Evolving My Undead Legion In A Game-Like World

Chapter 671: Hell’s Gate

Cool air brushed their faces as they finally stepped inside.

Michael’s eyes narrowed.

There were other people already waiting within the large hall. Their robes were different, dark grey with silver trims, marking them as assistant teachers.

Each one of them carried the quiet confidence of someone at the peak of Rank 2 or at least very close to it.

Michael recognized one or two from lectures.

What are they doing here?

His question answered itself a moment later, because ahead of them, occupying the center of the room, was a massive circular platform.

A teleportation array.

Wide, engraved with overlapping rings of intricate symbols, enchanted lines, and glowing mana channels that rippled faintly like breathing light. The entire structure hummed with spatial energy.

Even before stepping close, Michael could feel it, the subtle distortion in the air, the faint sensation of being pulled forward and pushed back at the same time.

This was no practice device.

This was an academy grade long distance gate.

Sera gave them a moment to take in the sight of the array before she began speaking again.

"This is the primary gate used by the academy for long distance transport," she said. "The headquarters may be here, but the academy has outposts all over the realm."

She rested a hand lightly on the edge of the glowing platform.

"Transportation between these sites is one of the reasons we maintain arrays like this. They allow us to move instructors, resources, and response teams quickly. For students, you only get access on special occasions."

Sera continued walking around the array, her voice steady.

"Of course, the outposts are not the only places we can travel to. The academy maintains direct routes to multiple restricted zones."

She paused, then looked at them directly.

"And today, every awakener academy across Aurora is sending people to one place."

The room fell completely quiet.

"The Gate of Hell," she said. "Guarded jointly by the Federation."

A faint ripple of unease passed through the students.

Michael felt none of the fear the others showed. If anything, he felt a mild curiosity. So the Federation guarded it. He wondered what rank the stationed guards were.

Sera continued.

"The Gate of Hell does not stay open on its own. It is stabilized by the Federation’s spatial anchors and can only be used under supervision. All academies coordinate their entries at the same time to reduce instability."

She lifted her hand and gestured toward the assistant teachers standing around the formation.

"These people will maintain the array during our departure. They will ensure the teleportation holds steady. After that, they will not accompany you."

She stepped onto the platform and signaled for them to form up.

The runes beneath her feet pulsed.

The assistant teachers placed their hands on the anchor points.

Michael took his place. The humming beneath the platform grew deeper, vibrating faintly through his boots.

Then, almost as an afterthought, Sera’s gaze flicked toward Michael again.

"And remember. In Hell, no one is special."

Light surged.

The array awakened.

The world twisted.

And the teleportation began.

Michael felt the world stretch.

His vision blurred into streaks of white, then darkness, then something else entirely.

A soft thud echoed under his boots.

Solid ground.

His senses rushed back all at once.

He exhaled slowly, trying to adjust. Thanks to his constitution and occasional training with Wisdom, he was not as affected as others. But the fact that he could still feel the pull showed that they had crossed a distance far greater than anything Wisdom could reach in one blink.

They were no longer in the academy’s secret realm.

Instead, a vast clearing stretched out before him.

Behind him, Michael turned, raising a brow.

A forest.

A massive one.

One moment they had been standing atop a crafted array deep inside the academy.

The next they were simply here.

Is this still the real world?

Michael could not tell.

For all he knew, this could be a controlled pocket realm maintained by the Federation.

Michael scanned the surroundings, and directly ahead of him was a row of buildings.

Tall, metallic, multi story units arranged in an organized line.

And scattered around were people.

A lot of people.

Most were young, roughly his age, wearing different academy uniforms. Their crests, colors, and styles varied.

Beside them stood soldiers in full combat gear.

Black exo suits, reinforced plating, energy powered rifles, and helmets with glowing visor lines. The soldiers watched everything with casual sharpness, hands never far from their weapons.

Instructor Sera was already striding forward.

"Follow me," she said, not raising her voice yet still heard clearly by all of them.

Michael walked behind her with the rest of his group.

At first, he had planned to observe everything closely. New surroundings always meant new information.

But very quickly, he stopped.

Because the gazes started.

Not from his academy group.

But from the young people around the outpost.

Dozens of eyes turned toward him.

Some widened.

Some narrowed.

Some looked like they had just spotted a mythical creature.

A few whispered to one another, not quietly enough.

"That is him."

"The Michael Norman."

"Didn’t they say his power output reached rank three?"

"Monstrous."

Michael felt them all.

He ignored them.

He tried to.

But they kept staring.

If anything, it felt more like people studying a dangerous beast rather than a fellow student.

They were all participants of the Unified College Exams.

All brought here by the Ten First Rank Academies.

And they were looking at him like he was something else entirely.

Michael’s lips twitched faintly.

He had wanted to look around.

But under so many eyes, the interest dissolved.

He simply followed Sera in silence, movements relaxed, gaze indifferent.

If they wanted to stare, let them stare.

He was used to being an anomaly by now.

Rynne walked beside him, quiet as always, her expression unreadable.

Sera led them past the soldiers, who assessed each student with the precision of trained professionals. Their gazes paused slightly longer on Michael, but unlike the students, theirs carried no awe or confusion.

Only evaluation.

Michael pretended not to notice.

They continued forward until they approached a large military checkpoint where two towering armored gates formed the entrance into the compound.

Above the gate, a glowing sign flickered with cold blue light.

OUTPOST 7. HELL GATE PERIMETER.

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

Sera stopped and turned toward her group.