The Ascender's Legacy [A CHAOTIC STORM LITRPG]

Velynars were peaceful and easy-going creatures. At least that was the way they were portrayed in the books Yurin had read. He remembered them from the images in his bedtime storybook. He had even seen them in parks back in Sector 8, lounging within their glass nests, content to watch humans run and play around them.

But this one was different.

It looked the same—armed with a beak so strong it easily dismantled the stumps of strong trees, claws so sharp they could rend through evolved skin like parchment, and feathers whose edges gleamed with cold, dangerous light—yet Yurin could spot the difference as clear as day. It wasn't in anything it did, or the title on its head, but the cold glint in its eyes as it worked tirelessly to bring order to the clearing, all in devotion to the plant growing at the center.

Yurin watched the Velynar warily before making his decision, his greed for a great title urging him forward. Bracing himself against the possible glass attacks the Velynar could open with the moment they stepped into its domain, Yurin crossed the boundary of jagged glass, a sword construct manifesting in one hand.

He was prepared for a barrage of glass shards, a sweeping vortex of refracted light, or even a clash of claws and beaks. But he wasn't prepared for the abominable screech that Velynar unleashed the moment it saw them. The screech unleashed a sonic boom that nearly threw him off his feet, but a tangle of thin vines caught his feet before that could happen.

Still, Yurin staggered as the sound tore into his skull, his vision flashing white as the world abruptly fell into silence—a hollow, disorienting quiet of sudden deafness.

A hand to his ears revealed that he was bleeding, and he cursed, throwing himself to the ground just as the air shattered—literally—in fragments of glass. An instant later, the shattered fragments turned and shot towards them, not with any intent to actually harm them but to chase them away. Perhaps it wasn't so different after all.

Andrew raised a wall of twisting vines to block the attack and turned to look at him, saying. "---------"

"I can't hear you," Yurin shouted, forcing Andrew to raise his chips to his mouth.

"I said it won't leave the plant to attack us. It's more concerned for the plant than it is wary of us. We can't have that."

"We must lead it away from the plant." Yurin agreed vocally, and his eyes narrowed in determination. "We have to work together if we are to win this. Sword and shield tactics. I'll attack it while you work on nullifying any of its attacks."

Andrew nodded, and without another word, they both raced towards the Velynar.

The Velynar squawked in outrage and unleashed another volley of glass shards, but they were much more prepared to handle it this time. Andrew raised another wall of twisting vines, but it was obvious it wouldn't be enough to stop the attack, so Yurin raised a wall of light behind the vines, pouring energy and willpower into it until it was nearly a meter thick.

Still, it wasn't enough. The wall of vines was sliced to pieces, and the light wall behind it shattered an instant later—the force of the Velynar's attack completely overwhelming it. Thankfully, their defenses were enough to weaken the attack, but some glass shards still passed through, slicing their hastily erected armors nearly to pieces.

Gritting his teeth in pain, Yurin raced forward, a sword construct materializing in his hands even as a snarling tangle of metallic vines erupted from the ground beneath the Velynar, stabbing and latching onto its limbs to entangle them. They hooked onto its wings and twisted around its neck to strangle it, pulling, lashing, and stabbing.

For a fleeting moment, the Velynar was open, and Yurin took advantage of it. Eyes flaring with the glow of {Radiant Clarity}, Yurin searched for a weakness in the Velynar's body and smiled when he found one just beneath its left wing. Weaving past a series of glass spikes and shards, he swung his sword, slicing into the space between the Velynar's body and wings.

SKRRIIINK!

Yurin's blade screeched against the supposed weakness without effect, and the Velynar screeched again, the sonic boom hitting him from behind this time. Yurin managed to escape the brunt of the attack, bones vibrating and welts opening up on his skin, but Andrew wasn't so lucky.

The sonic boom slammed into him like a truck, tearing through his wooden armor like paper and throwing him off his feet. Alarmed, Yurin dashed across the clearing on a platform of light, catching Andrew before he could land in a pulsing cascade of jagged glass spikes that had erupted from the earth at the last minute.

"Oh, fuck. I didn't even have time to react." Andrew gasped, his eyes wide, when he saw the deathtrap Yurin had just saved him from.

The Velynar squawked again—another warning for them to retreat—but Yurin and Andrew refused. They had already begun this fight. There was no turning back now until they got that title.

Still, they needed a moment to catch their breath and re-strategize, so they stood in silence for a few seconds, glaring at the Velynar, who glared back at them with glassy, soulless eyes. It had settled back down, its wings flared slightly to protect the plant from an attack, but its entire body was tensed, ready to spring into action at any moment.

Eyes narrowing in slight worry, Yurin asked. "What happens to the title if we ask Aodhán and Daruk for assistance?"

Andrew shook his head. "We won't get it, and if we do, it will be a very weak version." He sighed and massaged his temples. "The most powerful version of the title goes to those who solo the advanced creature. With the two of us here, we'll get a lesser but still useful title if we win. If Andrew and Daruk join us, what we will get will be so weak, it's basically useless."

Yurin grimaced. "Then we'll just have to beat this thing ourselves. Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes." Andrew agreed, and together, both boys reached out, hands twisting through the air. Vines erupted from the ground in their dozens as Andrew activated {Mycelium Network}, their dark-silver stems gleaming with deadly intent, even as multiple streams of light condensed in the air, weaving themselves into a series of constructs: bladed ropes, spears, and even boulders.

The Velynar squawked in outrage as both attacks rushed toward it. Still, it refused to move. It countered Yurin's constructs with a platform of glass so thick that it barely vibrated when the boulders struck.

Andrew's barrage of metallic vines, however, wasn't so easily countered. They surged forward like a verdant torrent, lashing at the Velynar to ensnare it.

A vortex of glass shards sliced the vines to pieces, but this was Andrew's domain, and he was inexorable. Vines slithered through the vortex to lash at the Velynar, metallic tips stabbing into its glass body with a loud chink! chink! chink!

While the vines attacked the Velynar, Yurin's constructs finally broke through the platform of glass. The Velynar looked up sharply as glass shattered, but before it could react, the constructs were upon it, twisting and stabbing as they joined Andrew's vines to ensnare it. Bladed ropes of golden light twisted around the Velynar's neck and wings, moving jaggedly to crack its seemingly perfect and smooth body. Spears struck its wings loudly, their efforts useless against the strength of the Velynar's wings.

But Yurin and Andrew refused to give up. Pumping willpower and chaos into their attacks, they doubled their efforts.

Yurin's constructs multiplied, tightening forcefully around the Velynar's neck and wings to create a more accessible weakness in its defenses, even as more metallic vines erupted out of the ground, joining the first wave of vines to stab and ensnare the Velynar.

The Velynar only put up with all of it for a few minutes before it unleashed another unholy screech, the sound tearing through all the ensnaring vines and constructs like a knife through paper.

With a single snap of its wings, razor-thin glass shards flew out in their hundreds, forcing Andrew and Yurin on the defensive once more, but the Velynar was not done. It was pissed.

It screeched again (as if the first wasn't traumatic enough), and the air shattered once again, sending another wave of razor-thin glass shards slicing through the area. Trees fell all around them, cut down almost as easily as paper, and despite pouring a ton of chaos and willpower into their defenses, Yurin and Andrew weren't spared.

Cuts marred their bodies, each one deep enough to draw blood. The Velynar, on the other hand, remained in pristine condition, its body unmarked by all of their efforts save for a tiny orange crack around its neck where one of Yurin's constructs had squeezed.

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The Velynar didn't give them time to recuperate this time. Instead, it unleashed a cascade of jagged glass toward them, each addition erupting out of the ground so quickly that the entire clearing was covered in gleaming, jagged glass in seconds.

High in the sky, floating on a platform of golden light, Yurin and Andrew glared down at the Velynar as if it had killed their firstborn child. Its pristine condition suggested that their attacks against it were futile, but the small crack on its neck told a different story.

Yurin focused on the crack, eyes narrowing in determination, and without hesitation, he lunged forward, weaving past a wall of jagged glass with blinding speed. But the shards weren't just physical—they reflected and refracted light, creating several illusions of light and flaws in reality.

Yurin deactivated {Radiant Clarity}, and the flaws vanished before they could become overwhelming, but the illusions remained, stronger now that he had deactivated Radiant Clarity. Light flashed erratically in the air as shards twisted, catching and refracting the light of the nexus above them. Beams of light energy shot in every direction, disorienting him.

Yet Yurin remained focused.

Even with all the flashing lights and illusions, the small crack on the Velynar's neck stood out to him like a beacon. He raised a hand, sword poised to slice into the crack. However, before he could reach the Velynar, the infernal creature unleashed another screech, and this time, Yurin failed to dodge in time.

His armor and platform shattered under the onslaught, and he was thrown back several meters, chest aching as his ribs constricted tightly. Before he could impale himself on the cascade of jagged glass waiting below, the ground heaved, and a cascade of vines erupted out, forming into an open palm to catch him.

Yurin panted, eyes wide, and looked up to thank Andrew, but his friend was gone, having jumped down from the floating light platform to attack the Velynar.

Standing at a safe distance, he unleashed a dense cloud of hallucinogenic and poisonous spores at the Velynar. The cloud of toxins covered the whole area like a fog, but against a creature made entirely of glass, the spores had no effect. The Velynar had no nervous system to disrupt nor bloodstream to carry poisons.

The Velynar almost seemed to smirk at his efforts before launching another barrage of glass shards in his direction. Cursing in frustration, Andrew dodged the attack, activating {Symbiotic bond} with the silver render plant and covering his entire body in metal.

It wasn't much of a defense, but it was better than the wooden skin his bloodline granted him.

"It's no use," Yurin shouted as he moved to join Andrew, raising a wall of light to block the Velynar's attack. "The spores are not affecting it."

"I can see that." Andrew snapped, his thoughts racing a mile a minute as he scanned his mental library for an idea that could work. The Velynar's affinity was a counter to theirs. Its body was so smooth that his vines couldn't find purchase, and even when they did, the tier and power difference made it impossible for them to actually penetrate. The same applied to Yurin, whose attacks were either reflected, refracted, or simply shrugged off without effect.

The Velynar was the worst creature they could have picked for this trial. What happened to flesh and blood creatures? Why hadn't he just waited?

"This is no time to blame yourself," Yurin shouted over the noise of the Velynar's attack when he noticed Andrew's expression. "We have a Velynar to kill. Blame yourself later."

Before Andrew could respond, Yurin launched himself forward once more, his gaze fixed on the crack on the Velynar's neck. With a grunt of pain, Yurin decided to risk it all in one move.

Weaving past the barrage of glass shards, he harnessed his two seals at once, gasping in pain and pleasure as heat filled his body—searing and scalding so much so that steam rose off his skin. Snarling, he poured all that energy into {Light Beam}, layering and condensing it until he couldn't hold it any longer.

With his entire body shuddering from holding so much energy, Yurin pointed two fingers at the Velynar's neck and unleashed the beam. The searing beam shot out from his fingers faster than a bullet, so hot that it warped the space it tore through.

For the first time since their battle began, the Velynar moved—actually moved—eyes wide in fear as it tried to dodge the attack, forgetting the plant beneath it completely.

It saved its neck from the beam, whipping it out of the way just in time. But it couldn't save the rest of its body. The searing beam tore through its left wing like a knife through butter, shearing it off completely and then some.

The Velynar shrieked—like glass grinding against glass—as spiderweb cracks spread across its body and the stump boiled, glowing with a faint orange hue. Melting.

"It's working," Andrew shouted in excitement. Taking advantage of the opening, he unleashed a snarling torrent of silver-render vines, their metallic tips stabbing into the melting stump and tearing it open.

The Velynar let out a piercing wail, staggering in pain (apparently it had pain receptors), and Andrew laughed. "By ascendants, we can do this."

But Yurin was already bucking. Condensing the light beam to such a pinpoint had drained him nearly completely. His willpower felt as if it had been siphoned out of his veins, pulled into the beam with each passing second. Sweat poured down his face, his arms trembled, and he struggled to hold his focus. But Yurin was never one to give up.

Gathering the rest of the quintessence and chaos within his spirit, Yurin poured all the energy and willpower he had left into the mix, and before the Velynar could free itself from the torrent of stabbing vines that Andrew had created, Yurin pointed his two fingers again, this time aiming for the Velynar's core.

The Velynar sensed the attack the moment it exited Yurin's fingers, and it thrashed, eyes wide and wing thrumming as it strained to free itself from the tangle of ensnaring vines. It succeeded, shearing through the verdant network with a wave of its right wing.

It didn't completely free it, but it freed up its beak, and with panic burning in its eyes, it screeched.

The air shattered.

A concussive sonic boom rippled outward, so powerful that it warped the space around it, cracking bark and flattening small trees. Yurin's beam bent slightly, veering just off course, but not enough. Rather than its core, the beam struck the Velynar's right wing, not completely slicing through it, but it didn't matter, because when Andrew's vines stabbed into it an instant later, the entire wing shattered, breaking into a hundred tiny pieces.

The Velynar screeched again, pain and agony burning in its soulless eyes, but in an instant, all that emotion transformed into rage—a burning fury that was so palpable, it was almost tangible.

Vines stabbed into its wounds, trying to hold it down, but the Velynar had gone berserk.

A maelstrom of jagged glass exploded out of it, and with a screech, they shot toward Yurin with deadly precision. Not the usual wide spray—this time they were controlled, razor-thin, and blindingly fast, aimed directly at Yurin's knees, arms, and throat.

Yurin dropped to dodge the attack, weaving through the deadly torrent, but he wasn't fast enough. A glass shard bit deep, carving a line from the base of his jaw across his collarbone.

Blood sprayed. Warm and pulsing.

Yurin staggered, eyes wide, choking on his own breath—then fell to his knees, gurgling.

"YURIN!" Andrew screamed, his voice raw as he dashed across the clearing, a mountain of vines erupting from the earth behind him to create a shifting, ever-growing shield of thorned bark, heavy roots, and hardened moss that rippled and regrew faster than the eye could track.

Another glass-shattering shriek echoed out, but Andrew barely registered it as he dropped beside Yurin and took out a small golden pill from his spatial ring. He shoved the healing pill between Yurin's lips, forcing his jaw open with trembling fingers, and begged him to swallow.

"I almost had it." Yurin gurgled, blood spurting from his mouth.

"Stop talking," Andrew ordered, holding Yurin's jaw shut with his hands to stem the blood flow.

Yurin nodded, but the Velynar wasn't done with them.

It screeched again, tearing holes into the verdant wall Andrew had erected, its primary objective forgotten in the grasp of pain and madness. It unleashed waves of glass shards at the verdant shield, tearing roots and vines to pieces, but the shield healed itself almost immediately.

The Velynar was relentless, though. With its mind completely consumed by rage and pain, it attacked furiously, cleaving huge chunks of vines away with each strike of its claw. Every attack on the shield drained Andrew of willpower. Every time the wall repaired itself, willpower was siphoned from his core, draining out of him like water through a basket.

Another shrill wail echoed out. Another huge hole in the wall.

Andrew groaned as another bout of energy and willpower drained out of his core, healing the wall seamlessly and replacing the dead vines with new ones. Still, Andrew knew that it was only a matter of time before he completely ran out of willpower.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." Andrew cursed, hands cradling Yurin tightly as he waited for the wound to fully close up. He had been foolish and greedy, wanting to push himself after the embarrassing way his fight against Aodhán had ended.

After all that training with Fortuna and his father, Andrew had returned to the academy convinced he was the strongest of all his friends. Yet with three seals and an icon under his belt, Aodhán had still beaten him so thoroughly that their duel had barely lasted more than a minute.

He'd wanted to bridge the gap between himself and Aodhán with this title. So, when he saw the Velynar, he hadn't really stopped to think of how badly their affinities stacked against it.

Yurin had at least managed to injure it, but for the duration of this battle, Andrew wasn't sure he had done more than annoy the creature.

Clasping Yurin's body closer to himself, Andrew felt anger boil within his veins. Not irritation or annoyance. No, this was pure, undiluted rage—an emotion he hadn't felt ever since he gained his icon.

It rose within him like a burgeoning tide, heavy and overwhelming, vibrating within his chest like a dam about to break.

His hands trembled.

His core surged.

And something inside him snapped.

A howl tore from his chest—not of pain, but of fury—as he activated his sacred technique for the first time.

{Heart of the forest}.

His veins lit up with emerald light. His heartbeat slowed to match the rhythm of the roots deep within the earth.

He raised a bloody fist, and the ground beneath him pulsed.

Everything went still.

Then the entire forest responded.

Trees bent toward him. Roots uncoiled like sleeping titans. Vines as thick as iron cables lashed out from the shadows. The earth shuddered, and even the air shifted, scented with fresh sap and ancient bark. Ethereal trees erupted all around him, their ghostly blue bodies sapping the light from the area like a black hole.

Andrew stood in their center, eyes aglow with deep verdant radiance as the wall of shifting vines crumbled to reveal the Velynar, wings broken and eyes crazed.

But its frenzy faltered—just for a heartbeat—as its gaze met Andrew's. Something had changed. Something it couldn't understand.

It surged forward regardless, and with another shriek, lunged at Andrew, intent on skewering him to pieces.

But Andrew was no longer afraid. This forest was no longer a battleground. It was his domain. And the Velynar had just stepped into it.