Chapter 598: The Heros Burden (1/2)

The Hero's Burden (Training (3/10)): Avoid the Collector while leading your followers to safety. Reward: Reward based on performance at the end of training regimen. (0/1)

[NOTE: Failure to comply with training regimen will result in loss of two random skills and 5 levels.]

Zac barely had time to take in Leviala's exaggerated reaction before the prompt in front of him appeared. Zac quickly scanned the quest with some exhaustion. He wasn't completely wrung dry just yet, but he was also far from an optimal condition. But the quest acted as a warning of sorts, and Zac knew there wasn't anything he could do except keep going.

The quest didn't have a timer, and neither didn't have any restrictions. But that might actually not be a good thing, since it might mean that a single death would result in failure. The punishment for failing had decreased once more at least, though the punishment was still far too rich for Zac's tastes.

”Let's keep moving. If you're unable to move any longer, tell me and I'll carry you,” Zac said before he turned to Leviala who was already sitting on her chair. ”Is it safe to talk?”

”It can't hear us, but it can sense us,” Leviala whispered with fear in her eyes as she gazed at the cracks in the ceiling. ”It'll pounce if we stop for just a moment.”

Zac nodded in understanding as he set out, keeping as high a pace as he dared in this chaotic place.

”What do you know about that thing?” Zac asked.

”The Collector is said to be the second greatest source of deaths during the Cataclysm, only lacking compared to the spatial storms themselves. It's not necessarily the strongest Void Creature, but it's definitely one of the weirdest. But more importantly, it's unusually resilient to our dimension. You saw the claw before. It deformed by itself in seconds. But the Collector's hands can stay for hours as long as they're not attacked,” Leviala said.

”The Collector is also extremely crafty, and it's even able to enter the research base through Spatial Tears. There have been reports of people being snatched all over the base, even in sectors thought to be safe,” she said as she held her hands against her chest. ”But I don't understand. It's been gone for thousands of years. It left a few centuries after the Cataclysm, and there have been no sightings since.”

”Well, I guess it came back now that the treasure is maturing,” Zac sighed. ”Why do you call it the Collector? Does it actually collect hands?”

”That's our guess, at least. We think it somehow attaches them to itself to better withstand this dimension. That's why it's so dangerous to attack it. It really treasures its collection, and it will hunt you down if you harm the hands,” Leviala said, looking almost ready to cry. ”And now we're in a sector full of breaches.”

”Uh, well,” Zac muttered, but he didn't get any further before a sense of dread filled him. ”RUN!”

The others didn't hesitate at all as Cosmic Energy surged in their bodies as they rushed down the corridor. It was just in time as well, as a tentacle suddenly rushed out of a crack in the ceiling just behind them.

”It's really the Collector,” Leviala said ai. ”We're doomed. We're doomed. It's either the Collector or getting bisected by Spatial Tears.”

”Shut up or I'll use you as a shield,” Zac growled as he kept running.

Another sense of danger filled his mind the next moment, and he stopped just in time to avoid running straight into a Spatial Tear. A piece of his robes was cut apart though, telling just how close he had come to getting split open like a melon. The others quickly stopped in their tracks as well, barely avoiding the spatial storm that emerged from the void the next second.

Zac's nerves were taut as a bowstring, but there was no way to force himself through the storm. But waiting for the spatial storm to pass was obviously not an option either with the Collector in pursuit.

”Left!” Leviala screamed, and Zac immediately turned down another corridor, the others desperately following in tow.

The hands were too close though, and the slower Valkyrie was about to get snatched up.

”Shit!” Zac growled as he stopped in his tracks before he shot forward like a cannonball as his free chains slammed into the memory steel in the opposite direction.

A barrage of five-meter fractal edges slammed into the hands of the Collector the next second, each carrying a tremendous force. Small scars appeared on the hands, but Zac's normal F-Grade [Chop] could barely slow the tentacle down as it grasped for the deathly pale Valkyrie. Zac saw no option but to go in himself, and he appeared right behind his follower just as the hand was about to grasp her neck.

A tremendous shockwave caused cracks to spread across the whole corridor as [Verun's Bite] collided with the palm of the slightly larger hand at the end of the tentacle. A weird scar appeared on the skin as the fingers on the closest hands spasmed and bent in impossible angles, perhaps an indication of pain.

Zac wasn't much better off though, a weird sinister energy had entered his body the moment the two opposites clashed. Zac felt his vision blur for a second, but a thud from his chest woke him right up, just in time to avoid getting snatched up by a second grab. Whatever energy had entered his body just now, his [Void Heart] had swallowed it. If that was a good or a bad thing, only time could tell.

The all-out Axe-Infused swing had only left a flesh wound but Zac didn't care as he fled, dragged away by two of the chains he had embedded in the wall before rushing back. The collision had fulfilled its purpose as the Valkyrie had already moved a hundred meters away, and Zac sighed in relief when he saw the Collector retracting its appendage.

Those things were only so long, so if Zac could obstruct it a second or two he would be able to keep his people safe.

”Argh!” the demon suddenly screamed from the vanguard, immediately proving Zac wrong.

The group had kept running while Zac stalled the Tentacle, and this time they didn't have Zac's Luck to keep them safe from the spatial tear.

A huge wound had opened up in the Demon's side, and blood already pooled on the floor beneath him.

”Eat this,” Zac said as he threw out one of his top-quality private healing pills.

”Thank you,” the Demon said as he swallowed the pill, but Zac's eyes widened when a flame appeared in his hands.

However, the Demon wasn't targeting him or anyone else, but rather used a fireball spell to quickly cauterize the wound, leaving a nasty burn instead.

”I can keep going,” the demon said with a ragged breath, but Zac saw that his whole body shook.