Chapter 53: In The Spatial Rift

During his days at the Ducal Estate, Elias had heard countless stories and whispers about what existed inside spatial rifts.

Some people claimed that they had entered ruined cities filled with ancient buildings, while others spoke of endless forests containing trees so enormous that their branches disappeared into the clouds. There were also stories about great rivers, strange mountains, abandoned temples, and entire landscapes that had never existed anywhere in the real world.

However, all of those stories had one thing in common.

They described places.

A spatial rift would initially be small, almost like a wound floating within the world, but as time passed, the rift would gradually expand, and if nobody closed it before it became overloaded, the world inside would eventually replace the surrounding reality.

At least, that was what Elias had always been told.

But the scene before him was nowhere near what he had heard.

[Serene Mind of Geldnor has been activated.]

Elias’s pupils trembled as the notification appeared before his eyes.

Geldnor was apparently a mystical creature that hid between the gaps of two worlds, and although Elias had no idea what such a creature actually looked like, the description of his new skill had suddenly become much clearer.

A spatial rift was, in some way, a gap between worlds.

And because Elias had entered that gap, Serene Mind of Geldnor had activated automatically.

Without it, he wasn’t sure whether his mind would have survived what he was seeing.

"What is this?" Elias mumbled.

He was floating in darkness... no. He wasn’t floating in it; he was surrounded by it.

His body appeared to be inside some kind of translucent pipe. The strange structure wrapped around him like an enormous opalescent membrane, its surface constantly shifting between colors.

Elias slowly turned his head.

"What kind of place is this?" he whispered, his voice sounding strangely distant. "Where am I?"

The e darkness stretched endlessly in every direction.

Then Elias noticed something within it.

Countless opalescent threads emerged from the darkness and extended toward places he couldn’t see. Some moved upward, others downward, while countless others twisted sideways before disappearing into the distance.

At first, Elias thought they were coming from different directions.

Then he noticed something that made his expression change.

They seemed to originate from a single point.

But when he focused on that point, his perception shifted, and suddenly it looked as though every thread was traveling toward the same location.

Elias’s brows furrowed.

’Are they coming from random directions and going toward a single point?’

He stared harder.

’Or are they coming from a single point and spreading toward random directions?’

He couldn’t understand it.

The harder he tried to comprehend what he was seeing, the less sense it made, and yet Serene Mind of Geldnor allowed him to continue looking without his thoughts collapsing beneath the sheer impossibility of the scene.

It was as though his mind had become vast enough to gaze into something that should never have been observed.

Then the darkness moved.

Elias froze.

His entire body shivered in fear.

It wasn’t normal fear; it was something far more primal.

Every instinct within his body screamed at him to run, hide, and never look back, but he couldn’t move. His eyes remained fixed upon the darkness as something seemed to stir beyond his understanding.

’What is that?’

His heart pounded violently.

The darkness shifted again.

Elias felt like his heart was about to explode, and then the scene changed.

"Ugh!" He suddenly leaned forward with both hands pressed against his thighs, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he breathed raggedly.

"Haah... haah..."

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before taking another deep breath.

"Haah!"

The sensation gradually disappeared.

Elias straightened himself and looked around.

Dane, Smith, Charles, Jessie, Ravy, and Lorey were all standing nearby, staring at him with confused expressions.

Apparently, they had already recovered from the discomfort of crossing the rift.

Elias glanced toward them before looking ahead.

’What was that darkness?’

Even thinking about it caused a faint shiver to travel down his spine.

It had felt as though something had looked at him.

Elias slowly clenched his fists.

’Forget it.’

Whatever that place had been, he had no way of understanding it right now.

More importantly, he had a mission to complete.

He raised his head.

The sky above them was covered by thick gray clouds, and beneath the gloomy heavens stretched a heavy forest filled with enormous trees. Their trunks were far thicker than ordinary trees, while their branches twisted together high above, blocking much of the already weak light.

A narrow path passed through the forest and disappeared into the distance.

At the end of that path stood what appeared to be a ruined city.

Broken walls rose between the trees, while several collapsed towers could be seen behind them. The entire place seemed abandoned for centuries, yet Elias couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching them from within those ruins.

Elias glanced back, and his gaze fell on a tear similar to the spatial rift behind them. It was the gate through which they could leave this place whenever they wanted.

Dane looked toward the city before clenching his fists at his sides.

"Move forward!" he ordered, his voice carrying more confidence than he actually felt. "We will split into two teams if necessary!"

The other rangers exchanged uneasy glances.

Elias ignored them and stepped forward.

’I have to get proof that this is a Grade Two rift as quickly as possible.’

There was no point wasting time.

He had three wives waiting for him back home, and although he had left instructions behind before departing, he couldn’t completely suppress the worry inside his chest.

The sooner he completed the mission, the sooner he could return.

Dane watched Elias walk without a trace of fear, and his expression immediately became unpleasant.

He turned toward the other five rangers and spat, "You wretches! Even a bastard has more balls than you lot."

Smith frowned while the other four lowered their heads.

Dane clicked his tongue as he stepped forward and followed behind Elias, intending to catch him.

"Why do you not go do the housework and send your sisters and wives here? Even they would have bigger balls!" Dane shouted.