Chapter 1897 - 1896 - Impossible!

[HOW?! HOW ARE THEY DOING THIS?!] The Great One had trashed much of the room he was in. He had spared only the things needed to keep his prisoners in place and only just.

He had seriously considered consuming them both and gloating that Lind Frey brought it on himself but he knew that would not help his cause. The man was not so fragile to be moved by words alone.

Actions broke him, not words.

He was heaving as if he had run a marathon, an Eternal Fiend exhausted by his own tantrum when he saw the group successfully overcoming the void schism by the dragon himself! The void was just another place to that creature!

The deadly path had become a walk in the park for 900 plus cultivators!

It should have forced them to pick an elite group and lose even some of those on the way through but Lind Frey had out maneuvered him at every turn!

His rage wanted to run wild again but he intentionally closed his eyes and refined more souls from his dantian to bring himself to his peak. He had no more thralls to throw at them but they were not across the finish line yet.

The disruptive hallway was the worst the thralls could make but not his limit. He had left one panel intact. It was the only panel that mattered now.

The other 2 in the room did not mock him or laugh at him. They understood the final gamble was about to be put into effect, yet he sneered at them.

"Nothing to say? No snide comment or mocking laughter? You are both suddenly so quiet?" His shadowy figure loomed at the heart of the debris strewn room. He had been throwing a tantrum but both of them knew the man before them had outlived every enemy and broken Heaven and Earth.

He had denied oblivion and learned from every failure to endure.

His puppets and paltry attempts to kill Lind had been laughable to them. They knew it was only a delay tactic at best but they knew the true horror had only been glimpsed.

"It is time to remind everyone why I am called the Great One." He slammed his palm against the panel and it lit up with vile Qi. A powerful thrum made the room shake and he disappeared.

They could only pray that Lind survived.

⬧⬧⬧⬧

Things were going better than he had hoped. Several people were injured but they were making good progress thanks to Annabelle. Lind did not lower his guard.

He never took for granted that outwitting the Bastard would corner him. He assumed a pit was always waiting to open up and swallow them all.

It was that instinct that saved all their lives.

He could not put into words what made him act and if pushed he could only say it was because he was looking for any change around him that made him aware of the shift in the air. It was unnatural.

They were walking forward so why would a gust come from behind no matter how gentle?

His arms moved so fast they vanished to all senses but his own. A massive weaving appeared under their feet as the hallway floor vanished! A yawning chasm of Fiend Qi infused spikes made them all feel sick to look at.

He noticed several withered corpses among them and knew this trap was not unique to the area they were in.

He was about to move the weaving when it flared as something brushed against it. A chill went down his spine.

"PRO–!" He could not even warn them when Goldthorn had a shadow-covered fist explode from his chest, his heart held in the hand covered in blood.

[No one escapes me.] Goldthorn did not wail nor look lost. His gold white aura flared and made chains appear behind him yet nothing was there! Lind did not feel anything at all as well!

How was that possible?!

Lind infused his harmony into the weaving and also made another layer on as a defense. Just as he completed it, he felt 3 different attempts from different directions to attack others close to him!

[You think yourselves safe? HA HA HA!] Lind convulsed as nausea swept over him. What was going on? How was he being attacked from outside his barriers?!

He tried to focus but he could not even warn the others he was unable to act! Annabelle and Qing noticed and they acted.

It was only thanks to them that most of their party were warned, yet over 100 were struck at once!

Fists, weapons, and other attacks appeared as if by magic because they far exceeded what a single person could do at once! Lind had no idea what was going on as it broke almost every rule he could think of.

The trap below of spikes was easy and even striking from a pocket realm could be accepted, but not in excess of the number of limbs the Bastard had!

They were not thralls, everything carried his aura! How was he doing that?!

He was there but he could not find him!

Lind recovered as quickly as he could. He tried to figure out the trick but nothing worked. Instead, he infused his Intent into the floor weaving and the group were launched forward like a shot.

He was moving them along but the attacks did not stop. He was not able to be targeted, however which showed being still was more dangerous. He tried to move them along but he quickly felt something was wrong.

The map Annabelle made was no longer correct!

The Bastard had changed things again!

There seemed to be no way out and his energy was not infinite! Lind took a breath and calmed his mind. He was being cornered but while the Bastard could make things confusing, he could not alter the limits of his fortress.

Lind tried to overcome the issues but he did not understand what was happening. He could only try to respond and deny access to the Bastard.

It was a game of deadly cat and mouse but it was a question of who was who.

Eventually, Lind found the slightest tremor as they moved. His eyes narrowed and he summoned his staff. He struck out and the wall that seemed whole shattered to reveal a new path forward!

He was about to guide the group through when he slammed into a barrier.

[You will not escape me so easily!] The vile voice grated on his nerves as the spikes below their feet grew suddenly. The spikes broke on his barrier at first but then they broke through!

Lind raised them all up but the ceiling had not moved! There was a limit. The dark spikes kept trying to find targets but his wives shattered them with their own moves.

The strain of the attacks exceeded his ability to stop them and 50 more people died right before his eyes. He was angered but he had to focus on breaking through.

The tremor in his senses told him the path to leaving the death trap was right there so he had to get them out of the danger. He analyzed the feeling and felt a strange sensation.

It was not a trap but as if some kind of condition was attached that barred them from escaping. He frowned and knew brute force would not work.

He began to pick apart the sensation and Forge a way forward. If weaving did not work, he would make a bridge!

Metal and crystal took shape but were shattered by a leg that had no connection to a body.

[You will not escape me! You will all become my precious fuel for my foundation to the final step!] The Bastard's vile voice filled their heads. Lind discarded it.

He knew it was a taunt on top of the attacks. Lind focused and had Chu and Ethry help him. Their harmonic Qi were compatible with his and a bridge was Forged from pure Qi. It ripped open a doorway that the survivors flooded into.

Even then, Lind felt danger. They were not out of risk as they left the spikes behind. They all flooded a hallway and he wanted to say they were safe but he felt it was wrong.

He warned his wives and they took steps to protect the group yet it fell short.

There were 200 more that died as they escaped the hallway. Lind raged but he could only focus on those that survived.

As the massive group of 600 plus escaped death, he realized they were not safe as the walls vanished and more spikes appeared. The Bastard had truly forced them to the edge!

Lind quickly asserted his weavings but they were barely an impediment to the attacks.

He cast several weavings and worked to protect those that remained as the Bastard attacked them. There were 50 more that died but Lind was adapting. He was able to not only sense the attacks but to shatter the spikes as they tried to claim lives.

"We have to move forward!" He carried the survivors away and the Bastard kept trying to kill them. It was now a question of what came first.

Would Lind protect the group to the end or would the Bastard harvest the lives of hundreds of Eternal Realm cultivators for his own needs?