Virus: Origin of Blood

Annoying, persistent shitstains! Issac growled, banking hard to the left to avoid another jagged bolt of lightning coming his way.

His four wings twisted again, halting his momentum in an instant before whipping him around to face his attackers. Not even the constant downpour happening in this damned territory could slow him down. The unique build of his Legacy form made sure of that.

Not that the rain wasn't annoying. No, simply the four creatures flying toward him took priority.

Storm Elementals.

Oh, how I hate you… Isaac grumbled as the air around him turned crimson. A dozen smaller Crimson Deaths manifested around him. Come!

At once, he shot forward, intent on meeting the four shapeless blobs of smoke and water head-on. Like always, these creatures didn't bother screeching or roaring. For them, flinging bolts of lightning was more than enough. Oh, and changing the flow of air and rain around him. Couldn't forget about that.

It made dodging more than just a little bit irritating.

Still, these Elementals were weaker than him, slower than him.

And that was enough for Isaac.

He weaved between the bolts he could avoid and tanked the rest. His half-liquid feathers shuddered with every hit, some even bursting apart as the lightning overloaded them. He didn't blame them, couldn't even. After all, he felt everything.

Each lightning bolt was like a steel spike rammed through his body. The pain might have been brief, but it also never left him completely. Every few seconds, he felt its remnants in his bones and muscles, trying to freeze them, paralyze them.

It failed. Of course it did. But even his regeneration, toughness, and Harden had their limits. Limits he couldn't let them reach.

Which was why, once again, Isaac decided to face the Elementals.

End of the road for you.

With a tug at his skills, the crimson spears left his side. At the same time, Cursed Draw enveloped his body just as the first beast came within range. It charged another lightning bolt.

Isaac didn't care. He dove straight into it.

Boom…

The issue with Elementals? They couldn't be harmed by pure physical attacks or hard Origin constructs. He had learned that the hard way the first time these annoying blobs decided to face him. Thankfully, by now he had come up with a decent workaround to kill them quickly.

Hence, the explosions of blood happening around him.

Normally, his Legacy form as well as Crimson Deaths would just pass through the Elementals without doing any damage. Cursed Draw, however, allowed him to tear through the monster in his path. As for the spears that were supposed to kill the other three?

Easy, he just had to detonate them manually the moment they touched the Elementals. Their supposed intangibility could do nothing against the eruption of blood that destabilized their bodies, thus killing them on the spot.

[Storm Elemental x4 slain.]

[8 Fusion Points awarded.]

Despite those two notifications, there was no big fanfare when the monsters died. Hell, Isaac didn't even feel a tiny bit of satisfaction from their death. They would be back after all; it was only a matter of when.

It could be in five minutes, ten, or even an hour. Nothing could change that. That was just how this place worked.

Forgotten Wilds, the yellow territory, Isaac thought, grimacing. His eyes fell to the miles upon miles of overgrown jungle stretching underneath him. It was all he could see ever since he left Broken Hopes, which was about ten… twelve hours ago?

When he first entered this region, he had tried to go through the woods. Both to learn more about this place and to better his flying skills by avoiding all the trees in his path. For a while, it worked. Not even the dog-sized insect monsters could stop him. The fact that killing them usually earned him two points was just a bonus.

That said, after about an hour, things began to change…

At first, the bugs just got bigger, some even reaching the size of an adult human. A bit alarming, but nothing that Isaac couldn't handle.

It was the plants that crossed the line. Specifically, the flesh-eating ones that started popping up around every damn corner.

Could he have killed them and continued flying through the jungle?

Definitely.

Would it have doubled or tripled his travel time?

Oh yes.

And considering that Isaac was on a timer, he couldn't afford to play around with plants that wanted to chomp down on his leg. He still killed a few, though. His bloodlust and ego wouldn't allow him to leave without at least paying them back for almost tearing off his smaller wing.

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That, however, was the end of his time inside the jungle. Afterward, he opted to just fly high above the trees and get as far as he could before the night came.

Only it never did. Hell, even after all these hours, it wasn't getting any darker.

And I gotta rest soon…

His regeneration helped, sure—kept him going longer than any normal human could—but even it had limits. Without the Elementals attacking him constantly, it would have been another story. But that wasn't the case. He had to find a place to hole up and rest for an hour or two.

His gaze once more dropped to the jungle below. As long as he avoided the giant flesh-eating plants, he should be fine.

I swear, if I could already use fire, I would burn this entire place to the ground…

With this positive thought, Isaac continued flying onward. At the very least, the map showed that he was already over a third of the way into the "allied" yellow territory. If he kept up the pace, he just might make it in time.

Yeah… might…

Twenty-nine hours after leaving the Safe Zone, Isaac had done it. He was finally out of the Forgotten Wilds. It only took almost dying twice and being electrocuted more times than he could count.

It was official. Storm Elementals were his most hated enemy now. Especially the ones above level twenty. Isaac shuddered at the memory of almost getting fried by one of their bolts. If not for Burnout and Symphony of Blood, he would have been dead right there.

Then again, he shouldn't really be happy yet. Not when his current situation was the perfect definition of "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."

Now Entering: Smoldering Mountains

The next territory—the single red zone of the Battleworld—was a desert full of bright red sand. Just looking at it hurt. And the heat? Isaac hadn't even crossed the threshold of this region yet, and he could already feel his body melting… more than it already was, anyway.

All this? It explained the "Smoldering" part of the name. The "Mountains," though? That was a little less obvious. Right now, Isaac could only see some blurry outlines of rocky outcrops far, far away from him.

Gonna have to cross this place in one go… Isaac mused. No way I can find a decent place to rest here…

For hours on end, Isaac flew in the scorching heat. The red sand was his constant companion, as were the massive rocky mountains that soon became a common sight in his path. He never approached any of them, though. He didn't have a death wish after all.

Unregulated Quarantine Sites.

That was what the mountains were. Each and every one of them. Taller than multiple skyscrapers stacked on top of each other, and with rivers of lava flowing down their sides. Then there were the monsters, hundreds or maybe even thousands of them. Most just lay sprawled on the mountain's rocky surface, but some were wide awake, guarding the entrances to caves of all sizes.

The best part?

Every single monster here was ranked as a High threat. That alone made the decision to stay away from the mountains easy. Then there was also the fact that the open desert remained empty no matter how far he flew.

No monsters. No animals. No insects.

Emptiness.

Or at least so it seemed.

The few times Isaac landed to take a sip of water, he felt it—the vibrations in the sand. Sometimes they were stronger, sometimes weaker. Now, he wasn't stupid, so after doing what he had to, he never stayed on land for too long. No point in angering whatever the hell lived beneath the dunes.

He had places to be after all.

And so, aside from the scorching heat, the trip through the Smoldering Mountains went about as smoothly as one could hope.

Flying for the win.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me…

Forty-three hours after leaving the Safe Zone, Isaac finally reached the "Enemy" yellow zone.

Yet another godforsaken Forgotten Wilds. The territory full of man-eating plants, overgrown insects, and worst of all, Storm Elementals.

And now he had to find a Warp Portal inside it.

Wonderful. Isaac sighed, glancing back at the scorched red dunes, then toward the sprawling jungle ahead. Rest first. Still got over a day to find one.

At the forty-five-hour mark, Isaac flew into the Forgotten Wilds, a short burst of Burnout igniting in his veins as three Storm Elementals manifested close to him. He definitely hadn't missed them, or the rain for that matter.

Unlike at the beginning of his journey, he didn't turn to face the beasts. He just dove into the trees and allowed the Symphony's song to fill his mind. Only the path ahead mattered.

Not even the buzz of insects below could break his focus.

Here we go again...

Up and down. Pull his wings in. A quick bank to the right to avoid the gaping jaws of a massive plant. Dive behind another tree to shield himself from an oncoming bolt of lightning.

This was an old song, one he had mastered when flying through the final parts of the previous Forgotten Wilds. It was also the only way to survive this place. Because fighting the monsters chasing him?

Not an option. Not yet, at least.

This close to the red zone, almost every creature here was a High-Moderate threat even to him. And sure, he could face two or three of these at the same time and probably win, but that would never happen. Not here.

He had tried that before, and all he got for his effort was a lightning bolt to the back. The fights might start as three versus one, but give it a minute, and he would be facing an entire horde. Not an experience he was keen on repeating.

Thus, his current tactic. It might have slowed him quite a bit, but at least he was still alive. A worthy trade.

Where are those damned portals? Isaac growled as another moving vine filled with hundreds of tiny jaws forced him to pull up. Straight into the path of two lightning bolts.

Shit!

With electricity coursing through his body, he fought to keep his wings moving, to keep him afloat. Another quick burst of Burnout made that possible, if just barely. A decent chunk of his tail feathers was definitely missing, though.

Not that it mattered, not with what lay ahead.

A rift—an actual tear in reality—hung suspended between two trees. The only problem? A strange, mutated combination of a human-sized wasp and spider was guarding it.

You're not stopping me. Freedom mode.

Even as Mana flooded his body, Isaac pushed it and his blood into a single skill.

Sacrificial Cursed Draw.

Red and black blocked his sight as the aura of his skill simply became too thick and powerful. Still, Isaac didn't stop, didn't halt the constant flow of Mana. He had his target, and there was no changing his course.

His body hit a wall, one that shattered under the combined might of his blood and Mana.

A second later, a familiar void embraced him.

Isaac laughed in his mind.

I did it.