Chapter 69: Don’t stare at it
As those words left their lips, everyone’s mana flared as they ran towards the pillars.
Those who could use wind magic used wind magic, while those who could use lightning magic used lightning magic. However, Arden couldn’t use any of them, so all he could do was enhance his legs with mana, which didn’t help him a lot but was still better than nothing.
Jaden was at the forefront as he was using both the [Gust Step ★] and [Gale steps ★★] to aid him in running.
As they neared the pillars, Jaden’s expression turned sharper, and he looked at the humongous nightmare that slept there. He could now see it much more clearly than before.
The humongous nightmare had brown leather skin with cobweb-like cracks spreading all over, and small mountains like spikes jutted from its body. It also had a tail, which wasn’t visible before.
But the faintly glowing crystal just an inch under the cuff at its neck had all of his attention.
’What is that crystal?’
Jaden thought as he channelled mana into his eyes to take a better look, his vision sharpened and became clearer, but what he saw shocked him. The crystal was similar to ones he had seen in the previous hall, but it wasn’t frozen moonlight; instead, it was frozen shadows.
The crystal’s faint white outer glow made it appear similar to the ones before, but it was different.
’How is that even possible? How can shadows be frozen? It doesn’t even make sense.’
He reasoned with a frown on his face before mumbling.
"It doesn’t matter."
Shaking his head, he focused on running towards the pillar and was about to reach it within the next minute, but the nightmare suddenly opened its eyes.
It looked at Jaden, and its gaze froze his body. Jaden slowly turned his head as he mumbled.
"H-how?! Why now?"
Just as he spoke, Selina’s warning resurfaced.
Don’t stare at it... High-ranked beings can feel the gazes of others.
"B-Blasted hell, how stupid can I be?"
The nightmare looked at Jaden and lifted its enormous hand and smashed it on the ground. The ground shook, and fissures appeared all over. Everyone was thrown back as a heavy gust was generated from the strike.
Jamie, who was just a few meters behind Jaden, was flung towards the nearby wall.
"Guhk!" A short groan left his lips as he hit the wall and coughed up blood. His vision blurred as he plummeted down towards the solid ground.
But just before his body could touch the hard ground, a dark green furred wolf caught him on its back.
Jaden was on his knees, holding onto the cracks that had appeared in the ground, stopping himself from flying away with the gust.
"Soil Hardened."
Shelly, Selina and Arden were doing the same, and Navin tightly held onto his shield to defend against the gust.
Jaden looked back towards the nightmare and quickly turned his head to the side as he cursed.
"Blasted hell!"
He gritted his teeth, and right at that moment, the gust died down. He stood up and looked at everyone. All of them had pained expressions and dishevelled looks.
He lifted his hand and spoke solemnly.
"Summon."
Black sparks flooded out of his grimoire and took the shape of five dark green furred wolves.
Jaden looked at the galewolves and pointed at one before he commanded.
"You stay here," he paused and looked at the other galewolves before continuing ", the four of you, help them reach their respective pillars."
The four galewolves bent a little as if bowing to him and ran towards the others.
Selina brushed aside the dishevelled hair covering her eyes, and she suddenly turned to the left with her sword ready as she listened to the sound of steps. Her gaze then fell on a dark green furred wolf who was looking at her with a tilted head.
A puzzled look appeared on her face as she also tilted her head because she was sure that she had seen this wolf before, and she questioned.
"Who... sent you?"
The wolf turned its head towards Jaden and let out a short howl. Selina looked around and saw similar wolves near the others.
"Jaden sent you...? Can he also do that?"
Learning yet another secret of Jaden didn’t comfort her; instead, it made her feel worse knowing that Jaden still didn’t trust them. However, she didn’t let her emotions cloud her judgment and focused on the matter at hand. She approached the wolf and patted its back before climbing onto it and commanding as she pointed at the pillar with the moon emblem.
"Let’s go."
The wolf let out a silent howl and began running towards the pillar, with wind magic helping its movements.
The same was happening with the others as the remaining wolves helped them. All of them were now making their way towards their respective pillars on the back of the wolves.
Jaden, however, wasn’t going towards the pillar; instead, he was going towards Jamie, who had gone unconscious a few moments ago. The wolf that had caught him was also making its way towards Jaden.
Soon, Jaden jumped from the back of the wolf and quickly walked towards Jamie with a worried look and checked the condition of his body.
"Hah... he is fine," he heaved a sigh of relief before placing his hand onto Jamie’s chest and mumbling.
"Minor Heal."
His mana flared, and the water elementals moved and covered Jamie’s body, healing him. Even if it only healed him a little, Jaden used the healing spell a few more times, healing him slowly, and soon, Jamie’s eyelids trembled, and he slowly opened his eyes.
"Where... the fuck am I...?" Jamie asked slowly as he looked at Jaden with a dazed look.
"We are still within the dark room and have yet to reach the pillars... You had just gone unconscious due to the nightmare’s attack."
Jamie blinked a few times and cursed loudly.
"FUCK!"