The Oracle Paths

Though the Gorgonite projected an indifferent, even haughty, façade before the two Evolvers, his actions and body language told a different story.

The way he stumbled backward, a jittery dance toward the Nexus, never daring to blink for fear of losing sight of them-it was evident he was gripped by terror.

'Damn it, why isn't the Nexus reacting?!' Rigel was internally shrieking in panic, teetering on the edge of hysteria. 'Why isn't it summoning its bloody Avatar?! Can't it understand that our lives hang in the balance?'

The nonresponse from the translucent gem silently levitating behind him was maddening. Seeing himself abandoned, the frantic Brain-Eater decided to stall for time by striking up a conversation. Hopefully, this would buy the Digestor, stained with the task of their extraction, the few seconds needed to reach them.

Fortunately, he didn't have to feign curiosity. He had many questions.

"H-how did you find me?" Rigel asked, his tone fraught with bewilderment. "Or rather, how did you reach the Nexus before me?"

It was a legitimate question. Just as the Dungeon Digestor was forever reshaping its corridors, the Nexus room didn't have a fixed location either. Logically, if the Dungeon Digestor didn't disclose its whereabouts, it was virtually impossible to find, let alone reach it, in such a short time.

The Brain-Eater's mind flitted back to the Dungeon Digestor's sudden withdrawal, automatically connecting it with the silence of the floating Nexus. His face fell, realization washing over him at the extent of the implications this might have.

Jake and Saros undoubtedly saw the desolation gradually etch itself onto his stony countenance, although they had no part in his undoing. Truth be told, on arrival, Saros had warned him to prepare for a grueling fight against the Dungeon Digestor's Avatar. Instead, they were met by a hyper-anxious and nervous Rigel.

The Gorgonite was under the mistaken impression that they had arrived long before him, but in reality, their arrivals had nearly coincided. Of course, neither Jake nor Saros intended to correct him on this confusion.

Still, even though they knew the Brain-Eater was just buying time, they were willing to play along. Simply because they too feared another trap, particularly Saros, whose own experience led him to anticipate an imminent ambush.

The Avatar wasn't the Dungeon Digestor's only last resort to defend its Nexus.

Generally, the final boss's chamber would be guarded by elite Digestors, spawned solely to protect its existence. The absence of such despite their proximity to the Nexus was unnerving. For Saros, it was all the more suspicious, and Jake could only agree.

Maintaining a cautious twenty-meter distance from the Nexus and Rigel, Saros suddenly materialized a glass cage identical to the one Rigel was clutching. The Gorgonite's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he recognized the formless creature leisurely swimming inside.

"S-Syrbarun!" The Brain-Eater exclaimed, suddenly losing his composure before throwing a scornful look at his own cage. 'No wonder communication was impossible. There's nothing inside this cage. It's an illusion...'

"I see you've caught on," Jake chuckled. "You're correct. The second cage mirrors the contents of the first. Syrbarun has always been in our possession. As for how we found the Nexus, it's simple. Although its location constantly changes, as soon as its life was explicitly threatened, your obliging parasite comrade promptly divulged your extraction point's coordinates. It would indeed be strange if the Digestor meant to retrieve you accidentally teleported into a Voidsteel wall after the Dungeon Digestor's internal structure was rearranged. A beacon or signal marking its location so obviously would be detectable even to us, which would be counterproductive."

The Gorgonite's shoulders sagged in defeat as the Brain-Eater realized that he'd been dancing to his enemies' tune from the start, never successfully deceiving them.

'No! I made it to the planned extraction point. If I can hold out until reinforcements arrive, I can still escape.'

Jake and Saros immediately noticed the fanatic hope flaring up in Rigel's face, but instead of attacking, it sent them into retreat, their eyes scanning the large room for hidden enemies.

When nothing happened, the Oracle Guardian's expression tightened with humiliation and he decided to finish it.

"I don't know why the Dungeon Digestor isn't summoning its Avatar, but if we attack it, we'll soon find out."

Jake nodded grimly, and with unspoken agreement, the two Evolvers charged at the Gorgonite and the Nexus. Jake targeted Rigel while the Oracle Guardian lunged at the levitating gemstone with full force.

Rigel nearly soiled himself as a blur closed the distance between them at lightning speed, materializing right in front of him to grab his throat viciously.

Jake was starting to enjoy this method of execution after having tested it successfully on the Voidshifter.

Perhaps it had something to do with his True Will of Grabbing. The act of crushing living or non-living things with sheer force had become a sort of twisted pleasure for him.

However, Rigel was neither a Voidshifter nor a formidable warrior. Jake had mentally prepared for all sorts of reactions, but when the Gorgonite's body went limp as a chicken whose neck has just been twisted, he was left utterly speechless.

'Is that it? How disappointing...' Jake remarked, an air of disenchantment lacing his tone.

Simultaneously, Saros reached the Nexus and brought his four heavy blades crashing down on it with all his might, only to halt his attack at the last moment.

The edge of his weapons had slightly chipped the large gem, but it remained eerily unresponsive.

"What is happening here?" The alien blurted out, overt confusion etched on his features. This was not what he had anticipated.

It was so easy and unexpected that it only made the Oracle Guardian more convinced that something had gone horribly wrong long before their arrival, or that a terrible event was about to unfold.

Click, clack, click.

The sharp sound of footsteps on the steel floor echoed from above them, then the dome-shaped ceiling abruptly opened, revealing a grand entrance for a wrinkled little green alien that bore a striking resemblance to a lizard.

Jake was on guard and ready to engage the newcomer when he looked up and stammered out, "Cekt?"

"Master?!" Syrbarun exclaimed in shock from within his cage, while Rigel, who was regaining consciousness, gawked at the green alien with the same dumbstruck expression.

"You have quite the nerve calling me master after your betrayal." Cekt shot him a snobbish, disapproving glance that made the parasite shudder before his ageless gaze turned to Jake. "Sigh... In the end, you too fell into this trap despite my attempt to warn you."

The green alien shook his head, disappointment etched on his face, and floated down to the floor with aloofness, his hands clasped behind his hunched back, giving him a patronizing air.

Jake's brow twitched in silence, understanding all too well where he had made his blunder. It was only a few minutes earlier that he had grasped, thanks to Xi, the intricate trap he had blindly walked into.

Not that he could have avoided it... The moment Lucia and the others ventured into the Magnetic Resonator without him, he had no other choice but to follow them inside.

"I thought you were imprisoned somewhere or held captive by some strong Digestors." Jake justified himself with a grunt, although he knew very well that even if that were the case, his reinforcement wouldn't have made any difference.

"Oh, I was indeed held somewhere by those monsters." Cekt acknowledged with a sardonic grimace. "They really made me sweat."

As if to emphasize his last statement, he waved his small hand, and a rain of corpses of massive Voidshifters and Sinewshades crashed before them, sprinkling the Nexus's vacant room with a touch of gore.

Jake, Saros, and even the two other Brain-Eaters squinted their eyes, sensing the lingering Aetheric fluctuations from these corpses. Judging by their appearance and their intimidating auras persisting even after death, these monsters were all very powerful Digestors.

Each Voidshifter lying on the ground was at least one or two Ranks above the one he had fought and let escape. As for the Sinewhades, Jake finally knew where those infected with eight or more Ordeals under their belt had ended up.

As expected, they were all mobilized to keep their master busy. What he hadn't anticipated was that it wouldn't be enough. In the end, the small alien had never needed their help.