Chương 20: Chapter 19: Glimpse of the Divine

Anne was standing on one of the dirt mounds. She had made sure to position herself as far away from the young man as possible. Priam. One of her Amazons was very sensitive to danger, and her senses had been screaming at her to stay away. According to her, he was at least on the level of a Baron. At least he'll take care of the dog. Shaking her head, Anne refocused. Although Priam and his rapid progress were worrisome, she had bigger fish to fry - or other dogs, in this case.

Standing proudly in the direction of the Baron's cave, Anne appreciated the glint of respect that her position and her decisions brought to the eyes of the combatants.

"The Boss is coming." Thanks to the ability of one of their own, the Amazons had a technique for communicating remotely. Certain events had brought these women, whom Anne now led, together, and their versatility was their strength. And if we lack raw power... That's why these other idiots are here.

"Ten seconds before contact." The barking of the beast was beginning to pierce the mist and agitate some of the fighters. They must not panic now. Anne turned to one of the men she had spotted. While most fighters would only be used as cannon fodder, some were useful. Anne smiled as she strategically tucked one of her blonde curls behind her ear.

"Paolo, is it? The Boss is coming. His barking will scare our comrades. If you could make him mute..."

"Of course!" Paolo, happy to be of service despite his singular skill, concentrated and deployed his power. The barking stopped abruptly. Passing the Tutorial on normal difficulty provided a random skill. Some were more useful than others. Anne had passed the Tutorial on hard difficulty. Thus she had the right to choose her skill. Anne turned toward the Boss. One of her Amazons was running, boosted by her skills. She was being followed by a real titan.

It had been blinded by an artificial rage - a technique of one of Albin's men - and was chasing the young Amazon. When she reached the ditch, she continued her run on a wire stretched across the hole. Like a tightrope walker, she risked crossing the hole very quickly. Having a giant dog that was going to tear you apart made you speed up. The Baron jumped into the trap without seeing it. The taut wire broke under its weight when the Amazon had barely crossed.

Anne sighed with relief when she saw that the woman would make it. The Boss dove for the spikes hidden by the mist. Most of them shattered under the force of the impact, but not without penetrating the dog's belly, severely injuring it. Anne would have liked to applaud the strategy. Unfortunately, it was her plan, and she had to be modest in her triumph. Now let's attack!

"ARCHERS! FIRE AT WILL!" Priam was the first one up. He winked encouragingly at Claire and then leaped to the top of the mound. The Boss was trapped in the hole. Titanic, it must have been four meters tall. [Identification] [Lunar Lord - Orthos] - Named after the mythological two-headed dog, father of the Sphinx and the Nemean lion. Orthos is a pale imitation of the legendary canine guardian. A young lunar baron, it gains strength over time. If you must defeat it, do it early.

As a loyal dog, it only threatens those who wish to enter his cave. Orthos. It's not the threat. But it is connected to it. Its cave, maybe? Orthos barked, but Priam heard nothing. Someone had activated a skill to silence the beast. Arrows were already starting to rain down on the Boss. Priam couldn't help but be amazed at how quickly the men were acclimating. Ten days ago, it would have been amazing to see fifty archers firing in concert. Today, most of these fighters were physically shaped like Olympic athletes.

Some were even war machines, capable of accurately and continuously aiming at a moving target ten centimeters in diameter at fifty meters. Their skills kept the archers at the top of their game. Only the Boss was not a stationary shooting target. If the beast was easy to hit because of its size, its fur seemed to stop arrows easily. As Priam waited for the archers to run out of ammunition, he noticed that of the hundreds of arrows fired, only two had hit and injured the beast. Its left eye appeared to be punctured.

The stakes had certainly wounded the dog when it fell into the hole, but Priam was still worried. He was sure he could hurt the Boss, but who else could say the same? Twenty seconds later, the rain of arrows stopped. The archers were exhausted from the few seconds of intense effort. As the last of them lowered their bows and looked at the fruits of their efforts, many began to despair. Orthos had lost its left eye, pierced by two arrows. Its muzzle was riddled too.

Finally, its mouth was filled with broken arrows and blood. Despite its severe wounds, Orthos seemed enraged. The ground near the hole shook as it tried to pull itself out of the stakes. If it were to succeed, many lives would be lost today.

"WIRE!" Anne was standing on the mound to the right of Priam. The order was carried out by a group of Amazons carrying a net between them. They ran towards the hole before throwing the net at the monster. Anne sends her own Amazons. She doesn't want to leave anything to chance. Priam had to admit that the fight was going better than expected. As another group - men this time - approached to cast a second net on the beast, Priam took a few seconds to analyze the situation.

Orthos was severely wounded by the stakes in its belly and the arrows in its snout. Blind in one eye, bleeding badly, poisoned, and immobilized, it would not survive more than ten minutes.

"But the quest has a Silver difficulty. It seems a lot for a big dog. I must be missing some information..." Priam muttered. As a third net fell on the Boss, Anne put the next phase of the plan into action.

"BOMBS!" This woman has powerful lungs. Priam had heard that pepper bombs would affect the Boss' sense of smell and enrage it all the more. Five men stepped forward, and in a sublime spinning motion, each threw some sort of bolas at Orthos' head. The throws, worthy of an Olympic gold medal, hit their target, and a cloud of pepper drowned the Boss. Just as the fight seemed to be won, Priam's instincts screamed. He threw himself behind the mound and rolled into a ball.

A thunderous bark rose, and the rest of the world fell silent. The sky broke in two, and for a brief moment, a fraction of the power of the eponymous beast manifested itself. Orthos, the legendary dog, expressed its wrath. The mist froze, and the men too. A second later, the mist began to swirl again. But most of the warriors were never to move again. The sound wave had stopped the hearts of many of the fighters. Priam sat up painfully. He quickly realized that he was deaf.

He had a terrible headache and precarious balance, but he was alive. My inner ear has been hit... Around him, about fifty men and women were on the ground. Some were still alive and shaking. Before helping them, we have to finish the Boss. No one is in any condition to defend themselves... Priam walked to the top of the hill. His gait grew more confident with each step as his Vitality helped him recover from the shock. You have gained a new skill [Balance].

[Balance] - Some tightrope walkers walk on a rope 500 m high. Others never find the courage to leave the earth and dust. Born dust, you will return to dust. So until then, walk with confidence. AGI +1 DEXT +2 The Baron had not moved. The cry seemed to have weakened it, and it was trembling - certainly the work of pepper. As the only man standing, Priam took off. It's time to earn participation points. The monster was about fifty meters away. After his first two steps, he crashed miserably.

Fortunately, the impact was minimal because he had thought to absorb the kinetic energy of his fall. Priam had lost his balance, and his spear slipped a few feet. He staggered to his feet. Lvl Up: [Balance] lvl 2 AGI +1 DEXT +2 His new skill taught him how to balance his body to stay upright. With enough improvement, Priam could one day do without inner ears. Focusing on his new skill and dexterity, he began to run again. He was still about forty meters from the Baron.

Priam covered that distance in less than three seconds. With a leap augmented by a kinetic charge, he jumped into the air just before falling into the hole. The young warrior cocked his fist and aimed at the beast's snout. He had prepared a kinetic charge by jumping from the top of a tall tree on the path and had kept it there. Priam combined all the energy he had in reserve into one mighty blow. He unloaded all that power, combined with the power of his punch, between the nose and eyes of the Boss.

Orthos' head barely moved. The Baron groaned, but there was no indication of a serious injury. Its skull is hard! The backlash from the attack threw Priam backward. He landed in a disastrous roll and felt a pang of pain in his shoulder. His [Balance] skill didn't allow him to do that yet. As he raised his head, he met the gaze of the Moon Lord. Orthos' eyes were filled with rage as it watched the little man who had dared to strike it. Priam sat up quickly as the baron leaned forward to bite him.

Priam raised his arm and pushed the beast's snout away as he backed away quickly. [Kinetic Control] instinctively slowed the Baron down. With the help of the nets thrown over the Baron, it was enough to save him from the bite. The Baron's fangs were about thirty centimeters long and would have easily torn a man's body apart. Breathless, Priam was thinking of a strategy to defeat the Boss. I don't have enough power to beat it alone. I need to absorb its energy with my spear! I have to use its energy against it.

Cautiously, Priam approached. He had to walk quickly because Orthos was moving around a lot, and Priam could see spikes breaking regularly. The Boss would soon die from its wounds, but if it could get out of the trap before then, it would end its life with a rampage. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Whenever Priam came within range, Orthos would try to paw or bite him. The rage increased its strength tenfold but also made it predictable.

Priam kept his distance from the dog and made sure to extend his spear at the last moment to absorb its energy. Tier 2 of the [Brainless] Tree of Merit let him use his spear as an extension of his body to use his skill. To do this, he injected part of his spirit into his weapon. Fortunately for Priam, the nets made the fight easy by impeding Orthos' movements. Twenty seconds later, thanks to the Baron, Priam had collected four significant kinetic charges. Only one more to go before the final blow.

At that moment, Orthos opened its mouth to roar again. Fifty meters away, Priam had nearly passed out. The wave loses power as the square of the distance. Shit. So close to the Boss, Priam's body would explode from the sound wave. Priam rushed forward to stop the attack. He had no time to run away. The sound wave would be ten times faster than him. Orthos moved a forepaw forward to crush the impudent human, and Priam activated a fifth small kinetic charge to speed up. He couldn't use it anyway.

I have to absorb this attack. If it hits the ground, the shockwave will knock me off balance! The Baron did not have time to correct the trajectory of its attack as it slowly fell behind Priam. At the last moment, he used his spear to slow the attack. The Baron's attack was weakened and then avoided. He was now standing under the monster's enormous head. It opened its mouth, and between the sharp fangs, Priam saw a kind of gum bubble grow. The Baron was channeling its skill to maximize its power.

Time seemed to stand still. His relationship with death told Priam that he was going to die. The bubble would grow for another second and then burst. With the shock, the young man's veins would burst, his bones would shatter, and the shards would pierce the rest of his flesh. He would die almost instantly. Then, his perk [He Who Eludes Death] would resurrect him even stronger. No! If I die now, I will be vulnerable for a day. Impossible to flee or to defend himself. Instinctively Priam attacked.

He thrust his spear into the Baron's mouth in a split second. The tip of the hoplite weapon made contact with the Boss' skill. The bubble was nearly indestructible, but Priam knew it would soon burst, releasing a lethal explosion. A primal part of his brain awakened, and the warrior let himself be guided. He went into a trance and accessed his Potential. The bubble burst. A split second later, the shockwave began to expand. Simultaneously, Priam let his Potential guide him. [Kinetic Control].

His spirit, augmented by his Potential, enveloped the sound sphere and grasped the air. The sound wave needed an environment to propagate. There was no sound in space for this reason. In the air, sound propagated at 340 meters per second. Priam's brain could never have tracked the skill as it exploded. But aided by the Concepts through his Potential, he understood his skill better than ever before. His self-imposed limitations seemed weak, and he brushed them aside with a wave of his hand.

Why limit himself to five charges when a sixth and then a seventh slot could be created with just a slight modification of his skill? Why absorb energy suddenly when he could channel it slowly before absorbing it? Why only use his skill on large objects? The molecules in the air also had kinetic energy. The shockwave threatened to crush him in less than three hundredths of a second. But, like a killer wave, it needed to reach him for that.

By tapping into his Potential, Priam transcended his knowledge, understanding, and control of his skill. The air molecules within the skill's sphere of action were under his control. He immobilized them by sheer force of will and skill. The System's notifications were piling up, but it didn't matter. Right now, Priam was touching the divine. Like a god, he had immobilized the air, and the wave could no longer propagate. Meanwhile, Orthos' skill was rapidly losing its power.

The particles were finally losing their kinetic energy, absorbed by Priam. In the end, even Brownian motion and thermal agitation submitted to [Kinetic Control]. Orthos' skill finished losing all its energy before disappearing. At the bottom of the Baron's throat, the destructive sphere with a radius of thirty centimeters had vanished. The atoms and molecules making up the air were motionless. Without speed or agitation, the sphere's temperature was effectively zero kelvin. Colder than in outer space.

The effects of time had stopped locally. Lvl Up: [Kinetic Control] lvl 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 VIVA +10 DEXT +15 META (FOCUS) +20 META(AFF) +20 Congratulations, your spirit is beginning to emancipate itself from your body. You touch the borders of the Domain. Congratulations, your skills management is getting more refined. You are touching the limits of the Micro. Priam withdrew his spear and detached himself from his Potential.

He had to keep the rest of it, despite the incredible omniscient rush that occurred when he spent this resource. His mind told him that his divine state would last only as long as it took for his Potential to reach zero. If it did, he would sacrifice his future for an immediate boost. It wasn't worth the trade. But it saved my life. Potential -57 Priam's eyes widened. Three seconds of omniscience had cost him dearly.

But he could never have mastered his spirit, body, and skill so quickly without spending that resource. The novice warrior was pulled out of his thoughts by Orthos, who was fidgeting. The Baron didn't seem to understand what had just happened. Its ultimate attack had had no effect, and the absolute cold caused by the kinetic absorption had numbed its throat and frozen its flesh. The fight is not over! Priam took advantage of the Baron's astonishment to jump into the air.

Flying, he closed his fist before striking the most powerful blow of his existence on the Boss's snout. Lvl Up: [Strike] lvl 8, 9 STR + 2 The tremendous amount of kinetic energy he had accumulated was released at once. Orthos was violently thrown to the ground. A double noise was heard. The Baron's sinuses had exploded with a terrible crack. The second sound was the sound of the stakes breaking inside it. Priam flew backward from the backlash.

He quickly absorbed his own energy to stop his momentum, then charged again toward the mound. The Baron was stunned but not dead. Despite his strength, Priam knew his regular blows would not be enough to kill the Boss. The first blow had stunned the enemy and immobilized it. Now he could use his weapon without fear of missing his exact target. Priam switched hands and tightened his grip on his spear. As Orthos began to whimper, Priam cocked his skill, absorbing five blows thrown into the void.

He ran toward the Baron. Three steps. Two steps. One step. Priam jumped over the Boss as it opened its eye to the world one last time. Sorry. Orthos struggled to open its mouth, and Priam's instinct was that this last scream would have the qualities of its tenacity. Before the Boss could launch a final attack, Priam's spear arm came down, propelled by all the energy at his disposal. The spear went through the monster's right eye. Lvl Up: [Strike] lvl 10 STR + 1 Priam landed on Orthos' head.

Completed Quest: Predator - Baron Reward: Potential + 20 Calculation of your participation... Important participation: Skill gained! [Moon Mist] Bonus: Your group is the first to kill a Baron. Potential +20. [Moon Mist] lvl up! Congratulations! Priam smiled. Everything had turned out all right after all. His instincts had been wrong. The System didn't stop there. New Quest: Predator - Baron II The barons prowl around the domes, and the more noble lords stand aside. You have defeated a baron.

Can you defeat a second one? Reward (per Baron): Potential +20. Bonus depending on your participation. Difficulty: Silver Main Quest: Reunited Soon? Update... The guardian of the dome has fallen. The 'threat' can use the passage at the bottom of his den to reach the dome and its inhabitants. Investigate the threat. Protect the inhabitants of the dome. Reward: Permission to enter the domes. Potential +10. Bonus according to your participation. Difficulty: Variable What?! A second boss? Was Orthos guarding the dome?

But then...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Priam turned around. Shouts were coming up from the mound to his left. He had not paid attention to his surroundings during the fight he had just fought. Now that the fight was over, he noticed a problem. Men and women were fleeing in all directions. Many others were still lying on the ground, stunned or dead. A thought made its way into his brain despite the moment's horror. I can see through the mist? The next moment his new vision allowed him to witness a horrible scene.

As a teenage girl sprinted down the hillside towards him, running as fast as her legs would carry her, a white shadow followed her. The shadow dissipated to reveal a tiger walking lazily. The frightened girl looked behind her to see if she was being chased. Her movement prevented her from putting her foot correctly on the ground. Her shoe hit a large rock, and she toppled forward. The new Baron stopped her fall with a swipe of his paw. Priam only had time to open his mouth as the stranger's body split in two.

Priam saw the teenager's eyes widen. The tiger made sure its prey was dead by crushing her head. The unnamed girl would never be afraid again. The snow-white coat of the feline turned scarlet again. In his rage, Priam instinctively used [Kinetic Control]. The moon's mist began to swirl around him.

Status (before [Moon Mist]): (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / MEN 10 / META 0) PHYSICAL: Strength 64 Constitution 78 Agility 96 Vitality 113 Perception 68 MENTAL: Vivacity 88 Dexterity 71 Memory 30 Willpower 48 Charisma 40 META: Meta-affinity 28 Meta-focus 40 Potential: 78 Tier 0