MY 10,000× DIMENSIONAL SYSTEM

Scary Umbra

"Milady..." The head handler was the first one to notice Constella's terror and he muttered softly.

Everyone turned to her and they all had varying reactions, but they mostly revolved around sadness due to their inability to aid her properly.

However, Constella took a deep breath and her trembling stopped.

"Okay." She said to herself and nodded, then she opened her eyes, revealing deep conviction.

"Proceed forward." Her order caught everyone off guard.

"But-" Before Herta could finish, Constella cut her off.

"We're already grasping at straws trying to brave the blizzard. Turning back is impossible, and going around this destruction will waste too much time. Proceed forward." She said calmly but firmly and everyone was silent. They couldn't argue with her logic.

So without saying anything else, the Handlers maintained their course and the entourage passed over the massive crater. Most people expected something bad to happen, but to their surprise, they passed over it without anything g going wrong, much to their relief.

Only Constella had a grim outlook on the scenario.

'I can't pinpoint what that is, but it reminds me of an energy centered around destruction. Deconstruction maybe? Or annihilation? I can't be too sure.' She mused as she sensed the energy to the best of her abilities.

She made sure to steer clear of the authority that filled the crater, universe knew what would happen if she tried to look into it too deeply.

She did notice the lack of entities around though, which unnerved her a bit, but she decided not to look into it too deeply and focused on their movement forward.

***

"Finally," Vazar murmured when the sight of the massive blueberries came into view. It was vaguely visible through the dense blizzard, and they had finally reached it.

When they got close enough, the various vessels suddenly got closer and closer to one another until there was almost no space between them, then the headship which Bazar was inside charged up its main weapon, and a dull hum was released from it as space started warping as catastrophic power was being condensed into the weapon.

The process took about a second, and then a moment later, a massive grey beam was fired off with terrible power.

The beam smashed into the barrier and energy spewed in different directions. Then the beam slowly lost its power revealing the barrier that had numerous cracks, but it hadn't been broken through.

However, a moment later, the part that had been hit suddenly turned a dull grey and started to fall apart like glass. The grey color spread across its surface followed by the cracks which then fell apart, and soon, a hole large enough for the entourage to pass through appeared

They wasted no time and quickly went through in their compact formation, and immediately they did, the barrier started to close again.

Vazar snorted.

"Disembark." The order was given and the vessels landed on the snow, and soon all the Corruptionists had left the vessels.

They all gathered up near Vazar who didn't waste too much time addressing them.

"You know the drill, don't bother trying to test your strength and directly use your magic to cross the plain." Then without a word, he covered himself with a baleful grey Aura and flew into the sky with the rest of the Corruptionists following suit. After what happened with the authority, Vazar no longer felt comfortable and wanted to get everything done as soon as possible.

***

'This isn't good.' Titus thought with narrowed eyes as he looked forward.

Currently, he was a few dozen meters behind Umbra, and in front of the black dragon were about a dozen Apex ranks that had him in a semicircle.

"Not a very nice greeting I'd say," Unbra said with a yawn, and one of the Apex ranks snickered. Find your next read at My Virtual Library Empire

"We heard a lot of rumors about this 'Genesis Corps'. But for the strongest person here to not have Transcended? We got our hopes up it seems." The one that spoke looked a lot like a humanoid beetle.

"That's some cliché talk right there." Umbra pointed out but was ignored.

"They seem to be weak, but that fortress is very well equipped. Even from here, I can tell the enchantments it possesses are incredible. If we can take it over then our chances of survival will increase drastically." Another Apex rank spoke, they looked like... no they were a Shadow.

However, this didn't sit well with Umbra the proud dragon. He wanted to banter a bit more with them, but to get ignored? Now that was unacceptable.

The Apex ranks hadn't noticed. Or perhaps they didn't care, however, Titus felt a chill run down his spine when he sensed Umbra's relaxed demeanor change subtly.

'Oh dear, this isn't good at all.' He resisted the urge to wipe his brow. Both because he didn't want to seem nervous, and the fact that with how cold it was, sweating would be considered an impressive feat.

Then without any sort of hesitation or indication, Titus summoned Veylthar and swung it to the side. What followed was an audible CLANG that echoed throughout the surroundings.

Titus' eyes moved to the side where he had swung his blade, his gaze cold.

"This isn't how one greets their hosts." He said calmly as the creature that attacked him revealed itself. It manifested from his shadow and formed into a tide of darkness from which a pitch-black blade came forth. It seemed like it was the same race as the shadow on the ground.

"Hm, maybe they aren't half bad." Another one of the Apex-ranked beings who looked like a strange mix of a rhino and a horse spoke gruffly.

However, Titus' eyes suddenly widened and he batted the blade of the dark creature away and started to retreat quickly.

The Apex ranks saw this and felt nothing but contempt, but that didn't last long when an enraged growl caught their attention.

"It's one thing to badmouth me," Umbra said with a low growl, darkness starting to emerge from his feet.

"It's another thing to ignore me. But to attack my ally?" The eyes of all the beings present suddenly narrowed as a vast tide of darkness exploded forth from Umbra. It was dense and thick like ink and sought to swallow everything in its path.

They tried to retreat, but they were startled when their shadows suddenly started to release this inky darkness as well. Then shockingly, the shadow beings suddenly released pained screams before their aurae abruptly ceased.

In an instant, everywhere was engulfed in pitch-black darkness. Whether it was the fortress or the vast land around it, everything turned so dark that no one was able to so their hands, making many question if their eyes were even open or not.

"That isn't something worth forgiving." Umbra's powerful voice came from all over this place and Titus stumbled and felt his blood almost start flowing backward. Just from his voice???

Then there was suddenly a pained scream from within the darkness that abruptly ceased just like with the dark entities. Then another, and another, and another. Soon the screams started to echo throughout this dark place Umbra created, and Titus felt a deep sense of dread fill his heart.

He always considered Thanatos to be the most eerie being among his elder disciples, after all, a Lich was an entity that demanded fear.

However, what was happening right now was something Titus had never experienced before. He couldn't see, and all his senses were restricted to an alarming degree. He had no control of his body, so he had no idea as to whether or not he was standing or currently face down on the floor.

He found it difficult to breathe, he found it difficult to think. It was all too much.

But those screams. Those harrowing screams. Titus couldn't help but feel a chill despite his warm attire.

The screams were short, so one could imagine that their agony wouldn't last long before they died, but Titus just knew that was wrong. He didn't know how or why, but he just knew. Whatever Umbra was doing to these people, it was somehow far worse than anything Titus could imagine, and that terrified him.

It was things like this that made him question if he even had the right to start calling Umbra and the others by their names. All it took was for Umbra to get serious or angry, and Titus couldn't even move, let alone fight back.

He thought back to the time he witnessed everyone in the cohort fight Christopher together and how they did no damage whatsoever. Christopher had fought against several beings capable of doing things like this.

Wasn't that just terrifying?

Then suddenly, the darkness receded. It happened so quickly that Titus stood there for a few seconds, not quite understanding that he was no longer trapped in the endless darkness. But when he came to, he shuddered.

They were gone.

The vessels, the various beings, all of them were gone. As if they hadn't even been there to begin with. They were just gone.

"Hmph, that's what you get for ignoring me." Umbra snorted next to Titus who about jumped out of his skin.

"Well, let's go back," Umbra said and turned to walk back to the Fortress in a calm stride. Titus was dazed and simply followed along, his mind numb.