Chapter 65

The Monster

To put it simply Nayali didn’t quite understand the hesitation she saw in Lykan’s eyes and body language. His entire body seemed to contract in on itself. Shoulders that looked like they could carry the world buckled and faltered at the mere sight of a psychic dragon. Granted this dragon, like all dragons, was intimidating. It should also be noted that this dragon was feasting on the corruption of the pillar.

Even before her eyes the vast power of the pillar seemed to grow and corrupt the beast. Even in the short time they spent watching the sleeping beast, dark veins coursed and pulsed through the giant beast. Each pulse of dark energy caused muscles to grow and explode with power and strength. Then once the muscles became too compact for the small frame, the dragon would cry out in a whimpering painful sleep, as its body began to stretch and grow.

It was clear that this was their only chance to strike. Not only had the dragon in question just taken over the pillar, but it was suffering from both growing pains and war wounds. Looking at the beast there were clearly a few claw marks that hadn’t quite healed yet. These were indications that the beast was still vulnerable.

If ever there was a time to strike, it was now.

The only problem was Lykan.

He paused.

Only now that she was taking in Lykan’s form did she notice the puss filled scars on his stomach and legs. Panicked she looked to his face to see that he was sweating profusely. In fact, it was all he could do to stand. Nayali wanted to leave, to give Lykan a chance to heal up. But that would also mean the dragon would have not only a chance to heal, but to also grow into their power fully.

Realizing that Lykan’s last battle wasn’t as easy as he made it out to be Nayali suddenly felt sad. She was angry with herself for missing the obvious. She had seen his injuries but remembered his Regeneration skill that had come into play after his rapid recovery from their battle. In fact, the only thing the Regeneration skill couldn’t affect was his body’s connection to the ethereal realm. Even the doctors gawked at his rapid recovery. Then they called him many other things behind his back when he couldn’t heal his meridians.

So many thoughts flooded through Nayali that for a moment she was lost in her own head space. But seeing the defeated look On Lykan’s face caused her to realize two things. The first was they needed to stop this beast now if they were ever going to have a chance. The second thing was, she was the only one who could stop the beast.

Nodding to herself, she gently pushed Lykan back.

His weary body easily crumpled against the force of a light push.

“Rest.” She said, as she guided him to rest his back against a nearby tree. He crumpled easily and closed his eyes almost as soon as he was sitting on the ground. Nayali stared at him for a moment, his sweat covered face looked poorly. Only now did she realize that he pushed himself too hard. She at first wondered why, but then realized it likely had to do with his want to convert the pillar.

The thought back to the fact he willingly gave up the chance at power to grant the great forest spirit more dominion. While a meal was hardly a satisfactory consolation prize, she did remember the stories of the high wood elf priestesses who could heal even the most grievous of wounds. With that image firmly planted in her mind she decided she had but one way to save Lykan. She would convert the pillar and dedicated it to the great forest spirit. Then she would try to convince the great forest spirit to heal Lykan.

It was a long shot, and there were so many moving parts in the plan that it truthfully made her sick. But she knew Lykan would not be able to make it to another pillar. If Lykan was to survive it had to be here and now. Steeling her resolve she began circulating her mana through her body.

While the flow of energy did hurt as it was forcefully pushed through her damaged meridians, it was the equivalent of moving a pulled muscle. While such actions should be avoided at all costs, Nayali did not care. In this instant she pushed herself beyond her limits. Each pulse of mana was a jarring pain filled surge of energy. Energy that she used to help lift her feet off the ground so she could silently approach her sleeping prey.

As she approached, she didn’t quite know what to expect, but she didn’t expect whimpering.

“Hrmph.” The beast cried out in pain, the same way a sleeping dog would when reliving a pain filled memory. The only difference was this was no dog, but a beast.

Shaking her head Nayali moved to be just above and behind the beast’s head. It was still small but growing. Now it was merely the size of a regular horse. Well, a horse with one set of legs that was larger than the other.

Looking at the beast, it was clear that the growths and changes were happening quickly, almost too quickly for the beast to keep up with. No wonder it is whimpering. Putting it down would be a mercy at this rate.

Looking at the beast and what it must be going through, it became clear why so many of the monsters who interacted with the pillar became corrupted, if they all went through a similar torture session then there was no way a monster could survive mentally.

While their bodies might survive, it was clear that they would likely lose a piece of themselves in this transformation process. Perhaps that is what the pillars are here to do. They come in, offer unimaginable power, all for the sake of one’s own mind. Nayali thought, suddenly feeling sorry for the beast.

Then another thought hit her, was this what Lykan saw in me?

Realizing that she had not been herself for many weeks after her interaction with the pillar caused a moment of clarity to form in her mind.

Quickly she turned her mind away from the tortured beast and turned it towards the real villain here. Her gaze upon the pillar. As it was now, she had time to understand what the cause for the devastation of the world was truly. This dark pillar needed to be neutralized.

She also realized, thanks to her previous interaction with the pillar that there was too much power for a human to deal with. Even with the five points drop in her Power rating due to her new status as a heretic, she still was two points over the human maximum, thanks to the previous seven she got from the pillar. At the time she thought her 19 Power was the most in the world. She had become drunk on her own powers and abilities. She thought herself invincible. All it took was one battle with Lykan to help her realize she had been little more than a paper tiger.

Still, she decided to avoid unnecessary confrontation. Her logic was simple. If she converted the pillar and dedicated, it to the great forest spirit before the psychic dragon finished its transformation it might be manageable somehow. At the very least it might not be as malevolent as she had been.

Thinking back a pit formed in her stomach as she realized she had been little more than a monster herself.

Taking one last look at the monster behind her, she looked back only to see that the beast was still slumbering in its pain filled way. Using the idea of also being able to stop the creature’s pain, she placed her hand on the dark pillar and awaited what would come next.

Colors flashed around, as she was greeted with a similar prompt to the one, she had seen only a few months ago when her brother took her out to an oasis at the southern tip of the Azani territory. There, just like here, was a dark pillar offering power.

There are two ways the power in this pillar can be used. Personal Power, and Territorial Power. The first is simple, you select Personal Power you get infused with the power and the process is over. The second involves a battle of skills and strategy. Which do you choose [Personal Power] or [Territorial Power]?

This time, unlike her previous time, she chose [Territorial Power]. She wasn’t quite certain what to expect, as she had never really had a chance to ask Lykan what he saw before he passed out. Then they were attacked by monsters almost immediately after the conversion. From there they made a desperate pace through the woods to find this second pillar before it became too dark to move about in the darkness. In all that time, Lykan only admitted to having played a mental game of some sorts.

He had described the game, but it was none that she had ever even heard of. Lykan himself admitted that it was an older game from before the fall. He also mentioned how the tutorial saved him, as he played through several times before finally being able to play the actual game and win handedly.

This revelation seemed odd for Nayali, as she had only seen him touch the pillar once, then there was a prick of a needle. Then the next second the power that was in the pillar came rushing out into the ground, with only a minor portion going into Lykan’s arm. That was all that she saw happening. In all the entire experience lasted less than a minute, but to hear Lykan tell it, he had spent hundreds of times testing different strategies. This was another reason why she decided to deal with the pillar first, as opposed to the sleeping monster. If this pillar was anything like the one Lykan had just conquered, then she could train for the moment several times without fear of her physical body being attacked by the slumbering beast.

Even if the beast did wake up, its disproportionate body caused Nayali to believe that it would have a hard time rising and moving closer so it could strike at her.

Before she could get too lost in her own mind she was taken to a different mental room where hundreds of people were gathered.

At a quick look, it appeared to be a fancy ball of some kind. Though everyone looked to be from a different time and place. In the ballroom were people from every different geographic region presented. At least their body types, and physical attributes seemed to claim as much. There were of pale skin and fire red hair like those typically assigned to people from Piran. There were people of golden skin and dark hair like those of her home country. Then those of slightly lighter skin like those of the belkins. And so on, on and on the spectrum of people and their different attributes went.

There were so many people here that she couldn’t count them all. To make counting even harder, everyone was moving. Some were dancing. Some were moving to talk to others form across the room. Everyone wore fake smiles and offered platitudes in a language that Nayali didn’t quite understand. It was clear this was one of the old languages that had been lost to time, as the words being spoken didn’t even seem to make sense to her. At this time Nayali wished that Lykan was here, as he would no doubt be able to tell what everyone was saying.

She was at her wits end on what to do, when she was finally saved by a divine message popping up into her mind.

Scenario: Courtly Intrigue.

You have been summoned by a spiritual practitioner. Your job is to find the murderer and put a stop to them before they kill off more than half of the gathered guests.

Guests remaining 100 of 100.

With that she understood the concept of this trial. There was apparently a murderer or was more often the case a pair of murderers making their rounds. Nayali had to find the murders and put a stop to them before they killed off fifty people.

There was only one problem. She tried to touch one of the people to see if they spoke any of the languages, she was familiar with, only for her hand to travel through the entity. The moment she did, she received a warning message.

Incorrect Murderer Identified. Chances remaining 6 of 7.

Realizing she had just lost a chance, made this whole scenario even tougher to stomach. She had messed up. And while the person before her now glowed with a green light, that her mind somehow interpreted to mean the person was clean.

With that one deduction she realized a few things. First, she could have a way to identify the murderer, all she needed to do was touch the person to see if they were in fact the murderer. The only problem was, she was down to six remaining chances and still had no way of understanding what anyone was saying.

She was about to go deeper into her understanding of this world she had suddenly been thrown into when a blood curdling scream tore at her mind and pulled her away from her own musings.

Nayali turned to see a woman by the wall, where a man was lying on the ground. A closer inspection showed that the man was laying on the ground.

Just as Nayali would have expected the setting for the scenario changed.

Guests remaining 99 of 100.

Nayali moved to get closer, but suddenly found a number of people running to and through her incorporeal body to rush towards the downed man. From the manner of dress of the body, the man who had been killed was clearly someone important.

Almost as if confirming her very thoughts the scenario updated.

The prince has been killed. All doors and windows will be barred. Everyone will remain in here until the killer can be found.

Suddenly there was a panic, as everyone tried to disperse, only to find that they were now stuck in the grand ballroom. What had just been an open room filled with ambient sunlight that poured in from the open doors and windows, was now cloudy and overcast. As every door closed and sealed rapidly.

There were many questions that came to her mind, but for the sake of realizing this was a game the ancients would play, Nayali decided not to spend too much time focusing on the oddity of such a game. Especially as there was yet another cry.

Guests remaining 98 of 100.

Shaking her head Nayali realized she needed to start moving and try to identify the killer. The only problem was she was seemingly incorporeal, or that she didn’t have any impact on this world, until she decided to touch something. When she did touch something, or rather someone, it was one of her attempts to identify the killer.

Nayali looked around and was relieved to see that the one person she touched was still glowing green. Good I only must worry about the remaining 97 other guests to find the true culprit.

As odd as this whole scenario was, she realized that she needed to take it seriously. First, she had no idea what would happen if she failed. Second, she needed to convert this pillar so she could ask the great forest spirit to heal Lykan.

Focusing her mind, she decided to take a breath and focus on what was happening around her. Out of precaution, she began walking forward with her hands facing inward towards her chest. With this she found she could move through people without triggering her ability. While she did dislike the idea that she couldn’t just randomly going around touching all the remaining 97 guests to find out who the real killer was, she always had liked the idea of catching a spy. In fact, those were her favorite types of stories to read, ones where a murderer was caught from the work of a peerless detective.

In this case, she was the detective, and the entire ballroom was her crime scene. She also had the bonus of being able to move about unobserved by anyone. Realizing she needed to take advantage of her benefits of being able to sneak about unseen and unstoppable by anyone. She planned to begin trying to solve this case.

A smile formed on her lips as she began to fully engross herself in the challenge presented before her.