Chapter 268: Forced Closeness

The light was intense, like a sunny summer day on any habitable planet.

What unfolded before his eyes was a vast, seemingly endless plain. A carpet of lush green grass covered the ground, dotted with leafy trees that offered welcoming shade, while the soft murmur of running water echoed in the distance.

Far away, gently rolling hills rose and fell along the horizon, accompanied by the songs of various kinds of birds and wild animals.

The air was incredibly pure, and the refreshing scents of vegetation gave the feeling of a true natural paradise. However, something was deeply out of place.

Despite looking like an open area, everything was an illusion. Very far away, almost at the edge of his vision, Priam noticed a subtle distortion in space stretching in a circle in every direction.

Despite the impressive realism, this was still an artificial dimension created by the Goddess’s power to emulate the outside world.

They were, in reality, at the center of a monumental abyss. Those spatial distortions in the distance were the cliff’s actual rocky walls. All it took was getting closer for the illusion to collapse.

[01 Special Mission Available]

[Eliminate all ninety-nine thousand beasts]

Priam read the message in the green window, and his pupils immediately dilated.

’WHAT?! Ninety-nine thousand?!’

That number was completely absurd! He only had a few months left before he would be forced to leave this world!

Suddenly, the pleasant atmosphere around him changed. The fresh air gave way to a dense, oppressive weight.

Terrifying howls and roars from countless beasts echoed in the distance, booming like thunder.

Around Priam, the shadows of a dozen creatures emerged from the vegetation. Their combined aura fell upon him like an overwhelming weight, trying to immobilize him before they all charged forward in a frenzy.

In the blink of an eye, Priam found himself surrounded by a huge number of monsters.

The Goddess’s voice from earlier had already warned him: the presence of the fragment and its aura would actively attract all the beasts in the region. Once they located him, the hunt would be relentless and nonstop.

Priam snorted. He hadn’t even had time to think.

Unfortunately, his Divine Concealment wouldn’t save him this time, since Dandara’s presence would still be detected. His power didn’t work on others. Since Mirra lived inside his inner space, she was an exception.

*Wooooosh!*

His Elemental Physique exploded at maximum power, unleashing a furious blast of wind that expanded in every direction.

When ten beasts charged hungrily at him, Priam launched himself upward and descended like a bolt of lightning, delivering devastating blows with his energy-coated fists.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

A mist of blood and chunks of flesh exploded through the air.

However, even after those instant kills, the number of beasts didn’t decrease. On the contrary, the smell of blood and the disturbance in space attracted even more creatures, converging from all directions at a terrifying speed.

Priam let out a muffled roar. Forcing an opening through the monsters’ front line, he shot into the sky at extremely high speed, putting distance between himself and the area.

He was capable of fighting day and night without stopping, but his current situation demanded extreme caution.

If he wanted to successfully complete that special mission, his absolute priority was finding a way to keep Dandara safe.

***

The days passed slowly.

Priam began fighting in a strictly tactical manner: he only engaged in combat after mapping out the area and making sure there were multiple safe shelters nearby — places free of creatures where he could retreat if he became surrounded.

Since he couldn’t leave her behind, and fighting was risky, he couldn’t advance quickly, killing only a few dozen beasts per day.

Even so, he remained patient, convinced that he would find a more efficient method at the right moment.

Among the creatures inhabiting the abyss, the vast majority consisted of Celestial Beasts and Calamity Beasts.

They all attacked with bloodshot eyes, devoid of any rationality or instinct for self-preservation. They looked like mindless slaves, completely possessed.

Priam soon understood something strange: the Goddess’s method of domination was frighteningly similar to that of the Corrupted Beasts, enslaving them body and soul to amplify their brute strength.

The more he fought, the more confirmation he obtained. Even within the cores of those creatures, there was a trace of bizarre energy. It wasn’t corruption, but it seemed to serve a similar function.

It wasn’t long before a disturbing thought crossed his mind.

Was it possible that the Sorcerers’ method of creating Corrupted Beasts had been based on the imperfect techniques the Goddess had taught her disciples in the past?

There was no way to confirm it for certain, but it was highly likely that the simplified versions of that art had produced catastrophic consequences in the wrong hands.

This suspicion led Priam to begin examining and dissecting the beasts’ corpses whenever possible. At that slow pace of hunting, he would never finish the mission in time. So he needed to find a hidden opportunity.

And since he was opening the bodies anyway, Priam began meticulously collecting all the remaining poison from the corpses of the Calamity Beasts.

***

Eight months had passed since Priam had arrived in this world.

He walked silently through a lush green forest. Ahead, the peaceful murmur of a small stream cut through the vegetation. The water was so crystal clear that he could clearly see the bottom, where schools of all kinds of fish swam happily.

They weren’t illusions; they were real, ordinary, living fish.

The power of this Goddess who had created this place in the abyss was truly astonishing.

This abyss was a circular territory stretching for hundreds of kilometers, where nature and the ecosystem pulsed with abundant natural energy. If you didn’t already know where you were, you could genuinely believe you were on an ordinary planet.

At that moment, Priam gently laid Dandara down on the soft grass beside the stream, then crouched at the water’s edge.

Priam’s left hand shot across the surface of the water like a bolt of lightning, snatching up a large fish nearly thirty centimeters long.

At that exact moment, a stone to his right suddenly rolled, and a huge crab — with a body twice as large as Priam’s — emerged from nowhere. It immediately leaped toward him.

The crab’s terrifying black pincers opened, viciously seeking Priam’s neck. The spines on its shell gleamed with a cold metallic sheen. It was a Celestial Beast specialized in assassination!

Priam threw the fish onto the grass.

Without even raising his body, his right hand lashed out like a whip and caught the tip of the crab’s pincer in midair. With a crushing grip, he twisted his wrist and violently hurled the creature against a rock in the riverbed.

*BANG!*

The rock shattered into a thousand pieces, and the beast fell dazed.

The crash, however, worked like an alarm in a hornet’s nest: dozens of crabs emerged from the water and vegetation at the same time. Their gigantic pincers snapped like guillotines, slicing through the air with deadly flashes.

As fast as a specter, Priam moved among them, leaving behind indistinguishable afterimages. In the blink of an eye, he unleashed a series of precise strikes, each one hitting the monsters’ blind spot on their backs.

That species of crab was an extremely dangerous race of Celestial Beasts. Besides concealing their aura like natural-born assassins, they possessed almost impenetrable shells. Any ordinary Mage would struggle just to leave a scratch on them.

However, beneath Priam’s devastating fists, after thirteen consecutive sonic explosions, the backs of thirteen crabs were completely shattered, their vital veins collapsing in an instant.

"Eeeeeew!"

Mirra appeared and roared excitedly upon seeing the mountain of fresh food.

Looking at the ground covered with dead crabs, their legs sticking up into the air, Priam scratched his chin and muttered, "I wonder if we could make a good crab stew with these giant crabs...?"

"Meat! Meat! Meat!" Mirra cheered, hopping around.

Priam chuckled lightly. That little girl seemed to have a black hole where her stomach should be. If he let her, she’d eat nonstop until the end of time.

Priam returned to Dandara’s side with the cleaned fish in his hands. He quickly set up a support, put some stream water and the fish into the pot, and lit the fire.

Using the controlled heat of his elemental flames, the fish soup was ready within a few minutes, filling the air with a delicious aroma.

He turned toward Mirra.

"You’re cleared."

Mirra’s eyes shone like stars. She shot toward the crabs like a little monster in a frenzy, breaking their hard shells with her teeth and devouring the raw meat without hesitation.

She hated waiting for cooked food; she preferred the wild taste. Priam normally forced her to eat properly prepared meals, but in that situation, it would take hours to cook dozens of giant crabs. So, sometimes he let the little girl feast to her heart’s content.

Priam poured the soup into a bowl and patiently blew on it to cool it down. Finally, he approached Dandara, who had just woken up.

Sitting beside her, he slipped an arm behind her back and lifted her with extreme care, cradling her against his chest. Priam’s touch was firm, yet incredibly gentle. The physical closeness made Dandara’s gaze waver for a second, settling on his face just a few inches from hers.

Priam brought the warm spoon to her lips. "Here... It’s not hot anymore."

Dandara nodded, a soft smile curving her lips as she slightly opened her mouth. Feeling Priam’s warm breath brush against her skin, she took her first sip of the soup.

However, the exact moment she swallowed the first spoonful...

*Screech!*

A sharp screech tore through the sky. Six monstrous birds with dark-purple plumage and long, scorpion-like tails dove from six different directions, targeting the two of them like deadly arrows.

They were Calamity Beasts.

Without even looking up at the sky, Priam carefully leaned Dandara back against the tree trunk, placing the bowl on the ground right in front of her.

With an imperceptible movement, he disappeared from in front of her.

*CRASH! BANG! BANG!*

The sounds of blunt impacts and breaking bones echoed almost simultaneously.

The commotion lasted barely ten seconds.

Priam smoothly reappeared on the ground, wiping his hands as he looked at Mirra, who had stopped eating to stare at him with gleaming eyes.

"You got dessert. I already removed the toxin from all of them."

"WEEEEEEE!" Mirra roared excitedly.

Dandara didn’t even bother getting scared; her eyes remained fixed on the bowl of soup and Priam’s figure. She tried to move her weak fingers to reach the spoon, but failed.

Despite all the months that had passed, her physical condition hadn’t improved at all. However, thanks to his constant care, it hadn’t gotten any worse either.

That routine of ambushes had become commonplace. During those months in the abyss, they had been the targets of nonstop attacks from all kinds of savage beasts. Anywhere outside a sealed cave was a potential combat zone.

Even so, Priam’s perception, reaction speed, and tactical dominance were simply overwhelming. He was an unshakable wall.

After they finished their meal, Priam approached Dandara again.

When she saw his shadow fall over her, her eyes shone with a warm light.

He carefully lifted her and positioned her on his back. Dandara wrapped her soft arms around his neck, pressing her warm chest against his firm back and letting out a small, satisfied sigh near Priam’s ear.

During those months of traveling, the time they spent together had strengthened something deep between them. Whenever she woke up, Dandara would talk to him until she fell asleep, about everything—even while he moved through the terrain and slaughtered monsters, they continued talking.

The conversation between them never faded. Dandara told him details about her life before joining the sect. The people from her tribe whom she had loved and hated, her likes, her most intimate memories, and everything she had experienced.

In return, she also gently questioned him about who he was. Priam, who had initially remained reserved, gradually began opening up about his current life, keeping only things related to the System secret.

After months of talking every day for several hours in total, it was now safe to say that the two of them knew each other as much more than friends.

Besides...

Between the gentle scent of her skin brushing against his neck, the constant warmth of her fragile body pressed against his, and the blind trust Dandara placed in Priam’s every movement, a deep chemistry and a subtle yet undeniable tension had taken root between them.

That forced closeness the two of them had endured had truly opened a few doors and shortened the distance between them.