THE STRONGEST NEXULYTE

Minutes later.

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

Explosive sounds echoed, and powerful shockwaves swept in all directions; the monster kept slamming its axe on Ivan's barrier.

But the barrier refused to crumble under the onslaught of the monster's attack; ripples appeared on the surface of the barrier, but that was all; the ground around the barrier had long shattered and turned into dozens of meters wide craters.

The priestess watched from a distance, her single eye and Ivan's blue eyes locked in a staring competition as they both ignored the bull monster.

"You really aren't going to kill it? I don't think you can keep up that barrier forever" The priestess blinked at Ivan before walking toward him from behind the monster with slow steps.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

" There are a lot of things that you don't know about me," Ivan replied tonelessly.

" I understand, your talent is one, for instance, but…are you sure you won't change your mind?" She stood right behind the monster and smirked.

Ivan's face darkened; he didn't know what she was planning, but it definitely wasn't anything good.

His guess was soon confirmed when the eye of the priestess suddenly moved and several of her pupils flew out into the air.

Ivan raised his head and gazed at the pupils in the air; they spun around each other but burst out with light.

Woom!

The light shot at each other before expanding and turning into a projection. There were a total of four split projections, and each split showed a scene of the rest of Ivan's group.

Ivan's expression darkened even more and his eyes narrowed to almost a slit.

In one of the splits, he saw the red-haired Clint looking all battered and wretched; only his protective body suit was still intact and showed that he wasn't a crazy person.

Clint was currently lying behind a tall veil of darkness in a large space while an enormous eyeball that let out a ray of light scanned the place. Ivan could tell as much that the eyeball was looking for Clint who was hiding behind the veil of darkness.

In another split, he saw Glen.

The boy was in a better state than Clint. Although he still looked miserable after all he had been through in the labyrinth, he wasn't as bad as Clint.

Glen was lying on the ground with his front facing up and his snake on top of him, his chest raising up and down as he gathered Nexus energy in the air.

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Not far from him was a terribly beaten beast with cuts all over; the beast was breathing faintly, and only its eyes could move.

The three were the only ones in the space that they were in and Ivan could guess as much what had transpired.

In another projection, Ralph could be seen sitting cross-legged on the ground beside the headless body of the Ghoulshade. A small, faintly glowing crystal was in his hands, and the energy from the crystal was slowly being pulled into Ralph's body.

Around Ralph and the headless monster was a sea of red dust; Ivan had no idea what the sea of dust was, but he was relieved that Ralph was in a good state as well.

On the last projection, he saw Karin lying motionless on the ground. She looked bloody as she lay beside her mallet, which had grown in size and was resting on top of sand and shattered rocks.

One thing was that each one of Ivan's teammates seemed to have experienced a terrible encounter but the good thing was that they had managed to survive.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Ivan returned her gaze to the priestess and asked coldly.

"Oh, this? Nothing much, just wanted to find out if you really intend not to help me" She grinned and suddenly snapped her fingers.

Ivan's gaze immediately swept up to look at the projections, a change had occurred in each of the splits.

His eyes widened.

In Clint's projection, the giant eyeball that had been roaming the place suddenly stopped moving and froze in the air for five seconds before suddenly turning around; the ray of light coming from its giant pupil landed right on the spot where Clint was hiding.

The light ray from the eyeball pierced through the veil of darkness that was covering Clint, exposing him.

Ivan saw Clint's expression change into one of shock as his closed eyelids trembled.

The boy hurriedly forced himself up to his feet while groaning from his injuries as he tried to move away but the giant eyeball delayed a level of speed that shocked Ivan.

With a swooshing sound that he was able to hear through the projection, Ivan saw the eyeball dart across the air and arrive above Clint before the latter could move.

Woom!!

A burst of light ray shot out from the eyeball and crashed down on Clint, pressing the guy against the ground.

Ivan heard Clint let out a pained scream, and blood flew out from his mouth as he was pressed against the ground; the light ray from the eyeball kept pressing on him as the ground under Clint started to crack.

One could imagine just how strong the pressure the light ray was pressing on him was.

At the same time, a yellowish aura began to rise from Clint's body and entered the eyeball.

"That's a soul drinker; I think your friend has about thirty minutes before his soul is completely drawn out and he turns into an empty husk," the priestess explained with a smile on her face as if she was doing Ivan a favor.

Ivan didn't respond as his eyes drifted to another split.

Karin, who was lying on the ground, was suddenly sent flying into the air as the ground under her broke, and a large pitch-black tentacle burst out from it.

The girl let out a startled and pained scream as her body flew into the air.

The tentacle wiggled about for a brief moment before shooting toward Karin and wrapping around her.

"Ahhhh!"

Karin let out an ear-piercing scream, and blood flew out of her mouth as the tentacle tightened around her body and squeezed her; her limbs immediately bent in the opposite directions, and many of her bones shattered.

Ok, Glen's part, a monster that looked like a man with pale white skin and scars all over his body, suddenly walked out of the blood wall. Its eyes were hollow, and his lips were dry and cracked; both hands were bound by cuffs that were connected by chains that were dozens of inches thick.

It was a howling banshee!

The feet of the monster drifted just a few centimeters from the ground as it floated toward Glen.

Its hollow eyes gazed down at Glen, who was lying on the ground; it totally ignored the almost-dead beast.

Ivan saw Glen's eyes widen in shock and horror before the monster suddenly bent down and grabbed his neck before lifting him into the air. Glen grabbed the monster's fingers that were around his neck and began to struggle, but the monster didn't budge an inch.

It suddenly opened its cracked lips and let out a piercing howling sound that came out like a sonic wave.

The wave smashed into Glen's face and he instantly gritted his teeth as his eyes rolled up, threatening to disappear into his skull.

The white snake shot at the monster with its mouth wide open and its fang poking out but it wasn't able to do anything damage after biting the hard skin of the monster, its fang even broke before it was sent flying by the sound wave as well and began to wriggle on the ground like a worm that made contact with salt.

This was the ability of the howling banshee; its howls were able to drive one crazy, and they were painful to the ears.

On Ralph's side, the boy was still absorbing the energy from the Nexus crystal when a pair of shadow arms suddenly rose from the ground on his side and grabbed him.

The arm grabbed Ralph and immediately lifted him into the air before slamming him into the wall.

Ralph groaned as blood burst out from his nose, but it was only the beginning; the arm lifted him again and slammed him into the ground.

Sounds of bone breaking rang out as Ralph almost passed out.

He immediately used the little bit of energy that his head absorbed and summoned the undead knight and the undead General.

Both creatures appeared and found their master suffering; their eyes immediately blazed, and they attacked the shadow arms, but all their attacks went through them without causing them any harm.

"What…is this?" Ivan muttered in a disbelieving time.

"Nothing much; I just sent my strongest champions to keep them…safe," the priestess replied with a malicious tone.

" No, this isn't real, they are all fake! You're trying to trick me" Ivan closed his eyes and shook his head.

" Your choice, I won't force you to believe me. We can just watch them die together" She laughed loudly.

Ivan's expression turned complicated. He suspected that this was the girl's scheme to force him to comply with her demands, but again, she was the guardian of the labyrinth and was able to control everything in it; the screams from Karin and the others sounded too real to be an illusion.

What if they were really in danger and about to die because of him?

"Gah!!"

Ralph's scream echoed in Ivan's ears at this time as he was smashed into the wall again by the shadow arms face first.

Ivan looked, and his eyes trembled; Ralph's face was a bloody mess, and blood was rushing out of his head like a loose tap.

Clank!