They fell through the vacuum and within minutes, they had been dropped off into another gate. But not in a safe space. The abrupt gate had opened above a lake, they dropped into it all atop each other. Except Baek of course, who simply righted himself in the air and skipped to the side where land was.
Jazmel swam to the surface and then swam the short distance that brought him to land.
DING!
YOU SURVIVED YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH A TIER VII
+5 WIL
YOU SURVIVED DEATH!
+5 END
…
Jazmel felt a trickle of system energy. His stats had risen but he wasn’t feeling quite proud at. After all, before that cardinal of carnage, he had not been able to do anything before it. stricken in fear.
“Well that was shitty.” Katie said, as she coughed up water and crawled up to lay beside Jazmel.
“I have never been so scared in my life.” Myn uttered, and Jazmel peeked; to see she was wiping away more than just lake water from her eyes.
“I thought we were going to die.” Bannerman rumbled.
“Death is unlike anywhere else in the labyrinth.” Baek surmised for them all.
“Death is the toughest place ever; it is said to defy the rules within the labyrinth. Some who have died and end up in death, are said to have the chance to earn their way back to the living. But few have ever managed it.” Baek explained.
“Who was that woman.” Jazmel asked and all the others agreed, curious about her.
“I cannot say, I do not know every strong person who exists within the labyrinth. All I know, is that very few and I mean less than twenty seekers ever survive without some form of backing. But those that do, they are astronomically strong. She felt like a master tier, but I could be wrong. She might be a monarch, whatever the strength of that is.” Baek said and Jazmel listened with focus.
“You should all remember that feeling, that dread. Because at any moment something like that can happen and you need to be ready. Ready to face your fears.” Baek chastised them all and waited for them to rest before they could all move on.
Jazmel lay there and took a moment to consider what had just happened. Baek had been able to move, but not so much as to face a tier VII being. The woman had told them that they needed to be able to handle a tier V creature on their own. Jazmel had fought tier V before, but never alone. He had to consider how strong he would need to be to face off against that tier.
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“Rest and we will move forward.” Baek said, standing guard over them all.
DING!
YOU HAVE WASHED ASHORE OF THE BARREN ISLAND!
HEAD INLAND WITHIN TEN HOURS!
THE BARREN ISLAND WILL BE ATTACKED AND YOU MUST SURVIVE THREE DAYS!
EACH DAY THE CREATURES AND BEINGS WILL GROW STRONGER!
GOOD LUCK!!
…
“There goes our rest.” Katie groaned as she pushed herself up onto her feet.
“Can we find somewhere to build a camp before we are attacked.” Myn moaned, crawling up to her knees and clambering to her feet.
“Bannerman, find us a base.” Jazmel asked and he was on his feet in a minute, moving with strained speed as they all recovered from their time in that unsanctioned gate. But they trudged on, moving quickly as their bodies tried to recover. They each took to potions, Mana, and stamina to help them recover quickly. Jazmel didn’t touch any, after all he needed to make sure his body was functioning as normal again.
Following the harrowing pace that Bannerman was keeping. They were inland within the hour, master tier and high tier rankers were able to move extremely quickly and Jazmel was using the moment to exert all his energy on movement. His tyrant body literally burning up his lactic acid in his limbs and using it to force him to move quick, and faster than before. Soon he was quite literally on Bannerman’s heels and catching up to him.
Two hours passed and the land turned into woodlands, forestry. Trees grew in abundance and soon they were moving through the woods, past beasts, and monsters too low tier for them to even bother hunting.
It took them three hours to reach a settlement. The few people who were present were barely people at this point, they were sickly and weak. They looked like they had been fighting a desperate battle and now the remnants of a people remained.
“Who are you.” An old and crippled man asked, using a long stick to hold himself upright.
“Seekers.” Jazmel offered, and the man steeled immediately.
“You come to steal what is left.” He said and Jazmel looked around confused.
“We haven’t come to steal anything; we didn’t even know about this settlement until we got here.” he said but the man wouldn’t accept his words.
“Hey, what’s happened here. talk to me.” Myn said, moving forward slowly. She seemed the more approachable one of their current group and the man eyed her but was a little less irritated by her.
“You seekers come here, steal all our supreme bodhi pearls and leave us to fend for ourselves!” he yelled, then the tears came and Jazmel sympathised. He was just a man trying to protect his people.
“Myn find out what happened.”
“Bannerman hunt them down some food, bring back whatever you can.”
“Katie scout the area; the quest will happen soon, and we need to prepare here as best as we can.”
Jazmel handed out tasks, his people got to it. Bannerman sprinting out of the settlement, which was a little more than a few shacks together penned in by a lowered fence of bamboo shoots.
“Come elder, let’s see if we can get you some healing.” Baek said, appearing before the older man. He offered his hand, and the man took it for support, while Myn helped him.
The others of the settlement, which turned out to be just ten people. Hid in their shacks and remained as such for the time being.
“Paldane, scout from the skies.” He said and Paldane huffed smoke as he crawled out of his snuggle spot. But he didn’t complain, simply leapt into the air, and changed into his full size and casting his shadow for a second before zooming into the air.
“then there was just one.” Jazmel said to himself, suddenly preparing himself for battle.
