SL: Chapter 725 – Day 5,915 – Exit Portal

Vote Exit Initiated
22 Yes
1 Uncounted
Majority Reached
Vote Closed
Exit Portal Initiated

I waited a few seconds as only the last line remained in my mind about the exit portal being initiated before taking several steps back. After a moment of thought, I backed up even further and took up a combat stance. The airship was directly behind me and all the nearby monsters in the zone had been cleared out.

We hadn’t brought any guards or support personnel this time. It was too cramped last time and it appeared monsters wouldn’t be swarming or getting involved. Better to have less distractions and risk less lives if possible.

Steadying my breathing, I patiently waited. I wasn’t tense, but I was alert, ready for whatever disaster was about to happen. Clarissa had let me borrow the portable store after we had a private conversation before leaving. All the points I had brought her to help her out eased her mind along with my promise to return it immediately afterwards.

She clearly didn’t want to go into a battle with me again. She wasn’t a fighter. Time slowly passed as the tension rose, but I remained where I was. I knew the moment I thought about going back to the golden pillar something would happen. And I wanted at least a few moments to process whatever occurred before having to react.

“Hurry up,” I muttered as time slowly went by and the tension continued to increase. Unfortunately, whatever the Almighty System was doing in the background was completely unknown. Another expectation that had been subverted by modern human thinking. Expecting the results of a vote to be instant.

This was the longest wait so far. I had noticed that each vote had taken longer than the previous one. I didn’t know if that was due to the content of the vote or increasing problems with the Almighty System in processing the vote. Even knowing this, the tension was almost unbearable.

A golden beam suddenly shot upwards from the pillar and I felt a wave of energy I had only felt a few times in the past. It was the Almighty System. Slowly the pillar of golden light began to expand outwards. I would be able to easily outrun it.

Approaching the golden light slowly, there was way too much energy. I didn’t have anything on hand to toss in and I wasn’t about to risk myself. I backed up to give myself some more space and retreated to the airship. “More space,” I told Young Michael.

He backed us up while I kept an eye on the growing golden pillar of light. “It is getting big,” Clarissa said as the golden pillar reached the staircase leading up to the base of the tower platform. Yes, it was getting big.

“Nothing nearby,” Michelle reported, using her monsters. “But I can’t get close. Too much disruption.” The airship shook slightly, showing the disturbance was atmospheric as well.

“You think it will swallow everything?” Young Michael asked.

“No. And focus on controlling the airship,” I told him. I didn’t want him distracted right now.

“We need to gain more altitude or risk running into the ground,” he replied.

“Circle then, keep us at least this far away from that golden light,” I said, since I knew the issue he was concerned about were the flying monsters. We began to circle the golden pillar of light which kept expanding. It had reached the bottom of the giant stairs for the tower.

“The rate of expansion is slowing down, quite a bit,” Clarissa said as we circled.

“No aerial monsters,” Michelle replied. This was the great thing about having competent teammates. They knew their roles and I didn’t have to hand hold them through everything. I kept scanning the golden pillar and the surroundings as we circled.

“We are burning up reserves,” Young Michael said.

“Faster than normal?” I asked.

“Uh, no,” he replied.

“Then we have more than enough points for the airship, just keep circling, I would rather us stay in motion,” I told him. I didn’t consider it a waste in the slightest. If something targeted us, being in motion would give us a chance to escape. “Alter our course slightly while circling, in case we are targeted.”

Thankfully Young Michael was competent enough to do that much as the golden pillar remained. “That much energy, it can’t be cheap for the Almighty System,” Clarissa said.

“Possibly. We don’t know its true strength,” I replied. We had a lot of guesses, but it seemed weak in some areas and abnormally strong in other areas. This wasn’t the time to be reckless. The vote was reckless enough. Everything that was happening now, we had to be extra cautious, no matter what.

I looked upwards, but there was no hole in the sky. There was a roof over this place that was hidden by illusions. So there might be a hole or portal up there, but I didn’t think so. “You think we need to enter?” Clarissa asked me.

“If so, then the Almighty System needs to give better instructions. We know it can. Also here,” I handed her back the portable store before I could forget. She took it back with a smile and head nod. She then purchased a long stick and handed it to me.

“The tried and true stick method,” I muttered. “Keep circling, don’t stop moving just in case something happens.” I then leapt off the side of the airship and landed at the edge of the golden pillar of light and energy with the stick in hand. Pushing the stick into the massive pillar of light and energy, it was vaporized just like I thought. No reaction from the Almighty System.

I hesitated and carefully touched the pillar of light with my left little pinky finger tip. I wanted to see how resistant I was to the Almighty System’s power. Pulling back my finger it was intact, but smoking. It wasn’t actual smoke, but some weird energy interaction between the System’s energy and mine that appeared like black gas.

The pillar of light and energy had stopped expanding completely. I quickly used Air Burst to retreat back up into the air and carefully land on the deck of the airship. “Anything?” Clarissa asked.

“No. We just have to-“ I stopped speaking when the pillar of light quickly began to retract. No, not retract bend inwards from the edge, creating a circular pyramid of golden energy, which kept getting shorter and shorter.

In less than a minute there was just a large flat disk of golden energy, deep in the ground. The base of the tower was completely gone. I didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing just yet, but I could worry about that later. The golden disc was massive in size. Not as large as a city, but still incredibly large. The base of a tower with the staircase was massive and the golden disc was larger than that.

I noted it was recessed deep in the ground as well, but wasn’t getting any deeper. “A fancy light show, still no monsters,” Michelle said.

The golden energy was pushed back to the edge slowly, leaving pitch blackness behind. I felt a strong sense of foreboding. Soon there was a massive hole where the tower used to be, or portal I guess. The edge was the golden energy that was associated with the System, but the interior was just blackness.

“Send in a monster,” I said.

“Still can’t get close. I lose control and they break down,” Michelle replied.

“Stick,” I said and Clarissa handed me another one. I leapt off the airship again. That was when the air began to be rapidly sucked into the black portal. Air Burst! Air Burst! I tossed the stick downwards and spammed my skill. I barely got back to the airship. Clarissa had tossed out a rope for me to grab onto and pull myself back onto it as it began flying away.

Young Michael kept the airship facing the portal as we retreated. “That was too close,” I muttered.

“You don’t want to go into the portal?” Clarissa joked.

“After you,” I replied and gestured.

“My…my…the monsters…no,” Michelle muttered loudly and we all turned towards her. I felt her energy surging.

“Michelle, what’s the problem,” I quickly asked as she gripped her head. My danger sense was spiking massively. Her head snapped upwards to look at me.

“Michael. Michael. Michael. Michael.” She kept repeating my name over and over while looking at me. It wasn’t a plea, just a chant. A really weird chant. I brought my hand up and slapped Michelle, hoping to disrupt whatever was going on with her. I made sure to modulate my strength, so I didn’t break her neck.

Her head snapped to the side, and her chant of my name stopped. “Michelle, focus. Listen to my voice. What is happening?” Clarissa asked.

“Clarissa. Clarissa. Clarissa.” I reached out and grabbed her head, sending a burst of energy into it. I wasn’t skilled like Doctor Katz, but I was hoping this would be enough to shock her out whatever was happening.

I felt something pressing at my skull from behind my eyes. “Ahhh!” I let out a scream and stumbled back.

“Michael! What’s wrong!” Clarissa shouted.

“Stay back,” I said through gritted teeth, as I got back to my feet. There was some kind of hostile energy, trying to spread throughout my head.

“Clarissa. Clarissa. Clarissa.” Michelle kept up her chant in the background. I stumbled over to her and slapped her again. She didn’t pass out. I slapped her a third time. Several teeth went flying out of her mouth and I felt her jaw break.

“Michael. Michael. Michael.” The chanting continued as the pressure inside my skull kept pushing at me. I reached out and put my hand into Michelle’s mouth, grabbing her tounge as blood rushed out over my hand.

“Um, guys, hate to interrupt things, but, um, yeah,” Young Michael said nervously. I glanced back towards the portal that had formed. The very air and space above the portal was fracturing. Like a pane of glass that had broken. The cracks spreading upwards from the portal. It was an exit to this place. But an exit into hell itself, not back to Earth. Massive quantities of air was being pulled towards the black portal.

“Keep our distance,” I said as a the energy in the zone began to increase. The pain in my head wasn’t getting worse, but it wasn’t getting better.

“What is happening?” Clarissa asked me while looking at Michelle.

“Some kind of mental attack, through energy. Did you feel a headache when she was chanting your name?” I asked.

“A small bit,” Clarissa said.

“I tried to push a burst of energy through her head, but that seemed to have impacted me as well,” I replied. Michelle’s energy didn’t seem any different than before. But that just made whatever had happened to her all the more insidious.

“If its her head, we can’t just remove it,” Clarissa said. That was obvious, but this situation was not good and the headache I had wasn’t helping. I pinched with my fingers and pulled. I ripped Michelle’s tongue out of her mouth. That made her pass out and collapse to the deck of the airship. Clarissa flipped her on her side so she wouldn’t choke on her own blood.

“Um, everyone!” Young Michael said nervously. I turned around to look at what fresh hell was coming out of the portal.