“An order of magnitude?! No, that’s impossible, you have to be mistaken.” Irit firmly shook his head. “We even checked multiple times. It can’t be that high!”

[Look, man… I am being optimistic, alright? Having a structure in a place like this, I don’t think even a Sky Realm Cultivator would do such a thing. Which logically means it had to be someone stronger. Much stronger. If the energy continues to scale exponentially as it has up until now, then the requirement would be nothing for someone at… Let’s say Demigod level.]

“Demigod?” Sonic shuddered. “Maybe we should reconsider...”

“What? No! We can’t stop now!” Ruth shouted, and both Naran and Irit agreed with her.

[You do whatever you want. I came too far to give up now, I’m blasting this thing open one way or another.]

I took a moment to consider how many Souls I would have to burn to fill that bottomless hole. I had plenty, almost a hundred, but if I was right, a large chunk would still have to be sacrificed. Maybe even 10% of it.

Honestly, that hurt. Even for my stupidly high standards, that was a lot of energy I would have to use. Still, it had to be done.

[You might wanna step back in case something unexpected happens. This will get wild.] I said and took a stance on the platform. The Souls began to unravel in my Sea of Consciousness and my body got flooded with energy. My chest swelled as I took a deep breath, and then began blasting.

A bright blue glow formed around me as the air became saturated with Qi. It was very eerie as the place was absolutely silent. Only a gentle blue light getting swallowed by the ground showed there was something happening. Unfortunately, a lot of energy was spilling over, wasted instead of going into the circle, so I lowered my output to match the drain rate. Despite that, the energy transfer was still ludicrously high, and I could practically feel the gazes of the other four burrowing into my back.

“He can still keep going?” I heard a whisper behind me. I ignored it and focused on the transfer of energy.

“Why is he not using Stones? He is not using them, is he?”

“I don’t see any. So weird...”

The quiet whispers continued. The large stone circle on the ground neared saturation, and I felt the stores of Qi begin to swirl around. Something was happening.

[Almost there…] I murmured and gave it one final push to fill the well. As soon as it filled to the top, I felt the inscriptions come alive. Knowledge was forced into my mind, and a multidimensional lattice spread through my consciousness like a city-sized jigsaw puzzle. I almost flinched back at the sudden intrusion of knowledge and it took me a moment to stabilize.

I mentally stared at the gigantic construct for a long while, clueless as to what it might mean.

“Is everything alright? Gerald?”

[Hmm? Oh, yeah… I’m done.] I replied and looked over the complex formation of arrays. There was a large structure in the middle that reminded me of a big red button even though there was no color. A buzzer maybe? Without hesitation, I mentally pressed it. It seemed like the right thing to do.

The ground shook ever so slightly, and the circle in the ground began producing grinding sounds as the 36 stone pieces began to sink into the ground one after the other. Soon its true purpose was revealed. It was a staircase.

“You did it!” Sonic exclaimed and came to stand beside me with a goofy grin, looking at the enlarging hole in the ground. The others came to look as well, gawking at the opening.

“That’s some big stairs.” Naran murmured.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Truly made for giants.” Irit nodded in agreement.

I jumped down on the first step and then frowned. The first ledge, the ground floor, came almost to my hips, and every step down was the same. Did I mention the place was huge? Well, it was huge.

After a moment, I expanded my body to the height of ten meters and only then felt like the structure made sense. It was a place built for large people. Beings. Large creatures?

Anyway, as I took a few steps down the spiral staircase, the walls began to glow with a gentle white light. It was such a refreshing sight from the eternal grays and dull reds of the Ashen Wastes.

[I’m going first. You guys coming?] I turned to my, much smaller, companions.

“Uh, yeah… Right behind you.”

[Let’s go!] We stepped into the light.

----------------------------------------

The group of four waited a moment and then went after Gerald. He was advancing much faster while they were falling behind. Unlike the giant with inexhaustible energy, they entered the ancient ruin with both excitement and apprehension and traveled slowly.

Each step they descended was an opportunity for something bad to happen. As they neared the bottom, their hearts were beating at a fast pace.

Then something exploded.

A wave of heat, force, and blood hit them, throwing them against the giant steps. Sonic was at the front and as such the brunt of the damage. An amulet he had hidden under his shirt shattered at the moment of impact, protecting his body from injury. The other were not so lucky and sustained minor injuries from the blast.

Sonic stood up, coughing. “Is everyone alright?”

He got a shrill scream in response. Ruth, covered in blood from head to toe, was screaming at the top of her lungs as pieces of flesh slid down her face. The rest of them weren’t much better.

Blood, bones, and viscera painted the walls and the stairs themselves a bright red, and where Gerald once stood, a charred spot remained.

Naran and Irit wiped their faces and looked around, the magnitude of what just happened slowly sinking in.

“Oh shit, oh fuck…”

“He’s dead!”

Ruth began to hyperventilate and collapsed. Sonic quickly rushed to her side, soothing her racing mind with comforting words.

The other two, while still shocked and frightened, kept it together slightly better. They peered over the stairs down below where most of the blood began to pool, and spoke to each other in hushed voices.

“Dude… What the fuck was that?”

“I know, right? Holy shit, look at all the bones!”

“Why are they black?”

“Forget that… Is it just me or are they all still intact?”

They both gasped as they noticed the ribcage in a corner at the bottom, a black crystal core inside it pulsing like a heart.

“Is that…?” Naran’s words remained stuck in his throat as he felt something pulling his skin. He lifted his arms and watched in a stupor as the fresh blood began to move on its own and then merge into larger drops that then lifted off and began to float.

They watched in silence as the pieces began to reconstitute themselves and took on the shape of a human. Bones came together, ligaments grew and reconnected, muscles and veins reformed themselves and the sludge of blood and bodily liquids was reabsorbed into the body.

Lastly, the skull snapped back into place and a layer of red skin covered everything, including the tail.

Gerald, large and reformed, groaned and cracked his neck.

[Ah. That hurt.]

“Y-you… You are alive!” Sonic stammered and stumbled back in shock.

Gerald snorted. [As if an attack of that magnitude could kill me. Hehe. And to think I was the one to provide the energy. So dumb. At least I now know what those arrays were.]

“Arrays? What arrays?”

[The door. When unlocking the stairs, there were a whole bunch of inscriptions I detected in the structure. It seemed to be overkill for a simple door, but now I realize it was probably an anti-intruder booby trap. Very clever. Making me arm my own firing squad.]

“A what?”

[Don’t worry about it. Just an expression.]

“Oh…” Sonic paused for a moment. “But then, does this mean this place is full of traps now?”

Instead of giving him reassurance, Gerald gave possibly the most deranged-looking grin he could muster. [Why, of course! Get ready to enter a meat grinder, gentlemen. And lady.] He gave a nod towards Ruth who seemed to have largely recovered. The rest of them were looking somewhat pale, however.

“Uh, shouldn’t we go back? It doesn’t seem wise to keep exploring if things like this are waiting for us. I think we should reconsider.” Naran suggested.

[And lose the opportunity to explore? No way.] Gerald shook his head. [Besides, a large chunk of energy was already used up in the attempt to kill me. It was amplified and concentrated, that’s why it was even able to hurt me. This place was probably dormant for thousands of years. And just imagine what ancient relics and treasures are waiting for us inside just behind this door.]

At the bottom of the stairway stood a large door. Twice as large as even him. He touched its smooth, metallic surface, fingers tracing the ancient carvings and glyphs. There was a sudden flash of light, and the hand that had touched the door fell off, cut cleanly at the elbow. At the same time, the lights on the walls behind them began to dim. Some kind of energy-saving timer, probably.

Sonic gulped. The last thing they heard as they were plunged into darkness, was Gerald’s quiet maniacal laughter.

[Oh, yeah… This place is going to be so much fun.]