The last of the terrorists—a man who had been slacking off and lagging behind—came rushing in, only to be met with a sight that froze his very soul.
For a moment, he simply stood there, his brain refusing to process the scene in front of him.
His comrades—more than 3 heavily armed men—were gone.
No, not gone—they were reduced to unrecognizable chunks of flesh.
The smell of blood hung thick in the air, the cave floor slick with crimson.
And standing at the center of it all—
A monstrous figure.
At least two meters tall, it had the silhouette of a man, yet it was anything but human. Its elongated arms ended in razor-sharp claws, still glistening with fresh blood. Its head resembled that of an ant, and its entire body was wrapped in a dark, insect-like exoskeleton that gleamed under the dim light of the cave.
The terrorist's heart hammered in his chest.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It beat so fast it felt like it would burst. He hadn't known the human heart could reach such speeds.
And then—
The ant-headed nightmare turned to look at him.
The moment their eyes met, his brain completely shut down.
His body acted on instinct.
He raised his rifle—
Or at least, he tried.
Before he could even pull the trigger—
The world spun.
In an instant, his vision shifted, his surroundings blurred, and a strange weightlessness overtook him.
Then, he saw something.
His own headless body, still standing there.
Ah… I see.
His consciousness faded.
And his head hit the ground with a soft thud.
Berru didn't even spare him a second glance. Without hesitation, the shadowy creature turned and vanished into the darkness, swiftly heading toward the exit.
Silence filled the cave.
Then, a voice.
"You guys can come out now."
Eric's tone was as calm as ever as if nothing had happened.
For Ethan, however, the opposite was true.
His mind was still struggling to comprehend what he had just witnessed.
Before, when he had seen Eric fall through the roof like some kind of superhero, he had at least been able to rationalize it.
An advanced suit? A high-tech propulsion system? Some kind of modified Super Soldier Serum?
There were scientific explanations for something like that.
But this—
This ant-like monstrosity…
This was something else entirely.
Something beyond science.
Something that felt almost like—
Magic.
"Ethan. Hey, Ethan!"
A familiar voice snapped him out of his daze.
Tony had nudged him, pulling him back to reality.
Ethan blinked.
Tony, meanwhile, was scanning the area, his face scrunched up in confusion.
"What the hell happened?" he muttered.
The last thing he remembered was hearing gunfire and then—nothing.
Now, there were bodies everywhere.
Well… not even bodies, really. More like scattered meat.
His stomach churned slightly.
A wave of instant nausea hit him as he realized exactly what he was looking at.
It didn't take long to put the pieces together.
He turned to Ethan, his voice laced with suspicion.
"What happened here?"
Ethan, still shaken, took a deep breath before answering. His voice trembled slightly.
"I… I think he killed them all."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "No shit, Sherlock."
"No, I mean—he moved so fast, I didn't even see what happened."
The words came out shaky, his mind still struggling to catch up.
Seeing Ethan state Tony did not press him any farther for more answers.
From the back of the cave, another voice suddenly cut in.
"Berru."
The simple utterance was enough to nearly give both of them a heart attack.
Tony practically jumped, clutching his chest.
"What the hell, man?!"
Tony instinctively placed a hand over his chest, exhaling sharply. "Jeez, don't sneak up on people like that!"
Eric merely smirked. "That thing's name is Berru," he repeated, directing his words to Ethan.
"…Great."
Tony sighed, still trying to process everything.
It was funny, really. Someone like Tony Stark, a certified genius, could adapt to new information almost instantly. But guys like Ethan, who were intelligent but not at that level of Tony Stark, had a harder time. Their problem wasn't a lack of intelligence but limited ability—for them anything they cannot do should not be exist, and this situation was far, far beyond those limits.
For Tony, a genius is just a threshold to see Him.
But whether he understood or not, it didn't change the situation. because it is the reality.
But before he could dwell on that thought for too long, Eric turned away and made a small motion with his hand.
A bright, glowing circle suddenly appeared in midair.
A portal.
A literal, glowing, magical portal.
Ethan's jaw nearly dropped.
Tony, however, just stared at it blankly.
At this point, he had already seen so much insane shit today that his brain had just… stopped reacting.
"Oh. Great. Now we have portals."
He sighed.
"You know what? Fine. Whatever. I don't care anymore."
Ethan, still sitting on the ground, was quickly dragged up as Tony grabbed his arm.
"Alright, let's go."
"Wait, but—"
"Nope. No 'buts.' We're leaving."
Honestly, if it had been earlier, Tony might have objected to stepping into some random, mysterious portal.
But now?
Now, he just wanted to go home.
"Thanks for the rescue, Eric," Tony said as he pulled Ethan toward the glowing gateway. "If you ever need anything, you know where to find me."
Eric simply nodded.
As they stepped into the portal, Tony heard one last thing—
Eric's voice, carrying a slightly amused tone.
"Oh, by the way… I'm sending you to your favorite place. Enjoy."
Before Tony could even process that statement, the portal sucked them in.
—
A flash of light.
A sudden shift in sensation.
And then—
They were somewhere else.
The sudden change in surroundings was jarring. One second, they were in a terrorist hideout; the next, they were standing in the middle of a bustling crowded. People stared at them—some in confusion, others in mild annoyance. It didn't take long for Tony to realize why.
They had appeared out of nowhere.
Dozens of people were around them, staring at them in shock.
Tony quickly scanned his surroundings.
Most of them were white.
For a second, he just stood there.
Then, the realization hit.
Pulling Ethan up from the ground, he took a deep breath and exhaled.
He was back.
"…I really came back."
Finally.
The nightmare was over. He was back in his world.