Chapter 58:

“I won’t be needing this anymore…” Cort thought as he tossed aside his broken dagger, it seemed like regular weapons were incapable of handling Aura. Luckily for him, he had just a weapon that could.

With nary a change in expression, he pulled the sword out of his chest, causing blood to gush out of his wound; ordinarily, he wouldn’t be so rash, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

‘About twenty,’ He thought to himself as he counted the number of people encircling him, they seemed to be the subordinates under the man he just killed, and now each one of them was surrounding him with livid, bloodshot eyes.

“Trap him! Don’t let him go!” A burly man among them yelled passionately as he brandished a large saber.

“Magicians, shoot from the back; warriors, charge!” Another said before immediately springing into action accompanied by numerous other battle cries.

Though they did not have access to aura, these warriors were still plenty strong, which coupled with Cort's injuries, ensured that this would be a difficult fight.

‘First,’ Cort thought as he lowered his posture and shot forward, aiming for the weakest-looking warrior.

Too tired to use his eyes' ability, Cort had to make do without but thankfully the warriors’ attacks were quite straightforward and easy to read.

Dodging under a horizontal slash he sent strength to his legs before springing upward violently with sword at hand. The warrior’s eyes widened at the sight of this but soon after he narrowed them and tilted his head while moving to grab Cort in hopes of pinning him down. To Cort’s right, another warrior was closing in while to his left, a barrage of arrows was making its way toward him.

If that wasn’t enough, Cort could also detect a large amount of Origin accumulating behind the warriors.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, he complained internally before pushing his tired body further. Sharpening his eyes, the world suddenly slowed and though it wasn’t the full extent of his abilities, he’d have to make do. He studied everything around him for a while before determining the best way to proceed and soon his eyes hardened as he resolved himself. 'This is going to hurt…’ He thought with a grimace.

A second later he mustered up everything he had left and charged forward with a burst of speed. Carrying that momentum, he headbutted the warrior who tried to grab him before twisting his body to the man’s right and using him as a shield against the arrows. The pitiful warrior shrieked in pain as arrow after arrow pelted his body, piercing his flesh. Of course, the shield could not block every arrow, and Cort was hit with one or two, causing him to wince. Unfortunately, he had no time to relax, and immediately, he dropped to the ground and sent a low kick to the knee of the other warrior who was charging toward him. With a nauseating snap, the man’s leg bent backward unnaturally causing him to utter a shriek of pain surpassing even that of the shield’s. Impressively, though his leg was broken, the warrior continued on with his attack; his eyes bloodshot with madness as he lunged his body toward Cort with his sword at the ready.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Cort swapped out his sword for a throwing knife and tossed it toward the warrior’s head. As expected, the berserker warrior was too busy shouting to dodge and soon the noises stopped as the blade pierced through his eyes and into his brain.

Before the body could fall on him; Cort rolled to the side while re-equipping his sword and inundating it with aura. Seconds later he sent out a still unstable haze of black aura in the shape of a crescent moon which collided against a Fireball sent by one of the magicians at the back. Shockwaves broke out as the two attacks met, blowing everyone back a step and disrupting their balance. Being prepared for this, Cort had already lowered his body for stability and was about to lunge toward the magician, but he stopped when he saw that it was unnecessary.

The clash lasted for a second but soon the Fireball shattered apart and the aura slash barreled forward, albeit a bit weaker than it had been initially.

It seemed like the magician who sent out the Fireball had yet to reach Core Formation, a fact that gladdened Cort.

A miserable shriek rang out as said magician fell to the ground, gravely wounded.

Taking the advantage of the lull in combat, he lathered his wounds with Carson’s ointment and munched on a few herbs that served to dull his pain.

“Hah…” Cort muttered between bites. “This is going to be troublesome,”

Face solemn, Cort once more summoned forth his Aura and his blade was soon coated in a black haze that seemed to be boiling.

…………………………………………

Rine’s eyes snapped open and, though still mostly insane in appearance, they flickered with annoyance. “Fuck off!” He roared.

Almost instantaneously, he conjured a shield made of flames and guarded his side; seconds Later a clashing sound rang as a sword covered in flames appeared out of nowhere. The shield resisted for a bit but soon it shattered apart. However, as the masked woman, who dealt the blow, readied herself to deliver another her brows creased at the sight of a second shield materializing.

Every one of her attacks was being blocked by a new shield, shocking her both in terms of their number and in the speed at which Rine conjured them.

Annoyed, the woman stopped attacking and stood still for a moment. Rine tilted his head at this but chose to ignore her, however, he couldn’t do so for long as he noticed that the rate at which his core was absorbing Origin slowed down. Looking toward Bladeless, he could see why as the woman was rapidly gathering the surrounding Origin toward her sword which began letting out a higher amount of heat; the Origin boiled and pulsed as if in anger. In response, her sword began to issue cracking sounds and the inscriptions carved into the sword began melting.

Rine did not stand still during this as he had been busy reinforcing his shield to the point that it now covered his entire body. Already, the spell far surpassed anything an ordinary Origin Accumulation magician could do.

“Bring it bitch!”

And brought it she did as the silent warrior let loose her attack. Rine was instantly blown back forcefully and expelled from the sea of fire that fed his core. His body carved itself into the dirt and a crater formed around it. His shield was immediately broken and it began to disintegrate into little particles of light, exposing the shocking gash that spread across his chest.

Clicking his tongue, the maddened look in his eyes faded and it was replaced with one of silent contemplation as he studied the core in his hands. It was already larger than an average core; its density left much to be desired but he could probably make do.

Turning to the sea of fire, he saw that much of the Origin was still there, waiting for him…

But as he spotted the dashing figure of the masked woman, a look of resolve came over him.

“Fuck it!” He shrieked as he swallowed the core.

Immediately afterward, shockwaves emanated from his body, sending the masked woman flying back. His immediate surroundings seemed to melt and the heat he was giving off was insane, causing those nearby to back away in fright.

Before long, everyone watched in shock as what seemed to be a figure made of flames disintegrated. A second later it rebuilt itself and finally, the flaming figure stood up groggily and stared at its own hand, as if amused at how it was still burning. Bored of it, the figure then turned to its surroundings, scanning it, and when it laid eyes on the nearby masked woman, it suddenly let out a bestial roar. The flames covering its body twisted and turned before gathering around its outstretched palm. Rine’s face became visible as the fire parted and though he looked almost identical to before, it was clear that his hair was a lighter, more vibrant, shade of red.

“{Molten Throne}” Rine said as his palm closed in the direction of the masked woman, whose eyes widened in unprecedented shock. Realizing her mistake, she tried to escape but was stopped in place by the sudden appearance of a pillar of flames. The pillar was smaller than that of the well-dressed man but potent nonetheless; soon, she was encircled by pillars of blazing heat and so was Rine. But with a casual wave of his hand, his pillars bent forward and shot toward the warrior; moments later, a magnificent cage of flames appeared around her, trapping her.

Unwilling to give up, the masked woman sent one Aura-infused slash after another; they were effective to an extent and the pillars did indeed break apart, unfortunately, that did not last long as seconds after breaking they would reform. It was as if her opponent had an infinite amount of Origin to play with.

She stopped her attack with gritted teeth and closed her eyes. Seconds later, the Aura coating her sword disappeared as if sucked into the weapon itself, and the blade began to mysteriously change color, however, it was also emitting more grating sounds as if it was about to collapse.

"{FlameFangs}!" A powerful voice boomed just as she was about to strike and she suddenly felt an impressive amount of Origin dart toward her back. Turning around, her eyes widened at the sight of what seemed to be a massive snake coated in flames slithering toward her with its fangs bared.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the snake was not coated in flames, but rather it was made from it.

Yet despite the horrific sight, the mysterious woman looked relieved. The snake harmlessly passed by her and shot toward Rine.

“Got you now!” The well-dressed man said as he rode atop the snake’s head. Inwardly, he was shocked to no end at the unreasonable magician in front of him.

‘That’s my core!’ He thought to himself, still reeling from the shock. No, to say that it was his would be incorrect, to be exact, it was a carbon copy of it.

If that was all then he wouldn’t care, he had his own core.

But.

“His core’s larger than mine was....” He muttered as his eyes flickered with jealousy; the fact that Rine’s was larger meant that he would have an easier time advancing through the ranks. “But it also means he’ll have a harder time refining it.”

The snake arrived before Rine and it bit down with savage force; its large and scaley body coiled itself around him, ensuring his entrapment.

Knowing that it was pointless to dodge, Rine conjured a barrier that seemed much stronger than his last one.

As the two spells met, fissures spidered all over the barrier, but it did not break.

The well-dressed man gritted his teeth as he saw the spell; looking back he even saw that Bladeless’s cage was still up.

‘Just reached Core Formation and yet he can still maintain two spells at once. What a monster!’

He clenched his fists and forced his snake to bite down harder, further crushing Rine’s shield.

Within the deteriorating shield, Rine calmly assessed the snake, studying it. Soon a twisted smile spread across his face and the well-dressed man broke out into shivers.

Rine lifted one of his hands up and even more Origin began rushing toward him; soon his entire body was being covered in a dense layer of Origin.

After a few moments, the shield finally broke, but by then, Rine had already activated his spell.

A huge explosion suddenly appeared and the snake was pushed back as shockwaves spread throughout the battlefield, covering everything in smoke.

Unwilling to give up, the well-dressed man waded into the murky terrain in search of his prey, but what he found caused him to widen his eyes in shock.