Tricks and Betrayals

Noah easily maneuvered through the room to get to the suspicious corner. Looking down with his Silver Dragon Eyes still active and noticing waves upon waves of Essence crashing upon what seemed to be a transparent shield, he was sure that something was going on down there. Although they had set up a shield to block the outflow of Essence and conceal their spot, he had easily noticed it.

Bending down, he felt about on the ground before smiling. With a grunt, the ground below him slowly opened, allowing him to slip underneath.

Immediately sounds of more weapons clashing reached his ears but this time they were on a whole more violent intensity.

Noah quickly hid himself and looked at the scene before him with contempt. He could see two groups fighting against each other. One group was the man who had tried to invite him, Ivan, and the other contained people he could not recognize, this was natural as he barely interacted with people around him. He quickly glanced away from them and set his sights on the treasures hanging on the weapons rack, protected by a Force field. His lips curled up as an urge to possess those weapons reached his mind.

But Noah controlled himself. This was not the same as the battle above him. Here, there were 2 Adept Stage Battlesoul masters, potentially 3, if the girl named Alyssa was counted. Their senses were very high, it would be an easy thing for them to notice him even if he used Flicker. So, he simply bid his time, he would wait as the two groups overwhelmed each other and prayed that, hopefully, an Adept Stage Battlesoul master died in the battle.

Unfortunately, both Adepts were very tempered. Their fight seemed evened out with neither gaining the upper hand over the other. Behind them, the luster of the weapons ranking at 6, 7 or 8! Seeing this, Noah regulated his breathing and watched Ivan deeply. The man possessed a rare Lightning affinity but was countered by his opponent's Earth affinity. The two weaved around the battlefield with their blades emitting Sparks as they met.

Soon, the inevitable had happened. Ivan's Essence core ran out! After all, he was the one on the offensive, making him waste more of his energy. But he gritted his teeth and knocked into his enemy, leaving them both quite stunned.

Noah immediately took this as his chance. He dashed forward, going as far as to activate the Azure Dragon Art. He reached across the room in an instant, but just before his fingers touched the sword before him, he paused... and ran backwards!

Fear! At that moment, Noah felt a terrible dread spread across his body. He completely trusted his intuition and ran backwards as fast as he could.

The other mercenaries were shocked to see someone unknown to them in this passage and were about to attack when a sudden pressure washed over them.

Immediately, everyone in the room felt a suction force landing on their body. They all looked back to see that the rack of glittering weapons were gone and replacing them,...

... was a large Boa with its maw open, it's act of devouring clear. It wanted to eat.

A small number actually failed to hold on completely and felt back into its unending maw but Noah used his Martial arts to pick himself up and fight back the suction force. But...

His eyes narrowed as he saw the Mercenary Ivan, glancing back at him. "Shit."

Immediately, a bolt of lightning struck at Noah. His raised Dragon Guard could barely stop it but it weakened the attack enough to not blow a complete hole into his body, after all, it was an attack launched by an Adept Stage Battlesoul master. Still, his internal organs were badly shaken up and worse... His body could barely fight the suction force as he was sent back.

"Damn you!" Gravity Force activated to reduce Noah's weight as he used the floating rocks to maneuver to the other side of the room while sending a hateful glare at Ivan.

Yet all he received was a glance full of mockery.

Noah's eyes widened. He looked back to see Jason's conflicted expression. 'Fuck.' He wanted to move, but the movement he had just made added to the injury to his gut really took a toll on him.

He could only watch as Jason summoned a whirlwind that pushed upon Alyssa, shocking the cold girl. But before she could do anything, a bolt of lightning landed on her, forcing her to spit blood as her body smashed into Noah who was behind her.

The two fell into the maw of the Boa, their fates unknown.

***

Noah groaned as he stood up. His eyes squinted as he recalled his current predicament. 'Fuck.' He stared at his surrounding and noticed that it was night. He appeared to be in the middle of a desert. 'It seems the Boa is a creature of the spatial affinity, and a good one too if it could transport us so far away because judging from his surroundings, he was sure that the ground he stood on was not of the Kingdom of Valir. This was because the kingdom housed no desert at all.

"Hng." Suddenly a sound was emitted from behind him, making his body tense. But a friend appeared upon his face as he noticed the shaken girl behind him. He now remembered that she was also thrown into the beast's mouth with him.

"Of all the things that could go wrong..." Noah whispered as he stood up to check his surroundings more carefully.

"This... they betrayed me?" Behind him, the girl muttered to herself in confusion. "But why?" The cold looking girl was confused. Although she stayed socially away from them, her tasks were always done perfectly. She didn't see any reason for them to just betray her like that.

Noah, on the other hand, sneered as he glanced at her. "It's obvious really." His sneer deepened as he stared intently at her. "He was scared of you."

Alyssa frowned in confusion and surprise. It was now she remembered that someone had been thrown in with her. But her confusion on over her surprise and made her ask. "Why?"

"Obviously he was scared of your strength. Your hidden strength. Why would he choose to fight alongside a factor that could potentially cause him to lose all his gaining? It's easy for him to bully Battlesoul masters with lower strength than him. But as for you, whose strength could be the same as his or very well above his, he chose to kill you." Noah simply sighed as he spoke. This sort of things happened a lot on Earth when multiple teams banded together, going artifact hunting.

"You..." Alyssa obviously wanted to talk but then noticed something that deeply surprised her, causing her cold poker face to break open once more. "You... you're a child?"

Noah was stunned. He brought his hand to his face and then noticed that his mask had fallen off! Seeing this, he could only smile ruefully. As if his situation wasn't bad enough. But he quickly dropped the matter. His mind reached into his World ring to summon a Rank 3 leather armor and long swords, tokens he had taken from the earlier battle. "It's best to move away for now. I feel weird as no beast has even dared to approach us even while our scent has been carried by the wind. Most likely, we're in a Beast King's territory."

"Hmm." Alyssa nodded. Though she had questions, it was best to confirm their situation first. She was quick to summon her weapons, using her cold eyes to scan the night. Her Essence rolled off into the distance for a while before coming back.

Sensing this Essence, Noah frowned. Dark affinity! This girl possessed a Dark type Battlesoul! This was almost as rare as his Space type soul. But soon Alyssa's confused face caught his attention. "Are there a lot?"

The girl shook her head. "No. That's the weird thing. There's no beast within a 300 meter radius of us."

Noah's brows creased. It was at this moment that a morning ray of sunshine fell upon his skin, prompting him to look at the East. Feeling the sunlight touching his skin, Noah shook. Immediately, his Twin Battlesouls flashed into existence as they roared in anger and pain. Noah's expression twisted as he fell back pulling Alyssa with him. "Run!!!"

He finally realized why all the beasts weren't around. This damned sun...

... Was actually launching soul attacks at those its light touched!!!