Novel Full Chapter 276: Total Darkness, There Is No Hope
Chapter 276: Chapter 276: Total Darkness, There Is No Hope
Silence fell instantly afterward.
“…Damn,” Godrick muttered.
Oasis quickly summoned her [Healing Bot] to treat Alicar’s injuries while the group climbed onto the roof of a nearby building to get a better view.
And once they reached the top… They finally saw it themselves. The fog.
It surrounded the entire city like a gigantic black wall stretching endlessly into the sky, slowly moving inward from every direction as it consumed everything in its path.
The closer it moved, the darker the surroundings became.
It looked impossible to escape. Impossible to fight.
And most terrifyingly… Impossible to stop.
If the fog completely closed around the center of the city before they cleared the assessment, then every player trapped inside the [Forsaken City] would die.
“How is this fair?!” Alicar shouted suddenly, frustration and anger filling his voice as he stared at the approaching darkness. “WE CAN’T POSSIBLY WIN AGAINST THAT!”
“What’s even the point of finding another base now…” Oasis muttered weakly. “If we’re all going to die once that thing reaches us…”
“I am NEVER doing another [God-Rank] assessment again,” Godrick groaned while dragging a hand down his face. “If this is only the second assessment, then what kind of nightmare is waiting in the later ones?”
The others couldn’t even argue with him.
Because honestly… He was right.
This entire assessment had already gone far beyond anything remotely reasonable.
But while everyone else focused entirely on the black fog itself… Leon noticed something different.
“…Yeah,” Leon suddenly spoke while narrowing his eyes slightly, “Those giant tendrils definitely look bad. Don’t go near them.”
The others blinked. Then slowly turned toward him again.
“…What tendrils?” Violet asked carefully.
Leon frowned slightly and looked back toward the wall of darkness.
“The ones inside the fog,” he replied casually. “You guys can’t see them?”
Silence. And only then did Leon realize something important.
The others truly couldn’t see what he was seeing.
To them, the darkness was simply fog. A massive black wall slowly consuming the city.
But because of Leon’s [Monarch of Darkness] sub-talent… His vision was completely different.
Inside the fog were thousands upon thousands of gigantic black tendrils writhing endlessly like limbs belonging to some incomprehensible cosmic creature hidden within the darkness itself.
The tendrils crushed buildings. Dragged debris into the fog. They consumed absolutely everything they touched.
And once something disappeared into the darkness… It never came back out.
Leon immediately opened his [World Map]. And just as he expected, the map itself had changed.
The outer edges of the city were slowly being swallowed by darkness, the black area steadily creeping inward toward the center where the players currently stood.
But more importantly… A timer had appeared above the darkness.
[Total Darkness: 23 Hours 56 Minutes.]
The moment Leon saw the message floating above the spreading darkness on his [World Map], his expression slowly darkened.
Then slowly, a grin spread across his face again.
“Heh…” The others turned toward him immediately, “I guess we really don’t have any more time after all.”
The information the map provided was something nobody else here could possibly know, and this time, Leon didn’t even bother hiding it from the others.
Because unlike before, this wasn’t about treasure, power, or hidden rewards anymore. This was about survival.
“We have twenty-four hours before total darkness,” Leon finally spoke, his gaze still locked on the fog swallowing the edges of the city. “I’m guessing that once the timer ends, the fog and those tendrils completely consume the [Forsaken City].”
The others immediately turned toward him.
“Tendrils?” Oasis frowned.
“You can see something inside that thing?” Alicar narrowed his eyes.
Violet stared at Leon for a few seconds, then looked back toward the wall of black fog in the distance before nodding slowly.
“…Alright,” she replied calmly. “I believe you.”
Even though she couldn’t see the tendrils Leon mentioned, she knew one thing for sure by now: if Leon noticed something strange, it must be real.
“But how do you know the exact timing?” Alicar asked, his voice growing colder. “The fog is moving, sure, but not enough for someone to predict that precisely.”
“He’s right,” Oasis suddenly spoke before Leon could answer.
The girl’s eyes moved rapidly as if calculating something in her head.
“Based on the speed of the fog and the distance from the edges of the city… it actually would take roughly twenty-four hours before it reaches the center completely.”
A heavy silence immediately fell over the rooftop. Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Because now the situation had changed completely.
They no longer had unlimited time to prepare, or to slowly grow stronger.
They had twenty-four hours to somehow enter the [Forsaken Castle], kill the strongest monster in the entire assessment, and clear the trial before the darkness consumed everything.
And the worst part was that none of them believed it was possible.
“We’re doomed,” Violet suddenly said flatly. Her calm voice shattered whatever tiny hope remained in the group.
Leon glanced toward her.
The dragon girl’s expression remained composed like always, but for the first time since he met her, there was absolutely no confidence left in her eyes.
“We can’t win,” Violet continued quietly. “The [Forsaken King] is too strong.”
Godrick cursed under his breath and slammed his fist against the rooftop hard enough to crack the stone.
“So all of this was pointless?” Alicar muttered, his voice hollow. “Everything we did…”
“We wasted our time,” Oasis sighed as she sat down against a chimney. “I wonder what’s happening to the other players.”
“Either they’re already dead or they’re in an even worse situation than us,” Godrick groaned. “And the punishment for failing a [God-Rank] assessment definitely won’t be pleasant.”
The others slowly sat down one after another, their expressions darker than Leon had ever seen.
Even Godrick looked exhausted now.
The towering demon leaned back against the rooftop wall and stared blankly toward the fog in the distance.
Alicar lowered his head silently while Oasis wrapped her arms around her knees.
Meanwhile, Violet remained standing beside Leon, both of them staring toward the approaching darkness.
The fog had already moved much closer than before.
Entire districts of the city had disappeared behind it already.
And inside that endless black wall, Leon could still see the enormous tendrils moving slowly.
They twisted like gigantic serpents emerging from another dimension entirely, crushing buildings apart before dragging everything into the darkness behind them.
Just looking at them made Leon feel uneasy.
“So you’re giving up?” Leon finally asked Violet after a while, “After all this?”
The dragon girl looked toward him calmly.
“There’s no realistic way for us to defeat the [Forsaken King],” Violet replied neutrally. “I’ll still try if I have to, obviously, but the difference in strength is too large.”
She closed her eyes briefly before continuing.
“As I said before, the last time I entered the castle, I barely survived.”
That caught Leon’s attention immediately, “You actually fought him before?”
“…Not really.” Violet let out a faint bitter smile, “I reached his throne room years ago, thinking I had finally become strong enough to challenge him.”
“And?”
“He almost killed me instantly.”
Leon stayed silent.
“He could’ve finished me off whenever he wanted,” Violet admitted. “But instead, he simply looked at me and said…”
Her voice lowered slightly.
“’Come back stronger. Killing you now would be boring.’”