Chapter 40 – Rushing Toward the End

  Before Ray could dwell on the strange surge he’d felt within the outer bond, Alkan pushed himself upright with his sword. The blade trembled in his grip, its form splintered and cracked—no longer a proper weapon, but a dying relic clinging to purpose.

  “Go,” Alkan said, voice hoarse. “Find the key orb in the devil’s carcass. I’ll hold them off.”

  There was no time to argue. Ray dashed toward the grotesque corpse, its stench thick enough to sting his eyes. The flesh squelched and split beneath his strikes as he carved through layers of rotting mass. The devil had been a monster among monsters—its innards were twisted, fused with hardened bone and strange metallic growths.

  Finally, Ray's fingers brushed something solid—smooth and cold. He pulled out four shimmering soul fragments, each pulsating with a dense, heavy glow. They were from a fallen creature, larger and more potent than any dominant-class he’d seen. But nestled beneath them was something else—a round, milky pearl. It looked dull, unimpressive. But the instant Ray touched it, a torrent of essence through his fingers.

  This is it.

  The gate Alkan had dreamt of—the mechanism that could tear open a path out of this hell—needed immense energy to function. And this orb… it was that energy. Ray finally understood why they hadn’t been able to leave even when they’d first discovered the gate. The source had always been here—inside this devil’s remains.

  He turned.

  Alkan was still fighting.

  Alone.

  The swarm had thickened. More outers than before—creatures of all shapes, some with limbs like blades, others crawling like shadows over broken stone. Even dominant-ranked beings hovered at the edges, watching. But they didn’t dare step closer, wary of the fallen ones’ madness.

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  Ray didn’t waste another second. He ran back toward Alkan, but stopped midway.

  This isn’t sustainable. We won’t last much longer.

  He closed his and tried sense the relic he had recieved for killing that fallen devil. Soon the strange relic he’d absorbed earlier was summoned—a shimmering mass of mist that coalesced into a grotesque pendant. It looked like half-melted flesh, solidified mid-drip.

  Strange...it's not a weapon. Lets just hope it helps.

  He closed his eyes and let a sliver of his soul essence enter it.

  The reaction was instant.

  A ripple of madness swept through the horde. Hundreds of outers screeched and turned—every gaze snapping to Ray. Their cries became a storm, and they surged, trampling over each other just to reach him.

  His eyes widened in realization.

  He dismissed the relic quickly. The pendant vanished into the ether, and the creatures slowed—but the damage was done. Their attention had shifted. They knew his scent now.

  Alkan reached him just in time, slamming his cracked blade into a charging beast and kicking its twitching body away.

  “What the hell did you do?” he asked, breath ragged.

  Ray wiped blood from his lip. “That devil left behind a relic. A charm of some kind. It pulls outers in—makes them ignore everything else.”

  Alkan grunted, slashing another fallen beast across the throat. “Then it’s our ticket out of here.”

  Ray frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “When we reach the gate, one of us will need to buy time to open it,” Alkan said, glancing behind at the endless tide of creatures. “Too many will be on us. One of us activates that charm, keep their attention away from the gate, tosses it away with some soul essence after the gate is opened. The swarm’ll follow it and give us some time to escape through.”

  Ray hesitated, then nodded. “A decoy... could work. That should buy us a few seconds.”

  “Exactly. Enough to activate the gate and escape.”

  Alkan raised his hand.

  “Give it to me. I’ll be buying us time, you will open the gate.”

  Ray nodded and reached out and allowed the relic to pass through between them. A flicker of light transferred from his palm to Alkan’s.

  Then they ran.

  No words, no plans—just motion. Sprinting over blood-slick ground, weaving through toppled ruins and dodging the claws of shrieking beasts. Every breath burned. Every step was heavier than the last. But they moved with purpose.

  The gate was close now.

  And behind them, hell followed.