Creating A Succubus Army In A Fantasy World!-Chapter 138: The Mysterious Thuds.

It had only been five minutes since the thousands of chosen youths had been unceremoniously dumped into the strange desert world through the rift.

And yet the silence that followed was so intense, so all-consuming, that it might as well have been five hours.

It wasn’t a peaceful, relaxing silence, like the hush of snow or a quiet evening. No, this was a choking, oppressive silence.

The kind that made your heartbeat feel too loud in your chest. That made every single step echo a little too sharply in your ears.

Despite the sheer number of people present—thousands, in fact—you couldn’t even hear the shuffle of another person unless they were practically right next to you!

The reason for this eerie quiet was the overwhelming presence of the brown mist.

It wasn’t just foggy—it was like someone had taken all the dust in the world, mixed it with steam from a boiling swamp, and then cranked it up to maximum thickness.

You couldn’t see beyond ten meters in any direction, and sound? It was so muffled it felt like everyone had cotton balls jammed in their ears.

From a strategic standpoint, it was dangerous on multiple levels. First, the limited visibility made it nearly impossible to notice incoming threats from a distance.

Secondly, the way sound was muted meant that even screams or explosions would only travel a few dozen meters before being completely swallowed.

For anyone hoping to rely on a team, communication would be a nightmare unless they were standing shoulder to shoulder.

And the worst part? If a monster came from the side, you’d probably only have a second to react—if that—before it ate your face.

Somewhere amidst that suffocating fog, two of the most beautiful—and debatably strongest—figures in the entire realm were wandering with regal ease.

Lilith and Tierra, their expressions calm but alert, moved across the cracked ground like goddesses on a stroll.

And in Lilith’s arms was the ever-dramatically unconscious Creed.

"So," Tierra began, her grey eyes twinkling mischievously as she glanced over at her counterpart.

"Are we just going to pretend I didn’t slice apart that worm’s brain before your lightning even connected?"

Lilith scoffed, her voice elegant and sharp. "Please. My scythe sliced that overgrown worm like hot knife through butter. Your spatial glitch only delayed it—I did the slicing."

"Oh? I distinctly remember the worm freezing the moment my sigil flashed. But sure, believe what you want, Princess Purple," Tierra teased, casually spinning a dagger on her fingertip.

They continued bantering back and forth, like two co-workers arguing over who did more during a group project, even though said "project" involved slicing a peak stage 5 desert worm like it was a warm-up exercise.

What they had done moments ago, if anyone were truly paying attention, was nothing short of amazing.

Both of them had attacked with such lethal force, such precision, that even an apex beast; a monster that could have devoured multiple Stage 4 awakened without breaking a sweat had been obliterated in a blink.

That worm didn’t even get the chance to scream twice!

For reference, a peak Stage 5 monster was on the edge of what most elite candidates could handle and that was after going all out with all they had.

And yet, Lilith and Tierra? They hadn’t even broken a sweat.

This meant one thing and one thing only: both of them had individually stepped into the realm of Silver-Tier combat power. The same level Creed had reached during the first trial.

And now, with their post-baptism enhancements?

If the two of them teamed up and Creed didn’t take them seriously... well, let’s just say the poor guy might end up with a not-so-friendly scythe hovering over his neck and two smug women arguing about who got to finish him off first.

Still, even with all that power and elegance, they were just as lost as everyone else in the trial.

"No announcements. No guides. Not even a magical floating arrow," Lilith muttered, glancing around. "Honestly, this trial design is lazy."

"Or intentionally chaotic," Tierra said with a frown. "Which means the objective isn’t about fighting... it might be survival. Or exploration. Or something dumber like hide-and-seek with desert demons."

Their light banter was abruptly cut short when the earth beneath them trembled. It was not a tiny shiver, but a real, spine-shaking quake.

It wasn’t violent, but it was rhythmic. Like something massive was walking.

One thud. Then another. Then a third. Every single one caused a pulse in the ground. Dust bounced, rocks rolled, and the air itself began to grow heavy with tension.

By the seventh thud, everything changed.

The brown mist that had blanketed the desert like a suffocating shroud billowed upwards all at once, then vanished in a strange whoosh, like someone had vacuumed it out of existence.

The sudden shift in visibility was so dramatic, so sudden, that most of the youths blinked several times, confused at the sudden flood of light and sight.

And then, for the first time in this entire hellish trial, they could finally see!

The world around them was revealed in full!

The desert floor was a cracked, dry wasteland, a mix of jagged rock and hard sand that looked like it hadn’t seen a drop of water in centuries.

Small, withered trees stood here and there, crooked and leafless, like nature had tried and given up halfway through.

The terrain was uneven, littered with massive craters that oozed faint red smoke like they were miniature volcanoes taking a smoke break.

Whatever had caused those craters clearly wasn’t interested in subtlety.

And perhaps most disturbingly, not a single beast or monster could be seen. It was as if the moment the mist cleared, every living thing that wasn’t human had gone underground.

Smart move. Whatever had caused that mist to vanish was something even the local wildlife didn’t want to mess with.

But what truly captured everyone’s attention and glued every pair of eyes to a single point was what stood at the very heart of the desert.

A pyramid.

No, not just a pyramid. It was a gigantic, bizarrely massive pyramid that rose so high it practically kissed the sky.

Its black stone surface shimmered with glowing runes, and beams of faint red light traced its edges like veins.

The structure looked ancient beyond belief, like it had been here since the beginning of time. No matter where you were in the desert, you could see it clearly.

It towered above the world like a sleeping god, waiting for someone foolish enough to knock on its door.

For all the thousands of youths who had been confused, disoriented, and wandering aimlessly in the mist... the appearance of the pyramid was like a flare shot into the sky.

A direction. A goal. A challenge.

And as Lilith and Tierra stood atop a small dune, the wind brushing their hair, they both turned their eyes toward that massive, ominous structure in the distance.

"Well," Lilith said with a smirk. "Looks like we found the next headache."

Tierra nodded. "Let’s hope it’s at least fun."

The pyramid looked like something ripped straight out of a dream—or maybe a nightmare.

Even from kilometers away, it stood as the absolute centerpiece of the desert, a black monolith so large it almost didn’t seem real.

Its surface was smooth and glossy, like obsidian, with strange red symbols that seemed to flicker and pulse like they were alive.

On every one of its four sides, evenly spaced, were enormous torches, each as tall as a grown man, burning with flames that didn’t move with the wind.

They just stood there, blazing defiantly, as if daring the desert to snuff them out. The fire wasn’t regular orange either—it had a deep crimson hue, like blood had somehow caught fire.

It gave the entire pyramid this ancient, ominous vibe, like it had been here long before any of them were born and it’d still be here long after they were dust.

From the very moment it appeared in their vision, every youth in the desert instinctively knew that this was the goal.

There were no signs pointing at it, no instructions hovering in the air, no guiding spirits whispering directions, but it didn’t matter.

The pyramid stood as the single most notable feature in the entire barren wasteland, and no one had to be a genius to understand that it was the "main event."

So they started walking.

Some moved cautiously, testing the cracked ground with each step. Others charged like headless chickens, full of confidence they didn’t quite deserve.

And a few smart ones immediately started forming temporary teams with people nearby—because everyone knew survival chances were way better with someone watching your back.

After all, it was a trial, and the death toll wasn’t completely zero over the years. People had died during these trials before. No one thought this one would be any easier.

Lilith and Tierra walked calmly, without hurry, without fear, and most definitely without interest in anyone around them.

"Should we have accepted that boy’s offer to team up?" Tierra asked casually, spinning her dagger between her fingers like a toy.

Lilith didn’t even blink. "No. I’ve seen dead weeds with more backbone than that guy."

Another pair of boys waved at them from a distance, trying to smile harmlessly despite the lust in their eyes.

The only thing they got in return was a blank stare. Not cold. Just... uninterested. Like a celebrity walking past people at the airport.

In their eyes, other than Creed and perhaps Amara, no one else even deserved a flicker of attention.

Most of these people wouldn’t last the full trial. And the ones who did? Still not worth their time. Lilith and Tierra had been changed by the sigil baptism.

They weren’t just pretty girls with wings anymore; they were walking disasters in human form.

Ten minutes passed.

The sun above blazed like it wanted to cook everyone alive. The desert’s air shimmered with heat, and the occasional gust of wind brought no comfort—only sand in their mouths.

But through it all, the pyramid never got smaller. If anything, it looked bigger. More overwhelming.

And just when the group of scattered youths was beginning to settle into the long, dreadful march...

BOOM. freёnovelkiss.com

The ground trembled again. The same seven thuds. One after the other.

The moment the seventh hit echoed through the land, the familiar whoosh of air whipped across the desert.

And just like that, the brown mist billowed back, like a giant invisible curtain being pulled down over everyone’s heads.

In seconds, the pyramid vanished from sight. So did the sun. So did the ground ten steps ahead. Everything was swallowed once more in suffocating, dusty darkness.

Panic set in almost instantly.

"Where’s the pyramid?!"

"Wait, which way were we walking?!"

"Someone mark the ground!"

It was chaos. The mist didn’t just hide things—it twisted people’s sense of direction. The desert had no real landmarks.

Every stretch of ground looked like every other stretch of ground. So unless someone had a magical compass that pointed directly to creepy pyramids, the odds of staying on the right path were left to luck.

Lilith clicked her tongue. "Of course it wouldn’t be easy."

Tierra sighed dramatically. "Honestly, I was starting to think it was a straight-line hike. But nope. Welcome back to fog hell."

And so the aimless journey began. Again.

Time crawled. With nothing to look at but mist and cracked sand, every second felt like an eternity.

It was like being trapped in a weird dream where you just kept walking but got nowhere. Some people tried to fly to scout above—but the moment they left the ground, the mist got thicker and they lost visibility completely.

Others tried leaving marks behind them—stones, etched lines, spells—but the wind erased them, and the dust made everything blend together again.

Three hours passed.

Three full hours of walking in circles, bumping into other confused groups, and listening to the occasional distant scream followed by silence. Everyone was tired.

The weight of the desert, the heat, the uncertainty; it all drained the will to go on. Some sat down and waited for the mist to clear again.

Others tried shouting into the haze, hoping someone had figured something out.

Then, finally, they heard it.

BOOM!

The ground trembled again. Every head snapped up.

Another boom.

Hope flared.

A third thud.

"Yes! It’s clearing again!" someone shouted.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the fourth. And the fifth. And the glorious seventh that would return light to this cursed desert.

But it never came.

The thuds stopped at three.

Then the silence returned.

But not for long.

The sky cracked.

Yes, cracked. Like someone had taken a giant invisible hammer and smacked the atmosphere. Lightning didn’t flash—but space itself split. Dozens—no, hundreds—of shimmering lines tore through the clouds above like glowing wounds.

Then, from those rips in the sky... they came.

Roars.

Thousands of them.

Each one different. Some were low and guttural, like something growling in your closet at 3AM. Others were shrill, like banshees screaming across a battlefield.

But they were all powerful. All monstrous. The kind of sounds that made your knees weak and your blood run cold.

Shapes began to descend—black outlines with wings, claws, tendrils, or worse. It was impossible to tell how many or what exactly they were. But one thing was clear:

The pyramid wasn’t going to be the only challenge in this desert!