My Cuckhold System - Chapter 257: This Place Looks Expensive
“Yes.”
West then snapped his fingers lightly and golden-green magic circles bloomed behind him.
Gor’thala emerged from the summoning light in her massive armored form and her staff resting against one shoulder while her glowing green eyes swept across the room.
Even now, newly recruited members still got stunned seeing her appear.
Hart muttered under his breath, “Still insane…”
West pointed toward her casually. “Gor’thala will support you.”
Jax grinned immediately. “With Gor’thala and her Verdant Pyre Behemoths, that’s basically an army.”
“Exactly.”
West’s gaze sharpened slightly.
“You’ll have fifteen combat-capable bodies. Unless the ruin turns out abnormal, there shouldn’t be issues.”
Jax placed a fist against his chest dramatically. “Leave it to me.”
West ignored the theatrics and continued.
“I’ll clear the second ruin myself with Seraphyra.”
A shimmer appeared beside him as Seraphyra materialized in human form. Her emerald eyes glowed mischievously while her long serpentine tongue briefly slid across her lips.
Vanya visibly tensed seeing her and Seraphyra noticed instantly.
“Oh? New little prey is nervous around me,” Seraphyra smirked.
Vanya swallowed hard while Seraphyra maintained eye contact with her before winking.
West sighed. “Ignore her.”
Seraphyra looked offended. “You wound me, master.”
“Aurethia stays behind as usual,” West added. “Base protection.”
Aurethia stood silently near the doorway, elegant as always with her glowing saber resting against her shoulder.
Aria folded her arms. “Good. Someone competent should remain here.”
West looked at her dryly. “You say that like you’re not dangerous yourself.”
Aria smiled faintly. “I prefer paperwork violence.”
Preparations moved quickly after that.
Shadow Reapers now possessed several customized armored SUVs purchased using ruin profits and Viktor’s unwilling donations.
They were matte black in color with reinforced plating and blue glowing insignias etched subtly along the sides.
They looked less like vehicles and more like military predators.
Hart volunteered to drive Team One’s transport immediately.
“Good,” Jax said while tossing himself into the passenger seat. “Because none of us trust Nina behind a wheel.”
Nina gasped dramatically. “One accident.”
“You drove into a fountain.”
“Every accident is a form of art…”
Vanya quietly climbed into the back while Gor’thala simply sat atop the vehicle itself because there was realistically no comfortable way to fit her inside.
Meanwhile, West’s own departure looked considerably stranger because he still couldn’t drive.
He always claimed he didn’t have tome to learn.
So instead, a hired awakened-friendly transport driver sat nervously behind the wheel of another armored SUV while West occupied the backseat.
Seraphyra lounged beside him lazily in human form with one leg crossed over the other while staring outside the window.
The driver kept glancing nervously into the rearview mirror.
Mostly because Seraphyra looked like the kind of woman who might eat someone.
Which was fair… because she absolutely would.
The convoy split shortly afterward as the two teams headed towards their respective ruins.
•••
•••
Nearly two hours later, Jax’s team reached a dead town.
Dust rolled through empty streets while broken traffic lights swung gently in the wind. Buildings stood cracked and hollow with faded store signs barely hanging on.
“What happened here?” Vanya asked quietly.
Hart frowned while parking the SUV near the center of town. “Looks like everyone vanished.”
Nina stared toward the distance where rusted playground equipment creaked softly.
Creeeak…
Creeeak…
Jax rubbed his arms. “Nope. Hate this already.”
The ruin signal led them toward what used to be a large school complex near the center of the town. The gates hung broken while faded lettering barely remained above the entrance.
The courtyard was filled with overturned desks and old paper scattered everywhere.
In the distance… they spotted the ruin entrance.
Right inside the school’s main assembly hall, a swirling distortion was suspended above the cracked floor.
Jax cracked his neck slowly.
“Alright then…”
His grin appeared.
“Let’s get this done.”
•••
•••
About an hour later, far away from the dead town.
West’s own vehicle crossed endless dunes beneath the dark sky.
The desert seemed to stretched forever.
Massive rock formations rose occasionally from the sands like giant fossilized beasts while intense cold spread across the surroundings.
Unlike the lush greenery surrounding Misty High City, this place felt ancient and hostile… even the wind sounded aggressive.
The driver gulped saliva nervously. “Sir… are you absolutely sure the ruin is out here?”
West glanced toward the scanner device calmly.
“Mm.”
Seraphyra rested her chin against the window lazily.
“I dislike deserts.”
West looked sideways at her. “You dislike everything.”
“That is incorrect.”
She smiled slowly. “I like biting people.”
The driver nearly swerved.
West sighed. “Focus on the road.”
After another forty minutes of travel, they finally found it.
In the middle of the desert stood something enormous partially buried beneath the sands.
Ancient black stone pillars, ruined structures and fragments of gigantic statues protruding from dunes…
At the center, a swirling ruin entrance floated above the sand like a wound in space itself.
The air around it distorted violently.
Seraphyra’s eyes narrowed slightly. “This one feels different.”
West stepped out of the vehicle slowly while the desert wind whipped against his coat.
The sands moved unnaturally around the entrance, almost like something beneath the desert was moving.
West stared toward the ruin silently for several moments before smiling faintly.
“Good,” he stepped forward slowly. “Let’s see what kind of mess waits inside.”
•••
•••
The moment Jax’s team stepped through the distortion inside the abandoned school assembly hall, the environment transformed violently around them. The cold dusty atmosphere of the dead town vanished instantly, replaced by something almost surreal.
Glass.
The ground beneath their feet looked like polished translucent crystal stretching endlessly into the distance.
Very high walls of reflective material rose around them in twisting corridors and maze-like formations that curved in impossible ways beneath a glowing silver sky.
Some pathways reflected distorted versions of themselves while others showed nothing at all.
The entire ruin felt alive in a deeply uncomfortable way.
Even their footsteps echoed strangely.
“Okay…” Jax muttered while slowly turning in place. “This place looks expensive.”
