The Astral soul system

Chapter 249: Bring it on

Another one down,then another, then another ten. They just wouldn’t stop coming

A single swing killed a dozen,two dozen more would take their place. She’d completely lost sight of Sable in this mess. Hopefully she was doing better than her in this case

Grunting she crushed another into particles of light.

"Achoo! Achoo! Damnit!"

She spat, wiping her nose with ger sleeve and quickly steadying herself. She swung again, trying her best to avoid getting hit

’I wish I could just transform and finish this already, but with how fast it’s progressing I’d probably end up killing myself faster ’

She thought to herself, looking at her blackened veins and letting out a puff of visibly cold air

"How many of these things are there?"

She asked no one in particular. The staff was beginning to get heavy, and that was saying something considering her natural strength in this state was leagues above most people even with abilities.

Something about it wasn’t normal. The moment she’d picked it up she could feel it was unnatural. It didn’t just feel like iron and gold.

The invisible vortex kept getting stronger and as it did it got heavier and heavier, but it seemed to get stronger too, she felt like it was pulling her towards it’s core every time she swung it, like if she wasn’t careful enough it could fling her away as well.

"And this is only a copy? Why didn’t he just give me the original?"

She muttered mostly out of frustration but she knew why he wouldn’t even if he could. She wouldn’t be able to use it at all, and this one was more than enough already for her to be grateful. If she found the chance she would definitely help him with the favor he asked her

Speaking of which,if this weapon was so strong, and so was he? Why was he in the shape she’d found him. It looked like he couldn’t even move and he had to ask for help

According to the stories Zen had told her about him, he shouldn’t have been the type to ask for help...ever.

While these thoughts were running through her mind she’d gotten distracted. A loud boom suddenly rang out as the staff hit something and instead destroying it instantly,it halted

"Wha-"

She suddenly pulled back, narrowly dodging something before it could hit her, though it still narrowly grazed her clothes.

Looking for what it was she spotted another beast but this one was different from the rest. Instead of looking like stone it’s body more closely looked like granite. It’s fangs and nails were almost twice as long as the others and as it scurried on the ground it’s hands all the way down to it’s elbows were on the ground.

It pounced towards her again, much faster than the average ones.

Side stepping she narrowly dodged before bringing the staff’s end down on its head with as much force as she could muster while it was still in the air, slamming it into the ground.

It still wasn’t disappearing so she knew she wasn’t finished, but she couldn’t wait.

The circle was closing fast. She couldn’t deal with this one and keep the rest at bay at the same time.

She still wasn’t using the staff properly. Usually when using gear you’d channel your own aether into it but last time she tried with this thing it nearly killed Zen and drained her.

She didn’t seem to have a choice at this point so she did another circular sweep to create some distance before giving it a go.

The same glowing veins lit up on both her hands, and once it reached where the staf met her hand it seemed to breach it,vein like cracks spread over the body of the staff, glowing like lava until it covered every edge. She swung the weapon again and the moment it struck the granite beast it broke through it like paper, turning it to dust.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she stopped and the staff slowly went back to normal, though now both of her arms had visible black veins with the ice spreading over them

It had only lasted for a second but she was already breathing heavily. The weight of it had almost been too much for her to bear

Hopefully she didn’t have to do that again.

*Raaahhh!!!*

Then again, when did things ever go her way

She could already feel the next wave getting closer. That one was just the first to make it.

She needed to clear this one as quickly as possible so she made a bold choice and abandoned her defensive formation running out of the circle she’d cleared and into the horde, the staff swinging in every direction, sending beasts flying with every major movement.

Her teeth clenched together. Unlike what most people would think, she really didn’t have infinite energy,infact compared to her sister and other people in the family, she was rather weak. Luckily it was still enough to impress the public but in here,where it mattered, that strength was failing her, she could feel the life getting zapped out of her limbs.

Another hum suddenly rang out not from the walls this time, from somewhere else, directed at her personally

It was loud and resonant but for the most part,her mind kept translating it to gibberish. It was no longer clear and precise like before.

Trying her best not to lose focus, she kept mowing through the beasts but as she did, one word managed to make it past the translation

Thief

"What?"

Her focus suddenly broke and she stumbled, allowing a hit to connect for the first time

"Aah!"

She groaned, watching blood drip down her thigh from the deep cut.

Grunting she shook it off and immediately destroyed the one that touched her. She couldn’t allow them to take advantage of that hit. Again she was attacking all around her, trying to ignore what she just heard

’Thief?’

The humming started again but this time louder and angrier, like it didn’t like that she was ignoring it

BLADE

Her facial expression cracked for a bit but she kept blocking it out

JUSTICE

Another hit made it through, this time it was her arm. She scowled, Leaping into the air and away from that spot.

HEART

...

JUDGEMENT

...

BURN

"Guh"

She gasped, clutching her chest

A beast had jumped after her , grabbing her ankle it bit down hard.

"Shit"

She spat kicking it off

She’d gotten disoriented again. She couldn’t help it. This thing felt like it was speaking directly to her soul.

If things went on like this it wouldn’t be long before she was beyond dead.

Seeing there was no space for her to land down she decided to make one and slammed the cudgel into the ground as she descended, vaporizing any beasts unfortunate enough to be there.

"No more holding back"

She said as the staff lit up with the golde cracks over it.

Feeling a mental link form between her and the staff which now had her energy in it, she mused

"I wonder if..."

Immediately the staff suddenly extended forward right before her eyes, stretching over a hundred feet and taking out a bunch of beasts at the same time.

Zaria’s eyes widened but she didn’t dwell on it. She already knew about the abilities of the cudgel from Zen, she just didn’t think it’d be that easy.

And now, a classic

The width of the the cudgel began to grow and grow until she could only hold it with both hands. It wasn’t anywhere near the cartoonishly massive size the monkey had used in the story Zen had described for her but it already felt like she was carrying a truck,no, multiple trucks.

She had to use the mental bond she had with it to make it slightly easier for herself.

She dug her feet into the ground. The whole process had barely taken a second but it felt unimaginably long for her. The physical and mental burden on her was starting to catch up to her.

With a sharp turn of her hips the massive pillar started to turn in a circle with her as the central point. Cries of beasts erupted as they were all turned to dust. It might have looked slow to an outside observer but it was not only unavoidable, but unstoppable. The sight looked like someone dropped a giant rolling pin on the battlefield and started flattening.

By the time the circle was complete, she was breathing heavily, and a massive space around her had been cleared out.

"That has to be a level up, right?"

She tried joking but couldn’t laugh

Commanding it with her thoughts she made the cudgel shrink back to normal

"I wonder if there’s anything else you can do. This’ll have to do for now"

The humming started again and she scowled. She’d bought herself a few seconds of free space but she had to act fast to get rid of that humming or it would kill her.

Looking around she suddenly noticed one of the portals had become big enough and something came through.

It was a wolf, it’s skin was grey and it’s eyes were a haunting blue.

"Oh no you don’t!"

She grunted, flinging the staff as hard as possible, nailing the beast’s head clean off, killing it.

Before it could touch the ground, the staff suddenly changed direction, flying back into her hand.

She quickly remembered the voice she’d heard the first time.

"Incursion detected. exterminating"

’Common knowledge is that even if beasts are not always aware, the dungeon itself instinctively responds to the presence of people inside it. In fact sometimes it’s even impossible to sneak up on beasts in some dungeons for that reason. This place is...’

"Sentinel station. Semi functional"

She muttered under her breath

’If the humming is the voice of the this place, and we’re the incursion...’

She looked ahead at the beasts that were getting very close to surrounding her again

’These things are a security system. Or rather exterminating system but still... Beacon. What’s that?’

She asked, looking around for what could be drawing these portals

Another beast stumbled out of a portal and she put those thoughts on hold

ASHES

Another hum rang out, this one was so loud it gave her a headache

"Damnit!"

An inhuman noise escaped her throat as her eyes flickered, the golden light getting tainted by something more sinister

Looking up she suddenly noticed a specific portal that caught her attention. Unlike the others that were slowly pulsating, this one was basically vibrating, and when she payed attention, she noticed it was in tune with the humming

"You!"

She immediately dashed forward. The staff extended and found it’s way to one of the beasts that just escaped the portal, bludgeoning it to death before she swung it to it’s next mark.

One she was done clearing them she stuck the fully extended staff into the ground in front of her

’Let’s hope Nora’s athletics lessons haven’t been for nothing’

She leaned back and pushed off high into the air, calling the staff back into her hand.

Her eyes locked on her target as she prepared to do... something.

She suddenly realized she hadn’t really thought this through but she still prepared herself for anything, gripping the cudgel tight.

A huge amount of light particles flew into the air as dozens and dozens of beasts were killed , and out of the particles something shot into the air after her.

Gasping, she barely managed to lower it in time to protect herself.

Looking at what had come up after her,it was a figure fully clad in golden armor. It looked like a more(properly built? Proportionate?) version of the beasts she’d been fighting already, with armour to boot. It looked almost entirely human, welding a sword it had intended to decapitate with.

"What the?!"

She scowled, looking back at the portal glowing brightly. She could see a shadow and a pair of eyes behind it. This was her chance!

Lowering her weapon, she leaned back, letting the edge of the blade miss her by a hair’s breadth and as she fell, she suddenly grabbed onto the armoured figure, wrapping her legs around it and pulling herself up before using it as a stepping stone, leaping off it and towards the portal again.

Her silver eyes gleamed golden,cracks appearing in the skin under her eyes, pulsating with light.

The humming suddenly got even louder than before but she pushed through it as she closed in, bringing the staff down with as much force as possible, visible golden flames seeping out of its black iron body.

She felt something solid and heard something similar to glass breaking followed by a thud and grunt. The portal itself split into two separate forms,both slowly closing

She heard a grunt followed by another hum. This one she could only clearly hear the last word

WAR

She spat as the portal closed

"Bring it on"