Chapter 98: Maze runners 5

Kreeeeeee!

My head snapped backwards. There, was a swarm of insect type beasts, flying after us, and when I meant a swarm, I meant an unlimited swarm. They were so clustered that I couldn’t see anything behind them.

“Oh shit.” I cursed. “How the hell did you even provoke them?” I asked while we ran for our dear lives.

“I didn’t, a single one attacked me, and I took care of it.” She said exasperatedly. “But then, suddenly the swarm appeared, so I fled.”

“I see.” I muttered.

“Let me see the map.” she said, to which I handed it over to her.

There was no way we could fight this much beasts. I could sense multiple Theta+ ranked aether signatures from within the swarm, and not to mention, an even more terrifying aura behind all that. Definitely a Zeta ranked creature, maybe a boss monster type of shit.

A Zeta ranked beast, much like a Zeta ranked aetherial, was much much stronger than those of a lower rank. Just like aetherials who get their second ability upon breaking through to the Zeta rank, beasts that originally didn’t posses abilities, would also gain one upon attaining that rank.

And those types of beasts were a nightmare to face, even for other zeta ranked aetherials. That was because a new thing would be introduced. Chilling and cunning intelligence. The beast’s intelligence would undergo a new reform. It wouldn’t be a mere beast acting on instincts anymore.

“How are we going to get out of this mess?” I muttered grimly.

“What is we? Sia slightly cocked her head in my direction. “You’re one your own.” She said before she suddenly disappeared in a blink.

My jaw was left hanging for a moment, before I cursed. “This bitch!” I gritted my teeth. But then suddenly,

WHUM! WHUM! WHUM!

The air protested, as three humanoid figures streaked past me at absurd speeds.

’Sons of bitches.’ I cursed seeing the backs of the three. Now I was the one behind, directly in the way of the cluster.

Kreeeeeee!

“Damn!” I cursed once more, after taking a glance back. The bastards were catching up, that too, fast. Hell be damned if I were to die to mere insects. I pumped eighty percent of my reserves into a reflection. The moment the reflection materialized, I had already left it behind, but I zoomed past my main body in the next moment, before slowing down a bit.

As soon as I reached the reflection, I just leapt a bit, and saddled myself on it’s back in a piggy back ride.

The moment my main body was on my back, I took a single step.

BOOM!

I heard the ground shatter, as the air made way for me, it took less than a quarter of a second, to overtake the trio running in front of me in a somewhat slow motion manner.

“Damn, I’m fast.” I muttered. For some reason, even though I could make reflections this strong after I broke through to the Eta rank, I had never actually made them. Up until now, I had only made one that had a hundred and eighty percent of my strength.

This was the first time I had gone over that. A reflection with 320 percent of my strength. Not gonna lie, it somewhat felt overwhelming, since this was the first time I had felt this strong, or fast. But it was definitely worth it.

I could see Sia no more, due to the multiple paths and corners, but I could tell the paths she took, from the air currents. And I didn’t hesitate to follow after her, and so was the case for the trio who were following after me.

In long paths, I even mange to catch her figure, before she entered another path.

A quick glance back with my main body, and I noticed Dpress falling behind. No, he wasn’t falling behind, it was just that the creatures were getting faster.

I didn’t want to admit it, but at this rate he would fall soon enough. He was now the slowest amongst us all. Sia was in a league of her own, I had my reflection to aid, Nina released explosive force from her feet to increase her speed, and Greg’s ability could increase his strength and speed.

The only one without a gimmick was Dpress. His ability couldn’t do shit in this situation. I muttered a silent prayer for him, as in the next moment, he got completely swallowed by the storm of insects.

The way it happened so effortlessly in the way he couldn’t even offer the least bit of resistance, the raw despair on his face as he pushed himself to run even faster, and the moment he got completely devoured by the swarm. All these moments sent chills down my spine.

Greg and Nina’s expression contorted into a grimace of pure unadulterated loathing at the swarm, but they hadn’t dared to stop running even as the swarm swallowed their friend. Even as their mosquito like appendages pierced through his body, before he was inevitable swallowed.

I shook those thoughts away, and focused on running. I was catching longer glimpses of that dark haired bitch now.

I had to make as far distance as possible from both Greg and Nina, and the swarm. I had to lose them, perhaps only then would the swarm stop chasing after me. But there was a problem, Sia wasn’t fast enough to lose me, but I also wasn’t fast enough to lose them either.

So, I increased the potency of my aether reinforcement, and pushed my mirage steps to the maximum.

My speed exploded even further, and Sia soon appeared in my vision once more. She was still faster, but not by much.

“Stop, you fucking imbecile!” I yelled.” Give me the fucking map at least!” That was part of the reason why I was following after her. She had asked for the map, and I had foolishly given it to her.

“Now why would I do that?!” she yelled back. “I’m not leaving you, I’m just trying to maximize our efforts in escaping from those creatures alive.”

“Oh yeah, then explain to me how the hell running away with the scroll helps?!”

“It was so that those idiots will serve as a distraction for us to escape!” she said. And also to ’motivate’ you to show the reason you always give off that ’I’ll be fine aura’.

And I would say it’s working fine since you’re running just slightly slower than I am right now, with considerably more strength than you’ve shown before might I add.”

“That is bullshit if I’ve ever heard of one!” Since when did I give off an ’I’ll be fine aura’? Was it because I knew I could always leave the tomb anytime I wanted? Surely not.

’So she did it to know what, What I was hiding? She must take me for a fool.’ But just as I thought that, Sia suddenly slowed down, until we were side by side.

“See? no foul play.” she smirked, extending the map back to me, which I accepted with a snort.

I could no longer sense neither Greg nor Nina behind me at this point. Maybe they’d died, or maybe they were still alive, but who cares, I wasn’t risking my life on some people I barely knew. Hell I wouldn’t even for Rose, maybe I could do so for Ariel, but that was a what if, as Ariel was simply too strong to need saving from me.

Even with the silence, we would be beyond foolish to stop running.

“You know, it’s still somewhat comical how you have another you on your back.” Sia said as we cut off from a path due to a dead end.

“So what if I do?” The two of me echoed. I hadn’t cared about what people even back at the institute, not to mention when my life was on the line.

“So you can make your so called reflections stronger than you.” she muttered almost to herself. It was a logical conclusion to come too, after all, if my main body was that strong/ fast, I wouldn’t need a reflection to carry me. And Sia had been with me for long, she definitely knew my main body wasn’t this fast.

“Wait…” I suddenly thought of something. That bastard had said that if team members were down to less than three, the team would be disqualified. Did that mean that we were going to be disqualified? ’Hell no, I did not suffer this past few days just to end up with nothing.

“What?” Sia frowned looking at my grim visage. I explained the nuances of our situation to her.

Her face grew grim.

“Now that you mention it…” she trailed off. “He only said that about the first trial, he never said the same about the second trial.” She sparkled. “But then again, I might be wrong. Give it some time, and if we’re still here, it’ll be either those rules didn’t apply to the second trial, or those three managed to escaped.”

“Those two.” I corrected. “Dpress is dead.”

“Oh.” she let out.

***********

Thanks for the support everyone. There are now five privilege advanced Chapters on webnovel. So if you want to read ahead, you’re welcome.

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep