“What the f*ck???” Nyx stood up the moment she saw Shiro jump into the portal while Gaia face palmed.
“Sh*t! I should have just blocked up that portal. Why the hell did the crazy girl enter there???” Nyx said as she currently had a face of disbelief.
“Because she was struggling against the giant. I think she thought the portal was a clue of sorts. If I was in her shoes, I wouldn’t expect it to lead to your toughest prison either.” Gaia sighed.
“Yes but who jumps into a portal that they know nothing about?”
“Her?” Gaia pointed at Shiro as Nyx stayed silent.
“. . . I should have taken that into account when I summoned the giant.” Nyx slumped down as tapped the table a few times.
“The longer she stays in there, the harder it is for her to get out. Once the prison has left its mark on her, she’ll be trapped there forever.” Nyx frowned.
“Can’t you just give her the key or something?” Gaia asked.
“Normally I could but since she’s in the middle of a trial, I can’t influence it directly like that. The most I can do is darken the sky or make things harder. I can’t make things easier. The system won’t allow it. Giving her the key means making things easier.” Nyx explained as Gaia frowned.
“She should still be able to petrify the monsters in there right?”
“Nope. The wardens that I placed in there are immune to any special statuses like being frozen or petrified. You have to kill them with brute force. And even then, their defences are quite high. The only good news is that they don’t have any magic themselves and the most they can do is bite or claw at you.” Nyx shook her head.
“But they’re still physically superior right?” Gaia raised her eyebrow.
“They’re equal to people who have 5 divinities.” Nyx coughed awkwardly.
*Sigh…
“What can we do then?” Gaia asked as she wasn’t keen on letting Shiro die like this in the trial.
“Not much. But there is someone whom I can enlist.” Nyx frowned.
“Who?”
“The person whom she talked to.” Nyx snapped her finger and changed the view to reveal a person locked up in chains. He had long grey hair that had lost its colour after being locked away in the prison for so long. His body was surprisingly thin as he looked like he’d break with a single breath.
Marked on his body was the faint sigils belonging to different divinities that looked as though they were about to completely fade away.
Currently he is looking at Shiro as she was keeping her guard up.
“You want to enlist his help?” Gaia frowned.
“Mn.” Nyx nodded.
“How are you sure that he’ll even help you out? Didn’t you put him in this state after he failed your tower and betrayed the spirit race?”
“I’m nothence why I’m able to enlist his help. By having him ‘help’ it technically makes the trial harder as we don’t know what he’ll do. Plus, he technically didn’t betray the spirit race. You know his personality before. Hopefully Shiro can persuade him to help her but for now, undoing his chains should tell him about what needs to be done.” Nyx frowned.
“You’re gambling with chances right now.”
“When have I not been gambling when it comes to Shiro?” Nyx laughed.
###
As the spirit was watching Shiro hang on the chain with all her strength, he felt a tiny bit of power of which he hadn’t felt in hundreds of years.
Widening his eyes, he looked up at the sky in shock.
*KISHING! KISHING!
Feeling the chains undo themselves one by one, the spirit could feel his power returning to him.
Furrowing his brows, he looked towards Shiro and frowned.
“She must be really important for you to let me free after I almost destroyed the world huh Nyx?” The spirit muttered quietly.
Sitting down in the air, he rested his cheeks on his hand and crossed his legs.
“I’ll see what she does first. She’ll have to impress me quite a bit if you want me to help her.” The spirit said while giving Nyx a middle finger.
###
Holding onto the chain, Shiro summoned her spear and watched her surroundings with caution.
Feeling danger all around her, there wasn’t much she could so since it was hard to move with her just hanging on a chain.
Glancing towards the giant, she frowned and decided to use his body for now.
Swinging herself a little, she let go of the chain and crashed into the chains that bound his lower half.
Just as she did this, a scythe like arm cleaved toward her as she quickly ducked down, letting the scythe cut the giant instead.
*PUSHI!!!!
Watching the scythe cut deep into the giant, she could hear a hollow echo of a scream above her as she widened her eyes in shock.
Understanding that a single hit would kill her, Shiro had to make sure she is careful with what she did or else she’ll be cut in half instantly.
Weaving her way through the chains, she kept herself as hidden as possible while countless eyes were searching for her.
As she was weaving through the chains, sweat continued to pour from her body as each step was taken with great difficulty.
Taking the chance to rest up occasionally, Shiro tried her best to climb up with the help of chains since she remembered that there were a few chains that were visible from outside the portal. If she could use them to get out, she’ll be free to go.
Just as she poked her head out, she came face to face with a crocodile like creature that had a blanket of darkness which twitched around him.
Opening his mouth, countless hands reached out for her as Shiro quickly ducked down and managed to dodge with the help of the gravity.
Looking up, she could see that the hands started to eat away at the Giant’s body.
‘Holy sh*t.’ Shiro thought to herself as these monsters easily breached the Giant’s defences like nothing.
However, what was more impressive was that the more damage he sustained, the faster he regenerated. Even the cut from before had healed up more or less.
Taking her time to make her way up with care, she managed to evade most of the monsters thanks to using the Giant’s body as a shield along with the chains.
But just as she reached out for the portal, a reflective barrier of sorts deflected her hand which caused her to widen her eyes.
‘Times up.’ The spirit thought as the prison had left the weakest mark now. If Shiro wanted to escape, it’ll be very difficult. To make matters worse, the longer she stayed here, the stronger the mark becomes. After all, everyone who was still alive here was able to survive the torment of the wardens which proves their strength. The longer they survive, the harder it is for them to escape.
Shaking his head, he believed that Shiro would probably struggle for a bit before giving up since from what he could tell, her physique was only equal to 4 divinities at most. For her to escape she’ll need to have the physique of 5 divinities.
However, giving up was something Shiro doesn’t do often.
Trying to escape again, Shiro gritted her teeth and pushed as hard as she could but her hand was deflected once more.
This time the repulsion sent her body back as one of the monsters tried to eat her up.
Clicking her tongue, she activated her Spirit Nature and sent out a wave of ice chains which froze the monster for a moment but they managed to break out of it in an instant.
“Tch!” Clicking her tongue, Shiro clasped her hands together as ice erupted out around her and pushed her to safety.
Undoing her spirit nature, Shiro furrowed her brows and summoned Nivlim. Glancing at the Giant’s body, she started to apply stacks so that she could boost herself.
During that second attempt, she could feel the barrier budge ever so slightly so she knew she needed more strength.
While she was doing this, the spirit had long sat up in shock.
“So she was the queen. I was thinking I might have guessed wrong.” The spirit muttered as he stood up. If Shiro doesn’t get out in the next ten minutes, he was going to force his way out with her.
This was his repayment for sabotaging the spirit race hundreds of years ago.
