Free Web NovelChapter 109: _Into The Echo Rift
"Looks like we made it." Viktor was the first to speak after the spatial turbulence was over.
Everyone else opened their eyes, taking in the landscape before them. Ambrose in particular didn’t know when his mouth parted.
There was only one word he could use to describe what he was seeing now:
Unreal.
Stretched before them was an expanse of beach sand—as far as the eyes could see. The sky glowed with a sickly blue light, massive portals sizzling above.
Giant whale-like creatures hovered in and out of these portals, their bellows shaking the land below. Corals of a variety of colours were littered at different spots as well.
Every breath was heavy, the air density feeling five times thicker than normal.
"It’s like we’re underwater," Viktor marvelled, taking the first few steps. He glanced back briefly at the group and then at the black Rift behind them. "Come on. I thought we were here to explore."
One glare from Gabriel was all it took to make the ice Prince pause.
The former adjusted his coat. "Need I remind you that we are one member short?" His eyes flicked to Valentine. "What happened to the S-Rank Guide? Mateo... Peterson, if I remember correctly."
Valentine took off his sunglasses, eyes lingering on Viktor for a beat. "There was a miscalculation in the number of available high rank Guides. Vice President Hilary saw it best that he stay back."
Gabriel pointed. "See?" The comment was directed at Viktor. "We can’t afford recklessness. Best case scenario, we scour this place and find what we’re searching for with little to no dungeon beast encounters."
He’d barely finished when Valentine snorted a laugh.
"Wishful thinking when we’re talking about a Cataclysm Level Rift," his eyes pinned on the giant whales. "Those things should each be at least S-Rank. They seem uninterested for now—but for how long?"
All eyes turned to the whales as one.
Ambrose especially recalled the one time he was up close with an S-Rank beast. The queen centipede in that S-Rank dungeon.
He’s come a long way since then but an S-Rank creature would definitely still slime his ass with ease.
After waiting for a moment, Gabriel took the lead, Valentine trailing beside him as they advanced deeper into the dungeon. Each footstep felt heavier than the last, almost like they were walking at the bottom of an ocean.
Several minutes passed and the whale-like beasts were still calmly floating from one portal point to the other, occasionally making loud sounds that jolted the team.
"Wait." Gabriel raised a hand when they got to a point, forcing all of them to halt abruptly.
Ambrose accidentally bumped into Devon, the latter looking back at him with an apologetic smile.
"You good?" The S-Rank whispered.
It took the Guide a beat to reply. "As good as I’ll ever be in Cataclysm Rift."
On the other hand, Viktor watched them from the corner of his eyes, arms folded in front of him. For a reason he couldn’t explain, he knew Ambrose was lying about how he felt.
He could almost feel the Guide’s emotions.
His fear. His hesitation. His anxiety about something different from this Echo Rift.
’I know I’m not imagining things,’ he thought to himself. ’It... almost feels like we’re linked.’
If only the guy knew he was very close to the truth.
"Look." Gabriel squatted, pressing a palm to the ground.
Ambrose followed his eyes, finally noticing what he was pointing at. Etched underneath the sand were faint veins of dark blue energy. Pure aether.
These ’veins’ seemed to be following a path, flowing ahead in a repeated cycle. Like actual veins pumping blood.
"Well, well..." Valentine joined him. "Looks like we’re making some progress."
"How so?" Devon asked, inching forward.
Gabriel was the first to rise to his feet, brushing his hands down his coat. "The energy flow is definitely leading to a source. And its flow reminds me of something."
Ambrose’s eyes lit up. "The energy strands of the fallen bipedal beasts?"
A genuinely impressed smile curved the corner of the SS-Rank’s lips. The first time Ambrose had ever seen the guy smile at him.
"Exactly," Gabriel nodded as Valentine got up beside him. "I reckon there’s a core of sorts. Like a heart where these veins transfer aether energy and recycle it back into new, stronger beasts."
Viktor raised a hand. "Couldn’t you just teleport us to this core? It’ll save us a lot of time and—"
He didn’t get the chance to finish.
Gabriel flicked his wrist with an expressionless face, causing a point in space beside Viktor to fold in on itself. As this point expanded, flickers of unstable energies began igniting around it.
The others backed away while Valentine smirked.
Soon, the point in space collapsed into itself, like a sinkhole filling up. It disappeared faster than it came—and all Gabriel did was watch silently as it happened.
"It appears I was right." He sighed, arching his brow at Viktor. "You see—the moment we stepped into this place I sensed how unstable the fabric of space-time was. Opening a portal would be close to suicidal, let alone teleporting."
Viktor’s mouth opened and closed.
He clearly felt some kind of embarrassment after that plain lecture.
If Gabriel noticed, he didn’t show an ounce of concern, pivoting back to the path ahead. "Let’s keep moving. We’ll thread this by foot."
Ambrose could almost hear Viktor’s grumbling through the permanent link. He held back a chuckle at the S-Rank’s expense.
They kept walking after that. The deeper they went, the brighter the energy veins beneath their boots. At one point, the crunch of their boots made specks of light shoot upwards like fireflies.
"Whoa." Ambrose’s chest caved in as he stared at the sky again.
They’d gotten so far that it had begun changing. Instead of clouds, what floated above them was water. Like an endless inverted ocean.
There were even more of the S-Rank whales here. Plus a variety of other sea-type creatures.
Just then... Ambrose paused. The air pressure was suddenly lighter, and his spatial awareness felt a sharp shift.
[WARNING: Gravity is significantly unstable.]
Before he had the chance to reflect on the system warning, he noticed something that made his heart sink. He was floating. Actually floating off the ground, his limbs dangling helplessly.
"Uh... help!" He yelled, struggling to reach for someone.
Just when he thought he was going to get lost at sea—or the clouds—forever, a hand clamped around his wrist, making him gasp.
