Chapter 4Spatial Magic

"ROAR!"

The blast of sound shredded the mist.

This wasn't a standard mob. It was a raid boss, an absolute behemoth.

Gideon's face drained of all color. "Damn it! Who crushed the beast egg?!"

Daisy was hiking up her pristine skirt, her face turning green with terror. In her hand, she was clutching a glowing red crystal.

She had gotten greedy and tried to steal the boss's loot while the hounds distracted us.

"Gideon, save me! It's looking right at me!"

Daisy shrieked, diving behind Gideon's armored back.

The behemoth went into a frenzy. It swiped a massive claw, turning a cluster of ancient trees into splinters.

A monster like this did not belong in a C-Tier zone.

"Run! Move it!"

Gideon screamed. He pushed his exoskeleton to the absolute limit, grabbing Daisy and sprinting for his life.

My Aegis Ward was still active. I could have casually walked behind them.

But the enraged boss was blindly smashing the terrain. The ground beneath us began to fracture and cave in.

As we ran, the path ahead suddenly vanished, giving way to a bottomless, jagged chasm that looked like the gaping maw of the earth.

"Dead end!" Jax screamed in despair.

Gideon glanced back at the rapidly approaching titan. A flash of pure, ruthless desperation crossed his eyes.

He whipped his head around and locked eyes with me.

"Don't blame us, Val. Blame yourself for being a selfish bitch!"

Before the words even settled, he lunged at me.

At the exact same time, Jax and the other players moved in unison, using all their momentum to shove me toward the edge of the abyss.

My Aegis Ward negated damage, but it didn't prevent physical displacement.

My boots left the ground. Freezing wind rushed past my ears.

In that split second of freefall, I looked up at the ledge.

Daisy was peering over the edge, looking down at me. Her sweet, pitiful act was gone, replaced by a smile of pure malice.

"You've got so many Credits, Val! You can spend them all by yourself down there! You deserve this!"

Without missing a beat, Gideon's crew turned and sprinted in the other direction.

I let out a cold laugh. Did they really think I came unprepared?

Just inches before my spine could be impaled on the jagged stalagmites below, I pulled a pitch-black token from my jacket and crushed it.

It was an Absolute Anchor Beacon. Price tag: One hundred thousand Credits. It bypassed any and all zone locks.

BOOM!

A violent storm of spatial energy swallowed me whole.

When I opened my eyes again, I was sitting on the cold marble floor of the Nexus Hub.

Although I avoided lethal damage, the violent spatial turbulence had bruised my ribs. A trickle of blood ran down my chin, and my tactical jacket was torn to shreds.

"Holy crap! Is that Val? How did she get out of the raid?"

"Wasn't she in Whispering Hollows? Oh my god, look at the main screens!"

Gasps of horror rippled through the Hub.

No one stepped forward to help me up. Every single player was paralyzed, staring up at the massive central broadcast screens.

I wiped the blood off my mouth, grabbed a stone pillar to pull myself up, and followed their gaze.

The screens were live-streaming Gideon's team.

Without me taking the fall, the enraged boss had cornered them against the edge of the abyss.

"Daisy! Open a rift! You said you were a Spatial class! Do it now!"

Gideon roared hysterically. Half of his mechanical armor was crushed, and his face was a bloody mess.

"I... I'm trying! But the spatial frequency here is too chaotic! I can't lock the coordinates!"

Daisy was sobbing hysterically, snot and tears ruining her pretty face.

She waved her hands frantically, conjuring a pathetic, flickering blue spark in the air.

The legendary, miraculous "free rescue portal" she had bragged about managed to tear open a gap roughly the size of a human hand.

Forget the heavily armored Gideon; you couldn't even shove a house cat through that hole.

"This is your grand spatial magic?!"

Jax shrieked in absolute despair.

ROAR!

The behemoth raised its gargantuan claw, blotting out the sky.

Carrying the force of a hurricane, the claw came crashing down on the screaming team.