[Sense of Danger has activated]
Just as Livia said goodbye and the goddess's final message arrived, I felt an enormous chill, like an electric shock travelling through my entire body.
I instinctively stood up with Livia, forgetting about anything else, and focusing only on my surroundings.
'What the hell was that? Why do I feel like something is coming? Shit, what is it now?'
It had not been a day since we barely survived the sandworm. Even when my injuries fully healed and my muscles restored, I was sore, exhausted. And the memory Livia just shared didn't help me either.
I was still angry, not with her of course, but with everything else. My emotions were a mess, and I was definitely not ready to return to the constant danger.
The amount of tension that formed in my body was something that I had never felt before, and now a new deep, cramping pain I didn't recognize started to form low in my abdomen.
It was distracting but bearable, nothing compared to the acid from the sandworm or the pain that came from eating it.
I scanned the cave searching for anything that could be the source of the danger. Any hint, anything but another sandworm.
I quickly noticed the change in the cave's illumination. As the previous dim light was now starting to increase in intensity, I found the source not far from us. It was the blonde, Milaine.
She rushed towards us; her hair was now fully platinum again and her expression sharp with a noticeable agitation that just confirmed my instinct.
'Something is coming'
But as I looked at her, I also noticed the tablecloth in her right hand, based on the mass of it, I supposed that the books were inside it.
"What?" I said.
For a moment I doubted, blinked twice, not really sure what I was thinking. I had totally forgotten about the books, just focusing on immediate danger, forgetting about the most powerful thing that I had.
When she reached us she gave me the tablecloth. The books were inside too.
"Thanks…" my voice, with a noticeable hint of disbelief, broke for a moment my focus on the imminent unknown danger.
She just gave me a small nod before she spoke, returning me to an alert state.
"Quick, form a circle, now!" she ordered.
I didn't think, didn't doubt. I just moved. My brain understood that following her lead might be the correct course of action, and the only chance to survive.
After I made a quick knot with the tablecloth around my hips, the three of us quickly stood back to back together, close to the body of the sandworm but at a considerable distance from it.
"Grab each other's hands, don't break the circle by any means," she said as she grabbed my hand and Livia's.
I quickly glanced at Livia. Then I saw in real time how her blue eyes turned into a different color, a yellowish golden one. She also seemed a bit off, not quite showing fear, her gaze looked lost, dazed. And her movements were also clumsy, as if she were tripping.
But what was more unsettling was that I didn't hear her thoughts anymore. I was so accustomed to hearing her by now that I felt anxious when nothing came from her.
I quickly checked on the stored Essentia I had left.
[Your current Essentia is 1770]
"What the fuck is going on now?" I grunted as I grabbed Livia's hand and Milaine's reluctantly. The pain in my lower abdomen started to increase, a bit more.
"Don't talk. We need to get close to the sandworm, as quickly as we can. But do not make noise," Milaine whispered as the glowing light she emanated started to decrease until it was gone. Not even her platinum hair kept shining, but it did not return to blonde either.
The only source of light was the remnants of the magma from the already covered craters that the sandworm made when we fought it.
She didn't say anything after that and we started to move very slowly towards the sandworm corpse. My body was not only tense and sore, but hot.
Suddenly the heat from the cave started to knock me back again. I started to sweat, the constant new pain didn't help it either.
And to make things worse my Instinct kept screaming, sending me constant chills that only made me more aware of every step I took. I felt that if I moved my steps too quickly I could die instantly.
Then a huge tremor moved through the cave, some magma from the craters even splattered onto the layer of ground we were on.
Milaine stopped, I couldn't read her face because of the circular formation we were in, but I felt her body tense up. Livia's body didn't react; it just stopped at the same time we did. And that was more unsettling, her lack of reaction.
We stood there, waiting. After a short amount of time, Milaine took another step and we followed her rhythm. After three steps we stopped moving again.
'No shit. We are not reaching the corpse at this rate. Whatever the fuck is coming would be here any second.'
I couldn't see anything further than a few feet from us, and the lack of information only made me anxious. Then I noticed Milaine's grip tightened and her head moved a bit too quickly, like she noticed something.
I followed her gaze but I couldn't see what she was looking at without breaking the formation.
'She saw something, right? Fuck, I need more info, I cannot be blind in a situation like this.'
As the thought grew in my head, I took advantage of the already physical contact and casted [Legemens]
Then the deep silence we were in was broken as her thoughts started to rush inside my mind.
Where, where should it come from? Is it from the entrance? No, we are too deep. The tunnels? Above? Below? Dammit, we are still too far from the corpse. Should we run? Fuck, no, she'll hear us, it's too risky.
Can I kill her? No way, not yet. Maybe if my flame evolved again and I had a proper weapon… Shit, I don't know if we are gonna make it without resistance. This will hurt a lot.
Just as she finished, a new clear image appeared in my head from her thoughts.
The image of the lava-lady that was the first thing that we saw when we arrived at Vulkris appeared in my mind. The irrational being made from black stone and dripping lava hair that flew over us.
'Fuel? Wait, the moderator?! That thing is coming?! Why?'
We took another step, and stopped. The bubbling from the magma and the sound of some stone falling from the ceiling was the only thing we could hear apart from our breathing.
My mind was still trying to figure out the reason why the moderator was coming for us, my attention divided by the anxiety of staying alert to my surroundings, staying silent, not breaking the circle, Livia's unsettling, indifferent silence, the pain in my lower abdomen, and the constant sharp tingling of my instinct.
'What the fuck is wrong with me? Fuck, I should have used the sigil to take off this pain.'
As we took slow, deliberate steps, we slowly and steadily began to get closer and closer to the sandworm's corpse.
Just when my body started to get accustomed to the new pain and mental exertion from thinking too much, another wave of Milaine's thoughts entered my mind. This time it was more chaotic.
We are not making it in time, we are still too far. Fuck, how much time does Livia need? If she's not coming back in the next minute I'll just throw her and Eleonora at the corpse.
'Livia? What? Does she know what's happening to her now?'
I glanced again at Livia. Suddenly my brain started to connect the dots. The last thing I heard was Livia reading a message from the goddess who follows the rules that sounded like a goodbye.
'No fucking way, please don't tell me the moderator is coming because of that. Does that mean that she really gave Livia the gifts without flags?'
Then suddenly, a voice broke the thin silence we had tried to hold for the last minutes. It was a voice that I was already accustomed to, and calmed my anxiety just for a second before I understood the meaning of the words.
"It's from below!!" Livia yelled.
I immediately felt my body being pushed with an unnatural strength that almost tore away my arm. Milaine rushed towards the sandworm as she pulled me and Livia with her. In less than a second we finally arrived.
Just as we entered the mouth of the sandworm, the ground behind us started to open, magma started to rise, erupting in an unnatural way, covering the whole ground of the cave. The corpse of the sandworm served as a makeshift boat.
She's here.
As the magma moved more violently towards the place we were, it also started to take shape, hardening and turning into black stone.
The metamorphosis was quick, the figure of a tall thick woman with dripping magma as hair, and black stone body with no face emerged from it.
The figure started to levitate and the magma from the ground started to follow her in the air, shaping into five rings twice her size that started to move around her at a constant speed.
[Olivia Reed, go outside] The moderator said.
At my side, Milaine, who was the one directly facing the Moderator, stood there, her usual shining glow returning and the usual warmth that came with it reduced the pain I was feeling from my abdomen.
At my back, Livia returned to her usual expressive behavior. I couldn't see her face because our backs were facing each other, but her trembling hand was enough proof.
"Do not break the circle, no matter what, do not release your hands," Milaine whispered in a lower tone just enough for us to hear. Then the explanation of her words came through her thoughts.
She cannot take the three of us, it would ruin the show if half of the survivors of Vulkris die here. As long as we keep our distance short she would not be able to attack us.
Suddenly, the words Violet had said to me came flooding back, confirming Milaine's inner voice.
"I'll try to call their attention, even if they don't patronize you. They are still watching because they are bored. That's the type of creature those beings are, so use them."
Then a new wave of notification arrived.
[An unknown amount of gods and goddesses has started to observe you]
[The Goddess who enjoys battles is encouraging you to not flee]
[The Goddess who does not believe in friendships is encouraging you to not flee]
[A survey about you and your peers has begun]
The Moderator raised her arm and made a gesture with her hand. Then slowly the rings started to gain speed, becoming faster with each second.
[I said, go outside] the moderator ordered, her voice echoed through the already collapsing cave. The sandworm not only worked as a makeshift boat, but also as a ceiling that stopped the rocks from falling over us.
The rotating rings started to get closer and closer to us, destroying, or, to be precise, melting away the first centimeters of the sandworm's mouth. They acted as saws, magma saws.
As more of the sandworm started to get cut, part of the acidic blood from the sandworm started to splash on us, again the pain from the acid melting my flesh.
But this time as the acid touched me it didn't melt my muscles, or at least not immediately. Milaine's flame was fighting against the acid, healing the injuries just as they appeared.
For a moment I wanted to cast the sigil to shut out the pain, but my instinct stopped me from doing it, I needed to have a free hand to do it. Something told me that if I let go of the girls' hands even for a second it would be the end.
"H-HOLD IT!" Milaine yelled as part of the rings of magma started to break the sides of the sandworm, increasing the splashed acid.
"Leo..." Livia also groaned in pain as her nails dug into my hand.
Just as the acid started to win against Milaine's flame and the pain started to erase the warmth that covered the injuries. A new thought crossed Milaine's mind, followed by a notification from her own status.
Leo… I want to see you… no… I WILL SEE YOU.
[Your Flame perseveres against Adversity]
For a moment the sudden pain that I felt was being reduced as Milaine's flame started to glow even harder, pushing it back and healing the injuries of our bodies.
But my mind was not really there, even when my Instinct screamed to me to focus on the outside, I couldn't.
The first words of Milaine caused me a certain confusion. But what really shocked me was the notification.
When I heard it something inside me started to grow, something different, an unknown feeling that I tried to push back into my subconscious. Something that I felt the first time I read my true name and my flaw.
'Adversity? W-wait… Is this my fault?'
The feeling started to rot inside my heart, the guilt that I tried to ignore started to emerge. Suddenly my heart started to beat even faster, my breathing that was already harder to keep started to become even worse. My body felt weak, my legs suddenly failed.
'It's my fault, because of me…'
Just as everything started to lose sense, and my will started to fail, two voices resonated in the fog that was forming in my mind, bringing me back to reality.
"LEO, DON'T GIVE UP!"
Milaine and Livia, who still held my hands, temporarily erased the guilt that was suffocating me. My instinct took control again and I immediately got up. I held there with them, enduring the pain.
Then as the magma saws were just a few inches next to us, they stopped.
A new notification appeared.
[The survey has finished, the Host will announce the results]
'Survey?'
I expected another notification, but this time it didn't arrive. I heard a voice inside my head. It was similar to when I heard the thoughts of the girls, but this was different. The voice felt unsettling, disturbing, it didn't feel human.
"According to the survey results, the mortal Olivia Reed will be allowed to continue participating and keep the gifts she has received without significant flaws."
"Consequently, in order to maintain fair play, the difficulty of the world of Vulkris will be increased exponentially."
"From this point on, the ruler of Vulkris will be awakened."
***