Thirty-Four
“It’s time,” Alice said. Kon looked up from the pile of rocks he’d managed to stack into a tower that nearly reached his pelvis. His hand twitched and the pile toppled to the ground in a clatter as he looked over toward the cocoon that the queen had been nesting in.
Stone cracked as a long fissure formed across the brown cocoon, bits of rock sprayed out and peppered him. Kon lifted his hand to shield his eyes as the beast inside pushed, breaking apart its home as it revealed itself to the world. Power flowed off of it, stronger than anything else that had been in the rift, but failing to oppress Kon like other D-grades had.
It was like water hitting stone, the creature’s sudden surge of power washed over him and splashed away as Kon pulled Conclusion from his belt. The steel head was clean of the gore it had accumulated on the way in. Wide eyes swiveled toward Kon, multifaceted orbs that glittered darkly as sharp mandibles clacked hard enough a burst of air snapped toward him, ruffling his hair as the bug crawled out of the remnants of its cocoon.
“D-grades will begin expressing affinities, similar to cultivators. Most of them will be benign or natural defensive formations. Not until they reach the peak of the grade do they normally have the ability to manipulate their affinity,” Alice started to lecture. She had leapt twenty feet away, crawling up the webbed sides of the wall with ease as she settled down, feet crossed as she watched the battlefield with hungry eyes.
“Thanks!” Kon yelled, just as he launched himself at the bug as it cleared the broken shards of its cocoon. Kon wanted the D-grade core, but he had no intention of dragging the fighting out to amuse Alice.
Heat filled him as he deployed his favorite trick and ice climbed over the D-grades carapace, but it simply shook its head at him as it lurched forward, eight legs dug furrows in the solid stone. Kon didn’t mind that it was strong enough to walk through the snap freeze as with his will he shaped lightning runes filled with thermal energy.
Bolts of azure energy shot from him and streaked to slash across the monster’s body, scorch lines appeared as the lightning crossed through the beast and out without slowing it. The energy depleted nearly instantly and Kon was forced to dodge to the side as the mandibles snapped shut where his waist was about to be. The limited range of Conclusion made it nearly impossible to close in without passing through the scythe like legs or the guillotine bite of its mandibles.
“Really need some range,” Kon muttered as he jumped back a bit, thinking through what he wanted this engagement to be. The formula he had memorized and used so far generally revolved around heat, one of the easiest energy sources he could draw on. His rune was oversized, but it still could only hold one energy type at a time, unlike Absorb, the full rune would be able to do.
“Lightning didn’t work. Don’t think fire will either, not unless…” Kon’s thoughts were interrupted as the monster grabbed a boulder and threw it at him. He spun and danced out of the way, his greater physical abilities shining as the lower D-grade monster tried to get close to him and he let it chase him around.
Compress formed around him and the air thickened as the bug started to slow down. Earth shattered around the beast as Kon tried to kill it with just the rune, but while he could hold it still with the thickened air and gravity around it, he didn’t have the strength to completely destroy it. A hint of a smile graced his lips as he got his private wish and could now experiment.
More heat drew in from his surroundings, filling him as he kept his mind concentrated on holding a field of compression around the bug. It was slowly inching forward under the strain of the greater rune, but it hadn’t given up yet. With enough time, or if he’d properly fueled the rune with more rift energy Kon was certain he could use the rune to kill it with nothing else.
His flamethrower formula danced in front of him, the few runes needed for it not requiring much effort to form. It was the first time he’d activated his full rune and tried to use formula at the same time and he could feel the strain on his body. Compress pulled at the inner state of him, straining where it was anchored as it warped reality. The formula drew that energy through his body which was no longer as solid as it had been before he’d brought Compress out. Kon grimaced as he held the power together, pain slowly growing deep inside of him as fire roared forth in a blaze.
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For a moment Kon thought nothing was going to happen. Then the bloom of flame hit the compression field and white hot pain seared through his brain as the tether linking his will to the formula came under duress. He held on, gritted his teeth and forced the runes to hold on. That bloom of heat and fire turned thin as a needle as it speared straight through the D-grade’s first two left legs. The compression field had thrown off his aim, where he’d been aiming for the monster’s bulbous face. Instead he got to watch as fire cut through the monster like it was made of paper. The wounds were instantly cauterized as the creature shoved itself to the side in a burst of strength.
Kon’s compression field collapsed as backlash washed through him, pain that exploded from his bones and rocketed through him. Blood burst from his nose as a white-hot migraine materialized, sapping him of his sight as he bit back a scream.
The D-grade wasn’t done, Kon’s mind kept track of it with his weak energy sense and hearing. He’d had worse pain, had fought through injuries that should cripple or kill a lesser man. Alice had trained him for this, to keep fighting even when his body wanted nothing more than to shut down. Conclusion swung up, a painful trickle of energy activating all three runes as he swung toward his side as the monster came for him.
Kon was nearly jerked from his unsteady feet as the mace’s speed and weight increased, the handle stayed the same size, but became unwieldy as the ball head expanded to comical size. A screech of rage and pain followed a wet crunch as Conclusion connected with the D-grade. Its pained whimper and scuttling feet told him it wasn’t dead, just retreating.
Kon backed up, rubbing his head with his free hand as he let Conclusion go back to its normal size. He reached for his side and drew forth E-grade cores and drained them in an instant. The blinding pain retreated a bit, his migraine softened to mortal levels and sight slowly filtered back.
The ant-like monster was near the corner of the great room. Its left side was charred and missing legs, while the back right of it was a crushed mess. Blood pumped from its injuries on the right side while the left was completely ashen, nothing came from it as the ant shrieked and shook its head in panic.
“Interesting method. Now finish it,” Alice’s voice was cold and Kon winced as her words speared through his head and flared the pain even worse. He bit off his instinct to drain the rest of his pouch of its wealth. He was in good enough shape to keep fighting and losing the value of the cores would be a mission failure that Alice and Benny would be sure to hound him on.
“Got it,” Kon whispered as he lurched forward. The ground swayed under him, his inner ear off as he danced back and forth before the D-grade. It lashed to where he was going to be, but a sudden lurch sent him out of the way. It exposed the monster’s head to him and Kon finished the fight as fast as he could. Conclusion turned the skull into mush and it was over.
“I don’t think I can heal whatever you did to yourself," Alice said as she walked up to him. Kon blinked, the moment he’d killed the monster he’d blanked out. Time had passed, he could feel it with how stiff his legs were from being folded under him, but he didn’t know how much.
“Backlash from the formula. Not a physical wound,” Kon said in short sentences as he blinked around, trying to get his bearings as he rose up to his feet. The ant had been harvested, Alice’s only kindness. The bigger D-grade stone was pressed into his hand and Kon grasped it instinctively. A sea of power roiled inside of the core, more than all of the E-grade cores he’d harvested.
“Field tested a new technique. It was more strenuous than I thought it would be,” Kon whispered. It did little to ease the ache in his head or the hollow feeling that made him feel light on his feet. Since he’d aspected to steel he’d felt sturdy, heavy and strong. Now he felt frail, as if all his bones were hollow and a breeze would blow him away.
The D-grade core turned to ash in his hand and power roared back into him, filling the niches and crevices that had been left without power. It slammed into his runes and they flared back to life as the energy was redirected and cleansed, filling Compress and his bones in equal measure. He sighed in relief as he let the ashes of the core scatter across the cave.
“Whatever that was, it drained my body of nearly all its energy. Draining that core made most of the side-effects disappear,” Kon reported as he pulled his pouch off his belt and handed it to a confused Alice.
“There’s still plenty of lingering symptoms. Keep that out of my reach or I’ll be tempted to drain it too,” he explained as he started to clean his weapon.
“We’ll have to tell Benny,” Alice said as she put the pouch on her own belt.
“Of course we will. That was a powerful attack, but it wasn’t something to be done off the cuff. Last measure attack, not something that’s sustainable. Also found where my body cultivation cuts off in protecting me. We’re going to have to see if we advance it somehow. Also, I need a weapon with a bit of range,” Kon whispered, head still pounding in pain.
“I mean, we’re using our side arms here. Most of the time we’ll be in full armor with plenty of ranged weapons,” Alice said and Kon slowed and thought about something. He licked his lips as he turned the idea over a few times. He’d have to ask Ignacio, but he had an idea about the armor.