Chapter 85: Hostile Territory

Chapter 85: Chapter 85: Hostile Territory

The blue energy shield hummed as it temporarily powered down.

Donald, Evelyn, and Sylvia stepped past the heavy A-Rank mana-turrets and walked directly into the exact spot where the Level 85 Abyssal Warlord had died. The massive stone cavern didn’t end here. Instead, the back wall of the room was torn open, revealing a swirling, jagged rift in reality.

"The front door to the Demon King’s realm," Donald said, staring into the dark purple vortex.

"It smells like burnt ashes and rotting meat," Evelyn noted, crinkling her nose. The Valkyrie had her Bloodhound’s Fang drawn, its silver blade casting a faint, comforting glow.

Donald stepped into the rift first.

The transition was jarring. There was no cavern ceiling on the other side. They stood on a jagged cliff overlooking a sprawling, alien wasteland. The sky above them was a swirling vortex of bruised red and deep violet clouds. Rivers of glowing black sludge carved through valleys of jagged obsidian.

In the distance, massive, smoking factory-citadels dotted the landscape, endlessly churning out weapons and armor for the Abyssal armies.

Donald’s interface instantly flared with a blaring red warning.

[WARNING: Entered Hostile Dimension (The Abyss).]

[Environmental Hazard: Toxic Mana Saturation. Party will lose 1% of maximum health every second.]

Evelyn coughed, her S-Rank aura instinctively flaring to try and burn away the toxic air. Sylvia stumbled, pressing a hand to her chest as the heavy, corrupted mana immediately began to suffocate her.

Donald didn’t flinch. He pulled up his Guild interface.

[Purchase: Aegis Atmospheric Filter (Party Buff) - 50,000 Credits]

"Authorized," Donald said.

A pulse of clean, golden light washed over the three of them. A thin, perfectly transparent bubble of filtered air wrapped around their bodies. Sylvia took a deep, shuddering breath of completely clean, climate-controlled oxygen, and the suffocating pressure vanished.

[Current Balance: 150,000 Credits]

"Keep your eyes open," Donald ordered, his voice crystal clear through the comms. "We aren’t fighting mindless dungeon monsters anymore. We just walked into their country."

Nyx detached from Donald’s collar, her shadow-woven wings beating silently as she took to the air, acting as an invisible scout.

They moved down the jagged obsidian cliff, heading toward the nearest smoking factory-citadel. If they wanted to cripple the Demon King’s invasion plans, they needed to destroy his supply lines and raid his vaults.

Halfway down the slope, the ambient shadows stretching across the black rocks suddenly warped.

Sylvia stopped dead. Her violet eyes darted toward a cluster of jagged boulders. With her [Shadow Sovereign] skill active, she was hyper-attuned to the dark.

"We’re surrounded," Sylvia whispered. "Twelve targets. They’re blending perfectly into the terrain."

Before Evelyn could even raise her sword, the shadows peeled off the rocks.

Twelve heavily cloaked figures materialized. They didn’t have legs; they floated inches above the ground, wielding long, curved scythes that dripped with a paralyzing gray venom.

[Target: Void Stalker (Level 72) - Abyssal Assassin Unit]

"Finally, some actual ninjas," Evelyn grinned.

The Valkyrie didn’t wait to be attacked. She launched herself directly into the center of the Stalkers. She swung her sword in a massive horizontal arc, unleashing a wave of pure celestial fire.

The Stalkers were fast. Unnaturally fast. Six of them instantly dissolved back into smoke, letting the holy fire pass harmlessly through them, before reforming directly behind Evelyn to bring their scythes down on her neck.

They never connected.

Sylvia sank into her own shadow. Because the sky above them was entirely overcast with dark, swirling clouds, the entire landscape was bathed in dim light. For Sylvia, the whole battlefield was a high-speed transit network.

Her physical speed doubled. She didn’t just move; she teleported.

Sylvia erupted from the shadow of the lead Stalker. She didn’t even use her B-Rank daggers. She reached into her shadow-inventory and pulled out the heavy tactical shotgun she had stolen from the mercenary camp yesterday.

At point-blank range, she blew the Stalker’s head entirely off its shoulders.

She tossed the shotgun back into her shadow, vanished, and reappeared instantly above another Stalker, driving both tungsten daggers through its collarbone.

"They’re shadow-walkers!" Evelyn yelled, realizing her bright holy attacks were just giving the assassins places to hide.

"Then let’s take away their toys," Donald said calmly.

He didn’t fire the Abyssal Impact gauntlet. He looked up at the winged black cat circling above the battlefield.

"Nyx. Feed me," Donald commanded.

Nyx folded her wings and dive-bombed. She turned into a blur of absolute darkness, phasing straight through three of the Stalkers in a single, high-speed pass.

[Skill Triggered: Phantasmal Siphon.]

[Nyx has stolen: +45 Speed, +30 Strength, +40 Mana.]

[Transferring stats to Investor...]

Donald gasped as the massive influx of Level 72 stats hit his system. His base 85 Speed violently skyrocketed to 130. The world around him completely stopped. Evelyn’s burning sword hung frozen in the air. The Stalkers looked like statues.

Donald stepped into the fray.

He moved so fast the air cracked behind him. He didn’t use a weapon. He just grabbed the cloaks of two frozen Stalkers, hoisted them into the air with his temporarily boosted 115 Strength, and smashed their skulls together.

The impact sounded like a cannon firing. The two Level 72 assassins dissolved into black ash.

The remaining Stalkers panicked. Their stealth advantage was completely gone. The lead assassin raised a glowing gray talisman, attempting to cast a mass-teleportation spell to retreat.

A massive, intricate magical circle of void energy expanded across the ground beneath them.

"Oh no, you don’t," Donald whispered.

With 130 Speed, he was standing inside the teleportation circle before the Stalker even finished the chant. Donald raised his right hand.

"[Hostile Takeover]."

[Target Spell: Void Step (A-Rank Mass Teleport)]

[Appraised Value: 50,000 System Credits.]

[Purchase Confirmed?]

"Buy it," Donald commanded.

The gray teleportation circle instantly flashed corporate gold. The Stalkers gasped as their escape route was legally seized.

"I’m changing the destination," Donald said coldly.

He snapped his fingers.

Instead of teleporting the Stalkers away to safety, the golden magic violently pulled them all inward, teleporting them directly into a tight, clustered pile right in front of Evelyn.

Evelyn’s eyes widened with glee. "Oh, you shouldn’t have!"

She gripped the Bloodhound’s Fang with both hands, channeled her S-Rank aura to its absolute maximum, and brought the blazing silver blade straight down onto the pile of disoriented assassins.

The explosion of star-fire vaporized the remaining six Stalkers instantly.

The battlefield fell silent. The black ash of the assassins drifted away on the toxic wind.

Donald exhaled slowly as the stolen stats rapidly bled out of his system, returning him to his Level 22 baseline. Nyx landed on his shoulder, letting out a satisfied purr.

Sylvia stepped out of a shadow next to Evelyn, casually brushing ash off her tactical jacket.

"That was terrifying," Sylvia said, looking at Donald. "You bought their escape route?"

"I bought the transit rights," Donald corrected smoothly, checking his balance.

[Current Balance: 100,000 Credits]

He was dangerously low on funds. But as the Stalkers’ ash cleared, twelve glowing, high-density void cores rested on the obsidian ground.

"Evie, bag the cores," Donald ordered. "Garrick can refine those into high-grade armor plating for the Guild guards."

Donald looked out across the jagged landscape. A few miles away, the massive Abyssal factory-citadel loomed against the red sky. Thick black smoke poured from its chimneys, and heavily armed legions marched in tight formations around its perimeter.

"They have an entire military industrial complex running down here," Evelyn said, tying off the canvas sack of cores. Her black hair blew gently in the filtered air inside their bubble.

"Not for much longer," Donald said, a predatory smile forming beneath his gold mask. "They’ve been sending monsters to our world to steal our resources for decades. It’s time we return the favor."

Donald pointed toward the massive, heavily fortified citadel.

"That’s our target," Donald declared. "We’re going to break into their factory, empty their vaults, and liquidate their management."