by L. M. Kerr
Several magical roots formed out of thin air at his command, helping him to prop his body up. His eyes grew more and more clear as he began expelling the last bits of alcohol hidden in his body.
“I’m not sur-” Just as Myla was about to continue, her frustration mounting ever-higher, she cut herself off.
Something was happening at the center of the room.
Five metal threads had emerged from one of the two gloves that the human wore, wrapping around the nearby energy cocoon like a net. These strings shimmered as they securely scooped it up, holding it tight.
A half-second later…
The human shot straight up into the air as five additional threads fired out his other glove. These threads glowed red as they began to burrow directly into the earth, cutting past the damaged ceiling like it wasn’t even there. These metal strings twisted in a circular pattern as they stabbed forth, relentlessly shearing through stone like a giant, super-powered drill.
Myla's and Tanin’s jaws collectively dropped as they exchanged glances, the human vanishing from their sight in 2 seconds flat. Each Farian reacted differently, the Wise Lady urgently beginning to redouble her efforts to heal the Shadow Guard, while Tanin half-ran, half-hobbled to secure the new entrance, his gait growing more steady with every passing second.
.. .. .. .. .. ..
Micheal’s lungs burned as he landed atop the rooftop of the warehouse above the Farian’s significantly-less-secret research center, ignoring the gaping hole he’d left behind. The pouring rain had vanished as if it had never been, though the sky above continued to remain dark as sin.
Using metal threads to blitz straight through the earth like that was, as Micheal found out, incredibly energy-intensive. He hadn’t held anything back in his mad rush, utilizing his Life Orbs and Cloud Stepping Shoes to their fullest extent, and thus managed to break through to the surface in the short span of a few seconds.
This left him, after everything that had transpired, with about 20% of his Ki and around 16 seconds until it was game over.
‘You need to do exactly what I described, quickly!’ Yvvtal’s voice echoed in Micheal’s mind, urgently reminding him of Silverback’s imminent return.
‘I know.’ Micheal tossed back as he heaved forward with his arms.
A quiet thud echoed out as a silver cocoon flew up and hit the roof with a shudder, slamming down with force. Waves of light fell away from it, the entire structure of the lump of energy shuddering, but still sealed shut and nigh unbreakable.
The metal threads that had surrounded the cocoon flew off and away after it arrived, cast out in several different directions at Micheal’s command.
After that, the exhausted warrior stood still and took a deep breath, his body shivering in relief.
He exhaled.
‘First…’ Despite having only 14 and a half seconds left, Micheal didn’t begin the process Yvvtal had described. From what the Toren had conveyed, as long as he activated this transfer before Silverback completed his recovery, timing didn't matter.
Instead, he raised his right sleeve, ripping it off in one motion to save on time.
Doing this revealed a large, gold bracelet on his arm, one that glimmered in the silver light of Silverback’s cocoon.
This Artifact was extremely important to Micheal, one that had cost 150,888 Points in the Shop. His main plan worked best if he obtained it, something that had become a constant worry in the back of his head.
He’d needed to prepare many things for this battle. From Signal Seer Bracelets to explosives, Micheal addressed those needs in the best way he could: by hunting Magic Beasts. Unfortunately, he ended up being forced to stick to the outskirts of the Dragon Mountains, a certain irate undead drake constantly reappearing if he ventured any deeper.
As a result, he failed to get enough Points, adapting his plan to instead rely on obtaining Points by killing members of the Beast of Providence during the battle itself. That flaw, alone, would’ve been enough to make Micheal discard this plan outright if he’d had any better options. There was no guarantee that he would be able to kill enough enemies in time, making it a gamble.
These problems also emphasized, to Micheal, how things were bound to become more and more difficult if he kept acting on his own. Faint images of Shin and Sophia flickered in his mind, vanishing a moment later as he rested a hand on his golden bracelet.
This Artifact was called a ‘Wave Enhancement Bracelet,’ a Limited, single-use Artifact that went through a brief stint of fame in the 7 Layers, causing it to hit its 60,550 purchase cap two years from now.
It was a known fact that Limited Abilities sometimes reappeared in the Shop, usually around the start of each Wave. Which exact Limited Abilities returned appeared to be random, with some never reappearing, even years after humans that had possessed them perished.
Limited Artifacts, on the other hand, reappeared at rates that didn't always appear entirely random, but varied from item to item. Some consistently reappeared in similar numbers each year, while others never reappeared, like Spatial Rings. Micheal’s use of this bracelet was a luxury he would’ve killed to possess in the latter years of his first life, one of the many tools that never reappeared after getting bought out.
The gold bracelet’s power was simple: it temporarily enhanced the effects of other Artifacts, making it one of the few things that Micheal had to account for when he was calculating how tough Silverback’s energy shield could be.
The moment Micheal grabbed onto his bracelet, he began to act.
First, the titanium strings that Micheal had sent out earlier finally reached their targets: the signal-blocking Artifacts he’d left outside.
With zero buildup, his threads obliterated these devices, sending bits of metal spiraling into the air as the Artifacts exploded.
Their demise caused the air to visibly distort, making Micheal’s eyes water. A fraction of a second later, as reality whiplashed back to normal, he felt more than saw the nigh-invisible signal-blocking barrier vanish.
When Micheal had set about tying up loose ends on the surface, one of the first things he’d done was examine the four signal-blocking Artifacts that the Beasts of Providence had left behind.
Micheal wasn’t exactly an expert when it came to Artifacts like this, but he also wasn’t uninformed. If something could interfere with the Vile King’s Seeds, it was probably something Micheal had some sort of basic understanding of, thanks to the research that smarter people than him had done in his first life.
When he fused that with his own general knowledge and perfect memory, Micheal was able to determine that these Artifacts did two things.
The first was to block out all energy-based signals, something Micheal had already surmised. Its area of effect was shaped a lot like an iceberg, he found, blocking a much wider area beneath the surface by using the earth as a medium.
The second function it had was to send out a signal if any of the four devices stopped working or if a living being broke past the barrier.
Even if Micheal simultaneously destroyed the four Artifacts, what was left of the signal-blocking barrier would automatically convert itself into a powerful energy signal, one that would emerge from a thousand different places up on the surface.
Likewise, if he or any of the Farians took even a single step outside this signal-blocked zone, the same thing would occur.
This tidbit made Micheal realize why the Beasts of Providence had so eagerly confronted him instead of trying to stall him out. They didn’t want to give him a chance to retreat.
This setup covered almost any weakness Micheal could think up, an exceedingly thorough addition that had Constantine’s touch all over it.
Micheal’s eyes narrowed as, in the brief moment when the air distorted, he felt exactly what he’d expected: a faint flicker of energy at the edge of his awareness, a signal he was only able to sense because of the huge number of times it was being repeated around him.
When he confirmed this
signal really did exist, Micheal also confirmed his guess that the Beast King’s mind-controlling power didn't activate instantly. It had to have some type of delay after activation, notable time lag that varied, perhaps based on how far the man was from his subordinates.
Otherwise, there wasn't a good enough reason why the Vile King would go through all of this additional effort, save for creating a plan to avoid that delay.
The flurry of energy particles that had appeared all flew off through the air, leaving a trail that was invisible to the naked eye but not to Micheal’s Soul, as they raced east…
In the direction of the Farian Life Festival.
This attack by the Beasts of Providence had never been just a single attack on one front…
It had always been two-pronged.
One group was sent to murder Myla Hannis…
…while another group was sent to lure several High-Tier Magic Beasts into the unsuspecting Life Festival, keeping the Farian forces distracted while also causing a slaughter when the time came.
All of this ran through Micheal’s head as he calmly activated his Wave Enhancement Bracelet and checked how much time he had left.
9 seconds.
His eyes began to glow blue as the light around him started to look like it was ‘lapping’ up to his body, in waves. Micheal’s hands and feet began to tingle, a feeling of control settling onto his shoulders.
In his Soul, he visualized a sea of dots vividly appearing. Some dots were large, while others were small. All of these dots, Micheal instinctively recognized, were tied to the various Artifacts that he controlled.
A large white dot represented his Aura Nullification Necklace, while a smaller green one stood for his Mid-Tier Spatial Ring. Two large grey ones represented his Silk Strider Gloves, shining next to a blue one that stood for his Cloud Stepping Shoes.
Surrounding those dots was a large mass of gold dots, representing the vast number of Artifacts that Micheal had spent a good part of the last week ‘binding’ to his Soul, the final part of his grand plan to stop the Beasts of Providence.
These Artifacts weren’t ones that could be found in the Shop, but instead, Artifacts that Micheal had pilfered from Yvvtal’s treasury.
Of the two types of treasures he’d taken, ones that were useful in a fight and ones that were useful for raising his stats, this huge collection that he had bound belonged to the first group:
Artifacts that were useful during battle.
Specifically, a large number of Aggrosen Spikes.
These Artifacts were tools some ancient Torens had used when they went out hunting Magic Beasts. After activation, each fist-sized ornamental spike gave off a slew of erratic energy waves that would spread to the nearby area.
They would do nothing to a Toren and would only cause a human to feel a mild amount of discomfort, at worst.
The effect it had on Magic Beasts, however…
That wasn't quite as simple.
Micheal simultaneously activated every single Aggrosen Spike he had bound to his Soul, enhancing the power of each one as he used up his Wave Enhancement Bracelet.
The air started to draw in towards his body, a torrent of energy rising around him like a tornado from thin air.
This energy was directly absorbed by his body, his cells themselves physically bearing the raw power. Shortly after, each line of energy gained the imprint of one ornamental spike or another, his Soul helping form these ‘marks’ and nothing more. These imprints contained directions for the energy to follow, pinpointing the location of each bound Aggrosen Spike, no matter how far away.
Instead of relying upon one’s Soul like most Artifacts, these tools were designed to draw on one's body, a trade-off the Torens of old found to be perfectly acceptable. The stronger one's body was, the more of them one could use at once, limited in effect and range only by how much energy one absorbed.
5 seconds remained.
It was at this point, as Micheal began to shudder in pain, his body informing his mind that it was going to start suffering serious injuries if he didn’t stop absorbing energy…
Finally, Micheal cautiously began to do what Yvvtal had asked of him, confident that it wasn't something that could harm him. Yvvtal still had to treat him in good faith, given the contract that he was bound to, but it could never hurt to be prepared, just in case.
With a simple thought, only marginally dulled by rising pain, Micheal sent a small strand of Ki forward, tracing out from an outstretched hand to land on Silverback’s cocoon. This placid Ki energy touched down without fanfare and promptly began to slide to the side, showing no obvious impact.
4 seconds remained.
Micheal’s eyes kept glowing as sweat began to pour down his forehead, his body focused on one thing while his mind worked on another. His heart was pounding at a million miles a second, flushing him with so much energy it was overwhelming. Everything had become unbearably hot, every cell in his body feeling like it was on fire with life, or perhaps just on fire, in general.
From the line of Ki that touched Silverback’s cocoon, Micheal’s Soul was able to form a faint, extremely tenuous connection with the human inside. It was such a small thing, like a drop of water that was trickling down one’s hand, bound to vanish in mere instants.
Silverback’s attention was still completely taken up as he worked on the final stretch, restoring his body to its prime condition. He spared nothing for this faint, barely discernible connection, not even consciously registering its existence.
Micheal inhaled.
3 seconds remained.
Micheal exhaled.
‘Wow, you really cut this one close.’ Yvvtal spoke in Micheal’s mind, the ancient Toren’s words sounding strangely disconnected.
Micheal was unable to respond, his connection with reality seeming to fade as his entire body, from his brain to his heart, hit the verge of complete collapse.
Micheal did remember to do one last thing as energy continued to pour into him.
When Yvvtal’s consciousness stretched out along the strand of Ki, Micheal didn’t stop him, letting the ancient Toren do as he wished. Because of that, Yvvtal’s Spirit Body began to flow forward, following the Fallen Deity’s commands.
2 seconds remained.
The energy in Micheal reached a crescendo, pain replaced by cool numbness, his body literally starting to fall apart.
Yvvtal’s full and complete consciousness successfully integrated itself in the strand of Ki. As Micheal truly began dying, the Toren’s Spirit Body reached out with that consciousness. It then began to desperately scramble, latching on to anything it could find.
Anything.
Including, as it so happened, a tiny connection that barely existed.
Silverback, in this last moment, just now discovered the existence of this tiny wisp of energy.
“…”
1 second remained.
“…”
Yvvtal’s presence vanished.
“…”
“…”
An explosion of energy shot out into the air, blazing spears of dark light that pierced through the sky, soaring to the west.
“…”
“…”
“…”
0 seconds remained.
“…”
Micheal died.
.
Chapter 58
Within the depths of the Woolen Forest, far to the west of Micheal, a group of masked figures rapidly rushed through the undergrowth. This large team was spread out over the span of about 900 meters, clumped in 30 separate groups of 3.
Each of these warriors was clad in dark, dull armor, identical to the gear used by the warriors attacking Myla Hannis. Unlike the masks worn by the Ape Division, however, the masks this group wore were adorned with the visage of various creatures of the sea.
What stood out most about these warriors, however, wasn’t their armor or their masks. In fact, it wasn’t something about them at all…
It was the Magic Beasts that trailed behind them.
Red-Fanged Tigers that were armed with skin that could block bullets and claws that could rend steel, galloped within eyesight of their mortal enemies, White-Willow Apes, five-meter-tall monstrosities that could easily rip a tank in twain. Small, but extremely deadly Skullcap Frogs jumped from tree to tree, moving so quickly they appeared to teleport, while lumbering Steel Boulder Bears, two-meter-tall bears that had the strange Ability to transform dirt into steel and then manipulate it to attack, blitzed forward without worry.
It was a veritable menagerie, a wide assortment of Magic Beasts that all shared two things in common.
First, they were all extremely strong, possessing great individual power and unique Abilities.
Second…
They were all High-Tier Magic Beasts from the depths of the Dragon Mountains.
“Keep moving forward. No sentries spotted yet. Pass it on.” In one particular squad, placed near the center of the formation, the harpoon-wielding Division Leader Great White issued a series of commands, keeping his voice hushed and low, as he ran forward.
For the past hour or so, he and his men had encroached on Farian territory, making their way ever deeper. Most of their journey had been relatively slow, secretive movement, only later breaking into their current haste.
Great White, a relatively short man, had gained a grey luster about his skin after he activated his Type Ability, the Grand White Shark Type. It was a strong Type Ability that was just below Mythical Tier, one that boosted his reflexes, senses, defensive prowess, and strength all around by significant amounts, while also giving him the power to breathe underwater, resist depth changes, and call up bubbles of water from thin air.
The Division Leader’s commands were passed on, a cascade of quiet voices gradually spreading out. Every Squad was within ear and eyesight of another Squad, but spaced far enough away that the trailing Magic Beasts would not bother each other more than necessary.
Great White looked at the black metal box he had pulled from his Spatial Ring, gazing at its flickering red light.
The ‘Signal’ had finally been activated, roughly 2 minutes after he had been sent a command to rush forward at full speed by ‘The Voice.’ Better late than never, he supposed, as he stored the ring. The Ape Division was, in the end, still the Ape Division. They could never match up to his Sea Division.