Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 410: Dangerous beauty

Once again, the system’s latest message only brings more questions to mind. The rewards for completing a Beyond trial have always been very generous, so being able to enter Beyond for 3 days as a reward strikes me as odd. What kind of place is Beyond?

I let kinetic energy flood my body and boost my movements as I leap from branch to branch, climbing the tallest tree I can find, rising higher and higher until I reach the top.

The jungle stretches on seemingly forever, and there’s nothing but forest as far as I can see. No mountains, lakes, or seas. Just one big never-ending forest. And high in the sky rests an orange sun that seems almost bigger than the one we have on Earth.

I won’t lie; the view is kind of alien, but it has a raw, dangerous beauty all its own.

Moving a bit lower, I rest against the trunk and think, watching the back and forth sway of a leaf as big as I am tall.

The King of the Forest is probably some big baddie here. I would be very surprised if it’s lower than level 300. Hell, it might be as strong as the Gaiathra.

The gravity pressing down on me provides its own complications as well, but I’m getting used to strengthening my body with kinetic energy, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I even feel like I’m being lazy because I’m not working on any of the mana shaping exercises Lissandra showed me, but first I need to assess the danger. I can play around later.

As if on cue, I feel mana move nearby and the trunk of the tree below me explodes and the skyscraper sized behemoth begins to fall with a deafening crack.

I move and the trunk explodes where I was resting, splitting the falling tree in two.

Another attack crashes against my barrier and throws me to the side as I absorb my inertia and send another pulse of mana into the surroundings, trying to detect the attacker.

Once again, an attack lands nearby and a second tree explodes and begins to fall down.

The screeches of the monsters from further away become louder and more presences start moving in.

My crown activates and the next barrier I create easily absorbs the attack as I boost my body heading back the way I came.

The attacker decides to change its attack pattern and launches a multitude of smaller assaults my way, each one moving at insane speeds. One of which even manages to pierce my barrier before grazing my arm.

Each strike is composed of extremely compressed air, and the smaller ones are sharper with a limited area of impact, while the larger ones have an impact zone the size of a small building.

I place multiple anchors and teleport, avoiding the attacks while I trace their origin.

As I do another monster jumps out of the foliage below me, Its yawning maw wide enough to swallow a car as it tries to snap me up.

In response I send out a burst of kinetic energy sending the huge monster flying and crashing into the tree, leaving it scrambling to get its four legs beneath it as the beast howls in preparation to rush me again.

It’s then that I realize the creature may as well just be an oversized hairless wolf.

[Pale Howler - lvl ??]

I ignore it, leaving the beast to fade into the distance behind me along with the massive trees crashing down around us as I finally reach the primary attacker.

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

Seeing me so close, the monster quickly moves. Its elongated and noble feathered form racing down the tree and coiling around its way down a branch before leaping through the air to land on another.

It moves with an unearthly grace as it rushes about on its eight legs and its feathered, snake-like head watches me intently.

This time I bombard it with attacks and my mana javelins, boosted with kinetic energy, tear chunks out of passing trees as I boost my body to follow it. A few of my attacks even manage to land, red blood staining the beast’s white feathers.

I dodge to the side as a burst of compressed air tears into the Pale Howler behind me, who’s somehow managed to keep pace, and next destroys the trunk of an adjacent tree.

An anchor I place explodes into golden flames and the Galeprowler coils into a ball, allowing itself to be pushed away by the immense burst of wind it creates before uncoiling to land on another tree and continuing to flee.

I teleport through multiple anchors and just when I’m about to grasp it with [Redistribution], I stop. A barrier surrounds my body and I pump it with as much mana as I can as I find myself unable to teleport.

Right after I find myself bombarded by dozens of attacks, cracking my barrier and almost breaking it as I’m forced to support it more and more with increasingly compressed mana.

When it finally gives, I boost my body with as much kinetic energy as I can handle, moving behind a tree that immediately explodes almost in its entirety, as it’s peppered with attacks meant for me.

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My eyes activate and I disrupt another wave of attacks.

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

…

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A dozen monsters crawl from their hiding places and out onto the trunks surrounding me, as the one I had been following up to this point almost seems to be staring at me with an annoyingly smug look on its face.

[Focus] activates and [Mana Domain] strengthened with Pride surrounds me, expanding further under the influence of my crown. The world loses some of its color and the noise fades into the distance, my only concern being the monsters surrounding me.

I can run away, I know that.

A suit of armor surrounds my body and I boost myself with kinetic energy, flying right into the middle of the group. A disruptive wave ripples out from me and [Redistribution] activates slowing the monster currently trying to flee.

I land on its back and Flamebearer roars with golden flames as I bury it into the monster’s flesh, setting it ablaze.

[You have defeated Galeprowler - lvl 311]

[Lvl 250 > Lvl 251]

I jump away, its body explodes into a cloud of bloody feathers and gore under the weight of my attack.

The monsters try to mess with my [Tether] but with the help of my eyes, I still manage to place a few and reach the next monster despite needing to tank another blast of compressed air. The bark of the tree under me explodes, shattering the huge branch and sending it crashing to the forest floor below.

I hold myself in the air, sending a blast of kinetic energy after the feathered serpent, and tearing through another blast of compressed air while gouging a huge hole in the monster's side. Then the other monsters hit me with a barrage of attacks, sending me crashing into yet another tree. But I endure, using [Infusion] to bolster my armor as I do.

I follow the freshly lamed monster and skewer it with a javelin as long as I am tall, pinning it to the tree while the javelin explodes, tearing the monster in half with a blast of kinetic energy.

[You have defeated Galeprowler - lvl 309]

The remaining monsters pick up speed as their attacks grow more and more dangerous. They’re clearly beginning to improvise and change their strategy to deal with me.

Long slashing cuts, more effort into disrupting my anchors. They even try creating a few projections to confuse me. They go into overdrive and move faster, resorting to engaging me in melee, venom dripping from their fangs and corroding my barriers as it spreads through the air leaving me blind in one eye.

Even so, I take them on, one after another, until only one remains standing resolute in the aftermath of our battle.

The monster that first attacked me, and lured me here to die.

It doesn’t try to run away anymore, staying with its pack until the end, with a determined look in its eyes even as it dies, pierced by my javelins as I pin it against the tree.

[You have defeated Galeprowler - lvl 314]

After thoroughly checking my surroundings I let out a deep sigh and rest against the tree.

My wildly beating heart begins to slow and I find that I’ve burned through a sizable chunk of my mana, proof of my struggle. That and my freshly healing wounds, especially my newly blinded eye. It heals slower than usual, likely an aftereffect of the venom they used.

I take a step and then stagger and fall to my knees.

Confused, I look around and examine my body once again. It doesn’t seem… The world around me spins but I force myself to stop collapsing, radiating as much mana as I can as whips of it tear the area apart.

My senses latch onto something touching me and track it, leading me upwards, into the air.

Releasing a blast of kinetic energy, I boost my body away and crash into another tree and the place I once stood explodes as the flying monster dives at me from high above.

[Mesmerwing- lvl ???]

I feel my body sway once more, about to lose consciousness, as the bird two times my size flies at me again.

Golden flames surround me but a sweep of its wings disrupts them for a moment. The Mesmerwing reaches me, claws extended, coated in sickly looking yellow mana.

A thin cone of kinetic energy reverberates through the air, gouging a hole in the monster's chest, and tossing it aside.

It tries to stun me again with its weird mental attack, but having finally found the right frequency, I disrupt the attempt. As I do so I place an anchor, allowing me to reach the monster as it tries to take off.

Another suit of armor surrounds my body, doubling my size as I latch onto the monster's leg with no concern for the talons trying to tear me to shreds.

Boosting my mana mech with kinetic energy, I pull the monster back and swing, smashing it against the side of the tree, bark, and wood exploding into the air.

Then I send a burst of thermal energy through my arm enveloping the avian beast in my golden flames as I hold it in place. The creature screeches in agony and tries to escape, breaking one of its wings in the process a constant stream of mental attacks tries to pierce my defenses but I hold steady and swing it again, crushing the monster once more against the tree.

When its struggles finally ebb to a weak flailing I put the beast down by stomping on its head.

[You have defeated Mesmerwing - lvl 315]

More presences appear on my radar, all monsters of similar strength to the ones I just killed.

This place is different from any other I’ve visited before. The gravity here is much stronger, the air feels different, the flora is huge and the monsters are all high enough level to be considered Calamities on any of the prior floors.

I boost my body and move by jumping instead of flying as flying requires more kinetic energy than normal just to fight against gravity. Monitoring the monsters around me I continue to think.

How do The Living Tree, The First One, and the Fallen Hero of the 4th floor compare to the monsters I just killed? They’re all about the same level, but in some ways, the Calamities from the 4th floor just feel stronger. Is it a difference in skill? What is the quality of their traits, passives, and actives compared to “normal” monsters around that level?

Perhaps the system is skewing the levels of the monsters we meet. After all, they could always be much stronger in reality.

I let another Pale Howler reach me, the monster in question still reminding me of a hairless wolf, as it pounces on me, activating my passive. The kinetic energy from its attack being absorbed and converted into mana which floods into my reservoir, already perfectly tailored to my needs.

Dodging to the side, I avoid one attack and let the other land while observing the effects. The passive is highly situational and it could even be said that it's mostly useless at the moment. Sure, the insane defense against physical attacks is good but it’s not really my thing.

I’m someone who likes to live dangerously. I think Tess called it being dumb. However, I don’t mind my weird passive at all, no, in fact, I love the newest addition to my arsenal.

It might take a while but I will do as Champion Laten did with thermal energy and the heat of a volcano, I will learn to actively turn my primordial energies into mana. And if I can do one I should be able to do the other, turning my mana into my primordial energies anytime I want without being limited by my heart.

Kinetic energy reverberates through the air around me, turning the Pale Howler into a pincushion, and tearing chunks from its flesh as the last attack pierces its head.

[You have defeated Pale Howler - lvl 301]

The system didn’t give me any limit to finish the Trial quest. So, let’s see how long I can stay here and turn it into my own private leveling area.