Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends - Chapter 369: Ryun

Chapter 369: Ryun

Demolish

Ryun’s stats skyrocketed as both his and Selia’s perk ranges combined, tens of thousands of monsters were within their range. He had never had this much stats, hundreds of thousands. He felt like he could level mountains just by gesturing. And his speed had skyrocketed as well. He channeled his {Final End} charging it in an instant through his Focus of Indomitable Might, putting his intent into it and then threw his javelin at the General. With his eyes and his sense he could tell that monsters around him were made out of a strange Essene that was related to flesh. He had spent the time he and Selia observed the battle to study it. To try and understand it. The more he understood the Essence he wished to affect, the more effective his Aspect was, the less resources he needed to delete or alter it with Oblivion. The flesh was woven with willpower, he knew that already. It was similar to the flesh that Hastur was made out of, or more likely they were made out of his flesh. He had studied it closely before, he had taken pieces of Hastur with him after they killed him. He had experimented with using the bones and the hide in his crafting. This flesh was the same, only it lacked something now that it used to have before. Probably the greater will of Hastur behind it, now there was only a remnant. Regardless, Ryun knew that Essence well enough. His attack curved through the air and then hit its target and the technique triggered, to Ryun’s sight a blast expanded, though, he knew that otherwise it would be invisible. Oblivion spread through the Essences of Air and hit the monster’s flesh, consuming only it and nothing else. He saw and sensed the surface layers of the General’s head disintegrating in an instant. The General could’ve had powerful meaning, but before so much stats it was irrelevant.

He channeled his {Twilight Cutting Flicker} and with two fingers extended cut across the battlefield in front of him. He kept his Oblivion Aura stretched just enough to cover only monster part of the army, and since it served as his range, his technique stopped at its outer edge. His Qi supply dipped, but everything in a 90-degree angle in front of him was hit. The tall monsters toppled as he cut their legs off, some that crawled across the ground survived, but most got cut in half, enough that many died. He felt his stats dip down.

Ryun moved, dashing forward to get in range of more monsters and keep his stats high. The ground beneath him cracked and he broke the sound barrier, sending a shockwave that shook all monsters that were near enough. He felt both his and Selia’s surprise at that, but then he arrived. His control was great, but he was surprised at how fast he moved, enough so that he crashed through a monster. It exploded against his armor, splattered all over, leaving him covered in gore. The shockwave of his arrival killed another dozen around him. He grimaced as he felt his healing kick in. His body rocked against his armor… he damaged himself. With a bit more control, he swiped his hand to his side again cutting another swath of monsters down. He swiped across a short General, but its skin only flickered when Ryun’s technique touched it. He frowned and through their bond he knew what Selia had noticed from above. There were two Generals, the short human sized one looked like a hunched over beast, while behind it and outside or Ryun’s vision was an even smaller General who was just a floating eye. Selia had seen it use something on the first General to protect it.

A dozen disturbances were the only warning that more monsters had blinked behind him, but he didn’t turn. He kept his attention forward where a the hunched over General pointed its arms at him and fired beams of black energy. Ryun shaped a wall of Oblivion Qi that devoured the beam when it touched it. Behind him sixteen monsters jumped at him, their claws extended and each ready to continue if the one in front faltered. Spears fell from the sky and killed them mid their leaps.

Ryun pointed his focus and fired a technique through it, the second of the fight. He General blocked with its arms, and its skin flickered again. Ryun narrowed his eyes, then moved most of his stats to wisdom. What was just a moment before a couple hundred thousand wisdom, was now close to half a million. He pointed his hand again as the General charged across the ground at him, and then he fired.

The third instance of his technique used through his focus; it increased the effectiveness of the technique by 600%. It hit the General and cut through it, the narrow beam of Oblivion pierced its chest and everything that was behind it. Ryun swiped, cutting apart more enemies. The second General had avoided his attack, but whatever had hidden it from his senses before no longer provided the same protection. Spears came from up high and a sphere with hexagonal plates appeared around it, protecting it.

Ryun channeled his technique again, but the tiny General turned in his direction. Its body flashed and from the pupil of its eye it fired a beam of Essence. Ryun was so surprised that he didn’t react, and with all his stats in wisdom he probably wouldn’t have gotten out of the way in time anyway. He switched his technique and put out a wall of Oblivion in front of him, the beam hit and went straight through as if it wasn’t even there. The beam hit Ryun in the chest and sent him flying back, pushing him into the ground as his armor disintegrated on impact point, his body held for a bit, but then it too faltered and the attack cut through him, then it swiped and cut his torso in half along with his arms at the elbow.

The General fired another beam, but this time a shield construct materialized in front of Ryun, the Essence shining with power and vitality to Ryun’s eyes. Selia was raining fire down on the General as it started to fire back up at her now.

That had been his attack, his {Twilight Cutting Flicker} more powerful than when he had used it. Quickly, Ryun shifted his stats, putting more into vitality and regenerated his lower half. A monster jumped at him and on reflex he swiped his hand. He splattered the monster with pure strength alone and exploded his arm. He grimaced and healed it back up. He moved his Qi and used {Field of Twilight’s Calm} around him creating a spherical shield, then pulled out and equipped other copies of his armor, focus and rings. With the time he bought himself, he leveled out his stats again and put a bit more in wisdom.

He felt Selia’s pain and immediately moved. Through their bond he knew that the General had grazed her with his attack. He ran, the ground and the air, shaking from his passage as spears fell from the sky to kill any monster that would impede his path.

The General turned, its eye flashed and Ryun switched his stats into strength and dexterity then dodged with |Pouncing Rush| and used Wolf Claws. The world shook from the speed and strength of his passage. He reached the General, the territories Essence screaming around him as he put his will into the claws made out of Oblivion. He pulled back his aura to be just around him and the General, then he pushed its intensity up, focusing it on destroying the General. He swiped at the it with |Perfect Cut: My Foes, Torn Asunder|, not willing to give it any more of his Qi to use.

Its shield appeared, and held Ryun at bay for a moment, but with his aura and skill it didn’t hold for long, his claws sunk in. A large spear came from above and it pierced the shield and the General through the center mass. The shield disappeared and Ryun’s attack went through tearing the rest of the General to pieces.

The monsters around were firing attacks at him, but Selia’s spears were killing them before they could concentrate. Both of them felt their stats get lowered, the enemy was increasing the distance around them. Together they made a decision.

Ryun changed, his body grew as he turned into the Wolf of the End and Selia grew an additional set of horns as her skin turned a different hue as she too entered her own Evolved Form—Lindwurmar Paragon. Their stats increased as did their power.

He expanded and decreased the intensity of his aura, then felt at the army around them. They had killed hundreds of thousands with their attacks, but there were more coming. The enemy was pulling their forces here, focusing on them, they understood the threat.

Attacks started coming in from far away, and Ryun sensed their origin. Taken were firing from the back of a massive General—that looked like a wriggling mess of tendrils, mouths, and eyes, crawling on the ground. It had a large head and elongated body, though its body was only a mouth. It had an open space on its back where the taken were standing. It might be a crawler, but it was moving fast, and was coming his way. Ryun ran on all four legs at them, spears intercepting any monster in his path again. He opened his mouth and fired a flicker, which was blocked by someone, deflecting it into the sky. As Ryun got closer, more monsters came into range, and his stats increased again, Selia followed above him, and flying monsters were heading in their direction giving them even more stats.

The taken and the General fired at him, abilities that sent large spinning axes in his direction, homing lances of white fire, he cast his technique and blocked what he could, the rest he let hit his armor. Then, the General released a sonic attack that Ryun grimaced at and dodged. He knew that such attacks were his weakness, and he wasn’t about to make the same mistake again. His stats and speed were so high that the enemy was having a hard time hitting him as he ran. He didn’t take to the skies, it would let the enemy focus all their power up, while this way they split their focus. Besides, on the ground he could use monsters as cover.

He reached the General and the taken jumped from its back. He focused and prepared a {Final End} then unleashed it point blank at the General, focusing his intent on the Essence that it was made of. The monsters in range around him just disappeared. The General didn’t suffer the same fate, the surface layers of its hide started peeling off, leaving gaping open mouths with sharp teeth now covered in black blood. The flesh peeled back too, but before his attack could penetrate deeper, every mouth on its body opened up and screamed. It unleashed a sonic attack that rocked him. It penetrated his armor and bounced inside of it, shattering his body a hundred times in a moment. He roared and fell to the ground on his side. He was healing, his Qi dropping fast, his immunity kicked in and some of the vibrations stopped injuring him or were just lessened, but there was just too many.

His head went blank, and he pushed all his stats into his vitality and focused his willpower on |Greater Restoration| and healing through the damage. He felt tendrils grab him and try to squeeze and crush his armor. Through his bond with Selia he felt her coming from up high, she fell on top of the General with a hundred spears that detonated against it. She hit it and used her technique the fire and blood scattered by the detonation pulled back into a sphere around her, and the pressed onto the General from above. Her body erupted in liquid flames, and she shaped them into spears that pierced through the wounds that Ryun had made, burrowing deep into the General before exploding. The sonic attack ended, and Ryun focused on his armor, saw that it still worked, then activated Last Will of Kha Yu. The General was flattened against the ground, and he stood, his wounds healing to full rapidly. He put a paw on top of the monster, focused on the ring on one of his fingers beneath his armor and switched the copy with the original.

He activated the stored damage from the Ring of Full Reflection. The General’s body bulged and then exploded as it mimicked the damage that he had suffered when he stored it. It was Tali’s strongest attack, which burrowed Sky Essence into his body and then violently expanded it.

With the General dead, some of the enemy forces were maneuvering, trying to move away from them, he could feel his stats going down. Ryun and Selia exchanged looks and communicated without a word through their bond. They turned toward the enemy and went after them.