Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 205: Reentering the Eye-Queen Trials

Delving into the book within her mind, Astrid was met with a scene unlike the previous. If before was a world filled with molten lava, rock, and a stadium with crazed onlookers. Now, it was entirely different.

Astrid looked around in awe at an entirely new world.

It was a jungle. The trees were of a palm variant that Astrid had studied before the world was destroyed, but unlike a normal brown that were displayed in picture books. These were almost grey, and just from a glance, Astrid could tell they were dense. Perhaps akin to metal.

They rose high above, but they weren’t near as thick, or as tall as the jungle was on Eyamos. However, above them hovered three massive orbs of glowing orange. Any darker, and they’d be a vivid blood red.

Each one produced an absurd amount of heat.It swept around her like a blazing blanket, causing beadlets of sweat to form on her forehead, before dripping down her face.

Astrid quickly changed the inner workings of her body with Omni-Kinesis, funnelling a good portion of her Intelligence into Constitution. Only then was she able to endure the blistering heat.

Her skill may have resulted in a drop in temperature, or more accurately, her ability to resist the heat. But what didn't improve was the humidity. It was so thick that Astrid could practically chew on it.

What hell have I entered?

Astrid’s question was answered in an instant.

“Welcome, my other half, to the next stage of the trials!” The familiar voice swept through the land, but oddly enough, Astrid was the only one that could hear it. The Eye-Queen stood suspended in the air next to the three suns. Resting an elbow on one of them, while using the other two to recline with her feet up, she was the very picture of the ruler of the universe.

She continued in the same announcer-like voice, as if it was a play, “This one is a little different. As you can see for yourself, this is a new world. Well, to you, not to me. In fact, this entire trial is created from a good old memory of mine!”

Astrid stomped on the ground. “You better give me proper instructions this time! Simply telling me to survive isn’t worth jack!”

Just like the previous trials, the pre-recorded message somehow knew exactly what Astrid was going to say. So the Eye-Queen responded.

“Fine, if you are going to cry about instructions, then I’ll make it very clear!” The Eye-Queen announced holding what appeared to be a hairbrush as a microphone. “Somewhere hidden in this little jungle is a castle. Find it, and recover the treasure hidden deep within. Oh, and be careful, all is not what it seems.”

“I thought you were going to make it clear…” Astrid sighed at the cryptic message at the end of the Eye-Queen's announcement.

Well no matter, I just need to go on a little treasure hunt. How difficult can it be?

And so Astrid didn’t decide to wait a single second longer. She blasted upward in flight, then surged over the jungle treetops at high speed.

Thankfully, this place seemed a hell of a lot smaller than Eyamos. The psycho infested jungle was like it had spawned at the very beginning of humanity, where everything was massive. Monsters, landmasses, trees, and fauna.

Because of that reason, it wasn’t long before Astrid was flying straight for an enormous pyramid construction.

It’s not a castle. That much was obvious as Astrid approached, but the moment she got too close, she slammed into a translucent barrier. It wasn’t like her own, because if it was, Astrid would have been able to detect it.

No, it was made of… magic? Raw magic. Not the kind that the System helped Astrid with, but the natural kind.

System magic was like a machine. The user had to send a command, then it would listen. From the mana container, they could control it to their will. Astrid could gain mana simply by learning a skill. Like the very mana was transplanted into her container from the universe above.

Science users were still trying to explain that one.

It was also why so many magic users, like Astrid, preferred to be within the towns under the ocean. There, raw, natural mana existed.

Astrid had heard of ancient druids before the world ended that didn’t have access to the system. They learned all their skills simply, or, not so simply, by listening to the primal mana within the air. Around the world.

As if the mana was a creature, alive, and communicating.

Focusing on Psych Domain, Astrid could actually see numerous red hearts all palpitating below her, just beyond the impervious shield that she had slammed against. Spending a few more trace amounts of mana on her skill, she heightened her vision.

What she saw was a group of humanoid felines. Or at least that’s what she thought the outline of their bodies looked like.

Long curved legs, sharp claws emerging from slender fingers, human face with cat-like ears. But those were just a few, others had different forms. Some were jagged, like thorns were growing out from their flesh, and others were more beastly than the others.

Just as Astrid was about to turn around and continued on her way peacefully, something shifted from the pyramid.

Is something waving at me?

Astrid squinted, then poured most of her stat points into Wisdom as her vision sharpened like a switch being flicked on.

Instantly, it was clear that nothing was waving at her. In fact, it was the opposite of a friendly greeting. Two cannons with long slender barrels aimed straight at her floating body.

To Astrid’s knowledge, there was no-one manning the siege weapons. Nor did there seem to be any opening from where a shell, or arrow would be placed inside.

Then, a flash of light ignited within the barrel. It was pure, raw mana. Time slowed. It was approaching Astrid faster than she could react, and by the sensors in her brain going haywire, it was evident how dangerous the sudden attack was.

Thankfully, she was prepared for such a situation. Born from the moment she had suffered a lethal strike from a Spawn’s bow down in the lower district. She was always ready for sudden attacks. It was what she had spent so long practising against.

Even though the attack was faster than she could react, Astrid still activated her Blinking Reposition. She warped behind a thick jungle tree as the ray of light pierced where she once was hovering.

The light continued, and much to Astrid’s shock, obliterated everything in its path. Trees, fauna, soil, earth, everything was annihilated. Where it landed, a deep abyss-like crater had been bored into the land.

But that wasn’t all. As if the jungle itself was angry, hundreds of thorned tendrils shot up at Astrid. As if she was the one who had caused the damage in the first place.

Astrid dodged multiple of the supernatural vines, then blinked away four times to fully escape their grasp.

As she glanced at the lights emerging once more from the cannons, her heart skipped a beat.

I can’t stay any longer. Astrid thought, and with a final look at the land where the cannon had fired. She noticed that the land was already being repaired.

Monsters like moles brought over dirt to fill the hole, the strange vines gathered bushes, and other foliage to return the land back to normal.

Awesome. Astrid was amazed at the self-terraforming land, but what she was more interested in was the cannons themselves. Or more accurately, who was able to create such a device?

If she could rip one off the walls, and return it to Rebirth, they wouldn't have to worry about the Leviathan anymore.

That’s how powerful that one blast was.

And unlike the nimble, teleporting Astrid, the Leviathan was slow, lumbering, and too wide to have a hope in hell to dodge something as fast as that cannon shot.

Narrowly avoiding another cannon shot, and almost being evaporated in the process, Astrid flew straight for the opposite direction. Further into the jungle.

Minutes turned into hours, and it was clear there was nothing but endless jungles ahead. But just as she was getting annoyed, finally something emerged from the horizon.

She noticed a cluster of islands in the distance.

By the look of them, they seemed normal. But after a long and inspecting gaze, it was clear something was hidden below the surface.

Astrid remembered the Eye-Queen's words. Her mission was within the jungle. And although she was curious what lay beneath those islands, she was under a time limit. Last time she had entered the trials, time was slowed, but it wasn’t that big of a difference.

Even worse than that, however, was the fact she didn’t know how long this event would take. Hours, days… maybe even weeks?

With that thought cradling her mind, she rushed ahead, using more mana than usual to up her speed.

A few minutes later, she spotted a formation within the jungle. It was almost hidden from above, and if it wasn’t for the countless red hearts below, Astrid might have missed it entirely.

At first, she was hesitant in approaching thanks to that grand display of firepower from the pyramid cannon.

So instead, she sent in her clone for scouting, while making sure to protect her original body somewhere hidden from sight.

As her clone approached, it was clear that whatever advanced technology that the pyramid people had, was not shared with these people.

Just from the appearance alone, it was evident it was an ancient castle. Or new. It was an extravagant castle, with high gilded walls. Gold had adorned them, although Astrid did question that choice.

It seemed like the wall hadn’t suffered much abuse at all, like it had been freshly constructed.

Outside of the grand castle lay a smattering of different buildings. They were all at least two stories, and the only ones that were a single floor, were the buildings at the outskirts of the land.

I guess this is the destination then? Astrid thought, and with the safety of using her clone, approached the people belonging to the castle.