Lander
With several of the key hubs of the planet’s teleportation network seemingly having been sabotaged, it took them several extra minutes to arrive at the Kimali Mountains, the elders each carrying two D ranks with useful skills to make their movements faster along the way, including the one with Soul Sight.
“The souls are all going into the mountains,” the D rank, a human nearing the end of his lifespan, confirmed when they all landed at one of the mountain range’s main entrances, everyone prepared to enter by foot as the barrier around the mountain range required.
“That direction?” Lander asked, pointing toward the direct center of the mountain range, where there was a cave with the highest mana concentration of anywhere on the planet not guarded by the sect.
“Yes.” The man nodded, confirming Lander’s fears.
But then something unexpected happened. Everyone in their party heard a clapping sound, and Sarra Lin’Talic stepped out of the woods around the mountain range, clapping and smiling while looking at Kalin Hewin, who’d been let out of his house arrest after the planet’s teleportation platform and soul net infrastructure had been destroyed. Or at least she looked like Sarra Lin’Talic. Lander’s senses could just barely pick up that the woman in front of them was an illusion.
“Kalin Hewin, the man who destroyed the Violet Mountain Sect.” The illusion of Sarra Lin’Talic’s smile grew slightly wider as she looked around at the other C ranks. “I can see the Violet Mountain Sect hasn’t learned its lesson, seeing as no one has killed you yet.”
Twelve vials appeared around the illusion, floating around her as if controlled by the Telekinesis skill. And there was a cracking sound as each vial appeared to be placed under telekinetic pressure. “At least some of you know I’m an illusion, but what I’m projecting is real.” She looked directly at Lander, her smile fading. “And these twelve vials contain the only medicine on this planet for treating the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s plagues, so I suggest you pay attention and don’t try anything stupid, like sending in another D rank assassin.”
A head flew out from the woods, not attached to a body, and it was one of the D ranks they’d brought with them who’d been tasked with immediately scouting out the mountains. He’d only been gone for a few seconds, yet he’d already been killed.
“What do you want from us, Sarra?” Eminar Kelmin asked, speaking before Lander could decide what he wanted to say. “Why are you killing us all?”
“I’m not killing you, Elder Kelmin.” Sarra turned to him and her smile returned. “The prince came personally with his protector and plans to wipe out the Violet Mountain Sect as revenge for you killing his teacher. All I did was escape from your clutches and steal and sabotage a few things, making it harder for you to stop him.”
She then pointed at Kalin Hewin. “You all are obviously not sincere in your desire to make up for the Violet Mountain Sect’s transgressions, so I don’t see any reason to intercede with the prince on your behalf.”
“What if we killed Kalin?” Eminar asked, and Lander realized something bad was about to happen.
But he himself was feeling hopeful, so he didn’t stop their discussion. Sarra had the medicine. She hadn’t been lying about that. And, given what she’d just said, it followed that the prince was a monster, not a cultivator, so the chances he’d allow them all to die together was a lot higher than Lander had originally thought.
Yes, there might be a curse which would target everyone with a mountain mark in order to gather even more power to then curse the Violet Mountain Lord, but Lander himself didn’t have a mountain mark, so he was much more worried about the plagues inside his body which were already killing him.
“Interesting.” Sarra looked to her side, as if focusing on someone they couldn’t see, and said something in a language none of them could understand, the sound of a response in the same language almost immediately heard. Then she turned back to them. “The prince has decreed, since you have shown no remorse whatsoever, he’ll only offer a reprieve to five of you. Which ones will depend on your power.”
Sarra Lin’Talic has sent you a contract request.
Terms:
- You must sever one of the five appendages of Elder Kalin Hewin of the Violet Mountain Sect within the next ten seconds
- You may not kill Elder Kalin Hewin of the Violet Mountain Sect
- You must initiate a servant contract with the Heavenly Spark Soul King for at least 144 years through the System’s surrender functionality within the next ten seconds
- If items one and three are completed by you, Sarra Lin’Talic must give you one dose of medicine from each vial brought to stop the Heavenly Spark Soul King’s plagues
Punishment:
Death
Do you accept?
Yes/No
Lander read through the contract quickly and immediately noticed the trap. Kalin only had five appendages, yet there were far more than five of them there. And, as a non-combatant, he didn’t have any chance of being one of the five. So, he didn’t accept the contract.
Quite a few of the others, however, did, and pandemonium began as twelve elders and seven D ranks fought to be the first to sever one of Kalin Hewin’s limbs.
A lightning bolt moved the fastest, cutting off Kalin’s fifth appendage despite the artifact clothing he was wearing, almost before anyone else had even started moving. Then a beam of death took advantage of the created hole and severed Kalin’s left leg. The rest of the elders, however, weren’t as fast as Weselin and Nari Nivali, nor powerful enough to get through Kalin’s defenses at range, so the competition between them was bloody. Three of the D ranks and even Eminar Kelmin, one of the younger and thus weaker elders, died in the process.
Then, with Kalin Hewin lying mutilated on the ground in front of the forest, the six remaining elders and four D ranks who hadn’t managed to sever any part of Kalin all died, their souls burning due to not accomplishing the first term of their contracts.
“Alright.” Sarra smiled at all of them in a way that seemed much more genuine than previously. “I’ll send over the medicine now.”
Kalin’s body was picked up by Telekinesis and brought into the forest. Then, about thirty seconds later, five sets of twelve vials, each filled with one fifth the amount of medicine Sarra’s illusion had previously shown, moved out of the forest and headed toward each of the five victors.
Two of the other C rank elders, and a bit over three fourths of the remaining D ranks, then all made desperate moves, some attacking the five elders who’d successfully severed Kalin’s appendages, all dying for their troubles, and some rushing to the medicine, dying as well.
The five elders who’d succeeded in severing Kalin’s appendages were the five most powerful combatants in the sect after the Violet Mountain Lord, and Weselin especially could kill almost everyone else there by himself, a fact he then proved by personally killing Nari Nivali, the other mage among the five, a bolt of lightning entering directly into her chest and stopping her heart.
Weselin then gathered two sets of the medicine and quickly began drinking from all the vials of one as he passed the other set to Lander, who quickly began downing them as well, no one left brave enough to attack either of them.
“Are the terms of your contract the same as the ones I received?” Lander asked once he was done taking the medicine.
“Should be.” Weselin’s eyes moved as if he were reading, but then they grew wide. “Wait, why are the terms different than what I agreed to? According to this—”
Weselin and the other three living elders who’d accepted the contract all died, their souls burning, and Lander realized they’d all been tricked. Sarra Lin’Talic had a devil’s contract line skill, and she was powerful enough to even make modifications when making contracts with C ranks.
At the same time, Lander felt his connection to the Bond Holding Orb reestablish, and he belatedly noticed his affinities for all elements were rising.
Weselin, as the most powerful elder with a lord line skill, had been the lord of the planet they were on. And he’d just agreed to be a servant of the Heavenly Spark Soul King, so the ownership of the planet’s Territory had shifted to the monster upon his death.
As Lander’s heart and mind both started racing, everyone around him flopped onto the ground, not dead, but seemingly immobilized, Lander's senses showing powerful curse energy eating away at all of them.
Then, to Lander’s horror, the blade of one of the dead C ranks rose off the ground at a speed only accomplishable by a psychic whose power had crossed the B rank threshold, and the next thing he knew the world was spinning, his view rapidly turning from the forest, to the sky, to the others dying from the powerful curse, to his own body falling slowly to the ground.
As a C rank, he could survive as just a head, but, when the sword came back around and cut his brain in half while his head was still falling through the air, due to the plagues still coursing through his body—the medicine not having done a thing—he didn’t have enough energy to heal himself, and his soul started to move toward the Kimali Mountains.
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