The entire environment changed. It was covered in fleshy, organic-looking texture, reddish and sinewy, as if the trees and the floor were made of living tissue.

The air felt dry and thick, with everything stinking of blood. It was too much to have them stop breathing despite the cloak covering their faces.

Yet, Liam was certain Light was in this direction.

'That selfish prick… what is it still doing here?'

"How close is it? I can summon it so that we can leave!"

The moment the words left Halo, Liam paused, prompting Halo and Seraph to also come to a halt.

They watched as sweat formed on his brow, his eyes flickering in fear.

Halo frowned.

"What do you see, Liam?" Seraph asked.

"There… there's something there. Sinners!"

Liam's words sent a shiver down Halo's spine. He didn't fear for Light since it couldn't die. But the shaken expression Liam wore was as though he'd seen something far worse than anything they'd ever encountered.

Seraph barely waited as she began running in Light's direction. Liam hesitated for a moment, then followed behind.

Halo had his frustration boiling over, but with both gone, he couldn't leave them behind, so he followed.

After covering some distance, something abruptly appeared before them. Fear coursed through them as they all took their stances but lowered their guards the moment they realized what it was.

It was Light, its white eyes glaring at them with its finger resting where its mouth should have been, shooing them.

Halo had dozens of scoldings for Light, but the intensity in its eyes made him save them for later. Light gestured for them to follow beneath. Steady and careful, it led them to take cover behind a tree, then gestured beyond it.

The instant they peered, Halo's skin crawled. There were over a dozen Sinners, their figures lost in the red hue, but Halo could tell they were levels above the Sinners he could comfortably kill.

But something else had most of their attention. There was a massive figure above as though it covered the entire land.

Halo swallowed.

His eyes traced the trees and saw that each was connected to the creature somehow. His heart sank, his mouth parting in shock. This meant everything they'd been seeing was connected to the Sinner above. The trees that seemed alive, the dry, thick air they stood in, everything was part of the Sinner.

Before he knew it, Seraph grabbed both his and Liam's hands and began pulling them out of there. She was horrified, and Halo could tell from her heavy breaths and trembling eyes alone.

But he had no intention of staying there either, so he didn't resist as he followed behind. Liam did the same. Light simply vanished and attached itself to Halo as a shadow.

Fortune smiled on them. Despite the rocks, stones, and skulls their heavy boots beat against, the noise wasn't enough to draw the Sinners' attention.

They ran and ran, and even when they'd put enough distance between them and the Sinners, none of them dared stop. Seraph's intensity alone made it feel like a crime.

After running more than two miles, they finally reached the castle, panting. Halo was as tired as they were, but something else stole his attention.

Not only was this his first time seeing Seraph scared, but if the Sinner was indeed what he thought it was, that monster was a god in its own right.

If true, then Inferno Moist, the land they'd just escaped and the largest of the three lands, was partially covered by the Sinner, if not entirely. He'd always wondered where the red mist covering the land came from. Now he had his answer, and he didn't like it.

Everything about their Purpose screamed danger.

"If those Sinners are Crawlers too, we're in trouble. They'll come for us."

Liam said with his voice trembling.

Halo clenched his fist. Crawlers were a unique breed of Sinners obsessed with their castle for some reason. But until Rascal Land was no more, the ghostly land behind them, if anything happened to the castle, it meant their death.

While Halo's mind spiraled, Light emerged and dragged their attention.

It glanced around for something helpful, and just by the bridge over the moat to the castle, it began tracing something on the ground.

They positioned themselves well enough to get a better look, and the moment it finished writing, Halo's expression darkened in confusion.

"He controls Sinners?"

Light nodded repeatedly.

But at that instant, it was as though Seraph's fear completely vanished. She removed the cloak around her head and eagerly gestured for them to follow her.

"It all makes sense now. That's what Tough's drawing meant. The horse was a symbol. The one commanding the Crawlers doesn't just control them… they rides them like an equestrian."

Seraph took them to where the paintings of the legends of the castle hung.

"Looks like Liam was right. This person actually lived in the castle. I heard tales about them long before coming here, but I never thought they were real."

She gestured toward the paintings, asking Light to point out who it was. But that blunt look on its face told them everything they had to know, he didn't know either.

They all stared at Light in confusion as it shrugged its shoulders with a cocky expression.

But Halo wasn't having Light's bullshit. It spent almost a week on that land, it most definitely saw something beyond what it was letting on. But why wouldn't it tell?

He stared intensely at Light while Liam and Seraph contemplated what to do next. He wanted to question Light, but he knew that wasn't wise. It would shatter the faith they had in his clone. After all, Light must have had its reasons for keeping it secret.

"Why don't we try Mirror Steppe for answers? It's one of the triad lands, they must know something about this legend."

Halo turned to Liam and gave him a firm nod. He'd been reluctant about this, but from what he'd seen, if those things were Crawlers, they needed to destroy the root before it devoured them.

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