Extra's Abyss-Chapter 31: Rift[1]

Looking for any signs of suspicious people or anything, Rei thoroughly checked the area around the rail track.

He had been here since he got the quest from the system. Initially, he planned to search for any suspicious activity nearby and report it to the city guards.

But he found nothing; everything looked normal all around the track. Finally deciding to wait, Rei kept his distance a bit away from the track to be ready to respond immediately if something happened.

"The quest says it's in a few days; I don't know how many is 'a few'." Rei leaned over the branch he was sitting on, resting for a bit.

He had already seen a few trains pass by safely yesterday, and in the morning he saw one pass by too.

'I am starting to doubt the information of this system,' he thought to himself, closing his eyes, pondering over it until he heard a loud sound.

Recognizing the sound of the train moving, he opened one eye to observe the track from a distance, expecting nothing would happen.

"Huh, what's that!" Just as the train was passing through the tunnel, a dark, pulsating orb hovered above the train.

His mind raced as he continued to observe when the dark orb grew in size and burst into crimson fragments that splintered the sky, merging and opening a jagged red crack in the space.

Rei gulped nervously, a sense of dread creeping over him.

Just as the red crack appeared, a red wave of energy burst out from it while a huge, monstrous white hand came out of it and seized the train, pulling it towards the crack.

The train's defense system activated as its futuristic cannon emerged from the compartments, shooting several times towards the hand, while a blue barrier appeared all over the train, protecting the passengers inside.

The red wave energy spread out, bursting everything in its surroundings. Reacting swiftly, Rei used his mana to create a barrier, which protected him as he was blasted a few meters away.

Looking back at the train, he felt a huge mana starting to rise from inside the train; he wondered if a stronger ranker was present in the train.

'They should be safe, right?' or so he thought when he noticed.

A red energy burst quickly emanated from the monstrous hand, creating a barrier around the train and immediately pulling it in.

"Or not," he mumbled, taking in a deep breath as he dispersed his barrier.

Staring at the red crack in the space above the track, observing, "This looks similar to a rift, but it's quite different."

Shaking his head, he pulled out his mobile to send an emergency alert to the city. "Damn it, now of all times? Just why?",Rei kicked off some dirt off the ground.

Something seems to be jamming the signal to send an alert, pocketing it back.

Rei looked at the crack in the sky and back at the direction of the city, torn between saving random people and his own safety, feeling conflicted.

"I-I, what should I do? This is way beyond my league; I'd be dead the second I step in there. Should I just abandon the quest and leave? B-but what about those people?" Rei mumbled to himself, trying to make a decision.

Glancing back at the crack, he felt a sense of fear and dread spreading through his body.

Just then, he heard the sounds of footsteps rapidly approaching in his direction. Rei sharply turned, focused to see who it was.

Within a few seconds, he saw a group of people running towards him; leading the group was a grey-haired middle-aged man who wore a set of armor and a hammer in his hand.

Rei relaxed a little but didn't let down his guard. The group stopped beside him as they observed the red crack. He heard the grey-haired man speak.

"Well, damn, that's no natural rift; that's an artificial rift!" Rei perked up his ears, listening to their talk.

"Leader, doesn't that mean at least an Fallen-rank will be present in the Rift!" A fear-stricken member of the group said nervously, and Rei's eyes widened.

"Yea, and also I sensed a powerful ranker's presence in the train; if I sensed their rank correctly, they are above A rank," he said grimly as he turned around and looked at Rei.

Rei tensed up, feeling his stare. "Kid, you should head back to the city; things are going to get real ugly out here."

"And your group?" he quickly asked, wondering about their choice.

Before the man could speak, one of his members spoke first, "Brat, listen to our leader and leave for your safety. Leader, we must go and not waste time here; this is an opportunity..."

Their leader nodded. "Anyways, just in case, I sent out one of our members back to the city to report about the incident. The guards will be arriving in an hour or so. Let's move on."

Ignoring the kid, they quickened their pace as they ran towards the crack.

Rei stood still in his spot, going over what the group talked about, "He did say he already sent someone to report, and they seem fairly strong themselves."

Rei finally made up his mind and decided to follow behind the group at a certain distance and enter the crack, knowing full well this was a huge risk. He decided to take that risk.

He wanted to become stronger quickly; the quests he gets normally give him a minuscule amount of EXP points.

"And I have no idea when I might ever get quests like this." He hurried after the gang as they disappeared into the distance.

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Few Minutes ago,

On the train in one of the compartments with a luxury-filled space, Noctis was lying on his bed going through his mobile, watching some funny videos.

Ericka sat in silence, staring intensely at her screen in front of her, with two accessories on either side.

Noctis glanced at his aunt, who had been trying to make a choice for the past two hours; turning away, he couldn't help but scoff at her indecision.

'A few more months and then the entrance exams will begin. And then the rankings will be out, which is also the starting point of the game's story. I wonder where I will rank now." In the game, players started the game with the 89th rank out of 120.

The Ethereon University admits only 120 students annually through an entrance exam conducted collaboratively by the 5 universities and ERA (Eldarlea Ranker's Association).

'There are other universities other than the 5 mentioned, but they really don't—' His thoughts were cut off when he heard a loud thud echoing across the compartment.

Turning around, he saw his aunt already on her feet, her mana flaring out.

Before he could question her, he felt the entire train shaking. Looking out, he saw they were floating in the air and noticed a huge, monstrous white hand grabbing the train.

"Nox, no time to explain, just stay near me!" Ericka looked at the train's wall and blasted out a punch.

A loud sound was heard as cracks spread across the wall of the compartment, he felt his aunt picking him up in her arms, ready to jump off the train.

Noctis stayed silent, deciding to follow his aunt's orders.

The wall crumbled apart, revealing a blue barrier surrounding the train, and the next second a red barrier formed over the blue one.

Ericka glared at the barrier. Before she could throw another punch, a ranker's strong mana burst out from another compartment, and the next second both of them felt their vision blur for a moment.

Looking out of their window, both of them noticed a frozen wasteland filled with snow stretching endlessly; they could only see a never-ending line of snow in any direction.

The train began to shake once and then began to fall rapidly towards the snow below, Ericka noticing the red barrier dispersing.

She jumped off through the broken wall with Noctis, her wings manifesting behind her as she started to glide downwards slowly. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

"Aun—," Noctis was about to ask her to slow down the train's fall when he noticed the train's futuristic-looking cannons began to shift slightly as their barrels began to widen and a large amount of air burst out of them, slowing the fall.

Noctis let out a sigh of relief as Ericka slowly landed on the snow, letting him down. She looked around with a frown on her face.

"Attention All Passengers Please stay inside your respective seat and do not come out. We have already sent an alert to Star City; our support will be arriving soon. Please calm down and do not head outside."

They heard the captain's voice from the train. Noctis quickly searched for his mobile, and not finding he tapped his watch and noticed he wasn't getting any signal.

"Aunt, are we inside a Rift?" Rubbing his body trying to warm it, Noctis calmly asked her.

"Yeah, and this isn't a natural rift; it's an artificial one."

Noctis's eyes widened at her words. 'Just why, why now? How did I get involved in something like this?'.