The Unlimited Ascension: Reborn as an Extra

Chapter 101: Starlight

After stepping out of the narrow passage and into the open, what Alen and L saw made their skin prickle with cold goosebumps. Both of them took a step backward, watching the horrific scene unfold.

"Is this... What is this!?"

In front of them stood a dark stone altar. A massive statue of some unknown goddess rested upon it, raising her hands toward the sky with elegance, stone wings spread wide across her back. Her whole body was made of solid rock, but even then, her sculpted beauty was enough to dazzle anyone who looked.

But the beautiful statue was not what attracted the attention of Alen and L. They looked at the immediate surroundings. Around the base of the altar lay hundreds of human bodies. Yet, the dead bodies were not the most shocking part. Sitting on top of the corpses, several small children were eating the flesh like wild, starved monsters. Their mouths overflowed with dark blood as they consumed the internal organs. Their faces twisted into maniacal smiles, while simultaneously, thick tears of blood flowed from their eyes, as if they were experiencing intense pleasure and agonizing pain at the exact same time.

It looked like the children were eating their own parents.

This was not just happening to one body. Hundreds of corpses lay scattered across the clearing, and the horrific scene repeated itself over and over.

Some bodies did not even have a single bone or patch of skin left. The children sucked the marrow from the broken bones with unsettling pleasure.

Alen stepped back, unable to control his churning stomach. He threw up onto the ground.

"Cough! Cough!... Hah... hah..."

Alen clutched his chest. He trembled, seeing this disgusting scenario for the first time. Even though he had killed people before, he never felt pleasure doing it. Killing humans was just a grim necessity for survival; he never laid a single hand on innocent people who had done no wrong to him.

As he looked at the children—or whatever these creatures were—eating their parents, it felt like he was witnessing the most cursed experience of his entire life.

Beside him, L, who was composed just moments ago, backed up until he hit the wall of the passage. He stared at the scene. His violet eyes trembled, and his body started shaking, not with fear alone, but with utter disgust.

Suddenly, the children who were busy eating heard the sound of Alen coughing. All of them turned their eyes straight toward the two intruders at the same time. Their maniacal smiles vanished as they all stood up from the bloody ground.

The children looked no older than eight years, and some were even younger. They stepped forward, moving slowly toward them.

Both Alen and L felt their skin prickle again as they sensed a heavy danger radiating from the small figures.

The children continued walking toward them.

"Brother... Sister... Help us... Help us... Help us... Help us..."

Their erratic whispers filled the open space. Genuine tears seemed to fall down their bloodstained faces.

One child came to a stop right in front of Alen. Alen flinched slightly. He wanted to back off, but his body seemed unwilling to accept his mental demands. Hearing the word ’brother’ made him completely frozen. He could not bring himself to hurt them. His own little brother had been the exact same age as these kids before he lost him. His hands trembled as he prepared to attack, but seeing their innocent faces stripped of the earlier malice, Alen could not launch a strike. Even if he knew they might be monsters, he hesitated.

A little girl, no more than six years old, came forward and touched his shoes.

"Brother, help us... Brother, help us... Brother, help us..."

More children started to appear, chanting the exact same tone.

"Brother, help us... Brother, help us... Brother, help us..."

L looked at the small children walking toward him.

"Sister, help us... Sister, help us..."

L’s eyes widened. He suddenly noticed that the children were calling him ’sister’, even though he was currently in a perfect disguise. That should not be possible.

’If they know my true identity, that means they are at least not an illusion. Illusions do not have independent thoughts. If they are not illusions, then they must have corrupted souls...’

’If that is true, then there must be someone linking to their souls and controlling their corruption. Because if they can restrain the children from going berserk and attacking us right away, it guarantees that someone is pulling the strings from behind... It must be that Ghost. But where is the Ghost?’

As L focused on processing these thoughts, a small child walked closer to him.

"Sister, please help me... Please help me..."

L quickly summoned his weapon. The silver sword appeared, coated with a bright silver light. He swung the blade vertically, and the kid’s body split in half.

As the body separated, thick blood started to flood onto the ground. L’s expression did not waver in the slightest, as he had already composed himself for the grim task.

’It seems the kids are genuine. They are not simple monsters or illusions... It seems the Ascension Realm really brought corrupted children from other reality into this trial. It is truly so cruel...’

’But I cannot waste my time feeling guilty. Only a little time is left for the trial to finish...’

He bowed his head toward the ground and joined his hands in a brief prayer.

"May you get to live a peaceful next life..."

L looked at the advancing kids and noticed that hordes of them had started to surround Alen, who remained motionless for some reason. He also noticed that the kids creeping up behind Alen had started to smirk. Their expressions turned maniacal once again, showing they were preparing to sabotage and devour him.

L did not wait a second longer.

[Luminous Ascension Art: Starlight!]

L thrust his sword into the ground as he looked at the massive horde of corrupted children. Suddenly, from the dark sky above, a massive ray of intense light split through the clouds. It landed straight into the large opening, covering the entire field where the children stood.

This attack was very different from what Alen had faced in the tournament. It was a large, area-wide attack that caught the whole clearing. Just before the starlight could hit the ground, L vanished from his spot, appeared directly next to Alen, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and vanished again to safety.

As the Starlight landed on the field, the whole ground split open, destroying everything around the altar. The children heading toward them evaporated from the sheer force of the light. Because the Starlight contained the ’Light’ attribute, which is highly effective against corrupted creatures, their bodies could not sustain the energy and burned away into nothing. The whole field was illuminated by the blinding beam stretching from the ground up to the sky. The air felt incredibly heavy with pressure and power.

For a long moment, the Broken City was illuminated by the brilliant glow of the pillar of starlight. Slowly, the intensity reduced until it faded entirely. The sky returned to the way it once was, and the ruined place was plunged back into darkness.