36 The Beginning of Migraine

Amidst the scattering burning petals of flowers and angry artificial gales, Delamuion sensed something being aimed at the dodecahedron device left behind by the fake Angravada.

He was still unsure of everything, but there was no way that he would let go of the only thing that could guide his path to the reason for his mother's death.

In almost an instant, his eyes latched upon an accelerating black needle. His hands flew above his shoulder as they crossed one another. All of his fingers were opened as he channeled the power stored inside him through the heel of his palm. With a sharp winding-up sound of machination, a pair of bluish erratic discharge from both hands began to form the shape of a cylinder like that of a pistol barrel.

At ten times the speed of normal human comprehension, the path that the guided missile of the spectral linked limb was traced by ten if not hundreds of pistol barrels appearing from all angles and direction, all aimed to the trajectory path of the accelerating black needle.

Kivas couldn't really observe what was happening because his limb was already beyond the illumination of his torch, but the stings and aches that he felt notified him of the potential danger, the sudden threat beyond his senses that were trying to prevent his organic guided missile from reaching its designated target.

'That many!??'

Still affected by the uptime of the Pledge of Survival, Kivas tried to anticipate all of the danger and dodge accordingly.

Just at the moment of the realization, the barrels fired a discharge of sharp blue penetrating force like that of an expanding bullet. The needle missile was rained by those volley of fire from all sides and angles. The intense timing of trying to dodge all of the rays overclocked Kivas' responsive system, as he tried to do all of the computation and action that was happening in a mere second.

Within that storm of energy bullets, only 27 of the 167 bullets grazed the hard outer shell of the limb, as it managed to reach one meter away from the dodecahedron device.

But just as it was touching the deterrent object, a hulking iron of a giant sword fell from the sky and parried the spectral-linked limb, shoving the guided missile into the ground before it got retracted by Kivas to his side.

The perpetrator was a bald middle-aged man. His hood was blown by the wind as he leaped to the front of his leader to deflect the incoming projectile. His hunching posture with the giant sword being casually shouldered made his air more intimidating, especially the sharp gaze that he showed after parrying the guided missile.

"Delamuion, your guard is out of place." The former hooded man further hunched his tall posture. "We don't want the device to be destroyed, now that we have gone deep into this hell."

"... You're right." Delamuion took a deep breath, trying to calm his mind down. "As expected of an Abyssal Shifter like you, Naraka, your reflex is off the charts."

As the 20 seconds uptime of the Hidden Takamagahara had ended, Kivas used the 10 second remaining uptime of the Pledge of Survival to reposition and stealth himself under the tall flowers of the violet meadow.

"Constinanth, get everyone out of this realm in a jiffy," shouted Naraka, albeit his tone was calm and composed, his voice could be heard hundreds of meters away from his location. "Our target is not here, and the monster inside this realm is something that we can't be messing with. Delamuion and I will be fending them off,"

"Urgh…" The armored bunny lady gritted her teeth as she realized what was going on. "Everyone, retreat!"

"Hell naw! I'll be fighting with our leader!"

"Fool!"

"Buffoon!"

"What!?"

"Just quit yapping and run those legs off!! Don't be a deadweight and make us drag you when you have no legs!"

With Kivas on the cooldown of his chance of action, the serene and foreboding wind flew over the half-burned violet flower meadow. Both Delamuion and Naraka kept raising their guard, trying to anticipate the next ambush that could threaten their dodecahedron device.

With only 2 individuals of the 32 people in the group still in the field, the tension was ascending and the only thing that was left of those two were to thrive or die. There was no looking and going back, for their back was covered by each of their own.

Both of them didn't plan to leave this realm in the slightest.

'Just as I expected.' Kivas was met with a predicament. 'It is do or die for them. And for some reason, they are protecting that deterrent with their life…'

Seeing how he could barely escape from getting his left front limb badly damaged despite getting the huge boost of strength and speed from the Pledge of Survival, it would be impossible for him to fight on an equal ground when Kivas was not in the uptime of his pledge.

Immediately after the ambush, Kivas repositioned himself to the location where they might decide to exit. Because of it, Kivas glimpsed how many people had exited the meadow. They might have laid an ambush as far as Kivas know, but the fact that they didn't do anything when Kivas went into the outer part of the meadow within the forest meant that they were probably outside of this area.

That would be good news for him, if not for the fact that he didn't see the man with the red scarf and the hooded man with a tall giant sword.

The group that had just left was also not in the position of the dodecahedron-shaped object. If Kivas' hunch was right, both of them should still be in the meadow with the deterrent object, continuing to spread the influence of the deterrence even further.

Kivas know nothing of their true intent, but whatever the motivation was, such an action that could threaten the world shall not be condemned by the slightest.

' I only have one more use of the Hidden Takamagahara. Even then, they might have not used their full potential, knowing that they were taken off by the ambush and the realization of the sky.'

Thinking about the terrifying monstrosity that was watching from the fake sky to be unleashed at the world that he ought to explore and discover made him remember vividly of the nuclear crisis in his former world.

Seeing how everyone possessed their own story with their own respective potential to reach the high peak of their life, to be just killed off unjustifiably by the world and the lifeform within it.

Kivas felt a strong resentment to such a situation.

The Pledge of Survival only lasted for 30 seconds and it took 120 seconds before it could get into effect. Meanwhile, the duo was ready and steady all the time.

"That fire, have you seen anything of a similarity?" said Naraka.

"Not by the slightest, but, if my hunch is correct." With movement from his fingers, Delamuion put on an ethereal field that enveloped both him and Naraka. "The beast we're facing might be either named, or an Apex Predator Class. No, it is definitely an Apex Predator Class."

"You casted Material Separation, that will cut off half of our peripheral senses, any reason for such action?" said Naraka as he scouted the surroundings with his gaze.

"Looking from the ambush just now, there are three undeniable facts that we can utilize." Delamuion cast another spell to enhance both of their physical prowess. "Firstly, the beast is intelligent, and it didn't want the 'device' to achieve its goal. Second, the destructive power is equal if not better than the Spear that the Alpha of the Sakhta Dragon used. It's destructive and accurate, which means that the beast won't be using it again if it's unsure of our situation as the energy used for such a move would be too demanding.

"Third, the beast might be blind and couldn't grasp the full extent of our position."

'Heh, while the situation looks dangerously bad, there is one undeniable fact.' Kivas began to concoct his battle plan as the duo did theirs.

"Even after the destructive lashes and the hidden projectile it unleashed, it does nothing but hide itself beyond our sight for pretty much the whole time."

'Both of them seemed to have no grasp of my true size and power. They must be thinking really hard on how to deal with this unknown force that they faced.'

"I used Material Separation to further disconnect our presence than before. While it limits our action, it limits our opponents even further."

'They haven't moved for a while, a clear sign that I'm still at an advantage. They know nothing of my location and moving pattern yet. Even if I move, the winds and the crackling fire of the flowers will be masking my movement.'

"Not to mention, we can fight just fine with our limited senses."

'They can't even sense me when I am close to them, scouting for their location will be easy.'

"We must reach the end of this."

'I mustn't let them reach the end of this.'

With that, Kivas started his Pledge of Survival.

-May thou be graced with life-