Chasing prey was always an enjoyable game. Seeing the hope turn into despair, courage into fear evoked a heightened ecstasy in him and his kind.
"Go! Faster!" Ebonis patted the soft skin of the round creature he was seated on and urged it.
Perhaps it's by their design that they're able to integrate with these one-eyed creatures—Sightlings—and fight as a single unit.
Sightlings could see far ahead in the fog, fly fast, and even bear a lot of attacks. But they were abnormally weak to any spiritual attacks.
That's where his kind Umbrali came in—Masters of Spiritual Attacks but with bodies so weak that they couldn't even take ten steps without panting.
These two tribes were enemies when they first met, just like any challengers and native tribe. The enmity didn't last and they turned into partners, becoming a sort of local hegemon for the second floor.
One of the elite hunting groups of this local hegemon was now chasing down two awakeners. One rank 3 and the other…rank 2?
"Catch the weak one first!" Ebonis ordered.
The ten Umbrali activated their powers and an invisible burst of aura swept the surroundings.
Varian who was a bit behind Maria felt something pull his leg and attacked it without hesitation.
"No, Wai—"
Maria's shout was a moment late.
"Fuck!" Varian's sword pierced his own thigh and nearly severed his leg.
Sensing something was off, Demon Sword resisted his slash at the last moment and saved him from the fate of starting a one-legged running race.
"The illusions are dangerous. Even your senses can be deceived. Don't trust anything, including what your body says." Maria shouted as she threw out a grenade-like thing at the pursuers.
They evaded it in a hurry but instead of exploding, it puffed out bright blue smoke.
Varian's speed decreased as he couldn't run as fast. To his surprise, Maria too slowed her hoverboard so that he could keep the distance.
"Wouldn't it be best if I died here? What's your deal?" Gritting his teeth as blood spilled out of his healing thigh, Varian asked.
Maria shrugged without even looking back. "If I leave you to them and you tell them my secret, then things would mess up."
As the fog in front of them continued to clear, they found themselves facing a huge cave whose entrance was as big as a ten-story building.
Maria wanted to go in to throw off the pursuers but Varian stopped running and turned toward them. "You know what?"
"What?" Maria gained some distance and stopped slowly as she watched him with vigilance. "If you want to die, fine. But I'll attack you if you try to say something."
"You're too paranoid. And," Aether Pendant appeared on Varian's neck. Formerly worn by Kreo, it was the artifact that boosted the user's mental powers.
But as he reached the Celestial Rank, Varian realized that, like all artifacts, the help it could give increased corresponding to the user's rank.
So as a rank 2 Spirit, he could let the Aether Pendant help him against the illusions. By itself, it could only help him block rank 3 illusions at most.
But if stacked on top of his own powers, Varian would be able to differentiate even a rank 4 illusion if he put his full focus on it.
Of course, it'd only be weak rank 4s, unlike the Umbrali who were chasing him down.
"Oh? He stopped?" Ebonis and his team stopped three hundred meters away from Varian and looked at him with vigilance.
"Don't approach him, attack now." He ordered without any hesitation.
Ten mental attacks once again fell on Varian and he raised his sword, 'aiming' at an enemy that 'appeared' in front of him.
"Die!"
Varian's sword slashed at the space in front of him before curving and turning inward, aiming at his own heart. Even when the sword's tip was about to touch him, his brain believed that he was attacking his enemy and was about to kill him.
Ting!
Aether Pendant shook for a moment and Varian's unfocused pupils brightened. Then, the space around him blurred and he appeared right in the middle of the Umbrali-Sightling group.
"Fuc—"
Varian's arm practically tore through the bodies of the eleven Umbralis, destroying their fragile bodies.
Almost right away, eleven white spots emerged from these bodies. They tried to swarm Varian, attack him before he could respond, and then escape.
But they were in for a surprise.
Aether Pendant lit up for a moment and a strong suction force pulled all the eleven 'souls' into it.
After a few moments, a nourishing soul power entered Varian's body and reached his soul. It wasn't really his power, so Varian had to study, analyze and convert it.
Varian's eyes flashed and the eleven Sightlings that were trying to run away froze in place and quickly collapsed.
A few seconds later, Maria approached with him a surprised and conflicted expression.
She saw Varian being affected by the illusion and swinging his sword dangerously. Before she could do anything, he teleported.
She thought he ran off away from the Umbrali and searched those areas. But finding him in the last spot she could think of, she was dumbfounded.
"If even one of them expected it, your spirit would've been attacked and that's a certain death," She frowned at the gore of the fragile Umbrali bodies and said.
"I had my safety measures," Varian smiled and then looked back in the direction they ran from.
The bird's corpse.
"Get moving. Their group must've already sensed their death and sent rank 5s here," Maria stepped on her green hoverboard and urged him. "I heard these groups are quite vengeful. We'll be facing a big chase. Hurry!"
"We should hurry, but in the reverse," Varian said and started running toward the bird's corpse.
"Are you crazy?!" Maria followed behind him and took out a shining rope, which Varian bet was supposed to drag him.
"No, you said it yourself, didn't you? A Haunted house can take us to the next floor. It needs the death of hundred natives and ten challengers." Varian ran faster and faster.
"Oh boy," Maria looked at his back with a mix of fear and admiration which soon turned into. "You crazy son of a—!"
A leaf slapped onto her mouth and stopped her words, leaving an annoying voice that rang. "Language, Princess!"
Maria knew the risks involved in this operation. But the reward was worth it.
While Haunted House sounded easy, killing ten challengers was difficult. Not because they're hard to kill but because they're hard to die within ten miles.
But the Umbrali did that job for them and killed ten of them. Since it was a planned attack, not many natives—Sightlings—would've died.
So, they had to kill a hundred of them. But it's the easy part. They could just massacre a hundred rank 1 or rank 2 Sightlings and kick off the Haunted House.
Of course, by now, the rank 5s must've already gone to the site and realized that they escaped.
In the good case, they'd scatter and chase them in all directions.
In the bad case, they'd return to the base.
But regardless, they'd have to kill a hundred Sightlings within a ten-mile radius of the corpse—unfortunately, doing that at such distance would quickly alert a rank 5 stationed at the base.
So, it's only a question of who'd be faster.
"Since they set up the hunt there, the Sightlings' home must be nearby," Varian reasoned.
Maria agreed with his assessment. The two already reached the ten-mile radius of the corpse.
Varian's famine senses scanned the large one-eyed body of Sightling and his eyes glowed green.
If the fog wasn't here, Varian would be able to easily scan a radius of ten thousand miles to check similar lifeforms.
'If only the fog—'
Varian recalled an observation about the fog. It grew stronger by gnawing on a dead creature. The fog grew with death.
'So…'
Nature Seed—another artifact—formerly wielded by Sovereign Micheal of Jupiter, appeared in his palm.
Varian's famine power channeled into the artifact and then something incredible happened.
A wave of an incredibly potent life force swept the surroundings, blasting away the fog—only for a millisecond—before it enveloped everything again.
But that gap was enough for Varian who already found a nest of Sightlings nearby.
"Let's go!"
The action wasn't without cost though. Since it's so sudden, no one was able to react and pinpoint his location.
But the rank 5 Umbrali in the vicinity already realized that someone was here. Even though they could see much farther than others, they too had to face the fog.
Thanks to that, Varian and Maria weren't found instantly.
As the duo reached the 'nest' of Sightlings, the rank 5s hastened their chase to find the intruders.
At the same time, some of the rank 5s who went to hunt down Varian returned with the bad news.
"Chase! Chase them down at all costs!"
Just fifteen miles away from the bird corpse, inside the huge burrow of a tall tree, right from the bottom to top were filled with the one-eyed Sightlings, none of which reached rank 2.
To give a comparison, these rank 1 Sightlings would qualify as 'teenagers' or 'young adults' inside the Sightling race.
They had enough intelligence and wisdom to forge a mutually beneficial bond with the challengers of the Umbrali race. So, when Varian and Maria approached, the Sightlings were startled and sent out signals hoping for rescue.
The rank 5s were rushing here, but time was still running out for them.
"Please!"
"Don't kill us!"
"We haven't even attacked you!"
At their desperate screams, Varian paused.
Usually, he'd have no issue doing this. But these creatures used their powers to mess with his emotions a bit and amplified his guilt, pushing it over his rationality.
It wouldn't have worked if Varian grew up in a ruthless household. But because of him still being human and maintaining some values, Varian felt it wasn't okay to do this.
"Stop!"
A tingling sensation came and then a piercing pain drowned his head.
As the shockwave of a rank 5 struck him, Varian woke up and threw out all the ethics and morals.
Space Ring—previously worn by Julius—appeared on his finger and the space around him hummed.
Then, over a hundred Sightlings, along with him and Maria teleported in a radius of ten miles of the corpse.
The rank 5s that were all lured to the tree to protect their youngsters realized the danger and rushed back.
But—
"Good luck in your next life."
A crimson beam shot into the sky and the bodies of over a hundred Sightlings exploded.
Right away, a thatched hut built of bones and covered with skin appeared.
"Bastards! Fucking bastards! You better stop or you'll—"
Varian bore the burning pain inside his head and grabbed the skull that acted as the doorknob and rushed in. Maria followed in without delay and slammed the door shut. A circle enveloped them and the world around them blurred.
A second later, the haunted house exploded as a dozen terrifying attacks engulfed it together.
