Chương 113: Chapter One-Hundred-and-Thirteen

As he slept, Adam saw the cosmic eye of the All-Seeing System in the void of space. Each dot forming its shape was a galaxy unto itself, and each galaxy blinked intermittently like attentive eyes in the dark. The last time it had spoken to him, Adam's ears and nostrils had bled. But it was blissfully quiet in his sleep. Merely observing him. But that attention alone spoke volumes. Adam had reached the convergence of dimensions in Stage Five. If he perished now, he would not lose his memories and progress.

< < Now Entering > > < Stage 5 > < The Forbidden Altar > < 30-minute Timer > Adam opened his eyes. The image of the cosmic eye was seared into his vision like he'd stared too long into the sun. I'm safe from the System's punishment, he told himself. In front of him on the stone disc of the Elphin Sanctuary stood Belamouranthe and her mother, the Queen.

Around them on the steps of the ritual site watched the citizens of the city, and under Adam's feet flowed mercury, travelling through the grooves in the enormous disc. The cutscene repeated the events of the last time he'd come here. Belamouranthe was saved from her mother's sacrificial dagger by the magic imbued into the All-Mother's Wrath necklace that Adam had given her to wear.

The citizens of the city supplicated themselves before the display of the All-Mother's power as massive blue flower petals grew around the girl to protect her. Then the flower closed and took the girl away, leaving behind the Queen who'd been struck by the backlash of the necklace. The woman screamed into the air, while the citizens of the Sanctuary sang with one voice. It sounded like a pleading song to appease the wrath of the All-Mother.

The Queen stumbled towards Adam, who could not move because of the cutscene's hold on him. Her red soul wing was fracturing like glass, falling apart with every ambling step she took. Then she dropped to her knees and plunged her sacrificial dagger into the side of her own neck, spilling cerulean-blue blood onto the disc where it quickly combined with the mercury." I do this for mine people," she said and wrenched the blade all the way through her neck.

With her sacrifice, the All-Mother was appeased, because the citizens of the Elphin Sanctuary were spared the horrific curse they had received the first time Adam had come here and the girl had died. Once the Queen was completely dead and her lifeblood drained into the pattern under Adam's feet, the ground rumbled and opened the way for him down into the Altar. Like a robot, Adam turned away from her body and towards the stairwell. Then he blinked and was transported deep below the surface.

He was walking along the spiralling steps of the pillar that led him into the Forbidden Altar. With a blink he was moved further down, time skipping conveniently within the cutscene. This time he saw four other spiralling staircases around him. The default number of Players for the group Stages up until Stage Ten was five, but Adam had been the sixth Player the last time he'd reached the Altar. As he understood it, the sixth Player was someone added when the original group composition of the universe was changed.

It could happen as a result of the interference by a time-looper in the beginning of the universe, changing who survived and who didn't. But it also happened when someone used the Abyssal Tooth to eliminate a Player from the universe. Like the Tome Keeper had hinted at, using the power of Nwetrou permanently erased a person from existence.

Depending on their actions prior to the Trials of Defiance, their removal from existence could have a serious impact, such as when Nova had sacrificed an evil Player to save others, only for 2 million less people to survive Stage One. Even a bad person can profoundly shape the universe in a way that benefits others, Adam mused. Just like how a good person can negatively affect the world despite only meaning well.

If defying the Trials means that I have to worship Nwetrou and sacrifice people permanently, then I'm not sure I can do it… He would have to sacrifice a hundred people to obtain enough Soul Drops to buy everything that Sköll sold. That amount of sacrifices would doom any universe to oblivion. But Adam still thought about the Eye of Lord Nwetrou item that the octopus Envoy sold, because eye symbolism was significant in the Trials. It had to be related to defying the All-Seeing System's designs, somehow.

He pushed the thoughts from his mind for now and looked across the stairwells until he saw the Asian woman with the long hair. Unfortunately, he couldn't see her weapon or Relics. The other Players looked at each other and at him, and none of their expressions seemed overtly hostile. They were more worried and confused. No one yet knows that this Stage forces you to kill others… He made a note of where they would all go, and realised that he was in the very middle of their stairwells, which was south of the Altar.

It was the optimal place to get to the other stairwells quickly. The Player on his left was the long-haired Asian woman whose weapon he didn't know, and past her was the Hispanic guy. To his immediate right was the woman with the black and green hair and piercings, and after her was the Asian girl with the dark skin and blonde-dyed hair. Adam blinked again and arrived at the foot of the long staircase.

The grip of the cutscene released him and he immediately brought out the Spidersilk Needle and activated his Blood Fist Ring to give himself a small glob of blood energised with his Mana. < < Stage Objective > > < Claim the Altar before the timer runs out > The stone orb with the eye floated in front of him, glowing red. He kept it active for the double Points he'd get at the end. With all of the statues coming to life, the others should be slowed down significantly, which should allow me to get to the Altar first.

[The Stage will begin in 30 seconds.] Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. [Only 1 Player may claim the Altar.] [If there are other Players alive, claiming the Altar takes 5 minutes. Once the Altar is claimed, surviving Players will perish.] It has to be a lie. Adam walked up to the edge of the boundary beyond his stairwell, ready to take on the statues further down the hallway that was warmly lit by glowing sun gems in the ceiling.

I'm still missing Speedrun, Eradication, and Pacifist from this Stage. If the others don't attack on sight, then maybe we can attempt to claim the Altar together. Pacifist also gives quite a lot of Points in this Stage. 800 according to Emelia. While the Tome Keeper said that it is possible to save someone in the Altar by using the First Light's braziers and flames, it sounds way too complicated to be 'fair', particularly because it's only doable by time-loopers.

The System probably has a simple way that all Players can survive but is betting that our base nature will prevent us from discovering it. Having all Players survive and claim the Altar together could definitely be a possible solution. Still, Adam was hesitant to take the pacifist approach. He didn't know the characters and personalities of the four others, and all it took was one person choosing their own survival over that of the rest to totally ruin Adam's plan. [Begin.] Adam launched forward, flinging the needle ahead of him. The statues lining the walls of the hallway immediately came to life. Three with spears and three with swords. Six right off the bat… I may have unintentionally doomed the others. The needle yanked back towards Adam and he moved his head to the side, allowing it to fly past him. He threw out three loops of the spidersilk string bound around his right hand, having already coated it in a tiny layer of blood.

Then he spun around as the needle flew back towards him, sending it forward through the three hovering loops of silk with a spike of energy to the back of the needle. The statues didn't even attempt to move out of the way as the needle burst forward with a crack of sudden explosive momentum. The tip flew right through the centre of a spear-wielder, continuing into another statue right behind it before it yanked back towards Adam. Both of them turned to sand as their glass cores broke.

While collecting their cores would be useful, there's no easy way for me to extract them, least of all when I'm facing this many at once. He dodged the needle on the return and sent more blood into the string to create two floating loops as it came back around again. The needle exploded forward a second time, killing another two statues and teaching him that for these enemies the speed boost from two loops had the same effect as three.

The last two suddenly picked up speed to get to him, while raising their swords and trampling the sandy remnants of their fellows. Adam retreated slightly and used his foot to add some force on the elastic string, flinging the needle into the first one's torso and creating a small hole. It yanked back and he spun around, using more blood to launch the needle forward again.

It was just enough power to dig sufficiently deep into the stone torso to crack the core, but, as the statue warrior fell apart into sand, the other swordsman statue shot forward with a downwards swing of his weapon. Adam sidestepped the attack and looped his string around the statue's torso twice as he moved behind it, then he energised it with a manual injection of Mana to spare his dwindling reserves of blood.

With a pull of his right hand and the Mana in the string obeying his command, the two loops around the statue's torso contracted in an instant, the fine thread shearing through the stone body and the glass core in the centre. The statue fell apart in two halves which turned to sand when they struck the floor. Okay, the Hardmode in this Stage is pretty tough… I've gotta hurry. Adam summoned a bit of blood using his Mana, but stopped when he reached about 25% of his total reserves.

It didn't create a lot, but it was enough for a few more attacks with the Spidersilk Needle, though he figured he could also create the spell pattern for Push directly onto the torsos of the statues to break them open if necessary. But since none of the enemies bled or had flesh for him to manipulate, he had to be extremely precise and sparing with how he applied the blood magic.

If it wouldn't make all my pain receptors explode in one harmonious symphony of agony, then I could use my own body to break the enemies perhaps. After all, flesh magic had so much potential that he'd yet to fully explore, but having to use his own body was out of the question. He had brought the Hobgoblin Pendant, but that was only because of his discussion with Sylvia last night. He wasn't intending on using it to manipulate himself though.

Since she was an apprentice Blood Mage, she had come up with a lot of truly devious ways to use his blood magic. She had been impressed by some of Adam's abilities with the blood, but had chastised him for being reluctant to use his own body as a weapon. One of the most insidious powers that blood mages possessed was the fact that they could pass on the afflictions contained within their own blood, while isolating it from hurting themselves.

Basically, they would intentionally poison themselves but carefully manipulate their bloodstreams to isolate and gather the poison such that it didn't hurt them, and then they would deliver that dose of poison to their enemies, enabling them to kill other people with an inconspicuous attack. It was horrifying to know that it could be utilised in such a way, and Adam was glad that Ezral had focused more on summoning than putting such theory into practice.

Still, it was a good thing to be wary of, since Emelia had told him the vampires in Moonport possessed blood magic amongst other forms of bodily manipulation. While Adam wouldn't intentionally poison himself, through his tests with Sylvia he'd discovered that many effects from Relics were carried within the blood of a Player. One of those effects was the pain-nullifying power of the Hobgoblin Pendant.

It would, in theory, allow him to put on the necklace and then attack someone with his blood, making the damage he dealt unnoticeable by his target since it would immediately numb the area he struck. It was a disturbing way to fight, but Adam knew it was foolish to not at least consider all the options he had. Still, if I'm going to kill other Players, I don't want to do it in such a cowardly way.

He'd also theorised that he'd be able to share the Scorn affliction from the Queen's Pendant, but that was a far more self-destructive way to take down others, since he'd end up scorned in the process. Adam hurried down the hallways, using the bit of blood he controlled to speed himself up.

He avoided the next set of statues by using his spring boots, shooting himself through two interlinked rooms before sprinting to the first chamber that would allow him to venture towards the nearest stairwell to the west, which lay on his left. Every chamber and hallway was a significant threat, since all of the statues within came to life. Most of the hallways had six, but many of the rooms had more than that.

Out of all the Hardmodes he'd done so far, this one represented the biggest spike in difficulty he thought, though a part of that was also due to his main weapon being particularly weak against enemies that lacked flesh and blood. As he went towards the stairwell that the Asian woman with the long hair would've arrived at, he stopped within a large chamber to deal with five statues pursuing him. Fortunately, not all of the ones he'd awoken kept up the chase, since otherwise it would've created quite an issue.

Once the statues were dead, he continued through the room, killing the eight within it as well. He had to activate his Blood Fist Ring to refill his stock of blood and he also summoned a bit as well. It felt like it wasn't anywhere near enough of what he'd need though. Adam was about to venture further in to reach the stairwell, when the sound of running steps came towards him. He quickly backed away from the tunnel mouth and into the chamber.

When the woman came around the corner of the hallway leading to him, she skidded to a halt, raising her spear in his direction. Adam noticed the Duellist's Glove on her left hand which held the spear, as well as the Slothling Spring Boots and the Fur Coat that he also wore. From the shield on her right forearm and the design of them, he realised that she had evolved her Lancer weapon into the Son of Thetis variant, which he himself had used in his third loop.

The main difference though was that she wasn't using the Fiendbarb.

"Come on!" he yelled to her, gesturing for her to join him inside the chamber.

"Let's kill the statues together!" The sound of stone feet on the floor echoed up the tunnel behind her and she quickly looked back before fixing him with a hard stare.

"If I wanted to kill you, don't you think I would've tried already?" he told her. She seemed to accept his words at face value and quickly ran towards him. Since she wore the spring boots, she could quickly attack him, but Adam went against every instinct screaming in his body to try and make his reckless pacifist plan work. The vision of Charlotte Hayes, the first Player he'd killed, came to his mind unbidden. This will work, he told himself. I can save them.

As the woman drew nearer, it looked like she was about to say something, but then three statue warriors burst into view at the end of the tunnel, running towards their chamber at speed. Adam moved forward, hoping the woman wouldn't try to stab him in the back. Since he wore the Blood Mage Choker, he had an insurance against backstabbing attempts, but he wasn't keen on trying it out. With a spike of the Mana-infused blood coating the Spidersilk Needle, he shot the weapon down the chamber and into the tunnel.

It just barely pricked the leading statue in the centre of its torso before yanking back. Adam spun around as the needle flew through where he'd been standing, its tip still pointed directly ahead. Then he tossed out four loops of charged spidersilk. Something like the beat of a drum came when the needle returned and Adam spiked it through the floating loops of thread. The sound made the air vibrate and thrum.

The needle shot through the leading statue and continued through the next one in line, before burying itself halfway into the third. It was fortunate that the statues were extremely simple entities that didn't consider the fact that running in a tight formation was to their detriment. As the needle yanked back, Adam caught it in his hand with a simple zap of his power, stopping its momentum on the spot. Then he turned around and offered the woman his hand while the statues crumbled into sand behind him.

"I'm Adam," he said. She looked down at his hand, clearly noticing the intimidating tattoos.

"Mei," she replied without taking his hand. Can't fault her for that, he thought and grinned to himself.

"Do you want to try and save everyone with me?" he asked.