The Oracle Paths

Chapter 326: The Battle of the 100 Gates (part1)

As soon as the artificial voice finished its speech, the tension on the platform changed completely. The Players set about looking for their companions, while carefully keeping an eye out for the much larger number of Zhorions in their vicinity.

Jake also felt the eager gaze of many Zhorions and participants landing on him. Their greed and hostility was overwhelming. He was like a tasty piece of meat in front of a pack of hungry wolves.

The intense reddish glow that radiated from his whole person was far too tempting.

Alas, the platform was too large and the number of Zhorions present was too many. Jake estimated their number to be over a thousand, and although these aliens also seemed to be wary of each other, it made it difficult to locate and reunite with his companions.

Given the urgency and danger he was facing, Jake did not intend to protect Tim and Lily. They didnʼt have any Soul Stones on them. If they chose to stay on the sidelines by remaining passive, they had a good chance of surviving unless an ill-intentioned Player or Zhorion attacked them directly.

Jake thought he had time to regroup with Will and Enya, who were reliable candidates, but the prevailing peace could not last forever. Only seconds after the artificial voice fell silent, a first Zhorion, unable to suppress his desires, pounced alone, spear in hand, towards one of the doors.

In a few extremely vicious spear strokes, he slashed to pieces several of his fellow compatriots who had turned their backs to him unsuspectingly. Sprays of green blood gushed in the air and a torrent of guts spilled on the ground, filling the air with a bloody fragrance.

” You traitorous bastard! We were drinking a glass of blood together a few minutes ago! ”A Zhorion who had just been disemboweled shrieked in rage as he squeezed his open wound with his free hand to put his intestines back in place.

The Zhorion who had just spoken wobbled momentarily, with trembling legs and wheezy breath. Only his hatred seemed to keep him conscious. At least that was what Jake believed. With a toothy smile revealing his long fangs, the alien grabbed the Green Soul Stone around his neck and his green eyes suddenly pulsed with a radiant emerald glow.

The next second, his blood blazed and a network of fluorescent green veins emerged beneath the alienʼs dark skin. His legs immediately stopped shaking and the Zhorionʼs jerky breathing returned to normal.

”Die! ”

The culprit, who was blinking stupidly with a dumbfounded face when he saw his former drinking buddy survive his attack, took two cautious steps backwards, but it was too late. His rabid victim leapt at him and his jaw opened up so wide that a full-grown human head could have fit inside it.

Before anyone had time to grasp the situation, the wounded Zhorionʼs fangs closed on his former companionʼs throat and noisy ”GULP” echoed as he sucked out all of his enemyʼs blood.

As if paralyzed by the pain or some toxin contained in the fangs, the victim witnessed his body wither and shrivel without even being able to fight back. In less than five seconds, the alien was reduced from a healthy adult Zhorion to a gaunt mummy.

At the same time, the wounded Zhorion regained some color. Its muscles swelled visibly, while the gaping wound in its lower abdomen closed cleanly. The healing was not complete, but his life was no longer in danger. Moreover, all the vitality that had been absorbed had not been fully consumed. The alien was overflowing with energy and seemed stronger than ever.

After this first bloodbath, a second one erupted just after, followed by a third one. Just like multiple firecrackers whose wicks had been tied together, the firing of the first firecracker activated all the others. Less than a minute later, the situation had already degenerated into a full-scale brawl and the platform had become a deadly battlefield.

Jake took a cold breath with a shiver of horror at the sight of the bloody clashes. A battle to the death between a thousand humans was already impressive. A battle to the death between Evolvers was mind-blowing.

BOOOM, BANG, Slash, TATATA, CLANG!

Explosions loud enough to kill a normal human just by the violence of their sound waves were erupting everywhere like a fireworks event. Zhorions and Players who were supposed to have been disarmed when they entered the temple drew firearms from who knows where and started shooting at their closest neighbors.

The unarmed Players fearlessly threw themselves at the nearby Zhorions and stripped them of their spears and rifles, sometimes causing serious injury. The Harmony Zhorions were formidable, their mental power and vitality exceptional, but the Players competing at this stage were even more so.

To survive to this point, the remaining 187 participants were all exceptional in one way or another. Those who had survived by luck and had no intention of getting involved in this new game had already stepped aside, which meant that all of the Players on the platform who chose to fight were freaking tough.

Jake hadnʼt yet fully grasped the situation when a group of Zhorions hurled at him without warning. Multiple mental waves surged from all directions, blocking all his escape routes.

”Ugh, seriously?”Jakeʼs pupils suddenly shrank as these soul attacks approached, and then he uttered a short but loud cry.

”AAAAAAAH! ”Jake shouted with all his might and the aura of Apex Predator spurted out of his Spirit Body in the form of an irrepressible shock wave that spread out in front of him like a fan.

Even the scream he had just uttered was not human. His scream was like a thousand men uttering a war cry at the same time, combined with the frantic roars of multiple predators. The cry was both low and high pitched and would have given goosebumps to anyone who heard it for the first time without being prepared.

The blast was both mental and sonic, sweeping through the enemyʼs mental waves as if they were dead leaves in front of a hurricane. All nearby Zhorions and Players were momentarily paralyzed on the spot, while those a little closer had their eardrums shattered. For those even closer, a few meters from the epicenter, their eyes rolled back, revealing the whites of their eyes. Blood leaked out of all their orifices and for some, the brain had literally liquefied.

It had to be said that this time Jake had given his all in this attack. After receiving his new Soul Glyph Apex Predator, he had tried many things and this War Roar was one of them.

The scream alone was already dangerous, but combined with his Spirit Body and his new Glyph, the effects of intimidation and sideration were multiplied tenfold. In addition to paralyzing his enemies with terror, those whose constitution and vitality were too weak had no chance of escaping unscathed.

Between Evolvers of similar levels, such a cry would not have been enough to hurt them. It was like being next to the sound amplifier of a nightclub or a concert. It could definitely make them deaf and cause tinnitus, but no one would die from it.

However, it was different once Jake added his Aether Control and telekinesis.

Before roaring, Jake had briefly concentrated all of his Aether Strength and Constitution in his vocal chords. With telekinesis, he had formed a force field around his mouth and the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract to form a perfect megaphone. Such sound amplification was just terrifying.

The Zhorion less than a meter away from him had taken the brunt of the impact and had been blasted away, his bones completely reduced to fine dust.

At that moment, a brief lull appeared on his side of the platform and even those fighting elsewhere stopped killing each other for a split second and turned their heads in the direction of the cry. Although weakened, the sound wave was still quite strong when it reached them.

”Phew! Good lord, that was the most creepy thing Iʼve ever heard... ” Craig spat as he wiped the sweat from his greasy forehead with one of his sleeves.

The Zhorion he was battling nodded unconsciously to signify that he shared his opinion, but when they remembered that they were enemies, the two sides fought again with renewed vigor.

Ryo, the shirtless bald man who always walked around with a claymore, let out an indifferent jeer, but he wasnʼt so serene either. There were really too many Zhorions. The Players were too disadvantaged. The battle had only started a minute before and twenty of them were already dead.

”Stay focused. ”Alef, their instructor, barked dryly as he parried an attack with his katana before beheading his opponent with an iai strike.

”We have to keep moving. We must get to those doors before itʼs too late. ”Xiaming added with a dark expression as he twisted the neck of another enemy. The Zhorionʼs mental attacks seemed to have no effect on them.

Rubyʼs group had already regrouped except for their sixth member Raj, who was nowhere in sight. Their situation was particularly precarious because, like Jake, each of them carried loads of Blue Soul Stones and their bodies were marked by an ominous sapphire light.

Ruby kept silent, trotting silently in the middle of the group, as if the four men were determined to protect her at all costs. Her eyebrows were furrowed, preoccupied with something very different.

Unfortunately, the more something was feared, the more it tended to happen. Halfway to the first door they had chosen, an imposing figure stood in their way. The individual was so stealthy that no one had felt it coming.

”We meet again at last. ”A giant Nosk with only one arm said with a gloomy expression.

”Bawopi! ”Craig and Ryo blurted out with a shiver running down their spine.

”Donʼt make that face, you knew it was going to turn out this way. ”Bawopi chuckled with an icy smile. ”Kill them. ”

On this order, all the Nosks still alive on the island encircled Ruby and her group. 14 Nosks, among the strongest of their species that had taken part in this Ordeal.

The confrontation was inevitable.