"Alright, everyone, form a straight line in front of me." Professor Jose clapped once and instructed the cadets.
"Professor Marcus, Ser Thomas, and Ser Robert will enter the rift first. One by one, you'll step through the rift after me, and Ser Henry, Ser Edmund, and Ser Geoffrey will be covering your backs." Jose spoke out loud as Thomas and I stood alongside observing the rift from upclose.
"Not a single one of you will break this formation and drift out of our surveillance during the whole expedition," Jose's voice was loud and strict.
"At this rate, children would get more anxiety from the professor than the rift itself," Thomas said in a low tone.
"These children are going to pounce on any demon they see in the rift; they need an anchor of fear for control," I replied.
"You're not behaving like a strict professor, though," Thomas spoke, as he glanced back at the children lining up in front of Jose.
"I'm not really good at scolding children," I replied.
"I can see that…They were more comfortable with you," Thomas added.
"Have I made myself CLEAR?" Jose spoke out loud again.
"""Yes, Professor!"""
"I can't hear you…HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?" Jose raised his voice more.
"I feel like if he raises his voice more, it would be me standing in the line along with the children," Robert whispered, joining us.
"""YES, PROFESSOR!"""
"Get used to it," I added, looking at the wide crack in the space in front of us.
This crack with several special branches spreading around it was the rift. Beyond it was a different realm. The outer circle of Hell.
But since no one in the mortal realm knows that there are families and houses of demons in hell, they have ranked the demon rankings based on fringed demons that stay outside the inner circle of hell.
It's easy for demons to collapse and expand the crack, unlike humans. Because hell has an intense amount of demonic energy, or corrupted mana.
Whereas on Earth, the volume is extremely low. It's a common pressure logic. A high-pressure space is easy to manipulate and seep into lower pressured one.
"Shall we?" Robert gestured at the rift.
"Let's move," I nodded, as I placed my foot into the blank space, feeling the ground on the other end of the world.
Slowly and steadily, I passed my body through the crack in space and entered the rift. Walking through it felt like passing through a cold, invisible syrup.
The first thing I felt was gravity. Dense mana and extreme gravity were trying to pull my body.
The sensation was faint, but cadets would definitely feel the weight of it.
Massive mountains made of tangled leaps of vines, that pulsed as if they were alive.
There was no sun.
Above us, the sky was a churning sea of blue liquid mercury, reflecting our distorted images back at us.
"Oh my goddess…this one strong scent of wine," Thomas spoke, walking alongside Robert.
He was right. The scent was strong enough that it burned at the back of our throats.
"The readings on the manometer were stable; this is probably a territory of Maenads," I said, looking at the mountains of vines.
We were at the bottom of the mountain made of tree vines. But there was not a single tree in the vicinity.
"Stalkers in worst-case scenario…" Robert spoke as cadets entered the rift, followed by Jose, and the remaining knights behind them. Henry, Edmund, and Geoffrey.
"Worst case would be Sommelier," Thomas replied.
Sommelier was an S-ranked Demon. A noble among the fringes.
One of the strongest kinds in the outer circle of hell, and it wasn't dangerous because of its powers, but because of its command.
Sommeliers are fallen kings who rule the outskirts of hell.
There is no way the reading would have been normal if any Sommelier was around. They're powerful enough to battle peak clearance five mages and even survive battles with clearance six ones.
And not much is known about them, because not a single Sommelier has been captured dead or alive.
"Can we not discuss about the worst-case scenarios for now?" Geoffrey spoke out loud from the back of the cadets' crowd.
"What's this…?" Henry whispered. "A rift in the open, and not a single demon in sight."
"Let's move further, place a resonance rod here, we'll know the rift is here," Jose spoke, as magician cadets moved, taking out a rod from their spatial storage, connecting a wire to it, and throwing that wire through the rift to the other side.
That rod was connected to the pins provided to each and every cadet, in case they get lost, they can return back.
We started moving further, climbing the pulsing vine mountains.
Time passed as everyone moved in coordination.
No one strayed outside the formation and didn't drop their guard.
Hours passed as we kept moving.
We walked a lot, and had crossed at least five mountains up until now.
Yet there was not a single demon in sight.
"Let's camp here and rest for a few hours before continuing our journey," Jose spoke as cadets moved without a word and started setting up their camp.
"I've been to many expeditions in my life…But this is my first time walking so freely and not encountering a single demon," Thomas spoke, as he looked at the land from the top of the mountains.
"We'll walk a little further, and if we don't see anything, we'll turn back," Robert said in a serious tone.
"If it were just us adults, we could've moved forward, but children's safety is our priority," he added.
Thomas and I nodded at his judgment. We had the same thought too.
"No matter how much I try to sense it, I can't sense a single demon in the vicinity," Robert said.
"And this is unusual, they're not the kind to hide," Thomas added.
"Try again, Ser Robert," I said.
Robert tilted his head and looked at me.
"We have guests," I murmured, as Robert manifested the raw power of his aura, spreading miles across the plane.
His power shook the cadets who were setting up the camp, as they stumbled on the ground and looked at Robert with fear and awe in their eyes.
"Maenads…" He repeated the word, counting them.
"Approximately a hundred," he said.
"A hundred and thirteen," I added.
'Just when we were thinking of turning back, do they show up…now isn't this suspicious?' I thought.