One minuteter, two guardians were on the ground, panting heavily, drooling from the corners of their mouths.


    One of themy sideways while the othery on her knees and face.


    The front and back of their armor pieces werepletely torn off like an elephant ripping the paper from a cardboard box.


    One look at their exposed assets, and anyone could tell they were roughed up.


    Both guardians had red palm marks on their pale ass cheeks, and their breasts were equally red from being squeezed so much.


    Their pussies were dripping wet with juices.


    "Man, I''m so hard right now. If the situation wasn''t dire, I would''ve plunged my cock into your heavenly pussies. But... well... next time, alright."


    The perpetrator of the masterpieces on the ground said as he walked over the poor and humiliated guardians.


    He truly wanted to take them, but he had to save his stupid friends.


    "Now, how do I open this—"


    Creak~


    "Oh, I didn''t have to do anything at all!"


    The double doors magically creaked open, and it was... painfully slow. Kaisen tapped his foot, rolling his eyes at the drawn-out process.


    "Come on, hurry up already."


    He muttered, feeling his impatience grow with every passing second.


    Finally, as the doors fully revealed the scene inside, his jaw dropped.


    "Holy fuck!"


    He whispered, eyes wide.


    Before himy white sands, not the grimy type from outside but pure, pristine white sand. It stretched out into sand dunes, making the ce look like a pristine desert.


    There were no walls on the remaining three sides, just an endless sea of sand under a ck sky and a red moon.


    The eerie silence was only broken by a small, mysterious huming from somewhere in the desert.


    It was surreal, like stepping into another dimension. The whole setup seemed like it was straight out of a fantasy painting.


    "Well, this is... unexpected."


    He said, taking a step forward, feeling the fine, cool sand shift under his feet.


    The desert wasn''t deserted at all.


    The poles he saw earlier were still here. As he got closer, he realized they weren''t just poles but rather... crosses.


    They were arranged in a spiraling shape, with the red moon perfectly framed in the middle.


    Below the moon, at the center of the spiral, was a smaller sphere, simr to the one being mined at the front.


    However, this one wasn''t glowing; it was a dull red, like it was withering away.


    Step~ Step~


    The crosses were made of wood, and at the top of them was that ck gooey substance he had seen before.


    It enveloped the cross as if it was covering something.


    Kaisen''s curiosity got the better of him, and he stepped forward, reaching out to grab the ck substance on a cross near him.


    The goo felt cold and sticky, resisting his touch as he pulled at it.


    ''Urgh... Wax?''


    Kaisen thought, feeling the texture of the ck substance. It truly felt like he was grabbing onto some hardening wax.


    But he wasn''t here to y detective; he was here to free his friends.


    With a determined grip, he pulled his hands back, tearing away a chunk of the goo.


    As he suspected, a handful of the ck goo came away, revealing a human face beneath—or what had once been human.


    The face was contorted, halfway through transforming into a Night Shade. Kaisen''s stomach churned at the sight.


    "Disgusting."


    He muttered, looking at the cross with revulsion.


    A living person, being melted by this ck shit and turned into a Night Shade.


    The realization made his blood boil. He could feel rage bubbling up, ready to burst from him.


    This wasn''t just one isted horror; the entire desert was filled with these crosses. The scale of it was mind-numbing.


    Everywhere he looked, there were more victims, each one in varying stages of transformation.


    "These monsters...," he growled under his breath. "Turning people into Night Shades? This is beyond sick."


    "Mhmm mhmmm~"


    A muffled groan echoed from another part of the eerie desert. Kaisen nced over and saw the Night Shades smearing ck goo on a cross.


    "Ughhh... That''s gross..."


    He muttered, watching in disgust as the creatures plunged their own hands into their bodies, pulling out ck goo and smearing it on the crosses.


    ''What the hell are these things?''


    He thought, feeling a wave of revulsion and anger.


    He didn''t want to be here anymore. He was sure his friends were involved in whatever horrific ritual this was.


    Without wasting any more time, he dashed towards the Night Shades.


    Step~ step~


    The sound of shifting sand caught the attention of the Night Shades.


    Their heads snapped towards him, eyes narrowing in confusion at the sight of a human in the ritual site.


    But before they could react, Kaisen summoned his new weapons, unwilling to sully his hands after witnessing their grotesque actions.


    Slice~


    His de cut through the air with a deadly precision, aimed at ending the nightmare that surrounded him.


    One of Kaisen''s loathsome ws sliced through the nearest Night Shade''s stomach, emerging smoothly from the other side.


    For a moment, he thought he hadn''t made contact since the creature showed no reaction.


    Then he saw it: a gaping wound oozing ck liquid. Without a sound or scream, the creature''s upper body slid off the lower half, spilling the disgusting ck liquid everywhere.


    The others finally realized what was happening. They dropped whatever they were doing and, like a horde of zombies, rushed at him.


    Their attacks were mindless and random,cking any coordinated strategy.


    Kaisen, of course, was stronger and faster.


    He danced through the small horde, slicing and dicing through the Night Shades with ease.


    He even wondered how the fuck were Maximus and Llyod had struggled with these weak creatures until one of them managed to touch him.


    ?!


    "Huh?"


    He suddenly felt weak, as if he had gone from level 120 to level 1 in an instant.


    "What the fuck?!"


    Quickly, he retracted his hand from the creature and felt his level slowly rising again: 1, 2, 3, 4...


    It wasn''t that slow. In about a minute, he could be around level 60 or so.


    Slice!


    He shed the creature, cutting its head off.


    "So this is their secret. As long as they touch you, your entire power depletes, huh?"


    He now understood how these creatures had managed to kidnap all those adventurers along with his friends.


    But the fight wasn''t over yet. Five more Night Shades remained.


    Taking a deep breath, he danced through them again until thest creature fell.


    "These des are really good."


    He snapped the de in the air, flicking off any ck blood. He could feel the des wanting more.


    They were hungry.


    "Mhmmm... Mhmmm..."


    Kaisen heard the muffled groan again and was snapped back to reality.


    He quickly dashed to the cross that was producing the sound and started to tear away the ck, gooey substance from the head.


    "Gasp!! Cough... cough... cough..."


    After he had removed all the gunk, the head of the person started to move.


    It was none other than Lloyd, gasping for breath as if he had been holding it for a long time.


    "Lloyd! You alright?"


    Kaisen asked urgently, continuing to peel away the sticky ck substance.


    After all the goo was removed, Lloyd slumped forward, but Kaisen caught him before he could hit the ground.


    "My... my powers..."


    Lloyd mumbled, barely able to stand.


    "Give it a minute. You''ll be alright."


    ''It''s not the Night Shades, it''s the ck substance that''s suppressing their powers.''


    Kaisen quickly scanned Lloyd''s body.


    There wasn''t any ck goo left on him, which meant Lloyd would have his powers back in no time.


    Not that Lloyd was some high-level warrior anyway—he was still in his early twenties, barely out of noob territory.


    "The others..."


    Lloyd mumbled, still weak. Kaisen gently lowered him to the ground.


    "Wait here while I free them."


    Kaisen wasn''t sure which of the remaining prisoners were his friends. There were thousands of crosses here, and it would be impossible to search them all quickly.


    ''No. I''ll look through every single one if that''s what it takes to find them.''


    Kaisen used to think rtionships were superficial and useless. Love, friendship, family—all just tools to be used and discarded.


    That was a lesson he learned from growing up in that wretched hole with his twin brother. All his life values had originated from there.


    But now, he was determined to save his friends, even if it meant sifting through a sea of crosses.


    Familial love was non-existent. He learned that bitter truth when his twin brother wouldn''t share anything he found.


    Even on days when Kaisen went without food, his brother would sit and eat his meal right in front of him without a second thought.


    Friendship? What a joke. In that miserable ce, no one was truly your friend.


    No matter how much they said, "I''ll protect you," when push came to shove, everyone only looked out for themselves.


    And love? Ha! Love was a word invented by the weak. He didn''t need love; all he had was his drive and his lust.


    He even befriended Lloyd because of his lust for Alice, hoping one day she would spread her legs for him.


    And, as it turned out, she did.


    And yet, when his friends were in danger, he rushed headlong into peril.


    He had the option to abandon them, but no, he came running like a fool.


    ''What''s happening to me? Why did I change?''


    He was baffled. Why had he changed so much? Why had he be the opposite of what he once was?


    He shook his head. It didn''t matter. His feelings weren''t fake.


    Tear~ Rip~


    Hoping to find Alice''s face, he tore the ck goo from the nearest cross only to frown in deep disgust at the person he revealed.


    "Well, well, well. Look who''s here!" Kaisen pped his hands, a sinister smile spreading across his face.


    The person inside the ck goo, the one he just uncovered, was none other than Alwyn, the pervert who had once received Kaisen''s spit and cum on his face.


    "It''s Alwyn, the humiliated!"


    Kaisen announced with mock enthusiasm, doing a little dance.


    "I never thought I''d see you again, buddy! How''s the aftertaste?"


    Alwyn, disoriented and covered in goo, blinked in confusion.


    "K-Kaisen?"


    "That''s right!"


    Kaisen grinned, giving Alwyn a hard p on the cheek.


    "Just when you thought your day couldn''t get worse, here I am. Surprise!"