Chapter 30: Into the Unknown

Elias and his team stood at the edge of the Academy's magical barrier, the energy pulsing faintly in the air. Beyond it lay the unexplored outskirts, a dense, mist-covered forest that stretched toward the distant mountains.

Lira crossed her arms. "So, just to recap: The Academy Council wants us to investigate something causing unstable mana surges, but they conveniently don't know what it is."

Cecilia smirked. "Sounds like they're sending us to die."

Reinhardt rolled his shoulders. "Let's just hope it's something I can punch."

Marco adjusted his satchel, frowning. "This doesn't feel like a test. This feels like an experiment."

Ivy remained silent, her sharp gaze scanning the treeline. "We need to move. We're being watched."

Elias exhaled, checking the new modifications on his gauntlet. He had reinforced the impact absorption circuits and added a secondary cooling system to avoid overheating like in previous fights.

"Alright," he said. "Let's find out what's out here."

They stepped beyond the barrier.

The First Signs of Trouble

The moment they entered the forest, the air shifted.

Elias felt it instantly—the faint hum of unfamiliar mana, tingling against his skin like static electricity.

Marco knelt, pressing his hand against the ground. "The mana here is… unstable. It's not natural."

Cecilia drew a dagger. "Meaning?"

Marco's expression darkened. "Meaning something is interfering with the magical flow of this place."

Ivy suddenly raised a hand, signaling silence.

Then—

A guttural clicking sound echoed through the trees.

Reinhardt tightened his grip on his hammer. "That didn't sound human."

Elias's eyes narrowed. "Spread out. Move quietly."

The team advanced carefully, their footsteps barely making a sound. The deeper they went, the stronger the feeling of wrongness became.

Then, as they entered a clearing, they saw it—

A twisted, blackened crater, pulsing with dark red energy. The ground around it was charred and fractured, as if something had torn through reality itself.

Lira exhaled. "Okay. That is not normal."

Marco's face went pale. "That's a mana rift."

Elias frowned. "Explain."

Marco swallowed. "Mana rifts are tears in magical space. They shouldn't exist inside the Academy's barrier." He pointed at the pulsing red glow. "And whatever's causing this isn't natural mana."

Ivy knelt beside the rift, running a gloved hand over the distorted air. "This… isn't our world's magic."

The group stiffened.

Elias clenched his fists. "Then whose is it?"

Before anyone could answer—

The shadows moved.

Something crawled out of the rift.

The First Encounter

The creature was wrong.

Its body was twisted, covered in dark, chitinous plates, its eyes glowing a sickly violet.

It let out a clicking screech, its clawed limbs twitching unnaturally as it stepped forward.

Lira swore. "What the hell is that?!"

Marco stumbled back. "That's… that's not a beast. That's something else entirely."

Elias took a step forward, gauntlet humming with energy.

The creature lunged.

Elias threw up his arm, activating his kinetic repulsion field just as the monster's claws slashed toward him.

BOOM.

The impact sent the creature reeling backward, but it recovered instantly, its unnatural body twisting mid-air before it landed with a bone-snapping crack.

Reinhardt roared, charging forward with his war hammer. He swung—

But the creature moved too fast.

It sidestepped, dodging the attack with inhuman reflexes.

Ivy fired an arrow—direct hit to its eye.

But instead of falling, the creature shrieked and regenerated instantly, the arrow pushed out of its skull as if time had reversed.

Cecilia's expression turned grim. "It heals?"

Elias gritted his teeth. "Then we hit it harder."

He activated his impact converter, absorbing the kinetic force of his own movements to build up energy.

The creature lunged again.

Elias ducked, let it get close—then unleashed a full-force shockwave punch to its chest.

BOOM.

The force rippled through the air, the shockwave shattering nearby branches and sending the creature flying into a tree.

It slammed into the trunk, cracking the bark—

Then stopped moving.

Silence.

Lira exhaled. "Tell me it's dead."

The ground trembled.

Then—

The rift behind them pulsed.

Ivy's voice was deadly serious. "We need to go. Now."

Elias's eyes widened. More shadows shifted inside the rift.

More creatures began to crawl through.

Dozens of them.

Lira swore. "Oh, we are so screwed."

Elias's heart pounded.

This wasn't just a test anymore.

This was a war waiting to happen.