Path to Transcendence

Chapter 486: Strategic Repositioning

The deeper they went, the more he started to notice something wrong. The air became increasingly stale, but there was a strange disturbance in the air. It was as if the entire ravine was contaminated with some cloying substance. Perhaps, it might have been a Concept, he wasn’t sure.

However, this contamination made his aura and mana senses feel sluggish. There was this thick cloud that obstructed his awareness. He could tell that Lyra was feeling it as well. In fact, she was looking very sick.

Her face looked as if she was nauseous and about to throw up. It wasn’t fear either. Well, maybe a little bit of fear. But he had a feeling that it was this contamination that was responsible for most of it.

“You should leave,” he said to her seriously.

She tried to talk, but all that came out was a gag. She coughed a few times, and he waited for her to respond.

“I’m good. I can do it,” she said, full of stubbornness. He disagreed with her assessment, but then again, who was he to argue with her? Would he have taken his own advice if someone had told him the same thing? Probably not.

“Okay,” he said with a shrug. She could do what she wanted to do; if she died, then she would lose the opportunity to explore more of this realm. At the end of the day, it didn’t really matter to him. As long as he had his fun and found some interesting things, then he wasn’t about to complain.

They continued to navigate their way through the ravine, which was swiftly becoming much larger than either of them expected. Some sections were very narrow, while some were massive and resembled a large canyon.

After half an hour of searching, they finally came across something intriguing. Julius felt Lyra immediately charge mana into her body, preparing her bodyʼs enforcement skill. At the same time, he used his perception skill to take a closer look at the disturbance ahead.

There was a large opening ahead of them, and in this opening was a massive group of goblins. There were probably a few dozen of the weird goblins all gathered together. However, that wasn’t what attracted his attention.

It was the big ass monster sitting on a makeshift throne of stone. It looked like a larger and meaner version of these weird gray goblins. It even had several small horns protruding from its head. There was a massive sword strapped across its back, looking just as jagged and beat up as the smaller goblins’ swords.

While a few dozen didn’t seem like that many in the grand scheme of things. Especially when compared to how goblins you would typically come across in the wild. It was important to note that these goblins were much stronger than normal goblins.

Hell, he didn’t even know if these were goblins. He was calling them this because it was the easiest way to describe them. For all he knew, they were some unique species that he didn’t recognize. Regardless, these creatures were very strong for Tier 3 monsters. They were elites that would be comparable to any elite fighter at the same tier.

Additionally, if these small goblins were around the strength of the five-point and ten-point monsters from the first round, then he had a feeling that this big one was around the strength of the hundred-point monster.

He didn’t know how to relate that to Seraphyne’s power, though. It was hard to compare since Seraphyne had been a stealthy fighter. But if he had to take a wild guess, he would say that this big monster was around the same level of strength, which was saying a lot for a Tier 3 monster.

Seraphyne had been able to avoid his detection for a very long time, and without his powerful aura-enhanced barriers, he would not have been able to defeat her as easily as he did. Her offensive power was almost as scary as her stealth skills, and that wasn’t mentioning her defensive skills as a turtle.

“Okay, I might be reconsidering my decision to stay,” he heard Lyra whisper very quietly.

He stifled a chuckle. “Oh yeah?”

She nodded softly. “Yeah.”

“Is it the number of monsters? Or is it the big fellow?”

“Both.”

“Understandable,” he said with a sagely nod.

She nodded as well and immediately turned to head back in the direction they had come from. However, something must have happened, or perhaps the big fellow must have just noticed them, because he suddenly felt the entire weight of the big monster’s gaze land on them.

“It might be too late for that,” he said to her with a wince.

“Huh?”

“I think they spotted us,” he noted with a pinch of his lips.

“Shit,” she cursed under her breath.

“Yeah, shit,” he said agreeingly, but unlike her, he had a smile on his face. “Do you want to run?” He asked her.

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“A strategic repositioning,” she corrected him.

“My bad. A strategic repositioning,” he confirmed with a nod. “You go on ahead. I’ll be there in a little bit,” he said to her as he observed the large group of monsters heading in his direction.

“You’re not coming?”

“I will delay them and give you some extra time to reposition,” he explained.

She didn’t look happy about that, but with the monsters already closing in, she didn’t have much time to argue. She just gave him a funny look and started sprinting in the other direction.

Julius, on the other hand, grinned wildly. He had no plans to delay. He wanted to take them all out on his own. So before they could reach him, he was already charging his body with kinetic energy.

The ground beneath his feet exploded as he charged toward them. If he had perfect control, he would not have made any explosion. Cain would have reprimanded him for being so clumsy, but he was excited.

Julius felt their skills wash over him. The disruptive wave crashed against his own body enhancement skill, but, like before, it was unable to penetrate the first layer of his defenses.

They paused when they felt their skills were ineffective. He, on the other hand, made sure they were punished for their hesitation. He blitzed through the first two goblins like they were nothing. His hands, which were now covered in blue flames, ripped through their throats as if tearing through wet paper.

He had layered his fingers with his Pure Severance Concept, which made them even more deadly. He wasn’t going to use his kinetic energy for blunt force like his normal strategy. He had decided that he was going to take a note out of Arthur’s book and use kinetic energy for pure speed.

With the improvements he had made with his kinetic energy, he was fast. Very fast. To such an extent that he was forced to limit the amount he was sending through his body. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have the proper control and would fly by his target.

Thankfully, there were so many goblins that he wasn’t worried about missing one of them. If his first swing missed, there was a high likelihood that he would hit another goblin accidentally.

He didn’t even use [Void Step], purely focusing on his movement with kinetic energy. He ensured that each step and turn was sharp and fluid. Not wasting a single bit of energy and absorbing as much kinetic energy from the creatures as possible.

His fingers were basically sharp claws at this point; he had even created small constructs around each digit. The flames were essentially just decoration and a means of experimentation at this point. They likely did more harm to him than they did to the goblins. Plus, since they were so hot, the wounds were cauterized immediately, ensuring the monsters didn’t bleed out.

He didn’t really mind it, though. It just meant he would have more time with them.

At this point, over a dozen goblins were attacking him at once. There were even several of them who had long-range weapons. Additionally, there were a few who were shooting bolts of mana at him. The disruptive properties of these bolts were more powerful than their usual attempts, but still, it wasn’t enough.

He forged ahead, the thrill of the fight singing through his veins, feeding into [Sage of Savagery], letting the skill become even more powerful. His brain dipped into the same familiar place that he was always chasing after.

His mana control, his perception, his body’s movements, everything was in perfect sync. And he loved every second of it.

A sword flashed at his eyes, and another thrusted at his right calf. He stepped his right foot to the side, using that pivot and slashing his fingers at the nearest goblin. The sword that had been going for his eyes, whooshed over his head. His fingers shredded the flesh of the goblin. It was dead before it hit the dirt.

Suddenly, the goblins stopped fighting the way they were and changed their goal to smothering as many bodies around him as possible.

It appeared that they had given up on cornering him skillfully and had come to the decision that they needed to dogpile on top of him. Despite sounding very stupid, the plan was actually quite effective.

Their speed allowed them to tackle him before he could do much. In a matter of a second, he went from tearing through them with ease to being buried underneath a bunch of smelly gray goblins.

They didn’t even bother to use their weapons at this point. They were more likely to hit one of their own friends than him. Plus, their stench and uncleanliness were a more potent weapon than any sword.

He flinched when some goblin saliva got onto his lips and some into his nose. He desperately tried to wipe his face with his hand, but found himself unable to since he was in a tangled web of goblin limbs.

He stayed calm, though, and didn’t panic. While a little surprised by their collective change of tactics, he had something prepared. He was rapidly absorbing as much kinetic energy as possible. The bodies on top of him actually helped him do this with incredible speed.

It was funny, although they had put him in this situation, he didn’t think that he would have been able to gather this much kinetic energy in the scant moments he had. So with a deep breath, he inhaled and took control of all of that kinetic energy. Then, he squeezed the ball of energy with all of the willpower he had, feeling his soul strain under the exertion despite evolving a second time.

The orb collapsed, and everything went silent for a brief moment before an absolutely massive explosion ripped through the ravine. All of the goblins on top of him went soaring in every direction. The ones who were closest to him were turned into bloody balloons that had popped.

He let out a panicked cry as he was drenched in goblin fluids. He immediately used his aura to wipe himself down and use some fire to clean himself up. He sighed in relief when he was done, and looked behind him as a goblin tried to close in again.

However, this time, he had set up a bunch of barriers around himself. While he was cleaning himself up, he had also prepared a nice little setup.

About twelve barriers were equally distributed around him. And they did an excellent job at keeping the goblins out. Or at the very least, limit the number who could attack him at a time. Several made it through his barriers, but that was also done purposefully.

Now that only a few were attacking him, he continued the slaughter. Took all four of them out in a matter of seconds. This froze the other goblins who were trying to squeeze through these barriers.

They stopped trying to attack him, and in a rare display of intelligence, they backed off and surrounded him outside of his ring of barriers.

If he was being honest, he didn’t know if their intelligence was worrisome or just downright impressive.

He chewed on his lower lip and nodded at them with excitement. He was probably going to find the answer to that real soon.