Alex put off the notification in the back of his mind and walked deeper into the cave.
The cave was three kilometres long and there were only two Epic ranks guarding it. Alex searched every nook and cranny before reaching the end.
His weariness was for naught as he found no one hiding in the shadows and darkness of the cave waiting to attack him.
At the end of the cave, a stone Steele appeared out of thin air which had many soul-enchanting cravings on it marked in blood.
Alex had already got a hold of the thing, the Steele was the gateway to the other side. Even if someone found it, they couldn't enter it easily.
Alex took a deep breath.
He finally got the reason for Hurt's disappearance.
"Hurt may have gone inside and might have sacrificed his life. Don't worry grandpa, I will make a big grave for you." Alex spoke with gratitude and stepped forward.
"Ouch!"
A faint groan came from the other side and Alex's head bumped into a person. Alex reacted quickly drawing out his sword and almost on his way to slice off the other party's neck but halted after seeing that it was Hurt.
"You went inside alone," Alex asked with a surprised expression.
Hurt rubbed the bump on his head while glaring at Alex.
Just what is this man-made of? Man of Iron. His body is as hard as metal. Hurt lamented trying to contain the emerging horn.
"I decided to take a look first. If the passage connecting the other side is unstable one may be lost in an endless void. So, I made the safety check first."
"How thoughtful of me?" Hurt boasted.
Alex rolled his eyes with an expression.
'I have also done a PhD in space magic, okay!'
'It's just that it consumes too much mana that's why I refrain from using it.'Alex thought inwardly.
"Did you encounter trouble," Alex asked.
"I just scouted the area. I heard that there is a temple where they were offering lives. We need to destroy that place and kill everyone." Hurt.
"Can't we just destroy this Steele?" Alex asked.
Hurt shook his head and explained"The small world is an independent realm. The Steele is just a getaway connecting. They aren't fools, who would rely on one gateway like this. There had to be many."
"My case was a bit special where the sacrificial altar was built in the city but these vile creatures mainly do these kinds of heinous deeds in pocket dimensions."
Alex noted Hurt worlds. He was not omnipotent and knew about everything. He only knows a bit about this creature of darkness who moved around like a cult.
"How did you know about all these things and when did you come to know about their existence?"
"Anyone who stepped over the Mythic realm had to sign a secret contract.No matter which species it was, they had to join a special force that had to join s to fight against these creatures." Hurt answered Alex.
"Will we be together or teleported separately?" Alex asked.
"We will be separated. This was a safety mechanism from their side in the case, a group of people came to know about their existence and we cannot temper with the Steele otherwise they might catch our existence?"Hurt sighed.
Alex asked about creatures of darkness to which Hurt gave a summary about them.
Alex had a rough understanding of them but since he didn't have any practical experience, there was no need to show off.
" Okay, good luck, stay safe," Alex said before stepping forward.
Hurt expression stiffened and he shouted"You need more good luck than me, don't go and die there uselessly brat. I will try to find you as soon as possible."
Alex who stepped inside was teleported into a place filled with darkness.
With a loud thud, he landed on the ground.
He heard the noise of splashing water and found himself in swallowed water, that's what he thought initially.
Everything was shallow and dark around him, and there was no sun.
It was like the time before dawn and vision was quite poor due to low light.
Alex closed his eyes and poured mana into them.
His eyes twinkled with crimson colour and everything around him lit up instantly.
He saw sharp odd shaped rocks protruding from the ground.
Looking up, he found a reddish sky with sparse clouds.
"So, that's how this place looked in the presence of light." He murmured while looking down.
His expression froze.
What he thought of as shallow water initially, turned out to be a shallow lake of blood.
The place smelled utterly awful and since his sense of smell had started to adapt to the rotten smell, he could smell the blood.
He didn't know whether the liquid was blood or something else as it was quite thin and fluid compared to blood.
Except for its colour and smell, nothing matched the character of blood.
There was grassy land with small patches of trees in his surroundings.
Suddenly he heard a rustling sound from behind.
The sound became clearer and clearer.
Something was approaching him rapidly and it was a group of three.
Alex immediately looked at the source of the noise.
These were three vile creatures of darkness coming from behind a boulder while holding something like a bucket over their shoulder.
Alex assessed their strength and found an Epic rank along with two Master ranks.
Their movements suddenly halted as they found Alex in the pool.
"Human!"
"Human!"
Without any warning, one of them held the huge boulder and with its strong arms raised it and threw it at Alex.
Alex was greeted with a boulder and jumped back dodging the huge boulder.
BAM!
It fell on the pool splashing water.
The waves of water hadn't even calmed down on the surface when the sturdy figure commanded its henchman to take him down.
Maneuvering and twisting his body, he dodged the claws and sharp tongues by a few inches and jumped back creating some distance between himself and them.
