After testing his newly acquired acceleration power together with his accelerated perception, Edward felt hungry. He needed sustenance. He glanced at the huge Lusus naturae corpse. Although most of its blood had been consumed, a smidge of it was left. Edward shrugged and absorbed the leftovers to satiate himself. He rolled his shoulders. After breaking through the next stage, I feel like a new man. With my acceleration, my control over it, and my teleportation I’m unstoppable.

I’m a massive liability to any human-sized opponent. I can appear right next to them and kill them in one hit. Even for a crowd of weak opponents like the Murlocs, I just need to work on my aura blades and they won’t be a problem. That leaves big-sized monsters as relatively problematic. Normally I would feel apprehensive to teleport on them to injure them. Being stranded in front of a pissed-off monster twice your size shortens your life span considerably. My daggers are just too small against such opponents. But now I can compensate for that with my aura.

Edward gathered his aura along his dagger’s blade. But instead of throwing it as a wave of energy, he kept it under his control and extended it from the blade, effectively doubling, if not tripling its size. Edward couldn’t repress a grin. It feels like energy blades from Halo. The handling of the dagger was the same, the only difference, being that there was one blade of energy instead of a set of two per dagger. With this size, I have as much reach as a sword. I’m ready to decapitate scums and monsters alike.

However, he frowned when he fought about Quintus, the Vega family master in Gobéliard. Power improves every time you reach the next stage. I wonder which power he has. He obviously should have the Mare Irae power to enhance his aura, but he also has another unknown power. I’ll need to stay careful. I should also check the range of my teleportation, I can feel that it has become stronger but I’m not certain about its range.

Considering the timing, Leyla shouldn’t have had the time to come back with the runes booklets yet. I still have a bit of time. The expedition will probably declare me as dead when they go back to Gobéliard. Let them think I’m dead for some time. I need to familiarize myself with my new powers. I obviously need more practice with my aura at the very least.

Edward looked around the cavern. Numerous tunnels were leaving it, leading in unknown directions. He glanced at the collapsed tunnel from where the expedition had left. With extended teleportation let’s check if I can go past that. He walked until he was standing in front of it, he laid his hand on the rubble and spread his aura through it. His aura advanced slowly through the dirt blocking the tunnel until it reached the other side. The wreckage continued for fifteen meters before the tunnel got cleared. They didn’t do it halfway. This monster must have really spooked them. My teleportation would have been barely enough before, but now this should be easy peasy.

Edward used his teleportation and appeared on the other side of the obstacle without difficulty. Nobody was around. I guess they didn’t wait to see if other monsters would come from adjacent tunnels. Still, I can’t stop myself from getting annoyed. They left me behind just like that. That’s rude.

Edward felt more at ease now that he knew he had a way out. Now, do I need to go out right now? There is no urgency. I’m curious as to where those other tunnels are leading.

Edward teleported back into the cavern, he frowned at the smell. He had gradually gotten used to it, his nose saturated with the stench, but getting out and back again made him realize how much this place stunk. This could use some aeration. He glanced at the monster corpse. And this won’t improve the smell.

He watched the numerous tunnels leaving the area, unsure of which to choose. Exploring every tunnel will be a chore. Let’s check if my aura can stretch enough to see where they lead. Edward decided to check the tunnels one by one starting from the left, in order not to lose count. He stood in front of one tunnel, and sent his aura through it, deciding to focus his senses only in the tunnel instead of all around him like usual. As he was able to sense more and more of the tunnel through his aura, his perception of the cavern he was in decreased until he was only aware of his surroundings in a two-meter radius around him.

The tunnel was going upward, like the tunnel they came in, it was also linked to other tunnels. This is a real anthill. Edward decided to ignore those for now. His perception reached the tunnel exit, it was another way out, leading into the same clearing they had spotted the Lusus naturae nest from. I guess it makes sense that they have several exits considering their number. We did see many tunnels when we entered their nest.

He checked the connected tunnels, but they were going upwards as well, and they proved to be exits. The different exits were connected between them by those linking galleries. Edward lost interest and decided to check the next tunnel in the cavern. Interestingly enough, he realized he couldn’t cut his aura directly to proceed to the next tunnel, instead, he had to recall back to him all the aura he had sent to explore. So, I can focus all of my aura in one direction to extend my range of perception but it leaves me defenseless until I manage to recall it. This is still worth it. I just have to be hidden when I use this tactic.

Investigating the other tunnels, he realized that most of them were going upwards, leading to the clearing like the other exits. However, some longer tunnels were staying at the same depth, and Edward wasn’t able to see where they were leading with his aura. The tunnels were still going into the distance by the point his aura had reached its limit. With this exercise, he was able to test his aura range, if he focused it in one direction only, it was able to spread up to 400 meters.

He also found some tunnels leading downward but they ended in impasses. Probably some extension projects from this nest which were cut short. Monsters are really growing in numbers, heh. We already killed this many Lusus naturae. Had there been more of them, I fear they would even have been able to attack Gobéliard directly. Though, this much wouldn’t be enough to make it fall. Not with the walls and three Predators in the city.

Edward chose one of the galleries leading further away. He walked calmly, monitoring his surroundings with his aura but not going as far as focusing it in one direction. This way he was able to cover 200 hundred meters both in front and behind him.

After walking for some time, he sensed one Lusus naturae in front of him, it hadn’t spotted him yet and seemed to be keeping guard over the gallery. Edward grinned ferociously. Time to try my new powers in real conditions.

He gathered his aura on his daggers to elongate the blades before teleporting. After the teleportation, the aura didn’t dissipate and was still forming the energy blades. However, he didn’t teleport right next to the monster but only fifty meters onward from his past position. He didn’t make any noise, but the monster noticed him since he wasn’t that far from the beast anymore.

Well…at least now I know that my teleportation range is fifty meters. It’s not the best to ambush a monster in a long straight tunnel, but in a complex environment, this range is more than enough. I could teleport directly from one building to another, or from one street to two streets away. Good lucks to the guys who want to follow me.

The beast howled, warning the others. Since he was closer, Edward could perceive what was in the room behind the Lusus naturae. It was another nest, a large cavern full of fleshly outgrowth containing monsters’ embryos. Following the sentinel alert, scores of Lusus naturae streamed into the room from adjacent tunnels. Let’s finish this quickly. Edward thought unimpressed by the display.

“Rèng khwāmrĕw,” he said while dipping into his acceleration power. In a flash, he was upon the monster guarding the entrance, with one swipe of his dagger now turned into an energy blade, he decapitated it and barreled into its body to liberate the way. The monster didn’t even have the time to react, his corpse landed in the middle of the cavern at the feet of its congeners. A second of silence ensued before the stunned monsters recovered and everything turned into chaos and fury.

Edward penetrated into the room, and the monsters in turn used their own acceleration power to match his speed. But how could they compete with Edward when they couldn’t even control their direction while in their accelerated state? He was able to easily weave between them, avoiding their attacks while cutting heads and limbs alike. His energy blades didn’t encounter any resistance and weren’t impeded in the slightest.

When several of the monsters were gathered together, blocking the way, Edward didn’t slow down but used complicated maneuvers instead. He used the columns supporting the ceiling as support to jump over them, killing one of them on its way. The monsters may have been dangerous predators but they were outclass facing Edward.

A massacre ensued, each blow Edward inflicted was lethal or crippling. The monsters could barely reach his speed while lacking in mobility. They weren’t weak, but without mastering aura, they couldn’t defend themselves against such attacks.

As the last monsters were falling into despairs against such an overbearing force, Edward stopped. He was heaving heavily, white puffs leaving his mouth with each breath. This combination of powers is domineering but it consumes my stamina too fast. Sadly, I can’t sustain such a state for too long. Moreover, I tried, but I’m not able to absorb their blood essence directly through my aura blades. I feel like I would have to dissipate the blade and intrude the aura into their body before recalling it to me to retrieve their blood essence. So, it is harder to recover my strength while I’m using them.

Seeing a glimmer of hope the monsters charged at Edward with everything they had, not giving him the time to rest and recuperate. However, Edward was gone by the time they reached him. One of the wolves-like beasts blinked in confusion. The next instant it looked down as a dagger was piercing its stomach, Edward had teleported behind it. Edward shoved the corpse aside and the last survivors didn’t ask for more and left whining with their tails between their legs.