“Is it just me, or did you guys feel like we were being watched just now?” Slim glanced at his companions.

“I didn’t sense anything,” Zara said, frowning.

Ember remained silent, though she shared Slim’s unease. The air had been unnaturally colder for a moment, but she hadn’t felt the weight of another person’s gaze. Orion, on the other hand, turned toward Scott with a bright smile. “I thought you were going to kill her,” he said mentally.

“She’s irrelevant,” Scott replied, his gaze focused on the surrounding cliffs. “It would be great if there was someone on the ground to spread the infamy of this area. People need to be terrified of the prospects of coming here,” he mentally explained.

Orion chuckled softly, adjusting his glasses. “You realize that it will only attract the most insane champions, right?”

Scott lowered his gaze, meeting the mage’s curious eyes. “Is that a problem?”

Orion’s smile widened, and he laughed out loud before averting his gaze. “I’m looking forward to it,” he muttered softly, his words catching the attention of his companions. However, neither of the trio spoke; it wasn’t unusual for the mage to talk to himself occasionally.

“So, it was just me then?” Slim muttered, still focused on the strange sensation he had felt earlier. “By the way, how long is it going to take these people to get here?” he grumbled. The footsteps had been gradually intensifying, yet the people behind them had not revealed themselves.

Slim casually strolled away from the group, sitting on a nearby rock. Orion followed suit, silently taking his seat on another rock. Only Zara, Ember, and Scott remained standing, with the voidweaver closest to the portal. The footsteps grew louder, yet no champions appeared.

Seconds piled up, and Orion casually observed the rocks in the area, while Zara and Ember now sat on different rocks, leaving Scott as the only one standing. Over twenty minutes had passed since they arrived, and the footsteps hadn't disappeared, sounding closer than ever. Still, the champions behind them had yet to reveal themselves.

“This is too boring,” Slim sighed, stretching his arms. He turned to his companions. “I thought we were going to—” A massive mud puddle opened beneath Slim's makeshift seat, cutting him off mid-sentence. The same phenomenon repeated itself across the area. In a flash, the necromancer and his companions were buried neck-deep in the earth.

At that moment, the ground a few feet away from the prisoners bubbled, and several figures emerged from the bubbling earth.

The orc leading the party unleashed a loud cackle, his pudgy stomach trembling with laughter. “That was too easy. What did I tell you?” he said, turning to a mole rat. “I told you they wouldn’t see us coming.”

“This isn’t the time to be gloating. Let’s get the hell out of this wasteland,” the mud dweller declared, moving closer to the turquoise portal while the orc continued laughing.

“You’re too much of a coward, Dooghs, but that’s why I like you,” the orc said. “Let’s get out of this place, my friends,” he declared, to the cheers of his companions.

Leisurely, they approached the portal, ignoring the bound guardians stuck in the earth. “I thought this was going to be harder,” a mole rat commented.

“Are you complaining?” another mole rat retorted. “It’s almost as if you’re disappointed it was easy. You can wait for them to get out if you’re that itchy for a battle.”

“That’s not what I meant, fool,” the mole rat snapped. “I heard the guardians were ridiculously hard to fight against. I can’t see the larger ones either. Don’t you think something is off?”

“Blah… Blah… Blah… that’s all I hear,” the orc chimed in. “You should be happy we don’t have to fight,” he declared. “But to be honest, I was a bit surprised when the portal turned black earlier. Since these idiots fell for Dooghs’ trap, it’s impossible for them to exert any energy whatsoever, so it’s only natural that the portal will return to normal.”

The champions gathered in front of the portal, ignoring Scott, who was buried a few feet away. Wordlessly, they charged in one after the other, excitement evident on their faces. Only one mole rat remained, observing the bound guardians once more. “This is really too easy,” it muttered, a lingering sense of foreboding in its voice. With a resigned sigh, it raced into the portal, disappearing.

A faint crack echoed, and reality seemed to warp. The clear, warm portal transformed into its corrupted form, and the hound extermination crew assembled in front of it instead of the spots where they had been buried.

The gazes of the prisoners alternated between Scott and the eerie portal, their stunned faces revealing their inner thoughts.

“Buddy, did you send them to that place?” Slim asked, turning toward the voidweaver.

Scott faced Slim, wearing a thin smile. “I didn’t send them anywhere. They walked in there of their own volition,” he said.

Meanwhile, Orion giggled softly. “How did you do it?” he asked, turning to Scott. He couldn’t tell what the champions had experienced, but they were extremely relaxed, unable to detect their presence whatsoever, as if someone had projected specific scenarios into their minds.

“That’s not important right now,” Scott declared, averting his gaze from the portal and focusing on the surrounding cliffs. “They’re close. Are you guys ready?”

“It’s not like we have a choice, buddy,” Slim said, slowly unbuttoning his clothes.

Orion retrieved his staff, placing his glasses in his inventory, while Zara mentally psyched herself for battle. Ember climbed the second step of the shifting disks, low thunder escaping from her form. Like Scott, they focused on the same position, an air of vigilance gripping the prisoners. A minute later, a thunderous bang echoed, and several silhouettes appeared on the cliff’s edge.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The Calamities from Area D-14 are invading your territory!

The hound extermination crew stared at the new arrivals, and the calamities stared back. The group comprised eight members, four of which were abnormally large—the mimics. All four calamities of non-mimic origins were beastmen of lycan descent. The beastmen’s eyes glowed with an eerie amber light, piercing the dust clouds with a predatory intensity. Their gaze was both mesmerizing and terrifying, reflecting a primal ferocity that hinted at an inner savagery. The taller mimics growled softly, their ominous eyes focused on the calamities below.

Barely seconds after the system notification, a series of explosions followed, and even more figures appeared on the surrounding cliff’s edge, each group a fair distance apart.

The Calamities from Areas D-2, D-7, D-17, D-1, D-19, and D-5 are invading your territory!

Slim, Zara, Ember, and Orion, each with a different expression, distanced themselves from each other, leaving Scott in front of the portal.

Meanwhile, the calamities gathered around the cliff’s edge observed each other warily, with neither group showing any intention of backing down or fleeing. Their eyes roamed the area, lingering on the ominous portal. Questions filled their minds, but they weren’t invested in the portal. Instead, the newly arrived calamities were the focus of their scrutiny. That the five-man party showed no reaction to the arrival of several calamities sent alarm bells ringing in the minds of some champions. Coupled with the fact that no mimics were present around the hound extermination crew.

“So, the flies from D-14 are here again?” a beastman said, snickering at the lycans. “It seems everyone is after the newbies,” he observed, scanning the groups one after another. “I’m surprised those maniacs from D-1 aren’t here yet,” he remarked.

A tense atmosphere gripped the calamities as soon as the beastman mentioned D-1, and several calamities unconsciously scanned the area, searching for something or someone.

“You all can fuck off!” a loud, gruff voice declared, and the calamities raised their heads. Their dispositions changed, noting a group of eight massive entities peeling out from a portal. The smallest stood over twenty feet tall, while the largest exceeded forty feet. However, the calamities all shared one similarity—they had one eye. The cyclops who had spoken earlier threw itself from the spatial rift, fists balled, crashing with momentum.

“I knew those maniacs were lurking nearby,” the beastman muttered, watching as the cyclops launched itself toward Scott, who remained impassive to the arrival of the calamities.

The voidweaver casually raised his right hand, and a blackened void materialized above his head, to the horror of the approaching cyclops. In an instant, the void swallowed the cyclops, and silence lingered in the area. Scott lowered his arm, and the void vanished. He wiggled his fingers, the war hammer of the mad god shot out from the nihilistic zone.

“Kill them all,” Scott declared mentally, his grip tightening around the war hammer’s handle.

Zara unleashed a thunderous roar, invoking her Rule of Absolute. Puppeteer strings manifested, taking control of the brawler. Slim activated his death domain, while Orion giggled uncontrollably, his staff twirling in midair and dispersing the surrounding sand. Curiously, the sand grains tumbled and mixed, forming small pebbles which transformed into rocks, then boulders, and finally massive golems. Ember, on the other hand, ascended the hovering steps, her eyes replaced with lightning sparks and her hair flailing in all directions. The skies above darkened, and thunder rumbled in the distance.

The calamities, from their various vantage points, stared at the transformed hound extermination crew with unmasked bloodlust. They expected a challenge, and no one had any intention of fleeing, no matter how uncanny Scott and his companions’ abilities were. With each group determined to take over D-15 for themselves, the possibility of an alliance was nonexistent. Each knew that only one group would remain after the battle, and they each had confidence in their abilities.

Orion’s golems sprinted toward the calamities, their hulking forms leaving cracks with each step. At that moment, lava, massive fireballs, sword light, projectiles of various natures, and spatial distortions rained down on the creatures in quick succession, shattering some back into their grainy forms. Those who survived charged toward the calamities with mechanical, murderous intent, devoid of fear. The calamities lingering on the cliff's edge descended en masse, their own bloodlust palpable.

Zara’s harrowing form screamed again, and hundreds of bloody projectiles raced toward the calamities at speeds greater than bullets. Meanwhile, baleful vortexes formed above Slim’s throne, and his army of undead frantically raced toward the approaching calamities. Ember, targeting the cyclops from D-1 lingering in the portal above, took to the skies via the shifting steps, the roar of thunder and lightning deafening.

Another cyclops popped out from the portal, but it didn’t fall to the ground. Instead, it sprinted haphazardly, its feet pressing on condensed areas that remained invisible. Fueled with rage and murderous intent, it charged toward the dragonkin, intending to end her existence with a powerful blow. Ember raised her right hand, and a massive lightning dragon descended from the turbulent skies. It surged toward the approaching cyclops at a blinding speed, appearing where the cyclops ran in a flash. At that same moment, however, a spatial gateway manifested in front of the cyclops, devouring the lightning dragon. Another gateway appeared behind Ember, and the lightning attack exited at point-blank range. The lightning dissipated before it struck Ember, but two other cyclops emerged from adjacent portals, hurling powerful punches toward her.

Golden scales covered Ember’s body as the massive fists struck, eliciting another powerful explosion. Yet, she remained standing, unscathed. A crimson hue dyed the lightning in her eyes, and the heavens grew more turbulent.

On the ground, the mimic versions of the lycans charged at Scott on all fours, exuding copious amounts of bloodlust. A hundred paces from where Scott stood, they spun in midair, producing massive vortexes that devoured the surrounding earth as they traveled toward him. Scott, with hammer in tow, took a step forward, then another, before approaching in maddened haste. His form blurred out of existence, confusing the stunned lycans. In a flash, the voidweaver manifested next to a lycan, unleashing a ruthless strike to the creature’s skull, shattering it with one motion. Then Scott’s form turned illusionary once more, and the vortex ravaged the spot he had stood in previously.

The voidweaver eerily manifested behind another lycan. This time, however, before Scott could shatter the creature’s skull, he noticed flowers suddenly blooming where they stood. The flowers swelled and, a second later, a series of explosions rocked the area, sending the battered form of the lycan flying, its body perforated with holes but still surprisingly alive. Scott exited the inferno from another location, unscathed. He raised his head, meeting the gaze of a feminine plant humanoid attached to the cliff’s edge.

At that same moment, another explosion echoed, and a massive figure landed a couple of feet in front of Scott. The charred corpse was riddled with perforations, its face twisted in horror even in death. Rouge lightning sparks circled around the corpse, while pus and foul-smelling liquids poured from its opened mouth. Suddenly, the corpse swelled, and multiple colorful flowers quickly bloomed on its surface. Another explosion followed, more devastating than the previous. The mountain path trembled uncontrollably as tremors rocked the area. An all-out brawl had erupted within the mountain path, with calamities from different areas attacking each other. Death loomed at every corner, and for most calamities, the battle was only just beginning.