Chapter 70: Dile Origin Beasts
Seth moved his body, whistling against the wind, his cloak fluttering behind him.
The serrated blade of his dagger gleamed red as both essence traits — Oscillation and Burden of Will — bore heavily on the weapon.
The sharpness and lethality of the weapon grew. He tilted his gait slightly to the left as a Dile Origin Beast lunged past him, missing its chomp by the narrow distance of a hair’s breadth.
It’s maw snapped close with a clash of thunderous clangs, biting the wind.
But Seth’s blade didn’t miss. Digging into the triangular edge of its widened maw, he threw himself forward.
A line of crimson tore a clean streak through the side of the Dile beast. Its flesh parted, spraying a sparse torrent of blood.
The creature wailed and writhed as Seth used the opportunity to force a spin. Pivoting to the other side of the creature, he leaped as high as his calves could project him.
"Equip!" he hissed, his eyes simmering with a bright crystal amethyst hue as they drew lines of light in the air at the speed he was moving.
A perfectly carved bow bloomed from the void of his inventory. The carved runes across the wooden structure flared with a brilliant cadence of gold.
A huge torrential wave of essence energy flooded his nodes pouring into the arrow the energy so dense it condensed into purple flickering flames.
As he knocked back an arrow, his essence raged like a building wave. The tip of the arrow’s onyx blade buzzed with the sinister intensity of Oscillation.
He didn’t dare add the trait Burden of Will, lest it caused him to plummet faster than he could handle.
Seth’s muscles tightened, becoming compact and dense as veins bulged, strapping his skin tighter to his frame, showing crisp outlines like steel cords running through flesh.
And then he let go...
A shockwave rippled through the air as the arrow burst forward at staggering Mach speed.
Its head simmered molten red with heat as it vibrated at a molecular rate, converting all energy to heat energy.
The arrow tore through the Dile beast’s skull without resistance. Its scales crumbled on impact, and its skull barely resisted for a second before being obliterated into a fine bloody mist.
[Congratulations! You have slain an Awakened Rank creature "Dile Elite."]
[You grow stronger...]
[+3 Intelligence]
Seth’s eyes flickered.
’So that’s why it felt so weak — an elite beast.’
One had to understand that elite creatures were the weakest an Awakened Rank creature could be, not common rank.
Just like Leader Grade would be the lowest grade for the next rank, that was how the law of evolution worked.
An elite-grade Awakener could never dream of ascending the ranks anymore, as they had yet to even meet the minor qualifications for an upgrade in life.
Roarrr!
A scaly tail swept through the wind, striking at Seth with deadly intensity.
Seth’s heart palpitated. He was in the air — normally, a person couldn’t move mid-air until they made contact with the ground once more.
But Seth’s pale boots simmered with a green gale glare as the air compressed beneath his feet, forming a platform that could handle his weight mid-air for the slightest of seconds.
For an Awakener like Seth, who had long surpassed human boundaries, a second was all he needed to weave through this strike mid-air.
His blade glinted, drawn once more. His essence churned, a cadence of royal purple sparked, and a line was drawn.
A thin crimson line bloomed around the tail before erupting with a sudden rain of blood. The tail was chopped clean off.
The beast roared in pain at the sudden loss...
But Seth wasn’t done. Gliding through the air, he wielded his will, and the essence trait Burden of Will bloomed in full gear.
This essence trait had been inspired by a certain mini-boss monster Seth had once fought.
That creature had changed its weight — and Seth did the same, but only to items.
But today, he decided:
’I am the weapon!’
The weight of his body increased to absurd heights of twelve tons. The heavy weight made gravity’s pull even more deadly.
He streaked down, his feet digging into the spine of the creature. Its back snapped into a bloody mess.
And the unholy force ripped it right into two gory halves.
[Congratulations! You have...]
His instincts flared red as he swung his frame backward, almost tripping.
A bone-spiked tail ripped through the wind, crumpling a massive tree nearby into pieces.
Seth’s heart palpitated with a conflicting mix of emotions...
One apprehension. The other excitement.
Yes, excitement. This was the type of battle he wanted.
The kind where he danced at the edge of life and death — a worthy battle that forced him to break past his limits or die.
Seth’s teeth glinted with a grin.
’When was the most exciting moment in my life? Was it when I crushed my competition during my nine-year-old coming of age? No. Was it when the apocalypse began? Also no. My most exciting memory was recent — my battle with the charm beast, where I was pushed to the absolute edge, forced back against the wall.’
He spun mid-air, his blade whipping through the wind with the centrifugal force of a spinning gear.
His blade drew streaks of crimson as it shredded into the creature. It bled to death.
[Congratulations...]
He blinked — and he was already upon another creature. Only this time, it warranted a prompt from the system.
[You have encountered Boss Beast: The Black Scaled Stalker!]
Clang!
His blade rebounded against the impenetrable steel-like scales of the creature.
Sparks danced as his body whipped back, the rebound force running through him.
He gritted his teeth, his heart pounding.
’Fuck — a peak Leader Grade creature!’
A pair of sinister eyes glinted beneath the marsh as the behemoth crocodile-like monster widened its gaping maw.
Seth’s eyes went cold, a tingle dancing down his spine. He realized one clashing snap of those jagged jaws, and he’d be snapped in half.