166 - stroll

*

Sacrificing armour, a spherical barrier of purple was held up, shifting every once in a while. The pace of its movement was irregular, at times moving at a leisurely speed, at other times moving faster than light. Any matter that enters its vicinity is incinerated by the amount of energy it held.

Triggering [Shadow step-tier 4], the view flashed past as if the colours were running away around me, leaving a white space. Right before a new view flooded back in from my back, filling that space with new hues and shades as if I shifted places on a canvas.

"KUHAGH!!!!!"

A large chunk of blood sprung out of my throat, a headache consuming my consciousness, searing my temples. Looking down, lodged into my stomach was a long navy blue column of flesh. It was rather flexible and curved at various angles like a soft noodle, however it still managed to overcome that difficulty and produced enough force to pierce through my defenses.

Reactivating my barrier, a purple glow starting from the middle of my body expanded outwards until it stopped at a suitable radius. This disintegrated the tentacle from the tip, leading to the main body which was a hundred metres away. It was a sort of squid like monster though it had 3 giant holes that are shaped similar to a face. It also grew to 2 metres in diameter of it's head and more than 3 times of that as its height.

An odd shrieking sound that was akin to that of cat and a snake's fused together rang out in the cave. It's war cry reverberated in the rocks and minerals lining the ceiling and walls, producing a claustrophobic effect.

To get into it's blind spot, [Demonic energy] was formed into numerous opaque walls, for the use of hiding. It likely had a detection skill to track my location without the use of actual eyes, so I had to form dummies instead to trick its detection. Hiding from its sight would likely be futile, therefore the most simple method was to confuse it. Next I had to switch places with the dummies using [Shadow step].

Usually the procedure was instantaneous, or to give it a value, it was the same speed as my reaction speed which scaled directly with Agility. Using this I can overcome the mobility barrier, where my limbs are basically dead weight. However, it came again. The colours flew out of sight leaving a white space, and new colours came in to fill in the empty canvas.

[Teleport killer], delays the enemy's teleport action by a whole second and allows the user to lay a trap. If the user does not lay a trap, a skill is picked at random to fire automatically into the teleporter's location. As it was a non sentient monster, it didn't lay a variety of traps, instead it kept using the same attack. Only more. 4 navy blue tentacles had been impaled into my torso, the hurled blood colouring the air with a red mist. As it was I whom teleported into the trap, there was no way to dodge something that activates inside you.

This was no ordinary monster... I have to end it quick. Who knows what combo it had lying in wait, though waiting wouldn't do my good.

Health: 38 000 943 221/40 000 000 000

Conjuring all of my will, a rain of dark purple flew from all directions. My comfortable range of converting mana to [demonic energy] was usually only around my arms reach, however nothing stopped me from planting my own traps. The camouflage walls that didn't actually camouflage with the surroundings, they were already layed all around to confuse the monster. Controlling all of them was quite difficult, nevertheless a decently sized rain of destruction managed to manifest. Causing a large cloud of dust and ash to disperse. The black Ash indicating burnt flesh.

Without warning, my senses went haywire. Tinged with fright, I detonated my immediate surroundings with [Demonic energy]. A Teleporting action would be an awful move, it was what the monster tried to drive me to use. It itself had made used of it to go into my blind spot, ringing large alarms in my detection range. Turning around, there was blackish purple fluid all over the ground. Even with my weakened sense of smell, I was still able to detect a pungent stench. It was the monster's corpse.

It seems from this encounter alone, there was still much more that I don't know of. Let's keep going further, I've reached the limits of my physical strength by reaching the maximum level of 1000. So my only path left is to gain battle difference. Perhaps I will unlock new skills if my class permitted it. Since I've levelled up too fast, the skills didn't come as normal. I'll have to reach out for myself and test the waters. Only then will I gain the last vestiges of my potential.

A fiery passion burned through my heart, my soul was burning. It got quite hard to breath, it felt like air was growing thin as I moved forward. My detection skills told me the air was still normal, the barrier filtered to not react with the air and combust my oxygen. Yet my breathing got increasingly haggard, the intervals increasing each time, devolving it into a struggling wheeze.

Every step became lighter and lighter, as if my body was slowly evolving. Wait... I was... walking? With my disability, I was suppose to be floating. I see, my struggle to breath was a side effect. Now that I looked closely my hp was dangerously close to 0,making my respiratory organs fail. Was the hp used to partially heal my soul? How spontaneous and disadvantageous. Tch! Now I can't progress.

I have to... Keep my promise... Now that slight feeling and movement had returned to my legs, my mobility had suddenly increased by a large margin. Though it was slowly going numb, as if my soul tried to connect and could only hold onto it temporarily.

Bending my knees, more blood spilled out of the corner of my lips. There was no mirror, but I could tell the skin on my forehead and nose ridge were so scrunched up, a look unbefitting of a little girl. My legs lifted off, the sensation of gravity left. The wind rushed by, fluttering my hair as the scenery transitioned. This time, it wasn't a strange transition sequence like the one done by the monster.

My movements were wholly uninterrupted, making my progress a smooth ride. Well this wasn't teleportation in the first place, but just normal physical movement.

My body soared through, dragging my barrier along with it. The barrier was thin and large, covering every nook and cranny of space that was allowed by the dungeon walls which spans a small building. It was a sort of cave that wasn't usually linear, small branches and sub tunnels form everywhere else. My detection range was large enough to help me pick the right route to my destination, the monsters disintegrating upon any contect with my barrier.

The monster's own barriers shatter and dissolve upon contact with mine, their flesh bursting into large flames before perishing. What was the point of advancing forward as much as I can? If I die that would be it... Why are my goals... So shaky and weak. This was the extent of my resolve... Befitting of a young child such as I. This power, authority, skills, class. All of it was wasted on me, if I keep making decisions I regret...

For now, I'll have to retreat back to the hospital where I can properly heal. My lungs are about to collapse and my pulse is no longer present. I could black out at any time without this adrenaline.

... [Shadow step

-tier 4]