The Invincible Young Master

As the blinding brilliance of teleportation faded, their sight gradually adjusted to the new scenery that awaited them.

They had arrived on the second layer of the tower.

Unlike the radiant hall of puzzles they had just left behind, this chamber was a place of shadows.

A few pale shafts of light filtered down from unseen cracks high above, their glow catching the ever-drifting motes of dust.

For ordinary mortals, such a place would have been suffocating, its blurred outlines and muted colors drowning sight in uncertainty.

But for Ascendants, darkness was little more than a veil, thin, deceptive, incapable of hiding what truly lurked within.

At the heart of this vast chamber loomed a colossal stone pillar, so massive it seemed to hold the sky itself upon its shoulders.

It stretched upward endlessly, vanishing into shadow where no eye could follow. The faint sound of stone groaning echoed from above, as if the tower itself was breathing.

Far ahead, past the monolithic pillar, shimmered a faint light. As they pressed on, the glow sharpened into form, a massive door, already wide open.

The sight struck them with surprise.

On the previous floor, they had to solve that being's riddle before accessing the gate. That had nearly cost lives.

But here, there were no riddles or any sort of blockage, only an open path.

Relief rippled through the ranks of soldiers.

Still they did not let their guard down. The formation tightened again, the Yan army moved at the front along with the group from the academy.

Reynold's small party was moving from the rear, keeping the pace.

"Could it be because the earlier parties already cleared this floor?" one general whispered.

Ling Yan glanced toward the elder, seeking certainty, but received only a solemn shake of the head.

"It's not that simple," the elder said quietly.

Ling Yan's brows furrowed, unease stirring in her chest. She followed the elder's gaze toward Lina.

She walked in silence, eyes closed, as though she were listening to something only she could hear.

A faint crease marred her delicate brow; her expression caught between focus and unease. It was not sight she relied upon here, but something deeper, something beyond the reach of mortal senses.

The company reached the chamber's center where the large pillar stood. And there, the first shapes emerged from the murk.

The soldiers slowed… then froze.

There were lifeless bodies.

The floor was drenched in blackened blood, soaking into the ancient stone. Armor lay shattered, weapons scattered, limbs torn and discarded as if they were nothing more than broken dolls.

The iron stench of death thickened the already oppressive air until each breath burned the lungs.

The crimson armor of Yan soldiers. The golden plates of the Jul warriors. These were not strangers, these were comrades, they had seen stride proudly into the tower ahead of them. Now they lay silent, reduced to remnants of slaughter.

A general went forward, bending to his knees beside a breastplate split wide with a gash. His hand brushed against the familiar insignia of the Yan army, his face ashen.

"Just… what happened here?" he whispered.

Before anyone could answer, a voice rang out, clear and unshakable. It did not come from the chamber itself but from within their very minds.

"From above!"

Lina's ethereal voice sounded in everyone's mind.

Heads snapped upward as shadows shifted high above the colossal pillar, the unseen ceiling stirring with movement.

Every soldier stiffened at once. Blades rustled free of scabbards, spears leveled. Shields came up in unison with a metallic grind, the echo reverberating in the cavernous gloom.

At first, there was only silence, then it came.

A noise, faint and dry, like parchment tearing or brittle leaves caught in a storm, drifting down from above.

It grew, swelled, multiplied, until the chamber itself seemed to tremble with it. A heavy, rhythmic beating of countless wings filled the air.

From the shadows clinging to the colossal pillar's peak, the dark began to move.

The ceiling erupted.

Swarms of black shapes burst forth, flooding the air in a storm of chaos. Bats, hundreds, no, thousands of them, screeched as they poured into the chamber, their leathery wings slicing through the stale air with relentless force.

The gale of their passing tugged at hair, cloaks, and banners, stirring dust into choking clouds.

The press of wings and screeches was maddening, as though the tower itself had awakened in rage.

But the bats did not linger; they surged toward the great open gate at the far end, vanishing into the distance like a fleeing storm.

When the echoes faded, a strange stillness settled.

The chamber grew brighter, shafts of pale light spilling down from the high gaps above.

Dust spun lazily in the beams, drifting in golden threads before dissolving into the shadows. For a brief heartbeat, that light felt like salvation.

But then it revealed something else.

Something that should have remained hidden.

High upon the central pillar, coiled around its crown, lay a monstrosity.

Its body was vast, segmented, and armored in dark, glistening plates that overlapped like the ridges of ancient war-forged steel.

Each clawed leg was hooked deep into the stone, anchoring its titanic form with unnatural ease.

The creature resembled a centipede, yet far more dreadful, its endless length wrapped tightly around the pillar as though claiming dominion over it.

Its eyes were closed, a mockery of slumber, and yet its oppressive aura pressed down on every soul below. The air grew heavier, as if the monster's very existence denied them ease.

Ling Yan frowned upon seeing the creature above. "Can we… pass through quietly?"

"No," Lina replied, shaking her head. "I-it already knows we're here."

As if answering her, the creature's eyelids tore open.

Two enormous orbs glowed in the darkness, crimson and searing, their baleful light cutting through the dimness like twin suns of blood.

The gaze struck them with physical weight, burrowing past flesh and bone to scrape against the soul itself.

A hiss rumbled from above, deep and drawn out, vibrating through the stone beneath their boots.

"Formations!" the generals commanded.