Amalyse should have been falling back even further. That was the plan. After all, they were to lead the Aetherians and the Abyssals, especially the powerful ones, farther into the forest. Once they met up with the trio who had been assigned the glorious task of actually killing their enemies, they would go on to find new targets.

She simply hadn’t foreseen one of trio breaking formation to come out and meet them earlier.

Well, no, they were simply not supposed to break formation according to the first plan. The second had no such restrictions.

All the second plan required was that they were to lead annoyances to the monsters as well.

That explained what the fake Mercion was doing here. Those unknown cultivators—poor excuses for opportunists who sought only to take the lowest-hanging fruit and perform the bare minimum to progress—had been led here on purpose. In fact, led right to this overwhelmingly powerful Aetherian just so they would be wiped out.

Of course, the idea was that one of the enemy groups would end the other. Ideally, it would be a pyrrhic victory, leaving the victors too weak to protect themselves, allowing Amalyse’s side to swoop in and claim an easier ultimate triumph.

In this case, though, she had no doubt that these cultivators stood no chance against that Aetherian in the slightest.

She was proven right in short order. Fake Mercion had swooped away to one side with a rather surreptitious manoeuvre. Of course, the Aetherian had noticed the first person to charge into the area. But as fake Mercion had rushed off in a different direction, the three cultivators giving chase came face to face with the monster.

“Another one of those beasts,” one of them said. “I thought the advance group were handling things?”

A second one pulled out a longsword. Crystalline purple energy flashed along the blade’s length. “Looks like we’re going to have to deal with this one ourselves. How annoying. I’ll kill it, you two don’t let that upstart escape.”

“What is it with you mortals?” the monster said, its many voices ringing out at once. “You act as though I am not even present.”

“Oh great, a talkative one,” the second cultivator said. He glared at his companions. “The Abyss are you two looking at? Go.”

With a quick nod, the other two rushed off after fake Mercion. At the same time, the Aetherian charged at the one who was remaining behind to take it on.

“Now, die, monster,” the lone cultivators said.

He had raised his crystal-wreathed sword above his head, where it had expanded several paces high to form a towering, upside-down mountain of the same ghostly amethysts. Then he slammed it down with overwhelming force.

But the Aetherian was more than capable of protecting itself. Several of its golden threads rose high above its body, reforming the strange shield. It wasn’t a use of concentrated, solidified Divine Essence. Instead, there was a strange aura of translucent gold. One that didn’t just block the crystal mountain. The shield stopped it cold.

While the cultivator’s attack had been petrified, the Aetherian counterattacked. The bolt had reformed in its hand. With a powerful swipe, he swung it at his opponent.

The man tried to dodge to his left. He even released his crystal mountain, bringing his sword down to block the bar of sparking, bursting gold that was about to hit him. Except, he hadn’t foreseen the sheer power behind the monster’s blow.

“That idiot,” Amalyse muttered under her breath, though her invectives were cut short when she saw just how much power the Aetherian had released.

As soon as the monster’s bar of gold had struck the cultivator’s sword, which had once again reformed the crystals over it, the spear exploded. First, it expanded by a league or more, the elongated length of gold shooting off into the distance like a concentrated beam of sunlight.

But the Aetherian wasn’t done there.

Next, the monster’s swing turned the spear into a wave. A radial arc of gold that possibly covered the entire extent of the forest burst off in the direction the cultivator had first dodged. He screamed as the tidal barrage of blistering gold carried him along with it, crisscrossing lines of Divine Essence rupturing the ground and the air all around the wave of gold.

Amalyse gaped. In a heartbeat, the competitor had been carried off, colliding with a distant line of trees in a vista of destruction that left the exact same devastation she had seen with the bolt the monster had fired earlier.

The ground shattered into a wide crater, the air redolent with sparking golden energy, dust clinging to everything, a little tremor shaking the whole world around her.

Utter annihilation.

“Are we simply going to stand here?” Kalvia said. “That thing alone can grind the entire plan to a halt by itself.”

It took some effort for Amalyse to pull her gaze away from the monster’s latest swathe of devastation and onto her companion. Kalvia was rising from their location, fists balled as though she was intent on fighting that monster. “Didn’t you see? The plan is here.”

“What?”

Kalvia only had to point.

Shocked, the other two cultivators who had been about to chase after the fake Mercion had instead turned around to face the Aetherian. The monster dealt with them in short order.

Whatever abilities they might have thought of using, the Aetherian was faster. The monster unleashed another ability. This time, it hammered the bolt of gold into the ground directly, unleashing an arc of gold traversing directly through the ground itself. Crisscrossing lines of gold formed a lattice of overbearing power in less than a heartbeat.

Amalyse didn’t see what happened to either cultivator after the subsequent detonation. Not that she was trying to. They could die for all she cared.

Her eyes were instead locked on fake Mercion having arrived back on the scene. In all the chaos and confusion sowed by the cultivators foolishly thinking they could stand toe to toe with the Aetherian, fake Mercion had somehow sneaked in behind the monster.

And revealed himself to actually be Rieren in disguise.

----------------------------------------

Rieren’s heart was pounding so hard and fast, she was almost surprised she hadn’t given away her position already. Those fools chasing her had been stupid enough to think they could take on a Higher Aetherian, one that looked closer to A-Grade than B-Grade, considering the sheer power it was outputting.

What kind of monster had Amalyse and Kalvia found?

Nevertheless, the cultivators had served their purpose well. They’d managed to distract the monster enough for Rieren to get into position at its back. A safe spot from which to execute the exact manoeuvre she needed to win.

A direct attack wasn’t going to work. She had seen how the monster’s shield worked. They seemed to have a mind of their own. Even from behind, those shields would undoubtedly protect the Aetherian, the threads coming to life, sure to sense Rieren regardless of whether the monster itself consciously noted her presence or not.

But there was a way to fool them. A way to bypass the monster’s terrific defence. In fact, she had used the trick before, against another powerful Aetherian in the not-too-distant past.

Rieren had already purchased a jar of Consecrated Earth. Every monster was weak to a certain Aspect. Much as many Abyssals hated coming into contact with Divine Essence, many Aetherians couldn’t stand the concentrated effect of the standard, Aspectless Essence running through the Mortal Realm. The same Essence that drove many Anachrons. Earthly Essence.

Wasting no time, Rieren threw the jar at her current opponent’s back. At the same time, she unleashed Rippling Blade to extend her sword’s effective length, imbuing it with lightning Aspect.

But the jar never connected. Never exploded to release its contents. Before it could reach its target and burst apart, one of the strange golden threads lashed out like the tongue of a frog striking a fly. It wrapped around the jar with surprising adroitness, then flung the jar off in a different direction, all in the space of an eyeblink.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Rieren gaped a little. She hadn’t foreseen those strange threads acting that autonomously.

That little action was enough to alert the monster to her presence. It whirled around with a speed that matched its living threads.

“Were you not the one running from those hapless three?” the Aetherian asked. “Have you returned to claim the same death I granted the others?”

“They were right,” Rieren muttered. “For a monster, you talk far too much.”

“Do I truly? Or is it my voice that you cannot stand?”

In answer, Rieren stabbed the monster with her sword. Rippling Blade had already extended its length by over two dozen paces. With the addition of lighting Aspect, she entertained faint hopes that there would be enough penetrative power, especially with her raised Body stat, to punch through the monster’s shield.

It didn’t work. At all. That auralike shield stopped her attack with no greater effort than it had stopped the first of her chaser’s hammering, crystalline blow.

“Pitiful,” the monster said. “Here is how to truly land a strike.”

The golden power reformed in its hand. But instead of turning into a sizzling spear again, it became a greatsword this time. An enormous one. The blade alone was easily twice as long and wide as its wielder, who was no slouch in the size department either.

“That looks like my skill,” Amalyse said from far back. “Why the Abyss does it have my skill?”

None of them got to ponder the possibility. Of course, with the breadth and depth of available abilities, it was an undoubted fact that some looked and performed similarly.

All Rieren’s mind was focusing on was the best way to deal with it. The Aetherian’s blow was fast, and she had seen the kind of power it could generate. Thankfully, Rieren had already used Fray Passage to move to the side, avoiding the blow entirely.

It had also allowed her to evade the strike’s aftermath, which resulted in a seventy-pace long trench being cloven into the ground, sparkling golden energy digging it deeper by the second.

So much power… Rieren grimaced. She doubted she’d survive even one hit from his Aetherian.

“Be careful,” Amalyse yelled from the back. “That thing’s way too strong.”

Too strong, even for Rieren? Well, they were about to see.

“Fast, are you not?” the Aetherian mused. Its face was gone, crushed to ashen powder strung through with more of those golden strings, but the cacophony of its voice sounded like they were musing. “But can you dance fast enough to match my beat?”

The Aetherian was already attacking even as it said that. But Rieren was a step ahead. She had no intention of trading blows with the overpowered monster any more than she had to.

That meant activating Gale Blade as soon as she could.

Fast though it was, the monster never got to land its blow. Not on Rieren directly, at least. Her skill was at S-Grade now, easily outpacing whatever the Aetherian might have thrown at her. She crashed into it with all the might of her Body stat and the empowerment of her skill, the first slash hammering the Aetherian’s translucent shield hard enough to make it shake.

Progress. Not enough, but a step in the right direction. Rieren unleashed the next several slices in a storm around the Aetherian, her sword clanging against its shield over and over with strikes that should have pierced through at some point.

They failed to breach the shield, though. Even when Rieren landed the final, strongest blow from Gale Blade, with her sword wrapped with churning water thanks to Water Dancer Blade, all she managed to do was make the shield turn fainter. It didn’t break. It didn’t shatter. Just Gale Blade alone couldn’t get past the monster’s defences.

Meanwhile, the Aetherian had been unsuccessfully attempting to land a blow on Rieren herself. She was too fast for it, though.

Wherever the monster aimed, it fell just short. Its enormous golden blade continued destroying the land and sending stormy twists of air everywhere but moving through Gale Blade’s motions made Rieren inherently avoid them all.

She had ensured she was using Tidal Summons even while Gale Blade was active. That meant, just after Gale Blade’s final blow, over a dozen waves burst out of the Domain Rieren had erected in the area. Twelve, thunderous waves striking the Aetherian at once, full of stormy fury.

“Weak,” the Aetherian said. Not a one of her waves had even dented the monster’s shields. It had stopped swinging halfway through Gale Blade’s execution, having realized it just wasn’t going to hit her while she was moving. “Just as I said. Now stand still and die as you are supposed to.”

Rieren held her blade closer. “In your dreams, monster.”

Just as her enemy lashed out, fast and vicious as usual, Rieren used Earthfall Blade. The problem here was twofold. The Aetherian’s blows came in too fast. For all that her Mind could catch it, her Body just wasn’t fast enough to keep up over the long term.

The other worry was that the monster’s strikes were unleashing waves of gold behind every blow. These rocketed outwards just as fast as all its hits were falling.

Rieren couldn’t pay attention to both sources of deadly damage at once. Amalyse was right. Facing this monster head on would be a fool’s task for someone of her focused talents. So, Rieren used the only conclusion left—continued evasion. One quick usage of Fray Passage took her through the golden storm of the monster’s blows.

That was the thing about using enormous blades like the kind the Aetherian was hammering around. Powerful though they were, the opponent had to be an optimum distance from the wielder. All Rieren had to do to be safe was get as close as possible.

Unfortunately, the monster had other reactions she had to be wary of. Other abilities to unload upon her. Like the stomp that turned the entire area for almost a league around her into a crosshatch of the same golden lines running through the earth, just as it had done with the cultivators not long ago.

Rieren bit down on her curse. It was under her Domain. This creature understood how her Domain was empowering her, so it sought to destroy it all, whether it got her or not.

Good thing her reaction was fast too. Rieren forced her entire Domain to rise in a powerful geyser, releasing the pressurized steam held down beneath the water’s surface. Just in time. The Aetherian had released the power behind all its golden land, sending a thunderous spray of golden bolts flying into the air.

Oh, what she wouldn’t have given to attain Wrath of the Swordwing at the moment. But it was going to take some time to achieve. For now, she’d have to make do with the abilities she had.

Namely, that included summoning the Dawn Cloud again. Rieren needed to be able to manoeuvre through the air to avoid the upwards rain of gold. Since she couldn’t do that herself, her next best option was her flight-capable Domain Summons. Since she had summoned it to a personal size, just big enough to carry her, it was fast and highly manoeuverable.

The cloud zipped through the rain of golden bolts with incredible speed and accuracy, almost preternaturally avoiding every single bolt. It carried Rieren well away from the local area where the monster was focusing most of the golden shower.

“Look out!”

The shout—likely from Kalvia, judging by the voice—alerted Rieren to her back. Not that she needed to be too wary. Her Dawn Cloud was already acting on it.

The monster’s bolts had risen to a distant point in the heavens and had then begun firing themselves back towards the earth. Or, more specifically, back towards their original target. Rieren.

She growled. This Aetherian was forcing her back too much. Enough was enough.

Letting her Domain Summons dissipate, Rieren landed on the ground. She was already using Earthfall Blade, slamming away the bolts to make them explode around her instead of on her. They came from far enough away that she could just manage to deflect them away from herself.

All the while, she was running straight at the Aetherian.

The monster laughed, its jingle of voices turning discordant in pleasure. “Ah, what a wonder it is to fight one who refuses to be cowed so easily. Come. Come. Face your demise head on. There can be no greater honour.”

Rieren growled. “What would a monster know of honour?”

“I have fought more than enough to know what it truly means for the likes of us.”

The Aetherian had pulled back its arm, focusing its golden power once again. From the brief flashes of its strength Rieren had seen before, she had a good approximation of what was coming next.

So, having already activated her Domain as soon as she had landed, she made all the water ahead of her rise in a furious wave of steam and storm.

The Aetherian thrust its spear forward. At least, that explained how a fluid geyser of concentrated auric energy burst through her Domain. It missed Rieren, which the monster was well aware of. As soon as its geyser had crashed through the wave, it twisted its beam around to raze the entire earth in the vicinity.

But Rieren had seen that coming as well and had taken to the air. The Dawn Cloud was once more carrying her aloft, this time straight to her target. The Aetherian.

“Enough,” she said.

Rieren leaped off her Domain Summons, letting it dissipate to a burst of steam and water behind her while using Water Dancer Blade to draw the Aspects to her sword.

The Aetherian caught sight of her just as she was about to land. Its spear blitzed into being, the golden power twisting and sparking in on itself to set itself ablaze. Just as Rieren was about to land atop her target, the monster swung the spear up with blurring speed.

Rieren was ready for it. In fact, she had been hoping for it. She wasn’t fast enough to catch the monster’s strike with her hand, of course, but that didn’t matter. The summoned concentrated Essence from her second elixir field formed an armour thick enough to stop the spear from shattering her entirely.

It would have still bashed her away, such was the power behind the monster’s blow. But Rieren managed to trap it between her arm and her body, rooting herself to the location she needed to be.

“How?” the Aetherian yelled up. “You’re stronger than the rest.”

Rieren grinned as the full momentum behind her flight and leap brought her hammering down, even as she held back the Aetherian’s spear. “You have seen nothing of my strength yet.”

As she landed atop her target, she aimed her sword to pierce right through the point where it was holding the sizzling golden spear. At the same time, Water Dancer Blade had pulled in water and steam aspects to condense it to a small, pressurized cloud around her Receptor sword. When Rieren added lightning on top of it, it turned her sword into a dark thundercloud.

Rieren’s strike finally pierced through. Anywhere else, the monster’s threads would form those shields of translucent golden aura. But right at the point where it was thrusting its own weapon out, there was nothing blocking Rieren’s blow.

As such, all Rieren had to do was guide her sword alongside the spear. The interaction between her compressed storm cloud and the golden aura created miniature explosions, but Rieren held the sword steady and punched through, Rippling Blade extending the sword’s length to stab into the monster.

All the burning golden hair on the Aetherian’s broken head went rigid as her blade struck in. The monster screamed. Rieren’s blood sang, her grin stretched taut as the battle-fury coursed like a bottled hurricane through her veins. She had done it. She had struck true.

Finally.