A few days after their fight with the Wraith and the ceremony, the small unit was already moving northwards of the desert to join the five scouts. Just recently, the scouts ahead had finally messaged Lena, informing her they had located the portal. It was Northwards, hidden by large dunes that had formed around these specific parts.

Only twenty-seven soldiers were left. Kang was the only pilot available so they had to move forward without most of their supplies since they needed to move as fast as they could. There was no time to train a soldier how to ride an Arachnid.

‘Sighh.’

Luna pulled her sword out of the cursed beast she had just slain. Its black carapace might have given her some trouble to penetrate, but her strength had come through and she was able to penetrate right through the head, killing it instantly in the process.

The creature resembled a crab—only if a crab was about five meters tall and spit out black acid that could melt away even your bones. Its claws were strong enough to snap a human’s body. Its armor was tougher than steel. So, to make it immobile, she cut between the joints to take down the legs.

Jumping down, she observed the rest of the carnage happening around her. Everything was going smoothly.

Lena had taken down five crab-like monsters and Darkness was tearing the bastards apart like they didn’t have tough skin in the first place. Mira and Shin were also fighting the smaller creatures. They were winning thanks to Shin’s ability to see ahead by a few seconds and Mira’s overall surprisingly excellent skill with the sword.

The young lady had resorted to a red greatsword after her guns became an inconvenience to her movement. If it weren’t for the suit she was wearing, the weapon would’ve troubled her due to its weight.

Monic and Gail served as scouts and delivered surprise aerial attacks that wiped out most creatures of the horde. Monic’s black lightning easily burned through the tough carapaces and fried them to a crisp with ease.

Luna flashed towards another approaching group of abominations. Her blade was quick and deadly, each swing ending an abomination before it even spotted her. She danced from monster to monster, her bloodlust at its peak as she spilled more and more blood with her dance of death. Her swordskills too had grown over the past weeks in this cursed place.

By the time she was done, more than five cursed beasts had fallen. Her weapon was dripping with black blood. At first glance, you could think the black katana was melting.

The fight against the crab monsters ended quickly and with their victory. As soon as it was over, they gathered some meat from the corpses, burnt up the rest to avoid luring the serpent, then regrouped and continued their journey North without taking a break.

The cursed creatures were getting more powerful, the further North they continued. Mere cursed beasts were now hunting in groups to strengthen themselves which were quite hard to defeat like these crabs. Usually, one crab creature could be defeated by one arachnid. But if they attacked in groups, the arachnid and its pilot didn't stand a chance. Even an ascender with an Aura would struggle against two crab-like beasts--especially mature ones.

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As someone inexperienced with all of this, Luna had to admit...

This was so hard.

***

Luna was right behind her sister with Shin leading the way since his abilities allowed him to sense danger before it reached them. He was an essential member and the two sisters were guarding him with full resolve. Although Luna wasn't taking it as seriously as her sister did.

According to the coordinates Captain Snow sent, their way out of the desert was located in a ruined city called Verge. That’s what Snow had called it. And yes, it was exactly where the mind wraith claimed to have come from.

'It's like fate has been pulling me towards something ever since I found that temple.'

“How far are we from Verge?” Luna asked. She was getting both tired and impatient after only seeing red dunes everywhere she turned. Heck, the scenery no longer looked artistic at all. She was also starting to hate red as a color itself.

“Not sure. Snow mentioned that it's the only ruined city still standing. There is a magical force keeping the old city above the sand…we believe it's connected to the Cursed Creature ruling this territory.”

“What class?”

“I haven't received that information yet, but they call it the Undead King. Just from the sheer amplitude of its power, it could be a powerful general or something higher.”

Luna stopped.

Lena turned her neck, her cold gaze landing on her sister. She shrugged. “What? You thought a guardian was going to be something weak?”

She shook her head in response. “No. It's just that I’m a bit unsure about all of this. What if that thing is a Cursed Emperor? How sure are you these men and women will survive a direct battle against a cursed emperor? Have you forgotten the serpent?”

“I have not forgotten the serpent, Luna. But I am sure we can win if we plan this through.”

Luna raised her brow and gave her sister a skeptical look. Fighting a cursed emperor was bad news. Four cores meant that it possessed one powerful or three different abilities…only sorcerers were capable of winning against these creatures. However, there was a possibility that it was just a powerful cursed creature ruling over untamed territory.

“Do you have one at least?” she asked.

Len stared at her seriously and said, “It's in the planning phase, dear sister. We’ll create a better plan when we reach Snow. If it means waiting for backup, then we will do so.”

“But it will take backup weeks to get here,” Luna argued, remembering how long it took her cohort to get here.

Len sighed almost immediately. “We can’t lose any more good soldiers. Honestly, I don’t think I can take more loss.”

Luna wanted to understand what her sister meant with those words. However, she chose to keep quiet about it. Lena was a complicated character to read in the first place. So, Luna chose to do the one thing she was best at; keeping quiet and assuming that Len knew what was best.

Luna was only here for a few number of reasons, one of them being answers. Over the past few days, she had grown curious about the tower and the divine realm. She hadn’t mentioned her discoveries to anyone, yet for reasons that it might put them in danger. From what she had gathered, the Tower seemed to be harboring dangerous truths about the divine realm.

....Truths of the conflict between these True Celestials, the gods, and the humans of the divine realm. There were also the Cursed Creatures who appeared to be victims of the consequences of the conflict like the Mortal Realm.

‘It feels like my curiosity is constantly driving me towards dangerous territory.' she sighed before shooting a glance at the metal bracelet around her wrist. 'I need to get stronger or I will die before I uncover the truth.’

Now, she was starting to see why Corruption attacked that day. The immortal creature mentioned that the anomaly must not get to the tower. It was later revealed that this tower was actually a real dungeon, a structure born from powers way beyond human understanding.

Luna had made an educated guess that the anomaly spoken of was someone who shared a connection to the divine realm. And if that person uncovers the truth, they would be a threat to someone as powerful as Corruption.

She recalled the scratched-out words in the temple and the words she couldn’t translate. Someone might have scratched them out because they knew that a human from the Mortal realm could translate them. Luna happened to be one of those humans capable of translating some of those texts.

And apart from her, Snow and Len were her top guesses. The others she had in mind were Shin, Darkness, and Rita....who happened to be an enchanter in training.

'Someone is aware of our presence here...' Once that thought crossed her delicate mind, Luna halted her steps and quivered when she remembered the shadowy figure after she killed the sandworm. Was she seeing things due to the dust? Or did she really see something?

"Or someone."

'But I didn't sense anything at all...even undead give off a weak presence.'

Her sister and Shin also stopped when they noticed Luna’s uneasy state.

“Luna....” Len called.

“Luna!”

“Huh?” she snapped out of it after hearing her name the second time.

“Are you tired?” Len asked.

She shook her head, brandishing her many thoughts back to the corner of her mind. The fear was still there, but she successfully hid it. “No…I was just lost in thought.”

“Okay, let’s keep moving. We will rest at night.”

Luna nodded.