None of the manticores seemed to pay Eik any mind as he ran along the edge of the clearing. Many of the weaker monsters did but with the effects of Potion of Mighty Strength, Noxious Invigoration, and Movement Boost stacked, they didn’t have a chance of catching up with him.

Unlike at F-rank, Movement Boost didn’t seem to be waning anytime soon as he pushed himself to the limit. He couldn’t let the fight go on like this.

Circling the battle, he came up behind wounded manticore, Viper Fang ready in his hand. The closer he got the more he felt his head become clouded by the Profound cloud of anger. A throaty growl

As he ran, he reached inside for the Ak’ki, pushing it out into a thick aura. But for the first time he tried to will the energy to suppress his presence — the opposite of what he had done when demonstrating his power to Travis.

Whether the aura did its job or the manticore wouldn’t have cared either way he couldn’t know, but it didn’t turn around in time to avoid his Movement Boosted lunge before it was too late.

As he sailed through the air toward the ugly beast, he surprised himself by shifting Movement Boost from a body wide effect to just his shoulder and arm. At a speed far surpassing his rank, the blade pierced the manticore’s hide. He was on its back, Profound Toxin gushing out from his shoulders like a pair of massive blue wings.

The poison streamed down, flowing through its fur as it began to thrash. Had its tail been intact, Eik would have been full of holes by now, but without that and marred by the three versus one battle, the manticore didn’t have the strength and speed to shake him off immediately.

But it was still a B-ranker and Eik had to hold on for dear life as it bucked to throw him off. It felt like minutes before the toxin had reached all the way around the beast’s torso, but it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.

The moment he felt it connect, he solidified it with a thought. With his body and Viper Fang essentially fused to the back of the manticore, he was free to pump copious amounts of liquid toxin in through the stab wound.

Adding the glittering blue mist to the mix, he let it surround them and flow eagerly into every wound in its body, even the smallest of scratches. His instinctual connection to the toxin let him sense its permeation through the manticore’s system. It spread much faster than it had at E-rank.

Eik gave it ten seconds before he triggered Accelerant to devastating effect. The internal explosion of otherworldly blue light threw the monster onto its side and Eik would have been thrown off if he hadn’t shackled himself so securely.

Instead he had all air forced out of his lungs.

“Eik, what the hell are you doing?” Travis shouted, his voice strained. “Are you insane?”

“Just let me… help!” he groaned breathlessly. “I can— I can take this guy no problem.”

By the time the manticore stood back on unsteady legs he was already ready to activate Accelerant again, but Travis’ voice stopped him. “Eik! Watch out!”

When he looked up all he saw was rows of fangs and a maw gaping to swallow. In what seemed to be impulsive self defense, Eik’s unruly mount reared up and lunged weakly for its charging peer.

The much healthier manticore’s bull rush flung them both violently back, Eik only barely managing to cover the rest of his body in a layer of solid toxin before being crushed under the monster’s colossal weight. They rolled over a few times before coming to a stop against a copse of trees.

Eik dispersed the solid toxin into motes of mist, covering the area in a blue veil. Hearing the booms of combat, he hoped all manticores were once more occupied and climbed onto his mount’s downed body. It was still alive but didn’t seemed to be getting up anymore.

Creating just a small disk of solid blue under his feet he got into a ready position and triggered Accelerant, the luminescent shock wave and a well-timed, lower body focused Movement Boost launching him skyward at dizzying speed.

From up high he easily located the severed tail, lying in a crater, blood pooling at the bottom. Fortunately, the B-rank battle had shifted further into the wilderness, both Travis and Jake still fighting. The three manticores all sported wounds and burns, but so did the humans. He could only hope that none of them would be taken by a stinger again.

The scout hadn’t reappeared so it seemed likely that she was lying comatose somewhere. Deciding against going straight for the tail, he aimed for the stretch of forest she’d been thrown into and pushed solid toxin into the rough shape of a pair of wings.

He didn’t possess the control to move and flap them like actual wings, but they let him glide with intent into the forest. As he made it in among the branches, he let the wings flow back into his body and leapt from branch to branch until he reached the ground.

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Here and there trees stood charred, the smell of smoke hanging thick in the air. Considering the force with which she had been hurled away, she must have gone a fair distance. Soon he found a tree with a chunk ripped out of it, as if a cannonball had crashed through it. Another disfigured tree followed and then another behind which he found her lying in a deep groove, covered in soil and leaves.

She was surrounded by monsters that were attempting to bite into her arms and legs. With her B-rank body most of the monsters could do little more than scratch her skin but a few of them were managing to take small, but concerning chunks out of her.

If something like a C-rank beast came by to join in, she’d be dead in seconds.

Wasting no time, Eik leapt in and bisected two monsters with a single slash, simultaneously releasing a gigantic cloud of toxic mist. Once he felt the poison make contact with the unconscious scout he immediately ordered it to withdraw from her only.

It took a couple of seconds, during which Eik cut down another three vermin, before they seemed to sense something baleful in their bodies, upon which they scattered. Using the mist as a connecting substance, Eik tried for the first time to trigger a mass Accelerant.

Quiet booms echoed all around him and he felt the Profound Toxin fade from over a dozen systems at once. But there were still five systems within the mist that were reinvaded by poison. That meant five left alive.

Excitement and adrenaline welled up in Eik like a wave, tugging at the corners of his lips and revealing teeth.

Activating Movement Boost, he whirled like a shade to appear above one of the stronger monsters and stabbed deeply into its back, filling it to the brim with toxic liquid before dashing on to the next living being.

The four remaining monster got the same treatment. Again he used the mist to ignite Accelerant. Sensing the toxin burst inside his victims felt so good. It was addicting.

Poison already flowing from the grooves in Viper Fang, he dove for the final living system. Only one system left to invade. Unfortunately, it was difficult to get the knife to go deep. What strong skin.

Profound Toxin worked quickly to soften the tissue enough for Eik to wiggle the blade deeper. What a powerful system. Human systems really were something else. So familiar.

Wait, no.

No, no, no…

Like a shroud falling from his eyes, Eik was suddenly looking down at his own bloody fingers clutching the handle of Viper Fang buried in the scout’s stomach. He gasped and fell backward but rushed forth again and forced all traces of Profound Toxin out of her.

“Oh, no… Oh, no, no,” he mumbled between ragged breaths as he tried to stop the bleeding, hands trembling unceasingly. The hope had been to save her, but all he’d done was hurt her more. Keeping one hand on the wound, he fished out a handful of the homemade chunks of healing.

She was a B-ranker and the effects on her high-ranked body would be minimal, but then he’d just have to compensate with quantity. Unfortunately, when she wasn’t conscious to chew and swallow, the wax clumps didn’t work as fast as he’d have liked. If only he’d invested in a few high grade potions.

Squishing a few of the clumps, he stuffed it into the worst of her wounds before picking her up. He ran for where the severed tail was and lay her on the ground.

He took another Potion of Mighty Strength and with Viper Fang spent precious seconds breaking open the hard exterior of the stinger, hoping that this strange creature’s venom was stored in the barbed bulb, rather than elsewhere. If it was magical like his the whole thing would have been for naught. He'd be clueless

When the shell finally cracked he was relieved to see a viscous, light purple liquid ooze out. A few drops splattered onto his hand, one of them entering a still bleeding scratch. Noxious Invigoration immediately intensified noticeably and a momentary bout of drowsiness came over him before fading again. Perfect.

He took out empty vials and a scraper and got to work, quickly falling into the delicate but familiar routine. Meanwhile his brain got a bit of space to think.

Had his madness been the Worldbreaker exerting its influence over his mind? Fuck that. That could never happen again, but he was afraid that it might, regardless of how much he promised himself it wouldn’t.

The Worldbreaker was a force that grew along with him but faster. What if he never managed to wrest complete control of the murderous entity?

He stowed away seven full vials in the rucksack and lifted the scout back into his arms. Her breathing seemed labored and her wounds wouldn’t stop bleeding. Explosions still reverberated through the wilderness and didn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.

There was no use in approaching. He would be useless in the fight. Travis and Jake, with their massively destructive powers would only be hindered by having him there to be careful of.

“Travis! Jake!” he bellowed at full lung. “I found her! And I have the venom!”

Seconds passed without an answer and he was about to run over there when Jake’s voice reached him. “Understood! Take her and head back! We’ll finish up here!”

Eik ground his teeth as he stared toward the battle where fire and lightning still tore through the air. “Fuck!” he hissed and started running awkwardly with her in his arms. It took him a whole minute to get the idea to secure her to his back with solid toxin.

All the way back he kept rotating clumps of poison and Potions of Mighty Strength. It was probably much more of everything than what he should be taking within such a short period, but that was a worry for later.

Once he reached Mission Central, a D-ranked healer was immediately on her while a new B-ranked healer was fetched from his home. Ever since the dimensional expansion during which Eik himself had Awakened, many peak stage C-rankers had evolved and tripled Forest’s population of B-ranker. That expansion had been the final piece for many of them.

Assured that she would be well taken care of, Eik rushed home to begin synthesizing the lifesaving remedy. It would take some time but he was confident he’d be able to solve it in the end.

The past nine years had introduced a lot of new materials that could help. Not just with this, but other aspects of society, such as better building materials, metals for weapons and armor, more adaptable and fast-growing variants of old Earth plants, and much more.

He ran through the garden and ripped the door open. “I’m back!” he called as he closed the door behind himself. “I’ve got it! I found what I need so now I just have to—”

The rest never made it past his lips. Fingers still on the door handle, Eik stood frozen as he stared.

Rock Fist Bart’s eyes met his, hatred burning brightly as he stood over Olivia’s body.