《The Crawford's Multiverse of Madness》Chapter 178 - Vicious Constellations
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Zeel faced palmed himself in agitation.
'This damn girl and her dirty jokes' he thought in frustration, but even he didn't notice the slight hint of amusement buried deep within his tone.
Two contradictory feelings that should have been impossible for him to experience.
Staring at the skies above, Zeel always felt that there was something more to do with the stars – something he was currently missing.
He then directed his attention to the transparent crystal, gem still immersed below the clear water a couple of meters away.
Alternating his gaze back and forth between Elizabeth's pleading eyes and the crystal blue gem, Zeel then let out an exasperated sigh that seemed to release all his pent up frustrations at once.
"We should use it," Zeel said looking at Alice for confirmation.
Alice nodded in acknowledgment.
"We don't have a choice," she said knowing that they would have to use the trap to complete their mission.
The Crystal on the altar below was no doubt a trap, but it was a necessary trap to trigger nonetheless.
Despite Elizabeth's insistence that she could absorb the divine energy that shrouded the entire skies, Zeel and Alice knew that such a task was impossible without a proper conduit.
The only conduit available was the crystal on the altar, one could say that this is a dilemma that tested your resolve to gain power.
"What are you talking about?" asked Elizabeth.
"The Crystal below acts like a conduit that can aid in absorbing the entirety of the divine spark above, but it is obviously a trap," Zeel mumbled.
'Why should I have to do so much work in such a weakened state?' Zeel thought internally, cursing his misfortune a billion times in a fraction of a second.
Never would Zeel of the past had thought that he would use the computing power of his nanites to curse at hyper-speed.
'Women truly do drive you crazy eventually' Zeel thought.
Alice continued "We don't know what the trap is but while you integrate the divine spark. Zeel and I will have to fight whatever comes along,"
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Elizabeth nodded in understanding, she then gazed at Zeel and Alice with a mix of emotions apparent in her eyes.
Then as if everything before was an illusion, she burst out laughing patting Alice and Zeel on their respective shoulders "Good luck dealing with the trap guys… I am gonna go get my goddess on,"
Elizabeth didn't even hesitate to jump into the water to retrieve the blue-crystal that laid on the altar.
"We have raised a snake in our household," Alice said knocking Zeel with her elbow in a comedic fashion "She didn't even hesitate to leave her poor parents alone to struggle on her part,"
Zeel looked at Alice for a moment, then he turned to watch Elizabeth with a profound expression apparent on his stoic face "I would do the same. She makes me proud with her decisiveness,"
Alice's face turned stiff for a moment before muttering inside her heart 'Zeel is still Zeel no matter what huh?'
Hank came over to ascertain the situation, he was not that bothered by the death of Alexander.
Hank did not know the old man long enough to care about his mortality.
The majority of his discomfort came from the difficulty of explaining the trend of events to his wife – Sean's mother.
Also, the murderous intent released by Sean did little to put his mind at ease.
"Situation?" Hank asked being clear and concise.
Zeel had to admire the army since soldiers were trained to be efficient in conversations – only ask what you need to know.
Alice was looking up at the skies, suddenly she caught sight of a strange set of emerging stars that soon formed a new constellation "Hey Zeel. What's that constellation?"
Zeel gazed at the constellation becoming increasingly vivid near the horizon for a moment.
Suddenly, he waved his hand materializing hundreds of silver balls from his storage dimension.
The silver-balls seemed to be fully charged with kinetic energy that he stored prior to losing his energy manipulation ability.
The Gravitational Balls were artifacts, but also consumables. They were originally meant to tag every Universe Zeel has visited and would visit in the future.
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However, at the rate they were being used, Zeel had no doubt that the balls would soon be finished.
Taking out a hundred at this moment was a testament to how much resources would be wasted in this battle. Well, not exactly wasted, since it was required to survive this battle.
Hank, Kailani, Gabato, and Sean felt as if their bodies were sapped of all power. They became unable to move a single step; all the nearby kinetic energy was siphoned away.
Alice could barely move, that is only because her divine body converted her potential energy to kinetic energy significantly faster than it could be drained away.
Zeel had no time to waste, he chastised himself for not noticing earlier. Obviously, the constellations were not just for oriental purposes as he first assumed.
Because the current constellation becoming ever more vivid near the horizon is famous across the entire Multiverse – The Kraken.
The beast was at least 100 meters tall with scales that rivaled titanium hardness if the information deduced by Zeel's nanites could be believed.
It had sharp teeth that made a shark's look pleasant in comparison.
Huge tentacles fell from the head of the beast like Jamaican Dreads, it had humanoid features – two arms, two legs, and a face only a mother could love.
The Kraken was not the only mythical beast to appear with the dimming constellations, but the other beasts in comparison were severely lacking in intimidating power.
However, this did not lessen the threat of any individual creature. Even Zeel's face paled slightly since these beasts were almost impossible to beat in or near a water body.
The moment Elizabeth removed the blue crystal from the altar, the series of changes taking place were further exasperated.
The skies dimmed as more constellations begun to materialize, the divinity that made up the sky began to concentrate at the crystal in Elizabeth's hand.
She was clearly having great trouble keeping the energy gathering inside the crystal from running amok.
Elizabeth's attention was totally drawn to her own struggles, so she could not spare the extra attention to inspecting the struggles of Zeel and Alice. Still, she had a vague idea more or less given their nanites connections.
Likewise, Alice and Zeel could not pay attention to the spectacle occurring on Elizabeth's side. A moment of distraction can lead to death, Alice learned this lesson deeply since the Energone Queen tried to kill her.
Currently, Zeel and Alice were in a dilemma of their own. It wasn't like they had no solutions to solve the Kraken, but all solutions were slightly expensive on their energy reserves.
Even if they had enough for six more Mjumps – it is always better to have too much in comparison to not enough.
The Kraken was in the final stages of materialization. The claws on its hand began to regain their glossy silver sheen, though the teeth still remained mostly yellow with green moss apparent.
Zeel quickly sent four of the silver-balls in different directions.
Alice understood his attention and simply asked "Where?"
Obviously, Zeel was planning a wide-scale jump. This surprised Alice considering that he would usually be the first to advocate for the use of all resources sparingly.
Alice looked back at Elizabeth for a moment before it clicked.
Any battle here could hinder the progress of Elizabeth's absorption of the divine energy.
Alice felt touched that Zeel had become so considerate of Elizabeth, after all, it was her who basically forced the two together in the beginning.
"I don't know," Zeel replied sighing for the millionth time "We can't stay here, but I suppose up is a way to go. Get those guys in some adaptation suits,"
Wide-Scale Jump was simply teleportation that had the potential to materialize regardless of density.
This meant that space was also fair game in this type of jump.
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