The situation in the Shackling Prison could not get any worse. Borisin had all broken from prison, wreaking havoc, heeding the call of Hoolay, the Foxian's greatest foe. Everything was too sudden, almost unforeseen. You and Dan Heng had anticipated a vacation in the Xianzhou Luofu and partake in the Wardance, yet the moment you both set foot on the Luofu, troubles followed. Now, this entire place descended into turbulence. Corpses lay scattered on cold cobblestones, of both humans and monsters. Everything was catastrophic.

Since Penacony, you hadn't witnessed anything as horrifying as this, and you certainly didn't expect to encounter such a scenario in a supposedly holiday as well. In the worst-case scenario, everyone gets slaughtered by that giant abomination, the entire prison gets sealed off and the calamity remains unbeknownst to everyone until it's too late. The best-case scenario would be trapping Hoolay in the prison where he belonged, but you all get trapped too. It could necessarily mean a sacrifice.

And to be truthful, you were scared. You and Dan Heng needed to make it out alive, March 7th, and the others are all waiting. This wasn't the time to be a coward loser, but you could not shake off that puddle of cold sweat forming in your back, that loud beating in your Stellaron-borne chest, the haze in the back of your mind whispering "What if everything goes wrong?". You've tasted the brink of death three to four times, and witnessed the "death" of your companions from your previous missions, too, in the most gruesome way possible. It was a given that getting out alive and succeeding in the mission at once was a vague possibility, no matter how one sugarcoated it.

"Hey," Dan Heng reached out and snapped you out of your thoughts, calling your name as he gently grazed his fingers on your hand. "Don't worry too much, I've got your back."

Dan Heng didn't say it out loud, but he mentally promised himself to keep you safe, no matter what. Even if it meant death, he won't let you experience it first.