Realm of Myths and Legends

Out of nowhere, a series of blazing flames erupted from the ground and formed a circular blockade roughly ten meters in diameter with Izroth positioned at its center.

Not long after the flames emerged, Lances dashed through the wall of flames before coming to a halt at Izroth's side.

Lances realized something was off the moment the shadahis started to behave strangely and immediately understood that it must have had something to do with the coffin's destruction; or, rather, the spatial rift that appeared to form as a result of it.

"Any ideas what this thing could be?" Lances inquired with furrowed brows.

The moment he arrived in front of the spatial rift, Lances sensed a bone-chilling chaotic aura coming from the other side that made the shadahis in the chamber seem insignificant in comparison. The red clouds had yet to fully disperse, so Lances could not see the terrifying sight that lay on the other side of the spatial rift; however, the spatial rift itself still gave him a bad feeling.

"It's a portal that connects the Mortal Realm to the Shadahi Realm," Izroth replied without adverting his gaze.

"What?!" Lances exclaimed as his eyes widened in shock.

He then hurriedly asked, "Hey, you're not joking right? This thing—is it really a portal to that Shadahi Realm?!"

"Yes, which is why we need a way to seal or sever its connection to this place before it's able to finish stabilizing," Izroth said calmly.

"Unreal..." Lances muttered with a troubled expression.

As someone from the Pride Clan, Lances heard countless stories from the elders of his clan about the horrors of the shadahi and how the creatures were sealed away in a special realm.

What many people did not know, however, was that there was a particular group of extraordinary existences among the shadahi. Those individuals were considered true monstrosities that had been forced to remain dormant even after being sealed away in the Shadahi Realm.

That's why Lances did not understand how Izroth could stand there and be able to speak such frightening words so calmly.

"Can it be that he's already discovered a way to close the spatial rift?" Lances contemplated as he glanced over at Izroth.

At the same time, Izroth completed his examination of the spatial rift.

'It's just as I thought. This portal—there's no way to effectively sever the connection in time.'

Izroth concluded that severing the connection within their limited frame of time was not a feasible option. As for sealing the spatial rift, if he had the Twin Lasting Epoch Sentinels in pristine condition, Izroth would have been willing to attempt it. Unfortunately, he handed the Twin Lasting Epoch Sentinels over to Morrighan for repairs since the magic item had become unusable.

Another approach would have been to try using Zakra's Harmonic Spear of Causality to try and for the portal to malfunction or seal itself shut. But that skill was still on cooldown after Izroth used it to suppress that vicious dark frost and prevent it from spreading throughout his body.

'I suppose that leaves us with three options. First, we try to search for a way out of this place and report the existence of this spatial rift to our allies. Of course, by the time we do that, the link between the two realms will have finished stabilizing, and a fight will become inevitable. The second choice is that I use the Boundless Nullifying Expanse of the Boundless Emperor Void Perfection. With it, I may be able to cut off the connection just long enough for the spatial rift to destabilize and collapse in on itself. Sadly, it's impossible to accurately gauge the level of destructive force that will be generated by the portal's abrupt collapse. It's likely that even if we were to succeed, everyone within the chamber will perish.'

"I guess that leaves the third option..." Izroth said to himself.

"Hm? Did you just say something?" Lances asked.

"I may have a way to stop it, but I will need some time. In the meantime, do not let anything disturb me." Izroth stated as he opened up his system interface.

Lances looked at the spatial rift and then back at Izroth. In truth, he was not sure how confident Izroth was in stopping the potential disaster in front of them. However, Lances knew that there was no choice but to trust in Izroth's judgment and hope that he managed to succeed with whatever he had planned.

"Just focus on what needs to be done. Leave your back to us." Lances said with an air of reassuring confidence.

Even if he was apprehensive inside, as a Commander and the highest-ranked person present, Lances understood that he did not have the luxury to display such concern. If he started to show his worry, it would undoubtedly leak over those of the 5th Unit. And, if the 5th Unit began to crumble; as a result, it would not be long before the 9th Division followed right by their side.

Roooooragh!

Out of nowhere, two shadahi managed to break through the defensive wall of flames Lances set up.

"As a descendant of the Pride Clan, I, Lances Pride, shall uphold the trust placed in me by those around me." Lances stated as the fire element around him erupted.

He then continued, "On that, you have my word."

Lances kicked off the ground and rushed towards the two shadahi who passed through his wall of flames and met the creatures head-on.

...BOOM!

As Lances went off to keep the shadahi at bay, a transparent window opened before Izroth that only he could see. The next moment, a system alert sounded off.

〈System Alert: You have opened the «Special Event Shop».〉

'I don't have time to search through everything in the event shop. I'll need to narrow the parameters.'

There were tens upon tens of thousands of items available for purchase within the event shop. Sorting through all the items and finding something suitable would take much longer than Izroth could afford; therefore, he did not hesitate to use the search function to filter out most of the common items.

By the time he finished, Izroth was able to narrow it down to less than 10,000 results.

Each of the items listed that matched the search parameters Izroth used cost a minimum of 5,000 contribution points.

What Izroth was looking for was simple—an item that was rare quality over higher and had sealing or severing attributes. He also excluded things like equipment, weapons, potions, and pills—items that were unlikely able to do what he intended.

'There are still too many results to search through. I'll have to add more restrictions.'

Izroth quickly changed the minimum quality requirement from rare to epic grade. And immediately upon doing so, the search results dropped down to just around 1,000.

'I can work with this.'

Although a thousand results were still a lot to go over, Izroth was someone with perfect memory. As long as he glanced over it once, he would be able to retain all the information that was displayed. Therefore, as he was going through the items, there would not be anything he overlooked.

Meanwhile, as Izroth swiftly browsed through the event shop, the 9th Division and 5th Unit were locked in a fierce battle against the shadahi. Though to call it a battle was not entirely accurate.

The 9th Division and 5th Unit were not struggling to fight against the shadahi. In fact, if one were to look at the fight from an outside perspective, it would seem as if they were one-sidedly slaughtering the creatures. But that was only how it appeared on the surface. In reality, they were unable to hold back the shadahi despite their best efforts.

The high regenerative abilities of the shadahi paired with their ever-building immunity and bloodlust made the creatures a headache to hold down.

"Vanguard, get it together! We've already let two slip through the wall of flames made by Commander Lances! Do not let it happen a second time! East side, move closer together!" Niflheim barked orders as he suppressed the shadahi close to him.

With Izroth's attention on the spatial rift and Lances by his side within the wall of flames, Niflheim took it upon himself to take charge. Surprisingly, no one from the 5th Unit seemed to be against him doing so and followed his orders without fail.