Transcendent Gene
Chapter 235: Trapped [3]

Chapter 235: Trapped [3]

Every hour, the world’s bells would toll.

On every third time they tolled, the world would be culled for one hour.

It was a system like clockwork that Gio found himself trapped in.

’This place used to be filled with life. It had to be.’

Gio didn’t want to waste a single second when his time was being directly limited by a catastrophic collapse of the world. He didn’t run out of destinations to visit, either.

Every time the destruction stopped and Gio found safety, he looked into the distance to see tens of blurs on the horizon. They were all cities and towns that used to be connected by roadways that were made for vehicles that very clearly were not the cars humans knew.

Those roadways were all shattered now, left as broken remains of a once-vital civilization.

And every city was a ghost of its existence.

They were filled with signs of ordinary life that Gio couldn’t understand. The world didn’t look like it was made for the monsters he knew, yet, this was undoubtedly a part of their world.

Their aura was everywhere, albeit also in the form of vestiges. Their traces couldn’t be hidden, yet how could it be them?

’I know some of them are intelligent and can even be considered on par with humans, but I always assumed that was the minority.’

Most of the creatures humanity had to face were not that kind. Those incredibly intelligent monsters only appeared when all of the pieces started to fall one by one.

’Because of that, we always thought the intelligent monsters were leaders who ruled the unintelligent majority. But if that was the case, then they wouldn’t have a realm like this.’

Riftworlds were only pieces of the Monster Race’s world. If a single piece had enough cities to house millions, then what did the entire world look like?

’And where do the unintelligent monsters fit in?’

It was a Riftworld filled with traces of new information and new hypotheticals.

’It was discovered in the past, too. Why wasn’t this kind of information made known?’

He could justify not spreading it to the public, but if scholars had been made aware, they would have been able to decipher much more about the monsters than they had.

’I should take something with me for analysis.’

With that mindset, he continued to search the cities and find traces. He prioritized looking for the escape mechanism, but there was nothing strange or meaningful in any of the locations he found.

He collected some relics related to the cities and their inhabitants, ran, and kept his eye out until he spotted anything else that could draw his attention.

Only, when he found something of that sort...

...it didn’t quite appear in the way he expected.

"A...cat?"

Standing in the middle of a rocky plain was a creature he could’ve sworn was a cat. It saw him as well, tilting its head as it hesitantly walked towards him.

Its reaction was nothing like what he expected. Weren’t monsters meant to always attack humans on sight?

He kept his energy ready so he could summon a weapon at any point, but he chose not to immediately react with hostility.

Gio approached it slowly and knelt down, allowing it to sniff his hand. It looked up at him for a moment before nuzzling into his palm.

Bzzt!

A spark of energy flowed between Gio and the cat-like creature. In an instant, his eyes widened.

"You..."

He gazed at it in befuddlement. It looked mostly similar to cats on Earth. The difference was in its form which looked much fiercer and more predatorial. If a panther cub was given some of the gentler features of a house cat, it would look something like this one.

But what confused Gio was not its appearance. When that spark of energy flowed between him and the creature, he got a feel for it. The interaction was almost like they scanned each other.

"You’re not a monster."

And from that interaction, Gio gained such an understanding.

This creature didn’t have the same anatomy as any creature on Earth and wasn’t remotely similar to a beast or animal.

However, it was also not remotely similar to a monster. What Gio saw within the creature looked like a galaxy acting as a body’s vital systems.

"What is that?"

He vocalized it as if the cat could understand him. It tilted its head as if it could, but soon returned to using his palm for comfort.

Gio’s brows furrowed as he stared at it for a long while.

"How long has it been since you’ve seen anyone else?"

It was too comfortable around him. How deprived was it of contact with other living beings, and how was it able to survive in this world?

"There’s no life here because of the Riftworld’s characteristics. The world may regenerate itself so it can be destroyed again, but it can’t replicate the life within."

The monsters that were once here were crushed and dropped into the abyss long before the Riftworld was ever discovered by humans.

"But you survived."

The cat looked up at him. Its eyes were a deep purple and blue color that reminded him of a nebula.

"Are you trapped here?"

It nodded. It understood his words perfectly despite his language being one it had never encountered before.

"Did you come to me because you think I can help you escape?"

It nodded once more.

"Do you know the way?"

It did. However, even knowing where the escape mechanism was, it could not do anything about it.

"Hmm..."

Gio frowned. This wasn’t a simple matter of taking in a pet or rescuing an animal.

’This is an unknown creature completely unrelated to us and the monsters. It appeared in this Riftworld somehow, though, so whether it’s dangerous or not...’

"I have one last question. Answer it honestly and I’ll bring you with me when I escape," he said.

His eyes still locked with the cat’s gaze, he asked:

"What is your relationship with the ones who used to live here?"

VOOM!

All of a sudden, the world was covered in bloodlust. The cat’s eyes narrowed and became almost draconic as it bared its fangs, revealing that they were several inches long and as sharp as blades.

Gio shivered when the cold, merciless killing intent touched his skin. He never expected to feel such a thing from this creature.

"So they are your enemies."

Hisssss!

It hissed as if to say that nothing else could be the truth.

It hissed as if telling him that if he was associated with them, he was an enemy too.

Gio smiled.

"Fear not."

VOOOOOOOOOOM!

He let loose his own bloodlust. He allowed it to flare in a way it had never been able to since he regressed.

The true weight of his hatred for the Monster Race, the true weight of his desire for their destruction, was revealed in full.

And it twisted reality.

A crimson sea flowed through the world, a reflection of the blood on Gio’s hands. It reeked of the scent of monsters and tasted of their aura.

Corpses upon corpses created a mountain that touched the sky and cast a deep black shadow across Gio’s body.

That creature released a bloodlust containing the hatred of a single being.

Gio carried on his back the dying cries of the entire human race.

It was an instinctual reaction, really. When that aura washed over the cat, it kneeled and laid down on its stomach, prostrating itself to him.

He pulled his bloodlust back the moment he saw it, smiling wryly.

"That isn’t meant for you. There’s no need to be like this. The point is that we have the same enemy."

It shook its head, brushing itself against his leg.

Though its methods of communication were limited, it still managed to convey its intent.

It recognized him as someone superior, so it would act as such.

"Well..."

Gio didn’t necessarily know how to respond.

"For now, let’s find the exit. We’ll figure the rest out when we’re free."

He still didn’t know enough about this creature to trust it, but its hatred for the Monster Race was real. A common enemy was enough to form a temporary bond.

Gio had been moving without a purpose, running from the fracturing whenever it reached him.

However, he never knew if he was going in the right direction. If he happened to miss the exit point before it was dropped into the abyss...

In that case, he would have to either clear the Riftworld, or die.

That changed now. With a guide leading him in the right direction, he could be much more assured of his safety.

’Hopefully, I can find out more about it, too.’

From the humanization of monsters to the discovery of a creature of an unknown race, this Riftworld had already given him far more than he expected out of it.

He didn’t want to leave before answering some of the questions it put in his head.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Tip: You can use left, right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.Tap the middle of the screen to reveal Reading Options.

If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report
Follow our Telegram channel at https://t.me/novelfire to receive the latest notifications about daily updated chapters.