Chapter 88: The Second-Best Route
Chapter 88: The Second-Best Route
[3]
Jin studied the course, then forced himself to quit looking for a flawless answer.
Three uneven rows of raised platforms crossed the field. Thin channels in the floor concealed barriers, inactive targets lined the walls, and the gate at the opposite end remained shut. Every route suggested several options while confirming none of them. Meridian had designed it that way. The countdown gave him enough time to overthink and not enough to solve everything.
[2]
The path on the left covered the least distance. If the two moving platforms kept their rhythm, Glitch could cross them directly.
Jin’s old instincts immediately reached for it.
Kade’s warning stopped him. Something in the course would change. Once the left path became unusable, Jin would be stranded halfway through a solution that no longer applied.
[1]
The center route gave them more space. It was slower than the left and quicker than the right, with enough flexibility to survive the field shifting under them.
It wasn’t the ideal choice.
It was a choice that could fail without trapping them.
Before doubt could drag him back into analysis, Jin gave the order.
Center. Move.
Glitch sprang forward.
The first jump made it clear they had both overlooked the real issue.
Glitch had barely grown used to being 2-Star before another breakthrough pushed him higher. This was the first time he had run at full speed with his 3-Star body, and his legs had no idea how much power they were carrying. A jump meant to land near the front of the first platform sent him nearly across the whole thing.
Jin knew he would overshoot before Glitch came down.
He reacted at once. Front claws. Harden. Catch the edge.
Localized Harden spread over Glitch’s foreclaws, darkening them beneath a coating like fresh iron. He caught the platform’s far rim and stopped himself. The concrete complained under the impact but held together.
His back half swung out over the drop. For a moment, every bit of his increased weight pulled against his front claws. He found leverage, dragged himself up, and set all four paws on the platform with an attempt at dignity.
They had lost a beat. The judges might also mark down his control. Jin noted both and let them go.
Across the bond came Glitch’s firm belief that the platform had been installed in the wrong place.
It stayed exactly where it was, Jin replied. You jumped too far.
Glitch answered with wounded silence.
Then a barrier rose and blocked the center route.
It slid up from the floor between him and the next platform, replacing Jin’s chosen path with a solid wall.
For one ugly second, the old questions came rushing back. Could Glitch jump over it? Would it lower again? Was the route on the left still available? None of them had answers, and Jin felt the same pull to wait until one became certain.
A second passed.
Then another.
The rule from last night surfaced before he could lose more time.
Choose something safe enough to change, and keep moving.
A wider route branched off to the right. Its platforms moved slowly, with patterns he could read. Taking it would not earn them anything impressive, but it would prevent them from stopping.
Right. Side path. Go.
Glitch changed direction while the barrier was still settling into place.
Kade watched from the edge of the field without giving anything away. Jin was sure he had noticed both parts of the mistake: the two seconds of hesitation, and Jin moving again before certainty arrived.
Yesterday, those two seconds would have become more.
The side route carried Glitch into the mobility gauntlet.
He ran low across the narrow beams, quick despite the extra weight. His hips corrected a little too far with each turn, proof that his instincts still expected a lighter body. At one marked stopping line, he slid a hand’s width beyond it. A rotating panel then moved between Jin and the course, cutting off his view.
Jin guided Glitch through the contract.
Left. Right. Hold.
The bond did not let him see through Glitch’s eyes. It passed along direction, urgency, and a rough awareness of position. Jin could tell whether Glitch stood steady or leaned into a turn, but the rest had to come from memory. By the time the panel moved aside, Glitch had reached the correct spot. Only the end of his tail brushed the passing edge.
Ahead, another barrier swept across the beam.
Jin sent hold before Glitch committed himself. Once the opening appeared, he changed the command.
Forward.
Glitch moved quickly enough for the barrier to pass behind his tail. The timing worked. It lacked polish, but it worked.
He jumped down to the lower level and hit harder than he meant to. A sharp crack shot across the marked panel under his claws.
Down. Half power, Jin told him. You hit everything harder now.
Glitch’s reply made his position clear. Landing hard was not a problem.
It is when someone’s grading the floor.
The following landing still had weight behind it, though less than before.
At the end of the gauntlet, the path opened into a closed pit. New instructions appeared on the display above the arena.
[Disable Three Marked Hostiles]
[Civilian Units Must Not Be Damaged]
[Excessive Force Will Be Penalized]
Three low mechanical constructs bore red markings. Two grey civilian units moved between them.
The point was control. Glitch had to strike accurately and hold back, not crush everything with raw strength. There was no need for a breath attack.
Good.
The grey units followed slow, uneven tracks. As the closest hostile unfolded its legs, one civilian rolled directly in front of it and blocked Glitch’s easiest approach. Jin waited half a heartbeat for it to pass, then directed Glitch around the other side.
Inside a dungeon, wiping out everything nearby might have been acceptable. Here, one bad hit could cancel out three correct ones.
The first hostile rotated and revealed the joint connecting its front leg to its body.
Left flank. Harden the shoulder. Hit the joint, not all of it.
Glitch drove his shoulder into the exposed point. The joint gave way, dropping the construct to the ground.
One.
The next construct turned sooner than expected. Glitch changed direction mid-run, but Jin felt too much strength building behind the coming strike.
Ease off—
Glitch reduced the force at the last instant. Only barely.
The control node cracked rather than breaking apart, and the machine collapsed. The arena accepted it, though Jin was certain the delayed correction had cost them something.
A grey civilian unit rolled into the space where the construct fell. Its casing passed less than a claw’s width from Glitch’s front foot. Instead of planting the paw, Glitch held it up, twisted around, and regained his balance without making contact.
The recovery looked clumsy even though it was still controlled.
Two.
Glitch began circling the final red construct.
Meridian changed the test before he could even attack.
[Objective Updated]
[Hostile Elimination No Longer Primary]
[Recover the Blue Rescue Beacon: East Alcove]
[Reach Extraction Gate Within 45 Seconds]
The remaining construct no longer mattered.