Zero to Peak: Ascension Online

Dressed in his usual outfit of a trench coat worn over a white shirt tucked into black trousers, Brainboss_7 observed the dire situation that Elliot and his cohorts had fallen into.

He had video surveillance of the two teams. Access to these tools was courtesy of the part of the Gamers' Realm he was in. He was in the Portal Zone; most people who had access to this part of the realm referred to it as 'the control room'. It wasn't exactly a control room, but one could monitor the realm behind a gate from there.

The Portal Zone didn't have a monotonous appearance. It was a vast dimension with distinct pocket rooms that corresponded with certain gates. The control zone where Brainboss was standing appeared to be a complex amalgamation of concepts—an inverted modern city hung above where the clouds should be, the ground was a solid river of green Matrix codes, and a corner of this dimension appeared like an abstract cloud storm of psychedelic colours.

Somehow, Brainboss_7 stood at the very centre of these concepts, observing the events in the Long Claw Rabbit Forest. He wore an exasperated, frustrated expression as he watched, ready to step in and rescue the whole situation if things went completely downhill.

Wanyama and his team moved quickly. Unfortunately, they had no satellite surveillance system to see what was ahead. Climbing high up the trees to survey what was ahead was useless, as the thick canopy shielded the ground below. However, Ivan and Troy_to_me had an innate talent for measuring distance, so they could tell when they were arriving close to the marked spot where the beacon shot up from. They had travelled nearly ten kilometres to rescue Elliot and his friends.

Ivan was still in the lead. He was getting closer to the mana pit where Elliot and his cohorts had fallen. Something strange was happening; normally he should have been able to discern their presence, but he was unable to do so. He was roughly five hundred metres away from the pit. He inched closer quickly but cautiously. That was when he caught a faint whiff of the trio's presence, but the trail disappeared as quickly as it came.

Ivan stopped his advance. He raised his forearm, his fist clenched. Behind him, his teammates ceased their movement, taking defensive positions behind the trees. Ivan boldly stood in the open, surveying the vicinity with a simple but piercing gaze.

'Something doesn't feel right. I just sensed their presence, but their essence vanished as quickly as it appeared. Why?' Ivan wondered, bewildered and wary of a sinister ploy.

Suddenly, he picked up the trail of the trio in distress again. This time the essence lasted longer, but it was a mere three seconds. A theory formed in Ivan's head. He remembered the warning that Wanyama had given the team about staying too close to mana pits.

He had to report his findings to Wanyama. For now, he had to exercise extreme caution because he didn't know what had led the trio to fall into this situation. He leapt high up a tree, moving so quickly that his teammates couldn't visually track his movements.

The rustle of the undergrowth beside Wanyama betrayed Ivan's silent arrival.

"I think the trio fell into a mana pit," Ivan said.

Wanyama nodded, silently pondering the information and what was a feasible next step.

"Did you sense the presence of other creatures or people around the vicinity?" Wanyama asked.

Ivan sighed, expressing the tension in him. "I didn't. But it doesn't make sense that the trio would fall into a pit on their own. I feel we are being baited into a trap."

Wanyama stayed silent, thoughts flying through his head. He didn't want to make a mistake that would cost the lives of the team. But they had to do something to save their lives outside in the Torn Indigo.

"How close is Rock Mountain from here?" Wanyama asked, his voice sharp, showing he had realised something.

Ivan understood what the team leader was driving at. "When I climbed the tree a few moments ago, I saw the towering figure of the mountain. It seems to be about three kilometres away."

It still baffled Ivan how he was able to judge distance. He had Greg to thank for helping him train the ability, a subtle talent that martial artists possessed.

"Wild rabbits are good diggers. They must have accidentally stepped on a weak surface that had a burrow beneath it. That burrow, which is now the pit they are trapped in, must be what mutated the monster into a Gate Boss monster," Wanyama theorised.

To Ivan, Wanyama's theory sounded very plausible. It wasn't unheard of for boss monsters to have a backstory. And he had experienced a similar situation with a boss monster, Romelus the zombie, who had a complex past.

"So what do we do now? Do you think the boss monster likes to survey this region regularly? Or, do you think the pit is an intentional trap?"

"I think that it is a trap and the boss monster surveys this area from time to time. It explains why there are no regular rabbit monsters feeding around it." Wanyama felt confident in this line of thought.

At the Portal Zone corresponding to the Long Claw Rabbit forest, Brainboss_7 was on the brink of losing his mind. He remained composed, but he wanted to pluck out his eyes.

"Look up, you darn fools. Look at the wren that has been trailing you from the start. My goodness, the most obvious things are what these idiots don't realise."

Back at the forest, Wanyama instructed the team to move together and advance forward. His idea was that the team was stronger in their numbers. He felt that with the team together, they would be able to bully the boss monster if it suddenly appeared.

Wanyama planned for the team to stop their advance about seventy metres away from the pit.

Suddenly, the earth below gave way, breaking under the adventurers' weight. Strangely, a powerful force of attraction pulled them into the pit below.

The adventurers groaned in pain as their senses were inundated by prickling, needle-like sensations that overloaded their pain receptors. Also, their muscles were severely weakened, followed by a rapid deterioration of their thoughts and coordination.

They had fallen into a trap labyrinth that spanned almost four hundred metres in diameter. It was an elaborate trap, set by the gate's boss monster. Suddenly, a swarm of wrens flew rabidly around the newly revealed labyrinth.

The labyrinth was carved around trees in a mapped-out circumference. A bigger, more dreadful monster emerged from the centre of the labyrinth. The monster had been hiding there, waiting for the adventurers to fall into this trap.

The monster had used one of the lesser monsters to bait Elliot and his team into coming over and falling into this trap. The monster wasn't so intelligent—in fact, it had gambled. It thought that if Elliot and his cohorts fell into trouble, the others would come to their rescue if they called for help. The monster didn't realise that the fallout both parties had earlier could have severe implications. The monster was lucky.

Through covert surveillance, the monster had identified Ivan as the ingredient it needed to upgrade its rank to Honoured Bronze. Ivan was the least affected among the adventurers; his thoughts were still clear and his coordination was still present. But his strength was severely weakened.

The seven-foot-tall, bulky monster with long, dark, drooping hair covering its entire body, making it appear like a disgusting mass of fur with jagged, curved fingernails, approached Ivan. It dragged Ivan out of the pit and began walking towards Rock Mountain. It dragged Ivan along.

"You... are... what... I... desire... to... eat..." the dreadful monster said.