The red orb began to slowly glow. At first, it was calm as it hummed, soothing even. It didn’t take long for the sensation of malice to make itself known as the light intensified, becoming almost blinding. Lumi felt the pull immediately, a sensation like being grabbed by invisible hands and yanked sideways through reality.

The world twisted as colors bled together, his head went dizzy, and then everything snapped back into focus.

Lumi found himself standing in an altered version of the clearing. The sunlight- no, even the sun itself was gone. Only an eerie red light cast over reality remained. Even the sense of being in Elenora had vanished.

They stood in a dead forest.

For starters, there was dirt. Unlike outside the seal, where they stood high in the air atop a thick, multi-feet conglomerate of vegetation, the floor beneath them held dirt. A dark, blackened dirt that was soft with decay. Dead leaves and rotting wood created a carpet of decomposition that squelched with each step.

The trees here were massive, but wrong. Their trunks were blackened and twisted, like they’d been burned from the inside out. No leaves adorned their branches. Just bare, skeletal limbs reaching toward a sky that was nothing but oppressive gray clouds. The bark looked diseased, cracked, and with traces of some red liquid that dried long ago caked to it . Some trunks had split open entirely, revealing hollow interiors filled with decades of rot.

The air was stale and old, like the inside of a cave. It felt dangerous, as if the air wasn’t safe to even breathe. There was no wind, nor any sounds of birds or insects. There was nothing, nothing at all except for the oppressive, suffocating silence that was only broken by the shuffling of over a thousand players materializing into this cursed space.

Lumi looked around quickly, taking stock. The players had all been pulled through successfully. Over a thousand people now stood in this sealed space, crowding together in the dead forest. The Lieutenants were already moving into position—Ryan gathering warriors, Vice organizing archers, Hazy’s thieves melting into the shadows between dead trees.

Their excited chatter died quickly as they took in their surroundings.

"What is this place?"

"It’s so dark..."

"Where’s the enemy?"

Eden stood near the back of the crowd, holding Sol close to his chest. The boy’s face had gone pale, his freckles standing out starkly against suddenly bloodless skin. "Master, what... what is this?"

"The sealed space," Lumi replied, calmly. "The prison for the demon, Currway."

Tora moved to Eden’s side immediately, with his shield raised. "Stay behind me, kid. Don’t move from this spot."

"I won’t." Eden’s voice was barely a whisper. He wanted to be brave. Yet it was hard when the world suddenly felt dead.

Then, suddenly, they all felt it. An oppressive, massive presence. Like a mountain of malice pressing down on them from all sides.

A deep, rumbling laughter echoed through the dead forest. "Finally. Finally! After all these years, fresh prey finally enters my domain! I will finally escape this accursed place!" Currway stepped out from behind one of the massive dead trees, revealing himself to the masses.

He was huge, easily nine feet tall. Every inch of his skin was covered in solid, thick red scales, like a dragon. His face was reptilian, with yellow eyes, and a long snout filled with sharp teeth. A thick tail swished behind him, utterly destroying the trunk of a tree. His hands ended in clawed fingers, each talon as long as a dagger.

Currway’s burning gaze swept across the assembled crowd. Then. his expression shifted to confusion. "What...? There are... so many of you?"

From outside the seal, his senses had been blurred. He’d thought perhaps a hundred at most. Now he saw the truth. Several hundred. Perhaps a thousand.

His confusion deepened. "Human. How... how did you gather this many?" His eyes found Lumi, staring up at the man on his airship. "You told me you would bring me sacrifices. That’s... but this is... this is..."

Something was wrong. But he couldn’t identify what.

After all, he wasn’t in any danger. Of that, he was certain. The red orb prevented anyone at Third Rank or above from entering. And he could sense it, these people were weak. Most were still at First Rank. Even the few that were at Second Rank barely had a foot in the door.

Except for Lumi, who had decent progress in Second Rank. Not that it even mattered, for Lumi was his follower.

...right?

Currway swept glances at the masses of humans. "What’s wrong with this batch of humans? Where is the fear? The shock of betrayal?" The longer he looked, the more confused he became. These humans weren’t panicking at all! Instead, many of them stood in formation with their weapons drawn and eyes focused.

He would think they were perhaps an organized combat force, yet that didn’t make sense either. They didn’t have a grave expression on their faces. In fact, many were actually excited. He listened to their words...

"Did you see him!?"

"This is so cool!"

"Get ready everyone!"

Currway’s confusion turned to unease. "What is this...? Why aren’t they afraid? Where is their fear!?" He turned to Lumi once more. "What trickery is this!? They don’t fear me. How did you trick them so? Or did you perhaps... betray me?"

Lumi met the demon’s gaze calmly. He gave him a short nod. "Indeed."

There was a moment of silence, then Currway’s expression shifted to pure rage. "You dare!? You dare deceive me!?"

Lumi merely replied with a short nod. "I do." He raised his wand high and directed the players. "Everyone... attack!"

"KILL!" The players surged forward with a roar that shook the dead forest.

"Kill! Kill the beast!"

"Let’s go!"

"I want to drink his blood!"

Currway barely had time to react. The first wave of warriors reached him within seconds, weapons swinging in coordinated strikes.

His face contorted in rage. "You dare... strike me!? You insolent worms!"

Currway’s claw slashed through the air at speeds so fast that to most people, it had teleported. Even to Lumi, he had merely seen a blur. His clawed fingers caught the leading warrior by the throat. He stared down into the human’s eyes. They stared back defiantly.

That look in his face bothered Currway. How dare this nobody think he could even have a chance. "Don’t you think... you’re unqualified to face me, boy?" He lifted him into the air with contemptuous ease, and- "What the-!?"

Currway suddenly had to jump back as dozens of other warriors swung their weapons directly at him. From swords, spears, to maces. Currway was baffled.

Had they not just seen him effortlessly disable one of their warriors? Did they not fear that they would be killed next? Why was it that not a single one held an expression of fear?

No longer willing to bother with his captured foe anymore, he simply swung his arm out, and threw him backward with devastating force.

The player’s body sailed through the air, crashed into three others behind him, and they all tumbled to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and clattering armor.

[Iron Ore has died]

The warrior’s body immediately broke, his orifices leaking red blood as he went limp, dead.

Currway’s savagely turned his attention to the rest of the humans rushing him, and his ego took a blow. "How dare you!?"

A thief darted in from the left with his aimed at Currway’s kidney. "Crush!" The demon’s tail whipped around faster than the eye could follow, catching the thief in the chest.

Crunch.

An audible sound of bones shattering rang out as the blow struck, sending the thief back, folded in half.

[Timmy Tooth has died]

Several mages in the back had been casting, and their finished spells shot out.

"Fireball!"

"Ice Lance!"

Ice and fire intertwined in the air, combining together in an attack that shot across the air. Currway raised one arm lazily, and the magic splashed harmlessly against his scales.

"Pathetic. Truly pathetic! Did you seriously think yourself capable of harming me!?"

Despite his taunts, and the visibly useless effects of their attacks, the players did not relent. Warriors continued to press in from all sides as dozens of archers fired from range, and mages launched spell after spell.

"Fools." Currway took a step forward, ready to rush into the crowd and start a massacre. He was certain he could ignore every attack-

He could sense every single attack coming his way. There were hundreds, and he ignored them all. Which was exactly his weeness...

If his senses were overwhelmed by the endless swarm of attacks, then those that could truly effect him would sneak by safely.

"Eh-?" The slightest hint of a slighter higher threat barely registered in his brain, making him glance left lazily. It was a couple yellow, glowing lances. By the time he saw them, it was too late to dodge. But he didn’t care, after all, a weak spell could never-

"ROAAAAAR!"

On impact, it cracked a few of his surface scales, before the lances dissolved on impact. Immediately afterwards, the Light Mastery passive triggered immediately. A second strike followed automatically, hitting the same spot at half strength, lightly cracking a few scales once more.

Currway looked at the caster of that spell. Of course. It was from Lumi. "So the traitor bares his teeth. You dare hurt me...?"