Bab 35: Mistake
Shrouded in malicious red mist, a blur could be seen heading towards a woman with great speed.
The blur raised his right arm and sent his fist towards her face.
"Too predictable."
CRACK
[-196 hp]
"Huh?"
Aster's arm was bent in an unnatural angle, his bone protruding from his elbow. The woman had raised her left leg and kicked him back, sending him flying again.
[-87 hp]
He gritted his teeth and endured through the stinging pain.
Once again, with a wild war cry he kicked the ground and leaped… at nothing.
"Behind you."
At the last moment, he twisted his upper body and put his left arm over his head when he felt a crushing blow at his gut.
[-210hp]
The woman did not stop, she kept pounding him mercilessly. Each of her fists carried such great force and speed that constant 'boom' sounds were made.
[-87 hp]
[-91 hp]
[-103 hp]
[HP: 887/1980]
[All active skills have been canceled]
Aster's consciousness started to black out due to the constant barrage of attacks and he got desperate.
Then he remembered that he had magic skills.
[[Fire stream] has been activated]
A gush of flames spewed forth from his hands, forcing the woman to take a step back.
Her face got serious. "Magic, huh."
Aster got up and waved his arm around, firing a fire stream everywhere and taking care of the rest.
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have…]
[Level: 85]
'Add 40 points to strength, 40 points to agility and 50 points to endurance]
[Strength: 224 >>> 264]
[Agility: 235 >>> 275]
[Endurance: 266 >>> 316]
'Allocate the skill points.'
[The skill [Whirlwind] has evolved to [Whirlwind [EX]]
[The skill [Whirlwind [EX]] has leveled up to Lv 10]
[Description: You become fast as wind. 100% movement speed increase]
[Mana cost:75/min]
[The skill [Battle cry] has leveled up to Lv 100]
[Description: 100% physical and magic attack boost for 10 minutes]
[Mana cost: 400]
[The skill [Great strike] has leveled up to Lv 10]
[Description: 200% damage for one strike.]
[Energy cost: 100]
[The skill [Dash] has leveled up to Lv 10]
[Description: 300% speed for a second]
[Energy cost:100]
'I will stick to my fists since I'm so close to advancing the berserk class. Warrior is also doing good. If all goes well, two of my classes will advance.'
'I can win this.'
[[Whirlwind [EX] has been activated]
[Agility: 275 >>> 550]
[[Dash] has been activated]
[Agility: 550 >>> 1,650]
[[Strengthen] has been activated]
[Strength: 264 >>> 396]
The woman's eyes widened and she turned around and tried to run away.
Healed by the level up and boosted by his upgraded skills, Aster dashed forwards with a speed that is triple that of needed to break the sound barrier or mach 3.5
A lot of people fainted due to the loud sonic boom.
Each of his steps caused the charred ground to crumble away while his body struggled but held on due to his aura reinforcing his body.
[[Great strike] has been activated]
Thanks to his high dexterity, he was able to react in time and extend his fist towards her and ended up missing by a hair's breadth. But the resulting shockwave sent her flying.
He chased after her but ran too far a bit too fast and had to swerve.
He was like a homing missile, constantly charging at her but always missing. She had great reflexes, speed and the flexibility of a feline. Whenever his dash wore off, he used it again.
'Come on just one more!' he says to himself as he was chasing the woman, trampling on those who fainted.
However, both of them subconsciously avoided a certain direction and dragged their fight opposite of that direction.
'Wait a sec, that could work?'
He used [True sight] on the woman but not to see her memories or attributes.
True sight allows Aster to see the membrane, outer layer, of the soul. Everything about a person is engraved on this membrane including life record, skills and attributes.
Life record consists of many things but ultimately, it is a record of life. It includes thoughts, emotions and memories. Everything a person has experienced, thought and felt is stored on the soul membrane. And this membrane is being engraved on every second, meaning [True sight] can be used to see thoughts that are being engraved currently.
It's like reading the mind.
Aster tried his new hypothesis and lo and behold, it worked.
[Left, right, down! This is getting too annoying, should I finish him? No, he's still too far, let him get closer]
He could barely hide his smile. 'I got you now!'
He rushed towards the woman one final time as a feint and when he got close, he deliberately canceled his dash skill, stopping right in front of her who was in the process of side stepping.
[[Great strike] has been activated]
[[Vital strike] has been activated]
He sent a fist aiming at her solar plexus, his intention was to crush her organs.
The woman never took her eyes away from him. Her gaze seemed to sting, piercing even. Her eyes now looked like a predator who seized her prey. As his fist was approaching, she crouched down and took her right hand and channeled a golden brown aura into it.
Her aura in his hand emitted a bright glow and then took the shape of a tiger claw. She then swung her arm upwards vertically, a precisely calculated attack that would end up decapitating Aster if he got too close and unfortunately, he was getting too close.
Both were confident that their attack would be lethal enough to finish the other when suddenly a high pitched voice reached their eardrums.
"MOTHER!"
The woman's pupils dilated and she completely halted her attack while Aster was too slow in that regard.
Although he retracted most of his strength, the momentum still caused him to bump into her.
Ignoring the fact that he had just touched the most beautiful woman he has ever met, he turned around and saw the destruction he caused.
The once charred ground became covered in blood and guts while there were a lot of craters like a meteor shower occurred. And beneath those craters, disgusting pulsing flesh was visible.
[[Enhanced Vision] has been activated]
With his extended vision, he saw the young girl crawling towards his direction. Her expression was one of that absolute terror, something that kids of her age shouldn't have.
"Oh, shit. KID GET UP AND RUN OUT OF THERE!" He shouted after seeing a crater next to the child but she didn't listen, her eardrums were presumably busted due to the constant sonic boom made by Aster.
He sent a wind slash at her feet as the woman ran towards her.
'Oh shit, oh fuck.'
He could only curse internally after seeing the myriad flesh tentacles inching closer to the child. He got up and ran.
The wind slash cut a few dozen flesh tentacles which were right next to her right ankle. The woman arrived, lifted her up and then jumped off from there.
[[Fire stream] has been activated]
He quickly started to seal off the craters by burning the flesh and creating another layer of crust.
'Wew, that was close.' He thought.
'Another second late and she would have died miserably.'
He turned around and glanced at the woman. 'But what is she doing though?'
She was currently kneeling next to the girl while she laid flat on the charred ground.
'Wait, don't tell me.'
"Is she… alright?" He asked. He slowly approached the two.
The more he got closer, the more he was convinced his suspicion was right.
'Her already abysmal mana and aura is declining. Fuck, we were too late huh? If only I weren't so fucking dumb and greedy.'
He walked behind the woman and saw the miserable state the girl was in.
Her left side's flesh was exposed, or rather flesh was attached to her left side. The flesh pulsated and it slowly grew, covering more of her body.
"Are you here to finish the job?" A meek voice sounded from below.
His eyes drifted down and saw the woman. He walked around her a bit and saw her face, now wet with tears.
Closer inspection revealed that she was using her aura to restrict the flesh's growth which is a tough feat considering it feeds on energies like aura.
With his eyes alternating between the mother and daughter, his heart grew heavier.
'When did I start treating people as numbers?
When did I enjoy killing that much?
Why am I so… unfazed by that slaughter?
Is it because I saw scenes like this with [True sight]? Is that it?
Did my parents raise me that badly to the point where I can turn into a cold blooded killer just because I saw some people's lives?'
"*Sigh*, nah. I have done enough killing for today."
He sat in front of the woman, next to the girl.
"It's time I actually save someone."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone