Chapter 465 - Challenge

Jean then takes a step and grabs Luna in his massive hands, lifting the golden retriever so he can look into her eyes.

Luna calmly returns that gaze. “You will either let me down, or I will bite you, smelly human.”

Leticia rushes closer, putting her hand on Jean’s massive forearm. “CarrotCake—ehm, sorry, Jean, please let Luna go before she gets angry.”

It’s easily noticeable that Luna is already growing, and I remember her figure from when she was as big as a horse.

That makes me wonder how big she could grow.

“She really is talking,” shaking his head, Jean lets Luna go, after which she shrinks and sits closer to the window.

“Modifying my vocal cords so I can use human language wasn’t that difficult. And please restrain yourself from bothering me; I’m keeping watch.” After that, she doesn’t give him more attention.

“Sorry! She likes to talk that way. I blame lynthari; they really were fascinated by her, and she learned a lot of weird things.”

For the first time since I met her, Luna growls, “DO NOT TALK ABOUT THOSE DERANGED BEINGS IN FRONT OF ME, LETICIA! I still have nightmares about that golden-eyed, crazed cat human!”

Leticia just smiles. “She can be a drama queen sometimes.”

“Talk as you wish, Leticia, and pull yourself together. You are shaming me.”

“Sorry, Luna! Any Lurkers close?”

“We will need to move in a minute or two. I’ll let you know, so rest.” Luna stands up, and after taking a few steps, she stops in front of me.

Because I’m sitting on the ground, her eyes are on the same level as mine. I lift my hand and put it in front of her, which she sniffs a few times, and I use the opportunity to boop her nose.

She pulls back a little, surprised, but doesn’t let it bother her.

“You are marked by someone, crazed human.”

“Why am I a crazed human?” I ask curiously.

I swear I have never in my life been looked down upon as I am now that Luna stares at me.

She doesn’t even bother answering my question. So I boop her nose, ignoring that quiet growl. So she can sense the mark Lissandra left on me? So far, only Caius could do that. That’s surprising.

"That mark is from someone truly terrifying, and I’m struggling to decipher what it means."

Staying silent, I let her talk, and she sniffs a few times, her tail wagging unknowingly to her.

That tail wagging speeds up, turning to frustration. “What it says, I can’t guess. Companion? Sustenance? I'm not sure by the meaning.”

Oh my. I think I know where this is going.

“No, I got it!” Luna barks happily, but quickly turns confused. “Why does it say ‘Food’?”

Biscuit, what have you done?

***

In one of the next following fights, Noelle nearly dies.

Specter, that powerful lurker who attacked us before, appears in our midst, his transparent dagger stabbing into her back, just a tilt of her body causing it to miss the back of her head.

Derick is there instantly, blocking Noelle from further attacks.

The lurker runs away again, but before he can get far, Savant somehow forces him out of the flickering thing, and the sword he created pierces through the lurker’s body.

With immense speed, they clash a few times, the remaining arm of the lurker blocked by orange light forming around Savant’s forearms. Then the lurker flickers away, disappearing before Savant can attack again.

The Ley Line I try to put on him misses, the lurker flickering before it can attach itself.

Derick quickly pulls Noelle to Lucien, who doesn’t say anything after looking at her and heals her instantly. Only then does Derick calm down, and Leticia holds back Jean, who moves closer, not liking the way Lucien is wordlessly threatened.

I think Derick might attack Luna, who hadn’t sensed the lurker coming closer, but he doesn’t say anything and the tension slowly lowers.

That’s when Specter appears again.

This time it’s my neck that gets pierced, the blade nearly separating my head from my body as it pulls across.

Startled, I lose control, and all my mana surges out at once. The full force of stored kinetic energy blasts the lurker off my back, hurling him through several buildings.

***

POV Noelle Kelley

I can still feel the blade that stabbed through my back, and even though the wound is already gone, I can see my hands shaking still.

“Thank you,” I whisper to the young boy, and he nods.

Derick, more worried than me, stands there by my side, and I feel warmth inside. How can someone as powerful as him panic so much sometimes? We’ve been through much worse.

“It will be fine,” I whisper in his ear and give him a quick kiss on his cheek.

As always, when in such a state, he just nods solemnly, that cold expression in his eyes.

I don’t bother him anymore, knowing he is better left alone when he’s like this.

“What do you…” Words freeze in my mouth as blood shoots into the air.

In my side view, I see a figure appear on Noname’s back. The same lurker that stabbed a dagger through my back just a moments ago now stabs it through Noname’s neck.

The wound is huge, jagged, blood flowing like a river.

A chill runs through me as my eyes lock with Noname's. Derick has been saying it since we first met him, but only now do I understand why he warned me never to anger that guy when he’s not around to protect me.

Even so close to dying, Noname’s eyes do not bear fear.

There's a moment of pure surprise, quickly overtaken by anger that fades just as fast.

The lurker is blasted away, the buildings shaking over our heads from the aftershock. Then that mana seeps into the air all at once.

I gasp for air from the sheer pressure. It’s an amount I haven’t felt from anyone in our round. Not even during the tournament. No one was even close to it.

The mana pulses like a living storm, thick and oppressive, filling every inch of space around us. Its presence is raw and fierce, as if the air itself is vibrating with barely contained fury.

Noname moves his arm, sticking his fingers into his mouth, grabbing before pulling his head back, and closing the terrible wound on his neck. That wound closes instantly, a show of healing power. Noname then spits, and clotted dark red blood lands on the floor. His mana disappears as if it never existed, all stored in that body of his.

I expect him to run out, to try to hunt the lurker who attacked him.

I expect him to be angry.

But he does not and instead calmly says, “I think we should reposition.”

That calm, logical reaction is more unnerving than anything he’s done so far.

***

POV Nathaniel

I have thought of it for a while, but the lurkers now move in bigger groups than I’ve seen in the expedition before, each group containing a few powerful, named ones.

When we run into a small group of 2-3 lurkers, they are always damaged, pieces of their bodies missing or having a big wound.

It all feels like they’re huddling into groups for safety, and the lone ones are from groups that got destroyed.

There are multiple things that could cause it.

It might… I pause, catching myself touching my neck with the tips of my fingers. The skin feels so normal there, exactly the same texture as before.

Forcing myself to stop, I let my hand hang along my body and dedicate even that wandering part of my mind for detection. This time I ditch everything. I do not try to detect mana; I do not try to locate sources of heat or body nearby.

All of my effort is spent on locating signs of kinetic energy. Those little vibrations you would need to be monstrously skilled to erase.

I look for vibrations from the step, the air moving away from the invisible body, a muscle stretching to move.

There are so many of these signatures around me, and the sheer amount of information feels overwhelming. So I direct part of my [Focus] to filter them out.

I would like to use the entirety of it for detection, but it’s impossible as I am now. I need that part to confirm these vibrations belong to my group, and then to filter them out. Then the rest of my mind can search for any signs in the area.

[Focus - lvl 54 > Focus - lvl 55]

Doing it continuously for hours is very difficult, and I even ignore the conversations they try to get me into, only sometimes sparing some mind to check what our plan is and to point out where we should go according to memories I have.

Then when we hide from a group of 30 lurkers passing by, I continue.

I continue even as the few lurkers are passing by the fallen cathedral-like building we are hiding under.

Looking. Searching. Preparing.

And then I finally detect that presence.

As I stand up, I feel as if the weight is falling from my body, and the remains of the fear and shock I felt when that dagger nearly separated my head are gone.

“Noname, when do you want to meet again?” Leticia says before I can take a step.

She is very sharp, isn't she?

Leticia smiles as I look at her. “Six months,” I reply.

“Got it. Good luck! Boys and girls, it’s time to go. Prepare…” she orders, but I don’t hear the rest of her words.

Stomping on the ground, I bulldoze through the last remaining wall, and behind it, crash against Specter who is sneaking around. Kinetic energy tears and wounds my body, but I activate one of the healing marks and push through it, grabbing the lurker.

He tries to flicker away, but I disrupt the attempt with sheer force, unleashing a surge of mana that instantly grabs the attention of all 30 lurkers nearby. Yet, in that moment, I don’t even register it.

Instead, I sink my fingers into his neck, ripping away chunks of flesh before tearing his head clean from his body.

[You have defeated Reanimated Corpse - lvl 318]

[Lvl 279 > Lvl 280]

I stomp on that head, and the last bits of kinetic energy I have stored in my core vibrate through the air, tearing the body apart. Then flames blaze around me, burning anything that remains. Only then do I notice the three stab wounds the lurker was able to deliver.

Another healing mark from Lily activates, and the wounds close and heal.

With this done, I proceed with my part of our deal, my body’s mana blazing into the area like a lighthouse for every lurker to see. With my kill count added, most of the thirty immediately lock onto me, giving the others an opportunity to escape.

And then I run in the exact opposite direction from the group of my fellow Earthlings.

This time, I redirect a lot of my mana to my heart, using it to generate kinetic energy for the first time since the start of this expedition.

My heart thumps loudly, each beat sending waves of kinetic energy through my body. And with it, another heart thumps far in the distance, and this time I head straight towards that presence.

Right away, some lurker tackles me from the side, a burst of absorbed kinetic energy turning to mana through my passive. I use that mana to disrupt the barrier around the lurker, and a javelin pierces its body, throwing it away.

Immediately after, an explosion nearby throws me to the side, the heat absorbed but the shockwave throwing me away.

Before I can even stand up, a huge lurker swings his massive hammer right at my head.

I teleport through my [Ley Line] and then boost myself high into the air, shooting more lines in front of me, tied to my projectiles.

Some skill hits me, and I start being pulled to the ground. [Resonance] tears the skill apart, and I boost myself again, teleporting just before an invisible cut hits the area.

A piece of my feet stays behind.

Not needing it currently, I fly again, teleport again, and then put my hands up, stopping the stab of a lurker who waited there for me. Poison spreads through my arm, and I burn my own body.

Yet it continues, so I explode that part of my arm with kinetic energy, my flesh and blood staining the lurker.

Another two extremely fast ones reach me, and while I block the attack, an arrow barely misses my head.

They attempt to stop me, but I fight against it and teleport again. Before I can do that again, the arrow crashes against a barrier I create, a poisonous smoke surrounding the area and melting the trees nearby.

I teleport, and it’s more difficult this time, and they again track my target, and when I appear, water from a nearby lake shoots in a thin stream, cutting off one of my ears. Barely in time, I boost my body with kinetic energy to avoid it cutting me apart, and after leaving behind a huge tricolored orb, I teleport.

As I appear at another spot, the orb explodes, the shock hitting me even there, and I can feel the heat.

[You have defeated Reanimated Corpse - lvl 270]

From the side, a flying feylith shoots mana projectiles at me.

In answer, I shoot a single javelin boosted at him, and his head evaporates at the hit, his body slowly falling down, the remains of the skill keeping it afloat.

[You have defeated Reanimated Corpse - lvl 261]

My teleport fails, and I dodge to the side, the hit damaging my shoulder instead of my head.

Flames spin around me, and the giant lurker passes through, his hammer swinging again.

I let it hit my forearms, and an immense amount of kinetic energy gets turned to mana, sending me a few steps back.

Before I can attack, a fireball as big as my body crashes near the giant lurker, and the flames envelop an area the size of a football field, turning anything in it to melted goop.

These flames disappear in a blink as I absorb them to a single orb the size of my fist.

The giant lurker with the hammer attacks me again, his body terribly burned and bones showing underneath, and I release the orb, the blast of flames burning even the lurker behind him.

[You have defeated Reanimated Corpse - lvl 269]

[You have defeated Reanimated Corpse - lvl 263]

[You have defeated Reanimated Corpse - lvl 266]

Finally, I teleport again after passing through the attempts to stop me, the place exploding once again under golden flames.

An arrow pierces my barrier and stabs into my body, lightning imbued in it, staggering me for a moment.

Using the opportunity, the skill increases gravity on me, my body pulled to the ground with a loud crash, a few bones breaking even through my passive.

A fireball explodes right over me, the heat absorbed by me again and released in a thin laser-like stream at the vyssari warrior with a shield.

The shortie blocks it.

Still laying and unable to move because of gravity, a dozen or so more attacks head at me when I teleport again.

And then there he is.

He lands on the grassy field nearby, not a single shockwave sent from his body.

Everyone in the area freezes, unable to even twitch a finger. His heart beats in an angry manner, but only I can feel it.

Whitey disappears from my sight, his white hair smearing through the air.

At that moment, it becomes obvious from whom the lurkers were trying to stay safe.

Even though unable to think and without their old memories, the lurkers keep some primitive instincts, and grouping up to be safer against a powerful predator is one of them. But it’s not good enough against this one.

With brilliant beauty, Whitey moves from lurker to lurker, killing each of them in a single hit. Head torn, chest exploded, body torn in half. He does it all with extreme efficiency, not a single speck of kinetic energy wasted other than the field around him.

Every time he kills someone, body parts fly in the air and stay there as if frozen in time. Pieces of bones, blood, debris—all float up and stay there.

The group that was causing me so much trouble is gone so easily, until I’m the last one left alive.

It feels as if it’s very much on purpose.

My timer is ticking down, but there are still a few seconds remaining.

Yes, I have timed it so well. Even being as angry as I was, I didn’t let it get to me. Just a few seconds, and it will be gone, just like the first time.

I haven’t come here just to die.

With an effort that would have killed me before gaining my passive, my body moves even through the field. My kinetic energy fights against Whitey’s.

I declare, “As a Champion candidate, I challenge you, a fellow Champion candidate. My wager is my life and my status. If I lose, they’re yours—and you can reclaim your position as an attendee, with a chance of regaining your memories.”

Whitey freezes mid-step, and I continue, “If I win, I want all of your knowledge on kinetic energy.”

***

POV ???

“What’s wrong with attendees nowadays,” a voice resounds in pitch-black darkness. It sounds nearly dismissive.

“Wait,” another one joins him, quickly, as if stopping the first voice from doing something.

“What do you want, Greed?”

“I want you to help me to accept that wager that Earthling made.”

“That wager is nonsense, and you know it.”

“Diligence, at least be honest. The system considered it for a moment before refusing. I just need you and a few others to nudge the system in the right direction. Here, in the Beyond, we can make that happen. Then it’ll be up to the system to decide what’s fair once the challenge is over.”

“You would need at least three out of five votes for such an amount of interference.”

“I already have Kindness. You know very well she will do what I ask for.”

“Yes, I know that all too well, Greed. But I refuse. Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one among the five of us who takes this Beyond cycle seriously. First Envy, then Wrath, and now even you, Greed.”

Another voice joins the conversation, “I agree with that small interference.”

The reaction catches both voices off guard, and Diligence asks with a measured tone, “Envy, has something changed for you lately?”

Envy ignores Diligence, turning solely to Greed. “So, do you want my help or not? Wrath isn’t going to support you.”

“No ties attached?"

"No ties attached."

"He won’t die, you know that, right?"

"We will see about that."

"Okay, I’m in.”

Diligence then shoos both of them away. “Now that you are done, go away.”

With that, the silence ensues again, and Diligence returns to their previous work.

The entire conversation didn’t even last a second.

***

POV Nathaniel

There’s a sense of acceptance, and in that moment, I know my challenge and wager have been accepted.

“Use the Beyond 1-day stay token,” I declare, cutting off my escape route.

***

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