Propagate: A survival litrpg

Day 77

Two hundred feet.

"Hooof…" I exhaled. "Okay. Lily! See if you can use [Soul Exploitation] to hinder the Sky Terror's movements or affect its kids. Oldren!" He shook his head before I could dish out an order. "None of my shots were working. Its defense is way too high."

"What about your railgun?" He looked uncertain so I capitalized. "Make as many railgun bullets as you can, focusing on piercing. Use whatever you have in your inventory, no use hoarding expensive stuff if we die before we can use it." He nodded.

One hundred fifty feet.

Since I'm definitely going to get injured, system! Put all nine stat points into vitality!

< Stp- 9 -> 0 >

< Vitality 71.5 -> 76 >

Upgrade [Narrow Evasion], [Grand Pain Resistance], and [Block].

< [3rd] Tier [Narrow Evasion] Has ranked up into [4th] tier: [Eschewal]- Provides knowledge of highly advanced dodging and footwork techniques. Flow from dodges to attacks and other combat movements is without fault, making all offenses look refined and reminiscent of a dance. Maximizes sense of balance.>

< [3rd] Tier [Grand Pain Resistance] Has ranked up into [4th] tier: [Lesser Pain Nullification]- Massively dulls sense of pain. Pain below a certain threshold will be completely nullified, replaced by an intrinsic sense of injury. Exponentially increase pain tolerance, as well as resistance to pain inducing and magnifying ailments and afflictions.>

< [1st] Tier [Block] Has ranked up into [2nd] tier: [Guard]- Enhances defense when assuming intrinsic stances. Enhances durability of the arms, and ability to protect the entire body. >

As I felt the knowledge sink into my mind like a glacial lake funneling into a glass jar, I surfed through my modification sub-system and began reinforcing everything I could see.

Reinforce everything in the muscular and skeletal systems, stat!

< Removing safety features. Reinforcements will execute much faster, but will also be more painful. >

I grit my teeth, as the seams of my body shrink and expand like a slinky. However, I was able to keep my sight trained on the birds, as it didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. Clearly the system doesn't use words like 'nullification' lightly.

< Insufficient small souls for reinforcement: Cardiac (Heart) Muscle >

< Small souls 329 -> 12 >

The only part of my body visible was my face. Despite the bulk of the changes happening below the armor, I still felt Lily and Oldren look away through my awareness.

Absorbing Skeletal System 300% (1)

Skull 150% | Spine 100% | Rib Cage 100% | Shoulder Girdle 100% | Arms 200% | Hard Hands 200% | Pelvis 100% | Vigorous Legs 200% | Soft Feet 300% |

Ardent Muscular System 300% (3)

Skeletal Muscles 200% | Smooth Muscles 100% | Cardiac Muscle 100%

->

Absorbing Skeletal System 300% (1)

Skull 300% | Spine 300% | Rib Cage 300% | Shoulder Girdle 300% | Arms 300% | Hard Hands 300% | Pelvis 300% | Vigorous Legs 300% | Soft Feet 300% |

Ardent Muscular System 300% (3)

Skeletal Muscles 300% | Smooth Muscles 300% | Cardiac Muscle 100%

Oh yeah, I can really feel the difference! I feel so.. So sturdy! My muscles have been filled out too! Shame about the cardiac, but it's not super important. It's what's responsible for my heart. The smooth muscles coat my internal organs and blood vessels, which will hopefully make me less squishy.

One hundred feet.

Quickly, I modified my hands with {heavy}, and then combined them to make {Iron} hands. All the process did was numb my hands, though I could still move them, so it was no problem. Once finished, I felt like I was holding a good size rock in each of my palms. Excellent destructive yet unobstructive weight.

While one half of me did a once-over over my stocks, the other part surveyed my team. Oldren was fiddling with a third highly complex looking bullet. He would definitely be sweating if he wasn't a robot. In the meantime, Lily was…

"What are you doing?" She was sliding her hands all across the surface of the green statue, holding her ear to it and displaying looks of wonder and confusion.

"It has a soul." She said, "when I tried to interfere with the bird, which didn't work by the way, I noticed this thing has a soul, and a pretty strong one at that. Bigger than yours, actually."

"I think… It might just be asleep."

Oldren thought it was dubious. "And you think this random… creature? Will just help us out when we rouse it from its slumber?"

"No no, I'm with Lily on this one." I interjected. "We can't kill this thing by ourselves. We need all the help we can get. Lily, try your best to wake it up. But don't forget to stock up on elemental mana." She saluted. "On it!"

Krk Krk

My head snapped over to the rapidly shortening tunnel. Three dark cones were peeking into the entrance, their claws scrabbling against the stone. Loud cheeps, squawks and tapping could be heard, before the wind shifted and the man sized birds began driving into the cave like three heat seeking missiles.

"Shit! We've got incoming! Oldren, save your railgun shells for the big one, Lily, hide behind the statue if you need to! I'm going in!"

I set off my dash and rocketed forward. As the first baby came in, I jumped above it and slid my left wrist blade between its shoulder and wing. I landed on the ground and spun, using the momentum to rip my blade down the side of the second one, the other too far out of my reach.

I ripped the blade through the air. [Cleave]. The dark blade lit up with yellow fire that rushed to cover up the entirety of the blade, and then two times passed it. The first bird had only suffered a superficial wound. It curved upwards in an impressive loopty loop, and then dived back at me, four spears of wind gyrating along its wings.

Calculating its position in space, I dived under it while attempting to glide my blade through its belly. It tilted up and perfectly dodged my attack. While the first continued flying around the room, the second one went on the offense and landed a few feet away from me. The third attempted to attack Lily, but a few explosions sounded, ending with the bird propelled into the wall.

Both me and the bird lunged at each other. A white ghost appeared in the shape of its beak, but sharpened like a spear. It stabbed forwards, but I gracefully dodged around its side. I ripped the [Cleave] empowered wrist blade down its flank, before activating [Dismembering].

I flew all around it, executing perfect cuts on every faint grey dot I could spot. A second later, the skill ended. Time resumed and clusters of the bird's feathers separated from its body. Its wing glowed white, and then it whipped around. I [Launched] upward, dodging the severing wing which instead divided the wall to my right.

More explosions sounded, as well as the whiring of electricity as Oldren brought a charged blade down on the third bird, whose wing tip was missing.

A volley of wind arrows flew down, while the first bird reared back and tried to kick me with its black, spikey legs. With fluidity that impressed even myself, I twirled around the ensuing arrows and lopped off the first's foot with extreme prejudice.

The airborne one stopped circling and began charging a heavy tornado lance. The first lunged forward, giving me the perfect opportunity to execute it. This fall forward was accompanied by a flourish of its wings. Oh no you don't!

[Convergence]! Strength!

< Strength 109 -> 124 >

I put everything I had into the following swing. I drove my left wrist blade as deep into the thick feathers as I could muster. The blade barely sunk into its flesh. WHY are these things so damn tanky? I attempted to empower it with [Pierce] but failed to make use of it as the damn avian flew away.

I felt the tornado lance lunge towards me like a bowling ball sailing through water. I twirled to the side, easily dodging the lance. I thought I saw a hint of frustration on the featureless bird's face. More of a drill composed of large undetailed feathers than a face or a head, really.

More explosions rocked the cavern as slots on Oldren's back, thighs, and triceps opened up and expelled balls of blue energy. Reminds me of this scene from a bionicles movie, where the guy shoots like eighty missiles at the main guys.

Not the time!

I checked my stocks and grinned. Time for some rat-like behavior. One of the birds was still tussling with Oldren, while the others were preparing to go on the offensive once again. Why isn't the injured one going back to its mother?

They circled overhead, gathering mana with the injured one lagging behind. I looked between them and Oldren's bird. He was still struggling against it, not being very good in melee combat. I I pulled dusk out of my right thigh.

"Oldren! Form something heavy!" I pulled on [Sharp Shot] and threw the sword right at the base of the bird. The sword stabbed into its shadow, causing chains of wriggling darkness to spring up and ensnare it.

Oldren did as I asked, and only a second after the bird was caught, Oldren pointed a huge cannon barrel at its face and exploded its entire upper body. I dodged a few more wind projectiles, then lashed out with one hand.

Available Stocks:

Piercing chomp lv1-2 x2 Crushing Bite lv1-3 x13 Ripping Snap lv2-4 x5 Healing Rush x5 Feather Faint lv4 x1 Snipe lv7 x1 Thread Spin lv7-12 x34 Scale shot lv2-9 x28 Six-Fold Smash lv23 x1 Fore-Blade lv19-34 x5 Shadow Sting lv4 x8 Arcanokinesis lv58 x1 Adreno Boost lv30 x1 Psy Shield lv16 x2 Quake lv18 x1 Aqua Torrent lv23 x3 Willow Wisp lv8-28 x8 Talon Extension lv2-19 x2 Foam Production lv31 x1 Whip lv1-4 x3 Explosive whip lv26 x1 Acid Deluge lv45 x6 Predators Ferocity lv57 x4 Advanced Camouflage lv8 x1 Stone Toss Lv14 x5

Whip!

A white wire half an inch thick shot out of my index finger. I pumped my will into it, increasing my control and then slammed it into the uninjured bird from high above it. A loud crack resounded, both from the displacement of the air and from the earth shattering from the impact.

Before it could even react I threw my other dusk at it. The sword lodged into its wing, not activating shade binding but preventing its movement regardless. I bounded over to the downed predator and cultivated a [[Helm Splitter]] before bisecting the annoying bastard.

I immediately refreshed both skills, and then threw a weakened [[Wave Cutter]] at the injured one to halt its magic process. Thread spin! Like spiderman, strings shot out from under my wrists. It easily wrapped around the uninjured leg of the bird.

We had a bit of a contest of strength. I then remembered that I'm him, allowing me to easily ground the annoyance. Before I could kill it, I detected more movement in the tunnels. "Reinforcements!" I shouted.

A moment later four more black boomerangs burst into the small circular tomb. Their appearance distracted me long enough for the remaining one from the first group to snip my thread and escape. "Ugh." I cursed.

< Sky Strigger lv56 Slain 4709 XP acquired>

< Obtained 1 Large Soul >

While I was getting ready to go on the attack, Oldren stumbled to the ground. He clutched the center of his chest. "Oldren? What's wrong???"

"I-I don't know! I got to level fifty, and then the status asked if I wanted to form my 'aspect'. Gah!" He shrunk further into the ground as his body shook. I looked at the four birds flying at me, the injured one having backed off, now perched on one of the dilapidated arches.

One of the larger ones dived at me. It accelerated unnaturally, its wings glowing white and extending outwards even more. I clenched my teeth and dived under it. The other two took the opportunity to barrage me with wind projectiles, while the fourth one rushed towards Lily.

Oldren had completely crumpled to the ground. His face was twisted in pain as golden lightning arced and flashed across his body, which trembled and shifted. He was completely out of the fight, meaning I was alone against four 4th-5th tier monsters.

I am so astronomically cooked. "GAHHHHH!!!" I screamed. I stomped on the ground and launched myself upwards. Activate stocked skill: Adreno Boost!

< Stocked skill: Adreno Boost lv30 Activated. All Physical stats increased by 30. Stamina will not decrease in combat for the duration. (Except when skills are used.) >

My heart thumped in my chest like a wave generator. Red lines poured across my skin like a river delta, energy flowed through my body as adrenaline flooded my bloodstream. My muscles tensed, my eyes narrowed, and all other thoughts rushed away in return for the heat of battle.

My upward accent caused me to collide with one of the more magic aligned birds. It desperately tried to get me off, but I hung on for dear life as I tore into its body. Piercing Chomp. White jaws appeared a foot in front of my face, teeth pointed like a shark. It snapped closed on the bird's spine like a bear trap.

It dived to the ground in a last ditch effort, a misguided one, as I finally had the leverage I needed to stab my wrist blade through its head.

I had no time to celebrate the kill as two more drones were pelting me with wind projectiles, though I could tell they were about to switch it up. Their paths crossed as their wings glowed white and extended twice their length to the side, the energy giving off ethereal sharpness.

They dived at me from opposite sides, a pincer attack intent on cleaving me into pieces. I, not being privy to self dismemberment, dodged out of the way. But then I had a thought. Why dodge, when this could be an opportunity?

< Shadow Sting + Acid Deluge = Scorpnox! >

A shadow slithered out of my back. It grew bulbous at its end, shallow plates forming along the tail with a huge barb hanging at the end, its tip alight with a noxious green ooze. I used Thread Spin on the left one, attaching the string to its nose and pulling it off course. I turned my attention to the other one and tore through its wing with a well timed Ripping Snap.

The sharp bite tore off the end of its wing, causing the bird to lose balance and twist into the floor. I bashed into its back with Scorpnox, pumping it with as much acid as I could manage. Green goo rushed out as I pulled back the stinger, me being clumsy with the new mental trigger serving as the problem.

Embarrassment was undercut by annoyance as an entire army's worth of wind projectiles rocketed towards me. I lifted one hand and activated Psy Shield. A pink translucent bubble popped into existence around me. It ate the projectiles and then popped once they stopped coming.

As one half of me dived into the next flurry of combos and attacks, the other half was alerted to a presence in the tunnel. A huge one. This could only mean one thing. The bird was within a twenty five foot radius. Close enough for tactaura to pick it up.

Its progress had slowed quite a bit since its helpers had rushed in to combat us, but that had more to do with the huge swathes of wind mana churning above us, I was sure. Regardless, if that thing breaks through with these five birds still here, fighting back will be completely impossible. I need to hurry up.

I looked at my teammates. Oldren was straight up non-euclidean, while Lily was the same as before, now with a storm of sweat down her brow, her face furrowed in concentration. "I really need better teammates." I dodged a few more wind projectiles and scurried away towards the far left wall.

The biggest of the five, one of the last two that were not injured, surfed towards me like a missile. Thinking quickly about the fastest way to kill it, I zeroed in on the wall. The room was greater in elevation than in width and length. It soared up about sixty feet, a very narrow increase compared to its regular fifty foot base.

A value that would show its usefulness now. As the bird closed in on me and my legs burned white hot from the strain, I considered my options and went for the more stylistic one. I pumped my stats into speed and rocketed straight for the wall. Right before I face planted into the rock, I lifted my legs and stepped on the wall.

The force keeping me on the ground was now replaced by my x-forward momentum and sheer willpower. I managed about ten steps up the wall before I felt myself peeling downward. The bird had followed my move, curving up in a romantic U shape and now upside down sailing across the ceiling.

I propelled myself off the wall and straight into the bird. Instead of just body slamming it, I used Thread Spin twice, one on each hand, and spun them around the bird in an attempt to use them as reigns. As one could imagine, this went very poorly.

Despite the very bumpy ride, I eventually managed to ground it. One of its siblings attempted to intercept me when we landed, but I smashed it with the Scorpnox still lunging out of my back. I only hit it with the side though, no acid injected in its system.

I realigned my stats back to strength and put a [Penetrate] empowered wrist blade through its head, only ceasing the numerous blows when the notification sounded. It was at this time that I also noticed the notification of the one I had pumped full of acid earlier. That's three down, four including Oldren's kill. Only one of them is unscathed, and their mother…

Oh no.

The earth lurched as stone broke apart and slithered to the ground. A huge section of earth disconnected from the rest of the mountain and slammed down, refining itself into sand and dust. The small, eight foot tall cave had transformed into a monster made ravine hundreds of feet tall and dozens across.

The bird's gargantuan wings were painfully stuffed into itself, making the bird look even more uncanny than before. Its domain of wind pressed down, sending my body straight into the earth as if the forces of gravity had just stopped giving a shit.

< You have been ailed by Gravidon >

< [Defense Vocation] activated. Ailment: Wind Susception resisted temporarily >

Try as I might, the wind was too strong. The earth around me broke as gravity only pressed harder and harder. The ground was breaking before my bones were. The X shaped sets of wings on the Sky Terror's chest unfurled and unleashed a huge blast of diamond cutting wind.

< Skill Combo! [Convergence] + [Health Pulse] = [[Maximise]]! >

My body exploded with reddish aura as a huge pulse roiled throughout. The boost gave me just enough power to leap out of the way and deeper into the cave, where the domain was weaker due to its proximity from the sky. The X scissor thumped into the wall, shaving parts of the memorial to bits.

The Sky Terror pushed out one of its colossal wings. They glowed dark and misty, the edges sharpening like an executioner's blade. It blurred, obscured by the visible gale force winds. I pressed myself into the ground, praying that it would miss.

It felt like the whole mountain had been divided by that one strike. One long, endless line diagonally cut through the entire room, not an end in sight. Thousands of fissures exploded from the cut, destabilizing the surroundings further causing more and more boulders to crash down on us.

Another pulse of aura allowed me to move again. But it didn't matter. This time, the bird had its jaws held out just for me. Black smoke stretched into two boomerangs of death. They hovered in the air, myself trapped in the middle of their range.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. No way to move, the only way forward, to die. All I saw was the two jaws blur before I shut my eyes in fear.

But the attack never came. The light filtering through my eyes decreased as a shadow was cast over my form. I opened my eyes. The skill was stuttering, unable to move as two hands held them apart, the central figure unmoving and unbothered.

In my peripherals I could see the statue was gone, Lily heaving on the ground with the remains of three birds scattered around her. The golem stood almost ten feet tall, completely unfettered by the wind, or even the pressure of the Sky Terror's emotions.

The skill shattered, and the golem lowered its hands, then turned to look at me. Bright yellow dots glowed like neon in its once empty helmet sockets. A new health bar blinked into existence in the top right corner of my vision.

I collected myself and rushed through the clan concord in an attempt to see its status.

< Access Denied >

The yellow dots curled upwards humorously. It slowly moved one hand towards my face, its index finger pointed upward. Then, wordlessly, it waggled its finger back and forth, as if saying; uh uh uh~!!!

"You can't at least tell me your name?" The clan concord appeared minimized to my left in a small rectangle composed of the same starry blue as the rest of it. It sported a single message, cut off from the rest of the chat.

Gnosis: <-

"No-sis huh? Weird name." A massive tornado curled up into a gnarled spear caved into Gnosis, who literally did not even budge. He? Tanked the magic like it was a breeze, even the floor under him being completely free of the impact.

Seemingly annoyed, the Sky Terror began whipping up hundreds of projectiles. My eyes widened in shock. It's just been toying with us! I figured it was teaching its young how to hunt. Maybe now that they're all dead it's actually trying to kill us? That line of thought felt correct, so I went with it.

Gnosis turned and stomped toward the center of the cavern, a few feet in front of Lily. He spread his arms and activated some sort of skill. A fancy green shield stretched out in front of him, a green film also spreading outwards and upwards.

As the wind projectiles began raining down, they all dug harmlessly into the barrier. I snapped out of my awe and deactivated [[Maximise]]. I grimaced as waves of shock began weaving their way through my body, backlash of some kind. I ignored it to the best of my ability and ran over to Lily. She was on the ground, on her side with a pool of sweat draining down her features. Her face softened in relief when I came into view.

"Max! I-I did it!" She tried to stand up but faltered. I caught her in my arms and supported her in my grasp. "Are you okay?" I asked. "Yeah… it's more mental than physical. I'll be alright soon. Is… Is Oldren okay?" I looked over at…. 'Him'.

"..I have no idea." Oldren was still majorly tweaking. His body had transitioned into a dark black color with a golden outline, lightning of a similar description flashing around and throughout him violently. His body continued to twist itself into near imperceivable shapes.

At times he resembled some of his weaponry in an exploded view, other times he took the shape of some sort of mech or golem, then back to four dimensional shapes. Every now and then a piece of his body would reconstruct, then twitch and zigzag violently before melting back with the rest.

The mass of living, screaming metal began to rise into the sky, the flashes of golden lightning growing even more violent. The air vibrated and screamed. The energy arced through the air and began pummeling the sides of the mountain, destroying the stability of the tons of rock above us even more.

Meanwhile, Gnosis was wrestling with the Sky Terror. He had its lower beak in his hands, and was desperately reaching for the other one. The bird kept throwing blades of wind at him, but none of them even left a scratch. Is he invincible or something?

I threw a [[Wave Cutter]] at it. The attack angled downward, impeded by the wind but still hitting the bird in its open mouth as I intended. Try as I might, I couldn't see where the attack had hit. I just assumed that it didn't do much.

Actually…

Max: Hey Gnosis, did that attack connect?

Gnosis: Yes

Max: And did it do any damage?

Gnosis: No

Max: Man this guy doesn't talk much does he?

Max: Woops.

I hate this thing.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Gnosis: I haven't spoken to anyone since I was reincarnated. I'm not used to it.

Max: Reincarnated?

Gnosis: Talk later.

Fair enough, I suppose.

The battle had come to something of a stand still. Gnosis was keeping the Sky Terror in check, while I kept Lily in my grip. At this point we were just waiting to see what was happening to Oldren. Wait, what if he explodes? A bead of sweat dripped down my brow. How have I not considered that until now?

But the time of waiting was over. The huge mass of roiling energy like a hundred mile wide thunderstorm condensed into a yard wide sphere finally seemed to come to its crescendo. The mass stilled, and then snapped back into a humanoid shape. Its body had large notches in it, forming the impression of an endoskeleton.

The black, gold trimmed being rose into the air. There were no boosters, jets or rockets. It simply propelled itself into the air with magical, superman-like flight. Black and gold lightning stung the air, deflecting off the shattered walls and arcing through the sky.

Where Oldren's face should be, there was only a smooth surface. Its appearance stoked the uncanny valley, sending a tremor of unease through my body. The feeling was aided by the blinding star it appeared as in my forcension, powerful potential energy radiating outwards like a nuclear reactor.

I curled an arm over Lily, who already resided in my lap. I resigned myself to my fate. Unable to do damage to the bird, the battle now lay within the palms of giants. Gnosis, who seemed indestructible and immovable, and Oldren, whose new form whispered of unbelievable power.

It irked me being unable to do anything but watch. But as I focused on the standstill, I looked to the mountain. The huge dome the battle was taking place in was in tatters. The entire rock face had been supplanted with cracks and fissures. The entire biome rattled with unchecked instability. I didn't need any foresight to know it was due to come down any minute now.

Oldren slowly lifted his left arm. The crackling gold and black energy ceased for a second, before the same colored material began to burst out of his arm. Matter grew out of his arm in waves, huge stalactites of metal would shoot out, wait, and then begin the next wave of transformations.

I watched starstruck as Oldren created this weapon, seemingly out of nothing. In merely ten seconds a huge cannon had been formed. He aimed it at the thrashing sky terror, whose leg had been caught by Gnosis, and fired.

A huge bolt of yellow energy deposited itself into the bird, tearing out some of its feathers. Unsatisfied, Oldren began generating more and more structures out of his body. Huge guns and missile launchers exploded out of his back, like super sized versions of what he normally used, and began raining hellfire in the form of missiles, bullets, energy blasts, and lasers into the pinned beast.

It roared with rage and began lashing in place in an attempt to dislodge Gnosis, who didn't give a shit. He stood there, stock still with his arms wrapped around two of its talons in a bear hug. He shrugged off Oldren's bombardment like light rain, completely unbothered.

But I sure was. "Oldren! Stop! You'll bring the entire mountain down on us!!!" The Sky Terror wasn't helping either, it's frantic thrashing damaging the one part of the room that wasn't filled with cracks.

I was sure he heard me, but he didn't even twitch in response. He continued building every weapon in his arsenal, some of them massive versions of things he'd made before, some of them brand new, no doubt recipes he was unable to make due to material constraints.

The Sky Terror wasn't staying still. It continued to twist mass amounts of wind mana into relevant projectiles. Since its domain couldn't reach through the mountain, and its main skills were unusable from the lack of space, throwing blades and arrows of wind was all it could manage. It completely gave up trying to bite Gnosis, completely focusing its firepower on the artillery battery Oldren had become.

It fired a huge blade of wind from its chest wings, two of them. The first one caught a cannon shell and detonated it mid air. The smog from the blast allowed the second blade to slip through and smash into Oldren's chest.

Something broke above me. A huge chunk of rock splintered from the roof and began rocketing downwards, right on top of me and Lily's head. "Shit." I cursed. I panicked and triggered [Launch], blasting us to the side just before the chunk of rock could crush us.

<[Launch] lv7 -> lv8 | 16/17 >

When my eyes locked onto Oldren's position again, the scene had changed dramatically. The various weapons and machines had become distended and cubic. Thunder flashed as huge swathes of machinery transformed and moved around, locking into each other.

Three huge coils erupted out of his back, glowing with incredible energy. The light showed so bright in my awareness I felt a headache threatening to overwhelm me. His arms became colossal prongs, his legs became thrusters that facilitated his levitation from the ground.

Massive jets formed on the back as a huge bullet the size of a javelin appeared in the jaws of the weapon. Terrible potential energy strung the insides of the railgun like a harp. The sky blue potential energy was replaced with the jagged red of kinetic, the former now lancing out into the world, dancing amongst the cracks in the rock and tracing along the shoulder of the Sky terror.

The entire world was engulfed in light. My eyes adjusted to the blinding light to see a huge laser beam lunge towards the bird. No, that was inaccurate. It traveled at the speed of light, the beam having already reached the monster. Little strings of darkness proliferating the beam was my only indication it was actually moving, and not a pillar of solid matter.

Three huge sonic rings burst from along the beam. The golden energy hit the rock just in front of the bird first, then with the creation of the rings, reached through the bird into the ranges beyond. The air and the earth screamed. Great groans sounded as the mountain lost its remaining shred of stability.

When the light ended, the comparatively small tunnel sculpted by the family of birds had become a hole as large as the mountain was tall. Humongous scorch marks stung the earth, red hot lava tracing through the ground where the beam had struck, the Sky Terror nowhere to be found.

Gnosis rushed towards us. He was painfully slow. I felt a warm trickle down both sides of my head, finding myself completely stunned. The entire mountain began to cascade downwards, smaller splinters falling first but more and more crashing down like dominoes.

Gnosis reached out his hand, propelling golden strings towards us. They arced upwards and quickly knit themselves into some sort of shield. They formed layered circles with a few crosses reaching out of the middle, the construct just wide enough to cover the both of us.

It guarded against small rocks and the bulk of the dust, but bent under some of the large boulders. A huge spear of rock twenty feet long and eight feet across came hurdling down towards the both of us. Lily urged me to move, but I only managed to snap out of the stupor right as the rock fell on us.

In a blink, Gnosis was there. The shield was nowhere to be found, not even the tatters of its remains. Gnosis stretched his hands outwards and summoned a circular barrier composed of translucent orange hexagons. The shield clipped into our appendages, but an expression of his will mitigated that as the shield began to expand. Even when it had all of us in its grasp it continued to expand, until it held up the entire cavern.

I felt a lump form in my throat. It traveled up until I couldn't hold it back anymore. I opened my mouth and blood poured pathetically from it. I lifted a hand. It was shaking. I touched the side of my head below my ears and looked at my fingers. Blood. Oldren's attack had left my senses in overload.

I stumbled to my feet, my entire body shaking. A pulse of healing stopped the blood flow, but did nothing for the pounding in my head. Before I could stumble on any displaced rubble Lily lassoed my arm around her shoulder, her skin radiant as mana drifted towards her and empowering her body.

In the corner of my vision, even as it swam, I saw a pile of rubble bulge upwards. It seems Oldren had come apart after the blast and had been buried under rubble. But entombed he was no longer. He seemed to gather himself for a moment, before generating massive thrusters and dodging around falling rubble that made itself around Gnosis' shield before he put it up.

Oldren twisted his head around and locked on us. He quickly propelled himself towards us, three masses rapidly forming behind him as he flew. Gnosis quivered, seemingly from the strain, and the barrier followed suit. Some of the brighter orange hexagons dimmed a bit as he dipped downwards.

Three huge hands rocketed towards the three of us. They roughly grabbed all three of us, the one handling gnosis having to grow extra material to keep him in its grasp. The soft yellow light glowing from their backends, where you would normally find the continuance of an arm, surged as Oldren flew away with us in toe.

I'd be lying if I said the ride is comfortable, but it beats being dead. Gnosis' shield sputtered out the moment he was lifted from his place near us. The mountain immediately began its collapse like an ant hill built on stilts.

It was like watching a star wars movie in vr. As Oldren whipped around falling debris the three huge gauntlets followed suit, trailing behind him like a trio of disproportionate tails. The metaphor worked better when I focused and saw the white light extending out of the back of the gauntlets toward Oldren.

They became invisible halfway across, but the light show was quite noticeable. Unfortunately, this design also meant the three of us were far behind him and thus deeper into the cave. When he made it out, the three of us were still in danger for that small second of lag.

It was incredibly cinematic. Right as we escaped, the entrance completely slammed shut from rubble. If we were a second too late, we would all be smashed. The thought of a sigh of relief wasn't even allowed to cross my mind as a huge blade of wind arced across the destroyed rock field and slammed into Oldren.

He quickly reversed his jets and swished his tails to deposit us behind him. He raised his arm, but before he could form anything close to a weapon a tornado javelin as dark and compressed as a midnight storm shot into his side, obliterating the arm and revealing his core, one of its small rings slightly chipped.

Oldren fell to the ground. His jetpacks pushed off to the side as he crumpled to the floor, unmoving. All of his constructs looked like they had a heart attack. They lurched cubicly, spazzed out, and exploded into pieces that drifted downwards and fizzled out of existence.

Oldren's health bar had taken a huge hint, but he was still holding on at 20%. Off to the side, sat our attacker. The Sky Terror, alive but not well.

Its left side had been completely blown off. Dark green blood that filled the forest with the smell of gasoline dripped from its red scorched sides. Its upper left X wing had been razed down to the stump, while the lower one was bent like a thunder struck tree branch.

Similar to the destruction pattern on the ground, a huge line diagonally burst down its body. It too was red like the gash in its side, the feathers charred brown like low poly bark but leaking less of the shadowy green blood. A thinner gash also marred its neck, no doubt where Oldren's first laser had cut into it.

The bird was on its last legs. Literally, its weight was unevenly distributed on its left one, which was probably the least damaged part of its body. The right leg had been horrifically twisted at the end. Must be from Gnosis. I realized. It was probably knocked back from Oldrens… mega piss laser. The world had to choose between Gnosis' knockback immunity and the bird's leg. Clearly, Gnosis won the coin toss. When stoppable force meets movable object, I suppose.

My head was still pounding, the blood sliding down my ears now having dried enough that it cracked as I turned my neck. Oldren is down for the count…

…

What now?

Running is probably the best option. The bird is barely alive and probably doesn't have much left in the tank. It hasn't attacked us since it hit Oldren, so I'm guessing that was its death throes. Lily can move, so can I. Any of the three of us can collect Oldren and leave.

But…

I looked at the heavily wounded sky terror. Its wounds appeared to be closing up, some of its feathers regained their vibrancy and snapped back into position. It's already healing… The question is, if we leave it alone, will it give up? I would, in its shoes. But we killed all of its young…

The sky terror began to gather its power. A huge storm began to form, winds surging as the last of its magic, and the entire forest's supply of mana was sucked into the magic singularity. Oh no. "Looks like it's gearing up for one final attack."

Danger detection started blaring in my ears like a storm alert. The air turned black as the whisper of the winds turned sharp and distasteful. The potential energy of the storm cycled heavily like an engine. It brushed past me like scythes, whipping across our limbs and tracing through our necks.

Screw running away, looks like this is the end. There's so much energy in this storm, running away will be impossible. What do we do then? What can we do?

What can I do? I simply don't have what it takes to fight this thing. No matter what, it just seems hopeless.

But still, a small spark of hope remained in my gut.

Truthfully, there was something I hadn't tried yet. It was iffy whether I could truly pull it off, both of them. Not to mention, it was extremely dangerous. The last time I used it, I almost killed myself. My stats are higher now. I might be able to handle the backlash this time…

"Gnosis.. These golden threads, how many shields can you make with them and from how far away?"

Gnosis: Many. Far.

Lily: What are you doing?

"Make platforms. As many as you can, leading into the sky." I'll need some prep time, and some momentum. "I need the final ones to be above… there." I pointed towards the bird, specifically the wound at its neck. Gnosis locked eyes with me, then nodded.

Strings pooled out of his fingers and flew past me. They knit themselves into barriers about twice as large as the average spartan shield. I watched, ignoring Lily staring a hole in my back until the sky path reached a desirable level of completion. Gnosis is quite competent. It's nice.

As I directed my stocked stats, I felt a tug on my arm. "MAX!" I turned around. Lily was crying, blood spattered lightly across her face and armor, her arm bent at an awkward angle. "You don't have to do this."

"Hah! Maybe you should have the insight stat. You're clearly putting it to better use." My expression soured. "I… this is something I have to do." Who else will? "Lily, did I ever tell you the story of when I left camp? Before I found you?"

"..Not in detail." I smiled and ruffled her hair as my body ignited with aura. "Then I'll have to tell you later." I turned around. "When I get back." I jumped upwards with pure physical strength. My momentum rocketed exponentially as I bounced between the shields up into the sky.

As I ascended, my thoughts couldn't help but sink into doubt. Unity. It was a condition I attained during my flight from the Windigo. I just… pulled it out of nowhere. What is it? What am I unifying? Is it the four equivalents? Or perhaps the three pieces of existence?

I mentally recalled the notification from all those weeks ago.

< Special Skill: [Existential Empower]- A being is composed of three parts. The soul, the vessel, and the body. This skill strengthens the vessel, empowering the connection of the soul and the body. >

The soul, the vessel, and the body. Is that what I'm uniting? My body, how I move and how I think. How I interact with the world. My soul, me in every way. The culmination of everything that makes me, me. The vessel, the one I'm least familiar with. The force, entity, or other that connects my soul to my body.

But aren't these aspects of myself already united? Is it forging a deeper connection between my soul and body? Perhaps, does it get rid of the middle man entirely and merge the soul and body?

Getting warmer.

The four equivalents, the fire, the heart, the gem, and the eye. The heart is my soul, I know that already. Huh, maybe the three elements of existence and the four equivalents arent separate, like i thought but more like looking at existence through two different lenses?

So if the heart is my soul, what are the rest? The fire is my will, which must be what I'm manipulating, no? But the skill is called [Spirit Drive], not Will Drive. Or do the names hold little meaning?

The eye is my mind. Not just as a mind's eye, but as the entirety of my psyche itself. The gem… must be my body. It channels energy throughout the rest of me, acting like a central core for my physical existence.

But where does the vessel tie into this? Wait, tie? Between all the equivalents, exists a ghostly white river. From the will to the soul, the soul to the body, and the body to the mind. I thought this flowing energy was just a representation. But no, it must be the vessel. If it exists as the chains that bind my souls to my body, why wouldn't it bind everything else?!

Will soul, soul body, body mind. All connected by my vessel. Are the will and mind not connected? No, the vessel channel connects all of them. But Imagine, what if they were all one? Instead of a river connecting them like a nervous system, they were all one, the vessel instead acting as a container, binding them all together.

All the equivalents, all the aspects of my being, working together closely and perfectly. In harmony. In absolute. Unity.

< Insight has increased +8 >

<[Stone Mind ] lv8 -> lv10 | +6 Int >

< Due to the Intellect stat surpassing 100, the overload skill: [{Mind's Eye}] has been acquired >

< Overload Skill: Minds Eye- Grants true sight, the power to see all things. Increases calculative ability to transcendent mental limits for as long as necessary. Post activation may take a heavy toll. >

< Understanding of the Special skill: [Spirit Drive] has deepened. Skill efficiency has been raised. >

< You have developed a mild affinity towards spirit related skills >

The realization seemed to set me free. I felt light as a feather as I ascended further into the sky, stair casing towards the Sky Terror's position. My body didn't just feel light, it was light. My skin glowed softly with white. Whether this was the unity I felt when I cleared the bridge, it didn't matter to me. It seems it's true what they say. The truth really does set you free.

Hp- 5029/7150 (1/2) | St- 8234/10500 (+400) | Condition- Curse of Soul Fray | Unity

There it was. Glowing white and casting its radiance onto the other letters dotting the status, the condition I had chased. I glanced at the spirit driver. The thinish wheel of white fire had transformed into a whirling hurricane of purified inferno. Huge spikes twisted out of it like a sawblade.

It had easily tripled in size, and now comfortably spun at twice the speed that normally tore at my insides. The eye of the storm was being flooded with energy. It soon began cascading out of the center and randomly discharging into misc skills. I almost lost my footing and plummeted to the world below when a bolt of power supercharged my dash for half a second.

I pulled myself up and made the harrowing journey to the last of the shields. The final one was tilted at an almost 45 degree angle. It was a bit larger than the others, with two thick strings floating lazily on each side.

I hopped onto it using the last of my momentum and promptly curled the two strings around my forearms as I positioned my feet against it for a devastating leap. The angle tempted gravity. The pressure, both from the sky and of the future, threatened to fail me. I looked at the ground so far away from me, a tendril of fear driving itself into my gut.

I thought I got over my fear of heights after Cinder, but I guess not. The view was sobering, and in that moment of stillness, I couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. If I messed this up, it could really be the end for me. But conversely, if I succeed, I can only go up from there.

I need to become stronger. To move forward. To see my family, to go home. But the more I adventure, the more sure I become. This isn't just about going home. It's about growth. If I'm trapped here, what better revenge would it be towards my captors than to use it as an opportunity to grow?

I don't know if I can do this. I-I have all the tools at my disposal, I just have.. Have. To. Push.

I have to go beyond. Reach for the sky. It has to be me. I breathed. I focused my vision, and put everything I had into the moment. My mind, body, will and soul all screamed in unison.

And I propelled myself from the platform.

< Consuming all charges of [Launch] 17/17 -> 0/17 >

The shield blew apart from the impact, five rings of wind dispelling from my path as I exploded downward. I clutched Dusk in my hand, and focused.

[Cleave].

Yellow fire danced across the blade, increasing its width slightly and expanding its reach by another few feet.

[Penetrate].

< Skill combo! [Cleave] + [Penetrate] = [[Wave Cutter]] >

Red fire exploded forward and filed seamlessly into the yellow. Orange aura erupted into a huge sweeping crescent blade vibrating with energy. It swayed in the wind, desperate to be released, but I didn't let it.

This is it. Unity's game breaking properties should hopefully let me do what I'm about to.

I just hope I can survive the backlash.

Black wind raced around me, attempting to obscure my vision and derail my momentum. The pushing force actually assisted in my downward plummet. The sharp gale forces began cutting into my skin, the mana giving the storm malignant substance.

Cleave plus penetrate….

Plus.

[Spirit Drive]!!!

Energy surged as I attempted the fated three piece combo. The skills reacted violently. I had tried this before, and faced the same rejection.

< Condition: Unity is resonating >

< Attempting threshold release >

< Success >

It failed. The energy just wasn't enough to supercharge the skill. In fact, it was almost like it refused to be charged by the energy, what little lightning I had deflected off of the skill box like a mirror.

I attempted to thrust the skills together again, and failed. On the third try I internalised my wrong doing. It.. just wouldn't work. But then, something resonated. The orange blade that trembled in my grasp, the longer I held it still the more it rallied against my control. The white fire in my body itself shook, excited by the unexplored synergy.

I crushed the driver down into a singularity. It exploded outwards, excited by the compression. The wave of energy burst, and carried on Outside of my body. The energy then cascaded into one point again. It lost the bulk of its mass, having shed much of its outer layer on the journey outside of the focusing space, but it was enough.

A brilliant white flame flickered at the center of my chest. It expanded outward in a small circle. It moved to the right, across my body. When it got to my shoulder, it moved to encapsulate the entirety of my arm in a radiant band that continued to flow downwards toward dusk.

It flowed down to my elbow, then my wrist. It ignited once it met the aura encapsulating my sword. The handle, the guard, and the blade all exploded with white light. The sword lost its orange hue, entangled by blinding radiance and enchanted with iridescent thunder.

Penetrate plus Cleave. Plus. . .

[Spirit Drive]!!!!

< SKILL CHAIN!!! >

< [[Wave Cutter]] + [Spirit Drive] >

< Condition: Unity is resonating >

< Attempting empowerment >

< Multiple conflicting issues detected! >

< Processing… >

< Condition [Unity Backlash] Inflicted >

< Condition [Soul Frey] will be temporarily Nullified >

< Conflict Unresolved >

< Processing… >

< Resolving… >

< Success! >

< Calculating threat… >

< Initial strengthening value within survivable measures: 231% >

< Value insufficient >

< Strengthening value for guaranteed threat elimination: 1021% >

< Warning!!! Current strengthening value far exceeds user survivability! >

< Processing… >

< Survival rate without strengthening: 0.0000129% >

< Survival rate with strengthening: 0.01673% >

< Proceeding… >

< Error! >

< Error!! >

< Error!!! >

< User death guaranteed! >

< Conflict: Backlash values >

< Backlash substitutes: HP/ST >

< Immediate backlash survivability: 0% >

< Postponed backlash survivability: 0.01673% >

< Warning!!! Condition: Unity unable to sustain prolonged backlash postponement >

< Compensating >

< Warning!!! System conflict detected >

<User identified as high priority ******* >

< Initiating system intervention. >

< Processing solutions… >

< Process completed. >

< Attempting system personification. >

< Attempt Pending… >

< Computational Soul substituted | Code: CLxtYu43L0 >

< Interference detected | Code: tH3e$tR@nG3|) >

< Interference Code: tH3e$tR@nG3|) Attempting personal interjection >

< Attempting overwrite… >

< Admin Interference detected >

< Conflict Arisen >

< Attempting Solution… >

< Failed. >

< Processing… >

< Conflict contenance >

< Attempting Solution… >

< Failed. >

< Processing… >

< Conflict contenance >

< Attempting Solution… >

< Failed. >

< Processing… >

<109 Similar messages suppressed>

<<< You have thirty seconds. >>>

<<< That's how long I can stall the backlash. >>>

<<< I hope this is worth it. >>>

My codex continued being flooded with hundreds of the same error messages, vestiges of the system attempting to dislodge… whatever was going on. The string of errors prevented the system from deleting itself, so I actually got to fully perceive these messages for the first time.

I had no time to dwell on the frighteningly low survival rates. I could only believe everything would work itself out.

Before the string of messages, the blade had evolved into a radiant white wing, dancing like a streamer behind me. Now, with the empowerment of the system, the wing and most of the aura had vanished. The only substance left was the blinding glow of dusk, white cracks slowly ingraining itself into the blade.

But before the blade could shatter, I finally fell upon the Sky Terror. Bloodied and broken, it sat in the middle of its dark vortex, weeping. In pain and sorrow, grieving it's young. I broke through those harsh winds, my blade aimed at its neck.

The entrance destroyed me. The black winds lashed at me, tearing apart my flesh and digging deep grooves into my bones. The cycles in the immediate vicinity sparkled, light dancing off the small splotches of my blood.

The fall had given me enough time to build up two more charges of launch. Though insufficient, I pushed even further beyond my limits, cracks threatening to burden my soul to push off against the air one final time.

My sword, small as it was, intercepted the bird's neck right at its swollen red wound. I slammed heavily into the ground, hundreds of my bones breaking, half of my hp vanishing instantly. Try as I might to protect my head with my spare arm, it had done nothing to spare my neck from the impact.

I rolled my eyes over to dusk, or at least, the remaining pieces of it. The blade had shattered, only the handle remaining in my grasp. Tiny dregs of white fire sparked within my focus space. They couldn't spin, merely billowing in the space, but it was enough to keep me sane.

The bird turned towards me. Though weak, it had churned every ounce of wind mana into shielding the wound. The only thing to show for my efforts, a long, thin line of soulful white that persisted along the injury.

With my left arm bent in all directions, my fingers disjointed and purple. I lifted it, and gave a thumbs up. Then, I pointed it downwards, a weary grin on my face. Game over, bitch.

< SKILL CHAIN!!! >

< [[Wave Cutter]] + [Spirit Drive] = >

[[[Guillotine]]]

All the bird could do was look up, as its black storm, whirling shield and even emergency skills were severed by a white blade descended from the heavens itself. It slammed into the bird, ripping through its neck like cheap rope. It dug deep into the ground, even piercing through me from my position on the ground, though it slid through me harmlessly.

The bird's head rolled to the ground, the midsection of its body obscured by its vile green ichor. Its body collapsed, and the storm unwound in seconds, the weather of the biome finally becoming peaceful.

< Sky Terror lv276 Slain Alot of XP acquired>

< Obtained 1 (Huge) Soul>

< Further Calculations delayed >

My comrades rushed over, even Oldren, though his body was still very clearly in terrible shape. Not to jinx it, but that wasn't so bad. Maybe my luck is really good? Or the system calculations are off? Perhaps this is how [Death Resistance] works? Offsetting fate instead of something more obvious?

"Hoof. I'm glad it's all ov-"

< Conflict resolved. >

< Interference Code: tH3e$tR@nG3|) interjection thwarted. >

< Resuming. >

< Unity backlash Stamina/Health Equivalent: 2307% >

What?

< You have taken 417,867 Backlash damage >

Hp- -399,767/7600 (1/2) | St- 0/10500 (+400)

< Your HP has reached 0 >

< You will die in 30 seconds. >

<Error! Conflicting skill detected!>

That's right! [Death resistance]! You may be at a low level, but now is the time to prove yourself! I've had you for almost my whole journey! Go! Show this system that THIS. IS NOT.

OVER!

< Special Skill: [Death Resistance] Failed >

< Resuming countdown. >

< 29 >

< 28 >

< 27 >

My body went numb. It became devoid of feeling. With every number that went down the emptiness in my body increased. Void clutched my heart, and found that even with [Sleep Resistance], I couldn't avoid closing my eyes. I wasn't even all that tired, and yet, the will to resist, to keep going. To prevail over death, had already been used up, not even the tiniest white flicker remaining.

And so, as my soul shattered, I sunk into the void of nonexistence, as my true soul ascended to the world beyond.