CHAPTER 120: DARK REALITY

Dark Reality

’This is troublesome.’ Mrs Jane thought as she stared at the dark dome that covered the testing area.

She glanced at the destroyed generators and back at the dome before frowning. The shield generators were gone, but the dome still persisted.

Moreover, attacking it was out of the question as the dome absorbed any attack they threw at it, be it physical or magical, and prolonged contact with it wasn’t exactly pleasant due to the aforementioned corruption.

She glanced back and saw that the crowd had been moved back from the dome as much as possible, but they still weren’t allowed to leave the event area.

’How can it maintain itself when there is no energy source to use?’ She mused and saw Lady Haggai some distance away constantly sacrificing vines and roots to probe the barrier, continuing to take notes as she performed what Mrs Jane could only guess to be experiments.

She huffed and returned her attention to the barrier. She sent her Mana sense forward, and as soon as it interacted with the dome, she felt the edges get singed off, prompting her to stop.

’Nothing is truly impenetrable. This thing must have a weakness, one way or the other.’ She snorted and went to meet Lady Haggai. They would discuss how to get passed it, no matter what.

___

’These are fresh tracks.’ Osho thought as he squatted to inspect the set of footprints in the dirt. From what he could see, there were four sets of tracks, two for humans and two for beasts.

There was also blood.

"They must have gotten attacked and retreated. Sugil says that the blood is still a little warm, so they can’t be far off." Ellie said and everyone nodded in agreement.

Without wasting much time, they pressed on. They couldn’t use their Mana sense outside Gale’s domain as that would blow their cover. Moreover, the corrupt Mana was slowly getting denser, and their senses would be muddled if they tried to use Mana sense to observe anything.

Hence, they could only rely on conventional tracking and using the natural traits their beasts possessed.

The group followed the trail for a while, doing their best to remain undetected as they moved.

Soon enough, the trail reached the side of a hill, and the group slowed down as they heard what sounded like laboured breathing.

They moved through a few bushes silently, and they saw them.

Osho’s expression darkened, Irene covered her mouth, Sam averted her gaze, Ellie’s narrowed, and Kurt pressed his lips together.

Two people were resting against a tree. One of them was covered in cuts and bruises, and on their lap was a kangaroo-type beast that seemed pretty injured. They wore a black and yellow uniform that signified that they were from the Obsidian Tamer Hall.

The most notable thing, though, was the series of darkened veins that spread across their body. Signifying that the corrupt Mana was slowly poisoning them.

As for the other person, well.

They were dead.

His body sat limply against the tree, eyes still and lifeless. His body was covered in wounds, the most gruesome of which was a long gash that had ripped their stomach open.

As for their beast. What remained of what seemed to be a head-sized dragonfly was half a corpse.

"... Osho..." Ellie said somberly, but Osho didn’t respond as he walked forward, not bothering to be silent.

The noise reached the person from the Obsidian Tamer Hall whose head snapped up, their beast also perking up with alertness.

When they saw it was a person, though, their guard dropped slightly, before immediately rising again.

"Who are you?!" He asked in a hoarse voice as he tried to get up but failed. His beast positioned itself in front of him, growling slightly. However, the way its body trembled signified that it, too, was on its last legs.

"We don’t want any trouble," Osho said and raised both of his arms in a placating gesture.

"We just want to know what happened." Seeing this, the guy gritted his teeth.

"We got our asses beat! That’s what," He said with laboured breaths. "Our group was trying to figure out what was going on, and then we got attacked. Derek he... he..." His voice cracked as he glanced at the lifeless corpse of his classmate and friend, "He saved me... we tried to get away... but he was too injured... We stopped here... I thought I could treat him in some way... but as soon as he sat down... he..." He trailed off as he closed his eyes, tears mixed with blood streaming down his cheeks.

Osho glanced at the body again before taking a breath.

"Hey, what’s your name?" He asked in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

The boy opened his eyes after a few seconds and looked at Osho who had a slightly reassuring smile on his face.

After some hesitation, he answered.

"Nicolas..." Hearing this Osho nodded.

"Alright. I’m Osho. You said something about being in a group, right? If you help us, we’ll help you. We’re looking for other students from the Bright Spark Academy," Osho pointed at his school badge and continued. "Did you happen to see any on your way here? Perhaps, were they in your group before you guys scattered?"

Nicolas’ eyes widened a little bit at the question, then his brows furrowed as he fell into thought.

"Y-Yeah... our group had... 9 people I think. 3 people were from your school. Three girls... I think they were siblings—" His words were cut off when he suddenly started coughing violently, his body shaking with each cough as he almost fell over.

His beast went over to support him, and Osho watched as he coughed up blood that was mixed with black splotches, the sight making him frown and the boy heaved when the fit ended.

"Fuck... this stupid energy..." He said with a gasp and looked back at Osho who frowned at his condition, which is when he noticed something.

"You... how come you aren’t being affected by the strange Mana?" He asked with surprise.

"... It’s my beast. He has a special way to resist it." He aimed a thumb at the others who seemed content to watch from the back along with their beasts.

"As long as they stay close, the corruption can’t affect us." He looked back at Nicolas who stared behind him with surprise.

"Is that... Eleanor Trost?" He asked with obvious surprise, his pain temporarily forgotten.

Osho smiled a bit.

"That’s right." He stretched out his hand, allowing it to cross the thin like dividing Gale’s domain from the outside. As soon as it did, he felt the corrupt Mana immediately try to infiltrate his body, his skin feeling like it was being pricked by countless tiny needles. However, Osho didn’t show a change in his expression, and Nicolas hesitated for a moment before reaching forward and grasping his hand.

Osho pulled him into the domain, with the kangaroo following suit, and as soon as they were through, Nicolas started panting like he’d just run a marathon. Feeling the pressure of the corrupt Mana weighing down on him vanish gave him the same sensation as when one was running, unaware of how much they were straining their body until they suddenly stopped.

The others finally went forward to assist the gasping boy, and Osho raised his hand to stare at it. He could feel the vile Mana that had invaded his body try to proliferate and infect everything it touched, but with a thought, he pushed back with his own Mana and purged it from his body, the remnants being destroyed by Gale’s domain a moment later.

’At this rate, the other students won’t be able to last a few hours before their bodies start to give out.’ He stared up at the barrier, his face impassive but his eyes dark.

’I was going to ignore you, whoever you are. However, two times in a row? I cannot let that slide.’ He turned to the group.

"We’ll be leaving in 30 minutes. We can’t waste too much time in one spot." He said, and no one objected. Osho then turned his attention to the corpse and sighed.

’Gale, increase the range of the domain a little bit.’ He asked and the bird silently complied.

When that was done, he started digging a hole next to the tree to put the corpse inside.

___

’Bastards.... Bastards... Bastards...’ Han Jiwon repeated over and over in his mind as he staggered through the forest. His eyes were wild and panicked as he moved, but he couldn’t move fast enough due to the deep gash in his leg.

It was slowly healing due to his beast. Its moonlight Affinity having some healing capabilities, but it wouldn’t be able to fully heal it in a short amount of time, especially with the corrupt Mana in the air which made the use of ordinary Mana pretty difficult.

As for what had injured him...

CRASH

Several trees broke behind Han Jiwon, the splinters of wood hitting his back and making him stumble, but he somehow kept his footing and kept running.

He risked a glance back and his face paled.

A T-Rex beast chased after him, its body breaking the surrounding trees like they were twigs. One should also take note of the intestine that hung out of the side of the beast’s mouth. One that belonged to Ren Yamada before she was eaten.

"Damn it!" He shouted as he ran.