With a dull thud, that sharp claw pierced straight through Hook's chest from behind, bursting through his torso with unstoppable force, slamming his body—mid-pounce—brutally to the ground. In the blink of an eye, amid Hook's agonized screams, it pinned him to the earth just a foot outside the door.

Hook howled in despair, arms desperately reaching forward. Reflected in his eyes, not far ahead, was the great jade door slowly closing, and beyond the threshold stood Brian Cooper, his face twisted in shock.

Those bloodstained hands were raised in midair, never lowering. Brian Cooper instinctively wanted to grab his hand, but before he could reach out past the door, a sudden rumble erupted. With a thunderous crash, everything before his eyes went black.

The massive jade door slammed shut right in front of him.

It was like a terrifying giant wall, separating him and Hook into two different worlds.

The whole world seemed to fall into sudden, deathly silence.

Inside the jade sanctuary, darkness fell in an instant. Shadows surged in from all directions like a tide, completely swallowing Brian Cooper's figure.

※※※

The original purpose of building the jade sanctuary was to help the human race—especially the most powerful wizards among them—evade the ever-present mysterious force within the inner ring. The jade stones from the divine river naturally possessed a strange ability to block this force. To ensure absolute protection from the mysterious power of the sacred mountain, the entire sanctuary was constructed to be completely sealed.

Because of this airtightness, if too many people stayed inside overnight, suffocation would become a real danger. That’s why, despite its grand and spacious design, the sanctuary could not accommodate many people at once.

So, once the doors closed, the inside and outside became two completely separate worlds. At this moment, with the doors of the fourteenth jade sanctuary shut, even though it was still daytime outside, not a single ray of light could enter.

Brian Cooper's hands pressed tightly against the door as his body slowly slid down until his knees touched the ground.

In the darkness, his expression and features were impossible to see, and no strange sounds could be heard. Only the occasional clear grinding of teeth revealed the man's agitation, for he was clenching his jaw tightly.

Just a short distance beyond the heavy stone door lay the corpse of the brother who had once fought by his side.

But there was nothing he could do. He could only slowly turn around and sit down with his back against the stone door, sitting motionless in the darkness, head bowed in silence.

He sat there for who knows how long before Brian Cooper finally seemed to come to his senses. He composed himself, forcing his mind away from the horrific slaughter he had just witnessed, and began to observe his surroundings, carefully considering the current situation.

The creature outside—neither bird nor beast—was clearly a terrifying being never before discovered in the vast inner ring. It was powerful and ferocious, its strength terrifying, but the most frightening thing was that it seemed to have none of the aversion or fear of jade stone that other magical beasts did. It had even come right up to the sanctuary door to kill.

Although the monster hadn’t ultimately attacked the stone door, Brian Cooper felt that if he hadn’t closed it in time, the creature might very well have burst inside.

A terrifying magical beast, the likes of which he had never seen before, seemingly unafraid of jade stone?

This cast a heavy shadow over Brian Cooper's heart, but it also made him realize one thing very quickly: his top priority now was to stay alive.

He had to survive and return to the Holy City, to report this matter to the elders.

The existence of such a terrifying creature was a huge obstacle to the human race’s plan to build the “Heavenly Road” to the sacred mountain—perhaps even a threat to the very foundation of the project.

※※※

Everything was eerily quiet in the darkness—so quiet it was almost frightening. For in this pitch-black sanctuary, silence was not the only thing present. After regaining his composure, Brian Cooper quickly noticed the air was thick with the stench of blood.

He recalled that, when he had looked inside from the doorway earlier, he had seen what seemed to be several corpses lying within, and plenty of bloodstains on the floor. Of course, it was nothing compared to the mountains of corpses and seas of blood outside, but there were still some dead inside.

Did this mean that, before his group arrived, the monster had already broken in and slaughtered people? Or had some of the bodies from outside simply been swept in by accident?

Brian Cooper listened carefully in the darkness, but aside from the nauseating smell of blood, he heard no other sounds—no breathing of any living thing.

Perhaps this meant he was temporarily safe, but Brian Cooper felt no joy, for it also meant that, in this massacre, no one inside the sanctuary had survived.