Nick knew deep in his bones that the timing was no coincidence; that the raging vortex of water and wind would arrive at the same moment that the clock hit zero and the gateways opened. The cyclone would engulf the mountain, transforming the walkway leading from his gate to the portal from an easy stroll into the most dangerous obstacle course that he could imagine.
Nick watched the spiraling maelstrom of mind-boggling proportion obliterate the final traces of blue sky in the distance, erasing the world of light from horizon to horizon. The conflux that had briefly shielded the summit from the headwinds fell away, dissipating completely when the clock hit the ten-minute mark.
Battered by the full fury of the storm once more, the wind began tearing into the webwork, pulling it apart layer by layer, like the fingers of a furious giant. His heart pounded in time with the gusts slamming into the spiders’ handiwork, striking with the power of an artillery barrage.
At eight minutes remaining, the top layer of the silken roof was ripped away. The second followed shortly after. By this time, the body of the cyclone had become a raging black wall of staggering scale, shutting out the sun so utterly that the world became darker than pitch, veiled by a midnight curtain of ever-churning clouds.
The summit was encased in screaming murk, which only made the immense pressure worse. Nick’s blindness was punctuated by intermittent flashes of lightning, turning the world a brilliant purple before casting it into darkness even blacker than before.
At two minutes left on the clock, the final anchors supporting the web-fort snapped and the threads began to unravel; the spider’s silk pulled taut and beyond its limit at last. The entire edifice was going to give way at any moment, subjecting them to the scalding wrath of the storm overhead.
But Nick didn’t have time to worry about this pressing problem. At the moment, he was busy tossing every bit of debris that he could find into his pack, racing to fill the bag to its one-hundred-pound capacity before he was forced to brave the hurricane winds while fighting to reach the portal.
He stopped when he realized that he couldn’t shove the shattered spear he was clutching into the mouth of the bag. The storage inside was maxed out. As the final layer of webbing tore down the middle, Nick rose to his feet and slipped his pack onto his back, pulling the straps as tight as they would go. He glanced at the clock and saw that only forty-eight seconds remained.
The web-fort was going to collapse within heartbeats. The last strands of silk were pulling apart like taffy in the periphery of his vision. “Okay. Climb aboard!” He gestured frantically to Bandit, hoping that the lemur understood the situation well enough to grasp what he was trying to tell him.
To Nick’s relief, Bandit leapt and landed on his pack, grabbing the straps tight between his hands. He took an experimental step, so weighed down that he could barely move. Nick hoped that it would be enough to keep the storm winds from lifting him off the platform, although his efforts felt laughable compared to the overwhelming power of the superstorm. At least the lightning was striking so frequently that it was easy to maintain his bearings, blasting the dome of force over the crater every few seconds.
Huddling in the last stable corner of the disintegrating web-fort, the lemurs had adopted a different tactic. The tribe had spent the last several minutes breaking off to form teams of five—units that would attempt the crossing together, where they were close enough to support one another.
Nick grimaced when he noticed that all the seriously injured lemurs had been grouped together, although he understood the Elder’s position. Any other arrangement would increase the casualties they were certain to take, and the Elder had to prioritize the survival of the tribe over all other considerations.
She was clearly upset by the situation, judging by the mournful glances she kept making at the unfortunate bunch. This was the true burden of leadership, something that Nick had yet to experience for himself. All such thoughts were erased from his mind half a heartbeat later, when he looked at the portal and saw that only seven seconds were left on the clock.
Unfortunately, it only took another two seconds before the web-fortress collapsed, log-studded silk soaring up to dance amid the clouds surging across the sky. With nothing to blunt its impact, the wind hit them like a fist, hard enough to throw Nick right off the mountain, scattering the lemurs like dust on the breeze.
They all would have died in that moment if it weren’t for the Elder’s foresight. An instant before the webbing gave way, she wedged herself into the frame of the gateway, holding onto both sides with her feet. Both of her hands were grasping those of her elite guard, forming a daisy chain of interlocking limbs, with the Elder’s incredible strength serving as the linchpin that kept everything together.
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The maneuver was so impressive that Nick would have wondered if the lemurs’ leader was using multiple abilities if he wasn’t in the process of being violently dragged across the face of the summit. Holding onto the hand of the lemur beside him for dear life, the long line of primates whipped about like the tail of a kite.
The screaming gale that had slammed into the mountain subsided when the clock hit zero, bringing Nick and the airborne members of the tribe back down to the ground, just as the gate groaned and swung open.
This marked the start of a mad dash across the walkway. Before he could make it to the gate, the storm winds slammed into them again. With them came a searing curtain of rain. Bandit and Nick cried out as the boiling deluge broke over them.
Shutting out the incandescent agony, he passed through the gate, stepping onto the pathway alongside the tribe. As he passed the threshold, the rain cut off abruptly, providing blessed relief.
It turned out that the dome of force covered the walkways as well, creating three tunnels leading from the summit to the portal. While the transparent barrier shielded Nick from the rain and lightning, the wind was another matter. Violent gusts surged back and forth, wailing as they flew into the tube. One second, the storm was pulling him back out onto the summit. The next, it was threatening to send him flying forward, past the portal, and down one of the other pathways.
Nick fought for every step, the combined weight of Bandit and his pack barely keeping his feet on the ground, at least for now. Although the portal ahead demanded the lion’s share of his attention, a piece of his brain couldn’t help but take in the strange scene unfolding all around him. It was just so intense. So surreal.
Above him, the angry skies writhed like a living being, fey bolts of violet lightning dancing across the face of the turbulent heavens. The advancing cyclone was only seconds away from engulfing the summit. When it arrived, the pressure would suck the beasts back out of the tunnels like water through a straw. Nick had to reach the portal before that happened, or he would die without a doubt. Only the shield formed by the dome of force had kept him from being carried into the sky already.
Down one walkway streamed a triple line of spiders, with the massive Bulwark and the golden queen striding down the middle of their formation. Down the other lane surged the lurk, still shrouded in a cloak of webbing. Nick had no idea how the beast had endured the searstorm and the hurricane that followed. He could only admire the tenacity and resolve of the magnificent hunter.
Below his boots, the island’s animals scampered across the volcano’s crater with total serenity, shielded by a solid layer of forcefield. Nick shook his head in wonder as he took in predators passing beside herbivores with no hostility to their movements, oblivious to the epic struggle taking place above their heads. The System must be keeping the peace.
He set his gaze upon the portal, fighting to get there in time. In the end, this final trial claimed far fewer victims than those that had preceded it. Although they had to race the cyclone while battling the wind tearing through the open gates, the crossing was easier than Nick had anticipated. A rare act of mercy by the System.
As a result, the lemur tribe was able to assist their wounded. One unlucky pair was dragged out of the passage and devoured by the raging skies, but everyone else made it to the portal and disappeared into its silvery depths. That same gust nearly pulled him outside too, erasing some of his progress. He dove onto his stomach and gripped the edge of the walkway, Bandit shrieking madly all the while, until the surge passed, and he was able to scramble forward once more.
Ten seconds later, he crossed the final stretch of walkway and stood before the portal. Despite everything—the long odds and terrifying days on the Searing Isle—he’d made it to the end of the tutorial. At long last, Nick would leave this world behind him and discover what fate had in store for the survivors of the human race.
Before he could take the final four steps and leap into the light, he felt a thump conducting through the metal beneath his boots. He looked up and realized that the lurk was standing beside him, having arrived at the portal at the exact same moment.
Outlined by the immense vortex, contrasting against the lightning, the lurk turned to consider him. Nick’s approach was cut off. If he tried to run past, the beast’s jaws would close around him half a heartbeat before he could reach whatever safety lay on the other side of the glowing aperture.
He conjured two Mana Darts while staring at his nemesis, the suction increasing by the second. Any moment, it would pull Nick back outside and into the storm. He was bone-weary and battered; burned and so tired that his limbs felt like rubber.
But the lurk was in bad shape too. It was down an eye, an arm, and a set of talons. It was covered in countless blisters and bite wounds that Nick hadn’t been close enough to see until that moment. He knew with absolute certainty that if either of them pressed their vendetta, they were both going to die.
By now, Nick thought that he had a sense of the lurk’s personality. The creature was incredibly intelligent and prideful to a fault, but it wasn’t reckless or cruel. If it came for him now, it would be the end of them both, and a stalemate would be just as fatal.
Praying that he was reading this right, he raised his open palms and fired both spells into the passage behind him. “How about we call it a draw, just for today?”
The lurk bent down low to look Nick straight in the eye, its gaze conveying frustration, simmering alongside a grudging respect. The recognition of a rivalry that could only be settled when both sides were at their best. Meanwhile, Bandit was freaking out, clearly believing that Nick had gone insane.
He must have read the situation right in the end, because instead of tearing into the man’s torso like a meat piñata, the furry bastard made a gesture, implying that they would meet again one day; that the lurk would prove it was the superior hunter before it claimed his life. Then it grunted and stepped into the portal.
Nick and a screaming Bandit followed suit a fraction of a second later.