Chapter 77: Beyond the Portal

As soon as Raive regained his movement, he didn’t waste a single moment.

Although he dropped his sword where he was caught, he still clad his hand with Sword Flash and cut off his leg. He knew he couldn’t cut the tentacle or make it let go, so he chose the most direct solution instead.

"Ugh...!"

Of course, it’s not like he was oblivious to pain.

But he had no choice but to grit his teeth and move.

As soon as he cut his leg, he focused his Healing Touch on regrowing it. Of course, it would take a lot of time to achieve, but it was still better than nothing.

At the same time, Raive slipped something from his pocket into his mouth, keeping it stuck between his inner cheek and teeth. A kind of last resort, in case things truly went south.

He then ran like a wounded beast, using both arms and his one remaining leg.

But, of course, running in such an unfamiliar pose led to a decrease in speed. The tentacle, realizing he had escaped, quickly gave chase.

And without much delay, caught up to him.

The tentacle swept across the forest floor, cutting down trees along its path.

Raive, hearing the loud sounds, quickly jumped to dodge, hitting one of the nearby tree trunks and kicking off it to safety. As much as possible, he avoided staying midair, where maneuvering was impossible.

Strangely, now that he had one less limb, he’d become nimbler. He dodged the three tentacles coming at him in unison and carefully widened the distance between himself and the portal.

Everything was going well...

Until it wasn’t.

"Gah!"

A tentacle struck down a tree that ended up falling right where Raive was headed. Distracted by the loudly moving tentacles, he failed to notice the tree falling on top of him until the last moment.

Raive got flattened by the tree.

His body was pinned, leaving him unable to move.

Given enough time, a few seconds at most, he could’ve shoved the tree aside and continued his escape. But he didn’t have that kind of leeway.

The next moment, the three tentacles moved.

Two caught his remaining leg and his neck, making sure he couldn’t escape, while the last one lifted the fallen tree out of the way.

Raive was captured once more.

But this time, it was different.

He was already prepared for the worst.

Without fighting at all, he just let the tentacles pull him back into the portal. By his estimate, there should still be about half an hour left before the trial ended.

Given that time, he was confident there’d be no more surprises for the defenders.

Nothing else should go wrong from here.

So, with that confidence, Raive could finally "leave" the trial with peace of mind.

Still, he decided to sate his curiosity. Despite fear filling his entire being, he kept his wits about him, waiting for what came next.

A minute later, he was back at the black portal.

Without delay, the tentacles pulled him inside, slowly but surely.

Raive felt his leg entering—a weird sensation, like dipping it into cold water, but without feeling any of the wetness.

’Well... here goes!’

Just as he was chest-deep, Raive took a deep breath, like he was about to dive in. He felt scared, his heart practically jumping out of his chest, but he kept his eyes peeled.

He didn’t want to miss a single thing inside the portal.

"...!"

And soon, he regretted that decision.

He saw something he shouldn’t have. He couldn’t even describe what it was. Only that he could feel his sanity slipping away just looking at it. He closed his eyes, but the image was already burned into his eyelids. It didn’t help.

Strange sounds filled his ears. Like a choir, or faint breathing, or the cries of millions in pain from far away. He couldn’t even figure out what he was hearing.

’I can’t...!’ Raive thought, panicked. ’I can’t stay in this place...!’

With his jaw trembling, he locked his teeth hard, a loud crack echoing out, then swallowed everything, shards included.

Right.

Earlier, Raive had kept the little bottle of Rotten Rose Poison tucked inside his mouth.

With it, he’d definitely die in a few seconds, saving him from his current predicament. Based on this experience, he figured the saying "curiosity killed the cat" was real. Real enough that he hated it.

He felt the poison spread through his body and began counting down to his death.

But before then, Raive felt a powerful gaze.

Even with his eyes closed, he could sense it—a pair of eyes locked onto him, scrutinizing him from head to toe. It felt strange, but more than that, it felt traumatizing.

Raive felt as if his soul might leave his body, drawn out by that powerful gaze.

Thankfully, the poison’s effect finally covered his entire body.

His mind shut down, and his heart came to a full stop.

Raive died.

...Then he opened his eyes.

No, it wasn’t his Auto-Load working. Instead, he just floated in the sky, overlooking the castle, the forest, and everything else within the trial space.

Raive could see Hazel, Shymine, Therese, and everyone else fighting the monsters that had gotten close to the walls.

He could even see Reinhardt and his family standing inside the throne room, protecting the crystal with Kenny’s barrier. Even though they should be deep indoors.

"What... is this?" Raive wondered.

It felt like a bird’s-eye view of the entire situation!

Strangely, though, Raive couldn’t see his own body. Almost as if he was just a pair of eyes stuck to the clouds, watching everything unfold.

"So this is what happens after someone who’s a traitor dies, huh...?" Raive whispered to himself.

He could still vividly recall the monstrosity he’d seen inside the black portal. But oddly, when he tried to remember what it looked like, he couldn’t recall a single thing.

A weird sensation.

"Gyaaah!"

"N-No... AHHH!"

"I’m not an impostor... Please help me...!"

While he floated up there, he watched the fifteen other impostors beg for their lives. Barely five minutes were left, after all.

Their ends were coming.