Chapter 264: An Inedible Card

Under the sky decorated with the light of the sunset, Dana moved quickly, running on the vine bridge with twenty people behind her.

In the end Demir refused what she was saying, calling it plain, unjustified recklessness, she was angry... very angry, and what made it worse was that half of the people who were there hesitated to follow her.

Only half followed her which left her with only twenty people now climbing up with the sunset, instead of heading straight to the island closest to them she took a big detour... careful that their movements wouldn’t be spotted.

Maybe they were only twenty people, but Dana was confident in her ability to take over the higher island and open the road for the rest who refused to follow her... they preferred Demir over her.

Calling the other half of the group would take time, and means they’d have to give up the islands they purged... so it wasn’t an option available at this time.

Beside her another girl ran, her skin was pale, beads of sweat running down her like she’s standing under the rain, she looked on the verge of collapsing here.

Of course, it wasn’t because of the running... but because she’s covering everyone with a veil of reflection.

She was the only reason that let them move without being seen, especially now when the higher island was in front of them... there on the horizon.

The one Ellen is supposed to be on, and the one that connects Kyle’s island to the rest... controlling it means cutting him off from everyone.

In other words, killing two birds with one stone.

"D... Dana... I can’t... anymore." The girl spoke in a broken voice, barely keeping her breath from slipping away.

Dana gritted her teeth. "Hold on.... just a little more, all we need is to reach the edge before they notice us."

The girl nodded weakly... she didn’t stop and neither did the others, all of them ran upward, every time their feet landed on the small islands that connect the vines together, they pushed themselves further.

Then when there were only a few hundred meters left to the surface, the veil finally broke, the faint distortion that wrapped them disappeared and they appeared to the world under a sky that had taken on a shade of black.

But all that was left was a few hundred meters.

A trivial distance for the Awakened.

The girl almost tripped, and her broken voice came out weak like an ant. "S... sorry."

Dana caught her from falling, her sandy yellow eyes staring at the stretch of land that appeared in front of them... the few people on it, their eyes widened as they pressed their watches.

She smiled, remembering the ones who stayed behind her. "Now you’ll see!"

...

With the sunset, it was like the drums of war had been declared in the Hanging Islands.

Like everyone had agreed to give up their passiveness and bare their fangs, the four groups moved without mercy.

Dana climbed to Ellen’s island, while Ellen and Kyle cut their way back quickly, sending requests for support to the others.

Thirty members of Erebus were trapped at the edge at the fourth level, caught in Silas’s snare, like a hunter who wants to get rid of a group of rats that had been gnawing at his fields every night.

At the same time his sister cut her way up on the western side, reaching the island Emeris is on with twenty people with her... maybe she picked it for something other than strategy.

Dozens of smaller teams spread across the Hanging Islands, some of them already fighting to take control, and others just holding their positions... ready to take a quiet night, not interested in the conflict.

After all the exam didn’t depend on fighting against the other teams but on controlling the islands until the end of the period...

And while the bracelets vibrated and many battles were about to ignite.

One of them was asleep.

...

I stretched my hand forward, further than the edge of the table, my skin touched the cold metal, my fingers following those grooves carved into it.

I picked up the piece and brought it up to my face, staring at the dark black card.

The light metal absorbed the light itself, while the organized patterns spread across its polished surface.

It was bigger than my hand... or was it my hand that was small?

"Oh!.." I let out a sound of wonder, my voice was childish and quiet... innocent, and full of pure curiosity.

I brought the card close to my mouth and put my tongue on it, only to spit the next moment. "Pfft... gross!"

Unlike its shape, its taste was bitter... so bitter that I felt my tongue go numb, and I wondered why I’m putting this in my mouth.

And while I was thinking about what this thing is, a voice from behind me cut me off... it made my small body tremble.

A loud scolding voice, and someone screaming at me, but even with the sharp tone it was still beautiful... in a way that can’t be described.

"Caius..."

The voice cut off and the world faded.

"Caius!... wake up!"

Annoying screaming rose from somewhere; I didn’t want to open my eyes... I wanted to go back to the dream, to finish it.

To see who was screaming at me.

But soon enough I forgot what I saw.

The memories faded into the darkness... how many times had it been now?

"Damn it!" I heard loud cursing, followed by an urgent feeling of danger.

I opened my eyes to the cloth surface of the tent, in a moment a sword of raw essence formed in my hand, lying down I put it right in front of me.

The next moment the tent tore like it was nothing, the essence sword clashed with the attack coming at me from above, which made my back shatter against the ground as I sank into a big hole.

Behind my vision blurry from sleep, I caught what attacked me... it was a monster.

Long arms and a body that looks like a human’s... but its body wasn’t the strange thing, it was where this monster came from.

Unfortunately, the feeling of being smashed into the ground the moment you wake up wasn’t refreshing, at least if they’d let me stretch a little and wash my face.

The essence flowed into my arm as I pushed the sword upward, with one push, I made the monster lose its balance and stagger back... taking advantage of this, I jumped and carried myself up to my feet.

From the hole that formed where my tent was, my eyes scanned the place... only Ivan was visible fighting a huge monster that looks like a human bear, dodging its attacks in a strange way.

Ivan caught me out of the corner of his eye as he screamed urgently, explaining this strange situation. "The monsters appeared suddenly, I don’t know how!... the others disappeared when I was relieving myself at the forest."

While I heard his words the earlier monster had already lunged at me, I took a step to the side and spun on my heel.

I could have cut it in half right now; I could have raised my leg and kicked it... and many other things that would lead straight to its death.

But I didn’t do any of that.

Dodging it, I let it pass beside me, its momentum carrying it away from me while I rushed in the opposite direction.

My essence flowed and my perception consumed everything around us.

That’s when the others’ souls shone in front of my eyes even though they weren’t visible... and away from the others’ souls there was more, and I recognized them already.

I raised two of my fingers together, my essence flowed and a compressed ball formed on them, it took less than a heartbeat.

So, when I aimed it at the empty space, a beam of raw essence split off from the front of the ball, cutting through the shadows of the night and reaching straight to one of the trees.

Or specifically the invisible thing in front of it.

That’s when reality trembled like it was made of mist, and several people appeared there.

One of them bent down, dodging the beam of light by a hair.

But the beam went on to the person behind him and pierced his shoulder blade... he was supposed to scream from the pain.

But the light had already wrapped him and moved him away.

Only at that moment the veil of illusions was lifted, Garon and Ivan stopped fighting, realizing the situation.

One of our team was already thrown on the ground with Sarah’s arrow at his neck.

The blonde healer’s arm bled as she moved away from her teammate’s sword that almost cut her.

My whole team was clashing with each other in a life-and-death battle, and all of this because of that bastard over there.