Edward stood in the air outside of Pescara his gaze distant, his injury had stopped bleeding and his flesh was mending itself at a speed visible by the naked eye. This was a close one. His last attack almost killed me and that was with only brushing me. I’ll have to be more careful next time I can’t allow this attack to hit me, and I only have two healing syringes left now. How exactly am I supposed to beat this monster? I was barely able to hold on my own. He is as fast as me, can teleport as well, is stronger than me, and has more reach and more arms than me. He can take my attacks head on and he will be able to avoid my charged attacks. It’s not like he is on another level, I’m not completely helpless, but I won’t be able to beat him the way I am now.

Edward’s armor started to repair itself as well, new parts growing to fill the hole that had pierced through it. I have to thank Leyla. Without her, I fear I would be battling butt-naked before long. Also, her bombs once more saved the day, there was no way we would have been able to get rid of the mist without them.

Thinking of Leyla cheered him up and he let go of his dark thoughts. All is not lost yet. I am not alone, Ignis and Adotinus will help me fight this monster. And I can grow in power as well, there are so many strong monsters gathered in the same place, that would be unthinkable in normal times. There are always two faces to a coin, where there is danger, there is opportunity as well.

I have no way of contacting Adotinus and Ignis. I could deploy my aura to search for them but they are probably hiding and masking their own aura. Casting my aura all over Pescara will only make me stand out like a sore thumb. Now that I know that I won’t be able to beat that monster there is no need to draw his attention. I need to grow stronger before confronting him.

It is time to chase some monsters. Also, it’s for the best if I don’t stay in the open waiting for him to hunt me down. What was his name again? Something like Nephelin?

Let’s do a review of the monsters I met in the capital. After the mist dispersed, I didn’t meet with any spiders, they didn’t seem like fully formed monsters when I fought them within the mist. I only met that Arachne once as well. To me, it feels like the mist was able to somehow scan my psyche and formed those monsters from my memories and fear. Those monsters are probably absent from the capital by now.

In the monsters I met even after the disappearance of the mist there were Manticores, giant snails, lots of centipedes, those flying eyes, one monster that looked like a cyclops, and of course that six-legged giant panther. The centipedes don’t represent any threat to me, even if I fight with Nephelin the fight will happen in the air and they won’t be able to interfere. In terms of blood essence, they won’t be able to offer much as well. I can simply ignore them.

The Manticores can fly and have powerful attacks. I have to deal with them if I want to be able to fight Nephelin without getting interrupted. Those monsters are a priority to deal with.

The giant snails won’t be able to interfere if we are high enough but they are still powerful and should fetch me some a good amount of blood essence. They are worth hunting.

I don’t know what that Cyclops is worth, but judging from his size he must be quite powerful, this is a priority target if I want to grow in strength.

Those flying eyes are weak and are acting like scouts, they are nothing but pests. Not worth fighting but quite annoying, they won’t bring me anything but it might be worth getting rid of them before I fight Nephelin.

As for that six-legged panther, I hope there aren’t that many of them within the capital. They are tough enemies but worth a lot in terms of energy, if I want to fight Nephelin I probably need to be able to deal with them without struggling that much. I should keep them for later when I already have started to grow in strength.

Edward looked at his wound, by now it was mostly healed, new flesh had grown and replaced the missing one. However, it still looked mismatched compared to the rest of his body, and the healing effect of the syringe was spent. I guess it can’t be helped. It must have already been working overtime to regenerate my flesh. Healing cuts are easy, recreating body parts is a lot harder. It’s for the best if I don’t exert myself too much, I don’t want the wound to reopen.

He waited some more time for the armor to repair itself, the metal grew over the hole, his armor becoming seamless once again. However, just like for his wound, the new armor didn’t look like the rest of the set, it was slightly discolored. It’s pretty evident I have a weak point right now. I know killing Manticores would benefit me more, but let’s hunt a few centipedes first to recover.

Edward teleported back to the city. He stayed discreet, masking his aura and relying only on his normal senses which had already been enhanced several times with each breakthrough he had made.

Pescara was still burning. Without anyone or anything even trying to stop the fire, it had spread with impunity. The result differed from district to district, some mansions were already reduced to smoking rubbles while others were still burning fiercely. The damage differed depending on the material used for the construction. Sometimes nothing was left behind, but in other cases, the damage was limited to a burned roof, furniture reduced to ash, and charred walls.

The air was thick with smoke.

This made it harder for Edward to hunt monsters but in the same way, he was harder to spot, especially for the flying scouting eyes. Once the fire dies down and the smoke disperses it would be another story though, Edward’s hideouts would be greatly reduced.

Edward used the shadow cloak spell that he had just learned from Ignis, he still had mana to spare. Shadows covered him, he was but a dark shape moving in between the dancing flames. If not for the way he was moving he could even have been mistaken for a Teleportcrow.

As he reached a crossroad, Edward saw a group of centipedes coming his way. He retreated behind a corner and activated his acceleration in a whisper, “Rèng khwāmrĕw”. It was overkill, but he was still injured and didn’t want to take any risk. Once they were close enough, Edward dashed out of his hideout, he aimed at a single centipede only, sticking one dagger right in his mouth and bringing the monster with him. Edward normally didn’t even need to use his acceleration to deal with those monsters, with his rapidity enhanced the difference in speed was too much for them to handle. All that they sensed was a gust of wind and the flames dancing wildly from the displaced air, they only noticed afterward that one of their members was missing.

Edward was standing inside a burning house, his aura armor protecting him from the ravaging flames but not from the heat which was quickly rising, he couldn’t stay here for long. The centipede was under him, Edward’s dagger coming through its skull and nailing it to the ground, it didn’t even have the time to shriek before dying. Edward quickly absorbed the monster’s energy, its essence flowing straight to his injury to finalize the healing process. When he headed out again, he chose a target in the back of the group. The monster couldn’t do anything against his speed. The loss of another member only made them more agitated and they hissed in distress.

Edward picked up a few more of them one at a time, absorbing their essence each time and making sure that he was getting properly healed. He flexed his body without feeling any pain. All right, playing time is over.

A blood bath ensued, the centipedes stood no chance against him in the first place.

Edward stood above their dismembered corpses, they didn’t give him that much energy, but thanks to it he was fully healed and back to one hundred percent capacity.

Having no more use for them he left their remains behind in search of other prey. He avoided the other groups of centipedes he met, not wanting to waste time with them. He could bypass them, teleporting directly behind their wandering groups.

The centipedes didn’t seem to be bothered by the heat or the flames. That wasn’t the case for all the monsters however, in the middle of the street, Edward found a giant snail huddled safely in its shell.

It wasn’t dead, mucus was coming out of its shell, it had simply retreated to safety preferring to hide from the searing heat. I would be rejoicing if I was French, the snail is already in the oven. Let it cook at three hundred seventy-five degrees for ten minutes and it’s done. What mad recipes would they make with a snail of this size? Edward shook his head. But that works for me as well. I just have to pick them up.

He formed a spear with his aura and threw it at the snail, guiding it to follow the shell’s curve and hit the body hiding inside. This got a reaction, mucus, and blood spurt from the shell aperture, and not long after tentacles came out as well. This monster may not like heat, but with its death staring it in the face it had no choice but to fight back.

Unfortunately for the snail, Edward was already close to its body, and the tentacles couldn’t deploy to all of their lengths. They were constrained in a small area, unable to exert their full force. “Rèng khwāmrĕw”. Edward still used his acceleration due to the sheer tentacles’ speed but the fight didn’t last long. The snail was in a disadvantageous position and its tentacles were soon diced to Sashimi. Edward quickly finished it off and absorb its essence.

Those giant snails do have a fair amount of energy but I’m not sensing as if I’m getting any closer to the next stage. Is there even something else after the patriarch stage? I better not count on it. Nonetheless, even if the progress is marginal, it’s still progress I shouldn’t spit on it. And in the process, it will rid me of a few pests before my fight with Nephelin.

Edward advanced and found himself at the border with another district where the fire had already died down. Most habitations were reduced to rubble and the field of view got a lot larger because of it. Edward wasn’t sure if it was because of the increased visibility or the absence of fire, but the number of monsters was greatly increased compared to the area he was coming from. From one glance he could see three groups of centipedes, one giant snail, and two Manticores. Additionally, groups of flying eyes were scouring the sky. Well, this is going to get a lot harder to stay unnoticed. Should I just barge in?