[Nightmare]

"Helix! It's a trap!" Tyrene yelled across the battlefield.

"I don't care! I'd rather die than let her get hurt again!" Helix barked back in anger.

"Don't! That mindset is going to get everyone killed!" Tyrene cried.

"Pay attention! You're both going to get killed if you don't!"

Helix closed in on his target location.

Above him, the Stalkwalker's massive arm cast shade on the entire area.

Its hand was as high as possible, preparing for [Slam Attack].

Helix dropped an earth pillar circle in front of him.

The moment it touched the earth, a massive rock pillar shot out of the ground.

It was twenty feet in diameter, making it a massive force that would at least slow down the slam attack and buy him some time.

Helix turned his head to turn around and make a dash backward.

However, he felt a leg smash into his stomach as he turned, and he shot backward.

Before he crashed into the ground and began rolling, time slowed to a crawl.

Blink.

He saw Tyrene standing in a kicking position.

She had tear-filled eyes and a look of relief on her face.

Blink.

A fraction of a second later, something smashed into her side and sent her flying outside his realm of vision.

Blink.

His body crashed into the earth, and he rolled over and over again.

Blink.

"Helix!"

—

"Status report." Helix ordered with a firm tone.

"Commander. We successfully captured the attention of the Stalkwalker using the method you suggested.

We've confirmed that it's moving in our direction because of the beasts, not out of interest."

"Thank you, Yakov. How much time do we have?" He asked.

"Ten minutes, sir." Yakov replied.

"Thank you. Link up with the other battalion leaders and keep their minds focused." Helix instructed.

"The invisibility walls, scent masking circles, and sound deprivation spells will keep everyone from being identified.

However, one panicked person breaking from the position can expose you and get everyone killed."

Yakov gave him a firm nod.

"If anyone attempts to break free, give orders to stop that person with force.

The Stalkwalker will not hear the sound, so do not worry.

Put the safety of the whole first." Helix instructed.

"Sir." Yakov confirmed before moving back to the troops.

The battleground was in a valley that was lightly riddled with trees the day before.

When they arrived, it was lush and full of greenery that had developed into the springtime and became vibrant in the summer.

Soon it would fall, so it was the last chance to see vivid greenery in its splendor.

However, Summer was wasted in the valley.

The meadow was barren.

There were no trees, the grass and vegetation were ripped from the earth with a cyclone, and the entire area was mostly dirt.

In the center, there was a large pond around 50 feet across that was connected through ditches.

The ground around the pond was tattooed with over a dozen Level 5 magic circles.

There were large hills surrounding the valley.

One of those hills contained 800 troops.

Helix had General Lackbolt fan out the troops over 500 meters.

On the left side, there was an artificial rock face 100 feet high and 300 feet across.

The original plan in his mind was to have Marie create the rock face during a surprise attack.

However, they quickly found out how absurd that idea was after testing.

As a result, Helix searched through the Myriad Library, looking for ways to lure the Stalkwalker into a trap rather than meeting it.

He found a specific animal that Stalkwalkers crave and sent out 100 cavalry troops to search for it.

Luckily, they found a herd of beasts and captured them.

The beasts were in a horse-drawn cart, booking it back to the trap zone.

Helix winced every time he remembered the brave soldiers luring the Colossus into their ambush grounds.

Marie, Charlotte, Riley, and Tyrene stood on the hills facing the Stalkwalker.

Invisibility walls and scent masking circles were hiding their position.

Once the Stalkwalker was closer, they would activate Circle of Silences and retain absolute stealth until the beast was in attacking range.

"Wheeeeeew!" Charlotte whistled.

"If the people in Alzeria saw this, they'd piss themselves.

I bet they couldn't even look at it before running away."

"Hah. They can't even look at women without running away.

Staring down a Greek titan is out of the question." Helix chuckled.

Charlotte laughed and gripped her sides.

The Stalkwalker was only half a mile away.

Its size was truly able to be comprehended for the first time.

It was almost three-hundred and fifty feet, making it look like a skyscraper dressed on Halloween.

"Hey, Hellie. Have you ever wondered what would happen if Anubis had sex with a neanderthal during a late-night drinking party and then fought with shrink rays on reverse?" Charlotte asked with a wicked grin.

"Uh… now that you mention it, I… can honestly say that I never have." Helix laughed.

"Hey, Charlotte."

"Yeah, Hellie?" She asked while turning to him.

"You ever wonder what would happen if Mega Kong started eating humans, wound up in the third circle of hell, and had an orgy with Cerberus?" Helix asked with a straight face.

"Yup! Plenty of times. I used to sketch the scene during fifth period." Charlotte shrugged.

"Is that so…." Helix chuckled.

"Commander. We have five more minutes." Yakov announced.

Helix nodded in response.

Then he turned to Charlotte.

"Sorry, sweety. We'll have to continue this conversation later." Helix sighed.

"Don't you dare try to get out of this. We're not finish—" Charlotte snapped like an angry wife.

He activated the Circle of Silence and put his angry wife on mute.

Charlotte turned bright red, stamped around, and threw a fit.

He tried to act like he was ignoring her.

However, he kept sneaking glances, and she kept breaking her angry act.

Eventually, they could take it anymore and broke down into laughter.

It was a comical scene acted out like a silent film classic—complete with the bad acting.

Helix took a deep breath as the Stalkwalker approached.

As the beast got closer to its position, it cast dark shadows that blocked out the sun.

Helix narrowed his eyes to get a better view of the wagon pulling the beasts.

He had placed gravity circles in it to make the beasts weightless.

Nevertheless, the Stalkwalker was catching up—fast.

Helix's heart started racing when he saw the trailer up close.

The people sitting in front were terrified and doing their best to keep it together.

"They're not going to make it…." Helix groaned with a wincing expression.

The Colossus was so close.

The entire area Helix was standing in was already covered by shade.

It would be in their trap within sixty seconds, and the drivers would be free.

However, the drivers had twenty seconds before the Colossus entered their range and perhaps ten seconds before its hand could reach down.

"Come on!" Helix yelled.

But no words came out.

The scene playing out in front of him was dead-silent.

The Colossus' steps started shaking the wheels on the trailer.

Suddenly the Stalkwalker stopped walking.

Charlotte's face paled when she saw the massive shadows created by the Colossus' right arm start dancing on the ground.

The main shadow lessened considerably, and the shadows cast on Helix and his team disappeared.

Light washed over their bodies again.

"No! Not this way! Not this close!" Helix screamed at the top of his lungs.

"It's close enough! If it's not, I'll make it close enough!"

Helix's eyes glided up towards the sky.

His gaze started at the shins 100 meters behind the rushing cart.

They glided up to the massive hairy knees of the beast and continued onward until it reached the beast's furry, chiseled abs.

His neck bent back as his gaze met the massive creature's chest.

It saw the creature's massive black hand reaching down at a frightening pace when it met that mark.

He bent his back, and his eyes continued higher until they reached its neckline.

He was not staring at its neck.

He was staring at a long pitch-black snout pointing down to the trailer.

Lastly, his eyes stared at the dark gold eyes blazing with a demonic light.

Helix's body trembled at the sight.

"[Multi-Party Nightmare Summoning Hallucination]!" Helix yelled.

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)