THEOS

Navigating his sword through the maze-like underbelly of the trial grounds was difficult. Especially since he was looking at and mapping the passageway with his mana sight through layers of dense rock, and since his eyes transposed his mana overtop regular sight, making it so that the the image he was seeing was pretty small at this point. Only seeable at all due to the fact that raising agility and constitution had the effect of improving eyesight and the processing of the information from it. Were he still a mortal, he figured he wouldn’t be able to see anything but a vague smudge. Honestly, he was surprised it was working as well as it was.

Luke knew that by using the Eyes of Insight he could see his own mana through barriers, and that he could use Maximus as a conduit for his mana, but until he had sent it through to investigate the inside of the cave, he never realized how practical the two abilities could be when when used in tandem, and now that he had, the possibilities seemed endless. Growing larger every second he thought about them, and his ideas more viable whenever he imagined having more mana to work with.

Scouting being the most obvious of the possibilities, but if he could refine his control over his mana even more, and make his mana cloud more efficient and the feedback it gave his eyes more detailed– than he suspected that one day, he would be able to use his techniques from a distance.

And if I can figure out this spell business, I might even be able to put them in the swords mana pool instead of mine, and give it more abilities that way.

Hmmm.

Using his sword, his technique and his bloodline together, he imagined himself having something not unlike Hepheastus’s drones, except he’d only one sword shaped remote controlled hit-weapon instead of countless millions.

Clunky, but cool nevertheless. I guess I really underestimated my bloodline. Luke mused, and moved further into his own tunnel.

It was pitch black, and with the entrance blocked the whole place was entirely devoid of light. And in the absence of it, he was finding his way by touch to save mana. At the same time, carefully keeping his mana primed and ready to activate the spell resting within the metaphysical space within him at a moment's notice– in the case of any surprises.

The hydra and the rabbicorns weren’t the only monsters lurking in the trial grounds and definitely not the last they would encounter. With the consequence of being caught unprepared and failing the quest so uncertain, he couldn’t even dream of taking it lightly. So he wouldn’t.

The day might come that he would fail a Quest, or get one that he was simply opposed to completing and finally learn what happened as a result. Whether the Seed would just move on, or if he ended up needing to use a charge or something remained to be seen.

In this case however, no matter what the consequences of Spiros winning, Luke had decided to put his qualms to rest, and help him do it anyway.

If Spiros finishing first in the tournament and me placing second is all it takes to start a war, then it probably would have started without my involvement anyway.

If I remember the movie right though, the Trojan War happened because that one king, Agamenmo or something, used the fact that Helen left his brother to marry Paris as an excuse to rally the Greeks. In reality though, he was already planning a war anyway. The Paris-Helen affair was just a way to instigate a fight that a lot of people already wanted, rather than the actual cause.

Granted, that was just a movie, and I doubt they adapted the most correct version of the myth, but I don’t think it’s entirely wrong. Sure feels more realistic than people actually going to war over one girl, no matter how beautiful. But then again, it’s not like I’ve ever been in love, so what would I know?

More than that… Zeus doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would let a true war, one with all the senseless mass death and evilness, take place. Not for love at least. None of the gods do actually… well maybe not Ares, but he’s the God of War, but even that might just be bull.

From what I understand, most of the Olympians seem to have a vested interest in keeping the status quo. Most cultivators do, actually.

Then again, all the Olympians were okay with the Rebel.

At the same time, and I hate to admit it, but the Rebel wasn’t exactly fighting a war in the traditional sense… Her plan was better defined as a coup than a rebellion.

Either way… Whatever happens when Spiros wins the tournament, it’s not on me. Not entirely. It won't even be on Spiros. If someone freaks out and starts a war because the girl he liked or even loved left him to be with a guy who willingly poops his pants and spends an inordinate amount of time justifying it, then that’s on him. I can’t go around walking on eggshells because people in power might throw a tantrum.

Dismissing the thoughts from his head, Luke pressed further into the cave.

It surprised him that whoever was tracking him hadn’t already busted in after him, not that it was a major problem. They would come eventually.

Waiting wasn’t what he would do, but he could understand the logic behind it. The idea that Luke may be laying a trap for them, was all but certain, making the other person's hesitancy valid. On the other hand though, the longer they waited before triggering said trap, and they would trigger it, the longer Luke had to prepare and rest, even though the latter was true for the attacker as much as it was for Luke.

His attacker was probably just taking time to make sure they didn’t get ambushed immediately upon entering. A task that Luke knew would be hard to achieve without protective talismans, but considering he was in a cave, he had time.

So, he focused on sending his sword deeper and deeper into the cavern. So long as the person had a scroll of their own, which he was confident they did, they would be able to use the arrow to figure out if he was moving or not. Meaning until they actually triggered the trap, he would have to keep up the ruse.

The fight that was about to happen wouldn’t just be a battle of swords, and spells, but a mind game. Information was key, and if the person, or persons, chasing him thought he was continuing to run, they would be less cautious in their pursuit, and hopefully, less likely to notice Luke sneaking up on them from behind.

After walking into the cave for a few more minutes, Lue turned a bend, and deciding it was good enough, settled in for a wait. He sat cross legged against the cave's jagged wall with his ears strained and his breath as quiet as he could make it, ready to leap into action at the slightest sound. Whether that sound came from deeper into the cave or, as he preferred it, from the entrance he had used.

He only had to wait ten minutes before he heard the rumbling sound of the boulder he had used to block the entrance being shoved aside.

Immediately after, the sound of hundreds of arrows bashing against hard stone echoed throughout the network of tunnels.

He stilled, and held his breath.

“Relax, he went down that one already.” Said a woman, her voice low and melodic, but proliferating through the tunnels with surprising clarity.

Alright, let’s call her Woman A. She’s falling for it. Yay.

“Are you sure? What if that tunnel turns left, and the other right?” The direction our scrolls are pointing in is irrelevant.” Another woman refuted.

Shit. Lady B seems to be a little smarter than her friend. Even though she’s completely wrong.

“Do you want to split up, I go left and you go right?” Women A suggested.

I can work with that. Luke nodded to himself.

“Obviously not. What if you find him, take the scrolls, and run? Said Lady B.

Just– both of you don’t come here. Luke thought, crossing his fingers. It wouldn’t be the worst thing, but now that he knew there were two of them, he really wanted to separate the pair and take at least one of them out by surprise.

“That would make no sense. There isn’t a single instance I can think of where betraying you would end in my favor.” Women A argued.

“Well we just met, forgive me for not trusting you.” Lady B sighed.

“Can’t we be more like this guy. His friend just gave him both of their scrolls and he ran.” Women A argued.

“Well obviously they knew each other.” Said Lady B.

“Why would you assume that?”

“They were all dressed the same for one”

“Fair. It’s a lot harder to be an asshole to someone, when they know where to find you and give you a good smack in the face.” Women A agreed. “Alright, we need to focus.” She said, and then the pair went silent.

“Any ideas yet?”

“Yeah, we, by which I mean you, are overthinking it. Both of our scrolls are pointing that way, so we’ll go that way.”

“Fine.” Lady B agreed.

They must not have waited too long after coming to a decision, because their voice went quiet for a moment, and when Luke heard them next, they were much fainter than before.

Which was all the confirmation he needed.

Rising silently into the air with his mana, Luke worked his way back out of the tunnel he had crawled in. Making sure to keep as quiet as he possibly could, while he attempted to sneak up on the pair of women, and hopefully catch at least one of them unaware and by surprise.

Hopefully it's the one who’s good at hiding if it comes to that, but if I can get both at the same time, that would be ideal. Luke thought to himself as he slowly turned around a corner and peeked around into the chamber he had come from.

A part of him expected to be greeted by arrogant looks and scores of arrows and vines, but it was empty. They had gone down a tunnel and weren’t just waiting in an ambush of their own. It was always a possibility, but Luke was glad it hadn’t come true.

Then taking a deep breath, he followed after them. Ready to activate his spell and rain fire onto the pair at a moment's notice. Or more specifically, the moment he saw their backs.

After some brief hesitation, he also began to bring his sword closer to him. If everything went well, he wouldn’t need it, but he figured he could use it to make some noise in front of his two would be hunters and with them focused on the wrong thing ambush them. Or if the timing worked out, he could attack both from the front and the back at the same time.

Which is exactly what he did.

Because he already knew the tunnel's layout, having sent his sword down it, he caught up to the pair of warriors relatively quickly, and back tracking the sword wasn’t much harder either.

He couldn’t see them in the dark, and he didn’t want to flood the tunnel with his mana on the off chance that they would sense it, but the noise they made was indication enough when he was close.

He didn’t attack right away, and instead waited for his sword to catch up to them.

When it was a single corner away, he enacted his plan, and activated the spell.

It was like nothing he had experienced before. Knowledge of his new capabilities flooded his mind. Waiting to be unleashed and used.

He waited.

Perhaps because they were truly off guard, or maybe because they didn’t have a way to navigate the dark, but his sword turned the corner, and faster than either of them could even process what was happening stabbed one of the women in her shoulder.

Before she could so much as scream, fire, hot, bright, and lethal flooded past his hands and into the tunnel. Badly burning both of them.

That was when they screamed, and Luke winced in discomfort. Unfortunately, he was rather used to the unpleasantness that came from it, and he wouldn’t be deterred.

A moment later vines shot out of every surface of the wall and wrapped around him. Some his neck, but most his arms, chest and neck.

In response, he poured even more of his mana into the icon floating in his mana pool, not daring to be stingy, the plant matter sizzled and burned away from him.

Meanwhile, his sword, seemingly of its own will, pulled itself free from the first woman and stabbed her again. Once again in the shoulder. He was careful not to hit her face or anything that would result in truly permanent damage.

A second or two later, orange light not coming from the flames he had generated illuminated the cave walls, and the screams of women were replaced by the sound of two scrolls clanking against the floor.

Well… That was more brutal than I anticipated.