A blurry figure glimmering with a golden hue streaked across the plush forest carpet with incredible velocity, leaving afterimages in its wake. Every step of this swift created a deep gash on the ground, and its rapid movements produced a booming sound that caused the old leaves to shed and startled creatures in the vicinity into diving into burrowing into their homes.
The figure dodged and weaved around the many obstacles that a happening terrain such as a verdant lively forest offered. The figure made sure not to decimate too much of his surroundings as he made his way to a certain location in the forest where a shout of help by an assumed beautiful damsel had originated from.
Aelric deployed one of his bloodline abilities that augmented his momentum further as the reverberations of conflict reached him. Aelric hadn't heard the voice call out for assistance after the initial instance, so he assumed that the one engaged with the aether being was the alluring voice's owner. Aether was curious as to the identity of the formidable foe that had prompted the woman to do such a desperate thing, for it wouldn't be a surprise if her scream had ended up attracting more aether beings to her location.
'Her scream was probably enhanced by some sort of ability or skill for it to reach me.'
Aelric had traveled over three kilometers, internally impressed with the awakener's talent. It wasn't easy for an awakener to implement a skill to extend their voice for such a distance amid battle.
"We're closing in, can you sense anything?"
[A little, but I don't have any exact information, the aether distortion is just too violent.]
Natalie's statement was followed by a sigh, for she will still against the whole idea and had made her thoughts known during the run.
[Two relatively powerful entities seem to be amid a battle.]
Aelric frowned at Natalie's words as he slid on the soft surface to avoid a thick branch that could eviscerate him if he collided with it at full speed.
Natalie was an existence whose default state was one of ridicule. She was dismissive and derisive of everyone and everything Aelric came in contact with, for she didn't consider humanity as a species to be of major significance.
She had come around to accept Aelric because she regarded Aelric's talents quite highly, separating his identity from his race. She had mentioned on multiple occasions that Aelric's talents were unprecedented.
According to Natalie, humanity was a mere stepping stone for Aelric and his destiny lay far beyond the avenues of mankind. He was meant to fulfill much higher ambitions than to go about participating in humanity's meaningless squabbles.
And to have that very Natalie deem someone as strong was quite a surprise to Aelric, for although she didn't say it outright, Natalie seemed to have acknowledged this person with an enthralling voice.
Aelric's curiosity regarding the identity of this valiant damsel was thoroughly piqued. With his swift speed and the short distance, it didn't take long for him to come upon the battlefield that had scared even the most ferocious of D-tier aether beings into hiding. A palpable tension hung in the atmosphere, Aelric felt a subtle force pushing him back, the result of two extraordinary powers colliding was clear to see.
The scene Aelric laid his eyes upon as he passed through the thicket of bushes nearest to the clearing blew him away. The image seared itself into Aelric's head and killed all of his momentum, sending him into a gaping daze of disbelief and astonishment.
A chaotic elegance, an enchanting havoc, and who knows what else. What was once a lively and serene clearing teeming with flora and fauna had been left decimated, with traces of brutal conflict decorating every inch of the environment. Hulking trees were uprooted, and the very soil had revealed what lay within.
Aelric's previous battle was a mere scuffle among kids compared to what had transpired in this domain. Trunks, branches, leaves, and carcasses of small creatures cluttered the ground, painting an exceedingly savage picture, and the artists were two contrasting figures duking it out in the middle of the clearing. One was a delicate and unbelievably enchanting human female, and the other a horrifyingly grotesque creature exuding a dense bloodthirsty aura.
The creature stood over five meters tall, its hunched form dripping with viscous, yellow sludge that gave off an acrid stench. Its sinewy limbs ended in jagged claws. Uneven patches of its leathery skin oozed a sickly luminescence, pulsating like a heartbeat. Its face was a grotesque amalgamation of crooked fangs, slitted eyes glowing a fiery orange, and an elongated snout that exhaled toxic fumes. Rows of spines jutted out from its hunched back, each tipped with a glimmering, venomous fluid. The ground quaked with every heavy step, its guttural growl reverberating like a death knell.
The figure clashing with the abomination was that of a woman who instantly mesmerized Aelric and killed all of his momentum. She stood as a radiant contrast to the hideous atrocity, her long silver hair cascading down her back like a shimmering waterfall of moonlight. Her intense red eyes burned with a fierce resolve as if channeling the essence of a roaring inferno within. Her figure was both commanding and graceful—firm and athletic yet voluptuous, exuding strength and elegance in perfect harmony.
She wore garb that clung to her form with regal precision, its intricate patterns glowing with a silver light that mirrored the ethereal luster of her hair. The fabric seemed otherworldly, as though woven from starlight, shifting between delicate and impenetrable with her every movement. Ornate pauldrons and a shimmering cape adorned her shoulders, their edges gleaming as if kissed by the dawn. Every step she took radiated an aura of unyielding divinity, her presence alone enough to silence the chaos around her.
"Woah... She is..." Aelric's mouth gaped and his eyes glazed over as he stared at the destructive battle with his hands by his side. "Lovely..."
[Aelric?]
"..."
[Aelric!?]
"..."
[AELRIC!!]
"H-huh?" Natalie's agitated voice boomed inside Aelric's head and snapped him away from his reverie. "W-what?"
[Haa~ That girl has been gesturing for you to help, and you've stood here dazzled by her beauty...]
Aelric redirected his gaze toward the conflict and noticed the gorgeous woman periodically glancing in his direction from the corner of her eye as she struggled against the hulking aberration.
Natalie's voice was ridiculing and disappointed at the same time. Aelric didn't give it much thought and prepared to enter the battle. He lowered his center of gravity, planted his feet on the ground, and strained his muscles. He brandished his spear, the silver blade at the tip glowed with a lethal intensity.
[Are you sure? It is an elite C-tier aether being... You haven't been able to beat one yet...]
Aelric frowned as he observed the aether being lunge at the woman for the umpteenth time. The woman valiantly swung her rapier and repelled the being, having to take a few steps back because of the impact. It was clear that she was tired, for her equipment and skin bore traces of battle, her movements had begun to show signs of sluggishness, and her chest was heaving erratically.
"She's still holding on, albeit barely..." Aelric was fascinated by the woman, but he also recognized that this wasn't the time to lose his composure. "If I activate all of my boosting skills and take a few master's medicines, together we should be able to beat it..."
Aelric's voice trailed at the end, waiting for Natalie's input on his assessment of the circumstances.
[Yeah... Go for it... Promise me one thing, if the situation gets too volatile, just run. I am sure she will be caught first if you both escape.]
Aelric's eyebrows twitched at Natalie's remark.
'Always the fucking sadist.'
Aelric mused but didn't dare to voice out his opinion. He decided to focus on the battle, for it was clear at a glance that the woman wouldn't last long without assistance.
Aelric inhaled deeply, filling his core with aether energy.
"[Latyuk's Might.]"
A silver-bronze glow enveloped Aelric's form, covering his skin and equipment with a subtle yet otherworldly metallic sheen.
"[Gaze of the Kwara.]"
Aelric's ocean-blue eyes glazed over with a layer of violet and gained a certain mystical quality. His pupils enlarged and his senses sharpened considerably.
These two were the only active enhancement skills that Aelric possessed, and each required a certain proficiency of aether manipulation and magic power to activate. [Latyuk's Might] amplified his overall physical attributes and augmented the durability and damage of his artifacts. [Gaze of the Kwara] on the other hand elevated his perception and cognitive capabilities, along with heightening his senses to a superhuman degree.
Aelric stimulated his spatial artifact, the marbled necklace hanging around his neck, and two vials were ejected into his hands. One of them contained a glittering grayish liquid, and the other carried a rather viscous maroon blend.
Aelric guided his aether energy to pop the tops of the two vials and downed them back to back without giving much thought to their flavor profile. However, his scrunched eyebrows gave indications as to the taste of the liquid. He barely prevented himself from retching all over the ground.
As soon as the two liquids entered his system, he felt a warmth pervade his frame, and a foreign strength adding to his own.
His plan was to exploit the lack of agility of the aether being and get in a hit or two on the creature before he was properly embroidered in the conflict and targeted.
BOOM!
Aelric's legs throbbed with power as he took off toward the creature.
Shiiiiiiiing!
A metallic cutting noise reverberated in the clearing as Aelric appeared behind the creature and thrust his spear at the creature's back, aiming away from the unnerving protrusions oozing poison and pus on its back.
Pleuch!
"ROAAAR!"
The spearhead penetrated the uneven leathery skin and elicited a guttural pained roar from its very essence.
The creature turned around in abject wrath, about to lunge at Aelric with its jagged claws drawn and covered with a toxic substance that seared the floor as it fell. As he prepared to evade the beast's attack, his enhanced senses caught the ever-so-enchanting woman using one of the trunks decorating the scene as a jump pad and took off into the air, her rapier glowing with a fiery radiance, indicating that she was charging up a strong skill.
'What the fuck is she thinking!?'
Aelric screamed inside his head at the woman's insane actions. He had assumed this would be a long battle and the two would cooperate to whittle down the aether being enough so that one of their powerful skills would be enough to finish the job.
However, from the woman's maneuvers, and the energy concentrated at the rapier's tip, it seemed that she wanted to end the monstrosity with this very attack.
The creature hadn't completely committed to striking Aelric and could still react to the woman's ambush if he decided to evade the monstrosity's lunge. The only situation where the woman lands her attack and doesn't instantly disintegrate from the aether being's claws is if Aelric were to tackle the attack head-on and keep the creature occupied.
'Is she fucking insane?'
[She's got spirit.]
Aelric and Natalie's thoughts run out together, with contrasting opinions on the situation.
The creature had already pounced towards Aelric when it sensed the approaching lethal attack aiming to sever its head. It was tricky for the gargantuan monster to maneuver in the air, so it followed its instincts and poured all of its strength into attacking the figure in front of it, Aelric.
"ROAAAAAAAR!"
"Fuck!"
Aelric screamed and saw no way out of the situation unless he was fine with the woman being brutally murdered by the dreary claws of the elite C-tier aether being.
"[Tarkol Ja Poosan]"
Poosan was an S-tier aether being that carried the potential to evolve to the SS-tier, with some genetic marvels and outliers of the species reaching this milestone. The citizens from the Le'Umia Star System had dealt with a colony of Poosans about twenty millennia ago, with many of the surviving warriors that participated in that war assimilating with the potent bloodline of Poosans.
One of Aelric's bloodlines had a trace of the SS-tier Poosan bloodline, and the class derived from the bloodline granted him this particular skill. Poosans were renowned throughout the universe as one of the most durable species of aether beings, surviving through the harshest of environmental conditions and enduring the strongest assaults. The name of the skill roughly translated to 'The impregnable defense of the Poosan.'
Aelric raised his spear and held it horizontally in front of his body, holding the shaft of the spear tightly with both arms. A black hue radiated from his body, mixing with the silver-bronze sheen from [Latyuk's Might], pushing his aura to another degree.
Aelric planted his feet on the ground and lowered his center of gravity, leaning forward a little with his spear in the path of the approaching claw.
"ROOOOOAAAAAR~!"
BOOOOM! CLAAAAANG!
"AAAAAH—!"
Aelric screamed in excruciating agony as his body was pushed back five meters, his feet sinking into the ground, and his lower body on the verge of buckling under the force. He felt as if all of the bones in his arms had been shattered as an uncanny numbness took over him. The might behind the claw kept increasing, but Aelric ground his teeth and tensed his body.
"AAAAAAGH!"
Aelric's body showed signs of breaking as the stack of skills seemed to wither under the domineering strength and bloodthirst. As the force was about to overwhelm Aelric and eviscerate him, the attack finally lamded.
SHIIIING—
PUCHIK!
A disturbing fleshy sound resounded in the surroundings as the woman's rapier pierced the creature's snout from the side. She made sure to complete her assignment as she pulled the rapier with an unstoppable momentum, severing the creature's snout. Yellow blood bubbling with poison poured from the wound as the aether being roared in pain.
"ROAAAAAR~!"
Aelric assumed that this attack would be enough to deter the creature, for even if it didn't wither immediately, with the amount of blood it was losing it wouldn't be long before it keeled over in demise. However, the reality was far from it.
The creature, in a fit of panic and rage, swiped its claws at the woman with an unseen agility.
"NOO!"
Aelric's senses and cognitive abilities had been sharpened, so he witnessed the scene play out clearly. Although he could perceive it, that didn't mean his body could move fast enough to intervene.
He watched as the claw moved towards the unsuspecting woman at an incredible speed.
BANG!
The woman managed to barely react and raised her rapier following Aelric's shout, but it was a thin rapier and couldn't provide much in the defense department. She was blasted away like a rag doll and crashed into a tree a couple dozen meters away, thrashing through the trunk and disappearing into the forest.
Aelric, despite his arms being on the verge of complete destruction, raised his spear and hurled himself at the creature. And although the creature managed to sense Aelric's instantaneous movement, it was too late.
KWEEEEETCH!
The spear lodged itself in the abomination's abdomen, the aether being's fluids trying their best to burn away the spear, but it was a pretty high-ranked artifact and remained unscathed under the relentless assault of the creature's bodily liquids.
"[Spearhead Detonation.]"
BOOOOOOOM!