Chapter 134: Awakened Tournament Crisis (40)

Eden and Elio were barely a hundred meters farther when the battlefield ahead of them erupted once more.

A mass of tentacles rose from beneath the shattered ground, blocking their route to the skull. There were too many to count, and their thick, spiked bodies intertwined until they formed a living wall.

Eden’s eyes narrowed.

’Damn it. If we stop now, we’ll lose the charge!’

He could already feel his remaining Essence slipping away. The Devour coating his blade was hungry, consuming the energy he poured into it while demanding more. The purple glow surrounding Elio’s sword was similarly intensifying, the air around its edge distorting beneath the pressure.

Then the temperature plummeted.

A sharp crack echoed across the battlefield.

Frost spread over the ground in an instant, racing beneath the tentacles and climbing their enormous bodies. Ice erupted from the shattered concrete in towering formations, freezing dozens of limbs in place. The wave continued outward, catching even those that had been preparing to attack from behind.

Sonne stood at the center of the frozen battlefield, her blonde hair whipping around her face as she drove her ice lance into the ground.

Her amber eyes were focused and fierce.

"You two better make this count!"

The ice expanded.

Within seconds, a massive frozen structure had engulfed the entire wave, trapping the tentacles inside thick layers of crystalline frost.

Sonne’s expression tightened as the creature began struggling against her restraints.

"Lucy!"

"On it!"

Lucy was already moving.

Her Essence flared pink as she activated Quick Charge, gathering explosive force throughout her body. She swept both arms outward, and a chain of glowing points appeared across the frozen mass.

A series of linked detonations ripped through the ice, each explosion triggering the next. The entire frozen structure became a storm of shattering crystals and pulverized tentacle flesh. The resulting shockwave swept across the battlefield, sending fragments of ice spinning through the air like countless blades.

The frozen wall vanished beneath the combined assault.

When the smoke cleared, the entire path ahead was open.

Lucy landed in a crouch, one hand braced against the ground. Her breathing was ragged, and her Essence flickered unevenly around her body. She nevertheless raised her head and gave Eden a determined smile.

"Don’t you dare lose now, Eden!"

Sonne withdrew her lance from the ground, forcing herself to remain standing despite the exhaustion dragging at her limbs.

"Go! We’ll deal with whatever comes next!"

Eden briefly glanced over his shoulder.

Lucy was injured. Sonne was exhausted. Sophia and Kael were still fighting. Everyone was running on fumes, and yet none of them had asked him to stop.

They were trusting him to finish this.

’You people really know how to make a man feel guilty.’

He turned forward again.

"Elio."

"I know."

Another wave arrived just as they reached the halfway point.

This time, the tentacles were even thicker, their spiked surfaces glowing with a strange black sheen. They tore through the ground as they emerged, moving with such speed that the air itself seemed to buckle around them.

Eden’s instincts screamed at him to dodge.

He ignored them and continued charging.

Elio’s purple Essence flickered dangerously around his blade.

"We might have to—"

"No you don’t!"

Alexis’s voice rang across the battlefield.

The cyan-haired Awakened stood near the shattered remains of a concrete pillar, his sunglasses cracked and his Hawaiian shirt torn in several places. Despite his battered appearance, he wore a wide grin.

Beside him, Luvian rolled his shoulders, crimson fire pouring from his body in waves.

"Honestly," Luvian muttered, "if I have to save your asses one more time, I’m going to start charging you!"

Luvian’s Essence surged.

A demonic horn of fire emerged from the right side of his head, curving upward like the horn of some infernal beast. Crimson flames spiraled around his arm, growing brighter and hotter until the surrounding air shimmered beneath their intensity.

[Flame Heart]

The sheer pressure of his Essence forced the surrounding tentacles to recoil.

Alexis stepped beside him, raising one hand toward the sky.

Lightning crackled between his fingers.

"Ready to make some fireworks?"

"Just don’t get in my way."

The two unleashed their power simultaneously.

Lightning and fire surged together, intertwining in a violent spiral. The lightning fed the flames, while the flames gave the lightning a physical shape, forming a colossal dragon whose body stretched across the battlefield.

Its head emerged first, jaws wide open and fangs formed from concentrated lightning. Crimson fire coiled around its neck, flowing along its serpentine body in enormous waves. Every movement unleashed thunderous detonations, and the ground beneath it melted beneath the heat.

For a brief moment, the battlefield was illuminated by a second sun.

Then Alexis pointed forward.

"Make way!"

The dragon charged.

It swallowed the incoming tentacles in a torrent of lightning and fire, its enormous jaws tearing through the living wall. The creature’s body surged onward, consuming everything in its path until it collided with the densest concentration of tentacles.

A pillar of fire and lightning erupted across the battlefield, swallowing the entire wave in a blinding flash. The shockwave sent debris flying in every direction, while the thunderous roar drowned out even the skull’s furious shrieking.

When the light finally faded, nothing remained between Eden and Elio and their target but a scorched, devastated stretch of ground.

Alexis lowered his arm and flashed them a thumbs-up.

"Go get ’em, boys!"

Luvian shook his head, the demonic horn of flame slowly fading.

"Get it fucking done already!"

The enormous black skull towered over them, its crimson eyes burning with renewed intensity. Its surface was covered in countless mouths and pulsing masses of flesh, while the surrounding shadows churned like a bottomless sea.

Eden could feel the oppressive presence radiating from it.

Whatever power sustained the creature was concentrated somewhere within that grotesque body. The skull itself was almost certainly the core, or at least the most vulnerable part of its structure.

Destroy it, and they might finally end the monster’s rampage.

Fail, and they would have spent their last reserves for nothing.

Eden tightened his grip.

’Just a little farther.’

Then the skull’s eyes flashed.

Something red emerged from the darkness.

At first, Eden mistook the shapes for another wave of tentacles. But the moment they fully extended, his expression changed.

These were different.

Their surfaces were covered in crimson ridges, and their enormous spikes looked less like natural growths and more like sharpened weapons. The air around them distorted beneath their sheer force. Even before they attacked, Eden could feel the difference in their presence.

Several shot toward Elio.

Others targeted Eden.

The attacks came from every direction, converging on the two men with terrifying speed. They were too close to dodge while maintaining their momentum, and there was no time to destroy them before impact.