Chapter 026 - Moonlit Mirage 13

  As Yangjin vanished up the stairs toward the eighth floor, I raised my voice over the murmuring crowd. “Anyone strong enough—come with me to the first floor! We’re going to try running across the lake and see if there’s a way out!”

  The moment the words left my mouth, I took off down the stairwell, my footsteps pounding against the wooden planks. The group that followed moved with determined urgency, their breaths heavy with anticipation.

  As we descended, I spoke quickly. “Listen—anything thrown from the third to the eighth floor sinks into the water. But from the ninth floor, it lands on something solid. We don’t know what happens on the first.”

  The logic was simple. Yangjin’s skin stretched across the sky, sealing the world above us. If that was the case, then the horizon had to be where the heavens and the earth met—an edge where that grotesque covering could be reached.

  If the ninth floor’s exit led to solid ground, then perhaps the first floor did, too. After all, Yangjin had been lingering there.

  By the time I finished explaining, the scruffy man with the goatee—one of the skeptics from earlier—rubbed the back of his neck, looking uneasy. “You’re really just betting everything on this theory?”

  I shot him a look. “What other choice do we have? We can’t go back to the ninth floor—Yangjin’s already there. And even if we could, what’s your plan? Jump from the ninth straight to the first?”

  Goatee Man hesitated. “...Fair point.”

  At last, we reached the first floor. It was cavernous and eerily empty, the air thick with an unshakable stillness. The only thing that stood out was a single ornate wooden door.

  I strode toward it and pushed it open.

  A few stone steps led down to the lake’s surface—a vast, undisturbed expanse of black water stretching endlessly under the moon’s cold gaze.

  I turned to Elliot Vance. “Hold onto me.”

  Before anyone could protest, I leaped forward.

  The moment my feet hit the water, I braced for the chill of submersion—but instead, I landed on something firm. The surface didn’t give way. It was solid.

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  The lake had turned to glass.

  A vast mirror stretched beneath me, its polished sheen distorting the reflection of the sky. Light wavered and danced across it, scattering into cold, sterile beams. The glow was blinding, yet it held an unnatural iciness—like moonlight reflecting off a frozen wasteland.

  I swallowed against the unease creeping up my spine. I knew what that “moon” truly was.

  I didn’t have time to dwell on it.

  “Move!” I barked, taking off into a sprint. “Ten of you, follow! The rest, stay back and conserve your strength!”

  Behind me, footsteps pounded against the mirrored lake as Elliot and the others rushed to keep up.

  The expanse was endless, the surface pristine and unbroken, stretching toward the horizon in a sickly white glow. It felt like running across a vast, empty void.

  Elliot ran beside me, his strides longer, his pace effortless.

  We pushed forward, covering a kilometer in what felt like seconds. But when I finally glanced back, my stomach twisted.

  The wooden tower had shrunk in the distance, swallowed by the haze of white light—but the horizon ahead remained unchanged.

  Still distant. Still unreachable.

  I slowed, panting, my hands braced against my knees. Sweat dripped from my chin onto the mirrored surface, each drop gleaming like a convex lens, reflecting the "moon’s" ever-watchful, malicious stare.

  I crouched, pressing my palm against the glassy ground. It was solid, cold—yet beneath it, the moon’s reflection loomed. Close enough to see. Close enough to feel its presence.

  But utterly untouchable.

  Elliot, noticing my ragged breathing, grabbed my arm to steady me. “Sylas? You good?”

  “This isn’t right…” I murmured. “We’ve been running for too long, but nothing’s changed.”

  Then—

  A thunderous, bone-rattling boom shattered the silence.

  The drumbeats returned.

  The mirrored lake trembled beneath our feet, the vibrations deep and violent, as if the very fabric of this world was cracking apart.

  Above us, the enormous "moon" twisted. Its surface contorted, shifting into something grotesque—something that almost resembled a grin.

  Mocking us.

  My pulse slammed against my ribs.

  “Back to the tower!” I roared. “NOW!”