Our Family Has Fallen

”The final Ascension...”

The crowd didn’t understand, and before she could finish, a sudden change occurred.

The flesh on the body of the Heretic Saintess collapsed in an instant, not even granting them time to react.

Lance’s body instinctively wanted to move closer, but just as he reached out halfway, the Saintess had already turned into a mummy-like figure, all vitality drained from her flesh.

She had actually sacrificed herself...

Lance’s expression was somewhat unpleasant. Despite not holding back, an incident had still occurred.

He didn’t know what rite she had completed, but distancing themselves now seemed the best choice.

”Quick, leave!”

Lance’s shout snapped Boudica and Amanda to action, quickly increasing the distance between themselves and the corpse.

Alhazred, as someone very sensitive to the Abyss, immediately sensed something. His emotions, which had just calmed down, surged as he let out an exclamation of alarm.

”Oh, no! The barrier between reality and the Abyss has been breached.”

Alhazred cradled the extinguished Skull Candleholder, murmuring in panic.

”No!... I sense it, it’s coming!...”

Lance also felt something and looked up. In the dim cavern, a grotesque vortex of interwoven purple and black strands had torn open, spreading at an unimaginable speed.

Lance glimpsed the flickering Starlight within the vortex, and his Extraordinary inspiration even allowed him to feel the gaze of some entity.

Alhazred wasn’t talking nonsense, for Lance felt it too!

What was that?

In a daze, Lance stood rooted to the spot, as if attracted by the Starlight.

Until the rift descended in an instant, the ground began to shake, and for a moment, there was a sensation of weightlessness...

Wrong!

It’s here!

Before Lance could react further, he was dragged into the Void.

In reality, Lance and his companions disappeared into thin air. Even the corpses of the Heretics were taken, leaving nothing but the disarrayed signs of battle.

At that moment, a squad of excited Pigmen burst from the passage, only to stop, stunned, in the empty cavern before them.

A Pigman scratched its head.

Their minds couldn’t comprehend what had happened. With no enemies in sight, the mood among the Pigmen collapsed instantly.

A cacophony of pig grunts arose as they turned on each other, some Pigmen seemingly accusing others of spreading false news.

This blame soon turned into chaos as fights broke out among them. These creatures created by the Old Ancestor had too many flaws.

What was truly terrifying was the rise and fall in their voices that could be faintly discerned amidst their squabbling.

Although it quickly degenerated into physical brawling, it was undeniable they were communicating—evidence that the Pigmen had begun to develop a rudimentary language!

However, no one paid attention to the ”enthusiastic” exchanges between the Pigmen.

Because Lance and his companions had encountered far greater trouble.

In an instant, it was as if they had been thrown into a furiously spinning washing machine. They were unable to discern their bearings. Up, down, left, and right lost all meaning at that moment. Only the sensation of weightlessness brought a strong sense of unease, as they knew they were continuously falling. There was nowhere to find purchase around them, like drifting through the Void.

It felt unbearably long, as though time itself was being manipulated. But when they suddenly landed on solid ground, they realized it had only been a blink of an eye.

If the accident hadn’t scrambled everyone’s positions, they might have thought it was merely a nightmare, like the countless times one dreams of falling and then suddenly awakens in bed.

How they wished this was just a dream, to wake up to a bright, sunny morning.

Unfortunately, reality always enjoyed its cruel jokes.

The team’s positions had been distorted by Void Power. Boudica, who was at the forefront, was now thrown to the back by the vast might of the Void. Lance landed in the third position, while Amanda and Alhazred, who were in the rear, ended up in front.

But no one noticed this, because they had landed in an expanse of the Void, where there was no concept of direction to speak of.

Looking up, the sky resembled a purple-black starry curtain, adorned with densely packed, yet disordered, purple specks of light, as if strewn across an all-consuming darkness.

And at the very end of the Void, there lay a vast whirlpool swirling like the Milky Way, seemingly within reach, yet as if separated by an endless expanse.

Such a contradiction, yet it felt oddly right.

Before they could react further, a tremor emanated from the Void, accompanied by a terrifying presence.

One... two... a monstrous creature bristling with tentacles tore through the Void to appear before them all.

Compared to its immense form, humans appeared insignificant. It was cloaked in a purple-black skin that seemed to condense from the Void itself, absorbing any light that fell upon it.

Its surface was covered with dense, tiny pores that seemed to writhe and pulse, to a degree that could induce instant death in anyone with trypophobia.

The creature’s massive head was covered with densely packed, pale purple eyes. Its mouth, filled with rows of sharp teeth in its upper and lower jaws, gaped wide enough to snap a person in half without a doubt.

Chaotically twisted tentacles sprouted from its body, and its back bristled with spikes of varying lengths.

Among them, fully formed large tentacles, thick as barrels, supported the creature’s vast bulk like hind limbs. One side was covered with countless suckers, while the other bore grotesquely proliferating growths, like scythes with backward-curving barbs.

The tentacles that grew from its cheeks and chin were much smaller, with a tinge of pink and devoid of barbed scythes, though their suckers were already taking shape.

In the belly, interwoven with tentacles, pulsating lumps of flesh were faintly discernible. No one knew what they were, but it was certain they were nothing benign.

Behold!

The endless malice amongst the stars!

The terror from the Starlight!

The Limping Walker that strides through the Void!

”Such dark power, we’ve been caught!” The already crazed Alhazred completely broke down upon glimpsing it.

Not just him; even Boudica was dumbfounded. Her usual courage to challenge everything vanished. Instead, a single glance subjected her to an overwhelming, suffocating pressure.

Which warrior—be they man or woman—could face such a terror...?

”The monster has seen us... run! I can’t take it anymore!” Amanda’s newfound confidence also collapsed in an instant. In the face of an unprecedented creature, rationality told her there was no room for resistance.

Merely glimpsing the beast was enough to plunge all three of them into utter despair.

Even Lance, upon seeing this entity, lost his previous confidence of having everything under control. To him, the monster was clearly something humans should not provoke.

The creature summoned by the Heretic Saintess at the cost of her own life awakened some rather unpleasant memories within him.

The Limping Walker, a formidable Void Demon from the game. If Adventurers ever lost the sanctuary provided by their torches, it could attract its gaze, dragging them without warning into the Void, to vanish utterly from reality.

Nobody knew the origin of the Limping Walker, nor understood why such a dreadful beast roamed the Void within Hamlet Territory.

But now, the Limping Walker was right before his very eyes.

The Limping Walker was no toy. It wouldn’t just sit idly by for their observation.

The moment it appeared, it writhed its tentacles towards them. Its distorted way of moving within the Void had earned it the name ”Limping Walker.”

But its strides across the Void never ceased.

A grotesque, slithering advance!

The Limping Walker approached rapidly. The bizarre spatial distortions of this place warped their perception.

It seemed far away, yet in an instant, it had extended its tentacles right before them.

What was more terrifying was that the tentacles seemed to stretch from all directions, rendering escape impossible.

Faced with such a scene, the already broken group was once again crushed by an immense pressure, leaving them gasping for breath.

Their wills were being tested...

Desperation!

Fear!

Madness!