Chapter 74: The Changing Rift

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: The Changing Rift

The B-rank rift looked modest compared to the worlds Felix and Seraphina were used to raiding.

High-tier S-rank gates opened into vast dimensions spanning full continents and oceans. A-ranks were smaller but still immense, easily half that scale.

B-ranks shrank down to self-contained territories: dense forests, valleys, or lakes forming compact ecosystems. Below that, C-ranks and lower were just simple pocket dimensions: isolated caverns, ruined halls, or lonely glades.

The three of them stepped through the portal, and the atmosphere shifted in an instant. A sprawling forest stretched under a pale, azure sky, tall trees weaving a thick canopy overhead as crisp, mana-rich air filled their lungs.

Liora looked around, clutching the strap of her pack.

"Remember the plan?" Felix asked, keeping his tone casual.

"I do the fighting," she answered, nodding quickly.

"Right."

"And you two only step in if something gets completely out of hand."

"Exactly."

Felix and Seraphina dropped back a few paces. Neither drew a weapon or flared their aura, simply taking up observation positions.

For a heartbeat, Liora stood frozen, looking like the nervous, quiet girl from the transport: shoulders tense, fingers balled into fists, breathing carefully.

GRRRR.

A low rumble rolled through the undergrowth. Three wolf-like C-rank beasts broke past the treeline, fangs bared and claws digging into the loam.

Liora’s eyes widened.

"Go," Felix said softly.

She took one step forward. In an instant, dark mana flared across her skin like black fire. Her nervous posture vanished. Her posture shifted low, and the corners of her mouth curved upward into an unsettling, manic grin.

Seraphina’s eyebrows raised at the sudden burst of raw bloodlust.

"Come on," Liora whispered.

The beasts lunged.

BOOM!

Liora blurred out of position. Her lead punch struck the first beast square in the chest, the concussive force blasting it through three thick trunks in a spray of splintered wood.

Pivoting on her heel, a sweeping roundhouse kick hammered the second beast flat into the dirt with a sickening crack.

When the third snapped at her blind spot, she twisted, catching its snapping jaws with her bare hand: black mana coating her skin like thick armor.

She looked directly into its eyes and laughed. "Hehehe."

Seraphina stared, her expression flat. "...What is that?"

"She’s fine," Felix replied, hands tucked into his pockets.

"Fine?" Seraphina pointed as Liora slammed the beast into the earth, fracturing the soil. "She looks completely unhinged."

"For her, that’s regular combat rhythm."

"That is definitely not normal."

Felix chuckled. He let his emerald healing aura drift outward, settling over the clearing like a thin, warm blanket.

It didn’t suppress her output; the dark mana kept churning, the bloodlust remained sharp, and her appetite for the brawl stayed fierce. But her mind stayed tethered and clear. She wasn’t drowning in the darkness.

She was just having a blast.

Within seconds, all three beasts lay motionless in the brush. Liora straightened up, eyes darting through the foliage. "More. Where are the rest?"

Seraphina glanced over at Felix. "Is this really the same girl who was trembling like a leaf on the way here?"

"Told you," Felix said with a grin. "Gamer instincts. Put her in front of targets, and the switch flips."

The forest delivered. A mixed pack of several C-ranks and two mid-tier B-rank armored boars crashed through the brush, tusks dripping with corrosive bile.

Liora’s grin widened. "Those look much sturdier."

"Have at them," Felix called out.

She shot forward, dark mana reinforcing her frame as she slipped between lunging tusks.

Razor-thin blades of condensed shadow formed along her forearms.

SHING

Cleaving clean through hide and muscle before she drove an axe kick into a boar’s snout.

The second beast charged from her blind side. Space around Liora rippled like heat rising off asphalt, and she vanished entirely.

The boar skidded, snorting in confusion.

CRACK!

A dense black needle slammed into its flank from behind as Liora reappeared ten meters away, landing light on her feet.

Seraphina’s eyes sharpened. "She warped."

"Short-range spatial shift," Felix noted. "She’s weaving it into her footwork."

Another projectile condensed in Liora’s hand, then another. This time, she didn’t just throw them, she phased them. The needles vanished mid-flight and tore through empty space, reappearing from an impossible angle beneath the monster’s chin.

"Again!" Liora laughed.

Her mana reserves weren’t deep enough to teleport her whole body repeatedly, but compressing and phasing small projectiles was remarkably efficient.

She peppered the beasts with invisible, unpredictable strikes until both B-ranks collapsed with heavy thuds.

She stood catching her breath, still smiling, but Felix noticed a faint, steady hum vibrating from her chest. Her core was absorbing the combat pressure, adjusting to the load.

Good.

Felix thought. The vessel is adapting.

---

They pushed deeper into the dense valley. An hour later, Felix raised a hand, signaling a halt.

"Liora."

She turned, wiping dirt from her cheek. "Yeah?"

He gestured toward an isolated C-rank hound trapped in a thicket. "Over here."

As the creature snarled, Felix stepped in, moving so fast his arm blurred, and clamped a hand around the scruff of its neck. The beast flailed, kicking uselessly against his iron grip.

"What are you doing?" Liora asked, tilting her head.

"Testing a theory," Felix said. "I noticed it during our sparring sessions. Your dark affinity doesn’t just corrode physical matter, it has an invasive quality. It can interfere with external mana circuits."

"Interfere? Like control them?"

"Possibly. Push a thread of your mana into its core."

Liora hesitated, then reached out, letting a dark wisp flow from her fingertips toward the beast’s chest. The moment the black mana touched its hide, the hound thrash wildly, its core flaring in desperate resistance.

"It’s fighting back hard," she said, her brow furrowing.

"Don’t force it with raw pressure," Felix instructed. "Guide the thread into its pathways. Overwrite the flow."

Liora gritted her teeth, narrowing the output and sliding the darkness through the creature’s mana veins. The hound’s frantic struggles slowed until the resistance snapped, replaced by a strange, humming resonance.

The hound went completely still. It relaxed, sat back on its haunches, and looked up at her with clear, docile eyes.

Liora stared at her palm. "...I can feel its heartbeat. And its mana."

"There you go," Felix said, releasing his grip. The hound stayed right by her boots.

"Can you understand me?" Liora whispered.

The hound lowered its snout, nudging her knee.

Her pink eyes went wide. "It actually listened!"

"Looks like your affinity carries a taming trait," Felix remarked.

Seraphina crossed her arms, studying the hound. "A darkness mutation paired with beast taming. That’s a rare combination."

"A versatile one, too," Felix said.

Liora grinned, looking out at the rustling canopy. "Can I find another one?"

Felix laughed. "I knew you were going to ask that."

By late afternoon, she had gathered five beasts: three C-rank hounds and two agile D-rank forest cats. They trailed behind her in a disciplined formation, the larger hounds flanking her sides while the cats brought up the rear. She looked absurdly proud of her little strike team.

Then, just as she finished linking with the fifth beast, she stumbled, pressing a hand against her temple with a sharp hiss.

Felix was at her side instantly. "What is it?"

"My head..." Her face paled slightly. "It feels heavy. I can feel all five of them at once: their eyesight, their movements, their mana pulsing. It’s too noisy."

"Then cut the expansion," Felix said firmly.

"That’s your mental limit."

"Already?" she asked, disappointed.

"Yes. Five is plenty for your current core density."

Liora sighed, but as she looked at the five loyal beasts sitting patiently around her boots, her pride returned. "Still... five is pretty good."

"Congratulations," Seraphina offered calmly.

"Thanks," Liora muttered, ducking her head with a shy nod.

They kept moving, using the beasts as scouts to flush out stray monsters. Liora fought smoothly, letting her hounds pin targets while she flanked from blind angles, phasing attacks with growing confidence.

At one point, a stealthy B-rank panther dropped silently from a high bough, aiming sharp claws right at the back of Seraphina’s neck.

Seraphina didn’t even turn around.

SHING-SHING-SHING.

Three razor-thin arcs of pressurized water flashed through the air, pinning the panther’s limbs to the tree trunk with surgical accuracy before it could drop.

Liora stopped mid-step, her jaw dropping. "...Whoa."

"Don’t try sneaking up on her," Felix teased.

"I wasn’t going to!" Liora protested quickly.

Seraphina glanced sideways at Felix, a faint smile touching her lips. "You make it sound like I’m unreasonable."

"I’ve seen what you do to people who get on your bad side," he replied smoothly.

"Then you know better," she said softly.

---

As twilight settled into deep night, Felix called a halt near a clear stream. He built a small campfire, and Liora sat close to the warmth, the dark mana entirely gone.

The feral grin had vanished, replaced once again by the quiet, polite girl carefully chewing on her ration bar. Seraphina sat across from her with effortless posture, while the five tamed beasts rested quietly in the perimeter brush.

Felix stood a few yards away, staring into the pitch-black treeline.

His posture had stiffened. His relaxed, easy demeanor vanished entirely, replaced by sharp, focused attention. The ambient mana in the air was changing: thickening, vibrating with a heavy, oppressive weight.

"Sera," he called out, his voice low.

Seraphina looked up instantly. "What’s wrong?"

"Stay sharp." Felix didn’t turn around. "The mana density just spiked."

Seraphina rose to her feet, hands dropping naturally toward her sides. "A rank shift?"

"The gate is re-calibrating," Felix said, his eyes scanning the dark forest. "It’s not B-rank anymore. The rift boss just broke through to A-rank."

Liora froze, her ration bar hovering mid-air.

"Monsters can evolve inside a gate?"

"If an Awakened can break through in the field, a monster can too," Felix explained. "That’s why dungeon runs turn into graveyards. If an ordinary B-rank squad walked in here right now, they wouldn’t notice the subtle shift in the air. They’d keep pushing forward until they ran headfirst into an A-rank boss they were never equipped to handle. By then, retreating is impossible."

The campfire crackled between them.

"Always assume a rift can go wrong," Felix added, kicking dirt over the embers to kill the light. "Out here, you stay ready for a fight to the death at all times."

Liora nodded seriously. Seraphina did the same, her eyes cool and steady in the dark.

ROOOAAAR!

From the deep heart of the forest, a deafening roar tore through the canopy. The shockwave swept through the valley, rattling the leaves and sending a violent tremor straight through the ground beneath their boots.

Felix turned toward the sound, a faint, familiar smirk touching his face.

"Get some rest," he said quietly. "Tomorrow is going to be lively."