MM - Chapter 231 - A RUSE MOST FOUL

KakaruNeko Continued

- Recluse Mountains, ZionLine -

KakaruNeko propelled herself through the crisp atmosphere. The wind howled against her armored robes as she pressed hard off the air, cutting toward the unwitting column of soldiers snaking through the narrow pass far below. Attributes surpassing 500 shrugged off the pressure changes with ease. Her domain expanded, an invisible shell encompassing everything within five meters. Nothing short of a grandmaster's demesne could overwhelm it; within, her will was absolute.

Her gaze was fixed on her target; the others would handle the rest. Behind, the wing fanned out in a formation born from decades of cooperation, movements synchronized without the need for commands. They descended from the jagged summit like vengeful spirits. Their speed was far beyond terminal velocity, bringing them closer in mere moments. 

She no longer needed Magnify to see him. Alaric's steady gait exuded an unsettling confidence, as if the world bent to accommodate his steps. A knot tried to form in her stomach, but was remorselessly crushed. Together, her wing had felled grandmasters—towering figures of legend, reduced to crumpled lifelessness. This young upstart, cloaked in the mysteries of a simulated realm, would prove no different. She refused to let doubt linger.

As a Battle Witch—a class combining the best of warriors and mages—KakaruNeko was adept at both ranged and melee combat. In her palms, Elemental Power condensed into volatile orbs that crackled with destructive promise. The Furious Blasts became swirling blue flames, hidden in fists that trailed at her sides.

With a flick of her arm, she launched the first. It streaked through the sky, speed amplified by expert throwing technique and the momentum of her descent.

Sensing the threat, Alaric's head tilted upward. His cold eyes met hers without a trace of alarm. He made no attempt to evade. The first Blast collided with him in a deafening roar, flames erupting into a towering pillar. The second impacted moments later, intensifying the conflagration into a swirling vortex.

Yet, instead of wrapping around him and cooking his flesh, a towering phantasm in the shape of a shield emerged, harmlessly deflecting her efforts to the sides. With a pulse of power, the shield eradicated the last of her fire, revealing a man in pristine metal and cloth armor standing protectively before Alaric—one of the level 50 Vaaterrans.

[Elite Phantasmal Defender: (Level 50) (HP ???)]

KakaruNeko didn’t hesitate and directed her considerable momentum to the side. She Lunged just before crashing into the ground, sending herself blazing around the man and toward Alaric. Her weapons—a pair of Chaotic Gold daggers—sliced toward his neck. She moved so fast she couldn’t keep up with her own speed, but she felt the resistance of rending metal, confirming the hit.

She landed, sliding through loose gravel as she pivoted sharply to confront the bastard who once again stopped her. Somehow, the Vaaterran had moved right at the moment her vision blurred, yet still interposed his shield in time. As she ground her teeth in frustration, the battlefield ignited into pandemonium. 

The rest of the Halnugen fell like lightning bolts, unleashing a barrage of elemental assaults before bodily exploding into the terrain. Clustered soldiers were blasted away. Fireballs arced through the air, detonating in bursts of heat and blinding light. Acrid smoke was everywhere, mingling with the shouts of suffering Vaaterrans. Metal rang against metal, as blood flowed.

KakaruNeko tuned out the chaos, her focus narrowing. Alaric watched her coldly from over the young Vaaterran’s shoulder, completely unscathed. An axe materialized in his defender’s grip, and the NPC hurtled toward her with surprising acceleration. The axe swung in a broad arc, the kind of sweeping attack that was almost too predictable—sloppy, an affront to the intricate flow of the Phoenix Clan’s ancient stances. 

She dropped low to let the blade whistle harmlessly overhead, and he flew by, boots crunching through the dirt as he turned to face her. In that brief moment, three of her allies appeared to corner Alaric. She dove at him as well; this time, he would not escape her blades. 

She raced forward with an Elemental Charge. Her form streaked across the short distance, daggers coated in a layer of crystalline ice that trailed vapor in her wake.

Raine KongRu

- Recluse Mountains, ZionLine -

Raine watched impassively as the woman's daggers came in once more. Despite appearing calm, his senses were at their absolute peak. Again, bloodlust was scattered to the wind the instant she drew near. There was no contest of wills, no fighting back as he was used to; her proximity simply overwhelmed his mental ability on a fundamental level that left no room for contention. Her stigmallage robbed his sight and hearing, attempting to leave him alone in darkness.

However, he could see just fine. The soul flame dancing within his eyes filled a world that should have been flat black with dancing colors: she was living fire beneath his gaze. Raine discovered that without the distractions of regular sight, even more details were revealed by the soul flame.

[Battle Witch: Level 43 (HP 5,621/5,621)]

[Highest Attribute: Potency 558]

[Average Attribute Score: 522]

[Unique Skill Type: Speed Enhancement]

There was more, but he didn’t get a chance to decipher it. Varak’s form turned transparent, then elongated like some kind of stretchy ghost until he completely bridged the space between where he was still sliding and Raine. The back end of him snapped into place, and he turned solid right as the old woman arrived. 

Shield and axe met twin daggers in a spray of sparks. She was thrown back five paces, utterly outmatched in terms of strength and speed. Her feet skidded through the ground before she remembered to use Connection to stabilize.

Simultaneously, three figures closed in from Raine’s sides and back. He ignored them, fully intending to test Varak’s capabilities. The Vaaterran elite did not disappoint. With a grunt of effort, his shield pulsed bright blue, then three phantasmal copies of it appeared before each of the attackers. Two tried to weave around the barriers, and the last slashed it with a curved sword. With a snap of Varak’s fingers, all three shields exploded.

Defensive barriers flickered into existence around two of the three, protecting them from the brunt of the 2nd-tier skill’s damage. The last was hurled away to bounce from a nearby cliff. Before they could recover, Varak lifted his axe high. It became ephemeral and swelled, growing until it dwarfed the entire battlefield. When he swung, the rushing wind from its passing was enough to throw people aside. It cleaved through the ground in a massive explosion, releasing so much dust that it became impossible to see more than two paces.

The two primary targets of his skill withdrew scrolls from their inventories the instant before impact and vanished. Raine wasn’t idle as the battlefield was covered. He focused the soul flame on his back, and the little light reaching him was sucked away. He stealthily hopped to the side, intending to test the domain of the woman aiming for his life.

So far, her attacks were immaculate, every movement sublime and brimming with levels of martial competence that Raine could only dream of achieving. She was everything that he was not: naturally talented, well-trained, and hyper-focused on her weapon of choice—twin daggers. He had absolutely no chance of matching her mastery of martial stances. However, that had nothing to do with his refusal to fight back.

It was imperative that she not discover how powerful he was. These ten were clearly elites sent by Damian, or more likely, Tannis Tafell. Suffering the insult of paying nearly three million gold for a boy’s knowledge wasn’t something the Phoenix Clan could take lying down. Regardless of the reason, there could be no doubt that these were some of, if not the strongest forces his enemies had available.

The true elites of Earth: forerunners—warrior martials easily capable of fighting Nobles on equal footing.

Yet, Raine had known from the moment he first spotted their pinpricks of color on the distant mountain peak, their attributes were well below his own. If he easily crushed them, Damian's combined forces would learn the futility of their resistance and scatter like leaves in a storm. Then, the vast trove of equipment Raine eagerly anticipated harvesting would vanish. 

Playing defense against these particular elites was far from boring. Not only did each of the attacking assassins have frankly insane martial stances, but their mental abilities were also far beyond his. And so, Raine recorded everything he could see while maintaining the charade of weakness as though his life depended on it.

As expected, she found him despite the obfuscations of the soul flame and dust-packed air—meaning, she had complete vision with her mental ability, the same feedback he’d tried so hard to learn in the Primal Realm. Raine felt her coming, their mental strength clashing a brief moment before she appeared in a swirl. His regular vision winked out as she drew within three meters. 

Her footwork was a rushing river of fiery hues. Her supple weight redistributed in seamless transitions that anticipated his attempt to evade before it began. Her daggers traced elegant arcs that lasted only long enough for the imagination to anticipate their trajectory, then they were simply elsewhere.

Raine cataloged it all, mind a sponge absorbing the essence of a vastly superior martial heritage. Just before her glowing weapons struck, Varak was there again. The Forced Relocate he’d cast on Raine in advance pulled him into position, and their weapons clashed, sending her stumbling back. This time, she flipped away, relying on Connection instantly.

As the distance between them grew, Raine was captivated by the interplay of their mental energies. At this range, her stigmallage felt almost normal, and he was able to push it away without difficulty. However, when she closed to melee with a sudden Lunge, a fortified sphere manifested; it was an impervious barrier that both scattered and repelled bloodlust. His mental energy was compressed into his skull, and the world winked back into darkness.

She tried to weave around Varak, however, her martial prowess, no matter how great on Earth, wasn’t up to closing the gap in tiers. He intercepted her again and again, eliciting a frustrated snarl as brutishly-high attributes overwhelmed her speed.

To her credit, the old woman didn’t give up. Each time she closed the distance, her domain blanketed Raine, snuffing out his attempts to resist. He existed in a constant state of revelation—this was a domain in action, seen and felt through senses that he didn’t have access to in the past. Exhilaration coursed through him, hints and clues about his next martial steps popping into his thoughts in such rapid succession he could scarcely catalogue them all.

I never knew a domain was so powerful. When I’m inside, I can’t feel her intent at all. So awesome.

Varak tried to deflect an incoming thrust, but the assassin’s blade vanished as though it was never there before skimming his shoulder. The Vaaterran emitted a forced grunt as he took the first hit. He swung wildly, pure Potency causing dust to scatter in a massive wave. She moved like liquid fire, easily avoiding. Raine was thoroughly impressed, and infinitely glad this wasn’t Earth.

A muffled shout came from the side, a call they had worked out ahead of time while traveling. Raine didn’t hesitate and dropped flat to the ground just before a massive gust of wind tore over the battlefield: another level 50 skill. It ripped at the dirt, lifting him and throwing him several paces despite his prone position. The Phoenix assassins fared far worse. They were bodily hurled fifty meters and splashed up against the nearby cliff.

They recovered admirably, downing potions and regaining their feet. It was too late. A veritable storm of Blasts was already flying their way, and within the barrage was a purple lance swollen with a ridiculous quantity of Elemental Power. Arcs of energy shot from it, raking across the ground in a cascade of explosions that each could have killed one of the assassins.

The woman who had been after him from the start pulled a scroll from her inventory, and two others placed their hands on her shoulders. Quick as thought, sparkling lines danced from the page, elongating into a house-sized wall of squigling, arcane text. A beat of energy raced across the massive rune, and a ten-meter-tall beast sprang into existence. It was somewhere between a cat and a tentacled monstrosity.

The storm of ranged attacks peppered its hide before the huge lance plunged deep into its belly and detonated. Vast chunks of gore filled the air, sending both sides ducking for cover.

A summon to block one volley?! What a waste of a war asset. They’re going to be kicking themselves once they realize how rare those are.

By the time the air cleared again, the assassins were gone, having Lunged skyward. They jumped from one solidified pocket of air to the next, quickly surrounding Raine’s troops. He wasn’t even a little disappointed to see their expertise with the trick. It had, after all, only been a matter of time before the best martials figured it out. Instead, Raine’s eyes shone with anticipation. Battles that took place more in the air than on the ground were the norm he’d survived through for the last two decades. If these assassins thought joining him in the sky would give them the advantage, they were sorely mistaken.

Empowered Blasts fell on them from above as the assassins easily dodged the return fire. Chasing them would defeat everything Raine had worked for till now. Simulated desperation laced his shout. “Varak!” From his inventory, Raine produced two metallic rods and hurled them toward the Battlemaster with a precise toss.

Varak vaulted skyward, heroically snatching the rods from the air in both hands. In one fluid motion, he slammed into the ground, plunging the rods deep and imbuing them with enough power to activate. Two expanding spheres of intangible energy swept across the entire battlefield before stabilizing. The atmosphere shifted abruptly—the air grew rarefied, each inhalation shallow and strained. Simultaneously, gravity intensified, pressing down like an invisible anvil, forcing knees to bend and movements to lag: the assassins’ flight came to a screeching halt.

[Atmospheric Spreader: (Common Grey) Thins air composition in a radius based on Elemental Power provided. Projected Durability decreases as range expands (Durability 99/100)]

[Gravitic Amplifier: (Common Grey) Triples the effects of gravity within a radius based on Elemental Power provided. Projected Durability decreases as range expands (Durability 99/100)]

The assassins fell haphazardly, their last Lunges’ momentum only carrying them so far. They attempted to utilize Connection but failed miserably. Raine knew just how impossible it was to firm overly-thinned air enough to counteract increased gravity. With the items’ effects as a cover, he was finally able to stealthily use a skill he’d been eager to try.

[Weave Whisperer: (Passive) Your presence interferes with the weave, unraveling the manipulations of others within your Connection radius. Additionally, the range of your Connection-based manipulations is increased by 25%]

Quick as thought, his Connection spread far and wide. Raine could distinctly feel each and every attempt by the Phoenix guilders to manipulate the composition of the air. With little more than a burst of intent, he further denied their attempts. Unable to Lunge, they fell and were quickly surrounded. As expected, the increased gravity was more of a detriment than the lack of aerial maneuvers. The assassins’ immaculate control of their bodies crumbled when faced with a sudden change in strength and speed. 

The Vaaterrans, on the other hand, were extensively trained under the effects of both items, as they were a staple for combating annoying aerial monsters. They began taking hits in rapid succession. The old woman paused on her way to Raine, gnashing her teeth with unresolved fury. “Fall back!” Her domain pulsed as she bounded deeper into the fray to block sight, giving her people a chance to make good on their escape.

As important as it was not to scare them off entirely, it was equally vital they learned that attacking recklessly was going to bite them in the ass. With narrowed, blazing eyes, Raine scanned the battlefield, finding his target. The wiry man was directing a lascivious grin at Mel, tongue hanging out to sloppily lick his lips. He pointed at her, sending a silent promise that they were not yet done. Then, the wrinkly old bastard turned and bounded away.

The fuck you aren’t.

Raine dropped to all fours and infused over a hundred Discipline per second into each limb, causing his flesh to tear itself apart. His health dropped by 500 a tick as crackles of arcing current tore at his muscles and raced over his skin. His fingers dug deep into ground solidified by Connection as he calculated the altered trajectory under the intensified gravity.

There was more. Before the fight even began, he’d commanded Varak to use all three of his 2nd-tier command buffs. Combined with the bonuses from the guild’s premium barracks, Raine was stronger than ever.

[Attack Power: +12.5% (+250)]

[Defense: +12.5% (+182)]

[Potency: +12.5% (+91)]

[Finesse: +12.5% (+88)]

[Acuity: +12.5% (+66)]

[Physique: +12.5% (+107)]

With a gargantuan heave, Raine launched forward. He tore through the thinned air faster than a bullet, arriving at the man’s back in an instant.

Pure killing intent led his charge, summoning a spear into his hand. There wasn’t time to even see what weapon was summoned. He simply stuck his arm forward, knowing that no matter which appeared, it would get the job done. The sharp weapon plunged through the man’s back and erupted from his chest. [Critical hit! -3,281] 

They collided, and together, continued through the air until crashing into a boulder. Raine’s spear slid deep into the rock, trapping the creepy bastard in place. Quick as lightning, he grasped the man’s wrists and jerked them back hard; with a boot on the assassin’s lower back, he was helpless. 

Raine looked up, grinning at the old woman who was staring back at them in shock. Eyes still locked with hers, he leaned forward and snarled in the man’s ear. “Astra delivers only one fate to perverts like you.”

The Soul Flame of Amanesh erupted from Raine’s body and plunged down the man’s screaming throat. Unwilling to let the scum die easily, a Healing Burst restored most of the damage caused by the spear stuck through his torso. Soul damage, though, could not be so casually restored, and the pain those wounds carried was far, far worse. The man bucked and thrashed vainly, his suffering prolonged until he twitched his last, dying in fire, unable to breathe, blink, or even dream of rescue.

The other assassins watched from on high, equally helpless as their ally turned to ash, leaving behind a pair of ornate, Marvelous Gold shoulderpads that clinked against the stones. Raine grinned at their retreating backs, wishing he could be there to see their confusion when they checked the combat logs and learned he was a Cleric.