Although he only fought for less than ten times, Aleph's spatial awareness was developed to the next level. It was as if he honed it in the midst of a war where everything could potentially kill him in one go.
The first thing that he did was to mark the most dangerous ones around him.
"One… no, another special undead. How come they are together?"
Aleph briefly glanced at the two 'elite-grade undeads'. One of them was a black haired girl wielding a huge scythe. The other one wielded a dark-blue bow.
"Two lives." He muttered. "What a cruel world."
The scythe-wielding undead was the first one to charge at him. She held the tip of her scythe downwards. It wasn't just the honkai weapons that these undeads received; they also learned how to properly utilize their weapons. In the case of a scythe, targeting the calves was its most appropriate move.
'Legs.'
Aleph immediately caught onto her next move. The greatsword in his hands weighed around fifteen kilograms, something far beyond normal greatswords. Lifting such a weight with one hand would be troubling for most people, but it wasn't the case for Aleph.
Under his sleeves, purple lines began glowing. It has always been in an active state whenever he lifted the greatsword. Thus, it didn't weigh considerably for him.
In a strange manner, Aleph swung the greatsword upwards. Despite the strain in his arm, he continued his plan.
Using the momentum built by the greatsword, he jumped.
Swoosh-!
The threatening blade of the scythe swept past the ground just as he did so. The undead looked at him in surprise.
The next moment, all she was the descending greatsword that he swung once more. She tried to block it using the scythe's handle, but to no avail.
Crack-!
Bam-!
The greatsword went through it before directly cutting off her head and right arm.
Thud-!
"One hundred and eighty two…"
Aleph did not dilly-dally during his month within the third institute. Aside from his exploration of the [Ratio] cursed technique, he also made efforts to explore the substance of the 'cursed energy' as well.
In short, it didn't only enhance his base strength. It could also be used to temporarily enhance a part of his body, resulting in a short burst of power. Him hacking down the undead was the result of imbuing more than half of his cursed energy into his arm.
What's more interesting was it being affected by emotions. It would fluctuate when he experienced overwhelming emotions—to be more specific, negative emotions.
Aleph could vaguely feel that he was still missing a lot when it comes to this reward of his.
Unfortunately, he was left to tread this road all by himself.
Clang-!
These thoughts did not distract him from the battlefield as he blocked the incoming arrow with the flat side of his greatsword. He swiftly noticed the difference between the archer undead and the scythe undead. The former's speed was considerably higher compared to the one he had just killed.
Nevertheless, it was because of his swift and decisive strike that he was able to easily dispatch the scythe undead. Letting them act first would allow them to use their skills more often.
'It's focused on me. It doesn't have much intelligence…'
Aleph's eyes continued following the traces of the archer undead. His steps only lagged a few steps behind her. The undead could do nothing until the distance between them was closed.
The ending could be imagined then.
Psshk-!
The undead's throat was pierced by the large greatsword. Aleph felt the sensation of bones and flesh sticking close to his blade. It did not fail to bring a sense of despondence to him.
"Honkai could attack us, but we could not attack the honkai."
Humanity is in a passive position against honkai. Aleph could not help but think of the future.
'How are we supposed to overcome it?'
His thoughts flew to the positions held by the councilors of Fire MOTH. Their internal strife alone greatly reduced Fire MOTH's efficiency. This stupid situation of still choosing to hide honkai's existence through martial law was one such example.
'With Sapphire City as an example, more honkai eruptions will occur in the Far East. That third herscherr increased the honkai energy concentration of an entire continent…'
Vroom-!
The sound of wheels stopping made him snap from his thoughts. The door to the other front seat opened.
Sakura, who was in the driver's seat, asked:
"Are you satisfied?"
"Not yet." Aleph replied. "But I need to sort some things for now."
Click-!
There weren't any changes when he sat in the front seat. He did not mind Sakura's looks as he scanned the previous alerts that he swept aside.
[Knight Killer: A dagger that specializes in breaking armors. All damages inflicted to armored entities will be doubled.]
[Juezhao: The prototype of an ultimate move within Bajiquan. It may contain the essence of truths in a field.]
[Bag of Senzu Beans: A bag containing twenty-nine senzu beans. Each one could heal injuries, remove fatigue, and restore energy. It does not work against in-born illnesses and other long-term afflictions.]
Aleph's pupils dilated as he saw each reward. One of them could already be considered a windfall, yet he received three. He chose to store them all in the 'space' inside his mind first. Aleph could not use it for his benefit, but he discovered that these items would remain within that space until he called them out.
'A dagger that doubles the damage… Doesn't this work perfectly against honkai beasts?!'
Honkai beasts are silicon-based lifeforms. All of them have a white silicon 'plate' on their outermost layer. That was one of the reasons why they are extremely resilient. Only anti-tank shells could pierce through them.
One could see the sheer power of [Ratio] that creates weak points out of nowhere.
'Juezhao… It's another crystal miniature. It's definitely a skill or the likes. As for the beans… it's basically a second life…'
These rewards were more than enough to let Aleph return to the battlefield for the second time.