Chapter 206 - Charade
"NOOOOO!!!" Malia cried out in shock when she finally realized that her own team shot Jason, only for them to save their own life.
Her eyes turned wet, as she stopped in her tracks when she saw Jason getting hurled in a bunch of bushes before the two magical ranked pythons split up in order to pursue all of them at once.
Suddenly a jolt dragged her out of the train of thoughts she was in and looking up she saw Jennifer dragging her further ahead, with shock gleaming in her eyes.
\'Did Lux or Lin kill Jason?!\' was the only thought in Jennifer\'s mind and the trust she had towards them was immediately shattered, replacing it with fear.
\'Would they also sacrifice us, as they did it with Jason?!\'
Theo was even more taken aback than Jennifer as he stopped for a moment, to turn around, only to face Lin with a straight punch in his face.
"Bastard!" He shouted out, before running towards Jennifer and Malia, which were not far away from his current position.
Lux continued to run, passing Lin who still laid on the ground with blood dripping out of his nostrils.
Malia couldn\'t even think clearly anymore, while her soulbond neighed next to her, which she barely noticed.
Theo didn\'t think for long as he lifted Malia only to throw her on top of the Nightmare horse before they rushed forward.
Taking a few high-grade tear-gases, illusionary-, poison- and other grenades from their storage devices, Theo and Jennifer used their remaining mana to ignite all of them before throwing them to the front.
Activating when they passed them, the two hoped that the red crystal horned python would be distracted, while Theo had barely time to think about Jason, who was alone inside the four-star rift, pursued by a magical ranked beast, while they could work together in order to survive.
\'I can′t call that working together....\' Theo thought, sighing deeply, as he remembered Lux and Lin shooting towards Jason, without hesitating for a single second, causing goosebumps to spread all over his body.
"F**k!" he exclaimed, which was heard by Jennifer next to him who was similarly frustrated not only about Jason who was most likely dead, but also that her own team killed him without faltering at all.
Lin gathered himself, while his mind was working on 150%, as his soulbond finally reappeared in his soul world when he decided to follow Lux who was already further ahead.
He couldn\'t rely on Lux, but both of them shot at Jason, which led him to think that they were alike.
They would both sacrifice others in order to survive while the Daer siblings and Malia wouldn\'t do something like this at all.
If he were to remain with them, they would probably exile him which was even worse than staying with Lux who was by far the strongest out of their group.
With the whole lot of grenades covering the surrounding, two groups formed out of the previous unites expedition team on the second day of their mission.
Lux noticed Lin following him, which didn\'t bother him at all, because his complete plan was destroyed thanks to the prior accident which caused him to sigh in regret…
\'Well...in the end, it doesn\'t really matter...Let\'s begin the harvest a few days earlier!!\'
Thinking about Lin, his expression brightened up, as a cruel smile appeared on his face, as his facial expression turned extremely unsightly and cruel.
\'You′ll be my first testing object\'
Adjusting his direction to run further from the others, Lux′s speed increased in order to widen the distance with the others while his cruel expression turned even worse as he was finally able to put aside the disguise he was forced to maintain over the last few months.
With this, his whole presence changed, while a thick aura of death enveloping him, as he summoned the three unblemished skeletons, with four undead low evolved ranked canine beasts next to them.
"GET HIM!" Turning around, Lux stared straight into Lin′s eyes that were instinctively filled with a distinct fear he never felt before, as he shrieked out in fear.
\'Pitch-b..black?!\' Lin thought shocked, as he saw Lux\'s eyes that didn\'t have any trace of brown or even white left....there was nothing at all!
Barely summoning his treant, Lin was immediately enveloped in the distinct reeking death mana radiating from the small mass of undead that charged at him with a terrifying speed, as the Skeleton warrior took on the treant head-on with the four mid evolved canine undead beasts supporting it.
Meanwhile, the Skeleton Archer and Assassin faced Lin, who shivered in Terror, as multiple arrows flew straight towards him, which he blocked with his own daggers, as the Skeleton Assassin appeared in front of him.
Exchanging a few blows, they were equally powerful, and with his martial art techniques exerted, he slowly began to take over the advantage, as he tensed up when he noticed something appearing behind him, as his body stiffened, with a fountain of blood spurting out of a deep, bloody cut that suddenly appeared on Lin\'s throat.
"Don′t forget that I′m still there. Be honored that I allowed you to be my first creation!" These were the last words Lin heard, from behind, before his eyes dimmed, with his remaining life force leaving his body.
With Lin′s death, the treant screamed out in anguish, as it went berserk, shattering the mid evolved canine skeletons, before rushing towards Lin′s body.
"You\'re still alive? Let\'s change that!" Lux said, without averting his gaze from Lin, as all of his seven soulbonds charged at the treant at the same time, ripping it apart, without showing any mercy to the treant that suffered physically but even more so mentally, as the soulbond contract had been severed.
Looking at Lin\'s corpse, Lux smiled brightly and if his prior expedition teammate were to see him, they would be horrified, asking themself, how someone was able to change so much within a few minutes.
**
Meanwhile, the Daer siblings and Malia on top of the Nightmare horse continued to run through the forest, with their only goal to run further away from the Fire elemental crystal horned python, they could still hear further behind them, roaring in rage and pain due to the high-grade grenades which caused several different types of pain and other effects.
Malia meanwhile, was comparable to a lifeless person because she was still thinking about Jason, without any intention to come out of her trance, while Theo threw grenade after grenade throughout the forest, trying to distract the fire elemental crystal horned python even further.
Suddenly far away from their current position, they heard an extremely loud explosion, after which the fire elemental crystal horned python\'s stiffened before it halted its pursuit only to look back in shock.
Theo noticed their chance as their speed increased further in order to widen the distance between them and the python, only to notice that their pursuer ignored them to slighter towards the direction where the explosion sound came from.
\'Please be alive….\' Malia hoped, with tears streaming down her cheeks as she sat on her Nightmare-horse, barely being able to stay seated.