After the mantis attack, the ground gave way beneath Katya’s feet, causing her and eight other participants to plummet as gravity took hold.
Othar, taken by surprise, could do nothing but cling to Katya’s shoulder.
Katya’s muffled scream was the only sound heard before she reacted. Feeling a nauseating churn in her stomach, she activated her Synchro Aura to absorb the fall’s impact and reposition herself.
She regained her balance before hitting the ground, with her sneakers touching first. She immediately jumped backward, scanning her surroundings.
⌠Initiating Combat Support....
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scanning for danger...
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Danger Detected:
Ice Mantis
Synchro Materialization
Level 6.
Non-living creature.
Synchro percentage 0%⌡
In front of her, a few feet away, the ice mantis had fallen but was starting to rise on its hind legs. Around her were scattered debris and a few participants who hadn't yet recovered from the fall.
Sophie and Elara, still dazed, were just beginning to get up when the ice beast focused on them.
The others, Lucas, Lars, Joao, Chiara, and Ethan, had managed to land safely.
"Look out!" Katya shouted, instinctively moving as she saw the mantis raise one of its claws to strike at the two women.
In an instant, the attack sliced through the air just as Katya lunged at Sophie and Elara. She knocked them to the ground, saving them from the monster’s claw.
"Hey... What are you doing?" Elara asked, bewildered. Her question was answered when she looked up and saw the mantis preparing for a second, vertical attack on them.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Sophie screamed in terror at the sight of the creature. Overcome with fear, she clung tightly to Katya, preventing her rescuer from defending herself. Meanwhile, the monster's sickle descended menacingly on them.
A powerful impact echoed through the area. When the girls opened their eyes, they found themselves alive.
Chiara Bianchi, clad in a panda-like hoodie, charged at the beast with João, Lucas, and Lars. Together, they delivered a crushing blow, hurling the creature several feet and slamming it against a stage wall.
"Superheroine Chiara makes her entrance with her assistants!" Chiara proclaimed grandly, earning a puzzled look from Lucas.
At that moment, Othar bit Sophie’s hand to get her to release Katya.
"Ow!" Sophie cried out through tears and snot.
Katya quickly got up and helped the girls to their feet.
"Thank you," she said with a grateful smile at her rescuers.
“If we need to survive for an hour, it’s best to stick together. So don’t worry,” Lars replied, keeping his eyes on the mantis, which was slowly starting to reassemble itself.
"Yay! Chiara and her friends!" the pink-haired girl cheered, bouncing up and down.
Lucas remained silent, his annoyance evident.
"I understand your point, but I don’t think it’s the best strategy for now," Elara said, surprising those who shared Lars’ view, including Katya.
“We might believe in the strength of numbers, and that’s true, but we don’t fully understand how Saito’s ability works—or if he has limits to his creations.” Elara, who seemed to excel in strategic analysis, offered her insight.
"When we were all together, not only the mantis but also a large number of wolves seemed ready to attack. The chance of facing more beasts is very high,” she explained, urging everyone to grasp her point quickly.
"Saito said it would be fair, so the more people in a group, the more enemies we'll face,” she added, causing surprise among the group.
“Does this mean no Chiara and her friends?” the little girl asked sadly, realizing their paths would need to diverge.
"I recommend splitting into groups. This way, our chances of survival increase, and we can share the burden of the ice beasts. We might even find a place to barricade ourselves and hold out," Elara suggested with a smile.
"I'm grateful for your help, which is why I'm saying this, it's the decision with the highest likelihood of success for everyone." She smiled at Katya, leaving the others surprised, as they were more familiar with her playful and humorous side.
"I don’t care what you decide, but we have more company," Lucas said, noting the arrival of several four-foot-long ice centipedes descending from the ceiling as the mantis finally stood up.
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⌠Danger Detected:
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Ice Centipede
Synchro Materialization
Level 2.
Non-Life Creature.
Synchro Percentage 0%⌡
"I'll go with Katya!" Sophie cried, clinging to her rescuer's back.
"Ah... no, this..." Katya was at a loss for words, but any hesitation was quickly overshadowed by the imminent attack of the centipedes and mantis. Everyone needed to make quick decisions.
Lars took Elara with him to protect her from the monsters, joining João and Chiara in their escape. Meanwhile, Katya, along with Sophie, stayed close to Lucas and Ethan.
The group split up to face the beast’s assault.
"Try to get to another floor to lure the monsters away! We’ll do the same and divide the enemies!" Elara shouted as her group sprinted toward the other side of the large room.
"Okay, time to run!" Katya called out, observing the centipedes moving in a serpentine pattern across the ground, pursuing Elara’s group.
Without waiting for the mantis to choose its next target, Katya and Sophie dashed off, with Lucas and Ethan close behind.
"Come on, don’t lag behind," Ethan urged, leading the way. Lucas followed, visibly annoyed.
Unlike the second floor, this area wasn’t frozen, likely because it had been covered until recently.
Hundreds of large wooden crates, sealed with tape and worn labels, were stacked along the walls. Among them were crumbling mannequins and oversized, dusty, and cobweb-covered antiques.
The only light in the room came from the hole they had created upon arrival. As they moved further in, the surroundings quickly plunged into deep darkness.
⌠Do you want to light the lamp?
YES / NO⌡
A small confirmation window appeared in front of everyone in the group, and the answer was almost immediate: yes. A light emanated from the TN device, illuminating the area in front of each user’s face.
"This is great! It looks like they’ve unlocked more features as we go through the tests. It’s definitely an amazing prototype," Ethan commented while running. He seemed reserved but passionate about technology, or at least that was the impression he gave Katya.
"What a nerd..." Lucas, the pink-haired boy who always seemed to be in a bad mood, scoffed.
With the new lighting guiding them, the group picked up the pace, desperately searching for an exit from the endless cellar. However, they soon encountered a steel door blocking their way.
"Damn, blocked path..." Katya clicked her tongue in frustration and glanced back for the mantis. She thought the ice monster was far behind, but it had caught up quickly.
In one swift motion, the mantis lashed out with an X-shaped slash, hurling its claws at the entire group. As the claws sliced through the air, they released a trail of icy dust, creating two furious trails that glittered like shards of glass.
"Look out!" Katya warned as she and Sophie moved aside.
The two men, who had not yet deactivated their auras, also tried to dodge, but Ethan’s right arm was struck by one of the claws.
The wound froze instantly. Ethan grimaced in pain, looking at his arm and feeling the cold bite of the injury. "Ahg..." he groaned, frustration evident as he touched the wound.
The creature's eyes moved unnaturally, locking onto Ethan. In an instant, the mantis prepared to strike, focusing its powerful jaws solely on him.
"Shit!" Ethan shouted as he saw the attack coming at him with incredible speed. He hadn’t expected the mantis to target him with its foul maw.
“I was getting tired of running away!”
At the last moment, Lucas threw a large stone he’d found among the nearby relics, deflecting the mantis’s maw. It likely shattered an expensive tombstone, but Ethan seized the chance to retreat and join his companions. "Thank you," he said, preparing for the fight.
"Whatever," Lucas replied, his attention fixed on the creature, which had now turned its gaze toward both of them.
"Please, don’t leave me!" Sophie's tears welled up as she clung to Katya, who tried to pull away to help.
"Hey, let me go, this isn’t the time!" Katya shouted, but her words did little to calm Sophie, who continued to cry uncontrollably, terrified and helpless.
Lucas and Ethan engaged the mantis. The insect’s ferocious slashes devastated everything in its path as they tried to dodge and find a way to counterattack. The predator’s speed, one of the fastest in the animal kingdom, seemed to outmatch their efforts.
"Please don’t leave me alone," Sophie sobbed, her voice filled with desperation. "I couldn’t survive if that thing got me. I haven’t even activated my Synchro Aura, please!" Her deep whimpering soiled Katya’s clothes as she watched the others battle the mantis.
"React at once! You're here to be an agent! If you only know how to whine and wait for others to save you, you'll only cause the death of others when you become an agent!"
Katya's rude words came out of her without any consideration, she couldn't control herself as she watched Ethan and Lucas fight.
At that moment, Sophie was shocked and immediately released Katya, who didn't hesitate for a second to rush into the fight to support her companions.
The mantis focused its attention on Ethan and Lucas, blocking each of their attacks with her claws and launching various slashes at them with the intention of eliminating them. However, it immediately caught the sound of Katya's footsteps behind it, and one of its eyes shifted to its back with an unnatural movement.
Katya lunged, determined to land a flying kick to the monster's head. But before her attack could reach the creature, the mantis executed a sharp turn on its hind legs.
In a single, fluid motion, the beast unleashed an icy whirlwind, creating an icy blast that spread out in all directions, slamming into its attackers and forcefully repulsing them several feet away.
The impact of the whirlwind threw Lucas, Ethan, and Katya in different directions, causing them crashing into the wooden crates that adorned the warehouse.
"Kug...damn...What kind of senses are those?" Katya said, struggling up from the ground as Othar also groaned from the impact and left his companion's shoulder.
"Qui, qui." The small animal growled, and Katya understood that it would hide in the face of the beast's danger.
"It's all right, my friend. I don't want anything bad to happen to you," Katya replied with a smile, though she didn't quite get the message from the coonfox, who immediately scurried away between the crates.
"It could even attack all three of us at the same time, is it really just an ice dummy?" Ethan also got up from between the boxes he had fallen into.
"Whatever it is, I'm going to smash it," Lucas said, spitting blood from his mouth to the side once he stood up, keeping his eyes on the enemy.
The three could feel the cold in their bodies from the creature's impact, and at that moment they understood the nature of the ice attacks, which were beginning to drain their body heat.
The mantis now stood victorious before the three.
Its claws were raised, ready for another assault, while its fragmented gaze scrutinized each of its opponents.
Puzzled, the group wondered how it was possible that this beast not only responded to their attacks but also seemed to adapt and perfect its strategy with each move.
Meanwhile, Sophie remained on the ground, lost in thought, hugging her knees to her chest. "I'm pathetic... I'm good for nothing...the best thing would be to just leave....Why am I even bothering?" She repeated to herself, unaware that the mantis was only a few feet away, attacking her companions.
"I only got this far because Xin Hua helped me, otherwise I never would have made it..." Frustration seemed to take over her face, but it soon turned to tears as she remembered the kindness of her former companion.
"I am so useless... How did I ever think I could become an agent? I'd better..."
At that moment, Othar appeared next to the brown-skinned girl and gave her a sharp bite on the leg. "Ow! What's wrong with you?" Sophie reacted angrily to the animal's attack.
Othar looked annoyed. "Qui qui qui qui qui! Qui qui qui qui qui! Qui qui qui qui qui!" He repeated between grunts and unintelligible monosyllables with apparent anger.
Sophie didn't understand anything, it was an animal after all. But Othar didn't give up and jumped onto the lady's shoulder to point in the direction of the fight.
"Qui qui qui qui, qui qui qui qui." Othar said, his growl not being aggressive this time, but rather concerned for the fighters who were outnumbered by the beast at the moment.
"Uh... there's nothing I can do, I can't fight..." She replied dejectedly. But again she felt the animal bite on her cheek. "Stop biting me!"
Othar looked at the girl with an angry expression, then pointed in another specific direction. A gigantic wooden box stood in that direction and, on it, a seal in the shape of a skull warned of danger.
A Machiavellian smile appeared on the Coonfox's face; the small animal seemed to understand what the symbol meant.