Cracked Pillars of Fate

Chapter 11: Meeting Point in the Threshold Zone

The sensation of being pulled through a cosmic needle's eye ended with a violent impact that made Archen Huge’s lungs feel as if they were exploding. He was thrown onto sharp, pale gray gravel ground. The smell of the air here was strange; a mixture of sulfur and a pungent, electric scent of static.

"Damn it..." Archen groaned, trying to get up. Every joint felt as if it had been lubricated with sand.

Before he could even stand upright, a hoarse roar split the silence. From behind a mound of rocks, three creatures leaped out, looking like nightmares stitched together. They had the bodies of the shadow wolves Archen had fought before, but with the hard crystal shells of Sentinels covering their backs.

[Warning: System Amalgamation Detected.]

[Category: Transitional Predators.]

"You guys again?" Archen smirked wildly, even as blood seeped from his forehead where it had hit the rock. He clenched his fists, summoning the black aura of gravity that now pulsed more steadily around his arms.

The first creature lunged. Archen didn't dodge. Instead, he stepped forward, slamming his fist into the monster's jaw. Gravity Impact exploded, shattering the crystal shell and sending the creature's head burying into the gravel ground. However, the other two attacked from blind spots. One clawed at his shoulder, while the other tried to sweep his legs.

"Get off me, you damn beasts!" Archen growled, trying to throw them off with pure strength. However, the coordination of these monsters' attacks was much more refined than what he had faced in the Hyper-Gravity Capsule. He was being pushed back, his feet dragging across the sharp gravel.

Suddenly, an iron pipe streaked through the air, striking one of the monsters right in the eye with terrifying precision. The creature shrieked and retreated, providing an opening for Archen to deliver a counterattack.

"Find its blind spot, Giant! Under its neck!" an authoritative voice echoed from behind the mist.

Archen turned for a moment. There stood a man with a sharp and calm gaze. El Joe. He was still wearing his drab clothes, but a green aura of Environmental Adaptation enveloped him like a thin cloak.

Archen didn't answer. Instead, he felt annoyed. Who is he, daring to give me orders? With overflowing rage, Archen crushed the last monster with a heavy stomp that cracked the ground. Once the threat was gone, he turned, staring at Joe with red eyes full of suspicion.

"Don't interfere in my business, Commander," Archen hissed. He stepped toward Joe, letting his gravity energy pressure the surrounding area until small pebbles began to float. "I don't need anyone's help to kill those dogs."

Joe didn't flinch in the face of Archen's energy pressure. Instead, he stood tall, his hand still gripping the iron pipe that was now beginning to glow green. "Your strength is extraordinary, but you fight like a blind man. You're just wasting energy if you keep relying on your muscles."

"You want to test that?" Archen lunged forward.

He threw a punch at Joe. Archen's speed was beyond ordinary human logic, yet Joe moved with incredible efficiency. He didn't dodge far; he merely shifted his feet a few inches, letting Archen's fist pass just a hair's breadth from his face. Joe utilized Archen's momentum, touching the big man's wrist and twisting it slightly to redirect the gravitational weight back toward Archen himself.

Archen stumbled, shocked to see how easily his power was neutralized. "You... what did you do?"

"I'm not fighting you," Joe answered calmly, even though sweat began to dampen his temples from resisting the pressure of Archen's aura. "I'm fighting with this environment. And right now, this environment is saying that a larger wave is heading this way. We don't have time to fight each other."

Archen wanted to attack again, but a massive vibration shook the ground beneath them. The purple sky above them suddenly turned pitch black. From the horizon, hundreds of pairs of red eyes emerged from behind the mist, accompanied by the thundering of footsteps that made the ground seem to boil.

[Warning: Mid-Scale Invasion Beginning.]

[Status: Surrounded.]

"See?" Joe pointed toward the sea of approaching monsters. "You might be able to destroy ten, maybe twenty. But there are hundreds of them. You'll die of exhaustion before you even touch half of them."

Archen stared at the sea of monsters, then at Joe. He hated to admit it, but this man was right. He could feel his energy beginning to drain after the interdimensional journey earlier.

"What is your plan, Commander?" Archen finally lowered his hands, his black aura subsiding slightly but remaining alert.

"Use your weight as an anchor," Joe immediately took control. He pointed toward a narrow gap between two low cliff walls not far from them. "I'll lure them into that gap so they can't surround us. When they pile up, I need you to slam the ground with full force. Can you do that?"

Archen smirked, an expression that resembled a predator more than a human. "I can destroy this entire place if you want."

"Just destroy the monsters. Not the cliffs," Joe replied curtly.

Joe ran forward, making movements that drew the attention of the lead monsters. He moved like a shadow, agile and elusive. Every movement was regulated by the system to maximize provocation. The monsters chased him with blind rage, entering right into the narrow gap Joe had pointed out.

Archen stood at the end of the gap, waiting. He saw Joe leap over his shoulder with impossible agility.

"Now!" Joe shouted.

Archen took a deep breath. He concentrated all his remaining energy, letting the gravity around him condense until the air around his fist began to crack. He slammed his fist into the ground just as the horde of monsters filled the gap.

BOOM!

It wasn't the sound of a fiery explosion, but rather a deafening sound of a heavy impact. The ground inside the gap suddenly sank three meters deep, crushing the monsters inside into organic pulp due to the thousands of tons of pressure that appeared instantly. The shockwave caused gravel dust to cover the entire area.

Silence once again took hold of the transition zone. Archen stood in the middle of the dust, his breath coming in gasps. His hands were bleeding, but he felt alive. He turned and saw Joe cleaning his iron pipe of monster fluid.

"Working with you turns out not to be as bad as I thought," Archen muttered, his voice now a bit softer.

Joe gave a slight nod. "You are a pillar of strength, Archen. But a pillar needs a foundation so it doesn't collapse. And I am here to ensure that foundation remains solid."

The two stood side by side amidst the monster remains, looking toward the silent horizon. The suspicion that had been burning earlier began to fade, replaced by a reluctant respect.

"Then, where is the Brain?" Archen asked, remembering the pale, bespectacled young man who had been holding their hands earlier.

Joe looked at his energy compass, which suddenly pulsed wildly. "He's not far from here. But it seems he's in big trouble."

Suddenly, a deafening digital scream was heard from a distance, followed by a pillar of blue light exploding toward the sky. In the midst of that light, they could see the silhouette of Dylan Smith surrounded by thousands of codes turning into black chains wrapping around his body.

"Damn," Archen clenched his fists again. "It seems this game really isn't giving us any time to rest."

Joe didn't answer with words. He simply started running toward the explosion of light, signaling for Archen to follow him. They knew that if the third pillar collapsed, the fate of the world would crumble along with them.