I Received System to Become Dragonborn-Chapter 846: Beyond The Rift

Hearing Eccar's words, all the adventurers immediately snapped back to attention, eyes locking toward the direction of the rift. They still couldn't see it through the mist, but now they knew that was where the enemy would come from.

"Oh, shit," Eccar muttered, a hint of amusement in his voice. "It's multiple now."

The air grew heavier. The adventurers froze again, that cold grip of fear trying to creep back into their veins.

"I'll handle one," Eccar said casually, scanning their tense faces. "You all handle the rest, okay?"

He paused, then corrected himself with a sly grin. "Actually, I'll handle two. You just take care of one."

There was a silence — then slow, determined nods from the adventurers. It was a good idea. Actually they feels a relief. After facing the first monster they knew what these things could do. And they also knew that only their honed instincts and teamwork had kept them from dying. Any lesser adventurer would've been frozen in place by that unnatural shriek alone.

"They're coming," Eccar said a heartbeat later. "Three of them."

"Are you sure its only three?" Selene asked, her tone sharp.

"Yeah, for now. I'll handle two," he replied coolly, stepping forward, the mist swirling around him like a curtain about to rise.

And then thunderous wet footsteps pounding against the forest floor, the sound of claws scraping dirt and the shrieks began again, warbling and distorted, shaking leaves from the trees.

The three creatures emerged from the fog.

Tal, grey, and still terrifying. Just like the first one but now there were three.

Without hesitation, Eccar's body burst into motion. Scales of deep brown and jet black erupted across his arms and legs. His pupils slit like a Dragon's and raw energy surged off him in waves that made the earth rumble faintly beneath his feet.

He vanished then reappeared mid-air above the first creature, his leg glowing with Magic energy.

CRACK!

His heel came crashing down on one of them's skull with explosive force. The impact shattered the creature's head like brittle stone in an instant. The body didn't even fall — it crumpled inward, slammed into the ground as if gravity had tripled.

The second creature lunged at him with a hiss and raising its arms to attack but Eccar stepped into it. His fist collided with its chest in a blur, sending it flying back through two trees and making the woods splintered.

The creature wheezed as if in pain. Then Eccar was already in front of it again, grabbing its throat mid-air and crushing it with one hand.

A sickening crunch was heard and the body fell limp.

In the blink of an eye, two monsters were dead.

Meanwhile, the third creature charged at the adventurers.

Jan was already ready, an arrow streaking out and nailing the eye just like before. It screamed, halting mid-charge. Hund and Thorne slammed into it from both sides and forcing it back.

Kaela moved while crouching low, almost crawling along the ground, then slashed its ankles and calves with rapid precision, drawing pale blood and ruining its balance.

It shrieked again, blind rage propelling it forward, but the group didn't give it room to breathe.

Selene's hands crackled once more with lightning and when the creature raised its arms to strike she fired a lightining bolt into its chest. Electricity exploded across its body, locking its joints for a moment.

That was enough.

Thorne's sword came down across the neck. Hund stabbed upward through its stomach. Kaela's daggers sliced the back of its legs clean open.

The creature fell forward, and Jan ended it with one last arrow straight into the pulsing eye.

It shuddered and lay still.

Silence returned, broken only by panting breath.

Eccar stood a few steps away, brushing dust off his hands, his scaled limbs already returning to normal. He looked over his shoulder.

"See? Told you we'd be fine."

Jan scanned the treeline with eyes still sharp and half-drawn bow — but no more movement came.

The forest was still again as if the violence moments ago had never happened. Eccar stood with his arms relaxed, no longer flaring with Magic. Seeing him at ease, Jan finally lowered his bow. The others did the same, their tension slowly bleeding away.

"Don't we need to move?" Mark asked. "More could be coming from that rift."

"You're right," Eccar replied, his expression sharpening.

Then he turned toward the rift. For a moment, he just stared — his face contemplating as if caught in some internal calculation.

"I'll try something first," he said at last. "Follow me. Stay alert."

The adventurers exchanged quick and uncertain glances. None of them knew what Eccar was planning but they followed him anyway. Whatever he had in mind, he hadn't led them wrong yet.

They reached the edge of the rift. It hovered in the air like a vertical wound torn through reality, a jagged, pulsing tear in the world itself. Through it, nothing but a shifting void of blackness could be seen.

Unease fell over the group like a cold fog.

The adventurers stopped several steps back, instinct warning them not to go any closer. They weren't supposed to be this close. Every part of their senses told them the place behind the rift was wrong and deadly.

Yet Eccar stood barely a meter away from the rift as if just staring through a door.

He frowned and narrowing his eyes, trying to pierce the veil. The others said nothing because they didn't want to distract him. But worry began creeping into their chests.

Was he seeing something? Was he trying to sense what lay beyond that blackness?

Seconds passed then Eccar see a flicker. His pupils dilated slightly.

Eccar saw a vision after staring for too long with his Dragon Eyes.

He saw a place of shifting violent color. Swirls of red, green, and violet light. But still dominated by overwhelming black. As if the void was bleeding with fractured illusions. And in that twisted realm they were there.

Hundreds or maybe thousands of the pale grey creatures lining up in clusters.

Rows upon rows of them, some no larger than the ones they'd just fought. Others the size of buildings, towering over their kin with jagged limbs and distended forms.

Some looked more malformed as if their bodies hadn't decided what shape to settle into.

They moved with discipline and gathering near rifts that split the darkened sky and ground, ready to spill out into the world.

"...Shit," Eccar muttered under his breath.

He stepped back a half-step with grim face.

The moment the adventurers saw that change their fear returned.

"What is it?" Selene asked.

Eccar didn't answer right away. But they could feel that something was coming.

"We have a problem here," Eccar said.

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