Noah crouched lower behind the fallen log, his gaze sweeping over the clearing one last time.

He counted twenty guards on strict patrol rotations, and what looked like enchanted barriers.

A frontal assault would be suicide, besides, he didn't need to fight them.

He only needed them gone long enough to slip through.

He raised one gloved hand, summoning a spell formation above his palm.

Pillar of Judgement.

The column of fire leapt from his palm to slam into the trees about a hundred meters into the forest to the left of the clearing.

It blazed upward, consuming trees in its radiant fury.

The roar of flame shattered the quiet of the night, and immediately, alarmed shouts echoed through the soldiers' camp.

"Fire!" someone shouted. "A mana flare in the forest!"

Another voice barked orders. "Squad One and Two, move! Contain it before it spreads to the supply tents!"

Half the guards scrambled toward the inferno, the rest forming a perimeter as the officer in charge shouted for mages to dampen the flames.

The air filled with frantic movement, which to Noah, was the perfect cover.

He waited until the last group vanished into the trees, then vanished as well, his body dissolving into ripples of distortion.

When space bent again, he reappeared just behind the monolith's rear ward, where the shadows were darkest.

The magic barrier shimmered softly in the air before him. He placed a hand against it, his mana flaring.

The shadows around him coiled and slid into the barrier's seams, whispering through the cracks like smoke.

A second later, the shimmering wall flickered, and went out.

Noah stepped through quietly.

He was standing before the base of the monolith now, the massive structure towering above him.

Beneath it, half hidden by the darkness of the night, was a wide stone arch.

The entrance to the monolith.

Noah exhaled once, then he stepped forward, passing through the arch and into the yawning tunnel beyond.

His footsteps echoed faintly as he moved deeper into the tunnel, his cloak brushing the damp stone walls.

For a while, there was only silence, the kind that made every step sound louder than it was.

Then, slowly, the darkness began to change.

The walls around him started to glow faintly with a soft green light.

He reached out, brushing his fingers along the damp surface.

Just like the last monolith he'd been in, it wasn't magic, it was life.

Threads of bioluminescent algae ran through the cracks like veins.

The glow illuminated the tunnel enough for him to see ahead, the faint mist rising from the ground curling around his boots.

After several minutes, the passage widened, and Noah stepped into a clearing.

He stopped.

The chamber was vast, its stone floor uneven and scattered with boulders the size of small carriages.

The walls curved upward like the inside of a hollowed mountain, but high above, there was a jagged opening.

Through it, he could see a stretch of brilliant blue sky, cloudless, endless, and wrong.

There was no visible sun, yet light poured in as if the heavens themselves glowed.

Noah frowned slightly at the sight. Outside, it was night. In here, it was day.

"Artificial sky," he muttered. "Spatial manipulation. This place really is A-rank."

He moved forward cautiously, scanning his surroundings.

The air was unnaturally quiet, and every instinct in him screamed that he wasn't alone.

His palms were out, so that he could fire a spell as fast as possible, and his shadows stirred faintly beneath his cloak.

Then he heard it. A sound like nails scraping against stone.

A moment later, the first screech split the air, high and guttural.

Noah's eyes flicked upward.

From behind one of the boulders, a giant rat crawled into view, its matted fur patchy and its teeth glinting wetly in the dim light.

Then another appeared. And another.

Within seconds, a dozen were scaling the rocks, their movements frantic and hungry.

They were each the size of wolves, with long, whip-like tails and glowing red eyes that fixed on him.

Noah sighed softly, rolling his shoulders as mana gathered in his palms.

"So much for a quiet entry."

The first rat lunged with a shriek, claws raking through the air.

Noah sidestepped smoothly, his hand flicking up.

"Devour."

The spell activated, darkness exploding from beneath his cloak.

They snared the creature mid-pounce, wrapping around its body like chains.

A moment later, the rat dissolved, its flesh, mana, and essence sucked into the darkness.

A whisper of power flowed back into Noah's body, his muscles tightening with the faint, pleasant burn of rising strength.

His strength had increased.

Another screech echoed to his right. Two more rushed him together.

His eyes glowed orange, and he snapped his fingers.

"Frigid Hunger."

A blast of freezing air burst outward, frost crawling across the stone floor.

The first rat stumbled mid-charge, its body slowly being covered in ice as Noah kept spamming the spell.

The second slipped, momentum carrying it into Noah's waiting fist.

He struck hard, mana amplifying the blow, and its skull crunched under the impact.

"Next."

The shadows around him thickened, swirling like a storm.

One by one, he picked off the rats.

Each kill fed him with a faint but steady increase.

His strength, agility, and endurance all went up.

But for every one he killed, more crawled from the crevices.

Their screeches overlapped, filling the cavern with a maddening chorus.

Dozens of glowing eyes stared from the edges, reflecting the eerie light of the false sky above.

Noah swept his hand in a wide arc, conjuring a small wave of Devour energy that tore through five at once.

Their bodies collapsed inward, eaten alive by his spell.

That was when the ground trembled.

A heavy thud echoed across the chamber, and Noah's eyes rose.

Atop one of the largest boulders stood a colossal rat.

It stood at three times the size of the others. Its fur was patchy and blackened with scars, its red eyes burning with a hateful intelligence.

The creature's long tail lashed against the stone, cracking it.

The lesser rats turned toward it instantly, chittering and screeching louder than before.

The air seemed to vibrate with their frenzy.

The king rat raised its head and roared, a deep, guttural sound that shook the cavern walls.

Noah smirked at the sight.

"So, you're the boss."

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