An odd calm spread throughout the area. The storm roared on above him just as loudly as before, though now that he had a moment to breathe, he also noticed that there were literally no monsters anywhere near him. It seemed that even the creatures brought about by the storm were wary of the monster chasing Lev.
Said monster’s aura suddenly became far less noticeable. Confused and extremely relieved to be away from that insidious influence, he turned towards where the monster was. The longer he looked, the more his brows rose to his forehead.
The Stormfury had created a lot of distance in a blink, and now, its aura showed a healthy dose of caution. He couldn’t see the bird anymore, not even with his eyesight.
Behind him, the bubble continued unimpeded, flying at a forty-five degree angle. Lev almost powered up his armor to catch up, only stopping himself to greet the Guildmaster and await instructions.
Before the man himself appeared, a silver mana slash tore through the serpent chasing the bubble. Lev couldn’t see the attacks collide, only the resulting blast from the serpent’s destruction. Even after that, the slash continued faster than his Perception could track, though it was struck down by a massive lightning bolt from the skies.
Unfortunately, the two or more kilometers between him and the slash weren’t quite enough. An explosion of epic proportions bloomed as silver and lightning clashed, and he had no chance of escaping the radius.
Again, before he could even make a decision, silver panes materialized before him, each the size of a house. All other thoughts fled his mind. Only the… constructs remained in his field of view, far too interesting to ignore.
Unlike barriers focused on durability, and definitely not like arcane constructs focused on conductivity and crafting, the silver panes were sheets of something he had never seen before. It was almost like a physical manifestation of willpower, except it was also not?
Lev reeled as his brain rebelled from peering too deeply. The panes were meant for absorption and durability; nothing else could be deduced from the brief look.
He didn’t even realize that the blast had been stopped dead. Even the noise and vibrations had been halted in their tracks, protecting him from any possible harm.
By his side, Hakim lowered himself from the skies, putting a hand on Lev’s shoulders. That jerked him out of the backlash, and it also scared the crap out of him.
Stargazer almost moved in a slash towards Hakim’s neck before Lev realized who it was.
“H-hey.”
Hakim didn’t bother replying, instead staring at Lev with startling intensity. The Exalted’s eyes bore into his very soul, and they saw far more than he was willing to reveal.
Biting his lips to stop them from trembling, Lev looked away. There would be time to go through the shock and grief later. For now, he had to escape.
Understanding that, Hakim also took his hand off Lev’s shoulder. With a nod of recognition for all of Lev’s struggles and his incredible luck and efforts, the Exalted turned towards the monster, covering for Lev’s departure.
Lev didn’t even entertain the thought of watching the battle from a distance. He was tired, badly injured from insanely high mana usage, on the brink of collapse, and slowly getting more and more sluggish under the weight of the deaths he had recently facilitated.
Before leaving, however, he took a good look at his savior. Hakim was holding the same silver greatsword Lev had seen already, except the Exalted was not dressed in any armor. He only had a sturdy white robe covering his body, not dissimilar to the attire in which Harun had fought the Executioner Beetle.
Regardless, it was an astonishing sight. Humanity’s strongest had shown up to battle a fourth-threshold monster in nothing more than a seemingly simple robe.
****
The moment the silver pillar above the lake vanished, the storm filled the large vacancy with an almost audible sigh of relief, blocking sunlight again. Rain appeared above Haven again, and the rumbling calamity continued unimpeded, largely unchallenged for the most part.
Even the storm didn’t dare defy Her.
Hakim stepped onto a mundane portion of the plains, not noticing anything amiss. His senses swept around for dozens of kilometers, bringing vague flashes of impressions that were enough to make deductions.
He started moving North, further away from the fort. Not even a few seconds later, something uniquely dangerous bloomed further ahead, noticeable despite the massive distance.
It also revealed three presences, all of which were his destination.
A silver pane formed underneath his feet. Legs coiled, and muscles thrummed as moonlight empowered them to an extreme degree.
The Guildmaster lunged, shooting off at a speed faster than anyone but Sherron could manage. Colors sped past his sight as dozens of kilometers were covered in seconds, only possible due to the silver infusion and his robe expertly cutting through the air.
He slowed down, noticing a barrier construct speeding towards him. Inside were only unconscious humans, three of them dead.
The rest of the tale wasn’t hard to piece together. Behind the construct was a blue monster, though a single mana slash easily dealt with it.
Hakim’s suspicion grew when he noticed the active skill, turning into a grim realization when the distant monster attacked his slash with a lightning call.
A Stormfury, he thought to himself, lips pursed. Silver panes easily blocked the uncontrolled blast spreading over a large distance due to the storm’s interruption. Environmental skills were largely negated by that.
Floating down, Hakim put a hand on Lev’s shoulder. The boy reacted with predictable alarm, moving as if through a dense syrup to his senses.
In Lev’s eyes, however, was none of the defeat Hakim expected to see. There was anger there, pain too, and also a very healthy dose of defiance.
After a few seconds, during which the Hunter below them focused on healing themselves and retreating, Hakim nodded. The boy would not break or be too negatively affected, and the experience would also teach him humility.
Maybe. The latter wasn’t set in stone.
Either way, Kassavin’s favored was going to live. Lev couldn’t feel it, but Hakim could. Three gazes larger than the universe itself were observing the barrier mage’s mad dash, and all of them were rooting for him.
It was a sobering feeling, never failing to keep him grounded.
Lev almost missed the drill due to its sheer speed. Hakim made catching up easier for the boy by slowing it down, during which the Stormfury didn’t interrupt. The monster was cautious; he had to give it that.
There was also the matter of what had alerted Hakim earlier. If the Stormfury wasn’t some unique variant, it only had access to extremely potent unevolved lightning. The Hunter also didn’t have access to any elemental mana, which left just one other option.
How had Lev managed to get his hands on such a dangerous element? Hell, how was he still alive?
The boy probably had one hell of a story to tell. That would come later, after the monster had been dealt with.
And dealing with it was one hell of a task. Hakim squared his shoulders, raising his hand to invoke the first blessing. Silver parted the storm, coalescing in his waiting palm.
With reverence and an undecipherable smile, he brought the silver palm to his forehead, smearing the moonlight on it. It was readily absorbed by his skin, bypassing a myriad of internal defenses to empower his brain.
Perception spiked to an insane degree. Mana control also improved to a similar degree, empowering everything present on his status.
Stormfurys were old enemies. Hakim knew better than anyone else how to deal with them, and that boiled down to a simple fact.
Weakness didn’t belong in the storm. The moment he could threaten it with any crippling injuries, the monster would flee to avoid giving up its position in the storm. If it were to return weakened and dying, it would only be easy prey.
That didn’t mean driving it off was easy. Not even close. Every single Stormfury he had faced possessed far too many means to escape death, and he put this one to the test by activating an enchantment on Chains of Freedom.
Space warped. The greatsword scraped against the Stormfury’s neck, only the tip making contact due to the monster’s extreme reaction time.
It was enough to deal a slight bit of damage, revealing that the creature was no different from the rest of its kind. The nick healed in a blink, consumed by the body of solid lightning as if it never existed.
Then the world turned blue. Hakim’s greatsword flashed, once to deflect talons that hit almost as hard as a Shade Giant, and then to fire a slash at the dozens of serpents trying to swarm him.
All of them crumbled like paper in front of the Mana Slash. Still, the Stormfury’s beak made good use of that opening, almost catching his torso.
Another teleport brought him above the monster, and as expected, that was of no use. Two feathers were already rushing him before he even materialized at the new position, forcing him to step on a pane and create distance.
The monster followed, not paying attention to the silver mana slowly seeping out of Hakim’s body. Another lunge was aborted, and the following teleportation was also easily accounted for.
It took another few seconds for the monster to realize something was up. That confusion only added to its mistake. Hakim’s left arm shot out, and using his own flesh as a conduit and fuel for the telekinesis, he squeezed.
Bones creaked as wings curled upon themselves. The monster, however, refused to break down, confirming the last of Hakim’s suspicions about its strength.
He wouldn’t even be surprised if the Stormfury was above level 1300.
Neither side was going all out yet, both for different reasons. Hakim looked at the storm raging above and sighed. He wished the Stormfury were an actually dangerous monster when the denizens of the storm were considered, but that was not the case. It only remained at the peak of the middle layers, below the creatures that could never be allowed to come near humanity.
It was a good thing that they always hid underground. Regardless of the immense height involved, there was no harm in taking extra precautions.
Those same precautions prevented him from actually trying. The Stormfury, locked inside the telekinesis, knew that very well. It started at him calmly, daring him to attract the stronger predators.
With a snort, he launched the monster downwards. Such was the might of his telekinesis that the fourth-threshold creature couldn’t stop itself in time, impacting the ground many times faster than the speed of sound.
Hakim inhaled deeply, knowing what was to come. Just because they couldn’t go all-out didn’t mean they couldn’t try to reach that state through more subtle means.
A teleport brought him close to the giant crater. Adopting a stance, he waited. The monster didn’t disappoint.
As a small streak of blue, the Stormfury zipped towards him faster than his enhanced Perception could track. Its talons screeched against the blade, blocked in the nick of time. Then it turned into a streak again, appearing behind Hakim.
Teleporting out of the beak’s way, he activated the second primary enchantment on his sword: Pull. Everything around him was dragged towards the greatsword relentlessly. Chunks of lightning were torn off the monster’s body as its skills faltered, though it broke away regardless after flashing its body enhancement at full strength.
Both combatants paused. Nothing descended after noticing the expenditure.
The match began anew. After five similar exchanges, neither side was any closer to tiring, their resource pools far too vast for the current level of output. It didn’t help that Hakim’s mana regeneration also outpaced his current strength.
An understanding was reached. The Stormfury moved first, plucking dozens of feathers out of its wings. Each tore through the air like an arrow, except packing enough mana and speed to eviscerate whole cities.
The ground was utterly annihilated with every impact. Hakim dashed through the barrage, teleporting and running to avoid them all. Skills were conserved for an opportune moment that arrived not long after.
From his side, a blue streak tried to bite him. He didn’t teleport away and stood his ground, ramping up his body enhancement to duck under the monster’s face. A high kick hit its chin like a mountain, launching it into a blindingly bright pane.
It shattered to stop the monster in its tracks. Lightning serpents came into existence by the dozens, none of them as fragile as the ones that had been sent after Lev.
Hakim weaved between them to the best of his ability, slashing through those he couldn’t dodge. Explosions washed over him ineffectually, bringing him ever closer to the monster that was also holding its hand.
Abruptly, its whole body flashed, becoming a charged point. A titanic pillar of lightning descended, guided at the last moment to hit Hakim.
Chains of Freedom was already aimed towards it. A thin silver pillar erupted out of the greatsword, easily tearing its way through the lightning call. The blue pillar was destroyed at its core, and it destabilized in a vast explosion.
Both combatants easily outpaced it, running ahead of the explosion. Hakim upped his output, teleporting closer to the Stormfury. It turned into a blue streak, guided into a hidden patch of silver mana. Panes blocked its path of retreat, and heavy telekinesis held it in place.
The third major enchantment of the sword, Push, came to life. A condensed blast of gravity mana tore a hole straight through the Stormfury, and the silver mana infused into the enchantment further disintegrated its insides.
His ears were assaulted by an unholy shriek as the first real blow was dealt. Before it could escape the telekinesis, an invisible mana slash cut into its neck. Drakys appeared above its head, his palms crushing all the newly formed serpents and feathers with cruel efficiency.
Pure mana gathered in his fists, striking the back of the Stormfury’s head. It was launched towards the ground where Hakim was already waiting. The flat of his greatsword struck its stomach, again launching it back upwards, right into the path of a lightning lance.
The new lightning was a paler shade of blue, focused on speed, stability, and penetration. Sherron’s attack did almost as much damage to the monster’s relatively weak body as Hakim’s Push, tearing another hole through its side.
Hundreds of meters away, the Stormfury landed deftly on its talons. In a blink, its wounds closed, though it didn’t make a move. It was surrounded.
In front was Hakim, and to its left was Drakys. Sherron hovered above them all, hundreds of lances already hovering around her. Behind the monster, Harun strolled towards them all as if out on a stroll, and from the right, a wave approached.
A red so dark that it almost seemed black, Blood Tide rode her way into battle on that compressed ocean of blood, an army of blood constructs following her lead.
None of them made the first move, though. It wasn’t the monster that was trapped. The humans were prey here, and the prey had shown to possess teeth.
Now came the hard part. The fight was undoubtedly going to attract more abominations, and the only reason they could even risk fighting like that was because of Sherron. Her class showed its extraordinary potential to the fullest during the storm, and she could single-handedly mask their presence from the storm to a great degree.
Even right now, Hakim could feel her cold wrath, waiting to be unleashed. How she and Lev had gotten so close, he didn’t know, except it more than worked out in everyone’s favor. The monster was going to face one hell of an opponent in her.
Still, some part of him sighed inside. If Hakim were alone, he would be confident in defeating the monster by himself. He might just be able to put it down for good, finding the last core necessary for Sherron’s equipment set.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. His own strength could only do so much, and bringing unwanted attention to their little continent was an antithesis to all he stood for.
Nothing took priority over his race’s survival. The populace didn’t even know they were the last of humanity.