"Should we contact the authorities? Or maybe the Association?" Lucien asked, still staring at the severed arm on the floor.
Mr. Roger shook his head calmly. "Wait here, please."
He stepped into the hallway and made a quick phone call. Lucien turned toward Mira's desk looked at the drawers that were slightly open, a few papers scattered. Nothing seemed missing. What had that man been after?
A few minutes later, Mr. Roger returned."The Blades of Lyon will send several guild members to guard the manor until Madam de Beaumont returns," he said.
Lucien nodded slowly. Something felt off. It wasn't just a simple break-in.Still, he was only a guest here, and Mira had been nothing but generous. He trusted her character, but he could also tell that Mr Roger was deliberately hiding something. The attempt on the manor would not be reported to the Association… for a reason he couldn't yet understand.
Meanwhile in Russia – S-Class Rift,
Snow whipped across the frozen plain as the coalition of guilds finally stood before the colossal rift. Its surface shimmered like black glass, pulsing faintly, as if breathing.
Mira adjusted the strap of her long musket and turned to her team. "All right. Everyone ready?"
The collective guilds, Blades of Lyon, Tian Chao, Aegis and several top Russian guilds all nodded silently.
As they stepped through, the world shifted.
The chill vanished instantly. The air grew hot, thick with the scent of moss and earth. Around them stretched a vast forest bathed in orange light, the sun blazing above a crimson horizon.
Before anyone could take a step, the ground trembled.
Dozens of creatures emerged from the undergrowth, grotesque beasts with obsidian hides and huge fangs. They roared and charged.
"Allan!" Mira shouted.
"On it!"
Allan slammed his palms together, activating his skill.
[Bastion] A dome of light erupted around the hunters, repelling the monsters with a thunderous shockwave.
The team moved with practiced precision, scanning their surroundings while the barrier held.
Then, Xiao Mei raised her hand, her expression calm but razor-sharp."Tian Chao — forward."
Allan dropped the barrier. In a blur of motion, Xiao Mei's guildmates tore through the monsters, blades and spells cutting them down like a storm. In less than a minute, silence returned and only the crackling of embers from scorched leaves remained.
Mira exhaled. "Good. Let's establish a perimeter and figure out the path to the boss."
The orders spread quickly. Hunters began setting up markers and scanning for mana fluctuations.
Meanwhile, Xiao Mei knelt and brought her hands together, whispering softly.
[Strategist Skill: Mapping]
Blue light spread from her palms, lines forming in the air, the skill began to chart their surroundings, constructing a glowing map of the dungeon.
But then… the lines twisted, glitched, and broke apart. The map didn't settle... it stretched outward, endlessly, until it blurred and fragmented.
Her eyes widened.
Allan frowned. "What is it?"
Xiao Mei's lips parted slightly, her voice quiet but trembling."This… this doesn't look like a dungeon."
"What do you mean?" Mira asked.
She turned to Xang Hu, who met her gaze in silence, concern flashing in his eyes.
"My map," Xiao Mei said slowly, "has no borders. No walls. No core."
She paused, the glow fading from her hands."It's not a rift… It semms to be anoter world."
Mira's expression hardened. "How big are we talking?"
Xiao Mei looked up at her and the fear in her voice was almost reverent.
"Immensely."
The ground trembled.Every hunter froze as a faint chime echoed through the air, sterile and unmistakable.
[System Announcement Detected]
[S-Class Event: The Purge of the Shard]Warning: Temporal Anomaly Detected.Time Conversion Rate: 30:1 (Real World : Shard)Mission Objective: Destroy the Dimensional Anchor.Time Remaining: 03 Hours 12 Minutes (Shard Time)Consequence of Failure: Temporal Collapse. Irreversible merging of the Shard with Real World reality.Outcome: Global Breakout of all persistent rifts.
A silence heavier than death settled over the group.
"Oh my god…" Mira whispered, her eyes wide with shock.
Dozens of hunters stood frozen, eyes darting between each other as the words sank in... Temporal Collapse. Breakout.
Panic rippled through the ranks. Voices rose, questions, orders, fear.
Mira clenched her fists, the shock washing away."Enough!" she snapped. Her voice cut through the noise like a blade.
Everyone turned to her.
"This changes nothing," she said, calm and resolute. "We were already going in and now we just don't have time to sit around. We move fast, no hesitation."
She turned toward Xiao Mei."Find that anchor. Now."
Xiao Mei nodded sharply. "Mapping... reactivated."
Blue lines flared again across the forest canopy, converging toward a single direction.
"Mana density spikes north of here!" she shouted.
Mira raised her musket, the polished silver glinting under the red sky."Then that's where we go. Move!"
The group surged forward.
Xang Hu led the vanguard with his bare fists glowing with golden light, each punch breaking through waves of monsters like a thunderclap. The earth split with every blow, the creatures scattering under his relentless assault.
Behind him, Mira moved with elegance and precision, her long musket roaring like thunder.Each shot pierced through two, sometimes three monsters, her movements almost like a dance, graceful, composed, merciless.
Allan and Xiao Mei coordinated the rear guard, forming defensive barriers while the rest of the hunters cleared the flanks.
The battle raged as they advanced, a tide of blood and fire carving a path through the warped forest.
Two hours of relentless fighting. Two hours of burning mana, sweat, and exhaustion.
Finally, the terrain shifted.
The dense forest gave way to open ground and the remains of ancient stone walls and shattered towers.
At the center of the ruins stood a colossal black crystal, ten meters tall, pulsing with a sickly violet glow. The ground around it was fractured, veins of light spreading outward like cracks.
Mira lowered her weapon, her breathing steady despite the chaos.
"There it is," she said, eyes narrowing."The Dimensional Anchor."
She stepped forward, the reflected light of the crystal dancing across her musket's barrel.
"We've found it."