While the others were trying to ‘claim’ the now 8 airborne obelisks, Kain turned his attention to the only one remaining on the ground. One that gave him the most ominous feeling. Not confident that 6 of those above could be claimed in the 18 minutes remaining of their original 20, he wanted to try and take this one down.
He called Bea.
After advancing to blue-grade following her evolution into a Pale Sovereign Amoeba, she became his strongest contract hands-down. She might not be able to control the Obelisks, but her wide mental-attribute field could at least allow Kain to better monitor his allies and guard against sudden threats.
A mental-attribute field wide enough to cover his allies and the nearest 3 Obelisks surged around him, invisible and undetectable to all except for Kain.
Also releasing Vauleth, Kain boarded the dragon with Bea and flew swiftly toward the one remaining Obelisk on the ground.
Then the entire relic groaned—a deep, guttural sound—and the ground began to shake like an earthquake.
A seismic rumble echoed through the air—and it had nothing to do with the obelisks.
Beneath them,the mossy ground shivered.
And split.
Dozens of black spines erupted from the moss-like ground below—long, whip-like and pulsating with a strange red energy.
[Warning: An entity far exceeding the average strength of the entrants was detected. Team Trial Difficulty Increased.]
‘What the fu-‘
BOOM!!
Kain didn’t even have time to curse.
He flew upward with Vauleth just as a whip as thick as a tree trunk came flying at Kain, who just barely dodged. The heavy whip slammed on the ground to create a trench close to a foot deep in an instant.
Kain gritted his teeth, instinctively knowing that this sudden, catastrophic change was likely due to Bea’s existence. After advancing to blue-grade, with many of the second years having contracts at yellow-grade, and only green-grade if extremely lucky, the relic might have thought the group was trying to ‘cheat’ by having an entity like Bea ‘carry’ them through the mission.
Kind of like how some low-level players would get carried by high-level ones to level-up. But…
‘That’s not what was going on here! No. No. No. I assure you relic that I already found this trial very hard. Extremely hard. You didn’t need to feel required to increase the difficulty because of me!’
Of course, the relic didn’t listen.
The black spines kept rising from the split earth, spiralling higher into the air like tentacles chasing after Kain. And then, horribly, the central Obelisk—the one Kain had been aiming for—moved.
It shuddered once, the red glow it emitted pulsing like a heartbeat. Cracks webbed across its smooth surface, and from within, something began forcing its way out.
A creature.
A monstrosity that looked like a fusion of twisted Obelisk stone, writhing red energy, and the black vines now relentlessly focused on Kain. It had six thick legs that it used to crawl swiftly toward Kain. Fortunately, he had risen higher from the ground to avoid the whips and so it wasn’t a threat to him. Or so he thought—
BOOM
‘AAArrrgghhh!’
While Kain was distracted by the sudden turn of events. One of the massive flying Obilisks with a penchant for slamming into people, slammed point first into Vauleth’s side when neither of the two were paying attention.
‘Bea! I rely on you to watch my back!’ Kain thought mentally in irritation as the now severely injured dragon carrying Kain began to plummet towards the waiting vines and creature below.
Thankfully, just before they became within reach of the vines, Queen managed to restore Vauleth to decent enough condition for him to fly up again.
A wronged yet guilty feeling came through his bond with Bea, conveying that, as non-living creatures made of some unusual material, she wasn’t as sensitive to their movements as she would have liked.
Kain cursed under his breath. Fortunately, Bea had managed to establish a mental link with his allies at the very least, allowing them to efficiently communicate and support one another.
“New plan!” he barked over their spiritual link to the team. “Do not approach the ground Obelisk! Repeat: DO. NOT. APPROACH.”
At the same time, he used his bond with Queen and her guards to rally the Vespid guards around the others into a tighter, more aggressive formation.
Rather than getting greedy and trying to claim the grounded Obelisk, he decided to focus wholeheartedly on what he said he’d do initially—support.
‘All I wanted was to help. Just help. Is that so wrong?! It really is true what they say: no good deed goes unpunished!’
Vauleth roared, flashing through the air with deft, jerking movements to avoid the Obelisk trying to slam into him again.
Then the monster below, taking advantage of his distraction, leapt.
Straight toward them.
Kain’s eyes widened.
“GO HIGHER!” he commanded.
Vauleth didn’t hesitate, angling his wings harder, climbing in a sharp, stomach-lurching arc.
But the monster was fast. Far faster than something that big had any right to be. It launched black and red glowing spikes at them like spears—one after another—forcing Kain and Vauleth to continue ascending to avoid them. A few missed by inches, slicing the air with shrieking force.
Unfortunately, once they went too high, they were immediately targeted by the cannonball-slinging Obelisk at the furthest height above. But the second he dropped too low, he was targeted by the vines and the monster waiting ravenously below.
Kain almost felt as though he was playing a high-stakes version of ‘Flappy Bird’ in which Vauleth needed to keep bobbing up and down to avoid the various threats.
And worst of all, the relic didn’t seem content to stop escalating.
Somewhere deeper within the fractured earth, another low, rumbling vibration began to grow…as if something even worse was waking up.
Kain glanced below briefly—and saw the monster crouching again.
Preparing to leap once more.
[Time Remaining: 17:03]
Kain risked a glance at the timer.
Damn it. They were burning time.
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