Chapter 570: Special grade beasts |
My mana keeps regenerating, and plenty remains. After the first event, this abundance feels almost unusual.
Finally, I manage to locate another of the three remaining beasts, just as the Stormscale Basilisk dies, fallen at the hands of multiple Beyonders. Yet even there, no one can be sure who got the points in the end.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who deeply despises the lack of information.
Flying over the beach and out to sea, I eventually come to a small island. It’s close to the wall of thunderstorms currently on course to buffet the mainland within the next hour or two.
I'm sure that when these lightning storms hit the mainland, the powerful wind and thunderbolts will wipe out most, if not all, Easy and Normal difficulty participants. And the storm isn’t weakening either, on the contrary, it’s growing stronger by the minute. At some point, given the system, I’m certain it will even be capable of killing a few of the people from Hell difficulty.
Here, on this small island, with the lightning already striking the sea around it, I find Lissandra.
While the wind churns the sea and tears at the foundation of the island beneath her, the area around her remains eerily calm. There is no barrier that I can sense, but when I land beside her, it feels as if the storm never existed. Sounds are muted, the tornado like wind outside fades into a gentle breeze, and no lightning even comes near.
Yet, I do not feel or see any mana. I absolutely cannot see how she does it.
In her usual calm manner, she makes no move to stop me and observes my reaction while she sits on a nearby boulder.
It shows a hint of aggression when I appear, but Lissandra makes a dissatisfied noise, and the Witherclaw immediately cowers, ending all resistance.
The beast is tall and thin; its body is frail and stretched, with pale, almost sickly skin clinging to its bones. Its arms are long, ending in sharp, splintered claws that look ready to snap at any moment. Its dark, hollow eyes stare ahead, empty and unreadable, though its tense body does give some hint of the emotions it might feel.
It is so weak in comparison to the other Special grade beasts I have met so far.
“So?” I ask Lissandra.
“I will be keeping this one for now, I’ll release it thirty minutes before the end of the event.”
“Why?”
“Because it is getting stronger the more time passes, little pup. One hour before the end of the event, it will be stronger than any other Special grade beast,” she says, with a bit of disdain, as if she considers that naming silly, “and thirty minutes before the end of the event, you will have five minutes to kill it before it becomes strong enough to kill everyone here.”
“And what happens if I don't?”
“Well, ten minutes before the end of the event, it rises to Champion grade, and thirty seconds before the end, it will be Absolute grade. So, little pup, tell me, don't you think this is a fun little setting the Rulers have prepared?”
“No restrictions for me this time?”
“None this time,” she confirms. “Do whatever it is you want to do, little pup. But save some energy for this one.”
She waves her hand, and my teleportation activates against my will; I find myself being sent through one of my Ley Lines as I appear back on the mainland.
As I rise into the air, even with [Focus], I can't ignore my curiosity and the questions racing through my mind. Most of all, how long will it take for me to learn how to do what she does?
Before the second floating island finally starts falling, I see Sophie die at the hands of one of the remaining Special grade beasts.
A black panther, that seems to have shadows instead of fur, steps out of one of the nearby shadows and bites into her neck, ripping out her throat and dispersing her into a cloud of fine particles. Then it disappears again, avoiding a barrage of attacks from Min-Jae and Maya, who immediately rush the beast.
Even I can't track it when it disappears, so I'm sure none of them can either. I hadn't even sensed it appear before it got to Sophie.
The Nightshade Stalker then starts picking off more and more of the people who’ve gathered to observe the hydra. It appears again and snaps at Gareth, piercing through his silver armor with ease, tearing into his leg and leaving deep scratches. Some of the people gathered use fire or light skills in an attempt to erase all the shadows in the area, and despite the bright lighting they produce, they can't fully prevent shadows from forming. There's always one or two that survive, and the beast is fast.
And once too many people gather to defend themselves, it vanishes.
For a few minutes, there is an almost eerie silence. Some of the people lower their defenses, thinking it must have moved somewhere else.
These die first when the beast returns.
With the second island beginning to fall, I don’t really have time to try and stop it, and I already sense multiple Beyonders coming to the area, organized through the various communication links they’ve made.
Some manage to deploy barriers, fields, or arrays. Others try to mark the beast and hunt it down. There are even dexterity specialists who make an attempt to match its speed.
Vic is approaching the area as well.
It's the fight I would otherwise like to watch just to learn about the others' abilities, but I cannot.
I teleport into the air next to the island. As before, it starts plunging toward the hydra, but just as I expected, it’s not quite close enough.
When I activate the inscriptions I placed on the side of the island, a huge burst of flame erupts from the thermal orb, narrowed into a cone reminiscent of the flames emitted by a jet engine.
Things break, and I start noticing imperfections or mistakes. The output also isn’t ideal for what I intended.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
On the spot, I make the required change, straining my mind in the process and slightly lifting the seal on the Ignition Heart. The stream of flames shifts, growing more focused and extending further. As the island falls, it gives it just enough of a push to steer it over the beach.
After confirming that it’s going in the right direction, I teleport back down and quickly use Wraith Dance multiple times in succession; my control during the series of quick deployments slipping ever so slightly, and the movements and kinetic energy itself damage my body.
The Onyxscale Hydra waits there, turning three of its heads toward me, while two turn to watch the attendees nearby, and the remaining heads observe the sky and island as well. The beast is annoyingly intelligent and seems to have noticed.
I use [Eclipse]. It expands into the area, crashes against the beast's own domain, and pulls the colors out of everything but the mana hanging in the air.
As the seconds tick down and the island looms ever larger in the sky, the beast remains unfazed, showing no sign of worry or hesitation.
Slowly, all seven heads turn toward me. Then one of them starts bleeding from the eyes, its skull twisting and bulging until it bursts apart. But the beast pushes through my [Eclipse] and continues to drive my skills back.
Another head starts twisting, its eyes rupturing under the pressure as the beast strains to counter me. I push even harder, channeling a massive amount of mana through my body to fuel my skill and keep the beast from escaping.
[Eclipse - lvl 28 > Eclipse - lvl 29]
[Eclipse - lvl 29 > Eclipse - lvl 30]
And then another head follows; both of them explode in the process of countering [Eclipse]. The beast is pushing its brains to the extreme, overclocking itself just to counter my skill.
The falling island seems so close now that I can feel the pressure and heat generated by the falling mass of rock and dirt.
Just a few more seconds.
Then two more heads explode, and all my Ley Lines are torn apart.
I find myself glued to the spot and unable to move an inch, even as I deploy countermeasures and begin running through a number of methods to break away every second.
The sixth head of the Hydra bulges; both eyes explode, the neck cracks and twists, and the head bursts open.
Then the hydra teleports away.
Seeing a way out, I resonate with the beast’s mana; I take over and try to follow the monster through the rift.
There, I meet its own countermeasure like a brick wall. A wall I cannot break with my current skill or pass around.
I glance at the island that is about to crash into me, and the entirety of my mana roars in a tricolored display as I start stacking barrier upon barrier around me.
Then the island falls on me.
POV Channeler
I barely throw myself to the side as a massive rock slams into the ground, as a second massive flying island crashes into the ground, and for a moment, I feel like the entire world is shaking apart beneath my feet.
The heat that follows is suffocating. It rolls over everything like a living thing, igniting the trees around us in an instant. The battlefield erupts into action.
Someone raises walls of earth to cover us. Izzy and her massive snake absorb the worst of the heat. Kim fires at the monsters without hesitation. Even Knight charges in, blade flashing.
Then the shockwave hits. It’s like stepping off a cliff. Every skill I have vanishes in an instant, my passives flicker out, and my mana twists in a way that makes my stomach churn. My control is gone. And even when everything settles, a few seconds later, my mana control still feels sluggish.
And then I see it. The Onyxscale Hydra.
It wasn’t there a second ago. Now it is, towering over the battlefield, its monstrous body writhing. Its remaining head standing tall as the remaining six begin to regenerate. The moment they return, it moves and starts teleporting around, each relocation causing one of its heads to turn into a bloody mess of flesh, scales, and bones.
It shoots fire, it shoots lightning, and it creates barriers around itself. Within just a few seconds, it kills dozens, and among them are a number of the Hell difficulty people I’ve come to know. The beast doesn't slow down either. Second after second, its skills grow stronger, with more of its heads rupturing and regenerating as attendees try to stop or kill it, only to be killed in turn.
At that point, the black shadow panther appears as well, and things devolve into one huge mess.
The panther is incredibly fast and impossible to detect.
The Hydra, between its teleportation, which bypasses all attempts to stop it, and its relentless attacks, begins pulling heat from the air. That alone kills any Easy or Normal difficulty targets in the area, almost regardless of distance.
But then I watch as Victoria appears. Out of nowhere, she stands there as if she had simply sprung up from the ground.
Something about her must have attracted the attention of the panther because it quickly appears beside her and bites into the left side of her body, tearing off her entire arm and most of her chest. More than just a gruesome sight, it sends shivers down my back that she just stands there and watches the panther tear her body apart.
The spooked beast vanishes into the shadows, only to reappear a moment later, crashing into the ground. With something moving inside its mouth. The severed pieces of Victoria's body begin to grow, forming a copy of her body right inside the beast's mouth.
Even so, it is not enough, and the beast's body is too strong, and it closes its mouth, crushing the little that had managed to grow there.
Then I see the most incredible sight. A hand claws its way out from inside the beast's mouth, followed by another. It tears off a finger and throws it deeper into the beast's throat. Then it tears off another finger, and another.
The panther thrashes, its claws still cutting down anyone who gets too close, but it’s losing control. It tries to roar, but the sound is wrong. Wet, choked, bubbling with its own blood. It doesn’t stop moving, but it’s slowing down.
Yet it does not stop. I keep seeing more fingers torn off and thrown into the beast, where a new body attempts to grow from each one. Piece by piece, Victoria forces her way out.
Tears begin to form on the panther's neck, and its mouth stretches open so wide that its jaws dislocate. A sharp crack echoes out, and the beast goes still before collapsing.
Its body starts shifting, accompanied by the disgusting sound of tearing flesh as it continues twitching even after death, with the sort of lifeless movements that I am sure will stay with me forever.
Victoria climbs out, drenched in blood. She wipes her face, barely looks at the corpse, and moves on, vanishing from my sight before I can even register where she’s going.
In the space where she once stood, the hydra crashes to the ground and rises with its six heads lifting into the air. It roars, bursting my eardrums, and I feel warm blood flowing from my ears.
Two heads move hungrily downward and start tearing the panther apart, devouring the body within seconds.
Then one of the heads turns to me, and its mouth opens, lightning crackling loudly as it advances.
Out of nowhere, that mouth snaps closed, and all of its heads turn in one direction: toward the fallen remains of the island in the distance, where the sea meets the pale red sand beach.
Something detonates, sending debris high into the air. Even from here, I can feel the massive surge of mana engulfing the area. In some ways, it feels even more dangerous than the seven headed beast.
A second later, he floats there, right where the hydra is looking. Clothes torn and burnt; wounds covering his body; and blood flowing from the side of his head. His crown floats above his head, and golden circles surround his pupils.
Victoria appears by my side, “You are Channeler, right? My brother mentioned you.”
The way she talks so casually, even in this situation, makes me nervous.
“Y-yes.”
“I am glad I remembered you correctly,” she says, looks up, and calls to her brother, “Do you need any help?”
I already know what he will say; I know him too well to be surprised. And as expected, he answers with that same unreadable, infuriatingly calm expression, as if the world itself couldn’t shake him.
“This one is mine.”