Re: I must complete all my Missions-Chapter 31: Disguised Trap (1/3)

The trio ventured deeper into the shadows of Gabty Forest until they reached a point where Dimm halted in his movements. He turned around in search of any strange figure and hitched his ears attentively in case of any strange sound.

Not seeming to find anything, Dimm turned to Khobba, "Get the route."

Khobba did as she was asked. She dipped her right hand into the backpack that she brought before her front, and after a short while, brought out a glass crystal that resonated crimson energy within.

"So, how do we activate it?" Dimm asked Khobba, who used it not long days ago.

"Or you, if can remember," he now turned to Minxx.

"I did nothing to activate it. I only found it lying on the ground and admired its complexity. This was what led me to pick it up, consequently, the action took place with the crystal ball and before I knew it, I found myself in a strange place," Khobba explained.

It’s true that to pair with a fellow survivor, as that was the function of the route, one needed not to do anything for the object to activate. But that’s not the case after pairing, this is because after making use of the object, it vanishes into diffusion, creating an expanse of land where the pairs will take their course.

But for some reason, Khobba’s own turned out to occur differently. The only person who knew what the situation was, and what should be done was Minxx.

"You need mana energy to reawaken the power of the route," Minxx said.

"Mana energy?"

"Yes, you heard her right. If that’s the case, then I suppose I’m meant to be helpful this instant," Khobba mentioned, hurling balls of purple energy in her right palm.

"No, Khobba. Dimm should be the only one who will be able to activate the power of the route once again," Minxx stopped her mid-way.

"Reason is because if you any action you send against the object right now, it will only recognize you as a used card. The route was designed to be used by players only once, and that is why they are absorbed into its world was activated."

"So, are you saying I can wield her kind of energy for the activation to follow?" Dimm asked.

"You should be able," Minxx said and leaned forward to Dimm. Covering her mouth she whispered into his ear, "The fact that you cultivated with her makes it possible."

"Grrr."

Minxx pulled herself off Dimm. "I knew because I was a witness, you see."

Khobba got confused, thinking both Dimm and Minxx had started plotting something without her. She barged in between Minxx and Dimm where they stood.

"For real, what is happening?!" she asked, furiously.

"Hey, hey, hey," Dimm said with a mellow voice. "Don’t always let any slightest situation trigger your anger. It especially wrinkles your precious face."

Khobba smirked. "Does it look like a joke to you?"

"Fine. I was going to activate the route, but I needed her instruction since it’s their mana absorption method that I’ve acquired. I need to know how to channel the energy towards the object, and that’s what a fellow cultivator was about to tell me until you raged out."

"Hmmph," Khobba only folded her arms and hummed.

"So, Minxx?"

"It should be easier for you to achieve. Remember, I mentioned that you were unlike other cultivators we need to concentrate our minds and soul to absorb the energy around them and increase their Qi.

Just concentrate on your intention for the system to recognize it. Imagine what type of energy you want to produce," Minxx explained.

"What level of Energy Manipulation have you acquired?" she asked.

"Master Level," Dimm answered immediately. "I came to understand the use of the cores that you asked me to gather the other time we hunted beasts. They helped nurture the ability once it was consumed."

"Good thing you discovered. Did you also happen to discover any other thing?" Minxx asked again.

"Their types. The cores were classified into three, and they had their functions as well. Good thing I was lucky to pick the silver core which had evolved the ability from Initiate Level to the Master Level.

But the luck also made me understand how these three types of cores function," Dimm stated.

"If that’s the case, go on and activate the object," Minxx said, stretching her hands out to Dimm and Khobba in the signal that they should circle the object which Khobba now dropped on the floor.

Once they had circled the object, the only person allowed to free his hand from the others was Dimm.

He closed his eyes and did as Minxx advised him to. Just like the kind Khobba formed in her palms, he imagined a blue ball of energy that he wanted to envelop the object once he set his hand upon it.

Amid his imagination mode, the system began to ring out in his mind.

«Requesting Ability Usage | Energy Manipulation (Master Level)»

«Ability SP: 100/100 | Cost: 10 SPs»

«Affirmation Required | Y/N»

’Y,’ Dimm chose with his thoughts.

«Usage Accepted | Ability Activated.»

«Stretch your hands upon the object you wish to affect.»

With eyes still closed, mostly from the fear that opening it was going to disrupt the process, Dimm stretched his hands upon the route which rested on the floor.

As soon as he did this, light blue energy began forming from beneath his palm. First as bumps of bubbles, before finally merging to form a bigger ball than the glass crystal, just big enough to engulf it.

At the same time, almost immediately, this blue which engulfed the crystal ball expanded further into a huge domain. Causing the ground beneath the trio to tremble.

Each of the three got endowed in shock, as they blinked their eyes around them in confusion, scrambling to gain balance since it looked as though they were going to fall.

But they didn’t fall. They vanished.

They no longer stood on the dirt and roots of the forest but suspended in a place without direction, without sound, without time. They were suspended in a shapeless domain, a complete emptiness that existed.

Light curled like tendrils across the endless void. Their moments came in echoes, sounding like a reality that was yet, virtual and not lived passed through them.

This same void disobeyed the principle of gravity, it had no opinion. Their bodies hung weightless, their thinking ability slowed rapidly, and their freedom from speech was also hindered since any sound they made was soundless in this void.

Minxx clutched her head tightly, moving her mouth in an attempt to make a speech but her voice betrayed her. In the same way, each of them also tried their best to communicate but their efforts were all to no avail.

As if in resolution, they decided to read their mouth movement in the moment, until they were able to figure a way out.

"What—what is this?" Khobba asked, stk clutching her head tightly.

"Seem to me like a temporal domain," Dimm said, his body floating in mid-air as the others. "We were taken, not transported. This object didn’t open a path... it devoured us into a fold of broken time."

As he ended his statement, reality pulsed around them. First, it was a breathing loop that showered images of futures and regrets, then shattered clock faces that drifted past them like dead fish in still water.

The air around them blew with evil reverse, shimmering with screams caught in the atmosphere.

And not long after this chaos had started, there was immediate stillness again.

A figure emerged from the void in a shifting, glitching form of smoke and bone, with its face masked with cracked mirrors. It spoke without words, and still, they heard what it said.

You are late. Your passageway closed a long while ago. A new passageway is yet to be opened.

The attack was immediate, almost spontaneous.

Minxx loosed a flurry of cursed arrows which shot out from nowhere to the figure, but the creature twisted through dimensions, untouched.

Khobba raised a protective barrier, but the air inside turned against them.

Dimm was the last to make a move, he stepped into a shadow and emerged behind the being, slicing through its spine—if it had one.

It wailed, scattering into fragments that became birds, then blades, then nothing at all.

And just at that moment, they became confused once again. They had suddenly moved on their own accord and even acted without any hindrance.

Was the emergence of the figure their passageway?

They looked at each other in anticipation, until their bodies were hurled out, spat from the edge of unreality like chewed meat.

Their bodies slammed into the mossy ground of another Forest, which appeared bushy, unlike Gabty which had more space. Trees stretched above like silent watchers, and the sky pulsed with unfamiliar stars.

Dimm groaned and rose first.

Minxx looked around. "That wasn’t travel. That was punishment."

Khobba stood slowly, every breath ragged. "It wasn’t meant for us to survive."

Dimm stared into the dark between the trees. "Then why did it let us go?"

Not getting any response from his companions except stern looks, he added. "That’s because it was only a test to grant our passage. It was our passageway, don’t you two get it?"

Something distracted them. A huge figure moved in the underbrush.

Shifting in the shadows, left to right, right to left. And the trio immediately knew they weren’t alone.

"Another test?" Khobba’s voice sounded in the quietness.