2025-03-31 02:50:43
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347: A Trap Seen
The attack ended faster than anyone expected.One moment, screams and violent movement tore through the village and the next, there was silence.Bodies lay scattered across the stone road, some half-embedded in shattered walls, others twisted unnaturally on the ground. Blood pooled, steam rising faintly where it touched the cold stones.Kai straightened slowly, rolling his shoulders once as if loosening stiff joints. Jian stood a short distance away, calm and unmoving, fists relaxed at his sides, breathing steady as though he had merely finished a warm-up.Abigail and the girls rushed forward immediately, shock still written all over their faces.“What the hell was that?!” one of the girls shouted, eyes wide. “Why did you just kill them?!”Another spun on Jian, disbelief clear in her voice. “They were asking for shelter! Are you two insane?!”Abigail didn’t shout, but her brows were tightly drawn as she stared at Kai. “Explain,” she said firmly.Kai didn’t answer right away.Instead,
346: The Water Path
They stood before the towering gate, the five elemental symbols still glowing faintly when, without warning, the stone rumbled.A deep, ancient sound echoed through the space, and then the gate opened.Not outward.It split inward, the massive stone dividing cleanly into five separate passages, each one glowing with a different elemental hue.Clear blue light flowed from one path like a slow-moving river. Crimson heat shimmered from another. Green currents twisted in the air. Brown-gold earth pulsed with weight. Silver light gleamed cold and sharp.Above each route floated a single word.Water.Fire.Wind.Earth.Metal.No voice explained it.No rule was announced.It was simply… there.Kai didn’t hesitate.He glanced once at the plaque in his hand, then stepped toward the path glowing blue. The water route felt cool against the skin, a strange sensation like standing near deep ocean currents. Abigail followed immediately, then Jian, then the rest of the group falling in behind them w
345: The Massive Gate.
The moment the wooden statues finished rising from the ground, the air around the village shifted.They stood in a loose arc before the five gathered groups, each statue carved from dark, aged wood, their surfaces cracked and weathered as though they had stood through countless eras before being buried again.Their expressions were indistinct, neither smiling nor hostile yet something about them felt… aware. Like they were not merely objects, but watchers.Silence followed, a heavy, uncomfortable kind of silence.The girls frowned instinctively, eyes moving from one statue to another, unease crawling up their spines.There were no inscriptions or obvious formations. Just five wooden figures standing there like they were waiting to be chosen.“What… is this?” one of the girls muttered quietly.Kai didn’t answer and neither did Jian.Both of them were doing the same thing, watching the people, not the statues.Kai’s gaze drifted across the other groups, slow and deliberate. Seeing their
344: Five Is the Price of Entry
The man who stepped forward was tall and lean, his movements calm but deliberate, like someone who had already measured the room before anyone else even noticed there was a room to measure. He wore dark travel robes dusted from long journeys.“My name is Rovan,” he said, stopping a few steps away from Kai. His eyes were sharp, observant, the sort that lingered just long enough on each person to catalog strengths and threats. “And since you’ve arrived, we’re finally complete.”That sentence alone was enough to make Kai frown.“Complete?” Kai repeated, tilting his head slightly. “You talk like we’re ingredients in some soup. Care to explain before I decide whether I like that comparison or not?”Rovan didn’t react to the tone instead, he shrugged lightly, as if this was all obvious. “This village doesn’t allow progression unless five groups are present. No more, no less. Until that condition is met, everything ahead stays locked.”The air around them shifted subtly.The other groups sti
343: Greed With a Compass
When the dust finally settled and the laughter faded, the girls slowed to a stop one after another, hands on their knees, chests heaving, faces flushed from both exertion and frustration.Kai had long since stopped running too, standing a short distance away with his hands on his hips, breathing easily, a smug curve on his lips like he’d just won something important in life.“Idiots,” one of the girls muttered, straightening up. “Why do we end up chasing him?”Kai grinned. “Because deep down, you love me.”Several death glares answered him.Before another argument could start, Abigail cleared her throat lightly, drawing everyone’s attention back. The joking mood slowly settled, replaced by the quiet awareness that they were still inside a secret realm where danger lurked behind every step. Laughter was a luxury, not a guarantee.Kai wiped imaginary dust from his clothes and casually pulled out the map. The moment it unfurled, his expression shifted, playful arrogance melting into focu
342: Spoils of a Fallen Horror
The moment the three-headed beast finally crashed to the ground, the earth trembling beneath its massive corpse, a heavy silence swallowed the battlefield.Then there were exhales.Long, shaky breaths escaped from everyone at once, like a group that had been holding their lungs tight for far too long. Some of the girls dropped to their knees, others leaned on their weapons, a few just sat down hard on the ground, staring blankly at the unmoving monster as if afraid it might suddenly jump back up and eat them out of spite.“It’s… dead,” someone muttered, disbelief thick in her voice.Only then did Abigail move.She sprinted straight toward Kai.“Kai!” she called, skidding to a stop beside him and dropping to her knees without caring about the blood, the scorched earth, or the mess everywhere. Her eyes scanned him rapidly, hands hovering awkwardly over his arms, his shoulders, his chest, not sure where to touch first.At the moment, Kai was already halfway healed. Cracked bones were kni
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