Frankly, the moment the time was suddenly reduced so significantly, terrified me. We had so much time before— making it clear that if anything happend, we could run away, rest up, then come back to continue the assault on the Abyssal Heart. The only thing that really rushed us was the fact that Cassie was waiting for us out there.
But now, with only thirty minutes remaining, there will be no more second chances. If we fail to defeat Lord Tanmi or destroy the Abyssal Heart here— either time will run out and we will die, or we will be killed by Lord Tanmi himself.
And Lord Tanmi himself, looked significantly different compared to his servants.
The large Nihileth was seated on a throne, leaning back, as if us coming to attack him was nothing more than a minor inconvenience to him. Before him, were two corpses of familier faces. Number one and number three. They were dead.
Which made things easier for us, but if Lord Tanmi had killed his own servants, that made it clear that he truly saw us as nothing more than a minor inconvenience, a group of ants meant to be stepped on. Despite this, I wasn't infuriated by it. Being underestimated is the greatest advantage one could have in a battle, atleast I thought so.
But that is only if you have the power to exploit being underestimated, of course.
"Creepy."
I heard Zeke mumble and I couldn't help but agree with him. Looking at Lord Tanmi— really looking and studying him, I had realized how different he was compared to the Nihileth.
First of all, he was a giant. At the very least the size of three human adults merged into one. His body was void-like, with milky drops littered around like little drops of stars over his body. Lord Tanmi had two eyes where they should be and another massive one— that was closed— on his forehead. The most unfair advantage he had, however, was the six arms. Three of them on each side, folded together.
By his posture, I knew he was proficient in using all six of his arms in harmony. He practically lived with them all his life. This would mean our number advantage at the moment was as good as useless, if he could keep us at bay using all six of his arms.
We rushed here without a strategy and we might pay dearly for it.
Behind the throne, was what we came here for. The Abyssal Heart. It was throbbing, oozing out black tar like blood. It was as wide and big as Lord Tanmi— no, it was much bigger. We just couldn't see it's true height and width, due to the throne obstructing most of it.
"We have to destroy it."
I said, turning to look at my companions. Nico didn't bother meeting my eye, instead, he was greedily taking in the sight of the Abyssal Heart and Lord Tanmi. While, Isabella and Zeke nodded, seemingly understanding what I was trying to say.
"Fighting that thing would be difficult…."
Zeke paused, Isabella finished the sentence.
"But if we manage to destroy the Abyssal Heart, the mission will end, thereby killing Lord Tanmi as well."
Nico chimed in, shaking his head.
"This is based on too many assumptions. We can't be sure that Lord Tanmi will disapper if the mission were to end."
Before we could continue the discussion, the ground beneath us shook. It startled me and almost made me lost my footing— from the corner of my eye, I saw Lord Tanmi slowly rising to his feet from his obsidian throne, his feet hitting the ground like a meteor strike, his voice boomed throughout the large hall.
"Are you little surface-dwellers done with the strategy meeting?"
Two of his upper arms manifested aquamarine staffs, littered with milky drops of little stars across it's surface, there were intricate patterns and lines etched on to the surface, some of them resembling shimmering runes that glew a navy blue light beautifully.
"And you still haven't my question. Which one of you here knows the location of Movarathos?"
As Lord Tanmi stepped towards us, I couldn't help but cower ever so slightly. The pressure was intense, sweat was beginning to form of on my brows, threatening to drip down to the ground. Yet, I managed to remain mostly still. This was because I endured a much greater pressure than this before.
I was curious about why Lord Tanmi wished to know where Movarathos was. Didn't he already? Wasn't the bow-user under his command? This was all getting very confusing….
But I had a plan.
Before any of them could open their mouths to speak, I pointed at Nico and said.
"It's him. He knows the location of Movarathos."
Nico widened his eyes at the betrayal, his smile forming in to a sharp smirk, as I so casually threw him under the bus. Isabella seems surprised, but Zeke was fairly chill about it, almost like he was expecting it. He, himself, had also had doubts about Nico.
"So, the fragile alliance we had is over."
I heard him mumble underneath his breath, as he turned towards Lord Tanmi.
"Yes, I know where Movarathos is."
Lord Tanmi stared at Nico with a toothy grin.
"Tell me where he is and I'll spare you."
Nico was silent for awhile, before he laughed.
"As if I'll trust a Lord that kills his own servants."
Lord Tanmi gave a long stare, before he broke into a thunderous laughter, rumbling from his chest. It almost made my eardrums bleed, but I held it together.
"Good. Keep that attitude up and you'll survive very long."
Then, Lord Tanmi twirled his staffs and got into a highly offensive stances, all of his six arms extended outward, ready to block out any attacks.
"Now, let's not waste anymore time. Come at me, Surface-dwellers!"
Lord Tanmi increased the intensity of the pressure he was releasing. By then, all four of us has adapted to it and only felt a minor discomfort. So, we managed to ready ourselves.
I summoned [Fool's Rapier], a little tempted on summoning the mysterious orb— I'll just call it Mystery Orb, for now— that I received from the strange humonoid misty figure, but I decided to keep it hidden for now. Unless the situation becomes really desperate, I'll call upon it and infuse innate spirit into it.
Zeke summoned the comedy mask he wore, now fully repaired, putting it on his face. This made me finally acknowledge and realize that the system has a self-repair function for equipment, as [Fool's Rapier] looks as good as new each time I summon it, but it also seems to take time. It's not instant, just like the summoning itself.
Isabella didn't have any equipment to summon, but her manipulation over the wind had underwent a drastic change recently. She must have grasped a significantly new understanding of what it means to be able to manipulate the air around here— I realized when she was able to easily morph the air around her, shaping it into a beautiful saber, a wind sword she called it.
As for Nico, he summoned a strange chain-mail armor that covered all of his torso and a mail coif for the head. The chain-mail wasn't grey, rather, it had a distinctive dark blue colour, that's fading into black. For a weapon, he didn't summon anything, seemingly content with just using his fists, similar to Zeke.
"Not bad."
That's all I heard Lord Tanmi say, before he turned into a blur. My eyes widened, as he moved so fast, that I couldn't even catch it. For someone his size to be moving at this speed….
Lord Tanmi directly targeted Nico. His eyes widened in a moment of panic, but he couldn't even process what had happend before one of Lord Tanmi's staff's slammed into the young blond boy's stomach, sending him hurling through a Pillar, towards a wall, creating a small crator of his figure on it.
Lord Tanmi didn't wait. The next moment, he was on the person closest to Nico— Zeke— but he seemed to be prepared for an attack as such. He had already reached down towards himself, shutting his eyes tightly and biting his lower lip so hard that it was bleeding, he used his blessing.
Reversing time of his postion, back to where he was just five seconds ago. Just inches away from the devastating strike by Lord Tanmi which followed, the staff slamming down into the ground, hard enough that it shook the entire hall, sending debri and dusting hurling towards us.
Isabella was quick to react, using her manipulation over wind, to prevent any of the debri and dust getting in our way, so that it doesn't obstruct our vision.
Zeke stood there, his breathing uneven, as he regarded Lord Tanmi with an unmistakable amount of malice in his eyes. Zeke, somehow, managed to dodge the attack and was staring down Lord Tanmi, just inches away from him.
"You…."
Even Lord Tanmi seemed stunned and slightly fearful of this power, as he instinctively jumped back and made distance, now watching us more more carefully, the usual arrogance gone— his wary fixed on Zeke.
Before Lord Tanmi could react, Nico had pounced on him from behind, using his ability to fly upwards secretively early, he dropped back down on Lord Tanmi like a falling meteor. However, before Nico could even touch down, or make contact, Lord Tanmi seemed to have realized what was coming from the air.
Twisting his body in an unnatural manner, one of his six arms grabbed on to Nico like he was some little bug, then threw him to the ground violently, making Nico's eyes go wide, as he coughed out blood. Lord Tanmi didn't stop, with his fingers wrapped around the body of Nico, he began slamming him down to the ground, over and over again.
Stunned into place by the fast-paced events for a moment, I didn't know what to do. But I quickly activated [Probability Pryer] and [The Zone], gripping [Fool's Rapier] tightly, as I rushed forward.
Isabella and Zeke wasn't that far behind. The three of us pounced on Lord Tanmi and began attacking him simultaneously.
Lord Tanmi noticed, of course. He didn't let up his grip on Nico, instead, one of his arms kept him slung over one shoulder, dropping the staffs down to his lower arms, as he turned towards us, the rushing ants in the eyes of this giant Nihileth.
The staffs slammed down on the ground, but with the help of [Probability Pryer] I managed to dodge them with ease, even climbing on to one, as he lifted it. Using the leverage to pounce and grasp on to one shoulder, without any hesitation, I plunged [Fool's Rapier] into the nape of the Nihileth's neck.
At the same time, Isabella was slicing at Lord Tanmi's feet, while Zeke was attempting to make contact with the staffs, trying to reverse them back to a time where they hadn't existed. He was unsuccessful so far, due to how Lord Tanmi was moving.
"Hmph!"
Lord Tanmi began twisting and turning his body in the most absurd ways, I almost lost my footing and fell from his shoulder. He was like a giant, trying to shake off a group of annoying insects. I can tell by the tensement of his muscles, that he was getting frustrated and outraged by us overwhelming him with pure numbers.
Even, Nico, who was trapped, was trying to do as much as damage as possible, biting at the skin of the giant Nihileth, tearing off skin and flesh, it was insignificant in the eyes of Lord Tanmi, but it was progress for us.
As things started becoming more and more overwhelming for Lord Tanmi, something suddenly happend. The weeping eye symbol at the center of his chest started glowing— it was a rune. A rune that gave him power.
My hands, still stabbing and plunging on to the skin of the giant, paused at the sight. My eyes widening, as I saw the probability of something I really wanted to avoid!
"Everyone! Get off!"
I yelled at the top of my lungs, as I moved to jump off— but Lord Tanmi had discarded his staffs, with the now free six arms, he grasped on to me, holding on to me with a squeezing grip, that made me gasp. I felt like my ribs were about to be squished open.
I heard Lord Tanmi's voice.
"You pest…."
He didn't seem to like my foresight, as he began crushing me. Slowly and torturously, I felt my inner bones being shattered. My eyes bulging in fear and pain.
Down below, the weeping eye symbol at the center of Lord Tanmi's grew brighter, until it dimmed. When it did, from the symbol, slippery tentacles extended out from the center of his chest, moving and wrapping around both the helpless Isabella and Zeke— Zeke attempted to use his blessing to escape, but Lord Tanmi had realized how terrifying the palms of Zeke was, so the tentacles wrapped tightly around his wrists and body, so that the palm never makes contact.
All of us was being crushed. Only Nico remained, but I could tell that even he had suffered alot, broken bones and everything. The last tentacle came and attempted to wrap around Nico, but at that moment, my eyes caught something absurd.
Nico touched the tentacle with a finger. Then, all i saw was everything inside the large hall going up in flames. A violent explosion occurred, the bang echoing of the walls of the hall, that was now engulfed in flames.