Being injured in the first few seconds of the confrontation was not a good sign, even if the injuries were just scrapes and bruises. This train of thought became a reality not too long after because the briwyns came in for the second round of attack on the disorganized group.They tried to pull themselves together to counter the attacks, but they were off-kilter and this played a very big part in how they ended up. They were pulled under the water one more time, and when they came out again, there were a lot more wounds on them.Given that the briwyns outnumbered them almost three to one, it was not surprising that they had a hard time fending off the aquatic weapons that had now turned on them.Randell who stayed behind with his injured man was watching this happen… It seemed almost impossible to get a deeper level of anger from Randell's expression, but he did it at that moment, his expression scrunched until he was almost blinded by his own skin.Randell's men after a few rounds of
Time passed and everything went through the natural rounds as they were expected to. The arcanas hunted, gained points, and spent them to improve themselves.It was getting close to the time the raid was supposed to begin; the trial of the ruins. As they got close to the eighth week that had been scheduled, the tension in all their minds was palpable. None of them had any idea what the ruin would be like but were full of anticipation for its arrival.This was the situation until the day that things began to change in preparation for the first ruin opening… The first change was bizarre, to say the least, however, it was very understandable.No one had any control over it as they vanished from wherever they were in the world. This was simply like a blur across their faces as they vanished and opened their eyes to see themselves standing somewhere in the central city. Everyone who had been deposited in the central city quickly found that they were not alone in this as they looked left an
"Here we are, I hope you are ready. The first ruin is here and it will be open to you all in three days"This was all she said this time before she vanished. For a moment there was pin-drop silence, then there was an uproar as every person in the city looked up at the same object.The island became the center of the city as if wasn't already that, descending from the sky bathed in light the way it did. However, this was a different kind of fascination and attraction. In every mind that heard the announcement by the woman in the projection, two words echoed over and over till they managed to pull themselves together.Three days—This was the word that continued to echo even as some people continued to stare and some chose to find something else to do when they saw that there would be no other changes to the island, at least for that day. There were now two groups of people at that moment, the people who were so fascinated by the ruin that they looked like they had lost their minds… The
"You have no idea how much trouble you are in, do you?", he asked Raven."I could say the same to you"', Raven fired back immediately.For a moment all eyes flashed between the noble, Raven, as well as the two who stood like they were frozen in the middle of the room."What are you babbling…?", the noble beganHe did not finish that statement because he froze before he finished that statement. So did many others at that moment, as they watched Aiden step away from Saeron, unharmed, unruffled, and unbothered by the situation he walked into.The noble's face turned bright red as he felt the instant embarrassment from his previous statements that called for Raven to apologize… Right before all their eyes, Saeron's arm dropped to his side as simply face-dived soon after. He had passed out with only the whites of his eyes showing.At that moment, there was a word that flashed through the minds of many who watched the fight. It had ended in an instant, leaving almost no one with any proper
The back and forth between Aiden and Trajus continued to go at each other for the next few minutes, and in this period, everyone who was watching them fight got quickly desensitized to the hard punches and bangs that they produced as they moved at breakneck speeds.When Aiden and Trajus finally pulled apart, their state became clear to those watching, showing that they'd had a relatively even fight as they both looked virtually the same with the bruises covering their bodies like that."I understand now… Saeron was never a match for you, but you can't think that this is all I have up my sleeves"As soon as he said that, the atmosphere around him changed, disturbing the surrounding so much that the crowd easily felt it and quietened down from the ruckus that they were starting to create once more. Aiden also felt it and it made his skin tighten.This sensation brought him the focus he needed to analyze the threat that Trajus posed to him now. As he looked at Trajus, he understood immed
Aiden sat up while Raven stared straight into their eyes. She did not back off and her first statement made the crowd fall silent almost immediately."Well, we won", she said right to their face.This made their expressions cross, however, they had nothing to say to this. Raven did not care about this reaction as she continued speaking."We will be back to collect. We all need artifacts to bind. I'm sure you also notice that he did not use a fighting technique, so there is that option to collect as well"As she finished this statement, Aiden stood up and they walked back into the restaurant. They found the sit in the restaurant, leaving the members of the council of nobles to find their way out of the dilemma that had been created.Aiden chose not to speak to any of them. He still had the cross expression on his face as he sat down and laid his head on the table. As a fourth-order arcana now, he still found it difficult to win a fight easily against someone at his level. He had used t
"It seems we at least have something to work with, don't we?", Zakari chipped in.They all looked at him, confused for a moment by what he meant by that statement."We can all thank Raven for finding us some favors to call in when the time comes", he added. "Of course, Aiden did most of the work, so he gets most of the thanks", he continued with a small smile as he glanced at Raven.She squinted her eyes in response to Zakari's words but eventually looked away after a few seconds when Diane spoke."Well, that is right. We have some favors to call in when we need them. Which means that right now, I have to go get that dummy and see what he came up with after a night of existential thought"Connor, Deirdre, and Reinhardt wore puzzled expressions when they heard Diane's words, with Deirdre vocalizing her thoughts, "who", she asked. "Aiden?", she added soon after."Yes, he might look like he is sulking, and he might be, but there is one thing I know; he won't do that without finding a sol
"So, what…?", she asked.For a moment, the tension in the air increased dramatically. The three girls looked at Eleanor at the same time, their thoughts going through the implications of this statement. Eloise and Aiden were the only people who remained unfazed at that moment. They both looked at Princess Eleanor, but their expressions remained neutral.Deirdre was about to speak, but Diane gestured for her not to as she asked Aiden a simple question…"Should we leave?", she directed her question at him.Aiden looked up at Diane for a moment before he turned back to look at Princess Eleanor and spoke. This he did as he slowly stood up from his seat…"Your highness, as I told you from the beginning, I already have teammates, and we will be exploring the island ruin as a party. So, I appreciate the fact that you came to invite me yourself, unfortunately, I must decline your offer", he said.After saying this, he stepped away from the table and followed Diane, Raven, and Deirdre as they
The crowd was pulled from the tragedy that the nobles caused, and some people started to point to the group suspended above them, whispering and murmuring various pieces of gossip.This was a topic that excited them all, however, the ones who were most excited for the revelation were the nobles who finally knew the people who beat them to occupy the highest floor of the tower.They did not hide the wicked grins on their faces and Aiden saw these grins on their faces. He also saw that the group were starting to descend from the sky into the midst of the crowd. That was bad and was quickly made worse when he noticed the nobles setting their hounds on the group.He could guess their thoughts. Even if the group was stronger than they were, given the position they occupied, they did not believe it and wanted to know for themselves how powerful they were.This gave Aiden a headache and his mind began to spin quickly, looking for a big enough distraction that would give the group a chance to
None could ask the other for help because each had someone attacking them, however, they were not noble scions for nothing. Despite being overpowered by the golems, they dealt some damage over time.It was not immediately obvious, but they managed to hold their own, and avoid grievous injuries even though there were several close calls.It took them each about an hour to circumvent their respective golems and deal enough damage to break through their chests.Hadrian was the first followed by Oscar shortly after with Tristan clocking in third, a few seconds behind Oscar. He was unhappy with this but he had no time to be unhappy because his face soon changed into a somber look. Oscar who had just tried to pick up the glowing multi-coloured orb was surprised to find the orb roll away from him and float up to meet the orb that came from Tristan’s golem. This also meant that the orb in Hadrian’s hand was the only one that remained.Oscar and Tristan noticed this, but they could do nothin
No one cared who had said that word because they all ran. The sight of the gray tentacles rising like pillars from the depths of the abyss was enough to scare every one of them.At the same moment, there was a rumble that spread across the skies of the city at that moment. Everyone heard it. Aiden, sitting in the restaurant was jolted from his thoughts and joined everyone else as they looked up at the ruin.He witnessed a few of the tentacles of the beast appear on the edge of the ruin as he had seen before they entered the ruin.‘That bridge, huh? They might be lucky enough to escape'.He did not care much if these people beat the ruin and made it to the temple. He had gotten his rewards and he was happy with that.Tristan and his group had immediately dashed off the bridge, but the tentacles came down on the bridge at a lightning-fast speed.This attack ripped the bridge apart, leaving just three people from Tristan’s group unscathed.Tristan’s face was painted with horror like ever
Aiden was dumbfounded. How was this a reward? It simply contradicted itself. The problem it caused was having him be a prime target for the Zaltyr, but it would also save him from them once.Then, is the mark erased once the life-saving opportunity is used?[Yes, everything returns to normal after that]This made him heave a sigh of relief. He tried to look at this from a positive perspective. This meant the mark was not meant to specifically protect him from the Zaltyr, its main purpose was to protect him from every other thing that tried to kill him.Thinking about it this way made it easier to accept the fact that he was going to be in trouble with the Zaltyr sooner or later, albeit only slightly.Elder Zarek watched Aiden go through his thoughts for a few minutes while he thought of the command he had received from The World Seed.Aiden had recovered his thoughts at this point and decided to check on his elemental seed. He was elated to see the changes to his elemental seed.The mu
None of the thirty remaining survivors was stupid and they took things as calmly as they could. There was no visible harm to resting till a problem was identified and this was something they unanimously agreed on.As they expected, there was something that was out of the ordinary and it was found after two hours of waiting.The quiet rumble that came from the depths of the chasm was enough of a wake-up call.Theo of the Arco twins was the one who made the first comment, breaking the silence. None of them believed that crossing the bridge would be easy from the start, however, the realization that some unknown danger lurked beneath was enough to bring them flashbacks of their time in the maze.“There’s something down there as well? Why is this trial so difficult?”“Good thing we were patient…”“Patient? What does that do for us?”“Theo is not completely wrong. Every stage of the trials had been harder than the last”, Oscar took a deep breath.“Indeed… Something that can cause such a ru
“You just had to jinx it?”Raven rolled her eyes in response.The orb glowed and the rubble spread across the hall was drawn to it. One piece after the other, they mashed together and barely a moment later, a statue had formed.This statue looked the same as the ones they fought before, save for a few important differences. One, this new statue was massive, at least three times as tall. Two, the statue now had a weapon – A halberd which it swung around. Three, most importantly, it had lines running all over its body. Looking close enough these lines were runes just like the ones Aiden and the rest had, but these were very close to being complete, easily dwarfing the ones they had.Their expressions turned grave as the glowing eyes of the massive statue locked onto them.It was a golem, and it wasted no time. With a roar that sounded like thunder, it wielded its halberd and charged at them.There was no running from it, because, a sweep of its halberd made the hall feel claustrophobi
Raven who had suggested was the first to move, and the moment she did, everyone else followed her one after the other. They got to the stone coffin amidst their careful creeping without any problems. The unnerving feeling that they felt from the statues kept them on their toes as they expected everything to go wrong at any moment. "Now what", Raven asked. Aiden and Connor stepped here, and as he instructed; "Keep an eye out", the two of them pushed the lid off the stone coffin. They were right to be worried, because the moment the stone coffin opened slightly, light burst out of the opening. They were taken aback by this absurd light show, however, the light was like a tonic, one that breathed life into the surrounding. Life into the several warrior statues that lined the walls. Each of their eyes opened with a snap, glowing a bright orange, followed by cracks that came from the loosening of the joints on the statues. Gadiel was the first to speak regret about the situation, but
With Aiden and Connor leading the way, they stepped onto the rope bridge. The silence that fell on them at that was quite unnerving, but it helped them keep their focus. This meant that their reactions were spot on as they responded immediately to Aiden making any signals.This was the moment that they finally understood the danger that lay in the chasm beneath them. Apart from the scary chasm that looked like a bottomless pit, a sight that already promised them death should they fall into it, there was something else living in the chasm, and the dreadful atmosphere it brought with evidence of its existence sent chills running their spines. The conclusion here was very simple, there was trouble and they needed to be careful.Listening carefully, they heard the silent rumbles gradually fade away, taking with it the tense atmosphere they felt. You would expect Aiden to make a sudden dash to get across as quickly as possible, but he didn't. He was taking no chances, so continued steadily
"Three days?!", Raven started."Oh, don't get worked up, it was more like two and a half days", Princess Eleanor chipped in.Unfortunately, this did not change the reaction Raven had; in fact, her reaction got worse at that moment as she got frantic and almost lost her mind as she looked around."Calm down, Raven. Things are not as bad as you think. We are out of the grassland maze; of course, we had to wait for everyone to de-petrify before we continued…", Deirdre explained."So, what trial do we have now?", Raven asked and immediately got a response."Oh, the long rope bridge, strung across the chasm that has a tentacled beast living in it", Deirdre responded like that piece of information was of no consequence.Raven was silent as she stared off into space for a moment. When she got her mind back, she asked almost immediately… "Are we crossing now that I am awake?"A question to which Princess Eleanor answered in a snarky and sarcastic tone… "Hopefully". Her comment got a few gazes