[Pyschokinetic] Eyeball Pulling - Chapter 249 (Patreon)

What her team was about to do, Astrid just hoped that they would prepare themselves properly. But given their experience, that was obviously a given.

She didn’t know what Leena was going to do. However, knowing her battle-maid, and lifelong friend, Astrid knew she wouldn’t sit idly while Astrid got stronger.

Then there was Calum. He was just a year above Astrid, but if he left the safety of the arc–he would die. He was too weak to survive the harsh wastes of the Dead Seas. Hopefully there was a method where he, and the others like him could grow stronger.

I hope you all succeed, Astrid thought as she closed her eyes. This time, she didn’t know how long she would be within the trials. The previous time lasted days. This time could be different. Astrid was prepared for such an event as she summoned the Eye-Queen’s book.

She seeped her mana into the blackened leather cover, through it, and into the pages.

The darkness of her shut eyes transformed. Her vision spun until she arrived in a new land. It was cold. Too damned cold. Astrid tugged at her collar in hopes of making her warmer. It didn’t. Instead, she moved more of her Intelligence into Constitution. Only then did she manage to barely endure the biting cold.

She was standing on a flat platform high up in the sky. To her, it looked like a colossal being had sliced the top of the mountain off in one, smooth sword strike. The mountain dropped down, leading into a vast icy plain. She could see signs of ruins, and a river that snaked through them.

In the distance, both near and far, there were towering ice-peaks all around her. She lost count at over forty. There wasn’t a monster in sight. It was just a desolate wasteland.

A stray wind caught Astrid. She trembled and winced and crouched down to the floor to make her body as small as possible.

Shit, it’s cold.

In fact, she had never felt a cold like it. Even after pumping points into Constitution, she could still feel it. It was like daggers piercing her flesh. One moment she felt it bite in her arm, then the tip of her nose, then her feet.

Astrid was certain that even if she placed all of her points into Constitution, she would still feel the cold. She squinted her eyes against the wind. A dark cloud was approaching. And with it, a storm.

Astrid was confident that if that storm caught her, she wouldn’t make it out alive. The thought surprised her. She would never have thought a storm would instil fear. But there she was, shaking at the sight of angry weather.

I have to find shelter.

The Eye-Queen appeared. She made a grand appearance. Her colossal body literally broke out from a massive mountain top, sending rock flying in all directions like high velocity projectiles.

Two vast stages spawned to either side of Astrid. Each stage had over fifty rows of seats. In them, was an enthusiastic crowd of beast people. They all wore a different assortment of winter clothing. Some were colourful, like what the people of Rebirth wore at the end of year festival, and others were more of earthy tones. All of them wore scarves and hats and mittens to keep their extremities warm. Astrid wanted them.

“Welcome, my other half, to the third trial!” The Eye-Queen yelled enthusiastically into a microphone made of an animal's bone. Given the size of the thing, Astrid didn’t want to imagine what kind of monster she had to defeat for that. The damned thing was the size of an 8000 metre mountain. The crowd erupted in cheers and applause. She continued, “This one is going to be a doozy. Featuring the Chasm of Never-Ending Nightmares, the Maze of Forgotten Devil Gods, the Hideout of the Pyroclastic Mad Man, and that’s not all–”

The Eye-Queen pointed her finger at Astrid, striking a silly posy. “At the end of the road, after–no, if she survived all of that. She will have to face the oh so spooky Watcher of the Endless Eye. Oo, spooky, right?”

The crowd erupted into a cacophony of cheers. Astrid cupped her ears.

“Well, my other half. Do you have what it takes to survive to the bitter end? To fight to the death. To forge ahead in a path of blood and bone and… eyes? For our entertainment, you must!”

Astrid sighed. Dealing with her was so draining…

“Of course, this time, the difficulty is truly raised through the roof,” She said. “This trial will pull you to the edge of your seat, and will be lit!” Her words ended and a blazing fire spurted from the palm of her hands. It rose into the sky like two pillars reaching the heavens. They probably did.

“Excuse me.” She coughed. “Words I learnt from a little planet. Anyway, because of that, the rewards match the risks.” She moved her hand to her lips, speaking at the back of her hand, and said, “No trust me, the rewards are good.”

She stood back up to her full height. Astrid had to crane her neck.

“And I even have a little hint for our little golden haired warrior. Use your mana sparingly! If you haven’t already noticed, this is a land void of mana, so regenerating it will be difficult. Of course, I have also fixed the game in a little way. By severing your mana regeneration by eighty percent.”

She laughed evilly, and continued, “So that’s it. You know what? I’m feeling generous. Here’s another tip. Find shelter. The cold will kill.”

I already knew that one, Astrid thought in annoyance. She trembled.

“Good luck,” She said, her figure, and the people on the stands, faded away, leaving only a remnant of her words. “You’ll need it.”

Along with her disappearance, the mountain that she had broken free from restored itself. In a matter of seconds, any evidence of the Eye-Queens appearance was repaired.

Astrid trembled again. The cold had reached her bones. It was time to move. But where? There was nowhere to go but neverending ice caps and frozen valleys and mountains that dwarfed her sense of reasoning.

But she had to go somewhere. Maybe the hint was in the Eye-Queen's words? The way she announced what kind of things she would encounter. She had mentioned the Chasm of Never-Ending Nightmares first. So perhaps that was what she was looking for?

Astrid scrunched her toes together in half frustration, and half in an attempt to warm her little digits. Well, it was pointless standing here. The chasm sounded scary, but at least it would have cover from the encroaching storm. Right?

So Astrid flew forwards. Toward the storm. She didn’t know why. She just had the thought that if she had awakened in the trial facing this way, it was the most logical conclusion that wherever she had to go was ahead. Flawless logic.

Once she rose into the air and began flight, she had to erect a Mind Barrier to block the oncoming winds. THey were like daggers. Literally. Each gust of wind buffeted against her shield in an attempt to pierce it. It cracked. Astrid repaired it and continued, her eyes glued to the oncoming storm.

Shit. Where is this place? She thought with concern. But then she saw it as she rounded a mountain. It was difficult not to, considering the sheer size of it. It was a chasm. Whether it was the chasm, she didn’t know. But she would find out soon enough.

She increased her speed as the storm was nearing dangerously close. Her Mind Barrier shattered, and then another. Astrid furiously replaced the layers of barriers, and continued to create more at a frantic pace. One after the other.

Her speed had decreased, as well. She felt her mana dwindle. Any attempt at restoring it by cycling her Internal Engine was like trying to drag a collection of boulders through water. It felt like it was dragging her down. She fought against it, sped up, then ducked into the chasm.

Darkness swallowed her whole.

And then a wave of mana washed over her. Something was attacking. But where? She couldn’t see. It wasn’t an attack. If it was, she would have realised the moment it was fired. No, it was a mental attack.

Astrid attempted to cancel it with her own expertise, but it was of no use. Her eyes widened. Whatever was   using the mind attack on her was vastly ahead of her. It would kill her in a second. But she calmed. If the Eye-Queen had tasked her to enter this place, then it meant there was a way to win.

Her mind was taken over, and with it, she was brought to a familiar place. It was home. Images flashed one after the other. Her family was murdered one by one, Rebirth was destroyed. When the cycle was finished, it replayed. Over and over and over again.

For months…