Chapter 24 - Appearance of the Passage

Three months had passed.

The forest had not grown quieter — only Sid had grown fiercer.

Where once a boy wandered, now stood a warrior forged by solitude and survival. His frame had filled out, lean muscle rippling beneath torn fabric and blood-stained wraps. Scars ran across his chest and arms, some fresh, others faded. His once-curious eyes had deepened — sharp, calm, and unblinking — like a predator that had finally understood its place in the wild.

He moved with a dancer's grace and a killer's precision.

And right now, he was locked in a brutal exchange with a towering, three-meter-tall black ape.

The beast roared, its massive fists crashing down like iron hammers. Each swing was enough to crush stone. But Sid didn't falter. His sword met the attacks with fluid deflections, feet sliding with perfect balance on the moss-covered ground.

The ape lunged, its claws flashing.

Sid spun low beneath its arm, sliced upward — a deep gash across the creature's ribs — then vaulted back, breathing steady. His expression never changed.

No more reckless lunges. No more panicked dodging. He studied, calculated, reacted.

The black ape snarled and charged again, wild and savage. But Sid didn't retreat.

Steel met fury.

With a final clash, Sid twisted past the ape's defense, leapt up its chest, and drove his blade through the base of its neck. The creature staggered, limbs trembling—then collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Sid landed silently beside the corpse, shoulders rising and falling in a steady rhythm. His eyes dropped to the sword in his hand. The once-pristine edge was chipped, dulled, and lined with cracks.

"…It's reached its limit too," he muttered, voice low and calm.

He wiped the blade clean before storing it away. "That's two gone."

Reaching into his spatial pouch, he pulled out his final weapon — a sleek, black-handled longsword wrapped in cloth. He unraveled it, gave it a small test swing, and exhaled slowly.

"This one has to last."

Then he knelt beside the ape's corpse. From within the beast's mangled chest, a glowing core pulsed faintly — dark crimson, thick with primal energy. He took it, observing the weight in his hand, and without hesitation, swallowed it whole.

The effect was immediate.

A surge of wild energy erupted from within him, like an overflowing river bursting its dam. His body trembled. His veins seared with heat. The world around him spun as a powerful force began tearing through the air.

Suddenly—

The sky went dark. Strong winds suddenly disturbed the peacefulness the surroundings. Then, a swirling black energy begun manifesting around him until it turned to a black, ominous vortex in front of him.

The air was ripped into it like a vacuum. The trees nearby bent under its pull. Cracks of shadow webbed out from its center, warping the light around it. The space trembled as if struggling to hold back what lay beyond.

Sid's eyes widened, heart pounding.

"This is… The passage to the Trial."

He instinctively took a step back—but felt no threat. Only a strange pull. A strange… invitation.

The vortex stabilized — a perfect black spiral, pulsing like a heartbeat. And deep within is an endless void enough to inflict fear.

But something inside him is deeply attracted to it.

He did not enter right away, instead he took a seat nearby. He closed his eyes and calm his self down. Letting his body relax and condition his mind to prepare for the trial.

After some time of preparation, he made his way to the passage.

He took a breath.

Steeled his nerves.

And stepped forward.

The vortex pulled him in.

Then he, together with the passage, vanished.