The team gathered around Mikhail with worried faces as he slowly pushed himself back to his feet.

His breathing was still a little uneven, but he forced himself to look calm.

"I’m okay," he repeated, brushing dust off his clothes. "I just need a few minutes to gather my thoughts."

Stella quickly asked, "Should I heal you?"

"No." Mikhail shook his head. "Just give me some space."

The others nodded, moving away from him. Mikhail walked toward the edge and sat down quietly.

Methew walked toward him, jumped onto his shoulder, and licked his face.

The sudden approach made Mikhail calm down a lot.

Taking in deep breaths, he glanced at his finger, which had returned to normal.

’The Mirror of the True Self...’

Mikhail suddenly remembered the name of the artifact.

From what he understood, the vision he ’saw’ was the history of this place.

How the elves had lived in this place and how they were then invaded.

’Outer God...’

Mikhail thought again, but this time he felt more uneasy.

’No, it’s not an Outer God...’

No matter how weak or how low the strength of an Outer God might be, there was no way he could look at it and not go mad.

Even in the major bibles of the real world, it was stated not to look at Gods to keep one’s sanity.

’If one can go mad from looking at a normal god, then there is no way I would be fine looking at an Outer God, even if it was a vision.’

Mikhail clearly ’saw’ the elves fighting back the monster as well.

He also suspected that his [Outer God] class gave him immunity, but Mikhail didn’t want to believe it so he wouldn’t do anything stupid in the future.

Like looking at a God directly.

Though the thought made him question something else.

’If not an Outer God, then what was it?’

Mikhail remained silent for a long while before he came up with some theories.

’He might be a child of an Outer God, or maybe he could also be a spawn, a lesser form of the real god...’

The more Mikhail thought about it, the more he felt like he was getting lost.

Finally, he forced himself to stop thinking altogether as he let out a sigh.

’When I see Ms. War Maiden again, I will ask her about the whole thing.’

Mikhail threw the other thoughts to the back of his mind and stood up.

He picked up his spear and looked at his concerned teammates.

"Let’s head out." Mikhail said in a deep voice. "We will move toward the sun."

Just as the words escaped his mouth, Mikhail stopped in his tracks.

’If that monster came from the sun, and we’ve been walking toward the sun this whole time... are we walking straight into its territory?’

Mikhail quickly rejected the idea. There was no way for that monster to be inside this newbie-friendly Rift.

After arranging his thoughts, Mikhail led the group out of the building.

The orange sun still hung lazily in the sky, casting the same sickly glow over everything.

"Did you guys notice the sun hasn’t moved even a bit?" Stella suddenly pointed out. "It’s like frozen in time."

The others looked at the sun and nodded in response.

"Perhaps this place is frozen in time," Patrick suggested in a doubtful manner. "Maybe it’s just a hoax."

"Don’t be like that."

"We saw Jasper die, remember?"

"What are you thinking?"

The others quickly made Patrick shut up. Only Mikhail gave her a silent look.

To be more specific, he was looking at the owl on her shoulder.

’...I am pretty sure that owl is something special.’

He retracted his gaze and focused on the path instead.

Aleena, who had been walking silently at the back the whole time, suddenly let out a soft chuckle.

The group turned to look at her.

"You’re all overthinking it," she said with a lazy smile.

She didn’t elaborate anything and kept walking behind them.

They continued walking across the black sand for another thirty minutes.

The landscape remained the same, dead trees, fine black dust, and that ever-present faint smell of rot.

Then Bert, who had been scouting ahead, came running back.

"Village ruins ahead," he reported, breathing fast.

"About twenty to thirty headless corpses wandering between the broken houses. They’re spread out, not clumped together. We might be able to pick them off in smaller groups."

Mikhail stopped and thought for a moment.

"This could be our chance to farm enough kills for the tear," he said. "We’ll draw small packs away from the main group, kill them quickly, then retreat before the others notice."

Patrick summoned Veltam and stroked the owl’s feathers. "Veltam can help lure them. He has a thing for making monsters aggressive."

Stella nodded. "I’ll set up vine traps near the houses. It should slow them down."

Mikhail looked at each of them, then gave a firm nod. "Our goal is steady progress, not clearing everything at once."

He tightened his grip on the engraved spear, feeling its balanced weight.

"Let’s go."

The group advanced toward the ruined village.

As they got closer, they could see the broken stone huts and collapsed wooden structures half-buried in black sand.

Headless corpses shuffled slowly between the ruins, their neck tendrils twitching lazily.

Mikhail raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop behind a large dune.

"We start with that small group of four near the broken tower," he whispered.

"James, flank left. Bert and Veltam, draw their attention. The rest of us will strike from the sides. Ready?"

Mikhail took one last look at the orange sun hanging in the distance.

Whether the monster from the vision was truly gone or not, one thing was clear: this Rift still held many secrets.

’I wonder if I will ever face that monster if I enter a higher grade Rift.’

Mikhail thought, gently twirling the spear in his hand.

’Maybe I will see that monster in a Grade Two or maybe in a Grade One Rift.’

He quickly suppressed his thoughts when he saw Bert and the owl bringing a horde of monsters.

’I said to only bring four of them....’