Chapter 361: Trials (3)
Chapter 359
Van and Chloe were also surrounded by the last two statues.
The tech genius wasted no time in creating a pair of hand cannons as he began sending plasma blasts and energy beams flying, but the sheer speed of the statues was proving to be a massive problem.
The stone constructs were fluidly dodging each and every one of the incoming beams while Chloe was frantically sending out arrow after arrow.
What she hoped to achieve with physical arrows against solid stone was unknown, but she refused to stop firing.
However, even with the statues’ incredible speed, Van’s rapid-fire beams were proving to be a sufficient hindrance.
The constructs were unable to genuinely approach them through the barrage.
So for now, the duo was still safe.
For how long, though?
That remained entirely unknown.
....
Kai jerked his knee upward, crushing it into the stone spear speeding for his abdomen.
The impact veered the projectile off course for just the slightest fraction of a moment.
A sharp crystal dagger flashed into his hand, and he hauled it forward, colliding with the spear shaft before darting toward the statue’s core.
He was just about to strike when the stone construct’s body twitched, completely vanishing from his line of sight and instantly reappearing directly behind him with a brutal jab toward his spine.
Kai’s high skill level and refined instincts were the only things that allowed him to sense the shift.
He twirled around forcefully, his hand now wrapped in a thick, protective layer of a crystal gauntlet which he hauled forward in a heavy counter-punch.
However, his fist only crashed through empty air harmlessly.
The statue was already nowhere to be found.
’Damn! Damn! How fast can this thing actually get? I—I hate to admit this, but I don’t think we can win against them traditionally. What sort of nightmare trial have we been thrown into?!’
....
Felix ricocheted violently across the ground for a moment before his hands shifted fully into sharp werewolf claws, which he dug deep into the obsidian floor, finally halting himself from sliding any further.
Before he could even think of rising, a massive stone mace came rushing down toward his skull.
Clap—!
Felix slapped his hands together, activating his spatial displacement ability.
Almost instantly, the second statue—the one holding the shield—was forcefully swapped directly into his place.
WAM!
The heavy mace crashed into the shield-bearing statue’s head with resounding, crushing force that shook the entire chamber for a brief moment.
Displacing himself, Felix reappeared right beside a stunned Nebula, panting exhaustedly from the high energy drain of his skill.
"Wha—what do we do now?"
Nebula looked over at the two statues, who were currently standing still in temporary confusion, trying to process how they had just struck each other.
"We survive," she answered, her voice tight.
.....
Ray shot out of the rising dust cloud like a sniper’s bullet, clearing the area just in the nick of time as another devastating hammer slam crushed the space he had been occupying a millisecond prior.
His passive perception flooded the immense chamber, and he could feel exactly how much everyone was struggling.
These statues were genuinely terrifying combatants.
’Think, Ray, think! I don’t think we can defeat these bastards in a battle of pure brute force. There must be a mechanical trick to this room that we missed.
Come on! Why did only ten out of fifteen weapon statues activate? And why did the musical ones remain completely still? Come on!’
The statues bolted toward his positioning, refusing to grant him even a single second to clear his thoughts.
One of them threw its entire body weight forward, hurling its massive war hammer directly toward his face.
Swiftly, a dense bone shield materialized in the boy’s grip, and he snapped it into place to brace for impact.
A loud, ear-splitting crash resounded through the hall as Ray’s body was sent hurling into the distance from the sheer kinetic force.
He crashed heavily into the floor, tumbling wildly across the smooth tile before finally coming to a hard, skidding halt.
The statues were already dashing toward his downbound form.
He hurriedly scrambled back to his feet, and in his haste, his back hit the rigid surface of the wall, causing something above him to shake.
He spun around to see it was the exact same spot where the ancient wooden board was hung.
In that frantic moment, his mind instantly recalled the exact words written on its surface—because right now, that text was the only real clue he possessed.
The statues were already upon him again, their massive hammers swinging in deadly, synchronized arcs.
Ray swiftly vaulted high into the air, using the wall to kick off.
In that brief second when he was suspended above the danger, his eyes rapidly scanned the hall, bypassing his struggling friends and settling entirely on the stationary musical statues.
’Wait... music? What did the board say again?’
{Time to praise, worship, sing, and dance. Let’s get the party started.}
’Could that actually be the trigger to shut them down?’
His boots touched back down on the ground, but this time, instead of engaging or attempting to fight the guardians, he activated his speed and began actively running away from them.
’Music. Worship. Statues with instruments? Sing?’
His eyes widened immediately.
"Guys! Come on! Hurry, let’s sing a song of worship!" Ray bellowed immediately.
"...."
The statues froze for a second as if stunned by the absurdity of the boy’s words.
"Worship? Are you mad? How can we sing in this situation?!" Kai barked angrily as his own statue refused to freeze like the rest and instead, its spear hurtled toward the boy.
"TRUST ME YOU BASTARDS! QUICK, SOMEONE SING!"
They all hesitated for a few seconds, only for Trisha to kick the statue in front of her.
Though it did nothing to damage the construct, it enabled her to slide away from their encampment, and then she began.
"Great Lord, you are bigger than what people say, dear Lord, you are greater than what people think...."
The statues paused for a moment as they stared at the singing girl like she was crazy.
Ray smiled on seeing that the statues were unmoving when Trisha opened her mouth to continue.
WAM!
A hammer crashed into Ray’s head, and his whole body was lifted and flung across the hall.
He bounced across the ground for a few seconds before coming to a halt.
"I told you! Now you will just get us killed!" Kai cried out as the statues were about to move, but Ray reached out.
"RAY! BEHIND YOU!" Trisha cried out immediately, causing the boy to freeze.
He slowly turned around and lifted his head to see he was laying beneath the feet of one of the statues that hadn’t moved earlier.
"Ba....thump."
It was one of the musical statues which held a flute.
He was about to jump out of the way and get away when, suddenly, a sweet note began playing in the chamber, causing the statues that were about to dash toward the kids to freeze for the slightest of seconds—their movements slowed down a tiny bit.
Ray’s mind immediately spun as he lifted his head and surveyed the room.
’It reduced its speed? The music.... Oh! Eight statues, eight of us?’
"GUYS! THE MUSICAL STATUES. FUCKING STAND UNDER THEM NOW!"
The first to pick themselves up was Nebula.
She didn’t waste a second to dash toward the musical statue she was standing close to.
The moment she did, the statue too struck its harp and all the statues’ mobility was now reduced further.
Ray summoned his lasso and swung it into the air, wrapping it around Van’s legs.
Tugging on it, the boy was now in the air and within a moment, he landed right beside Ray.
The moment the two friends were together under the same monument, the flute stopped playing.
’Shit. I figured. One person per statue.’
Without hesitation, Ray sent lightning crackling around his feet as he bolted toward Chloe.
Seeing as Ray was no longer under it, the flute began playing again.
This didn’t stop the weapon statues from chasing the remaining teens, but seeing that this strategy might work, the others actively ran toward the next available musical statues.
Caster took a step forward and appeared directly under one of these statues.
Felix transformed his feet—boosting his speed as he slid under another.
By now, the speed of the weapon statues had reduced considerably.
Ray grabbed Chloe then hurled her through the air toward the next available statue.
The girl wasted no time in stabilizing herself with the use of her telekinetic ability as she landed underneath one of these statues safely.
Now, Ray was standing before two statues which swung their swords toward him.
He spun around and began running, watching as Kai reached the next statue, followed by Trisha a second later.
[Thunder Step Activated]
Bang!
Ray blitzed forward and within a second, he crashed into position beneath the last available statue.
Almost simultaneously, the moving weapon statues all froze in their steps.
The music blared loudly, and the weapon statues all twitched slightly as if enchanted by the melodies echoing through the chamber.
Soon, they began to move together, flowing like one while their stone bodies literally glowed.
The teens panted heavily while watching the enchanting scene.
Slowly, deep cracks began forming on their bodies and one by one, as the music grew with intensity, the weapon statues crumbled down into harmless piles of rocks.
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