He was close to his hideout at this point, but he noticed the tunnel in front of him fold in on itself as Earth came like a flood from the ceiling moving towards him at a breakneck speed. He looked behind and the same scene could be observed as the walls caved in, edging towards him.
He didn’t panic. He had already accounted for this situation.
His body started morphing as the skin hid behind a cover of Black furs and a flexible tail emerged from his hip. Turning ethereal, he leaped into the walls.
The Earth around him crumbled continuously but it didn’t hinder him. He turned his claws normal to gain a footing and pushed himself higher into the Nest. He was planning to escape the Nest in this fashion. After killing more than a thousand creatures, his saturation was already halfway there. So, he could maintain the Ethereal form for at least 7 seconds at once now.
He used his fastest possible speed as he gained altitude with each push. He was moving with practiced movement. Whenever his body was close to losing momentum, his claws would find a footing and push him upward. He was gaining 10s of metres with each push.
Ragnar could not fail here. It might be the difference between life and death. As he tore through the Earth, he started hearing voices in his head.
A stream of messages came hauling in, telling him how successful his plan was.
“You have Disposed of a Shifted Menace of the Arcane Rank, Quaraxi Drone.”
“You have Disposed of a Shifted Rogue of the Mutant Rank, Quaraxi Worker.”
“You have Disposed of a Shifted.….”
“You have Disposed of a Shifted…...”
Ragnar had come up with a simple plan. It was to destroy the Nest completely. He had the ability to do that with his Wave Surge Ability. And he didn’t let it down.
He had learned in his lessons that everything in this world followed the concept of Causality. This concept had become a widespread notion especially after the Calamity since the Essence Charges also followed this notion. In this case, since Ragnar was the cause behind the collapse of this Network, the effect, being the deaths of all the Quaraxi inside, would be associated with him. Hence, why he received all their charges.
Ragnar was counting on this conceit to provide him bountiful harvest for his efforts.
It had already been 5 seconds since he entered the Earth, he had been using echolocation continuously, trying to locate the end of Earth, and he could sense that it was near.
He pushed and pushed, giving it his all. But it didn’t seem like he will make it. He was at the 6th second moving towards the 7th but he still needed at least one more second. Ragnar’s body did not stop moving, but a loud voice kept echoing in his mind, reminding him that he will not make it.
He was going to get buried under Earth for the second time. This time, it was continuously collapsing, it might shatter his body in an instant. Ragnar could not do anything in this situation, he could just hope that his body would be strong enough to last the 3 seconds until he could activate it again.
The stream of Messages had still not stopped, like an endless waterfall of announcements.
Ragnar could not spare any focus for them but they at least gave him some consolation for the pain that was to come. He had not stopped moving and it was finally time. The 7th second was over. But what happened next was not within Ragnar’s calculation.
A large stream of essence entered him coalescing around his core. This one being so much larger and potent compared to all the previous ones that he could instantly tell who it belonged to.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“You have Disposed of a Shifted Dread of the Spectral Rank, Quaraxi Matriarch.”
“You have Received a…”
That massive pool of essence pushed his ability enough to allow him another second in this form. He didn’t waste this chance as his body never stopped moving. It bolted through the Earth, finally emerging on the other side.
‘Not even Closeeee.’ He might have shouted it out loud but his shifted form did not have the ability to create those noises, yet. So, he settled for a growl.
"Grrrrr..."
Ragnar had made it to the surface. His Ethereal form finally deactivated as his foot landed on the surface. But he still could not relax because the surface was shifting and cracking, subsiding at an astonishing pace.
Ragnar knew this could happen, the whole mound or mountain the Nest was built in could collapse, but he still thought that it was his best bet for his escape. He had no clue how far the nest extended horizontally, whereas vertically, he knew it would end sooner rather than later.
He was not too worried about the converging floor. He was confident in maintaining himself on the top.
***
It took around 5 minutes for things to settle down.
Ragnar sat on top of a mound of soil, back in his Human form. His chest had already stopped bleeding but the wound was still very much there. He would need at least a sleep for that to heal. Still naked by the way.
But it didn’t seem to bother him as his face had a fierce look. He was looking at his status as the Essence charges were still rolling in. The messages had stopped coming a while ago but the saturation counter kept getting higher and higher.
It reached 4999, but it didn’t stop.
Saturation:5000/5000
Ragnar had done it. It was time for a rank up.
A huge flow of Essence emerged from within his cores, coalescing around his whole body. Covering him from head to toe. It was a mixture of black and white energies that travelled through every pore in his body.
The energies kept at it as they changed his body from inside out, killing every old cell and replacing them with new Arcane ones. Nothing changed for him fundamentally, but he was now a completely different being in the scale of existence.
He felt ecstatic during this process, like he could get addicted to this sensation. It didn’t last for long though as the energies suddenly rushed back into his abdomen converging inside his cores.
A message followed up this development.
“You have Evolved into an Arcane.”
A maniacal laughter echoed through the collapsed mountain.
“HAHAHA….HAHAHAH…HAHAHAH”
Ragnar almost toppled off the mound while cackling but a surge of waves emerged from his back, settling him back in his seat.
Ragnar’s plan was a splendid success. He had taken off the first target from his list. In the process, he had also destroyed a complete Nest, gaining thousands of Essence charges at once.
It was also accompanied by a piercing sensation in his mind as a large chunk of his Humanity had vanished at once. But that was insignificant compared to the things he had gained.
That bitch died a horrible death. She wasn’t even the last one to die out of her Army. Since Ragnar had received several more messages after the one that announced her Death.
“Heh, pathetic.”
He had worked very hard for this. Collapsing a whole Network that spanned for kilometres wasn’t an easy feat. But it was all worth it. Ragnar felt content in this moment. He was very satisfied with his performance.
His laughter soon paused. He started thinking about what he was going to do now. But nothing came to mind. What was he to do now? Dealing with the remaining two targets on his list wasn’t going to be this easy. He would need a lot more strength for that.
So… Should he just continue killing here? He sighed and moved on; he could think about it after he had completely recovered.
His Essence charges were still increasing but the numbers he received had decreased now because his Rank was higher.
He opened his status to check his progress. He had also sensed something else enter his body along with the essence that came from the Queen. He was excited to find out what it was.
Name: Ragnar Drakorian
Species: Human
Rank: Arcane
Lineage: Drakorian
Lineage Ability: ???
Lineage Perk: Shifted Transformation
Ability: Wave Surge (S Tier)
Wave Surge: The enigmatic manipulation of waves that ripple through existence.
Core Saturation: 432/5000
Tainted Perks: Earthen Fusion (Ability)
Firstly, Ragnar was an Arcane now. Which means he can sense his essence clearly and gain much finer control over his ability. He could only imagine the things he would be able to accomplish.
But despite this, he still carried a frown on his face. The counter of his saturation was not the least bit satisfactory. It was obvious from that number that he did not get even a single Essence from the creatures that were below his Rank. That means, he had not gained any charges for at least 800 Quaraxi Workers. They were just collateral damage at this point.
He didn’t dwell on it for long though because his attention was grabbed by the new line that had appeared in his status.