The world simply melted.

There was no loading screen. There was no flash of light.

The stone walls of the Whispering Chasm literally liquefied like wax held to a blowtorch.

The ancient statues of the forgotten gods dripped and smeared into abstract smears of gray and black. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Dante stood his ground and dropped into a defensive stance. His hand hovered over the hilt of the [Crimson Edge]. He didn’t let go of the glass crest.

The ceiling of the cavern tore open. But it didn’t reveal the violet sky of Outpost 404.

The illusion peeled away to reveal a sprawling and apocalyptic mountain range.

The sky above was a swirling vortex of blood-red clouds and pitch-black lightning.

The ground beneath his boots wasn’t stone anymore. It was jagged and corrupted obsidian.

[Ding!]

The system alarm didn’t chime. It shrieked! It was a harsh and blaring sound that physically hurt the ears of Dante.

[CRITICAL ALERT!]

[You have breached an Uncharted Death Zone.]

[Location: Sanctum of the Eclipse]

[Warning: This zone far exceeds your current physiological parameters. Communication networks disabled. Revive protocols disabled. True Death is active.]

Dante quickly turned around to look for the path back to the Whispering Chasm.

There was no path. The obsidian mountains stretched endlessly in every direction.

The exit had completely vanished the moment the environmental illusion dropped. He was locked in.

"True Death," Dante muttered. He read the blaring red text in his vision.

If he died here, the system wouldn’t even try to send him to a respawn point.

It would instantly trigger the neural overload sequence in his VR capsule. The [Tear of the Forgotten] was gone. He had no safety net.

He looked up.

Looming directly in front of him, carved into the side of the largest obsidian mountain, was a monolithic temple.

The architecture was terrifying. It wasn’t built for humans.

The steps leading up to the main entrance were ten feet tall each. They were designed for something massive.

The pillars supporting the structure were wrapped in jagged and metallic thorns. The grand double doors were blown completely off their hinges and lay in pieces on the steps.

The atmosphere was suffocating. It felt like standing at the bottom of the ocean.

The sheer cosmic pressure radiating from the temple was actively trying to force Dante to his knees.

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand upright. The [Sun-Forged Cuirass] glowed warmly and pushed back against the oppressive aura.

He had no choice. He couldn’t go back. The only way out was forward.

Dante began the grueling climb up the massive stairs.

He had to use [Blink Step] just to scale each individual step. He teleported upward in short and controlled bursts to conserve his stamina.

It took him twenty minutes just to reach the main landing.

He stepped over the shattered remains of the massive bronze doors and entered the shadowy temple.

The interior was impossibly large. The ceiling was lost in the absolute dark above.

Floating braziers lined the central aisle. They burned with cold and silver flames that offered no heat.

At the end of the aisle, sprawled across the center of the temple floor, was a corpse.

Dante walked closer. His boots made no sound on the smooth obsidian floor thanks to his Titan-grade ring.

As he approached the body, the system identified it.

[Remains Identified: Eclipse Sentinel]

[Tier: Super-Divine]

[Level: ???]

[Status: Deceased.]

Dante stopped ten feet away. He stared at the massive guardian.

It was a towering and heavily armored knight, easily forty feet tall.

Its armor was crafted from a metal Dante had never seen before. It radiated a soft and celestial glow.

But the Super-Divine guardian was dead. And it hadn’t been a long fight.

Dante inspected the corpse.

The Sentinel hadn’t been chipped away or worn down. It had a single perfectly clean hole punched directly through the center of its chestplate.

The edges of the wound were cauterized smooth. Whatever hit it had completely vaporized its core in a fraction of a second.

The corpse was currently dissolving. It turned into golden motes of light that drifted upward into the dark.

The blood of Dante ran cold.

A Super-Divine tier entity was functionally a god in the Zenith Protocol. Entire nations of players wouldn’t even attempt to raid a Super-Divine boss until years into a cycle.

And something had swatted it like a fly.

A sudden and earth-shattering roar echoed from deep within the temple.

It wasn’t the roar of a beast in pain. It was a roar of absolute and territorial rage.

The sound wave was so powerful it physically pushed Dante backward. It forced him to dig his boots into the floor.

Something was still alive in the inner chambers.

Dante didn’t retreat. He drew the [Crimson Edge].

The red blade felt woefully inadequate compared to the scale of the destruction around him, but it was all he had.

He moved past the dissolving corpse of the Sentinel. He slipped into the heavy shadows cast by the massive pillars.

He utilized the stealth passive from the [Band of the Void-Walker]. He made absolutely zero noise as he advanced toward the source of the roar.

The central aisle led to a massive and circular antechamber. The walls were lined with glowing silver runes that pulsed erratically.

Dante peeked around the edge of the massive stone archway leading into the chamber.

He immediately held his breath.