“Are we going to wait all day?” William and Maissa said at the same time.
Xavier looked into the distance and answered. “I’m waiting for Helia.”
‘Thanks to Sarah, she used our hands and eliminated their team.’ Ashtarh barely suppressed his urge to fight Sarah and showed two flags.
“She’s eliminated in the beast tide.” He tried to conceal it, but everyone could feel his hostility from his words when said ‘beast tide’.
“What?!” Xavier and Sarah were both shocked.
According to Xavier, Helia was the mastermind behind the Beast Tide.
So, how could she be eliminated in it?
‘Did her plan fail or was it someone else?’ For the first time since the trial began, Xavier felt a sense of unease creeping in.
Things seemed perfectly normal. In fact, everything was going well. But somehow, it seemed like everything was off.
He convinced himself that Ashtarh eliminated Helia and he was angry only because he found her mother despicable.
‘Yes, that must be it.’ He conveniently ignored the fact that it was Ashtarh who proposed the plan of ‘eliminating Charles’.
On the other hand, Sarah was taken aback that beast tide eliminated Helia.
‘Wait, wait, wasn’t beast tide directed at us? But at Helia?’ Her thoughts spun and she glanced at William and Philia.
William showed a surprised expression while Philia…Philia was watching the Xavier team members with a cold gaze. Thankfully, she didn’t start attacking them right away.
Shaking her head, Sarah studied Ashtarh and Xavier’s expression.
‘I thought Xavier planned to eliminate our team, but it’s Ashtarh that knew of Helia’s elimination. So, he was in the Ice Region when it happened? What’s going on?
Wait…did Xavier try to weaken all of us through the beast tide and Helia was eliminated.
I guess that makes sense.’
“Anyway, only a flag is missing.” Ashtarh said, glancing at Xavier.
Xavier nodded and showed two flags.
Even though she already heard of it, Sarah was still surprised.
“Charles…did you see him?” Maissa asked.
Xavier shook his head, and tapped on his comm. “We followed his traces and even with all the injuries, he fought all the way to the core area and killed the flag’s guardian.”
The hologram showed Charles’ hand in the area.
Sarah’s and Ashtarh’s team fell silent.
Marcus looked at them and growled. “I’m bored of this crap. Say, we do all fight now or after getting the map?”
His words raised the tension and the teams instinctively raised their guard, ready to fight at any moment.
Ashtarh stepped forward and raised his hand. “Wouldn’t it be terrible if we all injure ourselves in the end and no one can get the flag?
Let’s have a shown down after we get all the six flags.”
“…” Marcus snorted and turned his head.
“I agree.”
Sarah nodded and the nine members walked to the entrance of the laden burrow in teams.
The entrance was five meter wide and once they were in, their senses spread out.
They were watching out for the Khanaks. And also the other teams.
Sarah’s team was distrustful of Xavier’s. Xavier’s were wary of Ashtarh’s. Ashtarh’s was angry at Sarah’s.
In a weird balance, the three teams slowed moved ahead in the tunnel that progressively widened.
Eventually, it went from an underground tunnel to an underground chamber.
Then they were greeted by their first alien guest.
“Muu” A four-legged creature with a crystalline armor covered its own body. It was the size of a military tank and was painfully conspicuous.
The moment they found it, Ashtarh and Sarah took the lead to attack. But seeing the other party was about to attack, they both consciously held back and used less power.
The moment they shot towards it, they felt a huge force trying to throw them off. It was a repulsion force. The reverse of gravity.
At the same time, their bodies grew incredibly heavy. The gravity on their body increased by many times. Their bones creaked as their faces paled a little.
They channeled their chi and stabilized themselves.
“Xavier, aren’t you going to do anything?” Philia suddenly asked, her voice growing chilly.
Sarah and Ashtarh both paused. They backed off and glared at Xavier.
“I forgot. I was anticipating a great fight, alright?” Xavier chuckled and waved his hand.
“Moo!”
The Khanak suddenly shrieked as its eye turned blood-red.
Sarah and Ashtarh felt the gravity on their body decreased. But there was still some gravity.
‘Xavier is also holding back.’ Sarah realized, and shot towards the Khanak.
Her fist blurred and she punched at the waist while Ashtarh kicked its head.
Boom!
Kacha!
The crystalline body armor broke at the places of attack and the beast quickly died.
Due to the mental interference from Xavier, it was much easier.
Of course, they could’ve won anyway.
After all, it was only a mid-level 6 Khanak.
But this way, they were able to preserve their strength. After all, once injuries exceeded a certain point, combat power would plummet.
All the teams were more or less injured and their strength dropped.
Sarah’s team, originally the weakest, accumulated light injuries by escaping from the beast tide.
Ashtarh’s team had moderate injuries from the same.
In Xavier’s team, Xavier and Rodey were almost fine, but Marcus faced the illusion of the Aether garden’s core area alone and took great damage.
Otherwise, given his violent personality, he’d have also jumped out and conjured fire dragons against the Khanak.
As time passed, the three teams started encountering more and more Khanaks.
Mid Level 6. High Level 6.
It also meant they were going from the outer area of the burrow to the inner area.
Soon, the path branched itself and they were presented with multiple routes.
“Which one now?” Maissa asked, she sounded a little tired.
Wiliam rolled his eyes at her terrible acting. He glanced at everyone and realized all of them put on ‘pale faces’ and ‘shivered’ from time to time.
‘I shouldn’t stand out.’ He thought and his face paled instantly and his breath ragged.
He leaned on the wall and took deep breaths.
If someone saw him, they’d think he was deeply exhausted and was of little threat.
Ashtarh glanced at William from the corner of his eyes and rubbed his chin. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but suddenly clutched his stomach and coughed out blood.
“Cough. Cough.” After spouting a mouthful, he wiped his mouth and glanced at William as if saying ‘See? I’m more injured than you.’
“I was trying to hold back, but I can’t suppress my internal injuries anymore.” Ashtarh said in a solemn tone, as if he revealed a grave secret.
Everyone almost collapsed and coughed out blood.
‘Big Brother, we didn’t even a fight peak level 6 and you’re coughing out blood. Who are you trying to fool? Besides, did anyone tell you your acting skills are terrible? Would a seriously injured man smirk like you?’
Ashtarh saw all of them fell silent and smirked inwardly or so he thought as everyone saw his wide smirk.
“We’ll check them all one by one. If we split up, then one team gets the flag and they’ll be targeted by two. It’s better to do it this way.” Xavier proposed, avoiding Ashtarh’s gaze.
And thus, they entered the core area.