Chapter 201: Pincer Attack
Kai stared at the small pool with an evident frown.
Finding a small crater filled with water underneath a rock is already strange.
But finding golden water is even stranger.
No matter how smoothly the first two Noble Star Beasts fell, he wasn’t going to let his guard down inside a Sky Gate. Star Beasts cannot use mana, but there’s no saying that they couldn’t lure Supernals using mana.
He didn’t know how intelligent the Star Beasts in this Sky Gate were, but he stayed cautious.
No harm in being cautious.
Initially, he thought it was a lure that was placed by an intelligent Star Beast.
But he seriously doubted that Star Beasts could make this golden wine.
"Wait a minute, wine...?" Kai’s brows dipped as his mind churned with possibilities. He had one big suspicion, but it still didn’t make sense, and he didn’t want to assume. "Senior Grines! Can you come here for a second?!"
Grines came over with a slow trot and stopped beside Kai, also looking down at the liquid.
"What is it?"
"I was wondering whether you know what this golden wine is. Maybe a miraculous water?"
"It contained a sliver of mana—Nothing in a Sky Gate could generate mana." Grines uncurled his spine and rubbed his chin; his face a mixture of confusion and worry. "This is man-made. Someone had made thi—"
Shing—!
Just then, the golden liquid suddenly glowed blindingly.
Kai and Grines raised their arms to shield their eyes from the golden light.
And before the golden light dimmed, the ground shook underneath their feet.
Kai snapped his head over his shoulder as the black stars above picked up movements.
A lot of them.
"I sensed many of them approaching!" Kai stated in a panic as he quickly rose to his feet and prepared to unwrap the bandage wrapping around the Blood-phantom Scimitar. "We need to quickly get out of here!"
"No!" Grines grabbed Kai’s forearm. "I’ll protect the two of you. Just run!"
"Are you serious? I won’t tell anyone that we worked together to escape this. I swear I’ll give all the credit to you!"
"I’m not a liar. Just trust m—"
Crash—!
Something smashed against the rock.
Bree snapped her eyes up and saw rolling boulders descending down the steep slope.
She then looked down and saw Kai and Grines were still trying to anchor themselves despite the rumbling ground, unaware that the boulders were rolling down behind them. She sprinted as fast as possible and tackled them, "Look out!"
Due to her quickness, the three of them avoided the boulders.
Some of the boulders were as big as a house, and they crashed and shattered where Kai and Grines were a few seconds ago, causing the ground to shake even more. It took a moment for the dust to settle and the three to recover.
"What in Zeus’s name is happening?" Grines clicked his tongue in displeasure.
"I don’t know," Bree shook her head, and then pointed up. "But I do know we’re in trouble."
Swish—!
As soon as the words left her lips—an immense wave of corruption slammed into Grines and Kai, pressing against their shoulders like a physical weight. Their eyes flew wide. Stiffly, as if fearing what they would see, they turned and lifted their gazes.
And the two gasped when their eyes locked onto something.
A massive shadow that clung to the steep slope above them, watching them with red eyes.
Kai remembered the intelligence from the bald professor. He said that the last Noble Star Beast was a hybrid—half-goat, half-man. Kai had pictured a Satyr. A nature spirit that loves music and wine with a little bit of mischievousness.
A man’s torso and goat’s legs.
Perhaps ugly and unsettling, but their fun-loving nature was said to be irresistible.
But Kai was wrong to picture that, as this is the Sky Gate.
Clinging to the steep slope above him was ten feet of nightmare. The upper body was a slender man’s torso—and corded with muscle. It wore nothing. Everything was bare, exposing its pale, sickly skin and the fact that its crotch was smooth with no male genitalia.
Its hands were elongated and sharp, each finger tipped with a sharp nail.
One of the hands was lodged deep into the rock surface, keeping the monster hanging there.
And the head was that of a hideous goat. Black fur, matted and coarse, clung to a skull too long and angular to be natural. Its lipless mouth was filled with grinding teeth. The horns on its head swept upward in thin, curving arcs like sabers, and its eyes burned a deep red.
From a distance, one might mistake it for a man wearing a goat’s head.
But the way the goat’s head merged into the human neck with horrible smoothness told a different story entirely.
Kai’s breath was caught in his throat, and Grines stiffened beside him.
Neither had time to recover.
Crash—!
Out of nowhere, three more shadows crashed down near the Noble Star Beast, slamming into the rock—with enough force to send fragments skittering down the slope. Smaller versions of the hybrid.
But these three are more hunched and twisted.
More monster than human, which was a stark contrast to the Noble Star Beast.
"How is it here?! How did it instantly go to us?!" Bree’s voice cracked, panic bleeding through.
"It’s the gold wine. Kai clenched his fists until the knuckles turned white. "It’s Fimos. Now, I’m certain this was his doing."
"What?" Grines whirled on him, clear confusion etched across his face. "Fimos? Why are you suddenly bringing him up? How does that make any sense?"
"When he went to fetch the corruption radar," Kai’s tone dropped, grim and cold. "I’m quite certain there’s still a pair of winged boots in the camp."
Kai already suspected that the golden wine was a part of Asher’s plan. He remembered Fimos creating wine out of nothing, so it was Fimos who was instructed by Asher to make this golden wine.
And since the golden wine contained mana, Grines said it was man-made.
It made Kai certain that it was really Fimos.
Initially, he thought it was impossible.
All of them were sticking together throughout the entire way until they entered the Sky Gate, but then Kai remembered that Asher had sent Fimos to grab the corruption radar. And he also remembered that there should be thirteen pairs of winged boots.
But there are only twelve pairs inside the cages.
Now, Kai also realized why Asher demonstrated using Barbara to show the tip he taught.
It was to distract the porters so that Fimos had the chance to enter the Sky Gate to create this golden liquid and then come down without anyone noticing. As Kai expected, Asher and his squad were hiding something.
Every step of the way had been calculated by him and his squad.
However, the question still remains—why do they want Asher dead?
"But why...?" Grines looked at the Noble Star Beast with gritted teeth; he couldn’t believe that Asher and his squad would go to such lengths to set him up. "I didn’t know them before this, and I also didn’t sense any animosity from them. They’re unfriendly, not murderous. No way that they would set me up like this."
Roar—!
Behind them, the cacophony of roars echoed, bouncing off the rocky walls of the steep slope.
Kai, Bree, and Grines looked over their shoulders as the ground shuddered with the sound of hooves and paws and hissing breaths. A horde of oversized wild animals spilled into the only path for them to escape.
Fangs and claws and spiky horns filled every inch of the escape route.
On the steep slope, the Noble Star Beasts and their twisted spawns barred them from scaling the slope for safety. Behind, a tide of teeth and fur. The three of them were pinched. This is a pincer attack that closed perfectly around them.
Roar—!
Another roar resounded.
But this time, it came from the Noble Star Beast, and it was a signal to attack.
Like a united army, the horde of oversized wild animals charged at them in a stampede.
Grines gritted his teeth and immediately stepped forward, placing Kai and Bree behind him.
"Are you still thinking of fending this alone?!" Kai shouted in utter disbelief.
"Follow me!" Grines roared back without answering. "I’ll cut a straight path for us to escape!"
Bree wasted no time and summoned the elastic membrane to envelop her and Kai before the two followed Grines closely behind. Surprisingly enough, Grines proved to be strong enough to slaughter his way through the horde.
His hands moved like each one had a separate brain.
No matter the angle and shape of attack, his daggers could fend against them without fail.
It was clear that he was really experienced in a dire situation like this.
Kai glanced over his shoulder and saw that the Noble Star Beast and its clones were still watching.
Remaining still on the steep slope.
"They’re not attacking?" He muttered with a frown.
"They’re testing us," Bree murmured, stealing a quick glance over her shoulder. "They’ll most certainly attack soon. And with how fast they reached us earlier, outrunning them when they decide to move won’t be an option."
Her voice dropped. "Grines will hold them off, though. That’ll buy us enough time to run."
Bree was harsh, but she was right.
Considering that Grines has an upright personality, someone who didn’t even dare to lie even when his life was on the line, he would no doubt use everything to protect them. But that’s not what’s inside Kai’s mind right now.
Regardless of what Grines would do, his mind was still fixated on Asher.
He was still thinking of a reason why Asher would aim Grines like this.
For an Angel, strength is everything. He must be doing this to grow stronger. But how?
Just as Kai contemplated, he remembered something.
His divine bloodline... Atreus.
"Bree," Kai snapped his head toward Bree as they still followed Grines closely behind. "Do you know about the leaked documents about the divine bloodline of Atreus—a few years ago? Do you remember how Atreus ascended to Godhood?"
"Atreus? Asher’s bloodline?"
"Yes! Do you remember?"
"Erm... If I’m not mistaken, Atreus ate something to ascend to Godhood."
"Eat what?"
"Wait a minute, I’m thinking!" Bree shouted back; her forehead creased as she tried her best to remember what was inside the leaked documents. And then, her eyes widened, "Oh, right! Atreus knew he couldn’t harm Zeus, so as vengeance, he stole, cooked, and ate about twenty grandchildren of Zeus."
Almost instantly, Kai’s heart skipped a beat, and his breath grew shallow.
His eyes rounded in realization.
"Asher... Asher is going to eat Panas!!"
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