Infernal Entity: Evolving With My Demonic System-Chapter 81: EXO

The large transport vehicle rumbled as it moved across the road, its heavy frame somehow steady despite the uneven ground beneath it. Inside, rows of students sat strapped into their seats. Some stared out the small windows, others talked quietly among themselves.

Lin stood at the front of the vehicle with one hand resting against the metal rail as he gave them a little bit of portal history.

"There are a total of forty-eight portals on Earth," Lin said calmly. "The first six portals that tore open in remote locations are known as the Atlas portals. That is where we are going today."

He paused as his eyes slowly moved across the students. "Pay attention," Lin said. "This is important."

"As more portals appeared, humanity learned how to close them. Not all of them, but most. Out of the forty-eight portals, forty were sealed and later modified so they could be opened when needed. The remaining eight portals were different. They couldn’t be sealed because of how unstable they were."

"Those eight portals are known as Nexus portals," Lin said. "Now understand this clearly. There are only two types of portals. Atlas and Nexus portals."

Most of the students nodded. Even those who had been half-listening nodded out of habit.

The Atlas portals were classified as green zones. They were stable gateways that didn’t bend space or tear at reality. Entry and exit were clean, and a person could step through and return the same way without fear of distortion or collapse.

Because of this stability, humanity studied the Atlas portals closely. Over time, they learned how to copy their structure. With the right technology, portable portal devices were created. These devices allowed controlled travel to Atlas worlds, making them useful for training, resource gathering, and exploration.

The worlds connected to Atlas portals weren’t exactly harmless, but they were manageable. The creatures that lived there were mostly lesser beasts, with some advanced ones mixed in. They were deadly to ordinary civilians, but trained students and fighters could handle them with proper preparation.

The Nexus portals were nothing like that. They were classified as red zones for a reason.

They were unstable and violent, behaving less like gateways and more like wounds in space.

Their gravity was unpredictable. Anything that wandered too close could be dragged in without warning.

Unlike Atlas portals, Nexus portals constantly poured out creatures. Beasts emerged from them almost every day.

To prevent disaster, the government built fortified settlements around each Nexus portal. These settlements were filled with strong mutants and elite forces whose sole purpose was containment. Their task was simple and brutal. Destroy anything that emerged before it could spread.

"Years ago," Lin spoke out, "there was a confirmed report of a primordial-tier beast emerging from a Nexus portal."

A murmur rippled through the vehicle.

"Fortunately," Lin added, "primordial beasts are extremely rare. If they were common, humanity would not exist today."

"This expedition, however, is to an Atlas world. A green zone, so you all can relax a bit," he said, chuckling.

A student at the back raised his hand.

"What if we run into a primordial beast?" the student asked.

"You won’t encounter high-tier threats," Lin said. "The planet has been studied. Its ecosystem supports only lesser and advanced beasts."

"Okay... but what if we encounter high-tier beasts? What if the rules changed?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

This student was obviously causing a little bit of panic amongst his peers, and Lin couldn’t defuse the situation any longer.

"Then you run like hell..."

The student swallowed and placed his hand down.

Just then, the vehicle slowed. Through the front window, a small facility came into view, with fences surrounding it, reinforced with thick metal beams. At the center of the gate was a large sign.

ATLAS

The gate began to open slowly and mechanically. The transport vehicle rolled forward and passed inside.

In Axel’s mind, this might have been a green zone, but something told him this expedition wouldn’t be as simple as Lin made it sound.

---

The students passed through several checkpoints before reaching their final destination. There were guards armed with mythic weapons and guns at each point. They were scanning with devices and watching every movement. Only after the last gate opened did the transport move into an open field.

The moment the students stepped out, they froze at what they saw. Standing before them was an actual Atlas portal.

It was massive. Far larger than anything shown in books or on screens. The portal towered over the field like a standing wall of light. Red flares rolled across its surface in slow waves, and the air around it felt hot and charged.

The shock on the students’ faces was clear. Some stepped back without realizing it. Others stared in silence, unable to look away.

"Wait for it... wait for it..." Lin said in anticipation.

Anticipation for what?

The portal continued to glow red for several seconds. Then, without warning, its color changed. The red flares faded, replaced by a calm blue light that spread across the entire surface. That change drew immediate attention from everyone.

Lin chuckled excitedly and started explaining what had just happened.

"The Atlas portal doesn’t always lead to the same world. It rotates between different planets at fixed intervals. Each color represents a different destination, and every few minutes, the location changes. And luckily for us, we arrived just in time, because the blue light means that the portal is currently linked to a planet that we decided to call Exo."

Lin described it as a vast blue wasteland, harsh and empty, but stable enough for first-year expeditions.

Without hesitation, Lin stepped into the portal first, and one by one, the students followed.

In total, there were more than a hundred first-year students. Some students decided to stay back due to fear of mythic creatures, but the ones who came on the trip entered the Atlas portal in silence. Among them were Axel, Rick, Ares, Nile, and Kinsey.

As the last student crossed the threshold, the blue light swallowed them whole, and the field behind them vanished from sight.