Path to Transcendence

Chapter 402: One More Fight

He felt a bit of satisfaction when all of their faces flashed with alarm. They recovered quickly, though. The swordsman took the aggression this time, but he didn’t rush in. He must have noticed that Julius had a perception skill that would allow him to track him even when turned around.

Julius didn’t care. He was on a time limit anyway. His mana hadn’t fully recovered, so using this technique would be strenuous. Drasil had only recovered a little bit of his life energy as well. Therefore, he placed a greater focus on maintaining the balance.

Julius blasted himself in front of the swordsman’s chest and smashed a kinetically charged fist into his sternum. The impact broke several ribs, and he wasn’t surprised when suddenly he was faced with the tank, thrusting his spear at Julius’s face.

This was what he was hoping for, though. He immediately flooded the area with his aura. The ruinous area blanketed his opponent, and Julius watched as the man stumbled from the unexpected attack. Julius used this chance to pounce. He created two large pikes at the end of his fists with aura-woven mana. He also made sure to infuse as much Pure Severance as he could.

Then, before the warrior could avoid it, Julius slammed the pikes into the armored chestplate. While the armor was strong as well as the skill backing the man, it wasn’t enough to stop Julius. Not when he was juicing himself up so much. Julius literally used brute force to rip a hole in the man’s armor.

He sent a small construct he had already prepared at the swordsman, forcing the man to either dodge or take a spike to the face. The healer sent a pulse of healing mana at her teammate to keep him alive, but Julius had already sent his aura to disrupt it. The healing magic worked, but it was drastically affected by his aura.

He then spun the sharpened pikes of mana to drill deeper and cause even more damage. This had the warrior roaring in pain as he flailed around, attempting to disengage Julius from his chest.

However, Julius was a sticky bastard and kept a tight hold. He then created a small orb of highly compressed mana and shoved it deep into the tank’s chest. He kicked off and didn’t stay to watch the orb explode, tearing his opponent’s chest open like confetti.

He was too busy dashing toward the healer with murderous intent.

***

Jila POV

She had been expecting a challenging mission, especially given the massive amount they were being paid. However, she didn’t think this was what the client had expected either. This Tier 3 was tearing them apart.

He had already taken down Eran, and now he had taken out Gunther. She already knew that it was over. Ned had already used their spatial tool that allowed him to teleport across a larger distance than normally possible in the Endless Forest. It was very expensive, and they didn’t have another one.

That would not have helped them. She suspected this monster would have hunted them down. His perception was scary good, and he was somehow able to use his own spatial skill without limit. It was ridiculous, and also how he managed to take out Eran so fast.

She desperately threw up all of the barriers that she could think of. However, no matter how she adapted them, he managed to teleport right through them.

Ned tried to help her. But he didn’t have a skill like Gunther, and he had to use his own body to protect her. His blade, which normally corroded whoever it touched with death mana, didn’t seem effective. The boy simply took these slashes without showing the least bit of concern.

Whatever healing skill he had, it was much more powerful than her own. She grimaced in resignation to herself. It was just another terrifying skill this monster had up his sleeve. She didn’t even think he was Tier 3, there was just no other way to explain it.

Ned didn’t last long against this boy who had suddenly become faster than himself and stronger than Gunther. He gave it a good go, but she watched on helplessly as Ned was ripped to shreds. Her healing magic could only do so much, and with the boy using some kind of destructive aura to weaken it, the effects were even more minor.

Then it was her turn. The boy managed to steal the sword from Ned, and she was barely able to turn to the side in time as the sword flew at her face. However, as she was distracted, the boy had already closed the distance, and she could only flinch as a fist slammed into her face.

She was stunned and threw out huge blasts of mana, not caring about being efficient. However, the boy handled these blasts with cold brutality. He didn’t even flinch when pieces of his skin flayed off. He had gripped her by the throat, and she could only smack him weakly as he snapped her neck.

Her final moments were spent regretting that she and her team took this job.

***

Julius POV

He quickly released his technique and let his skill heal the damage he had caused to it. He looked over at the bodies of the attackers and back to where he knew Doren was standing.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Sorry, took me longer than I thought,” he said, a little out of breath, and wiped his face with the back of his hand, not realizing that he was just smearing more blood all over his face. He was absolutely coated in blood and gore. But he was also too tired to care at the moment.

“That’s fine, we can talk about my payment for saving your friends,” Doren said, appearing in front of him again.

“Sure, what do you want?” Julius asked, a little bit surprised that a man like Doren needed any help or payment from Julius in the first place.

“I want you to come with me to meet Cain,” Doren stated.

“Huh? That’s it?” Julius asked, surprised by the request. He had already been thinking about it in the first place, so it was a bit surprising to hear Doren ask for that.

“You seemed hesitant, and I really think you should meet him,” Doren explained as he walked over to Julius.

“Okay. I still think thatʼs not enough, but sure,” Julius said with a firm nod. If meeting this Cain person was all it took to secure his friend’s safety, then it was an easy decision. He didn’t have to think twice about it.

“Oh, and I want you to try and go along with my wishes for the next day or so,” Doren slipped in.

Julius was about to argue, but realized that this was still a perfectly fine payment. “Fine.”

Doren grinned happily, as he had just won a fantastic prize. Julius didn’t know if he wanted to know what that smile was for.

“So what now?” He asked Doren and looked at the surrounding area. The fighting had just started to die down, and he saw that the battle had expanded far beyond the initial site. People had made similar decisions to them and took their team away from the mayhem. He spotted many dead monsters littered across the forest. He also noticed several dead people.

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, though. With how many monsters attacking them and the condition people were in upon leaving the rift, this was quite a good outcome. It demonstrated the exceptional quality of these Tier 3s.

Even the Tier 4s were taken care of by the guild staff. They were finishing up some stragglers in the meantime. He looked over at where he sensed the most destruction and shook his head when he saw the massive crater where the Tier 5s were still fighting.

The monster who had the stealth skill was already dead. Simon, the guild representative, had taken care of it. And it was only the lightning beast left alive. However, it wouldn’t be for long. While the man was pretty beat up, the monster was in even worse condition. It had lost one of its legs and had half of its face crushed in. Almost like Simon’s shield had battered it in.

Some of the Tier 4s who had finished fighting were throwing random attacks at this Tier 5, but even in its desperate state, the attacks barely did anything. Tier 5s were just on another level.

Julius looked away and examined the rest of the field, and to his shock, he spotted several other bodies that didn’t belong to the original group. He had initially believed that Derek had been the only target. Still, now he was beginning to realize that whoever had planned this had taken the opportunity to attack other people, whom Julius assumed were also important scions.

Thankfully, some of the guild staff had helped protect these younger Tier 3s. But Julius could tell that some weren’t as lucky as them or his friends.

He would have continued to contemplate who was behind this, but he suddenly felt two people enter his sphere of perception. What was worrying was that these people didn’t seem to be a part of the guild. What was even more worrying was that one of these people was a Tier 5 and the other was a Tier 4.

He was able to detect that they were already prepared to attack, but when they spotted Doren standing there quietly, that stopped them in their tracks. They were both wearing black cloaks that obscured their features, but he could sense the hesitancy in their movements.

He didn’t blame them either. Doren was able to hide from their senses easily, which suggested that someone skilled or powerful enough to do so was at work.

Even with an overpowered perception skill, Julius wasn’t able to detect the man. He was only able to because Doren allowed him to.

“Who are you?” The Tier 5 asked Doren, his tone respectful.

“Nobody of importance,” Doren said dismissively, not seeming to give much attention to either of these two. It was a total contrast to how Doren had been treating Julius.

This appeared to frustrate the unknown person, and Julius sensed their hands clench briefly. The other person wasn’t doing anything. He was calm and merely looked at them with curiosity.

Julius felt this man’s aura reach over to prod at his, and Julius was able to almost feel him recoil upon touching Julius’s aura.

However, Julius was too distracted by the weird feeling he was having in his gut. He had no idea what it was.

“Does this mean you won’t argue if I take care of that boy over there?” The Tier 5 asked Doren while glancing at Julius. It was said so casually, one might have thought he was taking out the garbage or killing a fly.

“Are you, a Tier 5, asking me for permission to take care of a Tier 3?” Doren asked with disdain, almost mocking this man.

The masked Tier 5 didn’t respond and merely nodded rigidly.

“No, I won’t just sit here and watch a Tier 5 bully a child two entire tiers below them. I would find it extraordinarily distasteful,” Doren said warningly. But then, suddenly changed his tone to a much lighter and playful one. “But he can try and bully him all he wants,” Doren said while pointing at the Tier 4 with a grin.

This son of a bitch, Julius knew exactly what Doren was doing. He was trying to force Julius to show all of his skills, and was likely already in the process of analyzing his skills. As expected from a researcher.

The Tier 5 looked on quietly as he determined whether or not Doren was joking around. When he came to a decision, he pushed the Tier 4 at Julius. “Go get him,” he said without an ounce of worry in his voice.

Julius didn’t know if the man had seen the recent fights or not, but he seemed very confident that this Tier 4 could handle Julius.

Julius got the feeling that this Tier 4 wasn’t like the other ones he had faced. This one seemed much more collected, and his presence was heavy.

Julius gave Doren one last exasperated look and prepared his tiring body for one more fight. When he was done with this expedition, he wanted a nice meal and a long rest.