Infinite Classes in the Apocalypse

Chapter 170: A Familiar Sight

"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves," Damon replied, his eyes searching through their surroundings.

Whether or not this was the rift leading to Ayame’s and Yuki’s world, didn’t matter if they couldn’t get through it.

They needed to focus on the basics, surviving and reaching the rift core.

Yuki pulled back, seeing he was not sharing her excitement.

The smile on her face dimmed slightly, though it didn’t disappear completely.

"Right," she said, taking a slow breath. "One thing at a time."

Damon gave a small nod and turned his attention back toward the path ahead.

The shrine gate stood silently in the distance.

Up close, it looked old.

Weathered wood. Faded red paint. Thin cracks ran through parts of the structure as if it had endured countless years of wind and rain.

For some reason, it looked more real than anything they had seen throughout their journey.

Not because it was impressive.

Because it wasn’t.

There were no impossible colours. No twisted landscapes. No oceans stretching endlessly into darkness.

It was ordinary.

Damon found himself staring at it for a moment longer than necessary before shaking the thought away.

"Stay alert."

Yuki nodded.

The two began walking.

The mountain path wound downward between dense forests of dark green trees. The further they descended, the more signs of familiarity appeared.

Stone lanterns stood along portions of the trail.

A worn staircase carved into the mountainside.

Shrines so small Damon almost missed them entirely.

Each one seemed to make Yuki’s expression brighten a little more.

Then Damon stopped.

"What is it?" Yuki asked almost immediately.

Damon frowned. "...You don’t sense that?"

The wind rustled through the trees.

Birds chirped somewhere in the distance.

Then Yuki’s eyes widened.

"There... There’s a lot of mana signature toward the direction of the rift, and they’re...fighting?"

She frowned at her own words, confused by what she just said.

They exchanged a long, quiet glance before picking up their pace and walking toward it.

The mana signatures only grew stronger the closer they got.

What seemed merely a dozen soon turned to something closer to hundreds.

Yuki’s expression gradually shifted from excitement to confusion.

"There are too many..." she muttered.

Damon felt it as well.

Every rift they had entered until now contained a single dominant monster guarding the core. Sometimes there were lesser creatures scattered throughout the world, but never this many concentrated in one place.

The mountain path eventually opened into a vast valley.

Both of them stopped.

The sight below was unlike anything they had expected.

Thousands of monsters filled the valley floor.

Some possessed light grey skin and curved black horns protruding from their foreheads. Others had dark wings spanning several meters, swooping through the air before crashing into the masses below.

The ground had long since disappeared beneath layers of corpses.

Blood flowed through the valley in shallow streams, and explosions of mana erupted constantly across the battlefield.

And at the centre of it all stood the rift core.

Though Damon didn’t pay it any attention just yet, his focus was stolen by the battle before him.

He frowned. "...They’re fighting each other."

The horned creatures surged forward like a tide while the winged beasts descended from above in coordinated waves.

Neither side paid any attention to Damon or Yuki. They were too busy slaughtering each other.

Yuki remained quiet, oddly so, though her expression seemed rather complex.

But before he could question it, the battle had already reached its final stages.

The valley was littered with bodies, and only a fraction of the original combatants remained standing.

A winged creature tore through the throat of a horned monster.

Another had its skull crushed moments later.

One by one, the survivors fell.

Until only a handful remained.

Damon watched for several seconds before taking a step forward.

"Wait," Yuki said.

But Damon shook his head. "We’re wasting time."

Purple lightning crackled beneath his skin.

The familiar pain followed immediately, fresh cuts split across his forearms, which he completely ignored.

His expression didn’t change.

The remaining monsters finally noticed him, though it was far too late now.

The entire valley flashed purple.

Thunder erupted across the mountains.

Lightning descended like divine punishment, swallowing the battlefield whole.

The surviving creatures vanished instantly.

For a brief moment, silence returned.

Only smoking corpses remained.

Yuki stared at the destruction before letting out a small sigh.

"Show-off."

Damon ignored the comment and walked directly toward the core, blood dripping from his arms, which were littered with countless cuts.

The crystal floated a meter above the ground, pulsating with unstable dark energy.

He lingered for only a second before placing his gloved hand directly onto the core.

[Mana Absorption Activated.]

[...]

The second the notification appeared a sudden, sharp pain flared at Damon’s abdomen.

He gritted his teeth. Grimacing in pain, which was significantly stronger than any of the previous times.

Yuki shifted quietly beside him. It was something she did out of fear of being left behind as he disappeared alone.

A few more moments of agony passed before the feeling slightly subsided and the final notification appeared.

[You have absorbed 1237 Mana]

And with it, their surroundings changed for the final time.

The valley disappeared.

The corpses vanished.

The smell of blood and burnt flesh was ripped away as the familiar sensation of being pulled between worlds washed over them.

For a brief moment, there was nothing.

Then solid ground returned beneath Damon’s feet.

His vision blurred.

The pain in his abdomen hadn’t fully faded, leaving him slightly unsteady as he opened his eyes.

Birds chirped around them.

Breeze caressed gently across their skin.

The fresh scent of the forest filled the air, untouched by rot, blood, or the lingering smell of death that had followed them through so many worlds.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

They looked around, taking in their surroundings.

The familiar scenery, mountains and sky, which didn’t look all that different from the scenery they witnessed in some of the worlds they travelled.

And yet...

Yuki shifted beside him.

"We..." she whispered, her eyes turning watery. "We really made it back."