Ascenders Rift

Chapter 113: Newly Awakened Talents, A Strange Being

Within the depths of a mountainous area, a place that now carried a dark atmosphere, one would see a sea of undead monsters pouring unto the land as they fanned out in various formations. The entire range was shrouded by a dark power, as the occasional flickers of blue flames from the empty sockets of this undead gave on a spooky vibe.

Though most of the undead headed towards the distance, if one looked closely, they would notice that most of them were charging towards a nearby area. The sounds of a fierce battle sounding from that region as occasionally one would see flashes of lights as they heard the sounds of crushed bones and armor along with the broken earth.

Looking closely, however, one would even come to realize that this was not a battle but a full-on slaughter. A scene in which a small team of six brave humans fought against the horde of a hundred undead with ease, as they broke through their formation and destroyed their leaders.

Suddenly, a young man garbed in armor, and a massive arc-shaped shield jumped into the air as his body gave off bright earthen-colored lights when he shouted, "Overburn!"

With his yell, the lights around his body dimmed as steam began to rise from his plump flesh. Moments after, he had transformed into a steam machine as the area around him became indistinct as if it were covered by fog. His entire body now viewable as an extraordinarily bulky and well-built individual with chiseled features.

As he descended from the sky like a raging meteor, his two bludging arms, which held his shield, positioned it below him, pushing away the influencing wind as he shouted with a bright flash in his eyes, "Arc Crusher!"

With a buzzing sound, the shield below his body glowed while expanding, soon reaching a size of four meters before this individual had crashed into a group of these undead monsters.

Boom! A shocking explosion formed, knocking back a large portion of the undead army as it even tossed a few of them into the air. When this happened, a beauty with a golden bow aimed as her body glowed with a strange semi-transparent golden energy as she spoke in a soft tone, "Seeking Heart..."

Following those words, the world around her changed as if it dimmed a section painting all creatures in different hues.

Swish-Swish-Swish!

With a single volley of arrows, she quickly pierced the foreheads of the undead skeletons that had been tossed into the air. It was as if she didn't even need to aim, as, within this world of color and darkness, she could hit any being that was within her line of sight. The skeleton's eyes then turned black, as the soul fires had been extinguished.

Following this sight, within a different area, where dozens of undead were gathered, a particular scene was occurring. A group of agile looking undead soldiers surrounded a single blue-haired young man with daggers in their arms, as they struck towards the young man, they blurred leaving behind a myriad of remnant shades.

Yet, before they could reach him, the young man smiled and took a step forwards before saying, "Second Step..."

Following his words, he turned into a flash of white light that flickered here and there, easily moving through the group of undead. In a few seconds, this light flashed and stopped at a few meters distance behind this group. There, the figure of the handsome blue-haired young man appeared with a spear in his hand. His hair fluttered in the wind as his back faced his enemies.

The undead didn't know fear; they only prepared to turn around and strike at him in unison once again. Yet, it was at this moment, they each started to break apart, before eventually crumbling into piles of bones and ruined armor.

As if someone else didn't want to lose out, a similar scene played out nearby with a sizable portion of the undead army as many different threads had flashed about cutting apart the bodies of these creatures.

Suddenly, a black-haired girl had appeared between their ranks, with her threads wrapped around her palms, she was about to attack once more, but suddenly, a few of the undead in the distance with arrows fired a series of black arrows towards her direction.

These arrows moved like rays of light and were unquestionably fast, arriving upon her in an instant, from all directions. Though the situation seemed like the end, however, the girl didn't seem phased as she muttered, "Superior Sense..."

Suddenly, her hair rose, as the world around her seemed to have changed, turning a few fractions slower than the current time. Her eyes glowed when the area around her body became visible in her mind; she could sense the ants on a grass a few meters away and even hear its sounds.

As she saw the shimmering edges of the arrows that were roughly a feet distance away from her body, the young female began to twist her body, arranging herself in a suitable posture to avoiding the arrows.

Time soon sped up, and each of the arrows had somehow swept past the female without even trimming a single strand of her hair. The skeletons didn't seem phased by this and continued to fire more and more arrows, which the female easily avoided, by narrowly dodging at the right moments.

A few more of them were about to gather to launch a few more volleys, but it was at this time a strange scene occurred.

Shing! A semi-transparent star-like sword cut through the wind, easily slicing apart their heads from their bodies, before extinguishing their soul fires. As this happened, the sword then flew towards an individual that calmly sat on top of a large rock. The young man sat while playing with a few objects that floated around in his hand.

He gazed around at the various battles as his sword hovered behind him while in thought, 'Their newly awakened talents are incredible. I'd have thought I wouldn't be surprised anymore, but they certainly are something else... even you Layla...'

When Evan thought to here, he looked at Layla, whose body when fighting, had a different kind of change, one of her eyes had turned the color of ruby, as her aura had a hint of holiness. As she waved her scepter and cast the LightWave spell, it sent even more clusters of light compared to normal about the areainstantly destroying all undead lifeforms within a range of a dozen meters.

Evan's eyes flashed when he looked at this, he wanted to take a closer look at her stats again, but right at this time, his watch started to beep as Alan's voice sounded.

"Evan, are you certain about this?" Alan asked in a slightly concerned tone.

Evan shook his head pushing that thought aside for now as he replied to Alan, "Yes, I am, you guys are more than capable of handling the rest here, we've already conquered four rifts in these two weeks, and they were the most crucial Lesser Spaces that were of detriment to Earling Star. Right now, we need to focus on increasing our strength, and this final rift is the best choice before we head out into Qeodreona to seek further opportunities..."

Alan remained silent for a moment before he spoke again, "Isn't this a bit too risky, we can still face the Mother Breed even if they attack us upfront. After all, once we gather our strength together, trained more Ascenders, and have finished with our mech upgrades, it's highly likely for us to have a crushing victor."

Evan shook his head and replied, "That's where you are wrong Alan, the Mother Breed still outclasses us in both numbers and strength. It is best if one team heads out to infiltrate the nest and kill the queen during the decisive moment of the war. I am sure that you and everyone else will be more than able to handle the average forces and maybe a few elites, but the core fighting force will cause too many deaths, leave that bit to us..."

When Alan heard these words, he paused for a moment and sighed before he spoke, "Fine then, I won't bother asking why you know of these details again as we are short on time, and that's what we can't afford to waste. We'll do it your way; let us know when you're ready to set out."

"Sure, take care for now, Alan," Evan said with a smile.

After bidding goodbye, Alan then hung up his line, Evan's eyes suddenly flashed as he shifted it towards the peak of the mountain, gazing at the massive portal that was of black and red color.

Noticing that it had stopped spewing out undead, he spoke to the group, "Everyone, it's time to get going, we have a long road ahead of us."

When Joe and the others heard this, they stared at the portal before them with suspicious looks on their faces. Joe couldn't help but glance at Evan and ask, "Evan, to which world does this portal lead? It isn't another Raid Space, is it?"

Joe seemed to be a bit concerned that they would enter another Raid Space again, Layla and the others were also a bit wary.

Evan hearing these words, made a sly smile as his eyes flashed in a reminiscent light; he then looked at them and replied, "An exceptional place..."

As everyone heard his words, they felt a chill in their hearts as they knew things wouldn't be so easy. A few moments after, though, no matter how they felt about it, they had each entered its domain, vanishing from this section of the world.

***

At the edge of the Earth Sector, a region shrouded by a golden barrier was an ocean that spread out as far the eyes could perceive. This sea was green, as the sky above it was of similar color.

Occasionally one would see a few unusual silhouettes shuffling about at the depths of these waters; some were so huge that they could swallow even a truck or small building. As a few of them bumped into this golden barrier, they would rapidly retreat as if they contacted the world's most dangerous object, some even directly broke apart into many pieces.

Suddenly, a four-winged insect that was five meters in size had appeared in the air, seated on the top of this creature was a humanoid figure with three sinister-looking eyes, two at the standard positions as humans and third on his forehead. It seemed to be of a male gender, wearing a strange looking coat formed by flesh as a few long tentacles were extending from its back.

As the flying insect stopped in place, this being looked down at the golden barrier and made a sniffing noise before its eyes narrowed as its voice sounded across the open sky, "I smell the scent of humans here..."

Upon saying this, he looked at the ground suspiciously as he spoke with a grin," Huhu mother will be pleased,"

Following his words, he urged the insect once more, soaring towards the depths of a distant land.