At the same time, upon entering the gates, the awakeners were greeted with a line of words.
[Welcome to the Celestial Descent.]
The whole world was thrown into chaos the instant they stepped through those gates. The air shifted, carrying an oppressive weight that made it hard to breathe. The creatures that appeared were some of the most terrifying things they had ever laid eyes on.
And one of those creatures was standing right in front of Modret and Axel.
Both of them were slightly startled when they saw the creature emerge from the gate.
"Young master, do you have any idea what this is?"
Axel couldn't help but ask, glancing curiously at Modret from the corner of his eye.
"You're at the Cosmos Realm, right? Swiftly deal with the creature. We can't tell what danger it might bring."
Meanwhile, inside, Modret cursed in his heart. 'Noctis, you bastard! I knew those glowing numbers in the sky weren't a good thing at all. What next are you going to bring? Something even deadlier? Bring it on, you bastard.'
Modret didn't care whether the shameless god could hear his thoughts. He was truly infuriated. If that god had reincarnated him into a better world, none of this would have happened.
He raised his head and turned toward Axel.
The creature's wide, silvery blue eyes gleamed faintly. Its body mirrored the posture of a human, but three jagged spines protruded outward from its back like blades.
It narrowed its eyes the moment Axel vanished.
Sensing the attack, it raised its hand to the left, blocking the strike.
Bang!
Modret watched in surprise as Axel shattered the creature's arm in a single blow, lightning crackling around him like a storm ready to tear the ground apart.
'He… is fast.' Modret was startled. Even he could barely keep up with Axel's speed.
'Only because I also possess the SSS-grade lightning can I even manage to keep up with him,' Modret thought, silently grateful toward his life-saving ability.
Now he possessed an SSS-grade ability, and this time, it wasn't a one-time use.
He returned his attention to the battlefield and saw Axel frown slightly.
As the dust cleared, faint lightning still flickered where Axel had struck. The smell of burnt, charred flesh spread through the air, sharp and thick.
Then bright green light glimmered beneath the creature's remaining arm.
At a speed that didn't pale in comparison to all of Modret's abilities combined, the creature regenerated in an instant.
It glanced at its newly healed limb, then at Axel.
"Hu uk ta ka…" it spoke in a strange, guttural voice neither of them could understand.
The creature stared at them, then raised its hands again and rushed toward Axel.
Its speed was only average, and in Axel's line of sight, it seemed painfully slow.
"I'll be taking your head off next," Axel said in a low voice as his figure vanished again, lightning crackling where he had stood.
Then, as though a storm had descended, he crashed heavily into the creature, causing sparks to scatter through the air.
Bang!
His hand, covered in lightning, grazed the creature's neck. In the next instant, a fountain of green blood erupted.
Its head was smashed apart by Axel's terrifying speed and force like soft tofu. Its neck remained upright, its twitching body spasming in uneven bursts.
Thud!
The creature collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
Axel bent down, studying the corpse closely. His sharp gaze followed the faint pulse of its strange veins.
"Inside its body, the organs are like a human's, but different at the same time. It's almost as if it's been slightly modified. There are also these blue veins wriggling around. It's as though they contain some kind of energy."
Axel continued examining the creature as though he were studying a specimen.
Seeing that everything was handled smoothly, Modret took a few steps forward, approaching the body.
Just then, his eyes narrowed as realization struck. "Axel! Watch out!" Modret exclaimed.
Axel didn't think. Hearing the command of the young master, his body moved instinctively as though it had a mind of its own. In the blink of an eye, he appeared a few meters away.
Bang!
Axel stabilized himself, his body glowing with pale purple arcs of lightning.
He stared in shock as the creature's outstretched hand reached the exact spot where he had been standing. Slowly, its body straightened. The same wriggling bright green veins from before began crawling upward, regenerating its head.
"Damn! It can actually regenerate its head?!" Modret widened his eyes in surprise.
Axel was also puzzled. "What sort of creatures are these? Do they only exist in this part of the world?"
"There's no need to think about it. Axel, stand back while I swiftly deal with this creature," Modret murmured.
"Young master, you're still recovering from an injury…" Axel tried to reason, but Modret had already vanished, using his SSS-grade lightning ability.
Axel widened his eyes. "The young master also possesses a lightning ability? No… it's… my lightning ability? What? What's going on?"
Axel couldn't wrap his head around it, but just as Modret had said before, everyone had their own secrets.
Modret appeared instantly in front of the creature, his hand blazing with lightning and black flames as he lunged forward.
Swoosh!
A massive explosion followed as purple lightning mixed with black fire erupted from his fist, piercing through the creature's chest.
Boom!
Unable to withstand the force, the creature exploded with a loud bang.
Modret stared at the creature's remains scattered around him.
"It won't regenerate again, right?"
He didn't want to make guesses, so he moved immediately. Black flames coiled around his hand and latched onto every scattered piece of the creature.
Screeeechhhhh.
It was as though the flames had met their natural enemy. A loud screech echoed as the creature burned fiercely.
In an instant, what remained was a glowing orb and veins wriggling like worms, slowly melting.
Modret didn't stop, maintaining the flames.
Only when the screeching ended and he had made sure the creature was completely burned away, receiving the corresponding shadow fragments, did he finally relax.
[Gained 2000 shadow fragments.]
Modret didn't pay much attention to the system notification. He lifted his gaze to the glowing core in front of him.
It pulsed wildly like a beating heart, releasing a steady rhythm that seemed to draw him in.
As though enchanted, Modret reached down toward the glowing green crystal… and picked it up.
...
A/N: I apologize for not releasing for the past 2 days. I wrote this chapter to tell you that there will be no release for the weekend, as work has been piling up lately. I will mass release 2-3 chapters either on Monday or Tuesday; stay tuned. In the meantime, you can check out my other books; they might interest you.