Chapter 13
To Kill a Monster King… Again
Redness started encroaching upon my vision. I hadn't been this mad in a long while. The rage fueling my hatred pushed my Rage ability into phase 3. However, now being at the Soul rank put my mind into a blind fury. I roared, charged, and woke up sometime later, covered in blood and gore.
~~~
This feeling deep within my chest is now even greater than when this man first displayed his true form on the arena floor before my Alpha. I knew then he was an Alpha among Alphas, but now, somehow, he's transcended to something far more frightening.
I was in my full transformation, but the moment he unleashed that howl, I was forced out, and my knees buckled. I looked around and saw even his own team was on their knees, too. The thud in my chest was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst at any moment. Just who is this Zeke anyway?
The two monsters clashed with each other, and it was easily apparent that the new Monster King was losing. He could only barely fend off the swath of attacks that left his body torn asunder and despite his level of regeneration and calmer demenor. It was evident that fear slowed his actions.
Zeke took one good kick that sent him sprawling, but with unnatural agility, he righted himself and landed on all fours and instantly changed his momentum, then took off in a run at speeds defying all logic. I could hardly keep up with the afterimages, let alone the beast himself. Then, a new spray of blood would appear on the Monster King as he, too, attempted to keep up.
At some point, a wounded Majin, not one of the elite, rose from the ground, apparently waking up, and found himself in the path of Zeke, and then he was a fine mist gently blowing in the breeze. I've never seen such brutality in so short of a period. Then I noticed that anybody, living or dead, would become shredded beef if it got between him and his target.
I immediately found the strength to get to my feet and start hauling and shouting orders for everyone on our side to retreat. Should any of us cross his path, it would be over in an instant. The one called Jaxon was the first to respond to my calls, and then I saw something possibly even more frightening. The maniac was grinning at what he was seeing. But at least he was reasonable enough to understand the danger and started shoving people out of the battlefield.
As I helped the last of our allies escape the field of death, Zeke's mate, our Chief's daughter, suddenly appeared and tried to dash in to help, and I was completely blown away at how un-affected she was from the terrifying aura being blasted from Zeke. I now understood the true power of the fourth princess as she easily pushed past the feeling of dread and death. I used the last of my S rank strength to get in front of her and try and restrain her. She fought me, but I was more durable than others of my clan. I was known for being the toughest on the front line since my Skills and Abilities put me into the Shield class. Even so, I'm pretty sure she broke my nose with one of her elbows, but I was accustomed to pain and held my ground.
Luckily, the one-sided massacre finally ended, and with one last howl, Zeke collapsed and detransformed back into his Kojin self, if he's even Kojin. Those Travellers are something different normally, but after what I just saw, I'll call him whatever he wants. I let VeLana go, and she rushed over to her husband. Then, all the adrenalin of the past several hours suddenly fled my body, and I collapsed hard.
~~~
"Medic!" Jaxon shouted, and another Lykaian healer ran forward to give aid to the S Ranker, who took charge after I went berserk. Even in my brain-addled mind, my senses were still extremely acute, and I became aware of everything around me.
"Ve," I struggled to say as I coughed up a little blood, "what did I do? I didn't…"
"No, you didn't kill any allies. But you gave me quite the scare. I… I…" she started to cry. "I heard you had died!" She shouted. She was right, but I had no idea what to say. Without that Soul Ticket, I would be dead right now.
"I'm sorry. I know this isn't enough to make up for what happened, but if this counts for anything, you were the sole reason for my determination to conquer unfathomable challenges to get back to you."
Well, that seemed to soothe her because her reaction was to kiss me deeply. Then she made me promise to tell her everything later. For now, we had a lot of cleanup, rescuing anyone still alive, and seeing what was salvageable of their kingdom. I also took the rare and perhaps sorrowful opportunity to use the Skill Astra Consumption. It started as a Rank 4 Tier 1 skill, but over the years, and especially when we hunted tons of S rank monsters, it had gone up two ranks. It was, for whatever reason, the slowest Skill to rank.
I hovered with my aura across the battlefield while constantly activating the Skill and just soaked up the Astra. It's funny, but I almost forgot that Astra is actually Astrium. The natives simply shorten it for ease of use. Even Harry shortens it for my System messages. Speaking of which, when I got a moment to rest, I unleashed the torrent of notifications built up in my H.U.D. Ugh… reading, am I right?
Notice!
The conditions have been met.
You have successfully returned to life from a
true death. You have been
granted a new title.
New Title gained: The Risen
The Risen has granted you 200 Astra
and a new Skill.
New Skill gained: The Chosen Ticket S5-R1
Description: Should you experience
a true death again
this Skill will activate automatically.
Notice!
The conditions have been met.
You have successfully killed a Monster King.
You have been granted a new title.
New Title gained: King Killer X2
King Killer X2 grants you 1000 Astra
and a new Skill.
New Skill: Overkill S7-R1
Description: When defeating greater foes
multiple times, your damage output is
increased by ten percent. This is a passive skill.
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Notice!
The conditions have been met.
You have successfully killed a Monster King.
You have been granted a new title.
New Title gained: King Killer X3
King Killer X3 grants you 2000 Astra
and a new Skill.
New Skill: Tyrant S8-R1
Description: Any enemy under your Soul Rank
will be Intimidated. Intimidated Debuff
lowers defenses by 50%
I had to pause the notifications after those first few; there was so much to unpack. Aside from the massive gains of 3.2k Astra, I've gained some rather peculiar Skills, plus at what I assume are the Soul Ranks. I'm safely going to say I'm beyond the expected S+ Ranks. But wait, there's more…
Notice!
The conditions have been met.
You have successfully reached the Soul Ranks
of your Abilities before reaching Layer 2
New Title gained: Overachiever
Overachiever grants you 2000 Astra
and a new Skill.
New Skill: Magnify Damage S2-R1
Description: all damage is increased
by 20% passively
I'm trying to keep up with my gains, and so far, I'm looking at around 5.2k. I need to see the rest of these notifications before I access my Status Sheet and see what exactly is going on.
Notice!
The Skill: Astra Consumption was successful
You have drained 9,836 Astra from
the corpses. Your Soul Rank has risen
to Soul 2 for all your Abilities.
Oh, wow, my jaw has officially dropped… this was probably the single greatest upgrade I've ever been given. Aside from the Astra alone, the fact that all my Soul Rank 1 Abilities were now Rank 2 would have to mean I'm on a very good start for the Second Layer. That brings to mind that I'm going to have to have a very uncomfortable conversation with my team because I need to move on, and I don't believe the rest of my team is ready for that.
I've built a life here, gotten married, and need to help rebuild this empire. But I know deep within me that I need to see what is next. It is a driving force within me. I still want revenge for my past life, but with everything that has occurred since then, that need for revenge is but a flickering flame on the verge of being snuffed out. The only thing holding me onto that flame is my brother's death. Although, I feel forgiven, there's this twinge of of anger over what transpired. Can I fully commit to moving on? Only time will tell.
Now, for the next onslaught of Notifications:
Notice!
You have defeated…
You have defeated…
You have defeated…
…
…
…
Your Astra has Risen a total of 4,354
I pulled up my Status Sheet to see the total gains:
*
*
*
Status Sheet:
Name: Ezekiel Conri
Titles:
Skills:
Items:
Race: Human
Undying
Aura Sense T8-R4
Momentum Change T9-R3
Combat Prosthetic Arm |→|
Rank: Platinum «««
Monster Slayer
Danger Sense T9-R5
Sunder T8-R5
Dimensional Ring |→|
Aura: Gold
Nexus Slayer
Cleaning T8-R5
Meteor Strike T7-R5
Astra Power Level: 19,390
Sky Diver
Conceal T5-R4
Burst Step T9-R5
Blessings:
Scarred Soul
Rune Crafting T7-R1
Life Steal T9-R4
Soul 2 Cyber Lord
The Risen
Rune Forging T7-R3
Momentum Strike T8-R1
A.i. Controller
King Killer X2
Rune Tech T6-R3
Necrotic Strike T7-R3
Harry | A | Nuss
King Killer X3
Skill Boost T9-R5
Siesmic Palm T8-R5
Pain Suppressor
Overachiever
Thought Acceleration T9-R5
Resist Charm T6-R1
Appraiser's Oculus
Racial Traits:
Acceleration T9-R4
Dual Mind T9-R5
H.U.D.
Godly Hearing
Barrier T9-R2
Land Upright T8-R4
Fission Engine
Godly Olfactory
Healing T9-R4
Necrotic Resistance T6-R4
Communications Chip
Night Vision
Astra Consumption T6-R5
Soul Ticket T9-R1
Soul 2 Astra King
Were Transformation
Mend Wound T9-R4
Raged Fist T8-R2
Way of the Astra
Partial Transformation
Chaos Flames T9-R5
Sonic Speed T8-R3
Increase Skill Chance
Godly Strength
Tame T3-R1
Winter's Grasp T5-R3
Soul Eyes
Venomous Bite
Heal Familiar T5-R4
Blood Raven Swarm T7-R3
Soul 2 Berserker
Venomous Claws
Last Chance T8-R2
Taunting Shout T4-R3
Rage
Regeneration
Passive Healing T9-R5
Blood Tether T6-R2
Tough Body
Godly Durability
Toxin Resistance T5-R3
Mask Aura T8-R3
Stamina Steal
False Data T7-R4
The Chosen Ticket S5-R1
Cooling Shield T7-R2
Overkill S7-R1
Rain Shield T4-R3
Tyrant S8-R1
Stone Skin T9-R5
Magnify Damage S2-R1
I honestly sat there stunned for quite a while. I not only surpassed the S+ rank, but I shattered it by miles. This was completely unreal, and I didn't know how to process it. My body felt so incredibly powerful. You know how they say superheroes have to hold back; otherwise, they might break everything around them? That was how I was feeling at this very moment.
If I even empowered my physical strength a little bit with this amount of Astra, I fear the amount of damage I might be able to cause. But, while I have plenty more to dive into, I've taken too much time to rest, and there is plenty of work left to be done. It's a good thing I don't need to sleep. After all, I slept plenty when I was dead.