novelraw Chapter 78: Extraction!
Chapter 78: Extraction!
If Daniel pushed, he would kill her. If she pushed, he would bleed out in seconds. They stood there, chest to chest, breathing heavily. The tension was thick enough to cut.
"Drop it," Daniel growled. He stared into her eyes. "Or I end this."
"You first, traitor," the woman hissed back.
Daniel froze.
The air left his lungs, not from a blow, but from the shock of that voice. He knew that voice. It was a voice he thought he would never hear again because Bran had told him its owner was dead.
He reached up with a trembling hand and grabbed the edge of her black mask. She didn’t stop him. He pulled it down.
Daniel stared at the face beneath the mask. Her eyes were burning with pure rage.
"Sophie?" he whispered.
It was impossible. Bran had told him the spiders had eaten her. Bran had told him he heard her bones crunching in the dark.
But she was standing right there, pressing a dagger against his dick. She was alive, and absolutely furious.
Sophie shoved him back hard. Daniel stumbled and lowered his weapons, too shocked to fight.
"You have some nerve," Sophie spat. "Walking around like you own the place after what you did."
Daniel shook his head, trying to make sense of it all. "I... I thought you were dead. Bran said..."
"Bran said what?" Sophie cut him off, narrowing her eyes. "Did he tell you how we screamed? Did he tell you how we begged for help while the rocks sealed us in?"
"Yes!" Daniel stepped forward, his hands open to show he wasn’t attacking. "He told me everything! He told me how he was the only one who escaped. He told me it was a trap!"
"A trap?" Sophie laughed. It was a bitter, broken sound. "The only trap was the one you two set for us."
"What? Me? No, Sophie, listen to me. I wasn’t part of it!"
"Don’t lie to me!" Sophie screamed. Her composure cracked. Tears welled up in her eyes.
"You left us! You abandoned the team because you thought we were slowing you down. And then Bran... he led us into that cave. He sealed the exit."
She pointed a shaking finger at Daniel’s chest. Daniel stopped moving.
"You two planned it. You wanted all the EXP for yourselves. You wanted the loot. You sent your little spy to finish the job while you waited outside!"
"No!" Daniel shouted. "That is not true! I really had no part in that. Bran betrayed me too! He tried to kill me!"
Sophie stared at him. She looked at his new gear.
"He tried to kill you?" she scoffed. "You look pretty healthy to me, Daniel. You look like you’ve been eating well. You look like you’ve been leveling up."
"I fought my way here!" Daniel argued, desperation creeping into his voice. "I killed the monsters. I earned this power. Bran... he is a monster, Sophie. He has hidden stats. He is an A-Grade talent! He tried to steal my soul with a ritual!"
Sophie paused. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes flickered to the side.
Daniel followed her gaze. He saw movement in the shadows behind her.
A second figure stepped out from the darkness of the trees, and Daniel froze.
She was breathtaking. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her long, dark hair was tied neatly in a ponytail, and her lashes brushed her cheeks like delicate fans. Her lips were soft and pink, and her skin glowed with a warm, caramel tone.
But it was her body that stopped his breath.
She had a tiny waist that flared out into wide hips, creating a perfect hourglass shape. Her curves were aggressive and impossible to ignore.
Her ass was full and round, jutting out with a shape that looked almost sculpted. In modern day, you’d think she did a BBL. Every movement she made carried a quiet, irresistible grace.
She held a staff in her right hand that glowed softly with a faint, green light. She didn’t move closer.
She didn’t say a word. She just stood afar off, watching them like a silent statue.
Daniel looked back at Sophie. "Who is she?"
"Someone who helped me when you left me to die," Sophie replied cold. "Unlike you, she didn’t run away."
"I was fooled too!" Daniel pleaded. "Sophie, please. We can fix this. Come with me to the portal. We can talk things out."
Sophie shook her head slowly. She took a step back toward the silent woman.
"I’m not going anywhere with you," she said. "You and Bran... you are the same. You use people. You throw them away. You and Bran... you will pay for what you did. But not today."
"Sophie, wait!" Daniel took a step toward her.
The silent woman raised her glowing staff slightly. It was a small movement, but it was a clear warning.
This isn’t over, Daniel," Sophie said from the edge of the clearing. Her voice drifted back to him like a ghost.
"Watch your back. Because one day, I won’t miss."
Then they were gone, fading into the jungle as if they had never been there.
Daniel stood alone in the clearing. His chest ached, and the accusation stung more than the cut on his lip.
She thought he was the villain. She thought he had killed Ragnar.
"Bran," Daniel whispered. He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. "This is all because of you."
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
His Databand screamed, snapping him back to reality. The red light was flashing rapidly.
[CRITICAL ALERT: PORTAL CLOSING IN 30 SECONDS.]
Daniel looked up. The beam of light in the distance was flickering. It was shrinking.
He had wasted too much time. He had gotten distracted by the ghost of his past, and now he was about to be trapped in this hell forever.
"No!" he shouted.
He spun around and faced the direction of the portal. He didn’t have time to think. He didn’t have time to grieve. He had to run.
[Active Skill: Shadowsteps!]
His body exploded with speed. He tripled his agility, turning into a blur of motion.
He sprinted through the trees. He leaped over fallen logs and smashed through thick vines. The wind roared in his ears as he pushed his body to the limit.
He saw few aspirants ahead of him. They were limping and crawling, desperate to reach the light. Meanwhile, others had entered already.
[15 Seconds.]
The portal was closing fast. The swirling blue vortex was shrinking into a small dot.
[10 Seconds.]
Daniel pushed his legs harder.
His muscles ached, but he forced them to move. He saw the extraction platform ahead.
[5 Seconds.]
He burst out of the tree line. He hit the metal ramp running. He didn’t slow down.
[3 Seconds.]
He launched himself into the air. He dove toward the fading light.
[2 Seconds.]
He felt the cold energy of the portal wrap around his fingertips.
[1 Second.]
His body passed through the event horizon just as the world behind him collapsed into darkness.
The familiar sensation of being pulled through compressed space washed over him. It was smoother this time, better than entering the Vale.
When the golden light faded, he found himself in the Platform Alpha.
[Extraction Successful.]