Overall Combat Ability: 16871

Octaphasms (Bronze ll)

Health Points: 7000/7000

Fear.

For the first time since coming here, Rudolph felt fear. He had power, he killed the Salamander thrice his size without taking a hit, in his first battle he killed a hound and he killed numerous wraiths in the battle a while ago. None of them had produced an ounce of fear in him. But the monster in front of him was something else. He knew he could do nothing, all of them could nothing to kill the wriggling mass of flesh that chased behind them.

He catapulted out of the city, Aryn behind him and Randy and Tyril's group all going in their separate direction. It would be a foolish decision to stay together when the creature behind them was bronze-ranked mayhem that none of them could hope to defeat. At least some of them would walk out of this situation alive.

Rudolph looked behind. The creature was on his tail, charging and bulldozing through the forest trees. Nothing seemed to slow it down. He occasionally fired some apocalypse fireballs at the creature but it did nothing other than deal damage in single integers which of course was nothing considering the total health it had. All it did was make it more enraged.

Aryn took out a red crystal from his ring and threw it in the sky. The crystal broke and a beacon of light flared from within, illuminating the sky in red.

"That was a danger beacon, standard issue for the Aurors." Aryn said, "Help should arrive, shortly."

"Aurors?" Rudolph asked.

"I will tell you when we make it out alive."

"If we make it out alive." Rudolph said, "and I don't think that creature has any plans for letting that hap–"

A red tentacle tore through the surrounding trees and struck him squarely on the left arm. With a bone-crunching sound, Rudolph was sent flying into the other trees, breaking several of them before coming to a halt. A single hit from the Octaphasm took around 30% of his health and he knew that the creature hadn't even tried its best. For some reason, it didn't want to kill him instantly.

The creature ignored Aryn and went towards Rudolph who was struggling to stand. His left arm was hanging down his side.

"Rudy!" Aryn said, making his way toward him and helping him to his feet.

"Are you okay?"

"Not going to die," he said, trying to chuckle but ended up wincing in pain.

Aryn cast a spell and healed his arm, not completely but enough for him to move it without screaming in pain.

"Now what?" Rudolph said. The Octaphasm had them trapped, its long tentacles cutting off every path of their escape and slowly creeping towards them.

"It is playing with us," Aryn said.

"I know we are helpless."

"Not that. I mean it isn't killing us, meaning if we stall it long enough, we can survive till help arrives." Aryn said. "Can you hold it for a minute? I want to prepare a spell that will increase our odds of survival. Make sure it doesn't interrupt me."

"We've got no other chance." Rudolph said, "So why not."

Aryn started casting a spell and a large amount of violet aether escaped from his body and started gathering beneath his feet in form of a magic circle.

Rudolph hadn't seen violet aether before and didn't know what attribute it held. He wanted to watch the proceedings but he had more important matters at hand. The Octaphasm was just a few meters away from him. Its maw was wide open so Rudolph was able to see rows and columns of tiny sharp teeth lining its interior.

Rudolph's supply of aether had almost depleted with only 7 points left behind and without it, Rudolph knew he wouldn't stand 10 seconds against the Octaphasm. He had only one way to contend against it and that meant facing his fears. Fears of both the creature and the skill he held.

"Screw it."

Rudolph, for the first time, utilized Unruly Acquisition. He had no other way. He had just come to this world. He wanted to explore it to his heart's content and live it to his heart's content but for that, he had to remain alive. Something that wouldn't be possible if he still keeps holding himself back. The risks were there, but they weren't absolute. Nobody knew and Aryn only had made a conjecture. Nothing had been proven... yet.

With the activation of Unruly Acquisition, the surrounding aether churned and swirled around Rudolph. It was like a storm and Rudolph was the eye. Even the Octaphasm stopped and stared at Rudolph through its red slit of an eye. It took a step back. It could feel something uncanny residing within the human's body, something that made him step back in fear.

Rudolph felt lorded over the aether around him and at any given moment he could absorb the aether and use it per his will and he did just that. It took only 3 good seconds for the wild aether to fill his supply of depleted aether and it wasn't just that. The wild aether was different in a way he couldn't put his mind to. The previously assimilated aether lacked something which the wild aether he now absorbed possessed.

Rudolph conjured up an apocalypse fireball and shot it towards the Octaphasm's face. Though it only sapped 20 points of health which was a drop in the ocean considering the Octaphasm's massive health bar, it made him come to a realization. Rudolph realized what the assimilated aether lacked compared to the wild aether. It was the element of destruction. The assimilated aether lacked the element of destruction while the wild aether was filled with it. That was all, he felt no negativity invading his mind, nothing whatsoever. He did feel a heightened influx in his emotions, all emotions except fear which was practically gone now. He didn't know if it was a bad thing or not but in the face of danger he didn't care.

The Octaphasm screamed in pain, its voice similar to bones grinding against the asphalt. It lunged at Rudolph, the tentacles smashing everything in the path as they lashed at Rudolph's face.

With thought acceleration active, Rudolph was able to plan his action before the creature's attack. He ducked beneath the first one and somersaulted over the second. The third one whipped at his shoulder but Rudolph got his katana in the way to reduce the impact. Just as the tentacle collided with the katana, Rudolph lit it with flames of hell. Like beasts unchained from their captivity, the black flames of hell swayed madly under the influence of wild aether. Rudolph was flung into the distance but a touch was all it needed for the flames to cling to the tentacle and burn it to cinders. It didn't just end there, the 40% status for burn was activated and the flames crept up the tentacles towards the Octaphasm's gnarly body.

It roared and thrashed in agony but the flames only died out 10 seconds later, depleting 649 points of health from the creature's health bar. The fire was its nemesis after all.

Those 10 seconds allowed Rudolph to recover and get back on his feet. His heart was on fire, he was enjoying it. He wanted to destroy this creature, cut it into millions of pieces— a heightened emotional response but still something he yearned in his heart. He smiled and spat some blood before again using the flames of hell. This time in conjecture with quick strike and flash steps to reach the creature.

Alas, the creature was a bronze-ranked monster, something that outclassed Rudolph in every aspect. How could it allow a puny creature to strike him twice? It was caught off-guard for the first time. It hadn't expected the puny creature with such pure darkness to possess the element of destruction as well. But now it was prepared. It would swallow the ant before him and evolve to his next stage, a stage greater than his brethren, a step closer to godhood.

When the flame-lit blade approached it, the creature contracted its tentacles and Rudolph only struck empty air. Unsteady in the air, another tentacle whipped at him but his body turned into smoke and escaped from the impact. He appeared behind the creature and struck, once again lighting its body on fire.

"How's that for a surprise," he said and retreated backward.

Ding! Strength increased 21 >> 22

Ding! Willpower increased 9 >> 10

Ding! Class (Spectral Swordsman) leveled up.

Level 3 >> Level 4. Gained 4 stat points.

Ding! You gained experience. The skill [Aether Manipulation – Flames Of Hell] (Iron) (Active) leveled up.

Level 1 >> Level 2.

Ding! You gained experience. The skill [Quick Strike] (Iron) (Active) leveled up.

Level 2 >> Level 3.

The Octaphasm seemed to be done playing with Rudolph. Its eyes flashed red and the surrounding trees, grass, and foliage began to wither at visible speed, all the life got sucked from them in form of green motes of light which were absorbed by the Octaphasm. The health bar which was reduced by ⅛ instantly restored.

"That's cheating," he said, dodging another whip from the enraged Octaphasm. He turned his head to Aryn who still stood on the magic circle, which was a lot denser and brighter than before. The night forest was illuminated by violet light.

"Is it done!?" he asked the elf. "I don't think I can hold on for any longer."

The violet magic circle started rotating and floated above the battlefield.

"Leave it to me," Aryn said, cupping his hands and closing his eyes. "O, Goddess of life, bless me and impart me with the power to overcome the shackles of my abilities. Avatar Summoning."

A column of light descended from the circle and when the light faded, there stood a creature similar to an antelope. It was thrice the size of antelopes Rudolph had ever seen. It had crystal antlers that shimmered with white fairy light and a crown made of golden leaves on its head.

"What is that?" Rudolph said and identified the creature before him.

Overall Combat Ability: 12100

Spire (Bronze l)

Health Points: 5300/5300

"That's my avatar," Aryn said. "Retreat now, let me handle this."

Even though Rudolph had somewhat of an unlimited aether now due to Unruly Acquisition, he was running on fumes in the stamina department. He had needed some time to recover what he could recover because he knew the fight wouldn't be easy, even with the avatar in. There was still a rank difference between the Spire and the Octaphasm.

Rudolph found a patch of grass that had been left unscathed from the Octaphasm's skill and sat cross-legged to recover his stamina. He also canceled Unruly Acquisition and the erratic flow of aether returned to normal.

On the other hand, the Spire had engaged with the Octaphasm. The Spire's antlers showed with a blinding light and it charged straight into the Octaphasm who was unable to dodge the attack on time and was sent scurrying across tens of trees.

The spire then followed with a purple beam of light shot from within its antlers, which found its target and struck the Octaphasm dead in the center of its wriggling tentacle body. Both attacks had reduced the creature's health by 20%.

The Octaphasm stood up with a shriek and started sucking dry the forest once again to replenish its health. The Spire didn't let it complete its action and shot another purple beam.

The Octaphasm had no choice but to abort its spell and evade the incoming beam. It dug some of its tentacles into the ground while it used the remaining to throw stumps of broken trees toward Aryn and the Spire.

The Spire splintered the stumps by a charge of its crystal antlers. While it did that, the other tentacles emerged from the ground and bound the deer who wasn't so lucky this time.

It neighed and pulled but the hold was too tight. The Octaphasm started to suck the life from the Spire.

"Damn it," Aryn said, gritting his teeth. "Avatar Merger."

The tangled deer turned into motes of light and entered the elf's body. Covered by a green light, his whole body was changing. His previous golden hair were replaced by long silver hair. His green irises turned golden. His body was clad in silver armor. The staff on his back also went through a change and turned silver with green veins of light flowing through its structure and last but not least, a golden crown appeared on top of his silver hair.

"What the heck!" Rudolph exclaimed, seeing Aryn's transformation. If he hadn't seen the transformation with his very own eyes, he wouldn't have believed that was Aryn. He looked completely changed and even his aura had changed; his whole being emitted regality.