The second spiral passed without much difficulty. It was mostly thanks to Varian carrying the team, but the 'maps' carried by Sohan and Bella allowed them to avoid a lot of detours.
The third spiral, like the first, was also a dark one.
"The darkness is chaos and the light is order, right?" Varian gained a preliminary understanding of this region.
"Y-Yeah…" Sohan nodded with an awkward smile.
Technically, Varian wasn't as strong as him or the princesses. When he proposed to join them, Sohan thought even though Varian might provide critical help, he'd only be assisting while they'd be leading.
But for some reason, Varian had an insane, almost unnatural degree of control over his aura.
"Are you sure this is your first time here?" Maria grumbled, this was the third time.
"No, I lived here and sneaked out to tour the tower." Varian rolled his eyes. This woman might not be many things, but she's annoying as hell.
The third spiral was relatively less dark. Instead of the midnight, it looked like evening.
Like the other two spirals so far, this one too had no vegetation, terrain, or uniqueness. It was endless plains covered in shadows, similar to the first spiral.
A few shadowy figures rose from the ground. These shadows looked like ninjas on steroids. With a flip of their hand, their forearms turned into blades, spears, and various weapons.
The darkness of the realm began to shake as the shadows pointed their weapons at the team.
The trio faced off ten rank 6s together, leaving ten rank 5s to Varian alone.
A black flame shot out of a shadow's arm. Varian raised his hand to swat away the fireball when it suddenly 'amplified' in size and power.
"Fuck!"
Varian ducked and dodged the attack. The fireball reached Maria who was fighting in the distance. She hurriedly put up a shield.
The shield cracked apart upon contact and the fireball struck Maria on her back. The tree lady hissed in pain. It was no small injury.
"This is a crazy place no doubt…" Varian's lips twitched at avoiding a near-death encounter.
He swung his sword and a crimson sword aura reached one of the shadows. Facing the peak rank 5 shadow, the attack was more than enough to crush it.
But without any warning, the sword aura diminished by 90%. The shadow raised its spear and parried the sword aura, avoiding a fate of death.
"What an unfair place."
The specialty of this realm was simple.
It'd amplify and diminish attacks—both yours and the shadows.
The problem was that, while both parties were treated equally on paper, 99% of the time, the challengers' attacks were diminished and the Shadows' attacks were amplified.
If not for the limited but definitive records of challengers reporting the amplification of their attacks and diminishment of shadows' attacks, the desperados who challenged this place for that sliver of luck might've survived.
"Arghhh!"
One of the attacks Bella was facing expanded 10X in speed and crashed her to the ground. Luck wasn't on her side as another attack grew 10X in power and exploded over her.
Within seconds, the balance was broken.
Maria and Sohan came under immense pressure as they not only had to face three more shadows but also protect Bella.
"Oh shit," Varian clicked his tongue and leaped backward, flipping in the air elegantly. A shadow's spear through where he stood, amplifying a dozen times and tearing the space apart.
"How did those two manage to leave this place?" Varian asked as he focused on dodging and observing the attacks than killing.
The Shadows were great fighters but as peak rank 5s, they couldn't inflict any damage on him.
That made them excellent specimens to study how the amplification and diminishing worked.
Because if he had to kill those rank 6 Shadows, not just here, but throughout their journey across this third spiral, he'd need to figure out a way to exploit the 'Law'.
Without warning, a bolt of lightning streaked through the air and reached Sohan. The Prince was also besieged by four more attacks at the same time and had no luxury of dodging the lightning.
So, he chose to block it.
Bad call.
The lightning expanded tenfold and grew into a large golden snake with crackling arcs. And it bit down on Sohan's special wooden shield.
"Arghh!"
The Prince spasmed violently as a heavy current struck his nerves, rendering him immobile and wrecking his insides, frying him like a fish on the grill.
Sohan too collapsed, twitching from time to time.
"Guys, looks like I have no choice now." Maria had a very reluctant but decisive expression as she reached into her storage ring.
Varian knew that she was carrying some high-grade treasure from the start. Whenever they came close to death, she was one step away from using it.
Bella and Sohan wanted to stop her but they had no alternatives to offer. She either wasted that treasure, wasted their mission, or let things take their natural course and welcome all of their death, including her own.
"Wait a sec!" Varian slashed his sword at the rank 5s attacking him. Out of the ten sword auras he used, nine were diminished and only pushed back the rank 5s. The tenth one, undiminished, obliterated the shadow.
Sighing in relief, he jumped in front of the injured Sohan and Bella, giving them cover and facing the rank 6s and the rank 5s that were now grouping with them.
"How did the two that went before us pass this place?" He asked.
"I dunno." Maria bit her lip and blasted away a twisting ice arrow with her spear.
"You guys know something?" Varian didn't turn around but Bella and Sohan replied instantly.
"No."
Varian had the urge to roll his eyes and give them a nice kick in the butt. 'You don't know shit and you jumped into this place. It's your mission and the only thing you're supposed to do.'
In their defense, Bella and Sohan had materials and processes to be done before entering this place. All of those things were designed to make the clearing easy.
Unfortunately, they entered in a hurry without any preparation. To them, it's like walking in snow butt naked but the situation was so serious and urgent that they jumped in anyway.
It led to the current situation that was promising them a failed mission, if not death.
"You know what, since I'm the one doing a lot of heavy lifting, I'll need a cut of whatever you're going to get for this mission," Varian said in a voice that left wondering the two if he was serious or joking and he dashed forward.
"Don't! They're rank 6s!"
Maria's scream was ignored and Varian jumped right into the middle of three rank 6s.
'Logos, the rules of amplifying and diminishing, they're caused a chaotic law binding this region. Right?'
Even though it was posed as a question, Varian's voice was too certain.
[Yes.]
'Then it's easy.'
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm Varian's lips curled into an evil grin that would've sent shivers down the spines of even the fiercest warriors across the galaxy.
'I'll be snatching the admin rights.'
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