"He's coming," Nyxirith said coldly, eyes narrowing. Everyone instinctively looked up and saw that the masked humanoid was descending.
The humanoid Scourge hovered forward, slowly, calmly, and deliberately, as if it had all the time in the world. From the visor of its mask, its eyes scanned the surroundings.
The very air trembled.
Even without touching the ground, the pressure it emitted caused cracks to form on the ground like spiderwebs. Then all of a sudden, it stopped, and its eyes zeroed in on the rocky outcroppings they were hiding behind.
The hearts of the group skipped a beat when they saw this. For a moment, no one moved from their spot—not because they chose to, but because they physically couldn't move.
Their bodies refused to respond.
Their minds blanked under the overwhelming killing intent pressing down on them like a mountain.
Then… the commander raised a hand.
In response, the Scourge Dragons moved forward. Without uttering a single word, it started to point toward a direction. The Scourge champion followed his command and spread evenly out across the wide expanse.
"They're flushing us out…" Drake whispered under his breath.
Raziel clenched his fist and cursed through gritted teeth. "Damn it. He saw us."
"No, not exactly," Drake said softly. "He knows we're close. He's narrowing it down. We need to move now. If one of those patrol beasts gets too close—"
Lumi, who was still trying to keep the protective light barrier, suddenly grunted with a strained expression on her face. "The veil's weakening. Too much pressure… I can't hold it much longer."
"We need to move now," Drake finally said. "If he gets close enough, even hiding won't help."
"But where?" someone asked in a tense voice.
"There!" Nyxirith suddenly pointed to the east. "There's a break in the ridgeline beneath the portal."
Sure enough, because most of the champions had spread out, the ridgeline beneath the portal was unguarded.
Drake didn't hesitate and quickly began to give orders. "We will fly low, no sudden movement."
They all nodded with determination, even though their faces were pale from fear.
"But before that, we need a distraction," Drake said.
"What kind of distract—?" Valkor inquired curiously.
Drake didn't respond. Instead, frost coalesced in his hand and a two-meter-long frost lance appeared in his grasp.
The lance suddenly shot forward into the air toward the west, and upon impact with a tree there, it exploded, raining down frost.
The heads of all the Scourge Dragons, including the commander, snapped toward that direction. They left their guard point and rushed toward it.
"Now or never!" Drake shouted and leapt off the ledge.
The others followed immediately, dragon wings sprouting out of their backs.
They flew low, barely a few feet above the ground—zigzagging between jagged rocks and trees infected by the Scourge.
Above them, the portal loomed like a gaping wound in the sky and pulsed like a heartbeat.
Elise ducked beneath a fallen archway.
"No talking," Zara cut in, in a low voice.
Suddenly, another large champion emerged from the portal.
It was a four-legged creature with no eyes or nose, only a grotesque mouth stretched wide across its face. Dark mist poured from its maw as it limped forward.
They all froze mid-flight.
Damn it, why does it have to come out now? Drake hadn't included this possibility in his plan.
The beast paused and sniffed the air.
Everyone was still. It seemed the creature had yet to notice their presence.
Then silently, it turned away. It wandered off without making a sound—it was moving toward the direction of the noise, most likely to check it out as well.
Everyone exhaled a sigh of relief.
"Let's go," Drake said immediately. "We're almost beneath the portal."
The group slipped behind a collapsed stone pillar. Ahead, an enormous ridge of stone twisted upward—toward the center of the vortex.
At its base were wide, broken steps that seemed to be built long, long ago—most likely by the Scourge Dragons. It was littered with the bones of dragons.
At the summit, the vortex spun intensely.
"That's it," Valkor whispered. "The gate."
"Come on legs, get in before they return!" Drake said grimly, casting a glance over his shoulder.
In the distance, a Scourge Champion broke off from the west and was returning back to its position.
Time was running out.
"We move now," Drake said. "Go!"
At his words, they all flew upward.
Lumi flew beside Valkor, glowing wings keeping her aloft.
Elise chose to take the stairs instead, as the gravity of the portal was overwhelming. She hopped from stone to stone with perfect agility.
Some of the others noticed that flying was actually slower, so they dropped to the stairs and, using half-transformation on their legs, ascended the steps at a brisk pace.
Halfway up, the ground trembled.
The entire ridge trembled under their feet.
"Drake!" Raziel shouted.
The masked commander was returning. He wasn't attacking. He was watching.
Their blood turned to ice.
"GO! GO! GO!" Drake roared.
The group exploded into motion.
The ridge began to crack violently.
Chunks of stone peeled away.
The portal above pulsed erratically as if sensing the urgency of the situation.
From the distance, the masked commander slowly raised his hand.
Dark energy surged around his fingers.
"Get inside now!" Zara shouted.
A beam of black light erupted from the commander's palm, approaching like divine punishment.
It tore through the staircase—blowing the lower half into dust and debris. Despite the stairs crumbling beneath them, none dared to look behind and continued their ascent.
The final step crumbled beneath them.
Drake, who was leading the group, didn't think and—
He dove straight into the portal.
Valkor followed almost instantly.
They all hurled themselves into the portal; the very next moment, the staircase collapsed completely.