Chapter 570 - Special grade beasts

My mana keeps regenerating, and plenty of it remains. After the first event, this abundance feels almost unusual.

Finally, I also locate another of the remaining three beasts, just as the Stormscale Basilisk dies—fallen under the attack of multiple Beyonders. Yet even there no one can be sure who got the points in the end.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who deeply dislikes this lack of information.

Flying over the beach and out to sea, I reach a small island. It’s close to the wall of thunderstorms that will hit the mainland within the next hour or two.

I'm sure these lightning strikes and the powerful wind will wipe out most, if not all, of the Easy and Normal difficulty. And the storm isn’t weakening—instead, it’s growing stronger by the minute. At some point, given the system, I’m certain it will even be capable of killing some from Hell difficulty.

Here, on this small island, with the lightning already striking the sea around it, I find Lissandra.

While the wind churns the sea and tears apart pieces of the island beneath her, the area around her remains eerily calm. There is no barrier I can sense, but when I land beside her, it feels as if the storm never existed. Sounds are muted, the tornado-like wind outside fades into a gentle breeze, and no lightning even comes near.

Yet, I do not feel or see any mana. I just cannot see how she does it.

In her usual calm manner, she lets me do it and observes me while she sits on a nearby boulder.

Next to her stands what I assume to be the Special Grade beast, Witherclaw. It's not tied up or held in any way; it just stands there, scared for its life and not moving at all, only glancing her way at times.

It shows a hint of aggression when I appear, but Lissandra makes a dissatisfied noise, and Witherclaw immediately cowers, stopping at once.

The beast is tall and thin; its body is frail and stretched, with pale, almost sickly skin clinging to its bones. Its arms are long, ending in sharp, splintered claws that look ready to snap at any moment. Its dark, hollow eyes stare ahead, empty and unreadable, and only its body movements show some of the emotions it might feel.

It is so weak in comparison to the other Special grade beasts I have met so far.

“So?” I ask Lissandra.

“I will be keeping this one and will release it thirty minutes before the end of the event.”

“Why?”

“Because it is getting stronger the more time passes, little pup. One hour before the end of the event, it will be stronger than any other Special grade beast,” she says, with a bit of disdain, as if she considers that naming silly, “and thirty minutes before the end of the event, you will have five minutes to kill it before it becomes strong enough to kill everyone here.”

“And what happens if I don't?”

“Well, ten minutes before the end of the event, it becomes Champion grade, and thirty seconds before the end, Absolute grade. So, little pup, don't you think it's a fun little setting the Rulers have prepared?”

“No restrictions for me this time?”

“None this time,” she confirms. “Do whatever you want to do, little pup. But save some energy for this one.”

She waves her hand, and my teleportation activates against my will; sent through one of my Ley Lines, I appear back on the mainland.

As I rise into the air, even with [Focus], I can't ignore my curiosity and the questions racing through my mind. Most of all, how long will it take for me to do what she does?

***

Before the second floating island finally starts falling, I watch Sophie die at the hands of one of the remaining Special grade beasts.

A black panther, which seems as if it has shadows instead of fur, exits from one of the nearby shadows and bites into her neck, tearing it off and turning her into fine particles. Then it disappears again, avoiding the barrage of attacks from Min-Jae and Maya, who rush at it.

Even I can't track it when it disappears, so I'm sure none of them can either. I hadn't even sensed it appear before it got Sophie.

The Nightshade Stalker then starts picking off more people who have gathered to observe the hydra. It appears again and bites at Gareth, piercing through his silver armor with ease, tearing his leg and leaving deep scratches. Some of the people gathered use fire or light skills to erase all the shadows, and the area becomes brightly lit. But they can't fully prevent shadows from forming. There's always some, and the beast is fast.

Once too many people have gathered to defend, it vanishes.

For a few minutes, there is an almost eerie silence. Some of the people lower their defenses, thinking it has moved somewhere else.

These die first when the beast returns.

With the second island about to fall, I do not have time to try to catch it, and I already sense multiple Beyonders coming to the area, organized through various communication links they made.

Some grounds deploy barriers, fields, or arrays. Others try to mark the beast and hunt it down. There are even dexterity specialized types who attempt to match its speed.

Vic is approaching this area as well.

It's the fight I would otherwise like to watch just to learn about the others' abilities, but I cannot.

I teleport into the air next to the island. As before, it starts plunging toward the hydra, but just as I expected, not close enough.

When I activate the inscriptions I placed on the side of the island, a huge burst of flame erupts from the thermal orb, narrowed into a cone reminiscent of the flames emitted by a jet engine.

Things break, and I start noticing imperfections or mistakes. The output also isn’t ideal for what I intended.

On the spot, I make the required change, straining my mind in the process and slightly lifting the seal on the Ignition Heart. The stream of flames shifts, growing more focused and extending further. As the island falls, it gives it just enough of a push to steer it over the beach.

Confirming it goes in the right direction, I teleport back down and quickly use Wraith Dance multiple times in succession; my control during such quick deployments slips slightly, and the movements and kinetic energy itself damage my body.

The Onyxscale Hydra waits there. Three heads turn toward me; two watch the attendees nearby, and two observe the sky and island as well. The beast is annoyingly intelligent and seems to have noticed.

I use [Eclipse]. It expands into the area, crashes against the beast's own domain, and pulls the colors out of the air, with only mana keeping them.

As the seconds tick down and the island looms ever larger in the sky, the beast remains unfazed, showing no sign of worry or hesitation.

Slowly, all seven heads turn toward me. Then one of them starts bleeding from the eyes, its skull twisting and bulging until it bursts apart. But the beast pushes through my [Eclipse] and pushes it back.

Another head starts twisting, its eye rupturing under the pressure as the beast strains to counter me. I push even harder, channeling a massive amount of mana through my body to fuel my skill and keep the beast from escaping.

[Eclipse - lvl 28 > Eclipse - lvl 29]

[Eclipse - lvl 29 > Eclipse - lvl 30]

And then another head follows; both of them explode in the process of countering [Eclipse]. The beast is pushing its brain to the extreme, overclocking itself just to counter it.

The falling island seems so close; now I can feel the pressure and the heat it generates.

Just a few more seconds.

Then two more heads explode, and all my Ley Lines are torn apart. I find myself glued to the spot in space and unable to move at all, even as I immediately deploy countermeasures and, within a second, try multiple ways of breaking away.

The sixth head of the Hydra bulges; both eyes explode, the neck cracks and twists, and the head bursts open.

Then the hydra teleports away.

Seeing a way out I resonate with that mana; I take over and try to connect to it to teleport through the same way.

There, I meet its own countermeasure like a brick wall. A wall I cannot break with my current skill or pass around.

I glance at the island that is about to crash into me, and the entirety of my mana roars in a tricolored display as I start stacking barrier upon barrier around me.

Then the island falls on me.

***

POV Channeler

I barely throw myself to the side as a massive rock slams into the ground, as the second of those massive flying islands crashes into the ground, and for a moment, I feel like the entire world is shaking apart beneath my feet.

The heat that follows is suffocating. It rolls over everything like a living thing, igniting trees in an instant. The battlefield erupts into action.

Someone raises walls of earth to cover us. Izzy and her massive snake absorb the worst of the heat. Kim fires at the monsters without hesitation. Even Knight charges in, blade flashing.

Then the shockwave hits. It’s like stepping off a cliff. Every skill I have vanishes in an instant, my passives flicker out, and my mana twists in a way that makes my stomach churn. My control is gone. Even when it settles a few seconds later, my mana control still feels sluggish.

And then I see it. The Onyxscale Hydra.

It wasn’t there a second ago. Now it is, towering over the battlefield, its monstrous body writhing. Its single remaining head stands as its six missing heads begin to regenerate. The moment they return, it moves and then it starts teleporting around, with each teleport causing one of its heads to turn into a bloody mess of flesh, scales, and bones.

It shoots fire, it shoots lightning, and it creates barriers around itself. Within just a few seconds, it kills dozens, and among them are some Hell difficulty people I know. The beast doesn't slow down either. Second after second, its skills grow stronger, with more of its heads rupturing and regenerating as attendees try to stop or kill it—only to be killed themselves.

At that point, the black shadow panther appears as well and things turn into one huge mess.

The panther is incredibly fast and impossible to detect.

The Hydra, with its teleportation bypassing all attempts to stop it and its relentless attacks, begins pulling heat from the air. That alone kills any Easy or Normal difficulty targets in the area, even if they aren't nearby.

But then I watch Victoria appear. Out of nowhere, she stands there as if she had grown from the ground.

Something about her must attract the attention of the panther that appears near her and bites into the left side of her body, pulling out her entire arm and most of her chest. More than just a gruesome sight, it sends shivers down my back that she just stands there and watches the panther tear her body apart.

The spooked beast vanishes into the shadows, only to reappear a moment later, crashing into the ground. Inside its mouth, something moves. From the severed pieces of Victoria's body, a copy of her begins to regrow, forming right inside the beast's mouth.

Even so, it is not enough, and the beast's body is too strong as it closes its mouth and crushes whatever was able to grow there.

Then I see the most incredible sight. The hand inside that mouth moves and another hand appears, tearing off a finger and throwing it deeper inside the beast's mouth. Then it tears off another finger and another.

The panther thrashes, its claws still cutting down anyone close, but it’s losing control. It tries to roar, but the sound is wrong. Wet, choked, bubbling with its own blood. It doesn’t stop moving, but it’s slowing down.

Yet it doesn't stop. I keep seeing more fingers torn off and thrown inside the beast where another body attempts to regrow. Piece by piece, Victoria forces her way out.

Tears begin forming on the panther's neck, and its mouth stretches open so wide that it dislocates. A sharp crack echoes out, and the beast goes still before collapsing.

Its body starts shifting, making a disgusting noise and twitching even after death with lifeless movements that I am sure will stay with me forever.

Victoria climbs out, drenched in blood. She wipes her face, barely looks at the corpse, and moves on, vanishing from my sight before I can even register where she’s going.

In the space where she stood, the hydra crashes and rises with its six heads raised into the air and roars, bursting my eardrums, and I feel warm blood flowing from my ears.

Two heads move hungrily downward and start tearing the panther apart, devouring the body within seconds.

Then one of the heads turns to me, and its mouth opens, lightning cracking about.

Out of nowhere that mouth shuts close, and all heads turn in one direction: toward the fallen remains of the island in the distance, where the sea meets the pale red sand beach.

Something detonates, sending debris high into the air. Even from here, I can feel the massive surge of mana engulfing the area. In some ways, it feels even more dangerous than the seven headed beast.

A second later, he floats there, right where the hydra is looking. Clothes torn and burnt; wounds all over his body; and blood flowing from the side of his head. His crown floats above his head, and golden circles surround his pupils.

Victoria appears by my side, “You are Channeler, right? My brother mentioned you.”

The way she talks so casually even in this situation makes me nervous.

“Y-yes.”

“I'm glad I remembered you correctly,” she says, looks up, and calls to her brother, “Do you need help?”

I already know what he will say; I know him too well to be surprised. And as expected, he answers with that same unreadable, infuriatingly calm expression, as if the world itself couldn’t shake him.

“This one is mine.”

***

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