"What about the drivers? Are they doing anything to help now?" Max asked.
"Why would they help? We are players who can help defend everyone instead."
Chase walked towards the end of the room and the tall wall of metal opened on sensing his presence.
The winds from outside the ship hit his face. He looked at Kai as a gemstone beside him and nodded. Just as it had done with Roy earlier on, bright lights swooped Chase into the gem.
With that being done, the gem floated to the top of the spaceship. And just as Chase had predicted, the dwarf creatures that had managed to survive his attack had successfully followed them. They were about fifteen of them. Yet to notice the presence of the gem that hovered in the air at the edge of the top, they were engrossed in trying to bore in a hole in the spaceship with different monstrous mechanics that had at least a touch of sparkles from pieces of diamond. It appeared to be that they had been doing that for a while now with no avail since the spaceship was made from metal that proved to be impenetrable and indestructible.
Using his skills would have pushed the lot off to their deaths but despite the ship's durability, it was a guarantee it would also be blown away. He finally decided to result to another means of getting rid of these annoying dwarfs.
Bright lights were released from the gem and that was when it caught the attention of the Wehyns.
"Gem...shiny," One of them said with a big smile.
To its surprise, a man appeared from the gem and the gem itself transformed into a pink tiger.
"Huh?" They were confused but then the tiger was the gem. They could still have him for themselves.
"Grab gem...kill the human!" One screamed.
"Fury of a thousand blades."
Chase heard a familiar voice as the owner walked to his side.
Two portals released blades on the supposed Wehyns. The attack ended up unsuccessfully as the creatures had retracted into their unbreakable shells.
Laughter exceeded their shells and they began spinning their shells with speed unable to comprehend. Sharp gem stones were averted in the direction of the two young men but the attack was swiftly blocked by the Lunar blades. Max had earlier retrieved them from the captives back at the Backlands.
Chase looked at Kai and nodded once again.
The tiger growled in response as its body morphed into that of a man with the features of a tiger.
The growl coming from the now tiger man turned to a roar. Small black balls appeared in his palms which he swiftly threw through the air. The balls landed amid the Wehyns who were so busy in spinning their shells and sending gems to Max.
A beep was heard.
The next second an explosion rang out. The supposed unbreakable shells of the beasts crumbled into pieces as everyone including the Wehyns were blown off the top of the ship.
' At least that had a smaller impact,' Chase thought. While the Wehyns who were now without shells had their bodies vulnerable to attacks. Kai continued from where he had left off. Another powerful throw of the black balls and their bodies exploded, falling through the long distance between the ship and the ground. Afterward, the tiger man returned to his gem form and sucked his master into it. As the gem could only hold one person at a time within it due to the energy it cost it to create space to accommodate just a person, Max was left to fend for himself.
The gem floated with speed back to the ship while Max activated his portal and was immediately transported back to the ship. The back of the spaceship slid open and the gem was allowed access.
Chase was released from the gem soon after.
"You arrived faster than I did," The gem sounded surprised.
"I can make portals," Max answered.
"Oh, I see. I always get to meet fascinating people in my life," Chase smiled.
"Fascinating? I'm the least when it comes to anything being impressive here. I mean I should be saying that to you," Max said.
"I'm not a fantastic person," The gem said. "I just wish I could be stronger."
"Aren't you strong enough? You seem stronger to me already," Max tilted his head to the side in surprise.
"I'm barely even strong enough to say I am strong," The gem said.
Max recalled Blain's words. He had also said the same thing about not being strong. If these strong people were not ' strong ' then who were the ' strong ' ones? It could only mean these strong ones had world-defying abilities. How would it feel to meet the strong ones? The creator of the game would have to be the strongest if he had ever decided to partake in his own game.
"So Chase do you know the creator of the game? I mean have you met him?" Max was eager to put an end to the curiosity that had been eating him up.
Chase suddenly looked lost, like he couldn't understand a thing Mac had just said.
"What creator? of what game?"
"You don't know but you're a bot," Max narrowed his gaze at him.
"Bot? What the f*ck is that supposed to mean?" Chase's confusion deepened.
Wait...Did that mean bots didn't even know they were bots? Was Chase just pretending to cover the game creator's tracks or did he not know anything? Yes, Apollyon had made mention of the game not being a game. If it wasn't a game then what was it? Why was it introduced to the human world as a game if that was the case? Perhaps someone like Blain would probably have some answers to his questions before he would get to meet with the creator. He just needed to get stronger early for the better.
"Look, is there something bothering you?" The gem asked with a look of concern on Chase's face on noticing Max staring blankly into space.
"I just have a lot of questions about this world and I wish there was someone who could answer it," Max sighed.
"You have questions on this world?"
Chase rubbed his chin and squinted his eyes.
After a moment of diving into thoughts, his eyes widened.
"Are you human?"
"Am I human? Is that supposed to be a question?" Max lifted an eyebrow in question. Hearing it coming from someone who had the exact ' humane ' features as he was amusing.
"Only humans who make their way into our world have lots of questions," The gem explained.
"Is that so?" Max asked. "How do these humans get here."
"No one knows. Only the authorities do," The gem replied.
"The authorities?" Max asked.
"Yes. The world leaders," Chase said.
"I see," Max slightly nodded. "Is there a way to meet with the authorities?"
Chase shook his head.
"It's impossible as far as I know. Not many people have ever seen the authorities. We only hear their voices through huge speakers during world announcements."
"So meeting with the authorities is something that can never happen," Max said.
"Yes. Only the top ten in the world ranking have that privilege, especially the Big Three," The gem replied.
"I have to be in the top ten to meet with the authorities. Oh man, that's gonna take years," Max exclaimed.
Chase shrugged.
"And what the heck is the big three?" Max suddenly asked.
"It's not what, it's who are they. The big three are the biggest factions in the ranking of the top three. These factions are owned by three of the most powerful entities in the game verse," The gem further explained.
Max was left speechless. Harbingers Of Death was full of powerful people that even someone as lowly ranked as Chase could be referred to as powerful. This was one of the reasons why Blain had told him to get stronger. The weak could not survive in a world where the strong was the majority. It could never work that way.
Since the start of the game, a lot of lives had been exhausted just within 2-3 game plays. Why? It was because these characters were weak. This was a world that required strength and intelligence at most. Power without brains was useless anyways.
Time had flown by quickly and Roy and Cheryl had soon regained consciousness.
"What happened?" Roy rubbed his forehead as he sat up. Just then, something struck his mind.
"The Wehyns?! What happened?"
"Don't stress yourself too much. We dealt with them already," Chase smiled as the gem spoke.
"Oh thank goodness," Roy rolled his eyes in relief.
"Shit! I barely even did anything. How can I be this useless," Cheryl tugged at her cheeks.
"There'll be more adventures to come before we reach our destination. Just try to make good use of your abilities, useless or not," Chase continued to beam smiles.