The Black Dome.
It was a perfect, smooth hemisphere of utter darkness, so deep it seemed to swallow the light around it. It covered the entire high mountain pass.
Its edges cut a sharp, impossible line against the snow and rock. No details were visible on its surface. No texture, no reflection. Just a dome of darkness.
We walked the remaining distance to the ridge in silence. A simple stone and hide shelter marked the watch post. Two older barbarians nodded at Uru’en before turning back to their vigil. It seemed like they were used to her visit here.
’...Hmm. Never mind.’
From the cliff’s edge, the full view was clear.
The dome dominated everything.
A menacing, dark aura pressed against my senses from this distance. My skin prickled. Looking into it was like staring into a starless night.
The pass was consumed, the other side blocked by the dome.
A reckless thought flickered through my mind: ’I could use Glacia Sinfonia. Fly high, go over the top.’
However, I killed it instantly because it was reckless and stupid.
Who knew what the Night Devourer could do?
Another aura signature passing over its domain might be an invitation to freely devour.
’I’ll have to check Monster Hunter’s Encyclopedia later...’
"Intriguing, right?" Uru’en muttered beside me.
"Mmm."
"Unfortunately," she added, her voice a bit heavy, "those who entered... haven’t come back even once."
I stayed silent for a moment before glancing at her. "...Is it really an Overlord Beast?"
"Yes, it must be." Uru’en squinted her eyes at the dome. "Even my parents are afraid to go inside it, let alone face the devourer."
"I see..."
Well, it was understandable.
Monsters are usually several times stronger than most races in the same rank, especially in higher ranks. Unless one were a genius or a force of nature, it would be hard to engage in an equal fight with them, let alone defeat.
’...I wonder if I can solo them when the time comes. Many characters usually can do them in stories.’
Sighing inwardly, I decided to ask more about it.
"Have you guys investigated it? Or ask for help from the kingdom?"
She let out a short, dry laugh. "Investigate? With what? Our strongest hunters are only at Tier 5. Facing an Overlord like this is a death sentence, literally. As for the kingdom..." She gestured vaguely south, beyond the mountains. "What kingdom? Those kings in their warm castles? Their soldiers don’t come this far north. This land has always been ours to hold. Our problem to solve."
She crossed her arms, her gaze fixed on the dome. "We’ve tried everything from a distance. Scrying stones go dark. Messenger birds fly in and don’t come out. A few times, we launched burning arrows soaked in pitch over it, trying to see the other side." She shook her head. "The flame died the moment it touched the black. Like it was snuffed out by the dark itself."
She turned to me, her amber eyes serious. "We don’t know what it is. We don’t know what it wants. We only know it’s there. So we watch. We mark its borders. And we stay out of its way when the sun sets. That’s the only way to stay alive."
Her words painted a stark picture. They’d adapted to this, like building a village in the shadow of a dormant volcano.
"Will it ever leave?" I asked curiously.
"No one knows," she said, her voice flat. "It’s been here even before I was born. Sometimes the dome shrinks a little. Sometimes it grows. It moves, but never far."
"Hmm..." Even with my extended knowledge, I wasn’t able to guess that much.
My only theory was that perhaps the monster came from the Hollowlands, or it was just a strong monster searching for a good place to build its nest.
Whatever the case, it would be best not to get involved.
"What about the local lord, the Luthaires? Do they know about it?" I shifted the subject. "And how is your relationship with them?"
"Oh, them?" Uru’en raised her brows, as if the question was both obvious and slightly amusing. "Yes, they know. The baron’s scouts have seen the dome with their own eyes. But obviously, they don’t have any solutions for it either." She shrugged. "And mom knows more about these dealings. She’s the one who meets with them since she is the chief. But from what I’ve heard, our relationship is... quite decent. We trade many things, like pelts and frost-iron for grains and handy tools. Ah, I heard that the lord even offered once to provide tutors and education for our youth in his city."
"Oh, that’s quite a good offer," I remarked, inwardly surprised by my father’s move. "What did your tribe do?"
She snorted. "Rejected it, of course. There were a few curious kids, but their parents wouldn’t hear of it. Sending our young away to learn the ways of soft human lords? It would weaken the tribe’s spirit..." She paused briefly. "...We, the Drakari, learn from the hunt, from the mountain, from each other."
"I see." I nodded slightly. "What a pity, though. Knowledge from outside can be a powerful tool."
"I know," she said, her gaze drifting back to the distant fortress-village nestled against the mountain. A hint of something complex flickered in her eyes before it was banked by certainty. "But this is the way we live. This is what keeps us strong here, on the edge of everything."
The wind picked up, whistling across the ridge. The two watchers in the shelter stirred, one of them glancing at the sky.
"We should head back," Uru’en said, her tone shifting back to practicality. "The light’s fading faster today. We don’t want to be caught out here when the dome... becomes active."
As we turned away from the cliff’s edge, I cast one last look at the perfect black hemisphere.
Another stray thought, a flicker of curiosity, pushed me to try something. It was risky, but we were at a safe distance.
Surely a passive scan couldn’t hurt.
’...Exorcist’s Gaze.’
Immediately, my vision sharpened, the world taking on a deeper, more layered aspect. I focused on the dome, looking for threads of aura, patterns, or any hidden structure within the void.
For a few seconds, nothing changed.
The dome remained a perfect sphere of... nothingness.
A blank spot in the visual spectrum of magic. It was unnerving, like a hole in reality itself.
Then—
’—!’
A heavy presence slammed into my senses.
In the center of that featureless black, two points of light ignited.
A pair of eyes.
Vivid, glowing amethyst, the color of a deep and poisoned twilight.
They were vast, intelligent, and they were looking directly at me.
The world around me—the ridge, the snow, Uru’en—had already melted away into pure, consuming darkness.
I was floating in a void, anchored only by those two purple stars fixed on my location.
My body went rigid. My feet were glued to the ground.
I couldn’t turn my head or blink.
The eyes stared.
I stared back as calmly as possible.
There was no sound, no movement. Just a silent, profound observation from across the distance. It felt less like being hunted, and more like being... studied. Something ancient and alien noting down my presence.
The pressure intensified, a cold weight pressing against my mind. My vision started to blur at the edges. I gritted my teeth, pushing back with a surge of will.
’Endure. Endure. Endure...’ I repeated in my head.
’...’ The eyes seemed to narrow slightly, the violet light deepening.
Then, a low, rumbling HRRRR vibrated through the emptiness.
The sound traveled straight through the connection and sank into my bones, resonating in my chest, and curling around my thoughts like a slow, deliberate caress.
’Urgh...’ My jaw tightened. ’Is it... amused?’
That was when I heard it.
" L...n!"
The sound reached me faintly, distorted, like a voice calling from the bottom of an abyss.
"L..min..n!"
The pressure started wavering.
The violet eyes lingered on me for one final heartbeat, their glow pulsing once before the weight crushing my mind began to recede.
The darkness loosened its grip, peeling away not all at once, but reluctantly, as if the thing behind it was memorizing the sensation of my presence.
Interesting , that fading growl seemed to say.
Then the connection snapped.
"LUMIN!"
I opened my eyes.