CHAPTER 1093: IN THE SCORCHED GROUND

The world that awaited them was drowned in ruin just like what they had thought.

The portal burst open with a violent ripple of light, its edges flickering like torn metal before collapsing behind them.

The air immediately pressed against their skin. It felt dense, searing, and alive with uncontrolled Magic that most likely was residual of ancient battle.

Crimson lightning crawled across the dark clouds above and the entire sky shifted between red and black like a wounded heart still struggling to beat.

Erend took a slow breath. The air burned even in his Dragonborn lungs, thick with the stench of sulfur and ash. The ground beneath him was cracked and scorched and faint glowing as if fire still pulsed beneath the surface.

The wind carried the sound of distant thunder or explosion, but it wasn’t just that. Those echoes carried whispers of distorted voices that came and vanished like fading screams.

"Damn..." Aesa muttered, covering her mouth with her sleeve. Her blue eyes darted across the ruined landscape. "It’s worse than I imagined. This world is also hot."

Eccar crouched and pressed his hand against the blackened ground. A thin blue light shimmered from his palm, and he frowned.

"Residual Magic energy is everywhere in thick concentration. It’s chaotic." He looked up at Erend. "We shouldn’t use large-scale Magic unless necessary. This ground will react badly."

Erend nodded. "Okay."

Krono moved a few steps forward, his body shimmering faintly. His presence alone stilled the air for a moment.

"This is the scar of a fallen world. Now that I’m here I can see some more," he said slowly, his voice echoing through the desolate field. "The entity’s corruption runs deep here. Be on your guard. Its presence is everywhere."

As he spoke, a tremor rolled through the ground. The scorched soil cracked open and faint red mist began to rise from the fissures.

Erend’s instincts flared instantly. His Dragon Scales rippled faintly beneath his skin, reacting to the immense power flowing through the land.

"Something’s moving there," Aesa said sharply, her hand glowing with azure light.

Eccar straightened. "I think it knows we’re here."

Erend’s eyes narrowed. He could feel an overwhelming consciousness stirring beneath the ground, vast and ancient.

The whispers in the wind twisted into low and broken words now, speaking in a language none of them understood.

Krono turned his gaze toward the horizon, where the sky seemed to twist unnaturally.

"It’s aware of us. But it won’t come yet." His tone was grim. "It’s waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Aesa asked.

"For us to step deeper into its domain," Erend replied, his voice calm despite the tension in the air. He stared into the distance, his eyes reflecting the storming sky. "It wants to lure us in."

Another rumble echoed across the plains, and far off a spire of molten black stone erupted from the earth, piercing the red clouds above.

The explosion scattered sparks and shards of burning debris that rained down like falling embers.

"There," Krono said. "That’s where the distortion is strongest. That’s where it resides."

Erend clenched his fists. "Alright then that’s where we’re going."

They began walking across the wasteland. Each step left faint ripples of Magic across the scorched ground and the whispering wind followed them like a living thing.

In the distance, the twisted silhouette of the spire loomed higher with every heartbeat like a monument to destruction and the waiting will of something ancient and malignant.

The closer they got, the heavier the air became. The sky flickered again, and the world trembled as if recognizing their intent.

Krono’s deep voice broke through the rising noise. "Be ready. From here on, it will send creatures to attack us."

Erend’s gaze sharpened.

They pressed on toward the spire, the storm above answering their resolve with another shattering crack of crimson lightning.

The tremor deepened beneath their feet and soon the ground cracked open in wide and burning lines. From those fissures came a guttural roar that shook the wasteland world.

A shadow surged upward. It was a massive and deformed wyvern. It burst from the scorched ground, its wings charred and torn, yet still beating with furious strength.

Its scales glowed like metal fresh from the forge and its eyes burned with crimson fire.

It wasn’t alone.

More creatures emerged from the mist and fissures. Beasts that looked like echoes of life twisted beyond reason. Hulking forms with too many limbs, eyeless serpents slithering on molten soil, and giant shapes with bones exposed through steaming flesh.

Their growls and shrieks merged into a single dreadful symphony that made the air vibrate.

"They’re appeared already," Aesa said, summoning waves of blue frozen light around her hands.

Eccar leaped forward, slamming his foot into the ground as he met the first charging wyvern. The earth answered him instantly and jagged stone erupted upward in a sharp line, crashing into the creature’s chest and throwing it off balance.

His punch followed in a blur, destroying its molten hide. Sparks and chunks of stone flew, the impact echoing like thunder.

The wyvern roared and retaliated, its claws striking with blinding speed.

Eccar blocked the first, rolled under the second, and swung upward again, slicing deep into its wing with his claw.

The creature shrieked, but instead of falling, the torn flesh flared with molten light and sealed itself in seconds, the wound fusing shut as liquid fire poured across its scales.

Eccar narrowed his eyes. "Damn it. It’s regenerating."

Erend stepped forward. Flames crackled around his arms, swirling with streaks of lightning. He thrust his hand out, unleashing a roaring wave of fire that consumed the monsters ahead.

The blast tore through the field, shaking the air. But when the smoke cleared several creatures still twitched and staggered upright—charred, half-melted, but still moving with unnatural strength.

"They’re not dying," Erend growled. "They’re feeding on the Magic around them I guess."

Krono swung his arm once and the air rippled. A wave of golden distortion expanded from him, slicing through a line of beasts and erasing them in an instant. Time itself seemed to skip, freezing the monsters mid-lunge before they vanished into dust.

But more crawled out of the red mist, climbing over their fallen.

"They’re not really alive," Krono said, his tone flat but grim. "These are fragments of the entity’s will through the dead creatures here."

Aesa raised her hands, blue sigils spinning around her wrists. Spears of ice formed in the air and shot forward, piercing two creatures. Frost spread instantly, locking them in crystal shells.

But cracks appeared seconds later, and both monsters shattered the ice with violent force.

"They’re pretty strong!" she shouted.

Lightning flared from Erend’s body, merging with the flames around him. His aura erupted.

The ground split beneath him as he surged forward, his punch exploding through a wyvern’s head in a burst of fire and electricity. The impact sent waves of molten ash sweeping across the battlefield.

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