I am an Eldritch Entity

Soon, the spaceship entered the vortex.

The outbreaks are periodic huh?

Eryndor thought as he glanced around at the changed landscape. It was a desert area outside, but as soon as they arrived in the secret realm, it was lush green forest all around.

"Alright, start descending."

Guardian Sol called out loudly. It seemed that the hatch of the spaceship had opened at some point.

As soon as everyone was out, Guardian Sol pointed at a door in the distance.

It stood alone, without any wall, or anything to connect itself to. Just a door placed on land full of grass.

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The door loomed unnaturally tall, its warped wooden surface riddled with thin, jagged cracks that formed no discernible pattern.

The grain twisted in chaotic spirals, as if carved by an unsteady hand. A faint sheen coated the wood, reflecting light in a way that made anyone who was looking at it see their own reflection, no matter where they stood.

It had a narrow frame, and appeared fused with the surrounding space rather than built into it.

Eryndor didn’t mind how abnormal the door looked, but its handle stood out the most, even to his tolerant view.

It was unnaturally shiny, and there seemed to be black tendrils moving about erratically around it, but that was not the main part.

It was that whenever he looked at it, grotesque images of dismembered body parts would appear in his mind. Some of it also seemed to be his own body parts.

Sol looked at everyone, only beginning to explain when he noticed looks of discomfort on their faces.

"This is a Mystical Artifact - Shifting Threshold.

"Everyone will have to pass through this door, to be randomly teleported to any area in this secret realm.

"You don’t need to worry, it won’t teleport you to the innermost area where the abyss is located. And the agents from the Human Federation guard it all the time anyway, they would rescue you in a heartbeat.

"Since we’re on this topic, I must notify you despite it being common sense."

Sol spoke the next sentence while pausing after each word.

"Do. Not. Approach. The. Innermost. Area.

"Our agents are not omniscient. If you cook up some plan and attempt to sneak into the innermost area, then you cannot blame us if something unfortunate happens to you.

"Lastly, this Mystical Artifact has a side effect which you’ll go through after using its ability.

"Pictures of dismembered corpses would appear in your mind when you touch the handle, with a greater intensity than when one just gazes at it.

"And when you reach that random place, there will be illusions of those corpses attacking you.

"Make sure that you don’t retaliate. Like I’ve said, all of that will simply be an illusion.

"Endure the attacks, even if you feel they are real. They’ll fade away after around four to five seconds. Nothing will have happened to you in reality.

"Remember, if you retaliate, the attacks of those corpses would land on you in reality along with your own attacks hitting you.

"Do. Not. Retaliate."

There were no other instructions, as every student began going through the door one by one.

The door would close after each use, forcing the next person to hold the handle to open it.

When it was Eryndor’s turn, everything happened as it had been told.

Images of dismembered bodies appeared in his mind. Withstanding the intense imagination, he opened the door and stepped into the black void.

The very next moment, his foot stepped on dried leaves, making a crunchy sound.

Not even a moment had passed since arriving on the other side did he see dismembered corpses surrounding him, already in the position to attack.

All of them began attacking at once, but Eryndor stood still, his Sovereign’s Cloak had already begun siphoning energy of Consciousness.

Before their attacks even landed, he saw the figures disappearing.

With a meaningful smile, Eryndor walked forward in search of beasts to fight.

Guardian Sol never said we couldn’t defend against the attacks.

The person had only warned them not to retaliate. He had never once uttered anything regarding defense.

It might very well be a small test from the Academy’s side.

Eryndor looked at his device where the Academy had already made a website which displayed the scores of all the teams.

He could see a few teams already had points, with the first one at eighty five.

His own team had sixty, with him, Paulina, Syndra, and Edward each having fifteen individual points.

So defending against the corpses successfully gives you fifteen points huh.

He then looked at the top score.

Eighty five wasn’t divisible by fifteen, so it was clear that someone had already figured out a rule, or might have defeated a beast.

Well, it wasn’t really a surprise. A common consensus had spread that ’defeating beasts’ would result in points. This was almost guaranteed to be a rule.

Maybe that person was teleported to an area which consisted of a beast.

It just wasn’t sure what kind of beasts gave how many points.

The secret realm had been sealed for the entire time when Co-founder Morris was stuck inside with his team.

Even if people had means of gathering information, it would be difficult for them to know much about this secret realm which opened around a month ago.

Therefore, there was no way of knowing what kind of beast resided in these secret realms.

Eryndor walked for a few minutes, but still couldn’t see any beast in sight.

His team’s ranking had already begun to drop, but it wasn’t fast, because their own points were increasing as well, just not as quickly as the other teams.

Valentina had eighty points already, while Drakarion had fifty. Paulina and Edward respectively had thirty points.

Only him and Syndra were still at fifteen points.

He looked at the message everyone had sent on their team group chat. It mentioned what moves everyone used and what kind of beast they defeated. They also mentioned how much their points grew after slaying the beast.

It was Eryndor’s idea as he wanted to see if there were any hidden rules regarding combat.

Just as he was reading, his extended vision caught sight of a massive beast in the distance.

Ah yes, finally my time to fight.