The Astral soul system

Chapter 247: Exterminate

"Find anything"

Sable shook her head

,"It’s weird. Something about her smell is... different. I can’t hold on to it. I’m just walking around in circles"

Zaria sighed. They’d checked the whole forest with no luck. She wondered if they really should go to her dad’s place because where else could she have gone.

"Some friend I am." She muttered looking around

"She never mentioned any hobbies or anything important she might go to in a situation like this, and I conveniently never asked."

"Don’t -"

Sable paused,her eyes becoming slits as she looked to the side

"This way"

She said, suddenly taking off with a speed that suprised Zaria

She stood there for a good two seconds before following behind her, quickly catching up.

They raced through the trees barely visible with Sable’s eyes darting around regularly before suddenly dilating

"Stop!"

They both stopped in place almost hesitantly

Crouching down, Sable placed her hand over the ground

"Footprints"

"Only two?"

Sable’s brows furrowed

"Something’s blocking my ability to track her. It’s been itching me this whole time. She’s changed somehow, even more than before"

"... what brought you here?"

Zaria asked, changing the subject

Sable pointed to the side without looking and following her finger, Zaria saw something strange. Now that she was this close she could see it too

"Is that a... portal?"

She asked, looking at the glowing tear in the sky.

"The energy coming from it reminds me of Jade, but it isn’t one of hers. It’s too...off"

Zaria got closer, reaching to touch it, but the second she got too close it suddenly closed up, disappearing like it was never there

"This is getting weird"

She said before crouching and looking at the ground under where the portal was. Placing her hand on it she could feel some residual energy, but that wasn’t what caught her attention.

"This is..."

She whispered, taking the long glowing feather in her hand. It only lasted for a few seconds before disappearing from her grip.

"Was that...?"

Before they could say anything, another opened up, this one being pitch black

"There’s another one. Sable, what do you think we should -"

She turned to look at Sable and was suprised to see her standing in place, frozen

"Deep..."

The words slipped from the girl’s mouth like a howl of the wind and pitch black smoke slipped out of the tear, flying towards her. The overpowering smell of blood filled the area

"Sable? What is that?"

"..."

"Sable wake up! Get out of there!"

In the next second, Zaria quickly made a choice, suddenly running in front of Sable she grabbed her and looked straight at the tear, her eyes lighting up a brilliant gold which quickly spread to the rest of her body,a deep draconic roar followed with a crushing pressure that forcefully dissipated the bloody aura, destroying the portal with a hiss and a screech

As the light faded, the image of a huge figure with massive wings and claws was faintly visible but it was still too bright to see directly. The figure rapidly shrunk with the light until Zaria could be seen,her eyes retained the glow for a few more seconds before returning to normal

"Aaah!"

Sable flinched back, pulling herself out of Zaria’s grip and looking to see a large burn mark there

"Oh my- I’m so sorry"

She quickly apologized, looking down to see the grass around her was also burnt, and frozen too?.

The portal was gone so that was good

"What... happened?"

"You zoned out. That...thing tried to grab you"

Sable paused, holding her head

"You didn’t hear it?"

The implications of that question caused Zaria to freeze but in the end she just shook her head. She’d heard it hiss and shriek as it retreated, but nothing else.

Sable paused for another second before muttering

"It hates you"

"O...oh"

"It was calling me. It wanted me to come... through. It was like...a thousand tiny voices, but it was all the same voice"

"Are you okay?"

"..."

"Sable?"

"We need to go back"

"What?"

"The tears, they’re coming from that mountain. It might have something to do with Jade"

"Are you sure? You’re still a bit -"

"I’m fine"

She said, trying to sound tough, though her voice trembled and she looked down at the burn mark on her. It still wasn’t healing,in fact it seemed to be getting worse. She could feel the energy inside her clashing with something... the only word she could find to describe it was hot. Scalding hot.

"Alright, let’s go"

They quickly ran back to the mountain, getting there in around a minute with their accelerated speed, but Zaria couldn’t stop looking back on the way. She felt like she’d missed something, something important.

Another portal opened around the mountain and Zaria quickly checked Sable but nothing had happened

"It’s fine. This one’s different "

"Still,I don’t like it"

They both immediately started climbing. Starting with a jump that cleared a large distance, Zaria directly stuck her fingers into the rock, pulling herself up, meanwhile Sable’s approach was far less direct though no less quick.

Getting to the top, they both were suprised to see a much larger tear right in the center of the cave, directly above the pond

Looking closer at the pond, Sable suddenly noticed a hint of green beneath it

"Jade!"

Following where she was pointing, Zaria immediately noticed her there, but confusion followed the discovery.

"I checked here a dozen times, and Zen did too. How could we have missed her?"

"Not important, let’s"

A large set of claws suddenly emerged from the portal. The tips looked like they were crafted from obsidian and now body they were attached too looked like something sculpted for horror.

A large roar suddenly came from the portal

"That’s -"

The cavern around them suddenly trembled like it was about to collapse as another much smaller portal appeared,then another, and another, until the room was almost filled with them.

Every single portal seemed to give off a completely distinct and unique aura, like they belonged to different worlds entirely.

Before the girls could catch a break, they suddenly heard a snap behind them. Quickly looking back, Sable couldn’t help but hiss

"Zaria?"

Zaria looked behind her and the chill that had been going down her spine this whole time just got worse. The exit had disappeared, locking them in as more beasts emerged from the walls, crawling down to surround them .

Looking at the various other paths in the cave, Zaria knew it was just a matter of time before beasts came from there as well

A booming sound suddenly came from the lake, the walls, the entire place.

It was just a hum, but somehow as it entered their ears, their brains seemed to translate it, almost like it was a language they forgot they’d learned. It said

Incursion detected, exterminating

"What is going on here?"

Almost as if it had heard them. A loud booming sound came from the lake that still had Jade in it.

Suitable key in place

Sentinel station is semi-functional

Beacon is active

****************

Zen froze for a second

"What the -"

That hesitation was enough of a window for the croc to pounce, it’s jaws unhinging and snapping shut around most of his body

Celia paused her ascent, looking back with a curious glint.

The crocodile beast flailed and struggled, trying to finish him off with Zen’s head and abdomen already in it’s mouth but it’s jaws couldn’t close completely.

His hands each held one jaw back from crunching down on his body, while dealing with it’s weight on his body.

He was right in the middle of the swamp. If he didn’t deal with this now, more would come to overwhelm him. He couldn’t push it off and was just barely keeping it’s mouth from snapping shut around his body.

"Need some help?"

He ignored her, holding this thing back was taking all his focus. It seemed he couldn’t keep affording to keep his abilities hidden

’I can’t get my hands free. Freya, you’re up’

Shadows suddenly rose out of the ground to wrap around him and the crocodile, covering them from view,or at least he hoped it would.

Lighting arced around his fingers as he released as much as he could into the beast’s body.

Slowly, he started to push the jaws back more, overpowering them before it suddenly started to glow, it’s fangs increasing in strength

’A skill. Fine ’

[Charge- maximum output]

His stats doubled instantly and his lightning became even more violent but it was all still a standstill.

"Interesting,let me give you a hand,boy,or maybe two"

Zephyr’s voice echoed as the shadows forcefully ripped themselves from Zen’s hands, forming two new ones made entirely of shadows, which immediately got to pushing as the flicker of Zephyr’s face covered his.

The darkness kept growing like a virus, overshadowing his true form until

*Rip!*

*Squelch!*

*Thud*

The crocodile fell into the swamp, it’s body ripped in two right down the middle , revealing Zen covered in it’s blood, his entire body coated in living darkness that formed into a cloak of spikes all around him

The shadows faded back into his body as well as the two extra arms, leaving him standing there in just blood and mud

He looked at the crystal he’d grabbed at the last second and crushed it in his hand, letting his mutation feed on it’s energy. He would have gained more from eating it directly but he couldn’t do that here.

He watched the miniscule amount of exp and energy he got and just moved away from where he was standing. More crocodiles were already circling, looking for a chance to strike.

Before he could fully move, Celia suddenly teleported right in front of him before grabbing his shoulder and teleporting away to a more safe area.

"Well that was exciting. It’s not everyday you of all people get distracted."

Zen pulled his shoulder out of her grip, mentally noting that she was right

What happened to him? What was that weird feeling

"Anyway. We need to hurry up. There’s still a lot of Crocs,we haven’t found the path to the next level and I don’t have infinite energy, and I seriously doubt you do either"

Right. Teleportation was one of the more physically and mentally tasking abilities out there. Even she couldn’t keep this up forever.

"How about we just finish these guys as soon as possible, but you need to stop holding out on me "

She said with a knowing smile, though he wouldn’t give her any reply, whether to the statement or its implications.

Sighing, she shrugged, looking up at another crocodile that had found their temporary refuge and was already pouncing towards them

"The hard way it is then"