“Alex!”
Alex struggled desperately against the final moments destined to him, all too able to imagine the agony of slowly asphyxiating as stomach acid slowly crushed his desperate restoration technique, assuming he’d be in any position to use it at all to stave off death for however many seconds he managed, before waking up in bitter cold waters, Shui Jun’s bitter laughter making his doom complete. Reminding him that, in the end, no matter how far he fled, he would always return to her once more, frozen and strangled in her coils.
As he no doubt had countless times before.
Yet instead of panicking as the stench of musk, saliva, and rancid meat washed over him, as massive fang’s clamped onto his skull and monstrous pressures that would have crushed steel were applied, he spat his furious rebuttal into the maws of his would-be executioner.
And Silver tier Quickness once again showed its devastating edge on the battlefield as Alex found himself spinning madly through the air, wrenched and flung with such a vicious snap by the canines that had been clamped upon his skull.
For all that his face had been near torn off, at least his skull hadn’t ruptured under the pressure, nor had his neck hadn’t been snapped by the furious wrench that had intended just that.
Yet he was still dazed and disoriented as the air rang with awful tormented howls, and it was all he could do not to sink into blackness as he hurtled through the air.
“Alex! Snap out of it!”
Linnea’s scream was undeniable. Unavoidable as she forced his battered mind to snap back to crystalline clarity, the horrific pain of his disfigurement becoming the sharp fires of absolute clarity as he somehow became an extension of her.
He sensed what Linnea was capable of just as her furious barrage of Crimson Corkscrews ripped through the air to slam into the writhing flank of twisting shadows that was the largest Puma of them all. A puma that had been waiting for them so cleverly, there to ambush what its monstrous pack had so skillfully herded, after being marked and blooded by the humans that had dared to enter their territory.
Yet the humbling realization that Linnea was herself somewhat empathic and was channeling the flood of experience she had earned that day into boosting her infravision more than anything else didn’t retract from a suddenly clear-headed Alex’s need to do SOMETHING as his hurtling body was about to slam into a massive unforgiving trunk.
In a flash he recalled the many times his greatest battlefield advantage had saved him from certain peril, praying that his latest gift too was as forgiving of momentum as it was direction, distance, and orientation.
He needed to be one with his environment, one with the lush green canopy above, and the emerald fields below.
And his timing needed to be beyond perfect as his mind raced at speeds he realized he had never quite forgotten even if his physical body couldn’t keep up.
Yet a surge of will, a single plea, and winds now beating against Alex just enough to slow his momentum a crucial amount was all that was needed for a long branch to shift just enough to scrape his face, and for him to have just enough time to touch it, as his shadow rammed into the rock-hard trunk.
For he was already one with the forest and field all about.
One with the grass crushed underneath the feet of panicked cultivators and a furiously focused Ruidian as they desperately fought to escape the closing trap, one with the bloody patch of gouged soil as a massive alpha silently roared from a seared open throat, fighting off spasms as impossibly potent Silver Tier venom enraged the monstrous cat who knew that it had less than a minute before caustic toxins sent it crashing into the blackness of death.
More than enough time for the furious shadow beast to rip open the throats of the rebellious fiery-haired girl who dared to think searing its flanks and blinding it would stop its final lunge.
Only to find the infuriating blond haired cultivator before it once more, once more spitting caustic death into its maw.
And before the cat could tear out the throat of the infuriating human it had crashed on top of, it wheezed and died, heart cleaved in twain as Alex pumped every last shred of potency he had into blasting through the spirit beast’s chest with the concentrated power of a single element.
“Alex!”
You have critically struck Elite Shadow Puma with Silver-tier spirit beast venom!
Elite Shadow Puma has been mortally wounded!
Elite Shadow Puma has caused critical injury to left arm! (Bones intact.)
Elite Shadow Puma has successfully clamped upon your skull!
Elite Shadow Puma is unable to crack your skull! Puma has whipped you away!
Your face has been shredded! You neck remains intact!
Quickness check made! You have Bullrushed in time to avoid critical injury from: Tree trunk!
You are unable to generate Prismatic Shield at this time.
Yet as troubling as the last message had been, the final one gave him hope.
You have successfully slain Alpha Shadow Puma!
Experience Earned!
He could sense Linnea’s furious satisfaction as she leveled up with that final deadly encounter, splitting her points between Quickness, Vitality, and Perception, as well as locking in her new Infravision ability, such that over a dozen shadowy Pumas that had come close to slipping out of Alex’s perception with the death of their leader snapped back into brilliant focus once more. Their Mind-meld was now even stronger than it had been just seconds before.
Only then did he pay attention to the fresh flood of boons flooding his psyche as well, even as he desperately channeled Prismatic Fox Restoration into himself, crying out with a sudden sharp throb of pain as torn flesh knit and repaired itself with a fiery agony even worse than Eternal Fox had once been, the stench of filth ground into his injuries burning away in the humid jungle air.
Spring Leap is now Rank 6!
Enhanced Wind Piercer Strike is now Rank 2!
Enhanced Wind Qi Deflection is now Rank 5! Specialization has been chosen!
Alex blinked at this, even as he recalled in his mind’s eye the desperate surge of something that had shifted the oversized cat’s claws to digging into his shoulders instead of ripping out his throat. Slowed down and redirected for that tiny split second that made all the difference at their speeds.
It had happened so fast it had almost felt instinctive.
Now he sensed that the subtly swirling winds of spiritual energy that were more able to interact with and deflect physical attacks than ever before. Even if all Wind Qi Deflection did was mitigate a blow or skew it just a bit from a critical hit… he realized what a precious boon his skill now was. Even if his ability only countered elemental attacks with a somewhat physical component, and he might never deflect Lightning or a Spirit Qi attack, with luck, he would never have to worry about arrows again. And his ability to now force even melee strikes just slightly off true would no doubt make all the difference in fights to come.
Enhanced Wind Blade is now Rank 7!
In defense of those you cherish, you have pushed your body and mind to new heights and have enjoyed a breakthrough as your body races to catch up to the speeds of tactical insight and thought that had once been your own… a lifetime ago.
Quickness has ascended to Bronze Rank 2!
Warning! You have dared to incorporate Legendary Lychee Wind Fruit into your cultivation foundation! Your Divine Spirit Cable spins ever faster as you continue to compress peril, insight, and life experiences into a greater understanding of the dao and your own future ascension!
Note, however, that all hybrid arts combining Wind Qi and any other element must be retrained before you can use them without penalty! (Assuming you can figure out how to use them at all!)
Alex wanted to groan at the last message, but instead settled for sobbing out a curse as he choked back a scream in the time it took for his shoulder to finally heal. He knew he had needed to surrender a good bit of potency to make that happen, but it wasn’t like he had any choice.
Not if he was going to avenge his party the agony they had suffered, and do what little he could to maybe give the next party that dared what should have been a safe rift a fighting chance.
One way or another, he had to see this through.
“Alex!” He spared a heartbeat to gaze Dui Zhong’s way. The man was gazing at him with wide-eyed disbelief.
“That damned cat had your skull clamped between its jaws. And the way it whipped and flung you?” He shook his head. “You should be dead, boy. Thrice over! And yet somehow you stand strong and tall… or maybe like you’re about to spit blood and keel over. Your face looks like absolute shit! But at least your eyes are intact, and still you stand!”
Alex forced a bloody smile that was agony but didn’t say a word, even as Linnea, still protecting them with a massive fire ward, led them all to the rift.
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“Come on, Alex, it’s time to go,” Reny gently said, clearly eager to catch up with Ya Ling.
He frowned, realizing that he had lost his fangtian ji.
Before smiling with relief as he jogged away from the group, as both forest and the scent of spirit-beast enhanced oak, steel, and blood, revealed it’s location.
“Alex?”
Alex turned to smile back at Reny. “It’s okay, you all go ahead.”
Elder Wu’s brow furrowed. The powerful Silver looked on the verge of saying so many things as the breeze furrowed his bloodstained robe and whipped his salt and pepper hair. Hard steely eyes met his own.
Alex’s heart quailed, but he forced himself to meet the man’s gaze, even as he sensed death closing in once more.
Much to his relief, Qing Wu settled on a tired shake of his head. “We nearly died here, boy. And would have, if it weren’t for your Ruidian gifts and party formation techniques. It’s best we leave now. As a group. While we still can.”
In answer, Alex jogged back to the massive Shadow Puma, his fangtian ji held high, glaring down at the beast that had come so close to killing Ya Ling and himself as well.
A shadow beast that could have so easily ended them all.
The wind howled as his fangtian ji flashed, faster than it had at any point since he had awoken to this world. Alex paid no heed to the splash of blood, the spray of viscera and gore, that the wind now kept from his frame as he finished hacking the massive head free.
Before solemnly tossing it a bemused Dui Zhong’s way.
“This things a monster!” The man said with a chuckle.
Alex nodded. “And I have no real skill at claiming beast cores.” He flashed a bitter smile. “Except for how to use them to forge indestructible weapons that never need sharpening. But considering how priceless the right beast cores are to this city… I’d be a fool to follow that path now.”
The former caravan master gave Alex a long look before drawing a wickedly sharp filleting knife and expertly coring the cat’s brain, as he reached his hands right into the skull, earning a handful of too intent gazes before revealing a pristine pearl over an inch in diameter.
A prize that would have been worth an absolute fortune, if it had been of the right element. As it was…
The caravan master cursed in disgust. “Worthless!”
Reny’s desperate features turned hard and regretful. “Come. We’ve wasted enough time. We’re fools letting Ya Ling out of our sight for even a minute, especially after the injuries she suffered, stricken with fear… in a school which I fear might still be filled with shadow predators of another sort.”
Elder Wu’s brow furrowed. He said nothing further, merely squeezing his wife’s hand and heading to the rift. “Bring the tiger corpse and come. The meat and hide will at least be worth good silver.”
Alex flashed a sad smile as the pair left, before jogging back to Dui Zhong and claiming the core a heartbeat before the man could throw it in frustration.
He ignored the concerned look this earned him.
“Alex, waste Qi stones are worthless unless you know exactly what you’re doing, and can corrode...” The man stopped, chuckling before Alex’s hard smile. “But of course waste Qi doesn’t really affect you, does it?”
“I do have an edge,” Alex admitted, clapping the man on the shoulder. “And this isn’t a waste Qi beast core.” He gazed thoughtfully down at the grey-black orb that seemed to skitter away from the eyes, holding so many secrets. “It’s Shadow. And you really should jump back through the gate, my friend. Because about a dozen cats are circling around to make this clearing the perfect kill zone, and to hell with their injuries.”
Dui Zhong nodded grimly. “I believe it. And I know we’re only alive thanks to you.”
“And me!” Linnea happily chirped, earning a gentle nod from the powerfully built Bronze.
“Let it never be said that I didn’t appreciate a Ruidian friend at my back,” Dui Zhong said. “Now let’s get out of here while we still can.”
Alex dipped his head, gesturing toward the exit.
The long time caravanner furrowed his brow, guandao at the ready just in case, and exited the rift.
Alex took a deep, shuddering breath, shaking his head as he turned around to meet Linnea’s gaze.
“Are you sure?”
Her smile oddly mirrored his own, Alex feeling only a moment’s disorientation at seeing his own rueful gaze.
“You know I am. If we don’t take out these cats here and now, there’s no way in hell anyone will ever safely delve this rift again. Not for a very long time. Not until they have a party of nothing but powerful, dedicated Silvers and at least one pair of eyes that can pierce Shadow as well as our abilities now allow us to,” Linnea said.
“And by that point, these rifts, or maybe the school as a whole, or hell, the whole city, could be firmly under Duo Yi control,” Alex said.
“And for all we know, we’d be kill-on-sight to those assholes,” Linnea said. “Now quit acting like a furtive puppy. We got a dozen hot bastards eager to finish us off. So how about you make it so we think and act as one again and ooh… bonus points for me, because your totally illegal skill Potency Mastery lets me burn my fire ward so bright and hot, and it doesn’t cost me a thing! Not for another 2 and a half minutes, anyway.”
“Linnea.”
Her smile grew strained. Alex winced at the pain he saw flashing across her gaze. “Let’s just do what needs doing, okay? Because if we don’t handle this here and now...”
She didn’t need to say anything else.
Between one heartbeat and the next, the two of them were one once more.
As much as it might horrify him at any other time, Alex had never felt so complete as he did at that moment. Both consummate warrior and mistress of flame, reveling in his abilities and knowing that half of him would be screaming her head off when all of this was over. But none of that mattered, because five cats were daring the clearing even now, sliding through the knee-high grasses like cruise missiles while the rest settled in ambush points along all the woodland trails leading out of their trap.
And the whole batch was about to close on the tasty-looking Ruidian girl so exhausted that she couldn’t even summon her...
Bullrush!
Bullrush!
Wind Strike!
Even as Alex blinked through the grass and struck, his enemies were twisting around through headache-inducing shadow, lashing out in return with devastating claws elongated by ebony blades of darkness. Grasses effortlessly shredded as the loam and rocks underneath were sliced clean through, one of the cats revealing abilities that not even the largest among them had, making it clear who had truly broken through Silver, and how close Alex had just come to joining Shui Jun once more.
The air rang with furious hisses. Because the cats clearly weren’t stupid. The united five were now on ground they could pivot upon near instantly, as opposed to steep branches or narrow winding woodland trails, graced with a Quickness far beyond Alex’s own, and painful bleeding reminders of Alex’s first round of crippling hit and run strikes.
Yet save for a single splash of ruby blood, the deadly Shadow wielding cat’s claws revealed no wild-eyed Ruidian choking on his own blood. Only the rustling of the grasses as their nemesis retreated as fast as he had struck, two of the great beasts yowling in surprise, for Alex’s wind blade could strike a considerable distance beyond even the razor-sharp head of his weapon. Nine feet of death that had marked a pair of them twice, all of them, including Alex, now leaking blood.
Yet even the cleverest Ruidian left tells the wise hunter could track, so it was indeed a surprised-looking Alex, humbled as only a man facing his own execution would be, looking into death’s hungry gaze as the deadly Shadow-clawed cat spun around to greet Alex’s blinking form with a smile promising oblivion.
Before the world erupted in white-hot flame.
Your opponent takes the bait!
Your other half has successfully struck Elite Shadow Puma with Enhanced Crimson Corkscrew!
You have successfully struck three cats with Silver Tier Caustic Brew!
Vitality check made. You risk mineral depletion.
Alex felt a fierce sense of exhilaration as his opponent twisted and snarled before being washed in fiery oblivion, Alex not hesitating to spit out yet more caustic deadly brew that had come so close to killing his friends just weeks ago, now an added torment as the three closest cats exploded with spiraling streaks of flesh-piercing plasma.
Still, Alex didn’t stick around to admire his handiwork like a fool, instead blinking away before the far faster cats could collect themselves and make him pay in the blink of an eye.
Instead he seemed to vanish in the wavering grass once more as the frantic blazing cats yowled and lashed out at the grass and each other… before sharing an oddly sapient look and darting for the trees as one.
But Alex sure as fuck wasn’t going to let them get off that easy.
Not when any mercy he showed would be paid for in the blood and tears of any cultivator less skilled than he, who actually believed that any of the rifts would ever be safe for anyone, ever again.
Not when so many shadowy players benefited from the nightmare that these delves had become.
Quickness check made! Wind Qi Deflection mitigates disemboweling strike!
You have suffered 1 medium wound.
Your opponent has been blinded by fire!
You have critically hit your foe!
With focused desperation, Alex did his utmost to become one with the battlefield before him.
To feel the flow of spiritual energy both through himself, through the windswept forest and fields, and through the massive shadow beasts even now roaring for his blood.
So that when they lashed out with claw or disemboweling back foot, he was already leaping away.
Yet their speed, even injured, was a nightmarish thing.
A devastating edge that necessitated Alex moving at superhuman speeds just to land a single telling blow… or to perfectly coordinate each assault from unexpected angles with explosions of flame.
He paid a price in blood and pain and the terror of imminent death, just a single mistake away.
But he was rewarded for every second he survived with claws growing ever more disoriented and panicked, fierce gazes growing ever wider with fear the equal of his own, and fur growing brilliant red as it was increasingly kissed by flame.
The air became thick with crimson mist and copper’s cloying scent as great gouts of blood spurted form first one, then a second cat that finally fell to his fangtian ji.
Only then did the remaining three break and flee in unison…
Because now, it was only a matter of time.
Time to blink in the endless green as giant felines tried fruitlessly to hide in shadows that were inevitably broken by steel’s bitter sharp embrace. Time to show that there was no mistake, even among cats who traded stealth for speed, darting across the fields and the most direct woodland paths that they could find. Speed which brought them a few seconds but no more, for Alex was now one with this forest, and any dappling shaft of light could be replaced by wicked-sharp steel and hamstring cleaving cuts in the blink of an eye.
Then it was a desperately struggling spirit beast suddenly fallen lame, multiple injuries now making it all too clear who was the predator and who was the prey.
A single moment’s startled agony quickly became blissful peace… as oblivion claimed the shadow beasts once more.