The party of five walked through the deserted land carefully, watching their steps as advised by the guardian, since anything could spring up from beneath the ground. The group remained focused ahead, and with the bright red illumination cast by the blood moon, they did not have much difficulty seeing the path before them.
However, Cloud internally opposed every step they took forward, but realistically, he had no say in the decision. It was not as though he could simply tell them that he possessed a flaw that constantly attracted danger and practically wanted to get him killed, or something along those lines. Either way, the entire situation felt like a complete horror to him.
As they quietly traversed the empty wastelands, heading toward the black river, the guardian began a conversation.
"I forgot to make an introduction. Well, here it is. My name is Rain, but you can call me… Rain, of course. Also, I'm a second-year student, so we will probably meet from time to time."
She turned to look at the four behind her, noticing that three of them did not seem particularly interested in her introduction, while the other one, Cassian, was barely even listening. Nevertheless, he still managed to respond with a somewhat noble attempt at politeness.
"Nice to meet you, Rain or Rain. And yes, that was awkward and highly horrible. It was undoubtedly quite useless to introduce the same name to us twice."
'You freaky anus, you also said it twice! Arghhhh. Fuck that. My life is on the line here right now.'
Cloud scowled and raised a hand.
"In addition, I have to ask. Why are you taking us through this route? Firstly, nobody except our party is embarking on the hunt through here. Secondly, this highly seems like the surest way to encounter something that will screw us up… Do I need to say more?"
A long stretch of absolute silence followed after Cloud lashed out in the most stressed manner possible.
Suddenly, Rain chuckled.
"This is a shortcut, you see. A short road to success. Along this path, after crossing the black river, which has an ancient bridge spanning across it, you will be able to hunt Normal Class monsters much faster without wasting time. The best part is that we will be leaving this wasteland in less than an hour. Just consider it a token from a senior."
Claudia glanced at her with a trace of curiosity before speaking respectfully.
"Rain, is there a reason why the Academy decided to use Portals for the entrance test this year?"
Rain simply shrugged and clicked her tongue.
"I really don't know. You might have to figure that out for yourselves. But you should know that the Great Awakened Academy is among the most dangerous places on this continent, so it is best that all of you focus on using this chance to increase your strength and experience. If not, you might really just… drop dead before graduation."
Her voice grew ominous toward the end. However, upon noticing the eerie silence that followed, she laughed.
"I'm just kidding. Don't take it too seriously."
Cloud's mouth hung slightly open, and Cassian seemed deeply disappointed by every word she had just spoken. At some point, the two of them silently concluded it would be better if she simply kept her mouth shut rather than complicating things further and heightening the already fragile tension.
Throughout all of this, Mireille did not react to any of the conversation. She merely remained close to Cloud's side, one of her hands trembling more violently the farther they walked, as though they were drawing nearer to something dreadful, with her instincts screaming at her to stop.
She was about to speak when the entire party suddenly came to a halt right in front of the black river, where an ancient wooden bridge stretched toward the opposite side.
The group remained standing there, four of them staring at the obstruction blocking the narrow bridge ahead.
From where they had stood earlier, it had merely appeared to be a mound of scattered remains. Now that they were closer, however, the true shape of it became disturbingly clear.
A pile of bones had been assembled.
Countless skeletal remains had been stacked and bound together into the shape of a towering construct that stood several meters tall, looming directly in front of the bridge like a grotesque idol built from the dead. Skulls, rib cages, long femurs, and jagged vertebrae intertwined to form its massive frame. One of its arms extended high into the sky, the skeletal fingers stretched outward with the palm held open and flat, as though presenting some silent offering to the heavens. The rest of its body was a twisted mass of bones layered upon one another to maintain the unnatural posture, while the massive skull that served as its head stared forward with hollow sockets that seemed fixed upon the path below.
Cloud stared at it for a moment longer before pointing at it again with a grimace.
"Okay… seriously. What the hell is that thing doing there?"
Cassian rubbed his chin slowly.
"Hmm. I don't like this one."
Claudia said nothing, but her gaze had already sharpened as she carefully observed the structure.
Then Mireille suddenly stiffened.
Her reaction was immediate and far more intense than anything the others had shown so far. Her body froze in place, and her breathing slowed as though something had struck her senses directly.
The energy emanating from the construct was not something ordinary people could easily perceive, but the blind girl sensed it without difficulty due to her Ability.
The moment her senses brushed against it, a crushing pressure flooded into her awareness like a violent surge of freezing water. The deathly energy radiating from the bone structure was overwhelming, far denser than anything she had encountered since entering the portal terrain. It poured from the construct continuously, spreading outward like an invisible fog that pressed heavily against her mind.
Her expression changed instantly.
"Back away," she said sharply.
The others turned toward her.
"Now."
There was no calm in her voice this time.
Cassian frowned.
"What's wro—"
"Move."
Her tone left no room for debate.
Cloud reacted first. He immediately stepped back several meters from the bridge, and the others quickly followed once they realized how serious she sounded.
'Shit. It's an ambush. They've all been alerted by my presence, so it's only natural they prepared exactly as I expected. Even if we had followed the other teams, we would have encountered another ambush. This really isn't to my liking.'
Mireille kept her gaze fixed on the bone construct the entire time. The death energy pouring from it had begun to change, and the empty sockets of the skull were starting to emit a dark red glow.
At first the movement was subtle, but then a faint shift rippled among the bones before the entire structure finally twitched.
The towering skeletal arm that stretched toward the sky trembled slightly, and a low grinding sound echoed as bones scraped against one another. Dark energy began seeping from the gaps between the skeletons forming the construct, spreading outward like black smoke before sinking into the ground beneath it. The same energy began spreading into the river beside the bridge.
The water darkened even further almost instantly, and the ground cracked.
Cloud's eyes widened as fractures suddenly spread across the soil around them.
"Uh… that's not good."
Something began pushing upward from beneath the surface.
Bones. A lot of them.
Dozens of skeletal hands burst out of the earth first, clawing their way upward as though the dead themselves were forcing their way back into the world. More bones followed from the ground, assembling rapidly into complete skeletal figures as they pulled themselves free from the soil.
The black river beside the bridge churned violently, and the surface broke into a nightmare.
More skeletons began rising from the water, their hollow frames dragging themselves onto the shore with unnatural coordination.
Within seconds, the numbers began multiplying.
Dozens became scores.
Scores became hundreds.
Cassian's face went pale as he watched the horde gathering around them.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
Among the rising skeletons, several immediately stood out.
Five of them carried a far heavier presence than the rest. Their skeletal bodies were reinforced with thicker bone structures, and dark energy pulsed steadily through their frames. From their superior appearance alone, the party could easily determine that those were Elite Class Skeletal Monsters, the mid bosses.
And behind them, towering above everything like the master of the army it had just summoned, the massive bone construct slowly began to shift its body once again.
Cloud felt his throat grow dry.
"…Well."
He looked at the approaching sea of skeletons rushing toward them.
"…This is bad."
[Monster: Skeletal God's Descendant]
[Rank: E Rank]
[Grade: Silver]
[Class: Commander]
[Active Ability: Infinite Summoning]