One by one the team came out of the flamethrowers and saw the person that had hunted them for the past year relentlessly. This time it was different, it was the bottom of the ninth and shit just got real, the pressure coming from Chrysalis told them that the only way to make it to the next level was through his dead body ( no pun intended).
Even though everyone was standing still, the floor was taking them towards the portal at a fairly good speed. Only four hallways remained and who knows how many challenges would be stacked up together in Mode 004 but they had to clear the mode under a fight to the death.
The first to make a move was Master Chrysalis. Three hand signs known as mudras came out in succession, the sign for earth followed by Man and finally sign for Heaven were displayed at amazing speeds molding his Chi.
FUTON!! Wind Boost
The Wind Element gathered around him and it look like he was in the center of small wind tornado for a couple of seconds, the skill increased movement speed by 15% and increasing attack speed by 10%. Before the tornado dissipated 4 Shurikens came the team's way followed by the heaven mudra that activated another skill.
KUTON!! - Giant Shuriken
The 4 Shurikens increased to the size of a dinner plate and travel towards each of the members of the group.
Clink … Clink..Clink.. Clink
Eidolic Wards came out one after the other covering Rahz and the others protecting them from the incoming projectiles however the momentum generated by them still managed to send the team a few meters backwards. Rahz wiped the sweat of his forehead and was about to attack Chrysalis but he was no longer standing in front.
AHHH!!
Elune screamed as a blade was withdrawn from her left shoulder. When everyone turn to look Midori was coil around the undead assassin and the blade in his hands was dripping in blood. Even after all the training the second room had provided, the speed of Chrysalis was at another level.
Midori squeeze as hard as she could trying to break Master Chrysalis' bones but her attempt was stop by the 'OH SHIT' skill of the assassins Fade. He appeared 10 ft away from the group and threw yet another set of shurikens that rapidly expanded in size after the use of the heaven mudra.
It was a relentless assault that had all four people on the defensive. Throughout the whole year inside the second room, Rahz and the others learned that they need it to be focus no matter what went wrong as every challenge could take their life. There were many scars on their bodies from the fail attempts but luckily they had survived it all and now they were stronger than ever. Elune's control over the Elementium Flower was now at an advanced level and dual casting was almost a possibility thanks to the increased in casting speed the artifact provided.
Minor Healing!! Eidolic Wards!!
Those spells came out at the same time Chrysalis sent his throwing weapons to stop them.
With Elune's protection, Riddick responded with his Chaos Chains and was able to encase Chrysalis detaining him for a couple of seconds. Rahz saw the chance and activated a runic mark underneath Master Chrysalis feet that would detonate and create a chaos energy explosion right before Riddicks chain would expired.
It was a very hectic situation, there was no time to breathe as the next challenge was upon them and it was a crowd favorite, The Lightning Carrousel, but since Mode 003 it could change directions inadvertently and its speed was now double.
One by one they got into one of the spaces in the revolving door while the second guardian was stuck in the chains and once they were through, the sound of the mark exploding was heard but they all knew that it was too early to celebrate and they were right. From a shadow formed by the walls of the cube, a gigantic ball of fire materialized and move towards them.
KATON!!! Giant FireBall
Riddick saw the Fireball and actually laugh, " Good try, Wrong Element" He step forward and covered his body on Purple Chaos Energy and used the absorbed skill he used when he was decomposing bodies and absorbing them as energy. It was possible that in his prime this skill produced a higher level fire but in the present, Master Chrysalis was only Level 15.
The Fireball hit Riddicks Chaos Energy and was absorbed at the speed a naked eye could see, however, the way Chrysalis like to fight was to use a dream within a dream. If the first skill didn't work then used it as a smokescreen for the next skill and so on and so forth.
Before the Giant Fireball was absorbed completely, Chrysalis switched his weapon into a chain and launched an attack followed by the combination of the Earth Mudra and the Heaven one to generated another skill.
KUTON!!! Shadow Replication
The chain that was coming their way suddenly divided into 4 and using the visual obstruction the previous skilled provided, it managed to fool the group's eyes and wrapped around each and every member of Rahz's team.
RAITON!!! Lightning Snake
Lightning snakes passed through the chain and hit the group members that scream in pain except for one. Instead of screaming, Midori's body crumbled into ashes and appeared a few feet ahead of Riddick with her gray energy already moving towards her eyes.
The whole team close their eyes and then, "Whoosh!!!" Petrifying Gaze.
Master Chrysalis experience was vast and for that reason he abandon the chains the moment he felt Midori's ominous aura and try to move back into the shadows. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't fast enough and the aura still managed to have a paralyzing effect on his body. Midori took advantage of this chance and use a tailwhip to send her enemy flying towards the next trap, the acid lake.
This time Midori came through for the team as after she whip Chrysalis away, she had to grab all the members of her team with her tail and ran the opposite direction the floor was moving to give them the chance to recuperate from the paralysis inflicted by the lightning snakes.
The Acid Lake was probably the easiest of the challenges, there were safety zones that moved throughout the lake and all you had to do was cross the lake using this safety tiles. The only thing that changed with every mode was the speed, this made it so that you had to anticipate your jump in order to land successfully onto the next and so on.
Midori's decision was the correct one as even if the paralysis was gone the muscles needed time adjusting back to normal. The team took a couple of minutes to get it together and proceeded with the challenge, they had done it many times and by now it was really nothing to worry about even if the speed was double the previous level. As they were passing through the Acid Lake out of the corner of their eye, they could see that a floating piece of clothing in the shape of a foot was still being decompose.
Rahz didn't think much about it and just continued his way to the other side and into the third hallway where a one arm, one foot Chrysalis stood. Rahz was the first one to pass the lake and told the team to wait on one of the platforms while he took care of Chrysalis. Elune and the others understood very well what Rahz was planning to do so they stayed out of his way. Elune just recast her ward on him and they all stood on their platform looking towards the hall.
Rahz and Chrysalis looked at each other and dash at the same time. Rahz grab his 2h Axe and got ready while his opponent disappeared into a Skill.
ASSASSIN FORBIDDEN SKILL : DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS
ARGHHHH C H A O S E R U P T I O N
SWISH!! SWISH!!
BOOOSH!!
It all happen in a second, when the pillar of chaos fire dissipated the weapon used by Master Assassin Chrysalis flew towards the lake with a hand still attach to it and fell straight to the bottom. In the hall only Rahz remained but he could not move and before the team could react his Axe felt to the ground and blood jetted out of 20 cuts across his body.
RAHZ!!!
Elune jumped into the hall and took out the best healing potions she had and pour them on top of the wounds. It wasn't a bad result, Rahz knew that if he was the only one in the hallway Chrysalis would have only one target and he could use his Chaos Eruption to cover the majority of the hall in Chaos Fire without having to worry about hitting friendlies with his fire. He just hope to kill Chrysalis before dying and it was extremely close, before the chaos fire could melt his arm, 20 slashes had already landed on Rahz and if it wasn't for Elune recasting wards without pause Rahz would have died as well.
It was a shame that Chrysalis weapon was lost but his Shuriken pouch was left on the floor.
While they were treating Rahz the familiar voice sound through the Cube. " Challenge Completed, Mode 004 PASSED please proceed to the portal. Rebirth Timer 2h 30m".
The Team was so focus on Rahz's status that they didn't realize their trusty guide, the Old Specter, was already standing behind them.
Cough!! Cough!!
"We need to move to third floor, there is very little time until Chrysalis is reborn once again and he is one to carry a grudge, don't forget his pouch... let's go".
Riddick picked up the still unconscious Rahz and move towards the entrance of the third floor, It had been a long road but they were one step closer to seeing the sun.