"He won't be long in coming. There's one in each deposit, he can't pass through the crystal like you so it'll be better if you use the best-known tactic in a battle like the one coming..."
"RUN!"
The group remained paralyzed for an instant, processing the avalanche of information and the final warning. Lila was the first to react.
"Run? From what?" Her voice trembled slightly.
"I don't want to find out," Brok responded, his muscles tensing instinctively.
Kriz, completely serious for the first time, watched the chamber's shadows with growing apprehension. "If a god tells us to run..."
"We must move," Elio ordered, his mind working quickly. "Zara, take the sphere. Run to the crystal."
"And you?" Zara asked with concern.
"Just a second," Elio said, moving toward the statue while the others headed to the entrance. "I need to check something..."
But before anyone could take a step...
The sound of something breaking cut through the air like a whip, followed by a buzz.
A collective shiver ran through the group, followed by an inexplicable pressure on their necks, an unnatural tingling that made their instincts scream danger.
And then, it appeared. Right in the middle of their formation, as if it had always been there, materialized the most horrible creature they had ever contemplated.
A humanoid insect of skin color, its disproportionately large head dominated by black eyes that seemed to absorb light itself.
Elio and Zara reacted first, their enhanced reflexes allowing them to aim their fastest attacks. The lithium stakes formed in their hands.
But long before they could shoot, the monster launched itself at Zara, its claws aiming for her neck.
At the last instant, Zara managed to interpose her arm, losing the limb but saving her life.
Zara's scream resonated in the chamber, enraging Elio. Fury flooded his being as he touched his book.
Four mana points, accumulated during the chat with God. 'That damned talker,' Elio thought, 'should have warned us about this first.'
But there was no time for lamentations.
Elio: 4 mana
Elio's stake forced the monster to move to one side, barely dodging it. The rest of the group also attacked, but their projectiles only found air.
Zara, with more accumulated mana, created a prison around the monster and unlike Elio, continued producing more and more matter around it.
For a moment, it seemed she had it contained.
"Leave now!" Elio ordered.
Brok was the first to cross, followed by Lila and Kriz.
Elio and Micah were about to reach the crystal when both turned to look at Zara, who remained motionless, all her concentration put into maintaining the prison.
But her accumulated mana was about to run out.
Zara: 4 mana
Without hesitation, Elio returned and pulled Zara. Micah followed and extended his hand to help Elio, and between the two they pushed Zara toward the crystal.
The prison shattered.
Zara, propelled by her companions, ended up a meter ahead, touched the crystal and disappeared just as she turned her face and saw something that gave her a grimace of regret. Find adventures at m v lemp-yr
An inhuman roar filled the chamber as the monster appeared in a wind explosion in front of Elio and Micah.
Blocking the exit.
Elio launched his last attacks at point-blank range, the monster managed to avoid the first, but Elio knew where it would move and launched the second, managing for the first time to cause damage to the monster.
Elio: 0 mana
A small wound appeared on its skin, but the victory was ephemeral. Enraged, the monster struck Elio, sending him flying several meters.
Elio: 115 - 36 = 70 Resistance / 9 Armor Resistance.
When Elio got up, his blood froze.
The monster was blocking the crystal, its claws pressed against Micah's neck.
"Enter the book challenge!" Micah shouted, his voice tense but determined.
Elio refused to go in the book, and that's when the monster began to laugh.
The sound was like nothing they had ever heard before: a dry and unnatural buzz, as if multiple voices were superimposing one over another in a cacophony that defied sanity.
It was the laugh of something that should never have learned to laugh.