monsters around her were being split into nothingness - sliced apart as if by invisible blades.
"So strong..." he thought.
And she wasn't even moving. But how was that possible?
He wondered if she was moving so fast that he couldn't see her movements. Was such a thing even possible? He used to hear stories about S-ranks having such power, but this looked even stronger.
"You're awake," the woman spoke as she turned around toward him.
As she approached him, he saw a bright light spread from her abdomen and cover his entire vision. He fell to the ground, clutching his head in pain.
"What's happening?" he wondered, raising his head to see the woman. It was the same feeling - just like when he passed out before.
"I see what's happening now," the woman said.
Suddenly, the white light that was covering his entire vision slowly receded until it was no more. With that, his headache disappeared too.
"Are you okay now?" she asked.
He slowly got into a sitting position. "Yes. What was that?"
She came closer to him and held his cheek, observing his face.
"You are using a technique to sense my qi. Obviously you'll be overwhelmed by the qi of a Transcendent like me," she said. "Seeing as you don't even have a spiritual sea, you're probably doing it unknowingly, so I'll let it slide."
"Qi? Transcendent? Spiritual sea? What are you talking about?" he asked.
She ignored his question, letting go of his face.
"Anyway, now that you're awake, you should go back to your comrades. I've already cleared the monsters nearby, so you should be fine." She began to walk away.
"Wait!" Cipher shouted, getting up.
"What is it? Don't waste my time. I'm on a tight schedule," she said.
"Who are you? What is this place?"
"My people call me Cult Leader," she began.
"Cult Leader?" Cipher echoed her words. Who would call someone a Cult Leader? Even a genuine cult like the Church of Eternal Brilliance called their leader the Immortal King.
"But I guess to you, I would be the Heavenly Demon," she said.
"Heavenly Demon?" he asked.
"That's right. I've answered your questions. Now leave."
"You still haven't told me what this place is."
She stared at him angrily, but he just smiled at her.
"You're quite brave. No one dares to speak to the Heavenly Demon like this. Well, I'll answer your question, but you have to leave after that."
"This area you're currently in is the territory of the Heavenly Demonic Cult, to which I'm the leader of. As for the world as a whole, I guess you could call it the Murim World since it's filled with those Murim Alliance cult bastards."
Cipher looked at her. She was a cult leader, yet she called others cultists?
"Alright, I've answered your question. You can leave now," she said.
"I never said I would leave if you answered me," Cipher said.
"What?" She then scoffed. "Fine. Suit yourself." She turned to leave.
"Wait, you can't leave!" Cipher said. "Are you just going to leave me here to die?"
"I already cleared the monsters in this area. As long as you follow that path, you should be able to reunite with your comrades," she said dismissively.
"But I'm really bad with directions. That's how I got lost in the first place. If you leave me here, it's like leaving me here to die," Cipher said. "You don't look like someone who'd leave someone to die, since you saved me."
The Cult Leader didn't respond.
"How about this... since you're busy, why don't you just take me with you? You're so strong - taking along someone like me shouldn't be an issue for you."
This woman was so strong, even able to knock him unconscious just by perceiving her mana. Since she had saved him, she wasn't a bad person. He needed to learn more about the apocalypse from her.
The area they were in before was probably a fake scenario created by her to keep them occupied. He wondered if there was something she knew.