Kain narrowed his eyes, judging from the jagged way Michael’s spiritual energy flared outward, he could tell that his foundation was a little less stable than Leonara’s. Even so, Michael, eyes closed, gritted his teeth and poured more energy into the connection, refusing to give up.
Meanwhile, Kain refocused on his own role. Support.
He commanded Queen’s Vespid guards to scatter and support their teammates—some to intercept projectiles, others to body block against attacking creatures. Every second bought was precious.
Task complete, Bridge and the other were headed to the next Obelisk—capitalizing on the other one that had been weakened by the broken connection to the blade-shedding Obelisk.
Aside from the Obelisk of Michael and the others, the other Obelisk connected was the one on a floating platform that, similar to the one on the ground, had no obvious defensive measures.
It was now supposedly weakened, but if it was anything like the one below, then Kain was even more on guard against it than any of the other ones. After all, the monster the spire below gave birth to was still harassing him and was quite resistant to any attacks launched by Vauleth in retaliation.
Vauleth hissed in irritation beneath him, wings flaring sharply as he dodged another spiked projectile from the monster below.
“Hold steady,” Kain murmured under his breath, patting the dragon’s scales. “Just a little longer. We can do this.”
Kain directed another swarm of Vespids to bombard the Obelisk Addison and Aiden were fighting, giving the twins enough breathing room to shatter a group of the glasslike creatures that had overwhelmed them. In the fleeting moment of respite, Addison summoned another fire-attribute contract to bolster their strength. Like many of the others, she had retained at least one contract in preparation for future trials, but she could no longer continue holding back.
Suddenly—
A deep, booming chime reverberated through the air once more.
[Obelisk Claimed: 2/9. 4 more required to pass]
Michael collapsed onto his knees, panting and pale, but alive.
Big Axe Guy grabbed him under the armpits and hauled him back just as a cannon ball-like projectile from the Obelisk far above went and exploded the platform where he had been kneeling.
Kain allowed himself a grim smile. Two down. Four more to go until they pass. Who know, maybe if they exceed the minimum of six, they will get an additional reward.
Below, the monster stirred again, emitting a keening shriek that made the very air tremble.
The relic trembled in response—another warning. The ominous movements beneath the ground, were picking up in movements.
After the vines erupted from the ground, Kain had almost forgotten about the foreboding entity that seemed to be wiggling beneath the surface as well, yet unable to break free.
[Time Remaining: 14:45]
Kain reined in his nerves. They needed to maintain the momentum they’d built.
Thankfully, the control of another Obelisk brought another opportunity, as this one was connected to the Obelisk targeted by Addison and Aiden.
Kain took the chance to direct more Vespids into the fray, disrupting the glasslike creatures before they could form effective defences in response to their sudden weakening. In moments, all of the pesky creatures were destroyed, and the twins made contact with the spire for the first time.
Addison, perhaps considering herself to be more fit or the role due to her slightly higher grades than Aiden in their first-year Spiritual Skills course, took on the role of claiming the Obelisk.
But Kain was unable to continue watching to see if she succeeded, a new threat suddenly soared toward him—another of the flying Obelisks, this one with spiraling, saw-like appendages whirling through the air.
“Shit—dive, Vauleth!”
The dragon twisted violently, sending Kain’s stomach into his throat as they dropped just below the spinning deathtrap. A gust of foul wind from below reminded Kain that dropping too low was suicide.
He gritted his teeth, feeling a bead of sweat slide down his temple.
“Survive. Survive. Survive first, claim later,” he reminded himself.
[14:22]
Down below, the ground quivered again.
Kain’s sharp eyes caught it immediately—a massive crack opening wider in the mossy earth. Through it, a glimpse of something worse, something colossal, could be seen coiling in the darkness—ready to break free the second it had enough room.
Kain’s heart lurched. The sheer size of the thing beneath them was enough to trigger some primal instinct deep inside, the part of the brain that knew to run from predators far greater than him.
‘This is completely unreasonable! Just because Bea is stronger than my teammates, it should not result in a change this drastic! There’s no way that thing is only indigo-grade!’
Kain had met several indigo-grade creatures in the Order, so their pressure on him wasn’t so great. Alternatively, he had seen a few demigod-level beings during the previous mission in the Brightstar City relic in his hometown. This thing didn’t feel quite as strong.
If he had to make a guess, it was violet-grade—or the equivalent of an 8-star beast-tamer.
A level that he knew not to even bother fighting against. Even if all of his contracts were blue-grade, Kain wouldn’t be able to offer any resistance, much less now.
He didn’t know what it was yet—only that if it finished emerging, they were all dead.
‘This is totally unreasonable…’ Kain didn’t understand the relic’s choice to release a being at this level upon him. However, he was neglecting to consider that from the relic’s perspective, Kain was a ‘dirty cheater’ who was trying to carry his weaker teammates.
As they were entering, the professors had already processed the students into groups of approximately the same strength—which is why they entered by year. It wasn’t a coincidence that all of his teammates were also second-years. However, the strength of Kain was a complete anomaly amongst his age group and the relic misunderstood his existence to be an intentional deception.
And no person (or relic) would react kindly to being deceived…
[14:15]
Above him, another of the flying Obelisks—this one without the saw-like edges, but faster in speed— screamed through the air, forcing Vauleth to corkscrew madly to avoid being knocked into again. One time experiencing a hit from those things was enough.
Kain felt the muscles in his back tightening painfully as it brushed past them by mere inches.
A sudden flare of light to his left drew his attention.
Addison had succeeded.
A third deep, resonant chime rang out.
[Obelisk Claimed: 3/6]
A pulse of stabilizing energy swept through the relic, slowing the tremors for half a heartbeat—but only half. The giant creature beneath the surface merely paused, then thrashed harder, cracking the earth further.
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