Chapter 23
Linnea, now out of her thick winter attire, pouted as they formed up just under the exit, the group prudent enough to tie a colorful formation flag right at the entrance that they could use as a landmark, at least before getting too deep into the lush, thick maze of fruit-bearing plants, the air alive with the sounds of parakeets, the screeches of monkeys, and the low, throaty rumbles of far deadlier animals still.
“I can’t believe my strongest flames couldn’t even mark the icy barrier between paradise and frigid winter!”
“But maybe that’s for the best,” Rachel softly said, wincing before Linnea’s sudden glare. “I mean, you wouldn’t want to destroy this beautiful paradise, would you? Assuming that this world really is… well… real.”
Linnea’s scowl turned into a thoughtful nod. “Maybe you’re right,” she said. “Maybe I couldn’t mark that glass-like ice because in my heart of hearts, I really didn’t want to. And these mulberries are delightfully sweet!”
“As are the calabash,” said Ya Ling, holding what looked like a yellow cucumber. “So sweet and tart, even if they normally grow on trees, not bushes. At least, they do in properly tended caldera basins.”
Tang grunted his agreement while devouring a cluster of lychee, for he, too, was happy to stuff himself with all the prizes he could claim from the bushes heavy with tantalizing fruit within just a couple yards of the entrance.
Fruit they all claimed and savored before forming into a group once more, having refreshed themselves and now ready to explore the area.
By the bright eyes and excited smiles, Alex noted that he wasn’t the only one eager for the adventure to come, even if he was the only one who sensed the weight of that which was unseen…
and hungry, loping across the topmost canopy of what truly was a multistory jungle blossoming to rich life above the lower-level maze of fruit-laden bushes.
“I think you were right, Alex. To discover such a miraculous find after enduring such hardship… Truly this will be an adventure worthy of the storytellers! Come, friends. Let’s make our way through this maze and discover what wonders and secrets await us within this tower we all thought lost to time! ”
Lao Tie’s eyes glittered with excitement.
Alex felt a cold sweat prickle his pack.
Guts roiling.
Abruptly realizing that he recognized that subtle pressure. That awful shiver racing down his spine that revealed only a tiny fraction of the nightmare hidden in shadows and gloom.
He didn’t sense a Bronze cat that failed to cloak itself against the soothing rustles of this arboreal sanctuary, leaves revealing so many frantic secrets in their rustles.
No.
The awful pressure so well cloaked by the enticing aroma of gloriously fresh fruit so ripe with spiritual energy was that of a Gold-tier monster.
A demonic beast in the skin of a giant cat.
A deadly pressure that tasted of the screams and pain he recalled so damned viscerally when he came so close to death while desperately fleeing the lush delve jungles that could so easily have been his end.
Alex locked gazes with a jubilant Lao Tie.
“We have to go. Now!”
Lao Tie furrowed his brow. “Alex, what are you talking abou—”
Alex was before the man before he could blink, ignoring the horrified looks of both Tang and Kuaisu as his silent plea—but not a command—had Ya Ling instantly gathering up Linnea and Rachel and racing for the exit as fast as she could.
“We are being stalked by a greater spirit beast, Lao. If we don’t get out now, we never will.”
Lao Tie, unmistakably the scion of a powerful faction or clan, for all that he was upright and honorable, was clearly not accustomed to being spoken to so directly, so forcefully, even if by a somewhat admired companion.
His furrowed gaze met Alex’s own. “Surely there is no need to panic. I know that jungle terrain can be perilous, but your partner made it clear how skilled she is at sensing heat, and don’t forget that the pair of us are masters of—”
Lao Tie abruptly paled, only now appreciating his peril when the sudden killing aura of a Gold crashed down upon them all.
A Gold getting ready to strike as the air filled with a furious roar so loud and violent that Alex could see the blood pouring from Lao Tie’s ears even as his own rang with pain as he and everyone who had remained were struck by the crushing weight of a Gold monster’s fury.
Yet for one who had dared to stand tall while facing down tyrannical Jade—for one who had once sat at the table before gods eager for his death—the pressure was nothing he couldn’t overcome.
And he felt no shame in darting away just as fast as he could.
Saving throw versus Gold-tier killing aura successful!
Yet as determined as he was to keep at least some of his cards close and not play the fool, when push came to shove, he wasn’t going to leave his companions behind to die if there was something he could do to make a difference.
Even if he knew there would be a price to pay later.
“Run for the exit! Use the rope Ya Ling left!” It wasn’t a request; it was a command.
Alex ignored the messages suddenly blaring across his inner eye as he grabbed a stunned Lao Tie and flittered through the lush foliage-lined maze so fast that Lao Tie barely had time to gasp before he was gently tossed through the icy air vent and into the howling storm of ice and snow just beyond.
“Ya Ling!”
“It’s okay, Alex. I got him. Save the others!”
Yet he was already Bullrushing back through the lush foliage before a pair of massive golden eyes met his own, freezing him in his tracks.
Willpower check successful!
A surge of horrified dismay shuddered through him as he caught sight of the tableau of crimson horror before him.
Kuaisu sobbing and screaming and desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood from a leg that had been torn completely free at the knee.
Tang, caught between horror and agony as he gazed down at his own shredded torso, a pool of entrails and blood replacing his shattered lamellar armor, the loamy floor of the jungle maze covered in his blood.
Wu Xien alone remained unharmed, even if the spiritual weight of the massive Gold-tier tiger before them had him falling to one knee, his guandao held in trembling hands.
Alex’s heart roared in his ears as he forced his gaze to meet the tiger’s own.
The air rumbled with the beast’s ire as Alex refused to kneel and pay tribute, trembling in supplication and terror while it devoured them at its leisure.
In that moment, as he gazed at the imperious beast who thought nothing of darting forward and sending Wu Xien cartwheeling through the air, despite his heavy steel armor, with a single flick of its paw as Kuaisu gave a despairing sob, Alex’s fear—and he could finally admit that it was fear that made it so hard to lock his Soul Perception to his target—turned into fury.
But it was only when the contemptuous feline approached the groaning Wu Xien, who by some miracle hadn’t been crippled by the blow, for all that there were now multiple rents in his armor, that Alex struck.
The Gold-tier monster, who so clearly enjoyed playing with its food, jolted with surprise and fury when lightning flashed and blood erupted after its prey appeared right next to it.
Storm Strike critically strikes your foe!
Note! Gold-tier wards and Spirit Beast Vitality reduce Catastrophic Blow to Medium Wound.
The cat roared his fury as Alex momentarily froze with dismay.
He had wasted precious seconds locking on with Find Weakness, and Wu Xien had paid dearly for his hesitation. He had even enhanced his blow with Piercing Strike.
Yet what should have been a catastrophic if not outright lethal blow was now a Medium Wound that had sliced open his foe’s nose and bloodied its maw… and no more than that.
Because he wasn’t fighting an overly clever wujen with Soul Cleave…
He was facing a Gold-tier monster and was only now forced to appreciate just what beast-lord Vitality truly entailed.
Even his eyeblink of hesitation was enough time for his opponent to lash out with claws.
Alex sprang back for all he was worth as his face lit up with hideous pain, nose torn completely off, and it was all he could do to keep his focus as blood sprayed from his face and poured down his throat, Rank 4 Silver Strength and prismatic bones the only reasons why his skull hadn’t burst and his neck hadn’t snapped.
Yet the shock of pain, the spinning disorientation as he went flying, the awful wrench of multiple neck muscles being torn as he dared challenge a beast with Gold-tier Strength and Vitality with Quickness at least the equal of his own meant nothing.
Nothing before Kuaisu’s desperate scream.
Nothing before Wu Xien’s cry.
Alex howled as a desperate hand touched a single passing vine whipping down just where it needed to be, before he disappeared in a flash, porting right in front of the Gold-tier beast a heartbeat before it could snap a critically wounded Tang in half, tearing him free of a family who loved him. A daughter who needed him.
And that was one tragic twist Alex REFUSED to allow into the telling of his tale.
BLACK SWAN!
He roared as his ji turned a shimmering ebony hue with steel-shredding Water whipped by bitter Wind saturated with so much Dark Qi it mirrored a river he would never infuse to his weapon again.
But damn if he wouldn’t get just as close to that precipice as he could.
FEELING the river’s hunger…
And refusing its call.
So that when the air exploded with a geyser of pink frothy blood smelling of wild musk and deadly power, it was utterly free of the river’s dark gift.
So that no abomination would twist about in his suspension pod, and no table full of self-righteous tyrants would find pretext to slaughter everyone Alex cared about yet again.
Yet it was enough to get the wild-eyed tiger’s attention, tear it completely free of desperate sobbing prey, and force its attention right back on the one among them, the only one among them, who posed any threat to it at all.
“Your fight’s with me, motherfucker! Let’s get it—”