Chapter 62: Entropic Domain I
Chapter 62: Entropic Domain I
Kitsuul truly was staring at the Entropic Rift as if she were in a trance- as if it looked like a meal she wanted to devour with her entire being!Damian rubbed her head to snap her out of it, asking her what had just happened.
And...
"Kitsuuuuul~"
She replied with enthusiasm, saying she didn’t know why, but she felt like that glowing tear in space...might be even tastier than the crystals she had eaten earlier!
The Obsidian Entropic Soft Crystals, that is.
Damian grew stern and silent at this as he followed alongside the other Trial Guardians.
Lyra was to his left, Ariana, Alex, Vixor, Becca, and others to his right.
Damian didn’t understand how Becca- who had left with the Drunken Butcher last night- looked so bright and happy. The injury on her shoulder seemed completely healed, and the power she radiated was far more than she had possessed the night before.
A simple mental note he made.
Serena walked up ahead valiantly, and with their white ZENTHRA Suits tightly hugging their bodies, they looked like an elite team heading out for a fantastical hunt!
It was just unknown how dreadful this hunt would become.
As they neared the Entropic Rift, Serena spoke for the first time in a while.
"Stay close to everyone else, and never wander off on your own. An Entropic Domain is dangerous and unstable- things can change at any moment."
Her words of caution echoed as they came within inches of the pulsing purple rift. Serena coiled like her serpent before she shouted a single word.
"Dive!"
BOOM!
She exploded with power and leapt into the Entropic Rift, the other Trial Guardians following as Damian and Lyra jumped in!
And...
BZZT!
Damian felt a sensation like waves of electricity ripping through him. If he were just a normal human, he was sure his skin would have shredded from the pressure.
But moments later...
His feet touched solid ground.
Solid, red...and yet foreign. He looked around, and his pupils constricted.
What he saw was both wondrous and horrifying.
The moment Damian stepped through the Entropic Rift, reality had twisted around him.
The air pulsed with pressure that bent time and sound, making every breath feel disjointed.
Jagged, ash-tinged mountains rose and fell in the distance, half-formed and dissolving at their peaks.
All around, towering skeletal trees bent at eerie angles, groaning with every gust of distorted wind. Nothing stayed still as if the world was alive with chaos, rough winds carrying red ash and sand rampant.
Entropic.
Disordered.
Unstable.
Beneath his feet, the red earth quaked with a pulse that felt more like a heartbeat than a tremor as if the very land was alive...and dead at the same time.
The warped forest around them opened into a clearing where the Trial Guardians stood in tense formation.
Behind them, the tear in space they’d entered through still lingered, giving the illusion of safety.
But...
That illusion shattered quickly.
Because Damian, earlier than the others, had already turned to his right, silver brilliance flashing in his eyes as he locked gazes with something watching them from the edge of the clearing.
His reaction caused the others to tense and look as well.
Their eyes locked onto the monster ahead.
It was unlike anything Damian had ever seen- a massive Entropic Behemoth over five meters tall. Its form shimmered with unstable mass, muscles twisting beneath skin like liquid obsidian. Where a face should have been, there was only a yawning maw lined with translucent, clicking teeth. It looked like a four-legged beast, and yet its body was grotesque, malformed.
Its frame was layered in red, twisting muscle, its limbs malformed into what looked like hands. Every inch of it screamed defiance against existence itself- as if creation had tried and failed to make it.
An Entropic Beast Behemoth.
No one spoke. Both sides stared each other down.
The message between them was clear. This creature would not fall easily- only together could they bring it down.
Damian’s right eye buzzed as the Beast’s values registered.
[497 Entropic Energy Value – Tier III Initiate Entropic Beast Behemoth.]
...!
A number higher than even Serena’s.
And this was the first Entropic Beast they had encountered!
This was the reason no Interstellar Beast Master entered an Entropic Rift alone.
They always had to be accompanied by others, because the Entropic Beasts they encountered were immensely powerful- usually far beyond what any one Beast Master could handle alone.
Behemoths.
Serena and her Void Serpent studied the creature, and she whispered almost bitterly,
"We were unlucky."
...!
"This one’s particularly strong. A Tier III this close to the entrance? No tutorial. No warm-up. Be ready. It could attack at any momen—...!"
BOOM!
The five-meter-tall Behemoth showed no expression on its horrid, disfigured face as it lunged forward with terrifying speed.
On Damian’s shoulders, Kitsuul’s tails flared in silent warning as power surged through his veins.
Because of how much stronger he was than the others- thanks to Kitsuul’s feedback and the Natural Nanotech Blood Serums- Damian didn’t feel fear, even with the creature barreling toward them.
While the others may have seen it like a high-speed train, Damian saw it all in slow motion.
He saw its limbs coil before the leap.
He saw the earth fracture under the pressure before the beast moved.
He entered a state of hyper-awareness, where everything around him slowed.
This wasn’t from him- it was from Kitsuul.
Her power was still something he barely understood. But now, he moved as if time bowed to his perception.
And somehow, the Behemoth sensed who the greatest threat was.
In its lunge, it didn’t go for Serena or any of the other Guardians.
Its massive body shifted mid-air, redirecting toward the left- toward Damian.
Its malformed limbs aimed downward like muscular pillars- descending not just toward Damian, but Lyra beside him.
Serena’s gaze shifted instantly as she yelled, her Void Serpent vanishing from around her, reappearing in the skies above the Behemoth to intercept it.
The Blue Slime above Lyra screeched, unleashing a protective blue film around her.
And still, the creature’s limbs descended- brutal and unstoppable.
Given Lyra’s lower Energy Values, everyone imagined the bloody outcome.
And yet...
Within that slowed world, Damian made a choice.
He stepped forward.
Appearing in front of Lyra, he didn’t even channel Kitsuul’s silver energies.
With raw physical power alone, granted by the Nanotech Serums and the reinforcement from Kitsuul- he thrust both hands out to meet the Behemoth’s limbs.
Each limb was the size of his body.
And yet what happened next...
It was enough to freeze everything in utter, breathless shock.