Utopian System

The group remained paralyzed for an instant, processing the avalanche of information and the final warning. Lila was the first to react.

"Run? From what?" Her voice trembled slightly.

"I don\'t want to find out," Brok responded, his muscles tensing instinctively.

Kriz, completely serious for the first time, watched the chamber\'s shadows with growing apprehension. "If a god tells us to run..."

"We must move," Elio ordered, his mind working quickly. "Zara, take the sphere. Run to the crystal."

"And you?" Zara asked with concern.

"Just a second," Elio said, moving toward the statue while the others headed to the entrance. "I need to check something..."

But before anyone could take a step...

The sound of something breaking cut through the air like a whip, followed by a buzz.

A collective shiver ran through the group, followed by an inexplicable pressure on their necks, an unnatural tingling that made their instincts scream danger.

And then, it appeared. Right in the middle of their formation, as if it had always been there, materialized the most horrible creature they had ever contemplated.

A humanoid insect of skin color, its disproportionately large head dominated by black eyes that seemed to absorb light itself.

Elio and Zara reacted first, their enhanced reflexes allowing them to aim their fastest attacks. The lithium stakes formed in their hands.

But long before they could shoot, the monster launched itself at Zara, its claws aiming for her neck.

At the last instant, Zara managed to interpose her arm, losing the limb but saving her life.

Zara\'s scream resonated in the chamber, enraging Elio. Fury flooded his being as he touched his book.

Four mana points, accumulated during the chat with God. \'That damned talker,\' Elio thought, \'should have warned us about this first.\'

But there was no time for lamentations.

Elio: 4 mana

Elio\'s stake forced the monster to move to one side, barely dodging it. The rest of the group also attacked, but their projectiles only found air.

Level 6 party: 2 mana

The summons launched in pursuit of the creature, but it rose with its nearly invisible transparent wings, moving in erratic patterns above them, so fast that not even the two eels could keep pace.

The monster moved with a speed that made the King Locus seem like a beginner. If the King had a speed of 20, this creature easily reached 40 points.

But the monster didn\'t intend to keep escaping.

"Brok cover your neck!" Zara shouted.

In an instant, it dove down and flew past Brok, who barely managed to raise his arm to defend his neck, losing it in the process.

"Escape to the crystal!" Elio shouted, but when the group turned toward the crystal, the monster was already blocking the path.

Elio fired another attack, creating a small opening. "Now!"

The group advanced, but the monster dodging wasn\'t an invitation to escape.

Kriz was the first to be attacked, receiving a deep cut in his shoulder while avoiding decapitation, followed by Micah who also lost his arm.

Zara, still not fully regenerated from her lost arm, tried to throw daggers with her remaining hand, but precision failed her.

The others began launching magical attacks with the little mana they had recovered while God wasted time talking.

Level 6 party: 1 mana

"Don\'t stop!" Elio\'s voice resonated in the chamber.

The monster, realizing they would escape, roared and began to glow. Elio noticed it would launch something when it raised its hands, but he took advantage of the situation...

Was the monster charging mana?

Before the monster could raise its hands and launch whatever it was going to launch, Elio trapped it in a carbon prison.

Elio: 3 mana

They were close to reaching Mei at the front. But Elio\'s carbon only gave them an instant.

Mei was about to touch the crystal.

The monster dove toward Mei\'s neck, its claws glowing with killer intent. Elio knew he wouldn\'t arrive in time, but his stake would. The projectile deflected the monster enough for Mei to touch the crystal and disappear.

Elio: 2 mana

Zara, with more accumulated mana, created a prison around the monster and unlike Elio, continued producing more and more matter around it.

For a moment, it seemed she had it contained.

"Leave now!" Elio ordered.

Brok was the first to cross, followed by Lila and Kriz.

Elio and Micah were about to reach the crystal when both turned to look at Zara, who remained motionless, all her concentration put into maintaining the prison.

But her accumulated mana was about to run out.

Zara: 4 mana

Without hesitation, Elio returned and pulled Zara. Micah followed and extended his hand to help Elio, and between the two they pushed Zara toward the crystal.

The prison shattered.

Zara, propelled by her companions, ended up a meter ahead, touched the crystal and disappeared just as she turned her face and saw something that gave her a grimace of regret.

An inhuman roar filled the chamber as the monster appeared in a wind explosion in front of Elio and Micah.

Blocking the exit.

Elio launched his last attacks at point-blank range, the monster managed to avoid the first, but Elio knew where it would move and launched the second, managing for the first time to cause damage to the monster.

Elio: 0 mana

A small wound appeared on its skin, but the victory was ephemeral. Enraged, the monster struck Elio, sending him flying several meters.

Elio: 115 - 36 = 70 Resistance / 9 Armor Resistance.

When Elio got up, his blood froze.

The monster was blocking the crystal, its claws pressed against Micah\'s neck.

"Enter the book challenge!" Micah shouted, his voice tense but determined.

Elio refused to go in the book, and that\'s when the monster began to laugh.

The sound was like nothing they had ever heard before: a dry and unnatural buzz, as if multiple voices were superimposing one over another in a cacophony that defied sanity.

It was the laugh of something that should never have learned to laugh.