The road ahead of Caster was almost empty. Only several people could still be seen, running away from the vertical line where the air was rippling strangely, a hundred or so meters behind their backs. When they saw his black armored figure, the stragglers recoiled. Someone let out a frightened yelp before realising it was an awakened.
Rationality is the first victim when fear arrives.
Not paying them any attention, Caster calmly walked forward.
The Dusk Warden rested on his shoulder.
'Strange… I have never seen an opening Gate up close before.'
The deserted street in front of him did, indeed, look very eerie. Not only because it was almost entirely empty, both of pedestrians and of rushing PTVs, but also because light and shadows were behaving very strangely, the hue of the light slightly wrong, the movement of the shadows slightly erratic.
The sound was strange, too. It was deadly quiet, but at the same time, Caster couldn't get rid of the feeling that there were barely audible noises coming from all directions, assaulting his ears like an inaudible cacophony of muffled, distant, demented screams.
There was a strange pressure rising in the air, getting stronger the closer he got to the nascent Nightmare Gate.
The Gate itself was easy to recognize. It looked like a tall vertical depression in the fabric of the world, a place where light refracted in unnatural ways and the inaudible screams were the loudest… not a rift in reality yet, but a hint of one.
In front of the Gate, half a dozen people stood, staring at it in tense silence. The Awakened who decided to answer the call.
'Six of them answered the call. With this, we have a total of thirteen people at the gate excluding me. This might be doable as long as its not a category 4 or higher.'
Caster had no plans to die to here. If the situation would truly get uncontrollable, he would escape without hesitation. His aspect is good for that.
'Now that I think of it, Sunny had to deal with a nightmare gate a few months ago too. It was Mongrel's first appearance in the waking world.'
He inwardly chuckled remembering about that. It calmed him down.
Without slowing down even a little, he calmly walked past the six Awakened and stopped with his back to them, closer to the Gate than anyone else.
Caster found himself standing at the head of the small group of defenders.
Unlike them, he showed no sign of fear. The others were staring at the Gate with pale faces, their bodies tense, their eyes full of unease and dark resentment. Caster's pose, however, was confident, indifferent… almost relaxed.
That was only on the surfave, though. He was totally on guard against the gate.
In a few seconds the seven members of the gold reapers, which included Gemma, reached the gate.
The appearance of these eight awakened eased the six waiting at the gate. Especially since one of these awakened's was the world famous Caster of Han Li clan. The first known Divine aspect holder.
"A-Are you Mr. Caster?"
When one of them asked that, all of the rest got mildly excited too.
However one of them was very excited.
"I'm a huge fan! I've seen the movie too, you were such a badass! It is my honor to be able to meet you!"
Caster simply nodded to that as an answer and then, a flat, commanding tone rang through the ears of all the awakened.
"I will take command."
Then, he sighed and turned his head slightly, staring at the six Awakened behind on his left.
From the look of their Memories and how they held themselves, they weren't elites. Several seemed to know how to hold a sword, but that was all. They were going to get eaten alive once the Gate opened.
Disheartened, he asked:
"Combat Aspects?"
The man who had recognised Caster spoke up immediately.
"I have an awakened aspect that enhances my perception and move at high speeds, which includes jumping really high if I have to. However I became an awakened just after this winter solstice so I am afraid I lack experience."
After the guy stopped a girl, who was at the foremost of the group took a step forward, pointing her hand back and said:
"Allow me to explain. Apart from that guy, the rest of the four all have dormant aspects. Three of them have ranged attacks while one has decent physical enhancement. All four of them are somewhat experienced, they should be able to pull their weight. As for me, I have an ascended aspect. My dormant ability allows me to summon wings which of course means that I can fly. My awakened ability allows me to manipulate the wind. Its good for both ranged offence and defence but lacks offensive fire power at close range."
Following that she extended her arm for a hand shake.
"The name is Alyssa, I have been an awakened for three years."
Caster nodded and took her hand, shaking it lightly.
"In that case. I will set the lines of defenses. At the forefront will be me. Alyssa and Gemma will be the second line who will deal with the stragglers that get past me. The rest will support these two. Both of you, cover a wide area."
He then turned to the guy who recognised him and transfered a memory to him.
It was the Aquifer's gift.
"Use this memory to spread water all across the area. Don't hesitate. Its best if you spread it far even if there are gaps in between the pools of water. The pools do not even need to be deep. Just a few centimeters will do. Use your mobility to avoid them."
Due to the reknown of Caster, the people immediately agreed to the set up and nodded.
In their eyes, Caster had already done the impossible. Compared to that, this was nothing.
Of course, it was mostly because of Kieron's luck that they survived the Forgotten Shore with such flying colors. For example, him having the Book of Books saved him completely. It gave him a ranged attack that was really effective against dormant and awakened nightmare creatures.
It was a pity that the attack got too weak to use unless he fed the book of books fallen or transcendent shards.
Which, of course, he wouldn't do now. He had to feed his grazes cores.
The only shards that Book of Books had were awakened shards. It had a few fallen shards from a while back, but not enough to fuel it for the fight.
Another 'lucky' thing that Kieron had happen to him was getting a divine aspect. Who knows how bad it would have been for him if he did not have the divine aspect. The divine aspect he got was incomplete, but it had gotten a boost in its ability. He was able to keep up with awakened tyrants in speed as a dormant beast.
The situation was abnormally convinient for Kieron.
Caster snickered internally at the thought of Kieron's convinience. He suspected it was the Demon King of Salvation's doing.
Just at that moment, an especially strong tremor ran through the ground.
The shadows exploded in a mad dance, the sunlight growing dim and ghostly.
The wind howled through the empty street, as if the air was being sucked into the widening rift.
And then, an invisible shockwave spread out of it, making the windows in the surrounding building shatter.
Caster resisted the push and suddenly felt the familiar feeling permeate his soul.
...The call of a Nightmare.
The Gate had opened.
Caster took a step forward and brandished the Dusk Warden.
'What a mouthful.'
He disliked naming swords but the spell enjoyed it very much. It left an impression on him.
His armor and swords were both very simple. Having only one enchantment each. Passive ones, that just ehanced the overall efficiency.
The Gate was open now, revealing a dark rift in the fabric of reality, as wide as the street itself and as tall as the buildings. It seemed to devour all light around it… and call to him.
Call for him to enter.
…Caster wasn't too preoccupied with the gate itself, though. His gaze was locked on the unclear silhouettes moving through the darkness.
Soon, the first Nightmare Creature burst into the daylight, leaving cracks on the asphalt with its black claws.
He needed as many soul fragments as possible. And thus a gate break wasn't bad at all for him. As long as he can handle it.
There were going to be hundreds of abominations coming through the rift today to satiate his wish.
The Second Category Gates were the most frequent to appear in the waking world. As such, everyone was familiar with how they functioned.
The first few waves of advancing Nightmare Creatures were going to be fairly easy, for a fighter of Caster's caliber. They would be comprised mostly of Dormant creatures, with some Awakened abominations mixed in. Their Classes and numbers, too, would be comparatively low.
But these first few waves… they were just a hint of the horror to come.
Pretty soon, every Nightmare Creature coming from the Gate was going to be of the Awakened Rank, with more and more Fallen ones appearing as well. Their Classes were going to rise, until there were as many Demons as there were Monsters and Beasts around.
After that either the Gate was going to end up really being of the Second Category, or grow into a Category Three gate. If it continued to grow, reaching the Third Category, then there would be more and more waves of Nightmare Creatures, hundreds of Fallen abominations lunging into the real world from the dark void between worlds, with Corrupted horrors and creatures of higher Classes appearing among them.
If it didn't… then, the Guardian of the Gate would manifest itself into reality. The Guardian was always at least one Rank higher than the Gate's Category, and could be of any high Class, from a Devil… to a Titan.
The first beasts started pouring out of the gate. They looked something akin to a mix of a zombified wolf and a hog with spikes protruding out of its body.
It was a trauma inducing look.
It landed on the road and opened its maw, then produced a guttural, hoarse roar. And then abruptly grew silent as Caster's blade decapitated its head, spilling green acidic blood on the ground and his hands, stinging him slightly.
[You have slain a Dormant Beast...]
Just as he decapitated it, more silhouettes lunged at him from the dark rift, their eyes burning with madness and bloodthirst as they smelled what was waiting for them up ahead…
A whole world full of defenseless, untainted souls for them to devour.
His plan was simple.
It was to stall.
As soon as more spiked wolf-hogs entered into the light, he lunged forward to meet them.
Green blood.
Green blood everywhere.
He had torn the abominations apart, and turned them into a pile of paste, with the terrifying power in his blade. The acidic blood covering him entirely, stinging his skin but he didn't pay it any mind.
All of it took no more than two seconds.
…And on the third second, a dozen hellish beasts emerged from the rift, some of them running, some of them jumping high into the air to land on him from above.
They all wanted Caster dead.
'Son's of bitches. Let me show you who you're messing with.'