"Look at you swing that stick. Blind little puppet trying to dance on strings.

"Careful, Adam, your guts are slipping! Don't trip over yourself and fall now. That would be a tragedy, or worse… a comedy!

"The panther wants your throat, the rain wants your bones, and that thing waiting down there… it wants your soul. Guess who's going to be faster?

"Expand! Shrink! Again, and again, and again! Like a child with a toy… until the toy breaks. Snap!

"You hear them, don't you? Skitter, crawl, slither… oh, they all want to play with you. So many playmates, but only one Adam."

"What a pathetic joke you are! Can't see, can't hear, can't cast spells, can't live, can't die. Even death refuses you! I'd laugh if I could, but you're already doing that for me.

"I'd say enough is enough now, don't you think? Do you think laughter will mend your torn stomach? Do you think madness will carry you across this continent?

"Take responsibility for your greed!

"You cry that you can't see, can't hear, can't fight. But who's to blame for all of this? Who chose to rip his soul into pieces and take a gamble back in the Battle of Ravenfell? You!

"Stop running from it. The beasts, the blood, the voices… they're yours now. You wanted power? Power demands its price.

"If you die here, it'll be because you refuse to own what you're becoming!

"Do not dare call yourself a victim, Adam. You laughed when you should have wept. You reached when you should have let go. And now… you pay.

"This is the path you carved with your own trembling hands, didn't you?

"Responsibility. That is the joke no one laughs at. Do you understand now, little Magus?

"If you do… then wake up!"

GASP!

Adam inhaled a large mouthful of air immediately after gaining consciousness. All that greeted him was utter darkness. He felt primal fear in his heart, yet his lips curled into a wide, menacing grin.

For a brief moment, his mind felt calm and silent. But in the very next moment, the whispers of the Laughing God engulfed the tranquil sanctity of his mind. And then, immediately after, excruciating pain tore through his body, causing him to grimace.

"…Where am I?" he murmured.

Raindrops fell on his bloodied and broken body. He expanded his Sphere of Resonance and sensed that a section of the roof above had collapsed, and he was currently lying precariously on a… wooden beam.

As fate would have it, he had crashed through the domed roof earlier and landed hard on this horizontal beam that supported the structure from within. One wrong move, and he would plummet straight to the ground.

Of course, Adam didn't dare move an inch. He was perfectly fine where he was, as fine as one could be. Too bruised, too beaten, too drained, he simply lacked the strength to move at all.

Instead, he pondered the voice that guided him here, the very same voice that woke him up.

It was the strangely familiar voice…

Lightning streaked across the dark skies, illuminating the ominous Ivory City. Buildings had long since crumbled and been abandoned, leaving the streets in utter ruin. At the heart of the city lay a tall structure - an ancient domed building, worn and dilapidated with time.

At present, hundreds of savage beasts encircled the building. Yet not a single one dared to take a step closer. Even the eight-legged panther held its ground at the edge. All these beasts had looks of fear and agitation in their eyes. Every single one of them.

Something dreadful lurked in the domed building, a presence so menacing and terrifying it kept the horde of powerful magical beasts at bay, forbidding them from taking even a single step forward.

By a twist of fate, whether it was fortune or misfortune, Adam had escaped the savage horde and taken shelter within the domed building… straight into the belly of a far more dangerous beast!

Right at that moment, a towering humanoid silhouette appeared in the arched entrance of the ruined dome. Shrouded in darkness, it radiated an aura of sheer menace. Its crimson eyes swept over the beasts gathered outside. Then it opened its mouth, unleashing a thunderous, bone-rattling roar.

The roar was louder than even the rolling thunder in the dark skies above. At once, most of the beasts scattered, fleeing with their tails tucked between their legs. A few Mana Vortex-level beasts glared at the humanoid silhouette with indignation, but in the end, they, too, turned around and left.

After all the savage beasts had cleared, the humanoid silhouette turned back around and headed deeper into the domed building.

Meanwhile, high above inside the building, lying on the wooden beam beneath the dome, Adam felt his blood run cold. With one hand pressed tightly against the gaping wound in his stomach, he raised the other hand and covered his mouth.

He didn't dare to even breathe too loudly. From that single display of power, Adam understood… without a shred of doubt, that the humanoid beast was at the Mana Core Rank!

Adam could feel his lips curling into a grin and laughter about to escape his lips. His expression turned ruthless, and he bit down on his tongue! At the same time, he tightly clasped his mouth.

He heard the sound of footsteps on the ground beneath him. The beast was moving back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth…

Adam frowned. He slowly and silently expanded his Sphere of Resonance.

He couldn't help but wonder why the beast hadn't approached him. He was sure that it had heard his thunderous arrival. In fact, he suspected that the beast even knew exactly where he was hiding.

So, then why wasn't it attacking him?

The answer soon became clear to him.

The ground floor of the building was a vast hall supported by cracked and, in some places, broken pillars. Rows of shattered wooden benches lined either side of the broad central pathway.

Along that path, the humanoid beast walked back and forth as though… on patrol.

The beast completely disregarded Adam's existence, intent on only patrolling the hall. But what was it guarding?

The answer revealed itself soon enough.

One end of the hall opened into the arched entrance of the building, while the other end led to a second arched doorway, this one descending underground.

Whatever lay hidden beneath the ruins… that was what the beast was guarding!

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