Arty stood up immediately and rushed to the place where the gate was, gritting his teeth. He swayed his hands around in the air as if trying to grab on to something, but grasping at nothingness. "Damn it," he hissed under his breath, venom lacing his voice.
All the other ones also stood up, brushing off their clothes, dirty as they were. Rilli darted to Sezel's side, her hands outstretched to ease the burden of the heavy bag weighing down his frail shoulders.
"What is happening, Arty?" the older thin man, their leader, asked, his voice dripping with uncertainty and anger.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Arty snapped, his frustration mirroring the leader's.
The older man surged forward, seizing Arty's collar with a snarl. "Who else, then huh? You're the registered Slayer!" he roared, his face inches from Arty's.
Arty's lips twisted in anger. With a sharp jerk, he freed himself. "Shut up, and don't put your filthy hands on me," he spat.
Arty sighed, straightening the collar of his shirt—trying to hide his panic under that calm, arrogant composure of his—but Sezel saw through that act of his, "Trying to act tough," he thought.
Who wouldn't panic in such a condition? The gates were supposed to disappear when they were completely explored and all the Spirit Essence was harvested out. It was odd enough that this gate was still open and with so much Spirit Essence inside, but now it got even more twisted. They were trapped inside the Spirit Realm.
Sezel surveyed their surroundings. A spectral forest enveloped them, shrouded in an oppressive darkness as it was, which made it creepy.
"Fuck, I am trapped because of these fools," Sezel gritted under his breath, looking down at his bare feet. His stomach grumbled from hunger.
"But it was my choice after all."
Arty was trying to get in contact with someone on his assessment device, a smartphone-like device provided to all Slayers to keep in contact with the corporation, but his expression said otherwise, and soon he jerked his hand in irritation. "Damn, this piece of shit is not working."
Another anomaly?
Those devices were made specially for establishing contact between the Spirit Realm and the real world. But everything seemed to go wrong from the moment they stepped inside this place.
"Now... what?" one of the bigger guys asked, shaking.
Sezel laughed inwardly, "Such an irony to his big-ass build." Though he was also scared, he was certain—he wouldn't be if he had such a fascinatingly built body.
Arty frowned in disappointment. "I'm as clueless as you," he admitted, his voice cracking on the verge of despair.
Suddenly a scream, a muffled growl of a creature echoed through the forest, a primal cry that froze their blood. The group instinctively huddled closer tension hanging tight.
Sezel flinched, his heart pounding. 'It's already creepy enough, why the fuck is your ass bleeding?' he cursed at whatever it was that made that sound. Rilli walked behind him, close.
"Come closer to each other," Arty whispered, his voice quivering, fear seeping through his crumbling bravado.
The Spirit Realm was not a place for nobodies like them to hang out. It was a dangerous place—more accurately said, it was a walking nightmare world with unexplored ways to die all over.
There was no sun, no moon, there was nothing over their heads. The sky was just a mass of darkness, and the only source of light was the Spirit Essence that pulsed the purple light, making it even more terrifying.
"Damn it all, these fuckers will die and take me with them," Sezel brooded, his eyes darting as the rustle of approaching footsteps grew louder.
Arty was scared out of his wits, tapping on his device like a lunatic, whispering something only another lunatic would have understood. Sezel looked at Arty and clicked his tongue.
"Boss, boss..." the other bigger man with darker skin and a large beard spoke, his voice trembling under his breath, walking backward.
"What is it?" the leader growled, but his body froze over as he saw what Beardy had seen, he bolted yelling "Arty, Arty, save us!" as he dropped to his knees behind Arty, clutching his pants.
Sezel and Rilli, catching sight of the terror, scrambled behind Arty with the others. They all stood behind Arty like scared kittens standing behind their mother. Arty, now in front, froze over at the sight of the creature that walked toward them.
His face twisted in fear. His device slipped from his trembling hands, clattering to the ground. His eyes, wide with dread, locked onto—the horrifying creature as it crawled forward.
The creature's blood-red eyes were fixed on them. Its jaws were pierced by its own sharp, knife-like teeth. It crawled forward with one broken leg attached to its body by a visible bone, black blood dripping from its mouth and the broken leg, looking indifferent against its dark blue rough skin.
"This… can't be real," Arty stammered, stumbling back. "A rank 2 Spirit Beast—a Night Crawler," he gasped, completely shocked as if he saw a ghost—well, he actually saw it.
The Spirit Realm was ruled by Spirit Beasts, ranked in different categories and ranks. The one crawling in front of them was a rank 2 Spirit Beast—a Night Crawler.
Sezel was already scared, but he had a tiny bit of hope that Arty would be able to kill at least the leftover rank 1 Spirit Beasts. But the first Spirit Beast they encounter turns out to be a rank 2? "We are fucked up, aren't we?" His mind went blank.
Arty, though, stood his ground, pulling out his blade—not because he conquered over his fear or out of the notion that I have to save them—it was not whatsoever. It was simply because he didn't want his image to be spoiled in front of Rilli, who was clutching him tightly from behind.
"He has gone mad. Can this bastard even do something against a beast clearly above his level?" he pondered, trembling. "But I am worse. I can't even do anything." He clenched his fists tightly until they turned pale.
The Spirit Beast stopped just moments from them, sniffing out, and then without warning, lunged. Arty's scream echoed in the air as he toppled backward, the group collapsing in a chaotic heap.
"We are doomed." Sezel screamed inwardly as he fell backward on the ground because of the heavy bag he carried, and thanks to his very good (bad) luck, he could see the creature just above him in the air.