From what he can see there are three ferrets around the area. First, he decides to draw one out. In a one-on-one fight he likes his odds. But against all three, he will have to go all out. Using his naginata with a bloodline coated blade, Helo swings his blade at a tree. He found a nearby tree with the weakest signature and decided to use it to create a commotion.
“I hope the dryads don’t get mad at me.” He says as the tree falls. It hits the ground with a crash and Helo starts forming a ‘Dark Blade’. This has quickly turned into one of his favorite abilities. His telekinesis is one of his favorite skills. Mix that in with how skilled he is at aura use and this is easily his favorite technique.
Helo quickly steps behind a nearby truck. He can hear the ferrets moving far faster than he expected. Two of the ferrets move through the branches so quickly it almost looks like they are flying. Due to the bendable nature of their bodies, they easily weave between branches. With their new wind control their speed goes even faster.
The first ferret to arrives goes right up to the tree and starts inspecting it. As it does, Helo launches his blade at the second. It easily kills it and the ferret drops to the ground with a thump right next to Helo. Its body is incredibly fluffy and it is almost five feet long.
“Damn, you would be a great rug.” Helo says as he quickly sends the body away. For a second he forgot about the first ferret as he inspected his kill. It is thanks to his keen instincts and hearing that he got away. Diving back behind the tree and then quickly ducking, Helo is left with a slight cut along his neck from where the wind blade struck. Above him the tree he is hiding behind starts to topple toward him.
About to move Helo focuses on his hearing to find his opponent, he wants to know where it is before moving. To his surprise he can hear the movement of wind and the tapping of little paws on the other side of the truck.
Jumping up into the slowly teetering tree, Helo grabs a branch and watches the ferret’s long body circle where he was. As it passes beneath him, another blade gets sent his way. Dodging into another branch the tree officially starts to topple toward the branch Helo is on. Jumping for a branch on the other side Helo meets the circling ferret head on as it runs in fast circles around the trunk.
Both Helo and the beast strike at one another as the tree is falling. Their blows and dodges send out waves of wind and whisps of darkness. Both of them are sent backward and to separate sides of the tree as it hits the ground with a bang.
“SCREEEEE” Helo hears from the other side of the truck. He can also hear as the third foe starts heading his way. With a growl Helo activates ‘Bloodline Awakening’ and smiles. He forgot about how smoothly the energy flows through his channels after his near death cultivation. Reaching past ten percent increased the duration he can have it activated without hurting himself and how easily he can handle all the energy. Not just the quantity but also the quality.
Activating the skill for only a brief moment Helo uses the increased control over his energy to form a ‘Dark Blade’. Vaulting over the tree, Helo strikes the truck as he is jumping to elevate himself higher. A blade of wind screams underneath him, and he does a flip over it.
Landing on the ground the fast ferret is almost on him by the time he regains his footing. Thankfully, he already expected this. Taking the claws to his chest, he cries out in pain as the claws rake down his body. When the ferret lands back on the ground it is about to send out a finishing blade of wind, but a black dagger slams into its chest.
A wave of aura pushes outward as the dagger is lodged in the monster. Using his new ‘Dark Hand’ skill Helo reaches out with his hand and a few feet in front of him a cloud of monochrome color appears around the handle of the dagger. To his surprise the skill just seems to come faster and easier when he uses his hand as a guide.
As Helo pulls his hand back the dagger slides from the beast and it starts to pour out blood from its chest. Hovering the dagger above his hand, Helo watches as it floats in front of him and slowly spins. Over time the shape of the cloud even seems to start resembling a hand that is grasping the blade.
Helo’s own wounds are starting to slowly close up, but not wanting to fight the third beast before he is healed, he tried to stall it. Whipping his hand to the side and sends his blade toward the charging beast. He can track it through his hearing as it moves between the tree branches. It is closing fast and sounds like the roaring of a powerful gust. A screech rings out as the blade blasts into the tree line.
Helo can hear as the beast dodges by the way the leaves rustle. He also hears as his own skill “Thunks” into the tree. Falling forward Helo picks up the ferret and drains some of the blood into his mouth. By the time he sets the beast down his eyes are glowing golden and his healing has skyrocketed.
At the same time his ‘Bloodline Awakening’ and the fresh vitality he has consumed merge into something more. The feeling is fading even faster than his normal vitality-based empowerment. But when he first tried blood and thought that he could do anything, this, this is an entirely new level. At the same time the strain on his body is back to how it was when he first got the skill. He can only hold this for a minute or two max. Thankfully the merged energy is so fleeting that it lasts only a few seconds.
Blasting forward far faster than he ever has before, Helo can only liken it to using a boosting skill, a movement skill, and taking magic steroids at the same time. As the Ferret leaves the branches and dives at him. It is covered in a swirl of guiding wind. The wind is enhancing its speed and arial movement. But at the same time creating a barrier around it of cutting wind.
Ignoring the feeling of a hundred paper cuts Helo strikes the surprised ferret in the chest and the both launch backward and into the tree line. He can hear as the ferret lets out a surprised screech before it turns into cries of pain.
His jump not only blasted them through the leaves and branches, but into and through the next trunk. By the time they stop, they have cleared two trunks and over forty feet. At the same time Helo’s vitality enhancement ends, this makes him stagger slightly as he is standing up from the ground.
The mixture of his skill and large amounts of absorbed vitality, was incredible. Like drinking from the fountain of youth. But instead of it making you younger, you ascend to a higher plane of existence. Helo doesn’t know it yet but he has been draining and absorbing life force along with vitality. It gives him a boost to his regeneration and physical abilities, mostly regeneration. But mixing his bloodline and the draining of life force boosted something else entirely.
Normally he gains a boost in proportion to the blood he drains. You could liken it to him gaining a few levels. But what he just did was more like rising in tier. He didn’t just get a physical boost, his life force was enhanced. This can help him break past tier boundaries while fighting. A higher tier individual naturally has a slight resistance to individuals from a lower tier. It is just the nature of them having ascended a step further. It is the same reason the attribute efficacy increases.
All Helo knows is that he wants to find out what that was, and he wants to do it again. Struggling to his feet, he looks down at the broken body of the monster. Storing it in his necklace, he thinks that he can get some usable fur from the creature. Even if its body popped like a balloon from hitting the tree trucks.
Looking down at his own blood and gore-soaked clothing Helo isn’t sure what to do about it. He has water in his storage, but it would take too long and he is on a time crunch. The clothes he is wearing were a gift from Alli and Hinata. They are enchanted with the BrightMoon Tri-Enchant that has self-repair, self-size, and self-clean. But the repair and cleaning aren’t instantaneous. If he entered the den of a beast like he is now he would leave a trail of blood in his wake. He can cover his own scent, but not that of what he leaves behind. He learned a good lesson in this while he was fighting those mosquitos.
With a long and tired sigh Helo takes off his clothing and stores them in his necklace. After that he grabs a large jug of water and dumps it over his head. Grabbing a rag from storage he is happy he put it there. He didn’t want to, but Alli convinced him it was a good idea. Now, he understands why she said that.
Finally, more or less clean Helo reclothes and heads to the rift. Looking at the path he walked he says. “At least I am not dripping blood. It will dry.” Behind him is a trail of water, but it is quickly stopping as he dries.
Getting back to the rift is easy and he focuses for a moment before stepping in. He wanted to take a second to make sure that his concealment was perfect. His aura, lifeforce, scent, mental energy, and the sound he makes are all gone.
Stepping free from the rift he only feels the slightest of twinges in his stomach. Over the last few months, he has gotten used to the rifts. To his surprise the entrance is a lot different than normal rifts.
All around him is a large ritual. Just like the previous rift break, the entrance changed from the normal entrance which was on the other side of the forest and down the mountain. To directly outside the ferret den.
Feeling multiple presences around him, Helo quickly slips into the tree line and hides himself. “What was that?” A man dressed in red asks in a gruff voice, he just stepped out of the den entrance.
“You feel somthin?” Another man asks. He steps behind the man in red. This one is wearing the tree like clothing that Helo remembers the people from the Bloodline Supremacy group wearing. That does make sense, Akira already deduced that they were behind the attack or had a part in it.
The man in red just looks at the rift. “I don’t know… The rift wavered for a moment. But it is good now. It felt more like something came in than left.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. I don’t see nothin, and we have to pack up all our gear.” The man with the tree patterned clothing says. As he says this, he starts cleaning up the ritual circle.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. The high priest will want to hear about our progress, and we can’t report in the dungeon.” The man in reds bends over to help as well.
“I don’t see why the leaders had to agree to your priests demands. Those of us with pure bloodlines deserve to rule the Kashiwagi territory. But we have to work with your… priest.” The man says priest with a hint of disgust in his voice.
When he finishes the man in red glares at him. Getting up he grabs onto the dryad’s arm. “Hold your tongue, your betters decided to ask for support. They are paying for our services. Over time they have started working more closely with each other. Don’t speak poorly about our priests.”
Holding his hands up for a moment he waves the man off. “Yeah. Get off me man. I get it. Just sucks, is all.” After that the two get back to picking up all the array materials. Helo isn’t sure what they are doing, but he assumes it has something to do with either the breaks themselves or the rift going from mid to high tier.
Watching the two for another few minutes he deduces that they have a few minutes left of cleaning. Sneaking into the den, Helo is surprised to find it almost empty. There are only a few of the ferrets left. But thinking about it more he realizes that it makes sense. The rift is still making more creatures, and they are streaming into the forest. But the majority of those creatures are the lesser monsters.
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The rift can’t keep making the ferrets, which are its most powerful creatures. Even in the forest there were only a few and a group of them stayed back to protect the rift. The den has changed its layout from the last time Helo was here, but it isn’t hard for him to find the main cavern.
The reason for this is the yowling and screeching ferret. This beast is almost three times the size of the normal ones. It also has a massive amount of mana flowing through its body. To Helo’s surprise through, it is chained up. I guess it makes sense. If the boss dies, the rift break ends.
Thinking on his options he decides to just kill the boss. He has about an hour before the rift will completely destabilize. In that time, he can kill the two men and take their things. Slowly approaching the boss, Helo is still concealed, but the creature is powerful. It is also fighting against its restraints and trying to break free.
Reaching just outside the range of the beast shackles Helo stalls for a moment before sending out a ‘Dark Blade’. As the blade strikes, he leaps forward and drives both his blades into the monster’s side. Using ‘Defiled Wound’ on all three blades stresses his channels. But he can rapidly use more skills than he could before reaching over ten percent in his bloodline.
The monster might have its magic sealed. Which is a huge boon to Helo. The lesser versions were able to cut his body up with their windshields. He doesn’t want to see what the most powerful version can do. But even with the magic sealed, it is still a peak tier 1 beast. Its natural regeneration might not be as strong as Helo, but it isn’t stronger than most people.
His skill ‘Defiled Wound’ stalls the beasts natural regeneration. As it is bleeding out Helo continues to leap in and out while peppering it with wounds. He is doing his best to avoid the beast jaws, in trade he ends up taking a few swipes from its claws. Just a glancing strike from the beast’s claws are enough for his skin to part like a razor blade on paper, even with the slashing resistance from his clothing.
In the end the beast dies a sad death for a powerful monster. Weakened and chained to the floor. Rushing back through the den Helo follows the path he used to get inside. Back at the entrance the two men are arguing again.
“I told you something got in here earlier! Now we have to report this immediately.” The man in red says. He pulls out some kind of communication device and steps toward the rift.
“Wait! They will want to know what it is? It could be anything. This territory is filled with all sorts of random magical creatures. It could also be a monster from a different rift?” The dryad says and the man turns back around.
“No. They need to know. If someone broke in here, they could find out what we have been doing.” The man in red turns back toward the rift.
Helo is crouching in the darkness of the den entrance, he wants to question the man about what he just said, but it seems more important that his bosses don’t find out he is clearing rifts. Sending out the ‘Dark Blade’ that he had been forming Helo uses his aura and ‘Dark Hand’ skill to send the blade forward. At the same time, he used ‘Bloodline Awakening’ and ‘Forced Still’.
His blade formed from darkness launches out at an insane speed. Helo can already launch his projected blade using his aura or his telekinesis, faster than he can throw it. But the two of them together made the blade reach the man in red before he had time to react.
The attack broke his concealment due to his aura having to leave its natural concealed state to usher up enough power to launch the blade. Stepping free from the den he watches as the man falls face down onto the ground.
Huh. I didn’t need to use ‘Forced Still’. Now I strained my channels for no reason. I need to be more careful. I have a long night ahead of me. Helo thinks as he makes eye contact with the dryad.
The dryad’s eyes are wide in fright, but his face quickly turn into a sneer. “I doubt you can do that again.” He looks behind Helo and doesn’t see anyone else coming out. “All alone too. Well looks like I am up for a promotion.” After that the man starts to gather his mana. He channels it into the ground around him and shouts out. “Flora Scourge!”
Helo takes a second to react because he is surprised the man didn’t recognize him. He is a well known public figure. Especially for the BrightMoon and Kashiwagi clans. Around the world he is known for beating Dorimer with a naginata. He is also known for wearing a rose stitched hoodie.
He took a second to react, but the man’s skill was still slower than him. All the plant life on the ground around him started to writhe then experience extreme growth. He compares the skill to things he has seen Arisah do, and he finds the skill lacking.
As the plant life grows it attempts to ensnare Helo. Using a mixture of his dual blades and ‘Dark Hand’, Helo cuts through and maneuvers through the onslaught of plant life. He used his telekinesis to quickly grab any large flora and push it out of his path.
The man’s skill used up all the vitality in the plants. They were stronger and more reinforced than normal. But they also quickly withered away and died. The dryad is also having trouble using his skill around Helo, due to the effects of his aura. As the grass, bushes and trees around them started to die, Helo stepped up to the man. He is visibly troubled by how quickly his skill ended.
Staring him in the eyes, Helo can see when the man finally realizes who he is. “Your Vital. They call you a monster.” The man shivers as he makes eye contact. “I can see why.” As he is talking, he is starting to gather more of his mana. He is a higher level than Helo, but Helo isn’t sure what level.
All he can feel is that the man is higher level. He can also feel that his aura is less compact than his own. Its filling is weaker; Helo takes this to mean that the man’s skills and bloodline are lesser than his own.
When Helo is right in front of him, he is about to use another skill. The dryad quickly raises his hand, but he stumbles as he is hit by Helo’s aura. This aura usage isn’t an attack, it is the prelude to one. From the mans raised hand a black dagger appears, it is driven point first into the mans raised palm and up into his hand. Letting out a scream of pain the man’s earlier stumble turns into a forward fall.
Slapping the arm to the side a massive bolt of green energy launches off into the mountain side. As the man falls forward, he drops right onto Helo’s waiting dagger. Turning around Helo is surprised at the destruction the bolt of energy caused. It stuck the mountain side above the den and caused a large explosion, as well as a landslide.
Quickly running around the clearing Helo starts grabbing everything that isn’t nailed down. The first two things he grabs are the bodies, second, he starts looking for array materials. With a quick look back up the mountain he can see as the rockslide reaches the top of the den.
Dodging to the left, a fallen rock lands directly where he was. Diving forward Helo narrowly misses getting crushed before the entire clearing is covered in rock. Taking off toward the rift Helo pauses to grab one last thing. He quickly opens the chest and pulls out his reward. Right after he stores his reward the chest it was in gets crushed by a rock. Rolling forward through the rift he gets to his feet and ends up getting shoved forward. Looking back rocks continue to pile up outside of the rift.
Shaking his head Helo finds a nice tree to sit in and starts going through the stuff he has gathered. Once he has taken a look at everything, he sends out a call to Akira. Akira quickly picks up; it appears that he is resting in some kind of tent. “Helo-San, please tell me you have good news.”
“Yes Kashiwagi-Sama.” Helo starts to reiterate what happened inside of the rift. By the time he is done Akira seems really troubled.
“Haaa, you call that good news?” He lets out a little chuckle.
“Well… no. But it shows that they are doing something inside of the rift. I am hoping to find out what in the next ones.” Helo says and he sends Akira a map of the nearby rifts.
“Mhm. So, you are hoping that you will find more information at the peak-tier 1 rift. Especially if it was upgraded to tier 2.”
“Yes Akira-Sama.” Helo says. He is still talking but he drops down from the tree and lands gracefully. Tilting his head he whispers. “I can hear more monsters coming. I have to go, but I’ll call if I find out more.”
Putting away his tablet, Helo disappears into the darkness of the forest and starts his hunt anew. It isn’t long before he is slipping past different types of monsters and beasts. There are a few humanoid monsters, but most are amalgamations of multiple things or purely magical.
He easily finds the area with the peak-tier 1 rift. Well now low-tier 2. Based on the strength of the monsters in the area, the rift went up in rank. Slowly moving through the woods, he is able to use a mixture of his senses and bloodline and find all the rifts.
There are six in the area and based on the enemies that are coming from the rifts they are the main group that are attacking the town that Alli and Hinata are in. Once he clears the area the town should have a lot less pressure. He is not only on a time crunch to quickly lesson the work; he also has to worry that the town’s barrier doesn’t have much mana left.
Deciding to start at the weakest rift and work his way up Helo is a little excited. Solo clearing the rifts give an extra boost in experience. Killing the boss is the same, doing both should gain Helo at least a level. He might gain two if the boss happens to be an alpha.
Getting close to the first rift he is unhappy to see the slimes that are slowly oozing free from the rift. Smiles have no vitality for him to absorb. They are similar to elementals in that way. Killing them is simple, but getting to the cores can be an issue. Checking the types of slimes he is unhappy to see a random selection of affinities.
Before entering he pulls out the object that he stored before the chest was destroyed. Using ‘Appraisal’ he gives it a look.
Chain of Magic Resistance (Uncommon)
This is a portion of the chain that was used to seal the boss of the rift.
- Magic Resistance
- When wrapped around an individual it can weaken their magic.
- Hardening- almost impossible for you to break.
Helo has never used a chain before, but he is a little excited to give it a try. His range abilities are two knives and two skills that work well together. Having a chain to swing around might give him some room to work with. Holding up the chain he is a little impressed by how it looks. It is a dark grey and the links make it about an inch in diameter. The chain itself is about ten-feet long.
As Helo steps up to enter the rift two slimes emerge. One is radiating a powerful heat and the other is radiating cold air. Using his ‘Detect Weakness’ skill he is extremely underwhelmed.
Fire Slime
Weakness: Water
Ice Slime
Weakness: Fire
“No shit. Stupid skill.” The secondary effect of the skill is making the center of the slimes glow red. It shows a single physical weakness, the core. I already knew that.
Stepping forward a little frustrated Helo put away both his knives and is holding the chain in his hand. Starting to spin the chain he has a wild thought. Can I use the ‘Moon-Staff’ techniques while spinning a chain? Nah. Micah would have said something.
As he approaches the first slime he can feel as the heat starts to increase. His endurance isn’t very powerful and the lack of vitality in the creatures means his regeneration is still above average, but it isn’t super human.
Getting within the distance of the chain Helo sends it out in an arc. The chain connects with the slime and whips right through. It blasts through the slime and misses the core by only a little. Covering the slime with his aura, it starts struggling to reform the portion of its body that was damaged.
Stepping back Helo takes a moment to asses. Raising his eyebrow Helo smiles at the effect. Holding up the chain he smirks. “I could get used to you.”
Forming a ‘Dark Blade’ he grabs it with ‘Dark Hand’ and holds it under his right hand. In his right he has the chain spinning with a “Whomwhomwhom” noise. Stepping back up to the slime he attacks it again. This time the core has moved to a different location, but it is still hidden within the slimes central area.
The chain opens a hold and his aura keeps it from healing. Using his chain again Helo ignores the heat as he steps a little closer. This time he reveals the slimes core. Quickly pushing his right hand forward the blade that was casually floating underneath it launches forward like a bullet and blows a hole in the core.
The blade blasts out the back of the slime in a spray of mana condensed viscera. It gets lodged in a tree and quickly dissipates. “This might be easier than I expected.” Helo says to himself and repeats the process with the ice slime.
Entering the rift Helo proceeds to massacre any slime that he can find. In the end he is standing outside of a large room. He can feel a peak-tier 1 slime behind the door. Pushing it open sitting in the center of the large circular room a truly massive blue slime. It is almost fifty feet across and stands twice as tall.
He squints a little at the form of the slime. When he was outside the door it was at the peak of tier 1. Now it’s aura and form seem odd. The slime fluctuates between fifty feet across and sixty but with multiple protrusions sticking out. It’s color also changes between blue and a rainbow of colors.
Studying the area Helo is surprised to see an array that is similar to the last surrounding the slime.
Looking down at the chain in his hand Helo just shrugs. “This is going to be a marathon.” The chain is wrapped around his hand and arm before extending out. He only has about eight feet of extension from the chain. ‘Detect Weakness’. The feedback from the skill makes Helo take a step back in shock.
Mana Slime Boss
Weakness: Blunt Damage
Slime Mana Lord
Weakness:
“Oh shit. It’s tiering up.” Dashing forward Helo hopes to reach the slime’s core before it can finish evolving. Reaching the massive body of the slime, he is blasted back and into the wall of the room by a wave of force and a variety of elements.
Slime Mana Lord
Weakness: Blunt Damage