Withdrawing his sword from the rock shell of the turtle, Alnea enjoyed his rare moment of peace. The breath of Death… It may be beneficial for his growth, but he did not like it. Still, he had not expected the desperate attack of the wolves to incapacitate nine Oren Beasts at the same time. Was it because of the resonance between two Dark Winds?
Forget it, Alnea thought. There was no use thinking about it. Instead, he decided to take out the beasts hiding in the water. After all, he did not know how many more beasts he would have to face. If some intermediate, or even advanced phase Oren Beasts were to come…
Taking a deep breath, Alnea allowed the lightning in his bones, and muscles to dissipate back from where they had come, before shifting back into the Turbulent Current Style, and rushing towards the stream. And as he had expected, the moment the beasts sensed his movements, they began to launch waves, after waves of attacks, as if trying their best to keep him away.
However, the more the beasts acted so, the more effort Alnea put in his rush, sometimes dodging the attacks, and sometimes using his sword to deflect the attacks. And as he neared the stream, he got ready to—
A massive beast, nearly three metres in length, and two metres in width, rushed out from the water, snapping its jaws at his neck. It was only because he stabbed his sword towards the mouth of the beast, forcing it use its chest armour to block his attack, that he managed to save himself. And he was he not ready to give the beast another chance to launch a sneak attack.
Riding on the waves splashed from the sudden outburst of the beast, Alnea stepped back, and took another look at the beast. A Razorback Black Water Turtle. A rare Oren Beast in the outer regions of the Night Canyons. Especially since from its size, it looked like the turtle was in the intermediate phase, and nearing the advanced phase.
The more that Alnea looked at the turtle, the more he understood how cunning it was. Attacking him with just jets of water, keeping their power much lower than what it was capable of, and even launching multiple jets at a time… It was all the turtle’s trap. Did Yuri’s secret toxin did not work on the intermediate phase Oren Beasts?
At the very least, the toxins were not enough to make intermediate phase beasts lose all their sanity. But that also made sense. Intermediate phase Oren Beasts were much stronger after all. Even if Yuri had the means to make them lose their reason, just imagining tens of intermediate phase beasts, all rushing towards him at once, was enough to send shivers down his spine.
Subduing the errant thoughts in his Heart, Alnea concentrated on the enemy in front of him. A Razorback Black Water Turtle… Even if it was at just the intermediate phase, was enough to fight against many advanced phase Oren Beasts. Killing it would not be easy. Especially with its defence. Using the plants, like he had done at the Seed Rank…
No, that plan would also be useless. The plants were too—
Since it had already been exposed, the turtle did not bother diving back into the stream. Rather, it chose to charge at its prey, while urging the water behind its back. And this time, it did not hold back. A stream of water, thicker than his thighs, short directly towards his head, forcing Alnea to crouch down, even as he rolled back to avoid the turtle’s paw from snapping his head. And when he got to his feet, he noticed a half a foot wide crater some three to four feet away from where he was standing.
No wonder a Razorback Black Water Turtle could be considered as an overlord existence amongst normal Oren Beasts. Why did it have such a ridiculous Innate Ability, when its body was already so ridiculously huge? And this was not even considering its second Innate Ability, which it often used in desperate situations… Sighing at his ill fortune, Alnea gripped his sword with all his strength, and rushed towards the turtle, while preparing his Arcanas.
“In the threads, weaving through the worlds…”
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The distance between him, and the turtle was not too large to begin with. And with the turtle also rushing towards him, it took him only a couple of steps to confront the beast head to head.
“Stitching the forces of the world…”
Not truly an ideal situation, considering how physically strong the beast was. But it was not like Alnea was powerless.
“I summon the essence of the Origin…”
Gathering his Aspects at the edge of his sword, he shifted his grip to ‘Raise the Earth’, and close the beast’s jaws. The beast naturally followed with a swipe of its paws, intending to crush him, but—
“To come, and shift Gravity.”
Changing the core of his gravity, he easily sidestepped the turtle’s paw. The turtle naturally followed along with his movements, but all it hit was his sword. And Alnea, banking on the momentum of that hit, twirled his body, and jumped towards the turtle’s neck, only to ride along the current of the jet shooting towards him, and open a distance from the beast. Enough for him to prepare another Arcana.
“Gravity Field…”
The turtle, rushing towards him, felt the sudden increase of pressure on its body. As beast, and one in an enraged state, it refused to let some mere pressure come between it, and its prey. But the more it struggled, the tougher it became for the turtle to resist the pressure of the earth’s pull on its body. Gravity Field… it was oddly effective against turtle. Was it because of the turtle’s size? Or its weight? Maybe both? In any case, the turtle’s struggle provided him with the perfect opportunity.
“Under the shine of the boundless Night…”
Noticing that it was getting harder for it to move, the turtle urged the water from the stream to keep attacking its prey, hoping to buy time for itself.
“When the darkness hides under her light…”
With the help of Gravity Shift though, and the Gravity Field he had set up, none of those streams, no matter how fast they were, were able to hit him.
“I call forth the sounds of imaginations…”
Still, they did buy enough time for the turtle to adapt itself to the increased pressure, and regain its mobility. Just not enough for it to break from the field of gravity.
“To lead to Nightmare, and a world of fascination.”
And so, in addition to dealing with the increased pressure on its body, the turtle soon also had to deal with illusions derived from its own imaginations. Illusions of supremacy, of evolving into a true Black Water Turtle. Of walking into the depths of the Origin Sea, and becoming an Origin Beast itself. In the end though, it was nothing but a small Razorback Black Water Turtle. No, the Origin Sea said. It did not deserve to be called as a Black Water Turtle. In truth, it was just a Razorback, fit only to be used as a nest for some birds, and snakes. It was—
The turtle shattered the illusions with a roar. How dare someone compare to just some stupid birds, and snakes? It was a Razorback Black Water Turtle. And it demanded its respect. The only thing it got though, was the tip of a sword, covered in black, golden, and silverish blue lights, stabbing into its eyes. By the time it understood what was happening, the sword had already penetrated his head. However, the turtle refused to go down without a fight. With its last breaths, and all the strength it had left, it let out a roar, and activated its second Innate Ability.
Alnea had already expected its actions though. The moment he pierced through the only weak point on the turtle’s body as if he was ‘Piercing the Stars’, he pushed all his Aspects into the beast’s head, urging them to destroy it from its inside, while he himself deactivated the Gravity Field, and rushed back with his greatest speed. He even employed the Lightning Storm Style, stuffing his legs with as much lightning as he could, increasing his speed to his limits. Even then, he could not escape what was about to come.
Urging his Aspects to recover to their peak, he brough his sword front of himself, and assumed the form of the ‘Lonely Peak’. A peak that stood against all the opposing forces. Even if those opposing forces were hundreds of tiny blades from the back of the turtle, the peak stood tall, and proud.
Alnea, however, was facing the embarrassment of his life. His Spirit Power was running low, his hands were getting tired, and the ‘razors’ from the Razorback Black Water Turtle had left countless marks on his cheeks, and hands. And though his there were no injures on the rest of his body, it not because of the ‘Lonely Peak’ guarding in front of him, but the golden glow along the borders of his robe.
Still, though he may have not been injured grievously, the breath of Death he felt was real. And that was his special training was for anyways. To make him feel the breath of Death, and seek a breakthrough in despair. And despair was exactly what he felt, when he saw the second wave of beasts coming at him.