Max killed another one of the [Terrormite]’s in the deep fog. He tethered its other foot on a boulder and made the boulder heavy. This time he let the ranged fighters of the group help, so they could leech off some experience. Max still got the most.
But after that they traveled forward a good twenty minutes in the fog, which only got thicker and thicker. There were many of those porous spires and hot springs, but they only saw those if they literally ran into them. Same was for the demonic bugs, and that is why they didn’t see more, even if their screeches were to be heard every two minutes.
How the hell are we going to find our way back…
When the fog finally started to recede it happened quickly. This elicited numerous gasps of awe. This was not the Dreadlands they were used to seeing.
Tall red barked trees of multiple canopies grew from a rich green grass on the ground. There were bushes full of nuts and bright berries and yellow-furred rabbits jumped around and looked at their group in confusion. The same great yaks of towering size could be seen roaming around in the tall green grass, but only larger in every way. Fat, silverbacked fishes jumped up and down in a sparkling creek. A pitch-black raccoon was washing itself by its bank as tiny colorful birds flew over its head. It tried to catch them, but fell into the drink.
Every one of them stared at the sight in stunned awe, Max included. He breathed in the air. It was fresh and sweet, clearly strong with raw spiritual power. As opposed to the stale sulfurous, cough inducing air of the Dreadlands, this was like a sweet tropical holiday.
“What the—” Brian asked, but he was interrupted by a large looming jellyfish appearing in front of their group. But that was something the humans could already expect at this point. What they didn’t expect was also four Grays appearing in front of them. They looked at the humans with their large black eyes and snorted in derision.
[It seems our representatives beat you to it.]
“Bah!” one of the grays answered.
[Please remain calm, humans. Ah, Maxwell. It is very good that you are here.]
With that all of the Grays stopped talking to one another and they all turned to stare at Max. Max ignored them and only looked at the Zoos-representative. Still, he could almost tangibly feel the greed and lust for violence emanating from the Grays.
[Feel free to call upon your representative race, as per our agreement. Twelve will be the limit, as you well know. We will debrief our race in the meantime.]
“No you will not!” ,the leader of the Grays called in a shrill voice. “This will result in a time-advantage.”
[It is by default the idea that the race which discovers the Inner Sanctum first will have an advantage. If you do not comply, the humans can explore the area and establish themselves, then?]
This caused the Grays to go absolutely livid. Chairs and drinking glasses appeared out of nowhere in their hands and they threw them at the plastic giant jellyfish, but they vanished when the hologram's edge hit them.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Absolutely not! That will give them a very undue advantage. You shall place the humans in a stasis and give them each an [F-grade equipment box].]
[Such a notion would be absurd. An advantage for reaching this place first is a given. We are giving you the courtesy of choosing which kind of advantage you would prefer.]
The Grays grumbled to themselves but then held a quick conference. Max looked at them and smirked at their ire. Whatever situation he and his group was in, it seemed that the Greys, and by extension the lizards had drawn the short end of the stick.
Dejected, the leader of the Greys announced their decision. “You may begin debriefing the humans. We will inform our representative race and provide them with coordinates.”
The Grays cast a last long glance at Max and their greed was overt. Max felt a chill running down his spine. He could not directly sense their Cultivation, but it was clearly eons beyond his comprehension. They could kill him with a snap of their fingers. When they were done making it perfectly clear that they would use every available trick to get rid of Max within whatever game that was going on here, they blinked out.
The Zoos-jellyfish hummed to itself and a large waterbed appeared in front of Max and his friends. They shot a questioning look at the plastic jellyfish, but all of them eventually climbed on the bed. It was soft and relaxing and Max noticed his Mana instantly zipped to full, and he felt his mind easing on the bed. It was doing something and Max wondered if it was legal for the Zoos to use it. Not that it was any of his business.
[Very good of you all to have made it here. This is the Inner Sanctum of the Dreadlands, wherein all of the most valuable resources are located. There are two types of trees here, both of which are highly valuable building materials. All of the food here is extremely nutrient dense, as well as diverse and plentiful. The earth is also of the highest quality, providing ample opportunity for farming, if you are so inclined. So it goes without saying that this area is very valuable. Now, you might be wondering how does an oasis such as this exist in the Dreadlands. The answer is simple. The area is within a space-dilation bubble and physically exists somewhere else on this planet.]
“What are we doing here?” Max asked. “Why are the Grays involved?”
[Indeed. For the information of you other humans, these were the Greys, also known as Kiritus Corporation, who are the patron race of their direct opponents on this planet. We are going to have a competition. This is a design to speed up the game. In short, holding the Inner Sanctum in the control of your race, will result in a significantly increased chance of victory and the annihilation of the opposing race within this quadrant.This would allow you to continue on into the second stage of Cosmic Games, and face new opponents. You would of course be able to retain this area, as access to it is granted by spatial magic, and the location can be altered.]
Max exchanged glances with Brian who only shrugged. Max also shrugged. This was rather confusing, but from the elaborate explanation the Zoos-collective was giving, this had to be important.
[Because of the significance of this area, we deemed it fair that the other race will not oblivious to its mistakes be destroyed, if the other race stumbles upon the Inner Sanctum in a stroke of luck. This is why the Kiritus Corporation went ahead and started recruiting members of their representative race. They will be brought here and you will engage in conflict for the control of this area. A deathmatch will occur.]
“A what now?” Christie asked, losing the relaxed posh in her voice.
[The Grays will instruct their representative race, Ishkarassi, to come here with a force of twelve of their race. The same amount of people as you brought here.]
“Now wait just a second,” Max said, anger surging inside him. “So they can just pick the twelve strongest fighters? What if we had come here with a bunch of [Gatherers]? Freya’s an [Artisan]. That’s already a weakness for us.”
Freya shifted uncomfortably closeby. Max turned and gave her an encouraging smile. She gave a shy smile back.
[That would indeed be lamentable, but fortune was by your side. However, do note that you will most likely be forced to do some gathering and crafting. The area is large, and you will need survival skills. Freya Johanson will also be provided an opportunity to change her base class into [Combatant], if she so wishes.]
At least we have some hunters with us, in Brian and his men. But those Gray assholes are going to bring twelve of their strongest fighters. We’re playing with high stakes here. Not only is the area at stake, but my bounty.
[Once twelve members of the opposing force are dead, the deathmatch ends. The winning team will have their race teleported to this area, and they are given a month to establish themselves before the losing race is allowed to re-enter the area. The losing race will be informed all over this quadrant as to what has transpired in the deathmatch. They will also be granted an opportunity to be teleported together in a single spot at the edge of the Dreadlands, and they will have a month to prepare an assault in attempt to take the area back.]
“Well I’ll be damned,” Maverick said in his best southern cowboy drawl. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a gunpoint showdown.”