Worth The Risk

PEW!

The automatons were lagging far behind after Sorath's speed-up. Even though they could move gracefully and control their limbs nimbly, their movement speeds were slower than Sorath's.

Moreover, instead of relegating their arcane energy to boost themselves, they decided that shooting Sorath with an energy bullet was a better choice. 

Only two of dozens of automatons possessed the intelligence to boost their speed with arcane energy so they could catch up to Sorath.

However, it turned out to be a perfect combination to disrupt Sorath's movement and allow the two boosted automatons to close their distance to Sorath.

Sorath clicked his tongue.

While sprinting and dodging the energy bullet simultaneously, Sorath could feel his stamina quickly drained. He felt his speed slowing down after running three-quarters of the straight path.

'Just a bit more!'

Sorath gritted his teeth as he forced his body to the limits.

Boom!

An explosion occurred behind him. When he glanced back, he found out one of the two boosted automatons was seemingly receiving friendly fire while lunging forward to grab him.

Noticing an automaton had accidentally become a shield for him, Sorath smirked for a moment before another automaton disrupted him.

Voooom!

The faint hum of the energy sword tickled Sorath's ears as the automaton missed his swing by an inch. That, however, wasn't because the sentient humanoid stone was inadequate using a sword. But it was Sorath who had a better reflex.

'That was close...'

Sorath dashed with momentum, using the remaining stamina and determination to create a distance between him and the automaton.

Then, as Sorath almost reached the grand door, the ground suddenly tremored.

'What is it now?!'

The door opened, revealing the chamber hiding behind it. Consequently, small rocks fell from above. 

What came after that was the shocking sight of a boulder plunging and landing on the weathered floor with a great tremor. Besides that, it also sent an energy shockwave to its surroundings, pushing Sorath and his pursuer a few meters behind.

Rubbing his eyes from the dust, Sorath looked at the boulder.

"What?!" He stunned. "Why is the guardian of the highest floor here?!"

Before him stood a stone golem reinforced with the energy enveloped this open space. At a glance, Sorath could tell that the stone golem was stronger than it was supposed to be because of the arcane.

He was trapped.

The humanoid automatons were behind him. Meanwhile, the stone golem that was supposed to guard the highest floor had joined the party. It stood tall in front of Sorath and seemingly smirked - if it ever had one - at him.

Now, what would Sorath do in this situation? He cursed.

"Fuck."

The stunned automatons began to activate again. However, their numbers had greatly reduced because of the shockwave from the golem, leaving only 18 of them from 63.

The automatons morphed their hands from an energy gun to a sword. Slowly, they approached the defenseless human who was recently getting up from his fall.

However, that very human that they thought was distracted by the appearance of the stone golem wasn't that dumb to ignore the humanoid robots, each with an energy sword in their hands.

The moment the stone golem moved its hovering hand, and the automatons were ready to flank him, Sorath dashed backward, dodging and slipping through the energy swords and the humanoid robots.

Crash!

The stone golem's palm crushed two of the automatons at the front, where it was supposed to hit Sorath. Quickly after that, Sorath regained his balance and lunged forward.

Sorath climbed the golem's hand right before it pulled back. Desperately hanging on it, Sorath waited for it to stop so he could jump down and run for the door.

"It's time!"

When the moment was right, Sorath leaped from the hovering hand to the ground. Landing with a roll, he ran past the grand door, and when he was inside, it closed by itself with a loud noise.

Sorath gasped for air. He was lying on the polished floor like a dead person.

"I did it..."

He took a moment to recover his stamina and fatigue. However, that turned out to be a bad idea. A few moments later, he suddenly felt his body aching as though electricities had electrocuted him.

"Right... the adrenaline rush..."

Sorath chuckled, deciding to lie still down there.

...

A half-hour later, Sorath recovered from his fatigue and replenished his stamina. He didn't waste time to look around after his recovery.

Despite having a ten-meter-tall grand door as its entrance, the chamber was a room with nothing worthy of valuables or items except for the abundance of arcane energy trapped inside.

The floor and the wall were made of the same stone as the large space outside but polished. The height of this chamber was approximately 12 meters with a narrower diameter compared to the colossal room behind the door.

It was so narrow and small that it only needed exactly 99 steps if someone was walking from the door to the other end, where a triangle hole bore in the wall.

If there was something more valuable or equal to the abundance of energy in this room, it would be that triangle hole.

With a knowing look, Sorath approached the wall at the other end.

"Hmm..."

He studied the hole in the wall. No matter how much he thought about it, it was definitely the key to the relic he looked for. The very relic that would belong to him only, without worrying about the time would get rewound.

In case Julian wanted to steal it from him, Sorath would make sure that wouldn't ever happen. Even if that meant a war of time loops were to happen again.

"Am I supposed to put my hand inside this hole?"

Soon after that, Sorath put his right hand inside the triangle hole. At first, nothing was happening to him or the chamber. 

However, when he was about to pull his hand out of the hole, a mysterious force trapped his hand inside.

"What the..."

Then, when a noise of click resounded in the room, Sorath began to scream.

"ARGHHH!!"

Sorath tried to pull out his hand, but it was futile.

"MY HAND!!"

The mysterious force sucked his hand tightly. In the process, he felt something was chewing his hand like gum. No. It would be too light to say that something was chewing him. It was more like his hand got crushed.

He tried so hard to pull his hand out while enduring the excruciating pain he felt from his hand getting crushed. Every time he was about to lose consciousness, he bit his tongue until it bled.

By the end of the day, after five minutes of experiencing that horror, Sorath managed to pull his hand.

"Fucking..."