Chapter 385 'Tough Luck'
Inside the room, there were a total of 12 individuals. They were:
The 4 from the Big 4, Daneel, the Sect Leader, the 5 top assassins and Skrrag.
Right now, they were standing near the entrance, with Daneel leaning on a wall while the others were excitedly studying the surroundings, waiting for the eye of the formation to appear.
The sect leader was the most skittish, with his eyes flitting everywhere, as if he wanted to be the first to notice it.
It had been 10 minutes since they were all gathered here with urgency, and by now, even the excitement of the others was starting to wane.
"Please stay alert. After the first hint of the blood moon appears, the eye reveals itself in 30 minutes. After that, there will be one hour of time to take control of it. I know that taking control of a formation is a time-consuming process, so I would like you all to try one-by-one, if that's ok with you. Shall we decide on the order?"
Seeing him acting so politely with them now that it was time for their worth to be shown, Daneel felt like spitting at the sect leader's hypocrisy.
When he had ordered his assassins trained by the Hidden Kill Sect to carry out all the assassinations in the 2 Kingdoms, he had known that he would definitely be the target of suspicion here.
However, he had been prepared to fend off the sect leader using the fact that he was still needed to open the formation.
Thankfully, the auspicious time had arrived at just the right moment, making it so that Daneel didn't even need to do this.
Right now, Daneel's plan was simple.
The best case was that the system would be able to take control of the formation as soon as it appeared. After doing so and taking an item of his choice, he would order the Black Raven Kingdom's and Eldinor's armies to make sudden attacks, rocking the Sect's defense. In that moment of crisis, a no-confidence vote would be called, and Daneel would take the seat of the sect leader then and save the sect.
Even though he wished that things would go in this way without too much trouble appearing, Daneel had a vague suspicion that the premise of things going according to this plan itself was false.
Back in Lanthanor, when he had entered the Lanthanorian Palace after great difficulty, the system had analyzed the Dragon-Heart formation and told him that its complexity was too high.
According to it, there were two formations: a core one, and one laid on top of that which enabled those at the Warrior level to take control and direct the core formation.
From what Daneel knew, the Dragon and the Basilisk were both creatures that had existed during the same age. So, it only made sense that the formations formed using them as the base had a possibility of sharing characteristics.
The items that the Basilisk wanted to protect must mostly be placed in the core part, or the 'eye' of the formation, which was going to be revealed now.
Hence, if he was right, the system would fail to take control, and none of them would be able to help the Sect retrieve their ancestral weapons.
Daneel still had a backup plan in case that happened, but the best case was still the best plan.
He had been trying to think of a better back up plan during all the free time he had had, but he hadn't been able to come up with anything.
"I'll go first. Our Sect's Champion level formation-cracking trinket will definitely do the job! Trust me, sect leader."
Of course, the one who said these words was Percy.
He was the very image of confidence-standing with his chest puffed up while looking into the distance, as if he was a lone hero, ready to accomplish grand feats and put everyone to shame.
"Pipe down. You're annoying."
As Daneel sent this message discreetly, Percy suddenly got an embarrassed expression on his face before switching to a more traditional pose.
Daneel expected the other three from the Big 4 to compete against Percy for the opportunity to go first, but seeing them just look at him like an idiot, Daneel wondered whether he was missing something.
When he shot a question to Sister Xuan, she answered, "Oh, it's because none of us have too much hope of succeeding anyway. We are here just because none of the Big 4 want to miss out on the rare chance that the formation must have weakened by now. 100 years ago, in secret, a similar attempt was carried out by the previous sect leader even though this sect wasn't in nowhere as precarious a position as now. They used the best trinkets then, and those are still what we are using now. So, they mostly won't work. You really are their last chance. Were you the one responsible for those assassinations, by the way? I was meaning to ask you about that."
This was news to Daneel. So something like this had happened before? Why hadn't his dolt of a disciple told him about it?
Oh, yes. He might not know, himself.
That explained why he was so confident, and the expressions on the other three's faces.
Knowing that Sister Xuan was waiting for a response, Daneel just said, "We can talk about that later," making her frown at him from where she was standing.
The gigantic underground chamber was lit by a few torches brought by the sect leader and the top assassins, but these torches had been purposefully arranged only at the spot where they were standing.
All around, there was darkness.
Soon enough, the order was established.
First would be Percy, then the woman followed by the man from the Big 4, with Sister Xuan coming last among them.
Daneel would be next. After all, if he said he couldn't do it too, then all hope would be lost.
After waiting in silence for a few more minutes, the sect leader suddenly shouted, "THERE!"
Looking in the direction where his finger was pointing, all of them noticed that a faint, green light had come into existence in the darkness.
"Let's go!"
Taking off at a run, the sect leader led them to this spot, and when they arrived one-by-one, each of them couldn't help but stare with awe.
It was a tiny, green, glowing snake.
Not even the length of Daneel's palm, it looked vulnerable, and it even had a cute expression on its face while it looked around at its surroundings, almost as though it was sentient.
Everyone gasped on seeing this sight, but what happened next only shocked them more.
While they watched, the snake grew in size and, from the way its face and scales changed, in age, too. Even scars occasionally appeared on its body, before fading away in a few seconds.
It was almost as if each of them could imagine the snake going through difficulties while it matured. Inch by inch, it grew in front of their eyes to finally become a massive monster.
Half of it's body was coiled on the ground, but just the top of its head when the other half stood straight reached at least 40 feet(12.1 meters) in the air.
It had a wide open hood, which cast a shadow on all of those standing in the underground room due to the fact that the sect leader had arranged a few torches behind the snake, too.
Everyone was still standing still as if they had been struck by a spell, but when the snake was done with its growth, it suddenly opened its mouth as if to swallow them all.
Its large eyes were eyeing them all ferociously, and all of them became convinced that their lives would end now. Percy even whimpered in fear, but no one even noticed it.
Just when it swooped down and was about to complete the deed, it swerved to the side strangely.
In merely a second, it wound up into an enormous ball, with its head nowhere to be seen.
The sect leader was the first to respond.
"That is the 'Basilisk's Warning', which is mentioned in the records. If I, the one in possession of the official oath stone of the sect which marks me as the official sect leader, wasn't present here, you all would have died by now. We have exactly one hour from now. Mister Percy, quickly!"
Nodding, Percy ran up to the green ball made of the coiled snake's body, but the fear was apparent in his stride.
After reaching, he took out a trinket shaped like a gong.
On squeezing it, it enlarged into a man-sized gong which Percy started to beat rhythmically.
The sound initially had no effect except annoying the others, but after a few seconds, the large ball started to shake.
"Yes! It's working!"
However, as soon as he said this, the wobbling stopped, and no matter how much time he continued, there was no effect.
With no other option, he admitted defeat and was replaced by the next one.
The other three from the Big 4 also used more musical instrument type trinkets. All of them had similar effects, so when Daneel walked up to the ball with an expression of deep thought on his face, the sect leader had his eyes closed, apparently ardently praying to the heavens.
Daneel had already had his suspicion confirmed as soon as the ball appeared. The system had told him that the complexity was too high.
However, when the sect leader had spoken earlier, he had suddenly come up with a plan.
He couldn't believe that he had forgotten something so important. It was a gamble, but he was ready to take it.
So, while finalizing its details, he made a show of raising his hands at the ball, all while everyone else looked on with bated breath.
Finally, after barely 2 minutes, he simply said, "Tough luck. I can't do it." and walked back to his position, while the sect leader looked at him with a crazy expression.