Too Stubborn to Die

Between his aura and suffocating power, all but the strongest were pushed down to their knees as Aaron slammed down beside the figure caught in his gaze.

He immediately recognized Ikran, ignoring the other thal’kesh who had been pressed prone to the ground around them.

“What the fuck are you doing, Ikran? Why are you destroying obelisks?”

Aaron asked the question, but he could already feel the corrupted aether in the air; nonetheless, he still wanted an answer from his dungeon-diving companion. However, when Ikran’s deathly dark gaze fell upon him, he didn’t need to hear anything more.

“Why? Because our lord compels us.”

“Really? Blood hell. So he got you too, did he? How, Ikran?”

The thal’kesh smiled. “Perhaps you should join us. It’s really not so bad. Why struggle so hard for godhood? As an undead minion, bound to the spectral powers of Darius, and through him, the Death God, our Immortality is guaranteed. As long as the Death God is served, his energies flow down through his disciples and into us.”

Even though the thal’kesh ranker appeared sentient, he did not sound like the person Aaron knew from the dungeon. Then again, were the dead the same people as they once were? Or was he an entirely new lifeform possessing the same mortal husk?

Aaron had to know.

“What about everything we fought together in the dungeon?”

“The dungeon—” Ikran said, hesitating for a second too long.

“Heh,” Aaron shook his head. “You don’t know, do you?”

“Yes, fine. You want me to admit that the Ikran you knew is gone? He is. What of it? He fell to the folly of hubris. Cornered by my creator, Darius. He thought himself ready to take on the great necromancer himself. Perhaps overconfident from his achievements in that very dungeon you speak of. Of course, the outcome was set in stone, much as the outcome for this world is.”

“Is it now?” Aaron shook his head. “That’s why you're destroying the obelisks, is it? Because that seems pretty damn desperate to me,” Aaron sighed.

“Desperate? You don’t understand, do you? You do not win wars by taking unnecessary chances,” undead Ikran replied. “Our lord knows this. And soon, you too will realize how badly cornered you really are.”

“You know what? You’re starting to piss me off. I was just getting to know Ikran, and he seemed like a decent bloke. And now you’re walking around in his skin, and you know what? I’m not a fan.”

“Sorry I couldn’t–”

Before he could finish his sentence, Aaron flashed before Ikran in an instant, his fist slamming into the undead’s face in a predicted series of events. To most eyes, it would have seemed like a near instant, but Aaron had seen the future, or at least a few seconds of it, and he had accounted for the thal’kesh dodging and teleporting a few hundred meters away via his ink. But he had been several steps ahead, and the moment Ikran had materialized, his fist crashed into his face.

Using [ Soul Shattering Strike ] Aaron attacked the undead’s soul itself. Ikran gasped in agony, no doubt responding to the sensation of Aaron attempting to rip his very soul away from the walking corpse he inhabited.

But whatever Skill Darius had used to tether this soul to the corpse of Ikran, it was far stronger than anything else Aaron had encountered so far, and it managed to cling to its soul even as he poured apocalyptic amounts of mana and aether into the attack.

Surviving was not the same as defending, though. And the undead Ikran immediately realized the situation it was in.

While its soul might have been different, this Ikran seemed to possess at least a similar intellect compared to the original. It didn’t need to be hit twice to understand that this was not a fight it wanted to take.

Furthermore, it somehow knew about Aaron’s Fate Seeing, as he was bombarded with countless possibilities for the future, as if Ikran was considering every option imaginable, potentially even splitting his consciousness in a manner similar to Aaron, and it was impossible to predict. It was as if Ikran was actually feinting with his mind.

But it wasn’t an opening for combat that the undead sought. In an instant, Ikran was miles away, flickering between ink stains all over the land. It wasn’t just fast; it was unpredictable, flashing back and forth from where it had placed ink, and forcing Aaron to take chase, but not before leaving a few [ Bombardier Fists ] behind to destroy the surrounding undead thal’kesh minions.

But as fast as he was, Aaron’s movement wasn’t near instantaneous, like Ikran’s was. However, it wasn’t yet a lost cause. There appeared to be a travel distance limit to Ikran’s Skill, as the undead thal’kesh blinked between ink splotches at most a few mites apart, rather than just teleporting to wherever he wanted to go.

He was still mentally feinting, making it nearly impossible for Aaron to predict where he was going, and he had to stop fate reading and focus on other things.

Even then, with his accuracy overlay and slowing perception of time with [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ], it was no easy task. With time dilated, he had time to think, but his speed wasn’t increased, and Ikran was some distance away, even for the speeding Aaron, and by the time he caught up to him, he had flashed away to another ink spot.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Stubbornly, Aaron continued to chase, pouring more and more energy into his ghost wings as his speed increased exponentially. Ikran had shown his cards, but could he continue to outrun him as he sped up?

Aether was sucked in from the atmosphere, and mana was cycled at a tremendous rate through his core as Aaron continued to get faster and faster, and through dilated time, he could see that he was closing in on the thal’kesh.

He had turned himself into a human rocket, and soon he would catch his prey.

But there was only so much he could do with speed alone, and Ikran was no fool. The undead could obviously tell that at the current rate, it was only a matter of time for Aaron to catch him, and without making a single tell, the thal’esh suddenly changed directions, teleporting in one direction, and then in a completely different one.

Unlike Aaron, Ikran wasn't relying on momentum and speed, and could easily change direction. Of course, Aaron was incredibly skilled, and for such a deception to work, he needed to catch him off guard, which was exactly what he did.

Breaking the speed barrier, it took Aaron a second to slow down and turn direction, drifting through the air in the wrong direction for several hundred meters as he corrected, and blasted off again, rebuilding his speed.

Unfortunately, those wasted seconds were all it took for Ikran to escape, and before he knew it, Aaron lost his trail.

“Dammit!” Aaron cursed under his breath as he expanded [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] in a desperate search for evidence of Ikran.

“Where is he? Which way did that bastard go?”

He was honestly surprised at how much he cared. It was no longer just about the obelisks. Ikran had helped both him and their world in the dungeon, and to know that Darius was now using him like a puppet was distasteful, to say the least.

But he knew that there was no point in trying to chase the undead imposter. Ikran’s build was perfected for escaping. Perhaps if he laid the perfect trap, he could counter that ability. But he doubted it was something he could just luck into. If he were going to stop the teleporting undead thal’kesh, he was going to need a plan. And he needed to come up with one sooner rather than later.

There was a silver lining: at least Ikran wasn’t particularly fast at traveling over land he had yet to cover in his ink. That gave Aaron some time to think. But still, the moment he could, he would no doubt go back to destroying obelisks. And not only was Darius fulfilling his plans if that came to fruition, but Aaron didn’t want their world being weakened.

His thoughts had already drifted to greater plans. He had seen the threats that existed beyond their world, and anything that might weaken them now could have long-term side effects.

But what do I do? How can I stop someone who can teleport away from me from escaping?

If he increased his energy output enough, funneling it into [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ], and focusing on time dilation, perhaps he could slow Ikran down enough that he could deal with him before he escaped again. But that would rely on getting up close to Ikran in the first place. And Aaron had a feeling that was unlikely.

The thal’kesh was no fool, and the undead version didn’t seem like one, either. He highly doubted he would stumble into the same mistake twice.

Aaron thought back to his time in the dungeon, particularly around Lord Draxas. His traps would be a godsend at a moment like this. But even if he could recruit powerful trappers from his people, they would need to be everywhere at once, as there were a lot of obelisks to cover.

He scratched his chin. They could narrow down the possible targets by focusing on the obelisks closest to the water, as that was obviously where Ikran was launching his attacks from. But even then, that was a huge amount of land to cover.

As Aaron considered their options, Joseph finally arrived. Having another top ranker was helpful, but he obviously couldn’t keep up, not on land, at least.

“What happened?” Joseph asked as he read Aaron’s thoughtful expression.

Aaron explained everything as he nodded along.

“That sounds about right. Ikran is impossible to get a hold of, even if you can fight him off.”

“Right, we’re going to need a plan. But first, we need reinforcements. The two of us can’t be everywhere at once.”

Aaron instructed Joseph to remain in the area. He could trace the coastline in search of Ikran. Even if he didn’t find the undead thal’kesh, he might give him pause and slow his destructive plans down. Meanwhile, Aaron could go collect some help from Dober.

That said, he was concerned. Most fighters from Dober wouldn’t be able to stand against Ikran for even seconds. If he exchanged relay stones with someone like Joseph, or Soohyun and Talia, he could probably reach them before Ikran could win a fight, even if he were a stronger warrior. But that didn’t hold true for regulars from Dober.

And even then, it sounded like he was just setting himself up for a game of cat and mouse, which Aaron had no intention of doing.

But what was the alternative? Let the obelisks be destroyed?

He felt like pulling his hair out at the annoying conundrum. Darius was no doubt fulfilling other plans, working to conquer their world; meanwhile, he was stuck chasing after Ikran, and if he didn’t, he might have to accept their world being permanently stunted against the other powers of their universe.

And Darius likely didn’t care because he was working for the Death God. Who knew what he had been promised in return for conquering their world?

Mana pulsed through Aaron as he sped up, racing back toward Dober. Hopefully someone there would help him come up with a better plan, as chasing Ikran around seemed exactly what Darius wanted him to do.

The moment he returned to Dober, Aaron informed Julius of everything that had happened.

“They’re destroying the obelisks? Dammit, you’re right. If we leave regular squads to guard the other ones, they’ll just end up as fodder. We need a better plan,” Julius said as he shook his head.

Julius was right; they did need a better plan. He thought back to the chase. He wasn’t actually that much slower than Ikran. If anything, it was agility he lacked, at least when he was at full speed.

Aaron remembered how he traveled in the dungeon when he lacked a Skill. He had been firing out mana through his anchors, and while it was nowhere near as fast as his wings, he could potentially use those methods to both boost his speed further and help steer at top speed.

What’s more, he had other cards up his sleeve, like his [ Bombardier Fist ], that he hadn’t made too much use of. If he employed both of them while chasing, perhaps it would make a difference…

I need to pull this off on the first try. I need to practise first.

Whatever method he used to catch Ikran, he knew it would need to come as a surprise; the thal’kesh was just too adaptable.

“Can you spare Talia and Soohyun?” Aaron asked.

I suppose so. What did you have in mind?” Julius said.

The plan was simple. Between the girls and Joseph, hopefully they could spook Ikran enough that he wouldn’t take down too many obelisks while Aaron perfected his plan.

It was time to train, and Aaron knew just the place to do it as he headed toward his temple.