Chapter 150: Red Skin

Fluffington and Thirteen glared at the handsome green-haired youth who was approaching them with his hands on his ribs. Behind him was a silver-haired youth with a large chunk of his chest missing. If Nox were here, he might have recognized the youth as the leader of the Vermilion group, Ren.

Unlike the injuries of the other two men, Ren's injuries didn't look like something caused by Nox's destructive Shadow Oblivion. Instead, it seemed as if it was done by something—or someone—as if the person had ripped the silver-haired boy apart...

'But I don't sense any other creature here, so who would do something like this?'

Fluffington's tail twitched as an unsettling thought crept into his mind. There was no sign of another creature, yet the silver-haired youth's injuries... they didn't match any of Nox's attacks. A slow shudder rolled through his body. What if... the thing that did this was still here, watching?

'No, it can't be... if something like that were inside here, this human wouldn't be alive,' the cat reasoned. Then a sharp light flashed through his beautiful green eyes as he thought of another possibility: could it be that this youth was responsible for the silver-haired boy's injuries?

"I said, don't touch that!" Brandon shouted when he saw that the stubborn panda was about to pick up the elemental crystals despite his warning.

The green-haired youth grimaced, feeling a burning sensation in his ribs. The pain was numbing and could easily overwhelm low-level Awakened, but for a special-class student like him, it was nothing; he had suffered injuries far worse than this, so he could cope. Besides, there were still the two elemental crystals waiting to be claimed.

Earlier, when Ren had tried to take the elemental crystals from the elevated platform, a hidden mechanism had activated, and an ice prison burst forth from the ground, enclosing the two in its chilly embrace. No matter how hard they tried to break free, their attempts were futile, and the ice prison remained intact.

However, thanks to the blinding attack that slammed into the mountain, the seemingly indestructible ice bars shattered, and the debris started falling off one after another. Knowing it was only a matter of time before the mountain collapsed into shambles, Brandon's goal was to take the elemental crystals and leave this freezing kingdom.

However, before he could even get to the crystals, two beasts beat him to it.

Meanwhile, Thirteen ignored Brandon's words as if no one were talking to him and picked up the two crystals, holding them behind him like they were his most valuable treasure, as he glared at the green-haired youth with a defiant expression.

"This is how you want to play, huh?" Brandon's eyes flashed with anger as his feet carried him forward, closing the distance with the two beasts. He had already sensed that the two beasts were just at Wildin and Intermediate Tier; they should be pretty easy to deal with.

To Brandon's annoyance, as he walked forward, even the panda was approaching with a mocking smile on its white furry face... was this beast challenging him? A mixture of irritation and frustration surged through Brandon, and he wanted to beat the panda up and prolong its suffering. Usually, he wasn't like this, always having control of his emotions.

However, the pain from his injured ribs throbbed, clouding his thoughts.

[Panda, don't use your Dragon Requiem skill here,] Fluffington spoke in an urgent voice after seeing the crazy gleam in Thirteen's black eyes. This silly panda was about to engage in a fight, which was true because it had already taken a martial arts stance... he had to stop it; if not, they'd be buried here.

Thirteen paused in his step and glanced at the massive cat beside him, confusion flashing in his eyes. [Panda fight!]

At the same time, Brandon also paused, narrowing his eyes, thinking the cat and panda were about to unleash a powerful attack.

[No, no fighting, it's not worth it. Let's just get out of here.]

[Beast cores?] Thirteen pointed at the cores, asking if they'd leave those behind as well.

Fluffington nodded bitterly. Besides, he could feel that the green-haired youth was very powerful. Then a mischievous glint appeared in Fluffington's eyes. The two beasts shared a knowing glance and turned their backs toward Brandon, bolted toward the exit of the frozen cave.

'T-this!' Brandon was perplexed. He didn't expect the fearless panda to become shameless all of a sudden. However, he didn't stand idle. The ground beneath Brandon exploded as he bolted forward, covering several meters with one step.

Sensing that the green-haired youth was closing in on them, Thirteen and Fluffington gritted their teeth and increased their pace. As they saw the mouth of the cave, Fluffington shouted at the top of his voice: [Now!]

Meanwhile, Brandon continued to charge forward. One step. Then another. His eyes locked onto the panda, and for a moment, it seemed as though the entire cave held its breath. Thirteen spun around and opened his mouth wide. His eyes gleamed, and before Brandon could react—[Oceanic Torrent Activated!]

A deep rolling rumble echoed, and...

ROOOOAAAR!

"Heaven!" Brandon froze in shock at what he saw.

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Meanwhile, outside the frozen cave, Nox was grappling with his thoughts.

He struggled to his feet, his thoughts chaotic, mostly about the last message he had seen before the elemental beast had finally succumbed to the power of Shadow Oblivion.

Things were starting to make sense... those eyes filled with disappointment, the signals... everything seemed to be the doing of the elemental beast, Nox realized.

All this while, all the Awakened had been played.

The beast was never spotted... it had purposely shown itself to attract the strongest of warriors—warriors that could push it to its limits so that it could receive enlightenment to evolve to the next evolution path. read-more-on-MVLeMpYr

'I've always wondered why the beast spared us that day... so it was because we were mere pawns,' Nox thought bitterly as he walked toward the crystal. The walls were slowly retracting back to the ground.

Was it also responsible for the shopkeeper's death? Those disappointed gazes—was it because the Awakened didn't reach its expectations? Things didn't make sense; Nox needed to know more.

'If my guess is right, it had purposely placed its most powerful skills on cooldown, thinking that with that, it would be on equal standing with the Awakened... how unfortunate.' Nox smiled as he squatted to pick up the chilling blue crystal that was emitting a freezing aura.

Nox's hand hovered above the crystal, cold radiating from it, but before he could touch it, a booted foot stepped on his hand. A sharp crack echoed through the frozen landscape, and pain shot up Nox's arm like fire. He gasped, yanking his hand back instinctively, but the weight of the foot pressed harder. Confusion flashed in Nox's eyes as he looked around.

The walls had retracted back to the ground, but the alliance members should still be far away. Surely, it would have taken them some time before they arrived here... so who was this person?

Nox directed his gaze at the figure standing before him.

Though the sun was obstructing him from seeing the person's face clearly, the individual's skin was unmistakable.

... It was red.

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