Led by Gestalt, the "Pathfinder" squad continued deeper along their designated patrol route. Nadeshiko had treated Ryan's arm and leg. Though his movements were slightly hampered, he had fallen silent and the "fiery red" energy around him had subsided considerably and turned ashen gray.
Shen Kai walked silently behind Gestalt's right. The noisy "Core Whispers" in his mind had not faded with the end of the battle. Instead, like a reluctant tide refusing to be silent after receding, they continued to send unsettling aftershocks through the depths of his consciousness. The unique "Colorless Core" in his chest pulsed at a faint but steady rate, like a newborn sensory organ hungrily analyzing the foreign energy and aura of death that dissipated during the fight.
The sensation was deeply uncomfortable, as if a cold, alien entity were residing within his body.
They traveled for another hour through bizarre, iridescence-twisted vegetation and scattered ruins, fending off several more waves of smaller, mutated creatures along the way. With Gestalt's calm command and their newly formed combat coordination, these threats were handled without major incident.
However, Shen Kai's condition was progressively worsening.
His face grew paler, and he broke out in a cold sweat. The omnipresent "Core Whispers" battered his consciousness in waves like a rising tide, giving him a splitting headache. The scene before him began to subtly distort. A faint, ominous, reddish-purple mist seemed to permeate the air, and hazy, twisted, human-like figures began appearing and disappearing at the edge of his vision.
Finally, beneath a relatively concealed, weathered rock cliff, Gestalt raised his hand, signaling a ten-minute rest.
"Hah... finally a break,"
said Ryan, plopping down on a cold rock and panting heavily.
Nadeshiko leaned against a rock wall and sat down. She took a palm-sized "Alchemist" emergency substance synthesizer from her tactical pouch and quickly produced a small, light-green, high-energy nutrition bar that gave off a faint, sweet smell. She broke off half and handed it to the exhausted Ryan. She passed the other half and a water canteen to Shen Kai.
"Shen-kun, are you all right?"
she asked, walking over to him. Her voice was full of concern.
"You look really unwell."
"Would you like me to use my core energy to help you feel better?"
The clear water Nadeshiko offered, along with the pure, light-pink concern in her eyes, free of any impurities, was like a glimmer of light in the dead of winter. They gently touched a corner of Shen Kai's heart that had grown hard and cold from the "Core Whispers" and the core's strange activity.
He silently took the canteen, gulped down some water, and answered in a hoarse voice,
"Thank you. I'm... I'm fine."
Suddenly, an intense, inexplicable palpitation struck him without warning.
An invisible, icy hand seemed to clutch his heart, nearly suffocating him.
An indescribable, bone-chilling malice descended abruptly from the side of the cliff like a shroud of darkness. Spurred by this malice, the "Core Whispers," which had just quieted down, instantly transformed from an annoying tide into a deafening scream filled with ultimate pain and hatred.
"What's wrong, Shen Kai?!"
Gestalt, who had remained on high alert, immediately noticed his state. He shot to his feet, pointing his rifle in the direction of Shen Kai's vacant stare.
"Report your perception!" he barked.
"I... I don't know..."
Shen Kai clutched his splitting head; his voice trembled violently from extreme fear and unbearable pain.
"There's something there."
"Something very terrifying."
"It feels like it's drawing my attention in a way I can't understand."
"It's even sending my core some kind of cold and twisted... invitation."
His gaze was fixed on an unremarkable shadow on the cliff face deep within a section covered by thick, twisted, dark green vines.
At the heart of that shadow was an... "existence." It could not be accurately described in any known language. It was as if it were formed purely from solidified despair, flowing hatred, and endless, eternal agony.
It radiated a dark, purplish-black light so ominous it was like the color of the abyss itself.
This was not any kind of mutated creature they had encountered before, nor was it a simple mental illusion formed by ordinary "Core Whispers."
It was something more fundamental and profound, closer to the source of the "Iridescence" calamity—pure, unadulterated evil.