Chapter 227: Party Crasher
Sora Brontarion
The ground shook violently.
I scanned the area, looking for the members of my cluster until I locked eyes with Voen. His eyes were wide, his pupils shaking as he stood next to an abnormally large echo.
His body was still.
He mouthed some words toward me and raised a finger, pointing at the large echo wearing a black cloak.
Fear radiated from him.
From the echo next to him, I sensed…
Pleasure.
The ground shook even harder, as though we were standing at the heart of an earthquake. Cracks splintered across the surface beneath our feet.
“Everyone, brace yourselves!” Professor Thorne yelled, sitting up straight.
Then the echo that floated next to Voen began levitating as it turned to face us and speak.
“I’m afraid that will do nothing,” the echo said, raising its arms above its head.
“Now I must thank you for the bountiful harvest you have provided me.”
Right where the play was taking place, the earth bulged, destroying the terrain, creating fissures all around the central pyramid.
Then it came.
A two hundred-foot-long centipede, coated in glossy chitinous armor, erupted from the ground, swallowing the echoes that performed the play.
The rift went mute.
Debris flew everywhere; students screamed as they were thrown around. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A monstrosity like this actually lived here inside the rift.
My stomach sank as I got a good look at its core.
It was at the voidborn stage. A stage higher than me and all my counterparts.
We stood no chance against that thing.
I needed to move, but my body was frozen, paralyzed by the carnage around me.
I watched as the two hundred-foot behemoth coiled through the streets, swallowing echoes whole. A couple of students were caught in its path, their bodies ripped to pieces.
My heart burned, and a single tear slipped down my cheek as everyone’s dread, pain, and hopelessness flooded into me, leaving no room for my own emotions.
The flood of emotions pushed me to the edge, forcing me to do something Jace begged me not to do.
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Right as I was about to, a sudden force knocked into me, making me stumble. When I turned, I saw that it was Voen.
“I’ve been calling you. We have to retreat into the jungle!” Voen said, snapping me out of my daze.
Voen grabbed my arm and pulled me along as he raced towards a nearby world tree.
“Where are Nerena and Simon?” I asked, throwing a quick glance over my shoulder
The monstrous centipede was still rampaging, hurling students into the air, impaling them on its pincers, and swallowing them whole.
I quickly turned away from the gruesome sight.
“Nerena and Simon are up ahead. We have to get moving, Sora.”
I slipped out of it and coated my body in electricity, supercharging my muscles, forcing me to sprint faster.
I pulled up in front of Voen, tapped him on the shoulder, sending a jolt of electricity to jump-start his muscles and energize his mind.
A loud, high-pitched screech pierced the air, creating a shockwave that knocked us forward, slamming us into the trunk of a world tree.
Blood trickled down from my forehead as I sprawled back up to my feet and began climbing the world tree.
Wait, where is Voen?
I scanned the jungle around me.
He wasn’t above me, or anywhere to my right or left.
Then I looked down.
He was trapped under a log, desperately trying to escape.
Damn it.
I dove towards him and got a look at what was happening back at the central pyramid.
My stomach plummeted.
The gigantic centipede coiled around the pyramid, crushing it like a vice until it toppled. Now its attention shifted to us.
I landed on the ground and dashed toward Voen. I grabbed the log, pinning his legs down, and tried to lift it, but the massive piece of wood refused to budge.
I commanded electricity to cover my hands and began chopping through the large log.
Voen's eyes were shut and his hands covering his ears. His anxiety poured into me, increasing by the second.
“Voen, calm down. I'm gonna get you out, alright,” I said, looking up at the speeding centipede.
I was about halfway through the log.
Pushing harder, my cutting speed increased, and I finally got through it.
The logs rolled off Voen’s leg, revealing dark bruises spreading across his pale skin.
I grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
“We are almost there; I need you to push a little more,” I said, sparking him once again.
He staggered to his feet, his eyes full of determination.
We dashed up the trunk of a nearby world tree. The tree felt like it was never-ending, and the large behemoth was barreling through the jungle.
I looked back at Voen and grabbed his hand. With a burst of strength, I launched him toward the branches above. I immediately flooded my legs with cosmic energy and followed after him, catching a branch before I fell.
Voen and I were both gasping for air as we leaned against a branch that was shaded by the massive leaves above us.
“Thank you, Sora; you really saved my life back there,” Voen said, placing his hand on his bruises, using a vitalist technique to heal the injury.
“No, I should be thanking you; if you didn’t snap me out of that daze, I would have fared worse…”
Voen grimaced.
“What do we do now?”
I paused.
“We regroup with the others who made it up here, and come up with a plan to defeat this place.”