BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Regardless of what she'd said, Eris was still dominating in the battle against the beast.
The elephant mainly used fire and pure energy in its ranged attacks. When enemies got close, it would use its brute strength, which was quite impressive, to attack and neutralize them.
It was a beast that was able to attack with the power it was assaulted with.
Since Eris immediately set up a barrier using her full strength, it immediately turned into a mid-level 4th class beast.
Unfortunately for it, Eris didn't just have mid-level 4th class power.
BOOM!
Waves of darkness sloshed through the space. Every time they slammed into the beast, the darkness turned permeable and stabbed into its scales.
The beast roared, stomping its feet to try and disperse the waves.
They hadn't been able to penetrate its skin. They wouldn't be able to until August finished his job. But, Eris kept attacking to keep it at bay.
'I feel a bit bad for that boy, but it's fine.'
At the end of the day, she didn't lie to him.
He was definitely weakening the beast. She felt the tremor from the first terminal being activated, and with it, she felt the beast's aura disperse to a small extent.
The remaining terminals would cause an avalanche that would topple the beast, but they didn't do so without consequences.
August would be the one dealing with those drawbacks, while Eris would avoid them, since she didn't have any interactions with the terminals.
Her job really was the easy part.
Still, she couldn't make it seem too obvious that she wasn't struggling.
BANG!
The beast raised its head. Energy charged into its tusks and shot out, striking Eris square in the chest.
She shot back and slammed into her own barrier. It rippled visibly even to outside observers, letting them see just how "perilous" the battle was.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Eris kept attacking and receiving attacks, putting on a show for the audience.
Meanwhile, August moved from terminal to terminal, dealing with the exterior challenges.
They did get harder.
From a simple two-dimensional puzzle where one only needed to turn dials to create an open path, the terminals turned into fully complex three-dimensional puzzles that needed to be perfectly aligned for them to even begin to make sense.
Still, with August's intelligence, getting through them wasn't the main issue.
Eris could try all she wanted to hide it, but August wasn't one to miss inconsistencies in mental challenges like these.
There wasn't anything wrong with the puzzles themselves. Solving them was quite fun, and since Eris had a barrier around the beast, he didn't actually have to worry about danger.
The problem was what happened when the terminals sunk into the ground.
'That energy wave isn't meant to weaken the beast.'
No, the beast was inherently connected to the array that these terminals were a part of. The instant he completed a puzzle, it was weakened without any sort of visible reaction from the environment.
The energy waves had a completely different purpose. August hadn't deciphered it yet, but he could clearly feel that the waves were sinking into the walls around him rather than the internal ring where the beast was.
There were only two real conclusions he could come to.
Either there was a treasure in the walls that he was being shown a path to, or…
'...I'm going to be in for a hell of a surprise when I finish this thing.'
More than likely, it was the second option. If there was any boon involved in this task, then Eris would've never given it to someone else.
'Since she doesn't expect a crazy performance from me, I can slow down and take time to figure it out.'
August had gone through two of the puzzles and was now undertaking the third.
This was where they switched from two dimensions to three, so he had just cause to slow his progress.
'As long as the barrier is up…'
BOOM!
It was as if Eris knew what he was thinking. At that exact moment, her barrier exploded, and she shot back, skidding across the ground until she came to a stop near the back wall of the room.
Her eyes were still on the beast, but she could see August in her peripheral.
'Well, there goes my chance.'
He sighed to himself, but he didn't show any emotion on his face, acting as if he was fully concentrated on the puzzle.
Eris didn't pay more attention to him after confirming his actions.
She shot back into the inner ring and continued her fight, but the barrier never returned.
'Is she suspicious?'
No, she just wanted to put pressure on him.
"Tch."
August clicked his tongue and got back to work.
'There might be something within the terminal that can help me.'
It was his only hope at the moment.
He wasn't keen on facing the consequences of other people's actions. He also wasn't keen on suffering so his opponents could find success.
August wanted to be a hero, which meant that his morals leaned more towards self-sacrifice than someone like Damien.
But, that wasn't a privilege that everyone had access to.
Those who were just, those who were innocent, and those who were worthy would receive his heroism.
Those who schemed against him, those who did evil, and those who betrayed others would not.
August delved into the third terminal as deep as he possibly could.
Instead of just completing the puzzle, he tried to understand what its actual purpose was.
The goal was to find out exactly what the consequences were and how he could exploit them to strike back at Eris.
The data was all encoded in the array.
And August…
Well, August had a hidden talent for array creation.
After all, it was an entirely intelligence-based skill, and it could be learned through study alone.
When fiction became tiring, when nonfiction became boring,whena new research subject was necessary to satiate his curiosity, August would explore anything that Damien gave him.
He didn't take a particular interest in arrays, but that didn't mean he wasn't good at making and deciphering them.
This was the same as those, only in a more modern format.
August dug deep into the schematics of the terminal.
He manipulated his mana so the information it showed him was more than it was supposed to. And, as he scoured the "files," he eventually found out where all of the inconsistencies within stemmed from.
'So that's it.'
August grinned.
'What a devious woman.'
He understood why Eris tricked him.
Even with her strength, if she ran into what stood at the end of these terminals, her round could be completely ruined.
'In the end, I'm going to make enemies with a Holy Clan genius, aren't I?'
There would be more chances to make friends in the future.
Since Eris decided to mess with him first…
'...I'm not going to feel guilty at all for what I'm about to do.'
Without a word or a shred of change in his demeanor, August returned to solving the puzzle.
By the time all six were finished, Eris would be in for the surprise of her life.
And August…
Well, to be frank, August was quite excited to see it happen.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Regardless of what she'd said, Eris was still dominating in the battle against the beast.
The elephant mainly used fire and pure energy in its ranged attacks. When enemies got close, it would use its brute strength, which was quite impressive, to attack and neutralize them.
It was a beast that was able to attack with the power it was assaulted with.
Since Eris immediately set up a barrier using her full strength, it immediately turned into a mid-level 4th class beast.
Unfortunately for it, Eris didn't just have mid-level 4th class power.
BOOM!
Waves of darkness sloshed through the space. Every time they slammed into the beast, the darkness turned permeable and stabbed into its scales.
The beast roared, stomping its feet to try and disperse the waves.
They hadn't been able to penetrate its skin. They wouldn't be able to until August finished his job. But, Eris kept attacking to keep it at bay.
'I feel a bit bad for that boy, but it's fine.'
At the end of the day, she didn't lie to him.
He was definitely weakening the beast. She felt the tremor from the first terminal being activated, and with it, she felt the beast's aura disperse to a small extent.
The remaining terminals would cause an avalanche that would topple the beast, but they didn't do so without consequences.
August would be the one dealing with those drawbacks, while Eris would avoid them, since she didn't have any interactions with the terminals.
Her job really was the easy part.
Still, she couldn't make it seem too obvious that she wasn't struggling.
BANG!
The beast raised its head. Energy charged into its tusks and shot out, striking Eris square in the chest.
She shot back and slammed into her own barrier. It rippled visibly even to outside observers, letting them see just how "perilous" the battle was.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Eris kept attacking and receiving attacks, putting on a show for the audience.
Meanwhile, August moved from terminal to terminal, dealing with the exterior challenges.
They did get harder.
From a simple two-dimensional puzzle where one only needed to turn dials to create an open path, the terminals turned into fully complex three-dimensional puzzles that needed to be perfectly aligned for them to even begin to make sense.
Still, with August's intelligence, getting through them wasn't the main issue.
Eris could try all she wanted to hide it, but August wasn't one to miss inconsistencies in mental challenges like these.
There wasn't anything wrong with the puzzles themselves. Solving them was quite fun, and since Eris had a barrier around the beast, he didn't actually have to worry about danger.
The problem was what happened when the terminals sunk into the ground.
'That energy wave isn't meant to weaken the beast.'
No, the beast was inherently connected to the array that these terminals were a part of. The instant he completed a puzzle, it was weakened without any sort of visible reaction from the environment.
The energy waves had a completely different purpose. August hadn't deciphered it yet, but he could clearly feel that the waves were sinking into the walls around him rather than the internal ring where the beast was.
There were only two real conclusions he could come to.
Either there was a treasure in the walls that he was being shown a path to, or…
'...I'm going to be in for a hell of a surprise when I finish this thing.'
More than likely, it was the second option. If there was any boon involved in this task, then Eris would've never given it to someone else.
'Since she doesn't expect a crazy performance from me, I can slow down and take time to figure it out.'
August had gone through two of the puzzles and was now undertaking the third.
This was where they switched from two dimensions to three, so he had just cause to slow his progress.
'As long as the barrier is up…'
BOOM!
It was as if Eris knew what he was thinking. At that exact moment, her barrier exploded, and she shot back, skidding across the ground until she came to a stop near the back wall of the room.
Her eyes were still on the beast, but she could see August in her peripheral.
'Well, there goes my chance.'
He sighed to himself, but he didn't show any emotion on his face, acting as if he was fully concentrated on the puzzle.
Eris didn't pay more attention to him after confirming his actions.
She shot back into the inner ring and continued her fight, but the barrier never returned.
'Is she suspicious?'
No, she just wanted to put pressure on him.
"Tch."
August clicked his tongue and got back to work.
'There might be something within the terminal that can help me.'
It was his only hope at the moment.
He wasn't keen on facing the consequences of other people's actions. He also wasn't keen on suffering so his opponents could find success.
August wanted to be a hero, which meant that his morals leaned more towards self-sacrifice than someone like Damien.
But, that wasn't a privilege that everyone had access to.
Those who were just, those who were innocent, and those who were worthy would receive his heroism.
Those who schemed against him, those who did evil, and those who betrayed others would not.
August delved into the third terminal as deep as he possibly could.
Instead of just completing the puzzle, he tried to understand what its actual purpose was.
The goal was to find out exactly what the consequences were and how he could exploit them to strike back at Eris.
The data was all encoded in the array.
And August…
Well, August had a hidden talent for array creation.
After all, it was an entirely intelligence-based skill, and it could be learned through study alone.
When fiction became tiring, when nonfiction became boring,whena new research subject was necessary to satiate his curiosity, August would explore anything that Damien gave him.
He didn't take a particular interest in arrays, but that didn't mean he wasn't good at making and deciphering them.
This was the same as those, only in a more modern format.
August dug deep into the schematics of the terminal.
He manipulated his mana so the information it showed him was more than it was supposed to. And, as he scoured the "files," he eventually found out where all of the inconsistencies within stemmed from.
'So that's it.'
August grinned.
'What a devious woman.'
He understood why Eris tricked him.
Even with her strength, if she ran into what stood at the end of these terminals, her round could be completely ruined.
'In the end, I'm going to make enemies with a Holy Clan genius, aren't I?'
There would be more chances to make friends in the future.
Since Eris decided to mess with him first…
'...I'm not going to feel guilty at all for what I'm about to do.'
Without a word or a shred of change in his demeanor, August returned to solving the puzzle.
By the time all six were finished, Eris would be in for the surprise of her life.
And August…
Well, to be frank, August was quite excited to see it happen.
