Chapter 208: Pure destruction
And he went to do just that, he’s like earth, stone and strength made flesh as his lanky body whirled among the monsters. Each punch shook heads and cracked skulls, and each kick lashed out with a small burst of shockwave and broke ribs, crumbled through lungs.
"Yes! You are stronger so what? I’m just stronger!" Catena said, his eyes flashing a dead green like the forest as he got drunk from the power of earth.
One monster sneaked behind him and blasted him with energy on the head, hard enough that he stumbled forward, and another sent a sharp kick to his head, but his forge held, though it stung. "You pests!"
Catena shot forward and caught the monster’s legs and then with little effort lifted it up and swung it, using the massive monster like a blunt weapon. Bam! Bones cracked as monsters collided as he cleared the front of him.
Not up to three swinging hits and the monster he’s holding is nothing more than bloody meat held together by shattered bones and tendons. Catena grunted. "Not useful."
He lowered the essence he’s sending into the earth and he felt some of the strength leave him, but that was enough power for another formation and grasp hold of the earth in front of him, bringing out great spikes that jutted out like fangs, clamping down on the monsters.
Catena looked at his front with mild satisfaction at the carnage he was able to create. Monsters’ bodies lay in broken heaps, brown blood covered the ground thickly and monsters hung on spikes like some kind of monstrous flower.
But Catena wasn’t satisfied, he could still see monsters hiding behind, looking at him with caution. They knew they were outmatched now and would run, but Catena wouldn’t give them that chance.
He dropped his hold on the earth, returning the spikes and then he tensed and kicked back on the ground, immediately activating his Earth Share skill to full blast and getting part of the strength from Earth. The result was that he shot forward with such speed he seemed to disappear and appeared in front of the monsters.
The first two monsters were nothing but a bloody smear on the ground as he passed, crushing them with weight and speed. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to stop himself either and the other monsters avoided him while he shot away into the forest.
When the fight started, Alex, like the others, was just as eager as the others to test his new powers. Without even activating a formation his surroundings had been charged. He had smiled then.
Unlike before, Alex didn’t really have lightning Manipulation. In fact, only Catena could actively shape his element at will then. But now that they’ve all been upgraded they have some measure of control over their element.
In their technique book he was given different methods to shape lightning for battle and one of the ones he’s been playing with is called Bolt.
Just like his arrows but this time it’s a spear.
Alex raised his hand and the front of it shimmered, his eyes glowing white-silver. The air cracked and lightning appeared, a wild thing that twisted and wanted to immediately cause chaos, to hit something and be dispelled.
But Alex didn’t let it, with his will on it he compressed the ever-increasing lightning until he formed the shape he wanted. Two lightning spears gleamed in front of him, shimmering with restrained power and energy.
He caught his breath as he saw it, two gleaming poles of power. But he couldn’t hold it for long so he gestured and the two Bolts hurled away, cracking through the air. The result made Alex smile as one hit a monster and ate through it as if the monster wasn’t there, but that wasn’t it. The restrained energies were released, which caused a shockwave of rolling energy.
Alex shook his head. "So that’s the difference between now and before in our ranks."
But Alex wasn’t satisfied enough, because the amount of time it took to compress and restrain the lightning might mean death in a serious battle, not to mention that the attack is too focused against a large number of attacks at once.
Even though he hadn’t read every skill for his Acolyte rank, Alex came up with a solution right there. Instead of trying to manipulate the lightning, all he did was grasp it and then shoved it forward in a blast of twisting energy.
Its effects were devastating as it cleared the monsters crudely, blasting them away and locking their bodies up to death. Occasionally he’ll mix it with some compressed spears and that was enough to clear his side.
His eyes gleamed silver as he surveyed his work. "This is pure destruction on my part." He grinned.
He was still enjoying his victory when an explosion of blue light rocked the space beside him. He looked at it and whistled as he saw Stallus standing there with chunks of blue-white crystals floating around her.
Stallus couldn’t be happier. Because unlike others, she just had crystal Manipulation as a skill. Meaning now she could control her crystals without touching them. But it isn’t that easy, because unlike Azaroth and Alex, she can’t create crystals from thin air. She can only control the crystals but even then, it’s not like molding the earth.
Stallus gestured and two crystals hovered in front of her. Each not bigger than her fist and they glowed as she fed them with essence, she flicked her finger and they shot off with such force one tore through a monster’s skull and crushed the bones to the spine before stopping, but the explosion that followed took out the surrounding monsters.
"So my Manipulation can make the crystals stronger as a whole." Stallus was already thinking fast of different ways she could make use of that, something about armor and stuff. But for now! "Let me deal with the rest of the monsters!"
