NOVEL NEXT Chapter 216: The Gift
"Damn. Don't tell me the sensors on this camera are spoiled." Athena didn't think too much of it and cursed.
She quickly pressed the button and checked on the next photo.
To her relief, the next photo looked normal with no artifacts like shimmers of dark shadows or black dots on it.
"Phew.
"Must have been some software bug.
"Those software enhancements are killing the camera industry, I tell you." Athena ranted.
Lawrence shook his head and said, "You better capture what's most important."
Athena lifted the camera and pointed it ahead at the glittering glow, and she froze.
It looked even more magnificent up close.
"Will you look at that," Hong said excitedly and took a step forward.
He wanted to see what was giving out that glittering glow.
As he got closer, the glittering glow seemed to have noticed his presence, and it started to get closer to Hong.
Snap.
Something came out from the ground where the glittering glow was being emitted.
It snapped at Hong and grabbed onto his ankle.
"What is this?" Hong kicked at the tentacle that was wrapping itself around his ankle.
His kicks didn't do much, and he glanced back at the others.
"Help me!"
Lawrence and the others were shocked at what they were witnessing.
Matthew was the first to come to his senses and tried to help Hong.
He ran up towards Hong, grabbed onto Hong's hands and pulled backwards.
"What are you waiting for? Help me pull him out," Matthew shouted at Lawrence and the others.
"Hang on." Lawrence finally came to his senses, and he grabbed onto Matthew's waist, trying to pull backwards like what Matthew was doing.
Athena and Sam joined in next.
Fear struck Derrick, and all he wanted to do was run away.
But seeing his friends struggling against an unknown being, he knew that he couldn't do that and had to try and help.
Derrick also joined in to try and get Hong out from the tentacle's grasp.
"It is doing something to me," Hong said anxiously when he saw the tentacle wobbling and giving out squishing sounds of liquid moving.
He didn't know what the tentacle was doing, but his instincts told him that it wasn't anything good.
"On my count, 3, 2, 1. Pull!" Lawrence shouted, and they coordinated their pull at the same moment.
They only managed to take a step back out of it.
Seeing that there was some effect, Lawrence shouted again, "It's working, don't give up. On my count, 3, 2..."
Before Lawrence could complete his sentence, more tentacles came at them from the ground.
And with a yank, they were brought into the dark opening in it.
"What the hell..." Lawrence exclaimed, and their minds blanked out immediately.
"Wake up! Everyone, wake up!" Athena's voice boomed in the air.
Lawrence and the others slowly woke up from their unconsciousness.
They sat up and opened their eyes groggily.
Beasts that they'd never seen before appeared within their vision.
Some of them looked like deer with balls of fire in front of their antlers.
These were relatively small in size compared to the monsters that were standing behind.
"Are we going to die?" Derrick asked nervously, not knowing what these beasts wanted.
"It's all on you, Lawrence. If you had listened to me, none of this would have happened." Matthew wasn't pleased with the situation they were in.
"Shut up! Now is not the right time." Lawrence turned and stared at Matthew.
Thoughts went through his head, trying to think of a way out of it.
There was nothing that he could think of.
No amount of studies or preparation could prepare anyone for a situation like this.
"Argh!" Something came into their minds, and they shouted.
It was a thought without words.
They could only make out what it wanted to convey through the emotions it invoked within their minds.
Glowing spheres then appeared in front of them.
Lawrence and the others could feel instinctively that these spheres contained enormous powers from within.
They just had to make a choice.
"Well, there's not many options left for us," Lawrence said, and the others lowered their heads.
They didn't have much of a choice, or they would be stuck in this realm forever.
Lawrence was the first one to reach out his hand towards the glowing sphere in front of him.
The glowing sphere flew close, and veins shot out from the glowing sphere.
"Argh!" The veins latched onto Lawrence's skin, burrowed into it, and something was injected into Lawrence's body after that.
The beasts started to roar and growl excitedly when they saw what had happened.
Plop.
Lawrence dropped to the ground.
"Lawrence!" The others shouted when they saw it happen.
Meanwhile, the glowing sphere slowly dimmed and it dissipated.
Lawrence raised his hands and waved at the others.
"I'm all right." He sat up, raised his hands and said, "In fact, I've never felt better in my entire life."
His hands started to give out a yellow glow, and his body started to float.
The others were astonished to see that.
Athena didn't hesitate and did the same thing as Lawrence.
When she got up again after the glowing sphere had dissipated, she raised her hand and unleashed a flash of lightning.
"What the..." Sam and Hong glanced at each other, and they couldn't wait to do the same.
They too were able to unleash powers that weren't seen before.
"What should we do?" Derrick asked.
It's so out of control now, he thought.
Matthew patted him on the back, trying to console him and said, "We will try to amend what we have done after we get out of here.
"There must be a way."
Derrick sighed and nodded his head.
Together, they stretched their hands out towards the glowing spheres in front of them.
The same thing happened, and the veins latched onto their hands.
When it was over, Derrick and Matthew felt the powers they had.
Roar.
The beasts got all excited, and they proceeded to advance towards them.
"What are you doing?" Lawrence shouted.
He glanced back and saw a portal that was like a dark void.
Lawrence figured out what these demonic beasts were trying to do.
"We got to stop them!"