"What are the dimensions on this map?" Owen asked, as he looked for the second time in an hour at their next location. Malik and the others groaned, but Malik answered anyways. "I'm not sure, they are rough estimates, but we are probably another couple miles away from the closest domain."
Owen nodded and turned back to Myra and Peggy. "So, now that we don't really have a connection to a guild, what do you guys want to do once we are done with things?" Myra's hand squeezed his a little harder for a moment before she answered. "I want to get stronger, I can't let you get to far ahead of me." Owen grinned, but squeezed her hand back. "So, we go clear a ton of tier 9 gates?" He asked but Myra shook her head. "We don't have to hurry, I mean we will rush somewhat, but we have a year before the guild break out into a full war. So we can take things slow for at least a couple months."
Peggy seemed to debate with herself, but pointed towards the west. "I need to go that way sometime soon. Maybe before the year is out, but I have something from the World Father that I need to collect. Then I will probably take things slow as well." She sent a light kick towards Malik when he didn't answer. He dodged and sighed before speaking. "Well, as long as we succeed, I can take things slow as well. It will mean that only the virtues have the chance of ascending and while mine wants to win, they were okay as long as the sins don't."
They spent some time talking about future plans as they continued walking. They didn't spend anytime clearing gates and with their levels as high as they were, sleep wasn't as heavily needed. Owen had spent a lot of time thinking while they walked. He had gotten really far in life after the system appeared. He still had a lot of regrets, but for the first time he felt like he had a real goal since the system arrived.
He was close to accomplishing what he had aimed for as well. In the beginning he had wanted to be the main character of his life and right now, he had never felt more like it. He had power, friends and was taking steps to accomplish his main goal. He squeezed Myra's hand again and she looked over to him. "What's up?" He smiled at her and gave her a quick peck. "I was just thinking about how lucky I am." He answered and she smiled back at him, before giving him a quick kiss back. "Don't let it go to your head."
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Malik looked back and hoped more than anything that the domain was coming up soon. They had only gotten more lovey-dovey over the course of their trek. Peggy seem to not mind too much, but it all felt like to much to him. They didn't seem to be even remotely bothered by the fact that they were about to be fighting people who had taken advantage of every system loophole possible.
He had remembered reading stories about people going back in time and solving most of their problems and fighting them now was still something that made him nervous. Unless it was a one on one, he had no guarantee of winning, but they treated it as if it was a guarantee, which was more than a little frustrating. The fact that Owen might be someone who could back up the confidence made it even worse, but he forced himself to ignore it.
He focused on keeping all of his senses on high alert as they moved closer. Almost an hour passed, before they reach the outskirts of the domain and he felt a ripple of energy as a foreign anger came over him, before quickly being quashed. "Guys, we made it, the barrier is right here." Malik said a waved his hand through the invisible barrier.
Owen and the others all paused as they moved through, but each was able to brush off the outside interference quickly enough. "Alright, I will go scan around and see if I can get a handle on their numbers." Malik started and everyone nodded. Owen made a broad sweeping gesture with a hand and asked. "Where is the source of the domain, in can't see anything that stands out and my mana manipulation skill hasn't let me see anything."
Malik nodded. "I will look for the source as well, but be careful, more than likely the word has already been passed and other regressors might be lurking around." Malik only left when he got serious nods from each of them. He snuck quietly through the hillside. Most of the area was open and most people would be caught approaching, but with his skill active, light bent around him making him practically invisible to the naked eye.
It made him appear like a heat shimmer over an open flame and anyone not specifically looking for it would miss the signs of his approaching. He quickly created mana plates on the bottoms of his shoes as he walked, while channeling his sound affinity through them. It made his approach soundless as he got closer to the center of the domain.
The center of domains were not always where the heart of the domain was. When the demigod created the domain, they can choose to design the area as much as they want, but they were limited on how well their inheritor performed. Most could only fit a building or two, but if they built more than one then the rewards they could give would forced to be greatly diminished in value. The wide area of the domain he was in made him believe that more than likely the domain was expanded through eating up some of the rewards for pure size.
He walked without seeing anyone for almost a half hour, before finding the traces of footsteps in some slightly bent grass. Scanning it closely, he followed the trail, which eventually stopped at the foot of a small tree. Glancing at it, Malik scoffed. There were more than a couple dozens trees of the same size scattered throughout the domain and each only stood approximately ten feet tall. Anyone else would've missed both the signs of footsteps, but also wouldn't likely know about illusion based defenses.
He snuck back towards Owen and his friends, before carefully guiding them back. It was a strain on his affinity to add the soundless footsteps to both Myra and Owen, but thankfully Peggy was able to do it on her own once he showed her how. As they approached the tree Malik held up a hand and messaged all of them.
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"This tree is part of an illusion formation. As soon as we break it down, the separate space that everyone else in in right now we come back all at once, so get ready for a fight. They will have slightly more time to prepare, since the tree will withstand a single attack before breaking." He grinned as he felt bursts of power around him and signaled for everyone to prepare their attacks.
Malik gave a lit smack to the tree that seemed to cause the entire world to shudder. He waited for the five seconds to pass before the illusion could be broken, then struck it again. A loud crack filled the air and reality shattered as two separate realities seemed to overlap on each other, before the illusion fully dropped. In less than a second, he was moving as attacks were launched and he quickly guided his mana into creating an earth barrier.
Attacks crashed into it, but only a little rubble fell from the wall, before he purposely shattered it and sent it flying towards their enemies. He felt a heavy strike land against his chest in the same moment, which sent him flying the other direction. "Fuck me," He thought as his eyes landed on his opponent. The tall woman was already moving towards him again.
*Inheritor of Wrath: Tara - Level 140*
He ignored all of her stat and skill information, as he was forced to block her second strike. Her fist swung towards his head and he felt dangerous currents of energy forming on her knuckles. Ducking the blow, he activated four separate skills at once. For less than a moment, her movements was locked and he took full advantage as his speed was boosting by more than 400%. Swinging his fist, he blasted forward and thrust a danger towards her neck. With space locked down on her, the blow didn't look like much.
His third skill took effect in the same instance his dagger punctured her skin and large amounts of hostile affinities injected themselves into her from the point of his blade. When his last skill activated he knew it was already overboard, but it was a safety precaution as a shield appeared between himself and Tara. Her head and most of her upper body exploded as soon as his skill that held her in place ran out of time. Everything had happened in less than a second, but the third strongest regressor was dead.
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Owen had been hoping for a long time to see Malik in action, but time seemed to pause for a second, before the woman who had struck him had exploded. Owen just stared slack jawed, but didn't have a chance to ask him about it as a woman rushed forward to attack him.
*Inheritor of Sloth: Cordia - Level 78
This opponent is stronger than any you have faced before. Other information is blocked*
Owen barely managed to dodge her attack, before she was following it up with another one. Two separate short swords sliced and tore through the air. Owen continued to make distance, but the woman in front of him and close to if not higher stats than he did. Tiny cuts started appearing over his arms as each strike she made seemed to make the air itself a weapon. Myra was busy with her own group of opponents and Peggy was busy with another mage, so Owen grit his teeth and forced himself to move on the offensive.
He took a deep cut in the thigh and another in his side as he pushed his body through her attacks and pushed his boosting skill to its limit. His body tore even further and each wound the woman had landed opened wider. Blood pooled on the ground and he felt hot flashes coursing through his body. He had already changed his bracers into his own short sword and was swinging at her. She moved to block the strike, but the instant before their weapon were about to collide, his weapon changed into the enormous war hammer.
She was crushed in the instant after and Owen took in a deep breath as his skill cancelled. He felt a wave of healing wash over him as his physique stat and Peggy's healing brought his body up to full condition. Each of the stared out at the sea of bodies and the pooling blood. Myra had torn through most of them and Malik finished the rest. Owen felt bad that both he and Peggy had only gotten to fight single opponents, but the wide smile on Myra's face matched on Malik's face, made him smile in return.
With the battle lust gone, he finally smelled the stench that fille the air, making it taste like blood. He fought the urge to gag and instead activated his mana manipulation skill and scanned the area for the energy threads that held the domain together. Before he was able to search for very long, he felt a strong clap on the back that almost sent him to the ground.
"Wow, you really managed to kill Cordia." Malik beamed and Owen tried to smile back, but it didn't feel like anything to grin about. "Yeah, she was strong, but my boosting skill is kind of busted for one on one fights." Owen responded instead and Malik nodded seriously. "I don't know how many of the regressors right now would be able to defeat you. I know it's less than half of them, but I still don't know how you have as much power as you do." Malik said shaking his head.
Owen was able to grin back this time and mimicked holding a finger over his lips. "Well, that's my secret." Malik grinned. "Well, since it is able to help me win, I don't really mind leaving it a mystery." He seemed to freeze for several seconds and Owen thought he was activating a skill at first, but instead Malik grew a puzzled expression on his face. "My sponsor says it's a bad idea to destroy this domain, but won't say why."
All of their eyes grew wide and Peggy stared. "You have the ability to talk to you sponsor?" Her voice was almost shrill with excitement. "You have to tell me how, if I can contact the World Father, then I can do so much for earth." Malik nodded, but still seemed concerned. "It is rare they are able to respond, but when they do it is usually limited. I can show you later, but I'm not sure why they want us to leave this domain alone."
He turned to Owen and shrugged. "It's your call this time. You're the only one who has the strength to actually break a domain right now." Owen considered for a moment, before shrugging. "My goal for a long time was to rid earth of the sins influence. It would be better for me to get rid of this thing if I want any chances of that happening." He answered and Malik nodded seriously.
Turning to Peggy and Myra he smiled. "I will probably need some healing after this, it got a little out of control last time." he spoke and Myra looked at him worriedly. "We can leave this place alone if its going to hurt you, I'd much rather deal with bad people every so often if it'll mean you stay okay." Owen smiled and pulled her into a tight embrace, before looking at Peggy who shrugged. "I don't mind too much either way. This zone makes me feel sick and depending on which one we go to next, I will probably have to step out, but it's up to you."
Owen moved towards where he felt like he could faintly sense the threads. He could feel the energy in his body stirring inside as he moved closer and closer to where the threads were. He still couldn't see them, but he could feel them. He cursed out loud, which caused Malik to flash over. "They fucking buried it." Owen complained as he started scooping the earth out of the way. Seeing that everything was fine, the rest of them started helping and they quickly had managed to fully uncover a small bag.
Inside was what Owen had been looking for as he could immediately see the threads moving from the bracelet that was inside the bag, to the sky. Grasping out for chaos, quickly made it collide with the threads and the entire world seemed to freeze.