UNLIMITED SPEED

Noah jumped on top of a building, James right behind him. He had eliminated the three middle staged experts which was a few hours ago.

During the period, he and James had managed to eliminate five other participants, which wasn't much, and when he checked how many people were left he saw there still remained a bit over 120.

Currently they were somewhere in the west side of the city, which had two magical beasts present though they were widely spread apart from each other.

Noah's curiosity had gotten the best of him. Causing him to go near the position of one of the eleven beasts.

"Noah. Are you sure about this?. You are strong and all, but tier 3 beasts are on a different level," James said with a clearly worried expression. After all he was a mere lower stage cultivator.

"I know, I know. It's just, we can't miss this opportunity. I know we'll eventually get to see them once we get stronger, but come on....tier 3 beasts!." Noah pointed at a big building. Which was where the map indicated the tier 3 beast was.

James frowned, but his curiosity also got the best of him, so he couldn't complain. Noah waited in silence, his gaze fully on James. He wasn't going to go if his partner didn't want to.

A heavy sigh escaped James mouth, "Let's get this over with." he said with a defeated expression which immediately changed to excitement.

Noah's face brightened up, "I'll make sure nothing happens to us," Noah reassured James while unfolding his consciousness.

The two jumped down the building they were currently on, and began to walk towards the dome-shaped building across the street.

Noah inspected the buildings with his consciousness, but he couldn't get much.

The building looked normal in all ways, it even looked old, and coupled with the fact that he couldn't sense the tier 3 beast, the danger inside the building was basically hiding in plain sight.

Walking around the building, they found a big metal door. Which they immediately tried to open. The door was heavy to open but Noah pulled it off after a few minutes of pushing.

Upon entering the building, a massive square cage entered their sight. The cage spanned for a few tens of meters in height and width.

Around the cages' base and top were multiple red glowing Inscriptions which constantly rotated.

After that inspection Noah's eyes fell on the figure inside.

A large lion the size of school bus appeared in his sight. Its mane tail and a few spots of its body had orange flames dancing on their edges. The lions colour was deep orange-brown, which looked like that of normal lions. The beast was currently lying on its paws, but when it sensed their presence it arose.

Its bright yellow eyes immediately fell on his figure, Noah instinctively taking a step back at its gaze. It began to growl at them while it's mane became more of flames than hair.

Noah saw metallic black claws emerging out of its paws, as it pounced on the cage. A powerful roar escaping its mouth.

Noah and James were sent flying from the sheer force the roar carried, the whole building seemed to shake, but the cage stood strong after multiple other attempts to destroy it.

After a few seconds of trying to break the cage Noah understood that it couldn't escape.

The lion seemed to understand that Noah had gotten to that conclusion since it lay down on its paws, only its vicious gaze following their movements.

Noah couldn't help but smile at that point, 'Powerful,' he thought while inspecting the beast.

[Flame Lion]

[Tier: 3]

[Level: ???]

[Chances of death: 100%]

Noah shook his head at the result. He was definitely strong but he currently couldn't jump tiers, even though he was at the peak of tier 2.

They stayed for a while, James eventually lost his fear for the beast, as the two walked around the cage, the lion growling at them baring it's powerful looking teeth at them.

Noah ignored all this, for it seemed as long as the Inscriptions were on the cage the beast would remain caged.

"Do you know how to make such Inscriptions?," Noah eventually asked James who nodded.

"I can but it would only be able to hold something at my level, and would probably be able to last a few tens of attacks," James explained.

"But I wonder where the core of the Inscription is," James said his gaze still on the cage.

"Uh..What do you mean by core?," Noah asked genuinely curious.

"More like power source." James replied, "It's needed to keep every Inscription running, and if damaged the Inscription will shut down. I am sure you remember that sir Augustus needed a body full of energy to activate the Inscription that repelled the beasts,"James added.

Noah kept a mental note of what he learnt. He understood what James meant. "Where should it be in a normal situation?," Noah asked as he himself got curious.

"It's supposed to be in the center of the Inscription," James replied with a thoughtful expression. "At least that's what I know."

Noah also pondered on the matter himself, then an idea pooped up, and he didn't hesitate to share it.

"Wait. If what you say is true, then there should be a core powering all the Inscriptions currently. How do people get teleported out of here?," Noah said as potential answers kept forming in his mind. James also seemed to understand, as he took Noah's words out of his mouth.

"Inscriptions light up on the ground, and they get teleported!-," James said as he shot a wide eyed gaze at Noah, both opening the map.

Now that Noah checked again, the eleven flame like lights surrounded the city in a perfect circle, and at the center of the circle was the green circle.

""The city is on top of an Inscription,""" They said in unison, bursting into laughter an instant later.

"So that green light should be where the core is," James said after they were done laughing.

"How hard is it to pull something like that off?," Noah asked staring at the cage and its inscriptions

"As far as I know, someone at our level or even tier 3, shouldn't be able to pull it off. The amount of power in that core should also be incredible. Teleportation isn't an easy thing, coupled with keeping the beasts caged," James explained, while Noah nodded.

A few minutes of silence passed, the two thinking their own thoughts. "We should get going. I have an idea of what could happen if ten people aren't left by the end of the stage, and it's a bad one." Noah eventually said, while he began to walk towards the exit of the building.

During that period a question popped up Noah's mind, he couldn't help but voice it out. "So what happens if the power source gets damaged?," He said pushing the big door open, while also ignoring the roars of the lion.

"Obviously the whole thing would shutdown, we won't be able to teleport out of this place, and the cages of the beast will mostly be broken by them, since the inscriptions keeping the cages strong were gone" James explained, "Why do you ask?," he added walking out of the building.

"No reason," Noah shrugged, "Though how exactly can it be damaged," Noah said stopping and glancing at the silent street.

"Well if someone so much as touches it, or uses from its power without the creator giving it that function, the thing would explode. Though it would only be a small explosion. Only that the energy inside of the core would quickly disperse," James explained.

"I see..." Noah muttered still standing outside the building. "What are the odds of that happening?," Noah asked again, as James couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Well I am not sure anyone is dumb enough to touch a ball palpitating with raw energy, that is clearly above them in terms of quality. So I'd say zero." James laughed a bit.

"What if they were dumb enough?,", Noah glanced at James with a light smile

"If they were that would be very bad--."

James could complete his words since an explosion of light suddenly shot up into the sky. Everyone in the city being able to witness it.

Noah and James themselves immediately wore serious expressions. As the sound of a familiar massive cage falling apart resounded in their ears.