Chapter 53: Invisible Hands

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Invisible Hands

The Starfire hung in the air, small and bright and silent.

A faint, high buzz rose from it, like a mosquito at the edge of sleep. Jared stared at it for half a second. He took a deep breath, and he pointed.

"Fire," he said.

The Starfire flared.

A blinding white beam shot from its center, silent and straight, a lance of pure light that split the air like a knife through cloth. It crossed the distance to the Glass Scorpion King in less than a blink. It hit the creature square in the head.

The boss didn’t have time to scream.

The beam punched through its glassy skull, through its crystal spine, through its great, jagged carapace, and out the other side.

For a moment the whole creature seemed to glow from within, as though it had swallowed a sun. Cracks spread across its armor in bright white veins. Then it burst, shattering into a thousand glittering shards that rained across the dirt like diamonds.

[Glass Scorpion King (lv21)] defeated!

It was slain on contact.

Jared didn’t wait to watch. He was already running, pelting toward the spot where the boss had stood, eyes scanning the dust. A gem. There had to be a gem. If the scorpion had been willing, if it had chosen to turn, there would be something glinting in the dirt.

Around him, the beam hit the haze.

The whole plain went up in flames.

It happened all at once. The saturated air caught, and a roaring wall of fire swept across the barren land from one horizon to the other. The sky turned white, then gold, then red.

A deafening boom rolled over the ground. Heat slammed into Jared’s back like a freight train, shoving him forward, and he stumbled, caught himself, and kept running.

He reached the spot.

He dropped to his knees and tore through the glittering shards, sifting the dirt with both hands. Glass. Dust. Pebbles. A cracked chunk of crystal. No glow. No gem.

’There’s nothing.’

[I told you,]

’I know.’

[It might not have wanted to.]

He looked up.

The far horizon was shimmering. A faint, silver light was shrinking in the distance, flickering at the edges, folding in on itself like a closing eye.

The gate.

It was closing.

’No.’

His stomach lurched. The fire roared around him, a sea of orange, closing in on all sides. He was nearly a mile from the exit, in the dead center of the blaze, and the way out was shutting. He had maybe 30 seconds. Maybe less.

He ripped open his pouch.

His fingers closed around a small gem. He didn’t think. He just threw it. It cracked against the dirt in a burst of pale light.

A small, upright cat appeared.

It stood on its hind legs like a tiny shopkeeper, tail swishing, whiskers twitching. It blinked at him, slow and unimpressed. Then, with one graceful bound, it leapt onto his head, curled itself.

Everything slowed down.

It was the strangest feeling. A cool, thick silence settled over the world.

The roar of the blaze dropped into a low, drawn out groan. The flames, which had been surging toward him in angry, writhing waves, stopped rearing their heads. They crept. They crawled. They hung in the air like paintings. They didn’t look real anymore. They looked like paper, flat and one dimensional, cut out and pasted against the sky.

He ran.

He raced across the plain, a blur of green, weaving between the frozen tongues of fire. They didn’t touch him. He made for the gate.

He leapt.

The shimmer swallowed him whole.

As he passed through the gate, he immediately unsummoned his beasts. The cat vanished from his head with a faint puff. Starfire winked out of the air. Two small gems dropped into his palm, and he shoved them into his pouch.

The gate slammed closed behind him.

A violent blast ripped out of the closing shimmer.

It threw him across like a doll.

He started panting.

Huff. Huff. Huff.

His chest heaved. His ears rang. A faint smell of smoke drifted in the air. He lay there for a long moment, listening to the pounding of his own heart.

"Good job," Karl said.

Jared turned his head.

Karl stood a few feet away, leaning against a car with his arms folded. The rest of the team was gathered near the stairwell, clustered in a nervous knot, watching him. Karl’s face was calm. His eyes were bright. A small, satisfied smile curved his lips.

"Let’s go," he said.

* * *

10 minutes later, they stood in front of another gate.

Karl led the way in without a word.

They stepped through.

The world on the other side was gray.

Not a tree. Not a bush. Not a single blade of grass.

"Barren," "Shocker."

Jared sighed.

’Again.’

"This one’s A rank," Karl said, rolling his shoulders. "Stay sharp."

The team stirred.

"Sir," said the falcon boy, in a thin voice. "I didn’t think we were ready to take on an A rank gate already."

"Neither did I," another muttered.

Yesterday Zoey and some others assumed that the volcano was more than it’s rank. In truth, it was only C rank.

"We’ve done two today," the fox girl said. "We’re almost out of mana."

"I’m fine," another whispered, even though clearly he was not fine.

"We’re all fine," Karl said.

The falcon boy took a step forward to say something else.

Something smacked him.

It came out of nowhere. The boy flew backward 20 feet, tumbling through the dust, and slammed into the ground in a limp heap. His falcon screamed. A cloud of feathers burst into the air.

Nobody saw what hit him.

"What was that?" the fox girl yelped.

"I didn’t see anything!"

"There’s nothing there!"

[Jared,]

[The foe is invisible.]

Jared froze.

He turned. He stared at the empty plain, at the shimmering heat, at the cracked dirt. He saw nothing.

"The foe is invisible!" he screamed.

It tore out of him like a shout in a fire.

Every head turned.

"Jared is right!" Karl shouted. "Stay sharp! Our foes can’t be seen!"

Karl lifted an eyebrow.

And then something smashed into him.

It was invisible, and it was huge. It hit Karl like a falling building. He flew 60 feet through the air, arms flailing, and crashed into the invisible wall that ringed the dungeon. The barrier rang like a gong. A web of silver cracks spread across the air where he’d struck.

He slid down it and landed on his feet.

He brushed dust from his coat and straightened his collar, perfectly calm.

"It’s good to see there’s one of those to cushion my landing," he said.

[Wow,]

[He’s completely unfazed.]

"Head out, everyone," Karl called. His voice had lost its lightness. "I’m guessing this thing is an A rank boss. It’s too much for the rest of you."

"Sir..."

"That’s an order."

The team scrambled.

They turned and ran, stumbling across the dirt, dragging the fallen falcon boy between them. The gate shimmered in the distance, miles away. They ran as fast as they could. Sweat poured down their faces. Their boots pounded the ground.

They were nearly halfway there when they heard it.

THUD.

A single, heavy sound, right in front of them.

They skidded to a halt.

The air in front of the gate seemed to ripple. The dirt sank in a deep, round depression, as though something huge had set its foot down. Then another thud, and another. Heavy, slow footsteps, crunching in the dirt. A pit opened in the earth, a footprint, deep and wide, wide enough to hold a car.

Nobody moved.

They couldn’t see it. But they could feel it. A heavy, oppressive weight pressing down on the air, thick as a storm.

"It’s in front of us," someone whispered.

"It’s blocking the gate."

"Oh, no."

"Oh, no, no, no."

Another thud. A fresh footprint appeared. Closer.

A boy near the back started to cry.

Jared stood frozen. His heart hammered against his ribs. His mouth was dry as sand. The thing was right there, a few steps away, huge and silent and hungry, and he couldn’t see it. He could only feel the heat of its breath.

’This is real.’

It was nothing like the arena, with its chains and its safety rules and its watchful guards. This was creeping, slow, certain death, and there was nowhere to run.

[Rex,]. [Don’t move.]

’I’m trying.’

Before anything else could happen, something streaked across the sky.

It was a blur of dark coat and flying hair. Karl came tearing over the plain, low and fast, his arm cocked back, and with a roar he slammed his fist into the empty air in front of the gate.

There was a sound like a cannon shot.

The air buckled. The ground shook. A massive, invisible shape was hurled backward in a spray of dust, crashing through the shimmering gate and out into the world beyond. The gate rippled and flared. A distant thud echoed on the far side.

Karl landed lightly in front of the gate, panting.

Since the boss had been blocking the exit, he had basically punched it straight through, pushing it into the real world.

"Come on, guys," a rookie gasped. "Let’s help!"

Jared thought about it. He couldn’t help thinking about it. A monster, A-rank and invisible, loose in a city. Streets full of people. Cars. Children. Karl alone against it.

"Go," Karl called. He didn’t turn around. "All of you. Now."

They ran.

They poured through the gate in a ragged stream, gasping, stumbling, one after the other. Jared went last. He stepped through the shimmer and felt the world rush by, and then he was standing in the real world again.

Behind him, the gate hissed.

It was about to close.

He turned and watched it shrink. There was no boss now. There was no sign of the invisible thing, no echo of its footsteps.

For some reason, these barren gates seemed to have no cores. He hadn’t seen one in any of them. Just flat, cracked land, and it’s own supply of beasts.

’Strange.’

Whoosh!

A massive gust of wind tore across the lot.

It came from somewhere beyond a warehouse. A distant crash followed, then another. The ground trembled. Somewhere, a car alarm began to wail.

"It seems the captain pushed it back," Jared said.

He turned toward the sound. He started to walk.

"What are you doing?" someone asked.

Jared glanced over his shoulder.

"The captain told us to retreat," she said. "To leave it to him."

"Yeah," Jared said. "He said so."

He turned back to the corner. A small smile tugged at his lips. His hand drifted to the pouch at his belt, where a tiny speck of light hummed against his hip.

"Yeah, he said so. He also had me on destruction duty twice today already now. I’m betting he’ll need his favorite destroyer," Jared said with a smirk.

He was going back in to help.