Chapter 674 - Outer space

I’m drifting. The base spins slowly in front of me, getting smaller as I move farther away. Still, I strengthen my sight, and through the side of the base, I look through the glass wall just in time to see Malika get back to her senses and attack Io, who desperately searches for someone.

In the last moment, he teleports the demon away, and I see her appear in outer space to my left. She quickly regains her composure, moving back toward the base as attacks from the gilded monsters silently explode around her.

Io does not move and stands there until Tacita appears beside him and strikes toward his neck. But a moment before that, before even finding her, he gives up, teleports away on his own, and runs.

Tacita reaches out with her hand, and mana glows around her finger as she touches the space where he stood. A faint trace of mana glows over her eyes before disappearing, and she looks towards somewhere inside of the asteroid base.

She then glances out the window only once before the air around her flickers, and she disappears, becoming undetectable even to me. If I am correct, she goes to hunt Io, who I think had hoped this would never happen. The next time, he will not be able to detect her before he falls dead, his weak detection senses sealing his fate. For the rest of the quest, he will be forced to constantly look over his shoulder and pray she does not find him.

I have thought about it before, yet the same thought comes to me again. Just how much did Io sacrifice to be able to teleport people without caring about their defenses, even ones as strong as those Tacita and I have? Just how many passives, traits, and active skills went into it?

Does he regret it now, since he can only do it to living beings and only one at a time? Is that why he did what he did, desperate for rewards, and maybe for items that will let him fix that weakness?

The asteroid base moves farther away from me, and I watch it as I continue to drift towards the planet.

I allow myself to feel what I imagine I would have felt before the tutorial, and these few short moments before I use kinetic energy are some of the scariest in my life. Scarier than the phantom goblin hunting me, scarier than hiding from the Veil Guardian, and almost as scary as those twenty-three hours I spent with my face in the dirt after meeting Faora and Luan.

A part of me takes it all in. Yet another experience I would never have if not for the tutorial or the system. My body floating in infinite darkness while the asteroid drifts away. Left behind in this nothingness and vastness of space that is impossible to comprehend.

One of the gilded monsters clinging to the asteroid base fires a wide, thick green laser at me, silent as it speeds through space.

I use kinetic energy to push myself, moving much farther and faster than I thought I would.

Of course, there is no gravity or air resistance to hold me back.

The first few seconds in outer space are not as bad as I expected. I guess even though my constitution is nothing impressive, I am a superhuman after all.

There is a deep pressure building in my head, like everything inside is trying to push outward. It is not sharp pain, but it is constant and growing.

My eyes burn. There is no moisture left, and blinking does not help. I can still see, but it is harder to focus. The light from the burning planet stabs at the edges of my vision, the glare making everything feel more distant.

My chest is tight, and I can feel the damage spreading. There is blood in my mouth. It is warm at first, then cold.

My movement is slow. Every small motion drags.

My limbs respond, but they feel disconnected, as if they are not fully part of me anymore.

I breathe out all the air I have left and watch it freeze as I do so. More thermal energy moves through my body.

Another projectile passes by me, and I push myself toward the asteroid, gradually adding more and more force. My speed keeps increasing since there is no resistance, but with almost no points of reference, it is hard to estimate how fast I am going.

I twist, I dodge, I disrupt the attacks, and keep moving back. Golden flames dance around my skin.

[Empyrean Lance] forms over my shoulders, and I feed it more mana.

Even with my healing, my lungs feel like they might rupture. I start feeling lightheaded. My skin feels like it is swelling and might burst, and my vision is blurry.

A wide-range attack from a huge lizard with a similarly huge golden halo crashes against me, stripping my skin and pushing me backward until I observe it enough, counter it, and pass through.

Another blindingly fast laser attack crushes the arm I lift in front of my face, tearing through layers of barriers I stack there.

My lance pierces through the barrier around the base and the window with ease, tearing into the defensive mechanisms inside.

I teleport through the [Ley Line] I had thrown ahead, and with further boosts, I crash against the cracked remains of the windows I destroyed with my lance. The room there is empty, but I see multiple doors.

A huge panel starts sliding down from the ceiling like a guillotine to cut off and secure this section of the base, and the lights flicker as the vacuum of space starts pulling the air from inside.

The huge gray lizard with a golden halo follows me inside, breaking more of the window as its body forces its way into the room. A mana-based attack fires toward me, and I activate my eyes to read and disrupt it. The monster swirls and rushes toward me, mouth wide open, moving with a speed that feels unnatural for such a massive body.

It slithers under the closing metal panel, and the field around me expands, mimicking one of Lioren’s favourite uses of kinetic energy.

The lizard freezes in place, unable to move, not even to twitch.

I sense it building up a strong mana-based attack, but the metal panel above it comes down and, just like a guillotine, takes off its head.

[You have defeated Gilded Beithir - lvl 365]

[Lvl 326 > Lvl 327]

The door closes shut with a hiss, sealing off the section. The space becomes quiet and still. The sound of the alarm fades, leaving only the flashing white light on the ceiling.

I take a deep breath and remain still. Thermal energy works on healing my wounds, and, just in case, I activate one of Lily’s healing marks.

Then I look down, dust off my clothes, examine the head for a few minutes, and step back inside the base, this time alone.

***

After a few hours and while slowly moving through what looks like gardens, I climb up and sit on the body of a gray creature I just killed. It looks like a mix between a spider and a giraffe, which is the best way I can describe it. What a creepy thing.

Its big halo now floats over my head, and after bridging the connection, I send my message.

(I am still not sure if Io cooperated with you, or if you just had a similar goal.)

(That is an interesting welcome message.)

(I think we can skip niceties and get to the important stuff at this point.)

(Like satisfying your curiosity?)

(Like satisfying my curiosity,) I confirm. (You do your evil monologue, which makes me sit here and listen, so you can also prepare to kill me.)

(I wonder what you would have thought if that behavior had caused you to die. What would be your thoughts in your last moments?)

(A lot of cursing, I would guess.)

(How very human. As for your unfortunate colleague, what can I say? Desperation draws people into desperate acts. Foolish ones. The sort that make you try to play every side at once, and in doing so, ensure you stumble.)

(Sounds about right. So he wanted to cooperate with us to use our threat to get a better deal with you, while also reducing our numbers to get better rewards, and planning to screw you over in the end, finish the quest, and maybe even reduce the numbers further?)

(What a simple and direct way to put it.)

I turn the other way to get the spider-giraffe’s head out of my view and face the patch of trees that stretches half a mile into the distance. Somewhere, I even hear the sound of a waterfall, and there is artificial wind blowing around, carrying either the scent from the flowers or from a hidden scent dispenser.

Something activates in the ceiling, and a liquid starts dripping from it.

I push my mind into overdrive and examine it. After confirming it a few times, I stay where I am and make no move to dodge it.

The liquid is not acid that would melt me, nor is it poison. It is just water, an artificial rain. Even the scent changes to that of the ground after rain, and the sound of droplets falling on the leaves of the trees fills the room.

My hair gets wet as it rains on me, and I comb it back with my fingers, flicking the water away from my forehead.

(What a dick move,) I send.

With a hidden sense of humor and amusement, the elf answers, (So then, what is your plan, candidate for Greed’s weapon?)

(There are a few, but in the end, it comes down to who is stronger, who can improvise better, and who can push themselves further without breaking.)

(I will allow myself to disagree.)

(That is fine. So your goal is to go to E-3 and collect the Fragment of the First Star into your pristine cage?)

(Indeed.)

(I am a bit confused here. Apparently, the Fragment destroyed an entire planet. But at the same time, it could be held by someone not even at Champion rank. Also, an item of pristine rank, suitable for someone at the level of a weaker or average Champion, is able to trap that Fragment. Champions are usually continental destruction level, only stronger with the help of items or by sacrificing their life, and Absolutes are planetary destruction. This Fragment seems to be at the planetary destruction level.)

And the elf who likes to hear his own voice, at least the replica around this level, answers with the same amusement that hints at him looking down on me and not seeing me as a knowledgeable opponent.

(The powerful Fragments, such as the Fragment of the First Star, are not as simple as you might believe. Some planets are far more fragile than others, especially those that never went through the Pairings. And after burning for centuries, the Fragment on E-3 is weakened, just enough that even a Low Pristine item can contain it.)

(Lies.)

This time, he laughs softly, very shortly, and quietly. (There are other preparations I have made, ones that will aid me in containing it. That, however, is not something you need to hear about. As for the rest...)

The doors behind me open with a hiss.

I comb my hair with my fingers towards the back of my head and turn toward the replica of the last elf, but even now, I do not see his body. Instead, he wears an angular suit made from rigid panels of gold metal that catch the light like polished armor. The heavy helmet tapers forward into a narrow, slit-like visor, leaving only a thin line to see through. Every surface gleams with heat-reflective plating, giving it an uncanny presence.

"I have made my preparations, so there is nothing more to discuss," the somewhat muffled voice says, and the artificial rain stops.

***

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