Time flew.
Only one day remained before the system's deadline.
We knew very little about the journey ahead .. not even how long it would last.
We were risking everything.
"There's a real chance we'll be gone for a long time …"
That would undoubtedly put us at odds with the Temple.
Snow didn't seem too concerned. He said the Temple hadn't given him much anyway, and what lay ahead mattered more.
Ghost, on the other hand, said the Temple was never a place that helped him grow to begin with .. reasonable, considering he had spent his entire life in the Shadow Court
That night…
We packed everything we could: supplies, gear, rations. Enough to last us a long time. Enough to survive.
The three of us slipped away in secret, heading toward the Ocklass Mountain range, near House Starlight.
There, we met the mage I had arranged in advance.
He was a Rank S mage from one of the major guilds .. bringing him here in secret had cost me a fortune, but it was the least I could do to make this trip to the Shadow Sect possible.
The mage, wearing a loose robe and sporting a thick beard, stared at the three of us.
We were practically celebrities at this point ... especially the hero, Snow .. so he understood the weight of what he was about to do.
"Are you really sure about this?"
He was about to teleport the Empire's golden hero straight into the Nightmare Lands. No matter how he tried to justify it, it didn't sit right with him.
But I responded without hesitation, my tone firm ..
"I didn't hire you to ask questions."
The only reason I brought him here was to teleport us close to the Shadow Sect and make the journey easier. He was a money-hungry mutt who never said no if the price was high.
The mage nodded.
"Fair enough."
He raised his staff and began channeling his aura, expanding a glowing white circle beneath us.
"The coordinates you gave me weren't precise, but this should drop you somewhere near the place you're aiming for. Will that do?"
I nodded.
"Yes. Do it."
Without hesitation, he increased the spell's intensity. I turned to my teammates.
Ghost disappeared instantly into my shadow, while Snow stood calmly at my side.
We were all wearing the same armor we'd used during the Victoriad bringing a rush of memories with it.
We exchanged a look. A single nod between us was all it took.
"Let's do this."
SWOOSH
A piercing hum rang out as our bodies were hurled through the teleportation circle.
The world around me blurred, and a familiar sensation of nausea washed over me .. typical of spatial displacement. But then, as the world settled…
What entered my vision struck a chord.
Those towering trees… the overgrown vines creeping across every inch of soil…
"We're here," I whispered. "The Forest of Fear…"
The very place where my journey had begun, two years ago.
"So this is the Eastern Nightmare Lands," Snow muttered, clearly awestruck. It was his first time venturing this deep.
"Let's move," I said firmly, already taking the lead. Snow followed immediately behind, with Ghost covering our backs from within the shadows.
We advanced cautiously, prepared for anything.
And it didn't take long before we encountered our first threat—Nightmare creatures crawling out from every corner.
But…
BOOM!!!
With a devastating sweep of Balerion and Vermithor right after .. we cleared everything in our path.
Fast. Precise. We didn't even pause. Everything that stood in our way fell as we kept moving forward.
Scythe beasts, shriekers, and other horrors of the nightmare…
The monsters that once brought me to the brink of death .. reduced to nothing with a single swing of my sword.
I had changed.
Changed more than I'd realized.
"These nightmare creatures are weaker than I expected," Snow noted aloud.
"Stay sharp," I replied immediately. "We don't know what might be lurking."
Honestly, though ... I agreed with him.
Unlike the other Nightmare Lands, the eastern side had no Nightmare Lord ruling over it.
My father had slain the Amygdala long ago. That was the only being here that had surpassed SS rank.
Had beings like the Cosmos, The Lady of Eight Legs, or even the Abyss watchers been present, this would've been a far more brutal journey.
But to my surprise… none of those threats materialized.
It was so calm that I struggled to believe it was real.
Standing before the massive stairway ..the one I had once crawled up, bleeding and broken .. I stared at that darkness again.
Snow, still in awe, asked softly:
"Frey… is this it?"
I nodded.
"The Shadow Sect."
One hour.
That's all it took .. just one hour to reach the Shadow Sect and complete the mission.
It felt almost… anticlimactic.
Sure, the mage had teleported us close, and I knew the way… Something about how easily we arrived didn't sit right.
I knew it couldn't be that simple.
We climbed the staircase quickly, crossing the blackened, forgotten lands that once marked the boundary of the Shadow Sect.
I expected to see Smiley or Sad at the very least .. but there wasn't a trace of either.
"What's going on here?"
I asked quietly, my tone sharp with unease as Snow trailed behind, surveying the place for himself.
I opened the system to check for answers… but the emergency mission had vanished. In its place, a new section appeared .. one I hadn't seen before.
???
???
???
Three empty entries, marked only by question marks.
The mystery deepened. And so did my sense of helplessness.
"What now?"
Snow's voice came from behind after his quiet exploration of the sect he had only ever heard about in my stories.
"We keep going," I said.
It was all I could say.
We pressed forward until we reached the heart of the sect—where the old temple still stood, the one I'd once been sealed inside.
I glanced at Balerion instinctively, remembering the moment I obtained him—my first real companion in this world.
We stepped inside, expecting to find the altar where I had once shed blood.
But it was gone.
Something else stood in its place.
All three of us froze.
Snow stared, wide-eyed. Ghost emerged from the shadows, silent but just as stunned.
"This is…"
Snow's voice trailed off as I finally understood what the mission had meant all along.
The journey was never about crossing the empire to reach the Shadow Sect.
This place… was just the starting point.
I let out a bitter laugh and walked toward the object that was now flooding the room with radiant light.
A teleportation gate.
"A portal into the unknown…"
I had no idea where it would take us.
But I knew one thing for certain—the real mission would begin the moment I stepped through that gate.
And so, I stood there, staring into the ominous red light spilling from its center… silently praying I hadn't just led everyone straight into ruin.