Chương 194: Chapter 191 - The Veilpiercer Assassin

Clara used to wonder if insanity was part and parcel of being an adventurer. Barry and Seffara were insane, so was Ryan, so was Valee and [Witch] Grettfield. They all had a brand of insanity that was clear as day to her. Adventurers were insane, they had to be to go up against giant monsters and dragons. To be able to talk about the end of the world and Tyrants in regular conversations and make plans around it was insanity. Now she was wondering if insanity was infectious.

If it was, Milock had surely already caught it. Pinkie had been pestering him the entire time to share the password for his Realmnet account. Milo kept refusing and slapped her hand away. The only reason why Pinkie hadn't resorted to threats was because Barry had angrily reminded her that of the promise she'd made with Ryan to not threaten or hurt any of his friends. Which now meant Pinkie was lounging on top of the couch backrest behind Barry. Poking him in the cheek. Insanity absolutely was contagious.

Clara would say she already had it. To be able to shout at Chester, the familiar of a dragonslayer tier [Witch], to turn down Grettfield's invitation, then attempt to interrogate an eighth realm [Witch] and try to calm her down when she panicked. Clara walked forth, entering the common room and walking towards the couch Pinkie was lounging on. If she was wrong, she might die. But she didn't think she was wrong. Something had pushed her back when Mirelda had thrashed about in panic.

Clara remembered barely registering the blur of Mirelda's stump of an arm as it almost collided with her chest. She was certain of it. She was also certainly insane. The truth was, she had almost died. If she was right, the only reason why Mirelda's arm hadn't ripped off her jaw or caved in her chest was because Pinkie had saved her As if sensing her intent, Pinkie looked up from poking Barry, her eyes slitting in confusion, watching her in curiosity.

The dragonslayer had looked at her differently ever since Clara revealed the message in the interrogation room. It's different now you know that [Witch] Grettfield wanted me as an apprentice right? As Clara thought this. Before she could back out, she took out the bottle of cleaning spray she emptied and replaced with water.

"BAD PINKIE!" A jet of water shot out as Pinkie disappeared from the couch. Then she was right in front of her, the liquid splashing on her scaly chest. Clara laughed uneasily. She had absolutely caught the insanity. —— The Realm. Ryan appeared under a canopy of overgrown Noxweed plants. It was far more overgrown than usual, normally the plant had only come up to his waist. These ones actually loomed over his head, choking the air with soporific pollen. Despite it, his veins were on fire.

The wakeful miasma dialing his senses to eleven. His heart thumped in his chest as he felt like he could take on the world. Though the real secret behind his confidence was the fact that he had taken a deep breath on Earth. He sprinted ahead, running past the roots that had started to move under the ground beneath his feet. They were slow but surely creating their trap. He hadn't noticed it the first time. It was likely that the roots would burst out the moment he tried to take a step away from the center.

That was how this creature hunted. The glove on his right hand lit up—and there was no reaction back. The only chance of that was if Rax's golem was either destroyed or out of mana. Ryan's mind raced ahead. Considering that hypnotic spell circle the plant tried to make, I wouldn't be surprised if the roots could absorb mana. That was probably the reason why that area of the plant was so overgrown. Damn. A terrible loss, Rax's golem was probably worth hundreds of thousands of realmcoin. The loss would be avenged.

Ryan was close enough. The celestial shattersword expanded from the hilt. Widening out into an enormous blade twenty feet long. Ryan leapt up, using all the force of a fifth realm to jump. He was well over a hundred feet high, a red blade trailing behind him, as he readied a wide stance. [Aura Slash] The red wave flew forth. Perhaps only slightly stronger than when he was at peak Epic capacity at Lazhen. Still, that slash had smashed through a hill and had continued forward for a long distance yet.

This one smashed into the spiral mountain, exploding the loose rock and dirt and exposing what had been hidden underneath. Great white roots of the Noxweed plant that dominated the area. The [Aura Slash] had managed to bite in a little, but it was pretty clear that if he wanted to cut through, he'd have to throw out more [Aura Slashes] than the amount of base reserves he had available. Not to mention that it wouldn't likely kill the monster.

Perhaps for the first time, the Apex Noxweed plant sensed threat to itself. The ground below him beginning to churn as great roots broke free. Readying to cover him when he landed. They were faster than when they were trying to devour him—but only by a little. Not enough compared to a fifth realm at the peak. Ryan landed softly on a root and used it to leap forward. The grasping roots were too slow for his speed as he broke the sound barrier.

He sprinted towards the spiral mountain, great black leaves being ripped apart by his passage, trailing behind him. Even now his senses were dialed in, and he was still holding his breath. A dirty little trick for Destined like him. Ryan jumped up the mountain, the constellation sword growing larger as he cycled more and more of his aura into it. Great roots flew out of the holes—but only long after he had passed them.

The Noxweed monster was far too rudimentary in its instincts to be able to lay a proper trap for him. Ryan reached the exposed pillar of roots in moments. His massive shattersword swinging forth. It smashed through more of the collapsed rock and dirt, right into the interwoven roots. Great splinters shattered away from more parts of the Noxweed plant. These were either too old or too important to move like the other roots. At the minimum they were keeping the mountain in shape.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The blade cut in deep once again. The roots had a weird patterned glowing flesh inside. Natural runes perhaps. His eyes shone as what he suspected was confirmed true. The plant really was magical. Ryan had done some more research while he was on Earth. The easiest way to explain it was that Noxweed was an alien mix of fungi and plant.

They gained their energy through both decomposition of animals and photosynthesis of a red sun. The exposed roots that made these spiral mountains were actually the fungi part of it. Shooting out spores to spread throughout the world. Noxweed plants were also magical in nature, Ryan had just hoped system enhancements extended to that as well. And he had been right. He returned the blade of aura back to its normal size while dodging a massive root smashing down from above.

This time, Ryan slapped the blade portion with his left hand, imbuing it with [Arcane Volatility]. He dodged another root and reversed the grip on the sword, stabbing downwards. The blade cut deep into the central core of the Noxweed monster, the volatility infused pieces covered by his aura. He expanded the blade while it was shoved inside. Red aura cutting through white root flesh and shoving the pieces of the sword as deep as it could go.

Ryan grinned and left the blade deep in the network, just holding the pommel of his soulsword. He outran the collapsing earth around him, weaving through a great network of squirming roots trying to crush him flat. A sonic boom echoed throughout the land as Ryan leapt off the mountain. He turned around and raised his right arm [Aura Command: Release] The aura blade that was pierced deep into the central network disappeared… leaving behind exposed fragments of the shattersword. Imbued with [Arcane Volatility].

Ryan stared closely as he used [Conceptual Meditation]. He could feel it. The Epic skill following its concepts as each fragment of volatile mana shot forth into the network of the entirety of the Noxweed monster. It used his mana to find the neatest route to cause the most amount of destruction. It spread, tens of yards, crossing all of the roots… and running out of mana? Apparently half a mile of interconnected roots was all his fifth realm volatile mana core could map out.

Not the entirety of the plant as he'd been hoping. The explosions started. The mapping out of weakened mana structures was only the first step. The real show was the explosions starting at half a mile away from the massive spire, then like a cascading demolition, it collided inwards. A massive sequence of explosions rapidly triggering one after another. From the outer edges to the core in the middle. Where the fragments of his sword lay. Ryan was already in the air, as far as his legs could have jumped out.

Apparently it wasn't enough because the explosion in the center had enough force to make him fly backwards.

"Holy shit." He'd blown up half of a mountain. A skinny one maybe, but— [Dangersense]. His eyes darted around, looking for the problem at hand. Chastising himself for staring at a cool explosion instead of being aware of his surroundings. He couldn't see any danger. Cerul had been approaching from afar, but had screeched to a halt far away once it saw the explosions… Wait. If the Noxweed monster was dead, where was the system portal? Ryan turned around and realized the problem.

Despite what had to be a grievous injury, the Noxweed monster was alive. After all, his volatile mana could only map out half a mile from the mountain. And the monster was at least three miles out from the radius. He finally let out his breath, taking another deep breath This is going to take days of throwing around [Arcane Volatility]. Wait, if that was the only problem then [Dangersense] wouldn't have rung out. Cerul's screech broke him out of his thoughts. When he turned to face the bird, he saw it.

He could feel his mind start to slow even as he watched it. A massive dome of spores and pollen filled the air. Forming what looked like a natural spell circle formation right above him. When he kicked a root that had tried to grab him he realized the problem. The roots have the most dense spores. Cerul had fallen asleep after eating the roots. I almost fell asleep just walking into one of the caves by its roots. Before, the Noxweed plant's pollen could create natural spell formations.

The spell network that was coalescing above him was powered by the densest, and perhaps the oldest Noxweed plant in existence. Ryan could already feel the effects hanging over his head despite looking away and his [Rebellious] title.

"Oh fuck." When he moved, the spell formation followed him, albeit a little slower than he was. Ryan was trying to do the calculation in his increasingly sluggish head. He could probably sprint out of the spell circle in time but there was no guarantee. This didn't look like a spell circle, it looked more like a root network that was canopying down from above him. Something began to ring inside of his head. It was like white noise but lower pitched and slower—a droning noise? And he felt it.

The Noxweed monster was doing this for the first time— The spell matrix was adapting in real time. The Noxweed in an unprecedented threat to its life was throwing everything into the only thing it was good at. To make the enemy fall asleep in its midst. To cause it to slumber so it could feast on the corpse— Ryan blinked as [Conceptual Meditation] rang out, telling him of what was happening. The plant was rapidly improving in realtime. The spell might even be capable of speeding up to follow him.

He focused on his own concepts to shore up his defenses. The Arcane Saboteur resisted. Using its rebelliousness to shore up against the propaganda of this—King? Ruler? Ruler of what? Ryan felt the concepts fizzle out, whatever the [Arcane Saboteur] was, he couldn't come up with the right move to counter it. The other problem was that his volatile core was empty, the trickle that had been replenished tried to cover his body but it wasn't enough. Not by far.

Nor were the spores and pollen in the air completely magical in nature. He was fighting a monster, not a damned government or system. He focused as he ran, the spell dragnet moving far faster than he first expected. Ryan focused on his right arm instead. The concepts of the [Aura Tyrant] were still there surely he could— Something else caught the attention of [Conceptual Meditation]. Tied to his arm, the class crystal began to resonate. And he knew what to do.

Ryan spun on his heels, not fleeing from the spell circle, but going back to the center. Where it all began. He started to move faster, dodging the even more sluggish roots. The Noxweed was likely destroyed beyond repair. This was a last ditch effort, the only thing it knew what to do. Ryan laughed. The [Veilpiercer Assassin] class called out to him. Drawn by the veil in the sky. A secret that had been hidden to all, the ugly truth exposed. Why run? All you have to do is destroy the veil and watch it all collapse.

He leapt up the broken mountain and jumped. High, high into the air. When he reached the peak, he [Instant Dodged] upwards. Right towards the great network. He recalled his sword. Only a quarter of the shattersword remaining from the explosion. The Trial System had indeed improves his soulsword a little. They glowed in a bright white light. The light of the [Veilpiercer Assassin]. A light that pierced through the veil. [Flurry Stab] Continuous stabs pierced away at the manastructure in the air.

Each stab continuously throwing out spectral stabs that tore away at the veil. There had been no real finesse in the spellcraft. A simple formation by a simple monster that was following instincts to pour as much mana as it could. It looked threatening and grand in the sky, but was nothing if you just… stabbed it apart. The spores and pollen in the air, could not hold the form on their own, and the Noxweed plant was too dumb to understand how to repair the spell structure.

Ryan smiled as he fell amongst a great net of spores and pollen. The [Veilpiercer Assassin] had seen through it all. Skill learned! Spellweave Perception (Rare, Active) Immediately identify the core fundamentals of a spell structure. Efficacy scales with your understanding of magic. [Arcane Volatility] (Epic) level 9 -> 10! [Aura Slash] (Rare) level 16 -> 17! [Hastened] (Rare) level 12 -> 14! [Flurry Stab] (Rare) level 9 -> 11! [Dangersense] (Uncommon) level 22 -> 24!

—— Gamielle blinked, tempted to rub her eyes in disbelief. Her mother had also dropped by, watching the spectacle with curiosity. That was how crazy it was. Gamielle still couldn't believe it.

"Did he just… resonate with his class? In like a week? That's not possible, sure he fought a decent boss for his class but that's still impossible." The Noxweed monster wasn't even that good of a target for a [Veilpiercer Assassin]. Nor was a single battle rarely enough to start resonating with your class. Trial System classes weren't like natural classes. You couldn't just… just resonate in a week. Her mother didn't sound as surprised as her.

"Indeed, though there I believe there is another skill at play."

"That damned conceptual secret. What kind of dragonshit skill is that?"

"I don't know." And that was the most unnerving of all. The fact that her own mother had no idea what Ryan was keeping under his sleeve. As if sensing them, he turned in the air, staring right at them. Gamielle had to suppress a shiver. While she hadn't been hiding her mana that well, they still shouldn't have been easy to spot under her invisibility. Gamielle could feel it in the air, the resonance of a class designed specifically for her mother's Legend.

The Veilpiercer Assassin sees right through your illusions"I believe now is a good time to have another discussion with our budding tyrant."