Path to Transcendence

Chapter 398: Who Is He?

While the monster was Tier 4, he wasn’t worried. Compared to Savath, this thing seemed positively frail. Standing on four long legs and a massive jaw that could swallow each of them whole, it may have looked scary, but its aura told a different story. This beast was a relatively new Tier 4.

He felt the others were prepared to engage it, but he held up his arm. “Don’t waste your mana. Keep saving as much as you can. I have plenty,” he assured them and dashed toward the monster before they could argue with him.

A blast of mana came from its massive maw, but Julius had already sensed it building up a charge and deflected it upward so that the others weren’t hit. As he dashed toward it, he sent the needle he had hovering over his shoulder screaming through the air.

The monster noticed the attack, and he saw a film of mana appear, protecting its fur. It still didn’t completely stop the needle. It pierced the defensive skill and entered its hide. The beast screamed in pain and looked toward Julius with wild anger.

He had already crossed the distance and was in front of the beast’s face. The giant gaping maw lunged at him with surprising speed, but he used a small [Void Step] to appear beside it. Since the distance was short, the cost was very low.

His additional levels made the skill cheaper to use as well, so he wasn’t too concerned with using the movement skill, especially when it gave him openings like the one in front of him. The beast had overextended with the lunge, and he punished it.

A fist surrounded with kinetic energy and his aura ripped through the beast’s body. He sent it stumbling backward, and he didn’t let it recover. He kept on swarming it relentlessly. It didn’t have time to retreat.

The monster was forced to use some kind of technique to blast him away and swiftly got back up, bearing its huge fangs at him. There was blood dripping from the corner of its mouth from the attacks Julius had subjected it to.

It was suddenly much more cautious than before and didn’t reveal any openings for him to attack.

That was why he created his own opening. He took control of the needle that was still impaled in the beast and exploded it into many shards of sharpened mana. This was obviously painful, and the monster screamed in pain as it writhed on the ground.

He made sure to take advantage of this and dashed forward. He slammed his heel onto the monster’s face before it could protect itself. It attempted to bite onto his foot, but the pain it was experiencing was too much, and Julius was able to avoid the sharp teeth pretty easily.

He then pinned it to the ground, using his kinetic energy to aid him. It desperately tried to snap at him with its jaws, but he didn’t care. He used his hands, which were covered in aura-woven mana, to pry the mouth open. His strength was not enough to completely rip it open, so he used some additional kinetic energy and mana to aid him.

Once he got it open, he shoved a condensed orb of mana down its throat.

He snapped its jaw shut and watched impassively as the orb detonated in the monster’s throat. The explosion ripped open the Tier 4ʼs neck and face, killing it instantly.

Blood and gore went everywhere. He distractedly wiped all of the mess from his face and created another needle that shot toward a monster who was about to attack his friends while he was busy. The beast was dead before it knew what hit it.

He sprinted back to the others, who were staring at him like he had grown two heads. “What?” He asked, confused by their reaction. It wasn’t like this was the first time they had seen him fight. They had sparred with him on many occasions.

“Damn,” Aubrey said with wide eyes.

“What? Youʼve seen me fight before. Why are you surprised?” He pointed out.

“Yeah, but that was still a Tier 4 monster. You took care of it like one would do with a weak goblin,” Aubrey stated with pursed lips.

“Yeah, that was brutal,” Lily said.

Julius shook his head. They shouldn’t be focusing on that right now. “I think we should try to get some distance between us and this group. I have a feeling that these monsters were only the beginning,” he told them.

“So you don’t think this is random either, right?” Lily asked him.

He shook his head. “I haven’t sensed anyone who might be behind all of this, but the timing is weird, and I don’t want to stay around if things get ugly with some of the stronger monsters.” As if to prove his point, a loud explosion of gold lightning rang through the forest. The Tier 5 guild member and the Tier 5 monster were fighting aggressively, and he spotted several people getting caught by a stray lightning bolt. However, just this stray was enough to have them scream in pain and thrash around on the ground, paralyzed.

The others didn’t need much convincing after seeing that and nodded their heads as they made their way toward the edge of the forest.

However, as they were making their way, he spotted the ship they had ridden to the rift suddenly explode with mana. He looked over, worried that their ride had exploded, but let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it wasn’t the case.

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The enchantments he sensed when he was flying on it had activated, and the entire battlefield was blasted by the mana cannons placed on the ship.

The cannons were shockingly precise. They didn’t harm any humans and were only targeting the monsters. These cannons helped reduce the number of monsters significantly and alleviated the pressure on some of the teams that were struggling.

They made it to the edge of the battlefield and spotted several other teams who had similar ideas. He even saw the team they had talked to before entering the rift alongside them.

“Are you guys alright?” The girl, named Eris, yelled out when she saw them approach.

“Yeah, what about you guys?” Lily asked back, looking relieved that she was alright.

“A little tired, but staying alive for the time being,” Eris answered. While she and her team had taken care of themselves well, Julius noticed that they looked somewhat worried. They were nervously fidgeting as they stared at the ongoing conflict.

“Do you guys have a plan?” One of the guys from the other team asked.

“Not really. As much as I would like to get away from here, our only transportation is right there,” Derek said while pointing at the airship.

“Yeah, we realized the same thing,” Eris said with a grimace.

“You want to group up?” Lily asked.

Eris nodded and pointed at one of her team members. “Sure, Cole has a light-based illusion skill that should synergize well with your own abilities. Koenn is our dedicated tank and can take a beating, so don’t worry about relying on him.”

Julius hid a frown. How did Eris know what skills would work well with Lily’s abilities? Did she recognize Lily? If she were a noble, then it wouldn’t be a stretch if she had seen Lily at a noble party or something. He shook his head and set aside his doubts for the time being. If Eris were a threat, then Lily would have been more guarded with her. He trusted Lilyʼs abilities to detect bad intentions.

In the meantime, he didn’t argue when his team joined theirs. If they could increase their odds of survival, then he would gladly accept their help.

***

Eris POV

Eris wasn’t going to lie. She had some ulterior motives for helping Lily Violet. It was undeniable that she would be able to build a closer relationship with the Violet Scion if she helped her during this tumultuous time.

However, she also genuinely wanted to help Lily out. Lily had been very friendly and gracious to her so far. It also helped that she knew that Lily’s team was strong.

Thankfully, none of her teammates had any negative thoughts about teaming up with her. They were good people and were always willing to help out. They didn’t even know the true identity of those they were helping, but still did it regardless.

Just because they had separated from the bulk of the fighting didn’t mean they were left alone. A good number of monsters had taken notice of them and had decided to attack them. However, now that they weren’t surrounded by so many other groups, it was much easier to organize their own attacks. They didn’t have to worry about hitting other teams and were allowed to focus on themselves.

Cole’s illusions helped out immensely. The cost of his skill was relatively low since there was plenty of light around them, but he wouldn’t be able to use some of his more mana-intensive techniques. After all, he had pushed himself pretty hard in the rift despite not making it that far.

Koenn was dependable as always. He took the aggression from the monsters without complaining, and this allowed Derek from Lily’s team to take care of the monsters with his spear.

However, when she spotted his spear being surrounded by brilliant blue lightning, Eris paused. She initially believed the handsome guy seemed familiar, but she hadn’t been able to figure out why. Not even when he introduced himself, but seeing his lightning magic rang a bell in her head.

There weren’t many people in the world named Derek who used a rare affinity like lightning. If she considered the number of people associated with Lily Violet, it was even less.

It took her longer than it probably should have, but when she did, she let out a surprised gasp. This was likely Derek Zenith, the Scion of one of the most powerful houses in the Empire.

His family was renowned for their combat prowess and righteous behavior. They were a pillar of the Empire, and people feared angering them.

She shook her head, understanding that she didn’t have time to worry about this. She quickly shot an arrow that pierced the hide of a monster who was trying to sneak around them.

However, as she did, she noticed that she wasn’t the only person who had taken note of the monster. The silent black haired boy who had intrigued her before was staring in the same direction the beast had been shot down. He merely stood there doing nothing as a small, fragile-looking needle of mana hovered over his shoulder.

At least she would have thought it was fragile if not for Aya grabbing her arm tightly. “Who is he?” Aya asked Eris, her eyes lighting up with curiosity and desperation.

“What?” Eris asked, confused at her best friend’s behavior.

“The black haired boy,” Aya said.

“That’s their friend. I think his name is Julius,” Eris said with a frown. “Why? Did you notice something?” She asked distractedly as she shot another arrow at a monster.

“He’s strong,” Aya said quietly, still staring at the boy with focused intensity.

Strong? Why does she think that? It’s not like he has done anything so far, Eris thought to herself, and when she didn’t detect any immediate threats, she glanced back at him.

She was just in time to spot the needle suddenly disappear from Julius’s shoulder. She barely caught it, but one moment it was hovering over his shoulder, and the next it was hovering over his other shoulder, only now it was covered in blood. Julius cleaned the blood off the construct and continued to stand there silently.

Eris looked around, using her perception to see what had just happened. She was in time to spot a figure falling from the sky, far away from them. It was a flying beast that had been overhead. She looked closer using her sight skill and spotted a lone wound that had pierced the monster’s neck. It was the same thickness as the needle.

She looked back at the mysterious young boy and gulped as she comprehended what had just happened. How fast must that attack have been? It was way faster than anything she could shoot from her bow. The accuracy was shocking as well. She knew better than anyone how hard it was to hit a flying target. Yet, he had done it so casually and quickly.

It almost had her believe that she had misseen it. Almost.

Was he perhaps another powerful Scion who had joined Lily? Eris didn’t know, but she was beginning to believe that it was her team that was being helped rather than her team helping theirs, and she was not going to complain about that.