As Varian just left Thunder Region, Ashtarh team continued to face the challenge.
Unlike Thunder dynamites, the 'flag' was a very precious item. Thus, the difficulty rose exponentially.
How?
It took them a while to realize they weren't fighting Thunder Knights and Golden Griffins, but Thunder Knights with Golden Griffins.
Yep!
As the golden griffins dived down, the full-body armored humanoid knights mounted the creatures.
The griffins, five in each group, formed huge lighting circles once again.
This time, the lightning circles were also powered the Thunder Knights and each of the strikes turned deadly.
So, they had to dodge each attack.
When they did, some of the thunder knights would throw lightning spears at them, and Tiama was almost impaled by a spear.
"We need to find a way to end this." Ashtarh said and dodged a lightning spear that barely passed by him and plunged into the ground, creating a large crater upon contact.
"Teleporting up and fighting them isn't gonna be easy." Maissa said as she appeared to his right and said.
"Y-Yeah, if we try to attack one, they're ganging up on us." Tiama's body flashed and he stopped beside her, as he bent down panting.
Ashtarh's mind spun as he glanced at the mighty creatures and their knights.
A thought struck him and he said.
"Maissa, teleport me to top of a griffin, right behind the knight." His brows knit together. "It's going to be hard, can you do it?"
Since the griffins were in motion, accurate teleportation was in fact very challenging.
"I can manage. But are you sure?" Maissa said before she teleported once again.
Ashtarh and Tiama also moved away as a huge lightning bolt struck their previous location and created a huge crater.
A huge boulder in their previous location turned to dust, reminding them that this attack was higher than a peak level 6.
"I can do it." Ashtarh appeared confident despite the odds. That's what living everyday fighting Abyssals did to him. It turned him into a killing machine. Though, he did manage to keep his normal side protected.
He turned to Tiama and ordered. "We'll take care of the knights. Follow the mission: Get the flag."
"Yes, Sir!" Tiama straightened his back and almost saluted before he stopped himself.
'Damn! I forgot we're not on the frontlines.' He thought and covered himself with lightning mana.
Whish!
He didn't question if Ashtarh and Maissa alone could handle those creatures alone.
He believed they could.
No, he didn't know enough about Maissa. But he knew that Ashtarh could.
Ashtarh Dustin. Peak level 6 controller.
Title: Future War Sovereign.
As the genius that grew up battling the Abyssals from Pluto, Ashtarh was the most promising candidate for Sovereign.
…Until Charles and Sarah's sudden rise.
Despite that, Tiama didn't think they were qualified.
"There's no way they can be equals!" He muttered as he dashed through the broken pavements and rubble.
Soon, he reached the shrine.
It wasn't anything typical.
Supported by ten large pillars, the structure was enormous. Its height rivaled that of a five storeys building and its width that of a soccer field.
The shrine itself was raised above the ground level with a huge base.
"Gulp" Tiama gulped and saw the stairs leading up to the entrance of the shrine.
It wasn't out of fear. It was due to shock.
He recognized the material the stairs were made of—Golden Copper. An excellent insulator of lighting mana.
They were used to make defensive equipment against the lightning awakeners.
It was a precious alloy across the federation. People literally killed themselves over it. But here it was only used to make stairs.
The contrast just blew his mind.
'Calm down. Calm down. This is nothing compared to the one time I saw the Sovereign Ares fight the Thunder King…though I was more than a thousand miles away.' He tried to sooth himself, but he still had an impulse to mine the stairs.
"I don't have time and if I miss the final prize because of this, I'd be an idiot. Besides, we have to give our messengers some rewards. Let them take this stuff." He said out loud and finally convinced himself to move forward.
When he reached the entrance, a huge double door greeted him. The golden door was etched with an ancient script.
Tiama was instantly drawn by the elusive carvings on the door.
Suddenly, the inert carvings went from immobile to depicting a scene of two humanoids fighting on a planet next to Earth.
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Their fight broke the planet into pieces and what was left of it became moon.
Then the figures seemed to turn around and their deep eyes locked with his.
"Haa!"
Tiama gasped and took deep, heavy breaths.
"The fuck!" He cursed as his body spasmed in fear.
Before he knew it, his clothes were drenched in sweat. Those eyes…he had the same feeling when he saw the Sovereign fight.
Powerless. Weak. And negligible.
But that was a direct fight despite the huge distance and this…this was perhaps just an illusion.
"…Devas." He muttered in a mix of amazement and fear.
The Secret Realms belonged to Devas. Naturally, these buildings, resources, and even creatures were the relics of their civilization.
Even now, humanity couldn't fathom the depth of these seemingly divine beings.
However, what they did know was that even Devas perished. And even they knew they were going to be extinct. Some speculated it could be due to a foreign enemy while others thought it was due to infighting.
But whatever the case, with their passing, they also sealed aura. It's an impossible feat to the current humans.
Not just that, no one could even imagine if sealing off aura of the whole solar system could ever be feasible.
Devas were beings capable of such feat.
Yet…the Ruins and the secret realms were a testament to the humbling truth even they weren't eternal.
"…I hope we can at least defeat the Abyssals and live a peaceful life." He sighed silently and once again looked at the door.
There was no fear in his eyes this time, only determination.
Tiama stretched his arms towards the entrance.
The cold metal's distinct touch pressed against his skin and he felt like the carvings on the door were about to move again.
Without any further delay, he pushed the door open.
Pa!
The huge door creaked open and Tiama's battle instincts screamed at him.
Without any delay, he rolled down and right after he did, a lightning bolt thicker than a bucket flew above him.
His lightning sense expanded when he rolled down and he locked on the attacker.
No. It was attackers.
Standing at five feet tall, lashing their tails on the hard floor, the protectors of the shrine—Six six-tailed golden foxes snarled at him.
They surrounded a platform upon which a rustic leather skin imprinted with a lightning bolt symbol rested.
Flag!
'Follow the Mission: Flag!' Ashtarh's voice rang in his head.
Tiama's body flashed as he conjured a lighting spear in his ring hand and a heavy sword in his left.
His anxious temperament was completely gone, replaced by a cold and indifferent gaze.
Booom!
*** *** ***
"W-Will he be alright?" Maissa panted as she jumped from the corpse of a dead griffin and dodged a lightning bolt that blasted the corpse into pieces.
Ashtarh 'raised' his speed and raised a lightning spear and jumped from one griffin to another.
Zap!
Maissa stalled the Thunder Knights that were about to hit him and using that window of opportunity, he 'raised' his strength and cut down a thunder knight.
The creature's armor was slashed into two by Ashtarh's sword.
By then, the griffin the dead knight was on shook away the corpse and streaked away.
Kacha!
Maissa's space restrictions were broken and multiple lighting bolts shot at Ashtarh in mid-air.
No level 6 could take this attack.
He had no room to dodge either. They covered him from every direction.
Maissa appeared behind him in time and teleported them to the ground.
"It'd be pretty hard without you." Ashtarh smiled to Maissa.
"Don't bluff. We are both trying to retain our strengths for the final bout. If we fight at our full strength, we can finish this far more quickly." She rolled her eyes and burnt his facade.
"…is my acting that obvious?" He scratched his cheek while he jumped away, dodging a bolt.
"Yes." Maissa said. "But we can't delay too long either. Xavier team is pretty strong. And Charles…our messengers in Vine Forest are keeping tabs on him, but we'll never know if he can make a comeback."
Ashtarh's gaze chilled and he nodded. "Twenty-Three Griffins and Knights to go."
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