“You can’t do this alone,” said Benedict.

  “I’m not trying to,” Elijah growled, a massive swarm of locusts manifesting with every passing second. It had been five more loops since the first attempt at taking down the giant automaton, and each one had ended the same way – with Elijah’s premature death.

  Fortunately, the other two were able to keep going for a while longer than him, though without the distraction Elijah provided, the automaton quickly homed in on Hu Shui and Benedict, killing them in short order. But they’d still managed to discover a few key bits of information, so those attempts weren’t entirely wasted.

  “Just explain what you found,” Elijah stated.

  “They’re riddles, but instead of words, they use flows of ethera. Kind of like puzzles, but each one represents more than just position. It’s hard to explain,” Benedict revealed.

  “Can you solve them?”

  “Maybe?” Benedict allowed. “Not easily.”

  “What about you?” Elijah asked Hu Shui.

  “Yes. In time, I believe I can figure them out.”

  “In the time we have, though?” asked Benedict.

  “That is the question, is it not? I suggest we spend the next few loops gathering information. We need to find each node, catalogue the riddles, then use the time running through the maze to solve them. Once we figure everything out, we can focus on speed,” Hu Shui laid out. “I estimate it will take at least five more deaths before we find all of the nodes.”

  “Then a few more to solve them,” Benedict added.

  “And all the while, I need to keep that thing occupied,” Elijah finished. “And never mind that if we take too long, the whole thing will explode. I feel like we’re missing something.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “All of these Primal Realms have multiple ways to conquer them,” he answered. Then, he described how he’d taken the straightforward – and most difficult – route to defeating the challenges associated with the Chimeric Forge. By contrast, he and his other companions had overcome the Desolate Reach much more quickly than normal because they’d bypassed one of the more formidable obstacles. “The point is that there’s always another way, and I can’t help but think there’s an easier one for this Primal Realm.”

  Benedict added, “It doesn’t matter. We’re running out of time.”

  That was true, and in multiple ways. Their available attempts were ticking down with every death, and they all knew that if it reached zero, that would be it. After that, if they died, it would be their true end. And it was getting to the point where they couldn’t sacrifice a victory just to save one another. Even if one died, they would probably need to keep going.

  And if they did, that person would likely be lost forever, regardless of how many loops they had left.

  It was just one more issue to throw onto the pile. It had been quite some time since the he’d last rested, and that burden weighed on him more heavily with each loop. The others were similarly stressed, and they didn’t have the benefit of Elijah’s constitution or body cultivation to counter it.

  Not for the first time, he considered letting them rest. Physical exhaustion didn’t persist through the loops, but mental fatigue certainly did. But in the end, he knew that they couldn’t afford it. Not with so few attempts left.

  So, on they went, rushing after Elijah’s conjured swarm and into Eden. This time, Elijah didn’t directly attack the giant automaton. Instead, he endeavored to keep it occupied so that his companions had as much time as possible to examine and catalogue the nodes.

  As he engaged the creature, Elijah was reminded of the abyssal monster he’d led across the chain back in the Broken Crown. Although the automaton wasn’t as powerful – not in terms of base attributes or levels – it was far more dangerous. Part of that was because it was equipped with ranged abilities like the massive beam of ethera, but mostly, it was more dangerous because of its unpredictability.

  The moment Elijah thought he knew what it would do, it changed tactics. Sometimes, that meant using a different ability. Other times, it simply ignored Elijah’s attempts to bait it, instead continuing to destroy the city or target Hu Shui or Benedict. The only solution to that was to keep the pressure on, which meant that Elijah had to take a lot of risks.

  And against such a powerful enemy, taking risks would inevitably result in frequent failure.

  No matter what Elijah tried, he always died. The only victory was in how long he managed to last, and there were multiple loops where he made it all the way until the end of the loop.

  Iterations passed, and the other two made striking progress. Both were quite skilled at interpreting the puzzles. Hu Shui because of his experience with the construction of the Conclave Spires, which was an incredibly complex piece of magic that had required input from some of the most intelligent people on Earth. Hu Shui might not have been the driving force behind the science, but he’d contributed. That, combined with his background as an astrophysicist, meant that he was more than capable of solving those ethereal riddles.

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  By contrast, Benedict’s expertise was more instinctive but no less potent because of it. His class revolved – at least partially – around creating rituals. And as Elijah had seen beneath the Seat of Benediction, some of them were extremely complex.

  Of course, Elijah hadn’t seen the nodes himself. That wasn’t his role, and that limitation was one with which he struggled. After all, he was accustomed to doing everything himself. Trusting other people – especially ones that were less powerful than him – was an almost alien concept.

  But he knew there was no other way.

  The first few loops were dedicated to finding each of the nodes, but after that, they endeavored to solve the riddles. For a few more iterations, Elijah found himself wondering if they would ever make it. One death after another, those doubts mounted until they very nearly came to a head.

  And then, at last, Benedict solved one of the puzzles. Even as one of the columns of ethera flowing into the sphere fizzled out, Elijah was very nearly crushed by an attack from the automaton. He barely managed to dodge it, and the fight went on.

  That iteration lasted almost an hour longer than any of the others, proving that the dissolution of one of those tethers was enough to give them a little more leeway. They still had a long way to go, though.

  The next loop saw Hu Shui solve one of his own, but Benedict focused his efforts on the next one in line. His reasoning was simple.

  “I already know how to solve that one. It’s smarter to focus on learning about each one, then solving them all in rapid succession,” he claimed. Hu Shui felt differently, and he spent a little time each iteration solving the one whose solution he already knew.

  For Elijah’s part, he saw that there were benefits to both methods, and in reality, the marriage of the two strategies probably represented the best of both worlds. Every time Hu Shui solved one of the puzzles, it gave Benedict a little more time to work on new problems.

  And like that, they continued, and by the time the attempts ticked down to fourteen, they’d managed to solve each of them.

  At the beginning of that loop, Elijah reminded them, “We’re on the home stretch here. Let’s make a real attempt.”

  “What about the automaton?” asked Benedict.

  “I have a plan for it,” Elijah answered. “But we’ll have to work together. Pile on the damage.”

  “Cooldowns?” asked Hu Shui.

  “Everything you have. We only have fourteen attempts left. I don’t want to take it down to the wire.”

  The other two agreed. They would use every attempt they needed to use, but no one wanted to end up on their last attempt and not be certain they could win. After all, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t need them later.

  With that in mind, they raced through the maze, using the same strategy they’d employed for the last dozen or so attempts. Elijah had since learned to moderate Eternal Plague, and to the point where he knew precisely how long he needed to hold it in order to give them the help they needed to easily overcome the automatons populating the maze.

  They sprinted along, covering the ground faster than ever before, and after only two days, they reached Eden. It looked the same as always, though the golden sphere hovering over the city hadn’t reached the same volatility it would exhibit later in the loop.

  They had time.

  Now, they just had to use it.

  After confirming their plans for when the riddles were solved, everyone went their separate ways. For his part, Elijah engaged the giant automaton with hit-and-run tactics. He knew that he wasn’t doing any real damage. Not even in his overpowered dragon form. However, he also knew that he didn’t need to.

  Not yet, at least. The time for a real assault would come once Hu Shui and Benedict did their parts.

  Vaguely, Elijah was aware when his companions solved each riddle. Predictably, Hu Shui moved more quickly than Benedict, but they both made good progress until, at last, they’d circled the city and solved the last puzzle.

  When they did, a notification flashed before Elijah’s inner eye:

  Elijah’s stomach twisted, and if he wasn’t so focused on avoiding a beam attack from the automaton, he would have let out a string of curses. For whatever reason, he’d convinced himself that solving the issue of the exploding sphere would be enough to conquer the Primal Realm. Finding out otherwise was quite a blow to his morale. He was also very much aware that the countdown hadn’t disappeared, implying that the time loop remained in effect.

  Fourteen more attempts.

  And there was still an automaton standing in their way.

  Elijah swooped low, beating his wings until he reached the last node, where both Hu Shui and Benedict had converged. Landing, he asked, “You saw the notification?”

  “We did.”

  “Any thoughts?”

  “I’m guessing that giant rainbow is a hint,” Benedict answered.

  Elijah craned his neck and saw that a beam of rainbow ethera stretched from the ground to the sphere. Of course, the giant automaton stood between them and that energy pillar.

  “Fourteen more attempts,” Elijah said. “We need to make it count.”

  “Same plan as before?” asked Hu Shui.

  Elijah answered, “Nothing has changed. We still need to deal with it. Climb on.”

  Both looked more than a little trepidatious at the prospect of riding on his back, but it was far and away the quickest way to reach their destination. And hitting hard and fast was key to their plan.

  Once they had a good hold, Elijah launched himself into the sky, beat his wings, then raced toward the five hundred-foot tall creature in the distance. The city – and its still-panicked residents – flashed beneath him, but Elijah paid none of it any attention. Instead, the entirety of his focus was on playing his part.

  Inside his chest, power roiled, gathering with every passing second, and when he reached his destination, he yelled, “Now!”

  Benedict and Hu Shui leaped free. The Warlock hit the roof of a building in a roll that ended in a sprint. Hu Shui flashed, teleporting out of sight.

  And then, Elijah unleashed the power within.

  Locusts and fungal spores – the products of twin-casted Eternal Plague and Nature’s Claim – burst from between his open jaws. The stream was almost two yards thick, and it spread quickly, enveloping the automaton. Seconds later, mushrooms burst free of the creature’s back in a shower of metal and ethera.

  Black tendrils of rust and decay arced out across its metallic body, but Elijah paid them no mind, beating his wings to gain altitude.

  Then, once he’d reached a point nearly a thousand feet up, he dove.

  For all that Elijah had plenty of powerful abilities at his disposal, he’d found that nothing was quite as effective as a good divebomb. Especially in the form of a fifty-foot-long dragon.

  As he dove, he pushed himself to the limit of his attributes, covering the space between him and the automaton in an instant. Still, he had plenty of time to pre-cast his healing spells.

  He hit the thing going hundreds of miles per hour, and even though it was bigger than most buildings, the force of the impact was enough to knock it off balance.

  And thus, the battle began. Hopefully, the others would do their part. Otherwise, they’d waste another loop.

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