—

Cedric thanked his luck that his eyes were upgraded, allowing him to see clearlyer in the void. Otherwise, their current situation would’ve been far more different than what it is now.

Granted, the void somehow suppresses the true might of his upgraded vision, but still, having less range was better than having none at all.

If it weren’t for his sensory field, he wouldn’t have been able to lure the more dangerous void creatures away, preventing them from discovering the cave. Sure, the wall can isolate their aura, but it’s not invulnerable, and it doesn’t affect all void creatures.

Furthermore, without these eyes that can see through the void clearer than most, he wouldn’t have been able to monitor the movements of the really dangerous void creatures lurking just past the edge of the Danger Zone.

Compared to the creatures he lured away using his sword previously, the ones roaming just past the danger zone were far stronger and more dangerous. Cedric didn’t doubt that the puny wall he created to isolate their auras wouldn’t work on them. That’s why he’s being extremely careful not to do anything that would attract their attention.

If Cedric’s wishes were to be followed, he and these people wouldn’t have been anywhere near this zone in the first place. Alas, the world doesn’t answer to his whims.

He could see a couple of really dangerous void creatures roaming dangerously near where the supposed ‘Safe Zone’ ended up.

The most common were the Brain Suckers, void creatures that are small and bipedal; they have a humanoid shape with an octupus head. Their eyes glowed with a ghastly light, and they constantly emit a deep rumbling sound from their throats, which hauntingly sounds like constant wailing.

Brain suckers do what they’re called; they suck brains, and humans were their favorites. The more brains they sucked, the stronger they got. Additionally, their anatomy was somehow tailored to do just this. According to the database, once a Brain Sucker latches onto you, you are doomed. There’s hardly anybody who’s able to escape once they’re caught by a Brain Sucker, and even those who survived suffered immensely still.

Next were the Creep Carriers. These creatures were giant masses of black pus that moved in non-sensical patterns. They’re probably one of the least aggressive void creatures one could encounter, but it doesn’t make them any less dangerous. They wouldn’t be commonly seen inside the Danger Zone for no apparent reason, after all.

Their bodies, which looked like they’re perpetually oozing tar, were highly toxic to living creatures. Even a whiff of it could easily wither someone to nihility. The bouyancy of its slimy body makes it difficult to hurt the thing, and it could morph itself into nonsensical shapes too. It’s also fast despite its size.

However, the reason why people call them ‘Creep Carriers’ was precisely because of their only offensive, yet highly effective, means of retaliation against threats. And that is to spawn an ungodly amount of ‘creeps’, or Voidlings as they’re commonly known.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because it is. These creatures were the very same ones Cedric encountered on his first day at work. It’s them that invaded the airspace of the camp and spewed out millions of voidlings at once.

Creep Carriers can vomit millions of Voidlings at once. The worst part is that it would only take them another 30 minutes before they could do it again. This makes them one of the priorities during raids. Letting a Creep Carrier freely spawn Voidlings could spell disaster for population control teams.

And finally, what’s probably the worst existence he could ever see roaming near their hiding spot right now was the Dread Lords.

Dread Lords are creatures of madness and terror. They are an extremely frighteningly efficient hunter of living beings.

They are smaller compared to other void creatures lurking in the same area. But that doesn’t make them weaker than them. Still, even the smallest Dread Lord stood for about 20 meters in height, much larger than most guardians.

What makes Dread Lords terrifying is their ability called the ‘Field of Despair’. It’s a rudimentary domain that’s constantly active around then, encompassing a 10-mile distance. Within this field, all sorts of negative thoughts are amplified up to ten times, making those affected go through extreme lengths. Only those with indomitable willpower can resist this particular effect of this field. However, it doesn’t end here.

Within the Field of Despair, all sensory reception of the affected was also amplified ten times. Bright becomes blinding, sounds become deafening, scents become stenches, and even the tiniest itch becomes an unbearable torture. A tiny scratch can feel like being disemboweled. A hit could feel like being pierced through. Anything stronger than those was just plain torture.

As a medic, Cedric browsed through numerous patient records. He had seen reports about Dread Lord encounters and sufficed to say, none has survived. Yes, some were brought back alive, but they’re broken and completely beyond repair, so it’s not much different from being dead.

Simply put, Dread Lords are one of the most dangerous creatures one could encounter within the Danger Zone. They are fast, strong, and vicious. Their abilities perfectly counter many life evolvers, making them a severe threat to living beings.

And to make matters worse, one of them had been skirting around the location of the cave for some time now.

Cedric was sweating coldly as he continued monitoring its movements. There’s no denying that they’re trapped here.

From the looks of it, the Dread Lord became suspicious of this place. It probably sensed something earlier and traced it back here. The only thing that’s preventing it from spotting them was the isolation of the wall and its remaining distance from the cave.

Should this thing come just a little closer to the cave entrance, they are doomed. Unlike the weaker creatures, Cedric knew that he wouldn’t be able to fool or lure away a Dread Lord because its intelligence would easily see through the ruse.

Moreover, even if all of them here combined their strength, they wouldn’t be able to take this thing down. It’s simply too strong for them. Only genuine cosmic-level experts can safely engage and retreat from this thing.

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Cedric pursed his lips and looked at the nervous visage of the people trapped with him inside this cave.

In the end, he couldn’t hide their true situation from them. They already knew that the Void Shift placed this cave near the Danger Zone. That’s why they’re extremely behaved right now, and obviously, terrified.

They did their best to not make too much noise. They don’t even dare to breathe too loud or even move from where they were. The situation rendered them petrified from terror.

Swoosh!!

‘Shit!!!’ Cedric exclaimed inwardly but made no visible movement.

He cursed because he saw the sudden shift in the movement of the Dread Lord.

Originally, he estimated that it would soon walk farther away from the cave. Yet all of a sudden, it jumped, landing so close to the cave entrance.

Every muscle in Cedric’s body siezed. He could feel his fight or flight response kicking in. He also swore that this creature was playing with them, and isn’t that just a terrifying thought?

A void creature, showing signs of intelligence? That’s no different from a world-ending scenario, and that’s not an exaggeration. After all, void creatures are purely instinctive creatures. It shouldn’t be possible for them to show signs of intelligence.

‘Yet they speak. And I can somehow understand them.’ Cedric grimly thought to himself before shaking his head and concentrating on the present. He had no time for this, after all.

Sniff! Sniff!

Roar!

The sounds it made were heard by everybody. And that caused the initial collapse because, at this point, all of them were convinced that they’d been discovered.

‘Damn! Damn it all!’ Cedric cursed angrily inwardly.

Between fight or flight, he chose the former. Well, it’s not like he could escape from here anyway. Their way out was blocked at this point. The Dread Lord was already staring down at the entrance of the cave. It just needs to take a step forward, and it’ll be inside.

Their backs were against the wall. The cave wasn’t that large to begin with; their movements were limited here.

But as Cedric ponders on how to deal with the Dread Lord, a surprising development suddenly occurs.

“Hey, ugly!!”

ROAR!!

Cedric was stunned, then delighted. The common language of the alliance couldn’t be mistaken, and from his sensory field, he had seen a couple of people emerging from the dense mist, catching the attention of the Dread Lord away from this place.

“T-they’re here! We’re safe!!”

“Haha! We’re rescued! Awesome!”

“Finally! Whew! That was too scary!”

“What took them so long!?”

The people found themselves relieved and able to speak once more. Some collapsed weakly on the ground, overwhelmed with relief. Some quietly wept, and some laughed loudly while crying.

Cedric himself was relieved too. He also felt his knees weak all of a sudden, but he stood strong nonetheless and continued observing.

The team leader stood beside him and asked, “Can we go out now?”

Cedric’s immediate response was: “No. It’s dangerous still. Let’s wait until they handle the Dread Lord. Only then, we’ll come out. Don’t worry, they already know that we’re here.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep