Zron's eyes narrowed sharply as he took in the condition of the place.
The stone platform and the round glass structure, which should have been covered in dust, looked like someone had cleaned them thoroughly. And there were countless mana stones and various plants emitting mana scattered around the platform.
'No way...'
He shot a quick glance at Kyle from the corner of his eyes, and a wave of unease washed over him. Something was definitely not right. And to top it off, the shimmering, see-through curtain that transported people to the Sacred Divine Land was now rippling with divine energy. Clearly, someone had recently infused it with power!
Susan, Yon, and Jordan saw the same things and quickly moved to stop everyone before they got close to the stone platform with serious expressions on their faces.
Jian furrowed his brows and asked Susan what was going on. However, Susan just brushed it off, saying it was nothing.
Bia flew over and landed on the red-haired man's shoulder to get a better view of the situation since Jian and Alec were in the front row with Han and Sinon.
Kyle's anxiety started to grow once again as he glanced at the stone platform.
"Guys, I think we should go back!"
He raised his voice to make his point clear, and his voice sounded serious, not open to any refusal. Zron heard Kyle's voice and waved at Susan with a stern expression.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"You, gather everyone and lead them back. There's nothing worth seeing here except for the platform."
Jian clicked his tongue and grumbled quietly to himself.
"It's not like we want to stay. The ethereal tunnel is nothing special anyway."
Susan let out a sigh, and everyone turned around to enter the portal that he created. Zron quickly climbed the platform to check the glass structure above it.
But as the dwarf took another step toward the glass structure, there was a loud click, and the platform beneath him shook with a thunderous sound, causing the entire chamber to tremble with it.
Almost with the speed of lightning, all the mana, divine energy, and the countless mana stones and mana plants scattered around the platform dissipated into tiny particles.
The portal Susan created also faded into tiny particles before anyone could even leave through it. In an instant, everyone became alert as Susan, Yon, and Jordan shouted at them to leave through the cave they arrived from.
Kyle's face hardened as he quickly created a few portals, but all the portals dissipated the moment he built them. That's why he also rushed inside the dark cave with everyone else.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
He cursed when the ceiling above their heads started crumbling. The cave turned suffocating as every speck of mana in the air transformed into particles and was greedily absorbed by the platform.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Meanwhile, Zron froze in front of the glass structure and gasped when the see-through curtain above it started expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It rippled and started sucking everything in its surroundings with a maddening pull. Zron's body turned into a mirage as he vanished towards the cave.
"Someone messed with the ethereal tunnel, it's going to blast-!"
His sentence was cut short because, with a sonic boom, a powerful wave of energy spread out in all directions.
The deafening sound was enough to make everyone's ears stop working.
Then, a loud blast echoed in the air as the entire glass structure above the platform shattered, and the stone platform itself started to disintegrate.
The impact was so powerful that it shook the entire tower of opportunity above the underground chamber, causing the cave to crumble down on top of those inside.
Many surprised cries echoed in the air, and Kyle's eyes dilated as he used his Ice Armor skill on everyone around him.
An invisible veil of ice appeared on their bodies, but his skill dissipated within a split second. Gritting his teeth, he vanished towards Neon when he saw him almost getting crushed under the ceiling. But he spat out blood because the moment he used instant teleportation, the mana he used was forcefully sucked away, causing him to crash into Neon who was already struggling.
Kyle shouted at Zron to do something, who was saving Han and Sinon. He spread out his blue flames in all directions, attempting to freeze everything.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})However, just like his skills, the icy flames also faded and turned into particles that were sucked in by the see-through curtain, which had started to tremble wildly.
Alec, Jian, Mia, Susan, and everyone else used all their protective skills to protect themselves and the others around them, but they all cried out because, just like Kyle, their skills also dissipated into bright particles.
-"Ahhh!"
Kyle snapped his eyes toward the phoenix when she cried out and saw Jian, Bia, and Alec scrambling to grab onto something as their bodies were forcefully dragged toward the curtain that had started to spin with lightning-fast speed.
Lara, Yon, Regius, Carcel, and Mia were trying to help the trio, but they were also being dragged toward the curtain. Kyle wanted to use instant teleportation, but his mind started buzzing and his eyes turned hazy. Zron let out a shout in that moment that jolted him out of the daze.
"All of you, brace yourselves! I am going to use all my physical strength to forcefully destroy the curtain!"
The last thing Kyle had in mind was to use instant teleportation, so he vanished towards Bia and the others without caring about the pain he went through when his mana was forcefully sucked away.
His vision blurred as he tried to grab onto the phoenix, but then Bia let out a cry and grew in size. In an instant, golden and crimson flames scattered everywhere, enveloping her in a barrier.
However, she made a mistake because as her flames scattered, the curtain sucked in her divine energy and let out a howl.
Just before Zron's fists could touch the curtain, it ominously stretched out and swallowed the phoenix and the two people closest to her.
Then, right in front of everyone's eyes, the curtain broke apart with a loud rumble, shattering into countless pieces that scattered in every direction.
