Chapter 60: Granted Access
Ethan rolled his eyes the moment he saw Drey standing there, wondering why the hell the man had even bothered showing up at the rift mission when he was still injured and, according to everything Ethan had heard, completely incapable of being guided by anyone else.
Before he could say anything, Will answered the question. " Lord Drey, Ethan was initially refused permission to participate because the rift contains extremely dense and unstable spiritual energy, which makes it dangerous for low-ranked Guides and Sentinels. His current D-rank is also still under investigation, so we couldn’t verify whether his abilities were safe enough to bring into the area."
Drey’s gaze shifted from Will to Ethan, and then, without the slightest hesitation, he spoke.
"Then there’s no problem."
Ethan narrowed his eyes.
Drey continued, his expression completely serious. "Ethan is my personal Guide. If he isn’t going in, then I won’t participate in the rift mission either."
The entire area seemed to fall silent for a moment.
Ethan’s eyes widened.
Leon looked as though someone had just personally offended every ancestor he had.
"What?"
His voice came out sharper than he probably intended, and his expression twisted with disbelief as he stared at Drey. "You’re seriously standing up for him?"
Drey merely glanced at him. "I’m stating a condition."
"You have to be fucking kidding me," Leon muttered, his gaze snapping toward Ethan with even more hostility than before. "After everything that happened, you’re still choosing him? This is ridiculous."
"What’s ridiculous," Drey replied, "is expecting me to enter an unstable rift while knowing I could lose control at any moment without the one person who has proven capable of guiding me."
Ethan stared at him.
This bastard was actually serious.
He quickly stepped forward, unable to let Drey continue spreading this nonsense.
"Will, don’t listen to him. I’m not his personal Guide, and I never agreed to—"
A sharp pinch landed on his arm.
Ethan’s words died in his throat as he turned his head and found Adrien standing beside him, wearing a perfectly composed expression despite the fact that his fingers were still digging into Ethan’s arm.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ethan whispered through clenched teeth.
Adrien leaned slightly closer, keeping his voice low enough that only Ethan could hear. "Are you mad? Don’t you want to be deployed?"
Ethan blinked.
Before he could answer, Adrien released his arm and subtly glanced toward Zane, whose expression had remained unreadable throughout the exchange.
Adrien did not dare explain what was running through his mind.
As far as he was concerned, Drey’s sudden intervention was far better than allowing Zane to reveal his true identity just to get Ethan into the mission. If Drey was willing to take responsibility for Ethan, then Adrien was more than happy to let the situation play out.
Ethan, however, still looked ready to argue.
Adrien pinched him again.
"Just shut up."
"You—"
"Please."
Ethan glared at him.
Then he reluctantly closed his mouth.
Fine. It seemed he had no choice than to let Drey handle this.
Will, meanwhile, looked increasingly conflicted.
He clearly didn’t like the idea of allowing an unverified D-rank Guide into an unstable rift, but Drey was not someone the academy could casually refuse. Losing an S-class Sentinel from the operation would create an even bigger problem, especially when manpower was already stretched thin.
After a long moment, Will finally sighed.
"Fine." Will looked directly at Ethan. "You may participate."
Ethan almost smiled in relief.
"However," Will continued, immediately ruining that relief, "there will be restrictions."
Of course there were.
"Since your rank advancement is still under investigation and we have no clear explanation for your unusual abilities, you will not be permitted to Guide anyone other than Drey." He pointed toward Drey as he continued. You will remain with him throughout the mission. You will not attempt to Guide another Sentinel, regardless of their condition, unless specifically authorized by the commanding team."
Ethan opened his mouth to argue however Will raised a hand.
"That is not negotiable."
Ethan clicked his tongue but said nothing on the bright side at least he was getting inside.
Will then turned toward the others and began assigning the teams.
"Drey and Ethan will remain together. Zane’s team will consist of Zane, Adrien, Riley and..."
His gaze shifted toward Leon.
"...Leon."
Leon’s expression immediately darkened. "You’re assigning me to them?"
"Yes."
Leon looked as though he wanted to argue, and Ethan wasn’t exactly thrilled either.
"Absolutely not," Ethan protested at the same time.
Leon also opened his mouth.
"I don’t—"
"It’s fine."
Zane’s calm voice cut through both of them.
Ethan immediately looked at him frowning suspiciously. "You were completely against me going anywhere near Drey back at the academy."
"I was."
"And now you’re suddenly fine with it?"
Zane merely shrugged.
"Things change."
"That doesn’t explain anything."
"It doesn’t have to."
Ethan narrowed his eyes at him. There was something strange about Zane’s sudden calmness.
What the hell had changed?
Before Ethan could figure it out, Will handed them their deployment information and began giving the final instructions.
"Your assigned sector is the western edge of the rift. The area has already been evacuated, so civilian interference should be minimal, but do not assume that means the area is safe. The rift has been unstable since its formation, and corrupted energy continues to leak into the surrounding environment."
He paused, making sure they were listening.
"You will follow the designated route to the outer boundary first. Once you reach the marked zone, establish your communication points and confirm that your team members are accounted for before proceeding deeper. If the rift expands or the corruption level rises beyond your assigned tolerance, you retreat immediately. Do not attempt to be heroes."
Ethan snorted quietly.
That last part seemed particularly directed at the Sentinels.
Once everything was settled, the teams finally began moving toward their assigned transportation.
Ethan followed Drey, his thoughts already racing ahead.
He was actually going into a rift.
An unstable rift filled with excessive spiritual energy.
The exact thing he had been looking for.
According to Aster’s book, an environment overflowing with spiritual energy could significantly accelerate cultivation if he knew how to absorb and process the excess properly.
He still hadn’t figured out exactly how he was going to do that without sitting down in the middle of a monster-infested disaster zone and looking completely insane, but he would figure something out.
He had to.
The moment they arrived at the assigned sector, however, Ethan’s thoughts about cultivation disappeared.
The scenery hit him first.
The western district had once been a populated part of the empire, but the area around the rift had been almost completely abandoned. Buildings stood empty behind emergency barriers, some of their windows shattered and their walls stained by traces of corrupted energy. Streets that should have been filled with vehicles and people were eerily quiet, littered with abandoned belongings, broken signs and the occasional scorch mark left behind by previous monster attacks.
The sky above the rift was worse.
A massive distortion hung in the distance like a wound torn directly into the air, its edges constantly shifting as dark and strangely luminous spiritual energy rippled around it. Every few seconds, the atmosphere seemed to tremble, sending an uncomfortable pressure through Ethan’s body.
The sight made his stomach twist.
For one brief moment, the ruined streets weren’t the streets of the empire anymore.
They were the apocalypse.
The smell of destruction, the empty buildings, the abandoned roads and the unnatural silence dragged Ethan straight back to the world he had died in.
His fingers curled unconsciously.
No.
He wasn’t going to let himself get trapped in those memories again.
This wasn’t that world.
This wasn’t the apocalypse.
And he wasn’t the same Ethan who had died protecting people who had eventually betrayed him.
He forced himself to breathe and looked away from the ruined streets.
The teams began preparing immediately.
Communication devices were checked, spiritual energy monitors calibrated and emergency retreat points established. The Sentinels inspected their weapons and equipment while the Guides checked their supplies and prepared the equipment they would need in case someone became corrupted.
Ethan quietly observed everything, trying to memorize as much as possible.
This was his first real rift mission.
He couldn’t afford to make a stupid mistake.
As they waited for the final signal, the silence between the two cousins became almost suffocating.
Zane and Drey hadn’t said a single word to each other.
Not one.
Yet Ethan could practically feel the tension between them.
Zane stood with his hands tucked into his pockets, his expression calm, but the chilling gaze he occasionally directed toward Drey made it painfully obvious that he was anything but relaxed.
Drey, on the other hand, seemed completely unaffected.
If anything, he looked almost pleased.
For once, he had the upper hand.
And judging by the way he deliberately ignored Zane’s glare, Ethan had a feeling he knew exactly what he was doing.
Then Drey suddenly turned toward him.
"Ethan." Drey’s expression had become serious. "I’m already unstable from the previous rift mission."
Drey took another step closer, completely ignoring Zane’s increasingly cold gaze.
"So before we start, you have to Guide me."