The Oracle Paths

Even before Jake gave them the go-ahead to open, Tim had already rushed to the door and removed the lock and the heavy wooden latch preventing the door from opening from the outside.

When the door opened abruptly, the girl pounding on the door was violently flung backwards and fell painfully on her buttocks with an " ouch! ". Dumbfounded, Tim was about to apologize and help her get up when a fist sized hailstone rained down on his skull like a meteorite, almost knocking him unconscious.

In the same second, a second hailstone struck the teenage girl's shoulder on the ground, while another smashed the nose of a still dizzy Tim. A high-pitched "Aaarrrgh!" escaped from the boy's vocal chords, while the girl just gritted her teeth and gave him a hateful glare.

Feeling that the situation could escalate if they didn't intervene quickly, Jake wrapped the two teenagers and the unconscious wounded man on a makeshift stretcher to protect them from the ice projectiles raining down from the sky, and invited them inside.

"Thank you Jake! "Lily's face finally relaxed when she recognized her cousin and hurriedly carried her father to the fireplace.

After watching her mother being devoured by Digestors, Lily and her father had survived together since then on their own and going through the first two trials separately had been a terrible experience for them. In comparison, the physical suffering resulting from these trials was not in the forefront.

As soon as they had arrived on the real island, they had rushed towards each other like the two pink-haired sisters or the Chinese siblings had done. In this respect, Jake, Sarah and Will were very different, more comfortable operating independently.

Keeping a watchful eye, Jake inspected his cousin from head to toe, then his uncle passed out in the stretcher. Lily looked like a younger Anya with chestnut brown hair and green eyes and had just entered puberty, while Daniel was a common looking brown man, but known to have a good heart.

Both suffered from frostbite, which was relatively unbelievable considering their stats and the temperatures earlier, but the brief moment he had opened the door had confirmed to him for the second time in a row that he had greatly underestimated the storm.

The ice hailstones were not even melting on contact with the ground, piling up like a mountain of snowballs, and the wind had reached a rare intensity, uprooting the frailest exposed trees. The air was so cold that it was turning scorching, but that was not the thing to blame for their condition.

Although they had been hit repeatedly by hail, to the point of accumulating numerous bruises and bumps, the deep lacerations on their bodies revealed that they had been facing a very different and much more direct threat.

These lacerations resembled whip marks, but from a high voltage whip capable of tearing the flesh several centimeters deep.Jake didn't need to use his Spirit Body or his bracelet scan to spot them, since his uncle and young cousin were almost completely unclothed.

Judging by the state of the rags of plant fibers covering their private parts, neither of them had found the time to make proper clothing and their slimmed down condition attested that like Tim, they had always been on the run, trying to survive the ubiquitous predators.

Lily was coping with minor injuries, although she would probably keep a nasty scar on her back, but alas Jake could not say the same for his uncle Daniel.

At first glance, he had withstood most of the enemy's attacks to protect his daughter and in addition to being lacerated all over, he had also lost a lot of blood. His level of weight loss was also more pronounced than that of the girl, indicating that he had let his daughter eat her fill at his expense.

Worried that the enemy on their heels had followed them, Sarah glanced out through the peephole, but apart from the noise of hailstones falling relentlessly, the clearing and the trees around it were completely silent and static.

Relieved, she joined them around the fire and added a log, but she refused to part with her gladius, a clear sign that she did not feel safe. Tim, for his part, had suddenly grown mute from shyness, the shame of his previous action coming back to him.

Most importantly, he had just broken his nose and it was bloodly painful. Maintaining a strong and insensitive demeanor was already demanding his full attention.

Meanwhile, Jake had scanned his two relatives with his bracelet and was surprised to learn that their stats were not so good. Like Tim, they had reached the 100 point limit, but it was clear from Lily's movements that her body and mind was not used to these changes.

Based on his first impressions, both father and daughter had maxed out their Aether stats recently, taking advantage of the rewards of the first and second trials. The results of their first Ordeal must therefore have been rather poor, along those of Will and Tim.

The only reason why these two were not in the same situation was because they had received their share in the sale of the Rank 7 Digestor corpse. Of course, neither of them had inherited any special bloodline. They were just as human as they could be.

Aware that Daniel's life prognosis was on the line, Jake knelt down beside him and examined the large gash on his chest before calling for a hand.

"Sarah and Tim come help me. You can come too, Lily, it will be helpful to you."

Sarah who was just starting to warm up walked beside him without flinching and understanding what Jake was waiting for, closed the edges of the largest chest wound to make it easier for him. Already a sewing expert, he sutured the wounds using a hair he stole from Sarah as suturing thread. These hair was already strong enough to withstand this kind of strain.

In a few twists of thread, Daniel's wounds were sewn back together and all that was left to do was to let his Aether of Vitality do the rest. As Tim proudly prepared to stitch the wound in Lily's back to show the extent of his expertise and make up for his past mistake, someone knocked on the door again.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

The person knocking at their door was knocking like a madman, as if they were sorely in need of attention.

"The two Asian Myrmidians from earlier? "Sarah asked with renewed worry and puzzlement. The young woman's hands had turned white as she squeezed the handle of her weapon.

"I'm not sure..." Jake said hesitantly.

He wanted to believe it, but after that first cry of agony he hadn't heard them anymore. It had been several hours since they had thrown them out. Besides, instead of knocking at their door, announcing their presence out loud would have made more sense.

With silent gestures, he motioned for everyone to pick up a weapon except for Daniel, who was still in a coma. Seeing that Lily had no weapon or had lost it earlier during their escape, Tim handed her his second axe, obviously intending to convert her to this noble art.

Once everyone was ready, Jake floated with Sarah on either side of the door, and then opened it abruptly, with the same timing as the knocking. The fist knocking tirelessly on the door hit the void and the owner swung forward, carried away by his momentum. Reflexively, the owner managed to recover in a fraction of a second, but it was too late.

Jake and Sarah were already holding him at gunpoint with their blades, the edge of the first against his throat, while the edge of the second covered his neck. Raising his hands in the air, the monster uttered a rocky laugh, visibly enchanted.

"Cough, cough, it's me. Don't you recognize me? "

Jake swept the humanoid creature from head to toe and saw only an abomination halfway between man and bear. His long brown hair was covered with melted ice and reeked of wet dog. Arching a disdainful eyebrow, he coldly replied, "Should I? "

"Of course you should. I'm your cousin Kevin."

Jake and Lily's eyes widened in disbelief over this revelation. Was his stone house the place decided to hold a fucking family party ? Why was he the only one who didn't know about it?

"Lily, is this the monster that attacked you?" Jake checked in indifferently. He had already confirmed with a scan that it was his hated cousin, but he was more than happy to play the fool.

"... No. "

" What the hell dude?! Just... Look!"The Werebear or Werefatwolf protested vigorously, wounded in the ego that they might doubt his identity.

His bestial appearance suddenly began to retract, the fur covering him disappearing under his skin. A few bones creaking were heard, interspersed with muffled grunts of pain, then seconds later a very tall, muscular man stood in front of them with a smile revealing a row of sparkling white teeth.

"Hello there."

But even before the people in the house got time to digest the situation, someone knocked on the door again...

"Is it the only fucking stone house on the island?" Jake sighed in exasperation.