Chapter 13: Shattered Dimensions and the Dark Princess

A faint, sharp smirk crossed Ren’s lips as he read the system description. ’That means I don’t just have to rely on weapons... I can build my own army.’

However, uncertainty quickly tempered his momentary excitement. Ren had no idea how dangerous C-Rank Aberrants actually were.

While the prospect of gathering Monster Cores was exceptionally tempting, he couldn’t afford reckless optimism. His Nyx Seal was sitting at a volatile 82%. One wrong move could trigger an irreversible backlash.

’Are C-Rank Aberrants similar to the horde we just wiped out in the corridor? Or are they as terrifying as the cataclysmic monster I encountered when I first arrived in this world?’ Ren pondered, his jaw tightening in quiet contemplation.

"Let’s go," Ryu declared, taking a confident step toward the swirling purple vortex. Reika and Miku fell into step right behind him.

"Everyone, wait!" Ren called out, raising a firm hand to halt their momentum.

Reika paused at the edge of the light, glancing back over her shoulder. "What’s wrong, Ren?"

Ren adjusted his grip on the flashlight, his eyes locking onto the pulsating energy of the rift. "Do any of you actually know how dangerous this portal is?" He gestured sharply toward the violet vortex. "There are C-Rank Aberrants inside. We have no idea what kind of environment we’re stepping into."

Ryu’s brows furrowed deeply as he turned around, his gaze shifting between the portal and Ren. "C-Rank Aberrants?"

Miku’s playful demeanor instantly vanished, replaced by a sharp, serious glare. "How do you know that?"

Caught off guard, Ren quickly scrambled to construct a believable lie. He needed to protect the secrecy of the System interface at all costs.

Ren shifted his weight, crossing his arms with a look of practiced calm. "I have a rare innate ability to sense Aberrant energy signatures."

Reika’s eyes widened in genuine surprise, her lower lip parting as she gasped softly.

"An energy-sensing ability for Aberrants?" Miku repeated, tapping her finger against the hilt of her dagger as she weighed his words.

Ryu uncrossed his arms, taking a slow step toward Ren, his analytical eyes studying him intently. "I’ve traveled across the kingdom, and I’ve never heard of anyone possessing an innate radar for Aberrant energy signatures before." He paused, rubbing his chin. "So... what should our move be?"

Ren rested a hand against his chin, feigning deep thought. "What exactly does a C-Rank Aberrant look like?"

The question caught the three of them entirely off guard. Ryu, Miku, and Reika exchanged bewildered glances.

"Wait... weren’t you a porter before?" Reika asked, her brow knotting as she looked at him with an odd expression, as if his ignorance of monster classifications made no sense for someone in his line of work.

Ren cleared his throat, scratching the back of his neck to conceal his awkwardness. "Ah...The thing is I don’t really care about the Abberents’ rankings even though I might know what they look like."

Ryu stepped in, cutting through the embarrassment. "C-Rank Aberrants are precisely the type of mutated beasts we just slaughtered in the narrow corridor."

Reika relaxed her shoulders, a confident smile returning to her face. "If that’s the case, we can definitely handle them."

"Right," Miku agreed, turning back toward the portal, which hummed with a heavy, rhythmic pulse. "We already proved we can take them down."

’I see... so C-Rank Aberrants are just like the ones from the tunnel,’ Ren thought, weighing their capabilities. ’With their combination of magic and swordsmanship, a small squad of C-Ranks shouldn’t be a fatal threat. The risk is manageable.’

Ren mentally glanced at his iron pistol tucked beneath his coat. He quickly calculated his remaining margin for error. ’If I need to construct emergency gear to stay alive, I can probably afford three more System creations before the Nyx Seal reaches the critical 85% threshold.’

"All right, let me rephrase—we move," Ryu said, turning on his heel. "We’ve wasted enough time standing around."

Without another second of hesitation, Ryu stepped straight into the swirling purple rift. Miku and Reika followed immediately, their silhouettes swallowed instantly by the deep violet light.

As they crossed the threshold, the portal emitted a strange, high-pitched warble that vibrated through the stone walls.

Ren stepped up to the edge alone. He took a deep, steadying breath, letting the cold air fill his lungs, before exhaling slowly. Bracing his core, he took the final step forward.

The moment his body made contact with the purple barrier, an excruciating gravitational pressure slammed into him.

WHOOSH!

Ren felt as though he had been violently hurled into an endless dimensional slipstream. The world spun out of control as centrifugal forces tore at his balance, pitching his body upside down. The intense spatial turbulence made his stomach churn, a violent wave of dizziness washing over his mind.

THUD!

Ren was violently ejected from the void, crashing hard onto damp, muddy ground. He tumbled across the slick earth before coming to a sudden halt on his back.

"Damn it...!" Ren hissed through grit teeth, pushing himself up on trembling palms.

He lifted his head to take in his surroundings, and his eyes instantly widened in sheer shock.

Above him stretched an eerie, starless black night, dominated by a massive, blood-red moon hanging ominously in the sky. Towering high into the dark horizon stood a sprawling, gothic black castle and a colossal ruined cathedral, their dark stone spires piercing the crimson moonlight. Jagged stone roads wove through groves of ancient, leafless trees, lit only by flickering iron braziers lining the path. Thunder rumbled continuously overhead, jagged streaks of violet lightning tearing across the dark clouds.

It was a bleak, terrifying dark-fantasy realm.

However, what truly sent a shock of panic through Ren was not the horrifying architecture—it was the fact that Ryu, Reika, and Miku were nowhere to be found.

Instead, standing just a few paces ahead of him on the cobblestone path, was a solitary woman.

She wore a breathtaking, off-shoulder black dress with a dramatic front slit that exposed her long, pale thighs as she shifted her weight. Her deep purple hair was styled into an elegant, slightly messy bun, with loose strands framing a strikingly beautiful yet icy face. Glowing purple eyes locked onto Ren with sharp, predatory focus.

Ren scrambled back, his body instantly going into high alert. *Where did the others go?! Why am I alone with her?!*

"Welcome, Ren Celestial," the woman spoke, her voice smooth, icy, and echoing with dark magic.

Ren took a quick step back, his hand dropping toward his waist in a defensive posture. "Who... who the hell are you?!"

’How does she know my name? Who is this woman really?

The woman didn’t answer. Instead, she took a slow, deliberate step forward, her high heels clicking softly against the wet cobblestones.

Before Ren could turn and run, her silhouette blurred.

SWOOSH!

She closed the distance in a fraction of a second, appearing directly in front of him like a ghost. Violet dark energy crackled violently around her right fist as she threw a devastating straight punch aimed directly for his head.

Ren’s survival instincts kicked in instantly. Relying on sheer reflex, he jerked his head violently to the left.

BOOM!

The shockwave of her fist grazed his ear, blowing back his hair and shattering the air behind him.

Ren stumbled backward several paces, his breathing coming in ragged, desperate gulps. Sweat poured down his temple, his jaw clenching hard. ’Shit! That was way too close...!’

Before he could pull out his weapon, the woman pursued him relentlessly. She launched a barrage of rapid strike combinations, her fists shrouded in lethal purple aura. Ren desperately pivoted, twisting his upper body and taking frantic steps backward to dodge her ruthless strikes, the wind from her punches slicing through his clothes.

Seeing him avoid her upper attacks, the woman instantly changed her flow. She swept her leg low in a lightning-fast kick, catching Ren directly behind the knee.

Ren lost his balance, his leg buckling under the force.

As his body pitched forward into the air, the woman seized the opening. She pivoted smoothly, channeling a dense concentration of violet energy into her fist, and delivered a brutal, full-force strike directly into Ren’s jaw.

CRACK!

The impact sounded like a thunderclap. The sheer kinetic force lifted Ren off his feet, sending his body airborne before he crashed violently back onto the hard, muddy stone road.

Ren lay flat on his back, the world spinning in wild, disorienting circles. His vision blurred rapidly, a burning, searing pain radiating through his face and jaw.

"Damn... it..." he rasped, his voice barely a whisper as dark spots danced across his eyes.

Through his fading, hazy vision, he caught the faint sight of her smooth, pale legs taking slow, rhythmic steps toward his prone body.

Then, everything went pitch-black.