Third Person’s POV

Instead, focus on the ascent and moving forward with a single minded focus until they reach their destination.

They resumed their upward climb, but this time, the swirling red clouds thickened around them like a curtain of mist and ash and veiled their path while slowing their advance.

The air grew heavier with each step, as if the very mountain were testing their resolve.

Soon, hours passed in a tense silence and broken only by the sound of steady footsteps on the ancient bronze wire.

Eventually, the fading sun dipped beneath the horizon and painted the red fog in molten shades of gold and crimson.

Just as Ethan was about to speak, the dense cloud layer began to thin, and a colossal silhouette broke through the veil.

What emerged was a sight beyond anything he had ever imagined.

A vast red-black fortress carved directly into the upper cliffs of the Devil Abyss Mountain became visible to his eyes, and he was amazed as he saw its rough-looking spires stabbing into the darkening sky.

It sprawled across several jagged peaks with its ridges linked by black bridges and ropeways, while the surrounding minor peaks formed a web of convergence points for the many Spinal Ropes threading through the sky.

High above, at the summit of the central peak, stood the main citadel.

It was a gargantuan and walled stronghold, which was still about two or three kilometers away from their vantage point.

The main city that seemed like a huge fortress exuded an oppressive, blood-tinged grandeur even from such a distance.

A heavy aura washed over them and hit Ethan like a storm of heat and iron, and as he bore the brunt of its solemnity and grandness, he couldn’t help but feel that it was simply more than the pressure of altitude.

Instead, it was a legacy of power and something older.

Even the once-imposing City of Vord and the Scarlet Hollow seemed quaint in comparison.

This place seemed to hold not just history but an ancientness that bled it into the very air.

Suddenly, a quiet voice tinged with sentiment stirred from behind him.

“We have finally reached the place, Brother Ethan. Let’s go. The recruitment exam is the day after tomorrow, and we are well in time.”

Virelle’s words brought him back to the moment.

He nodded silently, and even though he was still awestruck, the trio began moving towards the entry gate that lay directly ahead along their Spinal Rope path.

When they reached it, something pulled them to pause and turn around.

Behind them stretched a vision both surreal and humbling.

As they looked from their height, they could even see a vast crimson plain unfurling like a blood-soaked canvas beyond the cloud ring circling the city and disappearing into a distant, unknowable horizon.

Despite their enhanced vision and senses, none of them could make out its end as it seemed like an unyielding piece of earth, as ancient and wide as the myths themselves.

Ethan sighed softly as the weight of his journey mingled with the thrill of what lay ahead from now on.

Without speaking, he turned back toward the gate and took the final steps forward.

They approached the massive structure—an immense black gate looming like the gaping maw of a long-dead titan.

What drew Ethan’s eyes, however, was the grotesque face carved above it.

A three-horned and inhuman nightmarish devil visage stared down at them.

Its split star-shaped pupils gleamed in a static shade of eerie yellow as it glowed faintly against the obsidian stone.

The texture of the carving was unsettlingly lifelike, and its features were so meticulously etched that Ethan could almost feel the malevolence oozing from its leering grin.

A chill crept down his spine, and he felt that something was wrong in this scene in front of him.

It bore a disturbing resemblance to the Extra-Terrestrial Void Nihility Demon he had fought in the dark forest just fifteen days ago.

It seemed to possess a similar alien malice and the same yawning void in its expression that seemed to say that it wasn’t simply crafted but was real instead.

Suddenly, a spell seemed to break, and he broke away from his thought process.

Glancing sideways at his companions, he saw Virelle and Velcy passing beneath the gate with casual ease as their eyes only casually drifted to the devilish carving.

They seemed to be treating it as a mere design and an ornamental fixture, but Ethan on the other hand, couldn’t shake the feeling that it was far more than a sculpture.

And its gaze seemed to haunt him in a silent manner.

As he stepped through the threshold and crossed into the open mouth of the devil’s visage, he emerged into a world alive with activity.

He looked around as before him stretched a grand avenue flanked by tall, red-black structures, with each of them being made from a single slab of dark stone.

The shadowed buildings rose like silent sentinels, with their design being both austere and intimidating.

The city’s breath seemed to pulse beneath his feet, and he couldn’t help but feel that this City of the Abyssal Sanctum had swallowed them whole.

The structures lining the path resembled small carved-out caves, looking rough-hewn and primal and bearing none of the symmetry or ornamentation favored by the sophisticated cities of humans, elves, or dwarves.

This raw aesthetic lent the surroundings a visceral and almost ancient feel, and it seemed as if the entire city had been pulled from a time when survival mattered more than elegance.

The streets were a moving mosaic of diverse life as beings from numerous races walked past one another and brushed shoulders while completely ignoring each other.

The mingling scents of iron, ash, strange spices, and faint blood hung thick in the air.

Ethan’s eyes flicked from face to face, and his gaze was momentarily distracted by the animated shops and run-down establishments dotting the roadside.

However, what made his brows rise wasn’t their appearance, but it was the strange indifference of the crowd.

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