Chapter 188: Blood Bone Creatures
Early upload, unedited chapter, might contain a few mistakes, will be edited.
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In the inner zone, before the gate, Cael stood with a helpless expression.
The air around him was still and cold, carrying the faint metallic scent of the blood realm beyond the gate. The silence pressed against his ears, broken only by the slow, rhythmic pulse of crimson light bleeding through the gate's surface. Shadows stretched long across the stone floor, flickering like dying embers.
It had been a few hours since he had swapped with the Frostflame Clone and arrived back in the inner zone. The memory of the serpent's glowing eyes and the vortex of red energy still lingered in his mind, a constant reminder of how close he had come to death. He had barely escaped with his life, and the weight of that near-failure pressed against his chest like a physical burden.
Now, he stood before the gate once more, staring at the swirling crimson light that marked the entrance to the core zone. The light pulsed slowly, rhythmically, like the heartbeat of something ancient and alive. His body had rested. His mana had recovered. But his mind was still racing, still trying to piece together the fragments of information he had gathered.
I need to go back.
He took a deep breath and stepped toward the gate. But then he stopped. His eyes widened.
Lying on the ground before the gate were his clothes, his shoes, his watch, and his space pouch. They were exactly as he had left them—neatly arranged, as if someone had placed them there with care. The fabric was undisturbed, untouched by the dust and grime of the inner zone.
By that, Cael learned something crucial. When he had entered the gate the first time, only his body could pass through. Everything else—his clothes, his belongings, his equipment—had been stripped away and left behind. The gate was designed to accept only flesh and blood, nothing more.
Wait. What about mana?
A thought struck him. If only his body could pass through the gate, then what about the mana surrounding him? What about the energy that flowed through his veins? Was it part of his body, or was it something external that would be stripped away like his clothes?
He knelt down and picked up his clothes, brushing off the dust. He dressed quickly, pulling on his shirt and pants, then laced up his shoes. The familiar weight of his clothes was comforting, a small anchor in a world of chaos. He strapped his watch back onto his wrist and placed his space pouch at his side.
Then he took a deep breath and covered his entire body with layers of mana. He wrapped himself in a cocoon of energy, a protective shell that he hoped would allow him to pass through the gate fully intact. The mana clung to his skin, shimmering faintly in the dim light.
Without further delay, Cael stepped through the gate.
The moment he entered the core zone, he felt the shift. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of blood and decay. It clung to his skin, coated his tongue, pressed against his lungs like a physical weight. The red sky stretched endlessly above him, the same oppressive crimson that had become all too familiar.
But this time, something was different.
He found himself standing on a pile of red bones. Everywhere he looked, as far as his eyes could see, there were red bones. They stretched in every direction, covering the ground in a radius of at least three miles. They were scattered in heaps, piled high like the remains of some ancient massacre. Some were small and fragile, barely larger than a finger. Others were large and thick, as if they belonged to creatures of immense size—creatures that had once walked this land and left only their bones behind.
The bones crunched beneath his feet as he shifted his weight, the sound dry and brittle like cracking old wood. The ground beneath them was soft and damp, stained red by centuries of decay. Beyond the bones, the black spires stood as distant silhouettes against the crimson sky, their dark surfaces absorbing the light around them like silent sentinels.
Cael looked down at his body. His clothes were still on him. His space pouch was still at his side. The mana layer had worked. He let out a small breath of relief.
Speaking of the space pouch, Cael realized he had been using it rarely these days. Ever since he had unlocked the Space element, he had been discovering and creating new tricks and skills. One such skill was his own space storage, connected directly to the void itself. It was a personal pocket dimension that he could access at will. No need for a physical pouch. No need to carry anything on his person. Everything he needed would be stored in the void, waiting for him to call upon it.
But constructing that storage was still difficult. The void was unstable, unpredictable. It resisted his attempts to shape it. He had not yet mastered it. The space pouch, for all its limitations, was still more reliable.
CRUNCH.
CRUNCH.
A strange sound broke through his thoughts. It was soft at first, then grew louder, more insistent. The sound of bones shifting, grinding against each other. It came from all directions, surrounding him like a rising tide.
Cael turned around.
Hundreds of skeleton monsters were reforming. They rose from the piles of red bones, their skeletal bodies assembling piece by piece. Ribs clicked into place. Skulls settled on spines. Limbs snapped together with a sickening crunch. Each one was different—some were humanoid, others bestial, others twisted into shapes that defied description.
They were everywhere.
Cael let out a sigh. "Here we go again."
As soon as those words left his lips, the hundreds of red skeleton monsters charged. They moved with surprising speed, their bony limbs clattering against the ground. Their empty eye sockets glowed with a faint red light, pulsing in unison like a swarm of fireflies.
Cael could not see their ranks, but his danger sense gave him an estimate. They ranged from [Bronze] to [Gold]. A manageable threat individually, but in these numbers, they were dangerous. A single mistake, a single misstep, and they would overwhelm him.
By now, Cael was already surrounded. The skeletons closed in from all sides, their bony claws reaching for him. They moved in a coordinated wave, their red eyes gleaming with predatory hunger.
Cael wanted to use Teleportation to escape. But he could not. His skill refused to activate, as if something was blocking it. His eyes widened as he realized the truth.
The reason he had been unable to use Teleportation in front of the serpent was not because of the serpent itself. The core zone was locked. Space itself was sealed, preventing any form of spatial movement. And Black Lightning had been neutralized by the serpent's innate ability. It was not a coincidence. It was the nature of this place.
The analysis ran through his mind in less than five seconds. Thanks to his skill, Thought Partition, he had processed the information at lightning speed.
Cael reached into his space pouch and drew his sword. The blade gleamed in the crimson light, its edge sharp and ready.
Since I cannot leave using Teleportation, I will have to make a way through them by power.
The endless sea of red bones stretched behind the advancing horde, their dry surfaces catching the crimson light like scattered embers. The air grew colder with each passing second, carrying the faint whisper of wind that seemed to move through the bones like breath through a hollow chamber. The skeletons' red eyes flickered in unison, casting dancing shadows across the blood-soaked ground.
Cael raised his blade, moonlight gathering along its edge. The silver light cut through the crimson darkness, a beacon of hope in this world of blood and bone.
The skeletons lunged.
Cael moved.
Black lightning crackled around his feet as he launched himself forward. His blade cut through the first skeleton, shattering its ribs into a cloud of bone dust. He spun, his sword carving a wide arc that sent three more skeletons crashing to the ground.
But more were coming. They swarmed from all sides, their bony claws reaching for him, their red eyes burning with hunger.
Cael did not stop. He could not afford to. He moved like a storm, a blur of silver and black, cutting through the tide of bones with relentless precision.
The clatter of bones filled the air, relentless and unending. Each swing of Cael's blade sent fragments flying, but the horde showed no signs of thinning. Sweat dripped from his brow. His arms burned. His lungs ached. He could not afford to slow down. Not here. Not now. There was no end in sight. Only the endless clatter of bones and the faint glow of red eyes in the darkness.
The battle had begun.