Chapter 34: Let's Make This Fast
Tor had left for this spot the moment Luna vanished. He already knew where she'd gone, but from what he understood of her character so far, she wouldn't interfere with this battle one bit.
The Blood Ape had been roaring in deafening rage nonstop, the sound echoing across the barren landscape like thunder trapped in a bottle. It was clear to Tor that the dragon soul he'd seen flying this way earlier had rebuilt itself and possessed the ape's crystallized body. The creature's form glowed with an eerie blue luminescence, frost-like patterns spreading across its massive frame.
Three corpses arrived first, each radiating power that would make seasoned mages retreat. Pale blue light shone from empty eye sockets, illuminating the darkness like ghostly lanterns. The air around them shimmered with residual death energy, thick enough to taste—metallic, cold, wrong.
"Although I'm sure you won't understand," Tor said, making no attempt to take a fighting stance, "let's make this fast. I have an appointment with your boss."
His casual tone cut through the tension like a blade through silk.
Without wasting a second, one corpse raised skeletal hands. Soul-consuming fire coalesced into the shape of a longbow, flames crackling with hunger for living essence. The second corpse summoned something far more dangerous—a bow formed from pure Dark Matter, its surface drinking in light, edges crackling with purple-black energy that made the air itself recoil.
Tor's eyes narrowed slightly. The only reason he recognized Dark Matter was because the Great Elder had once kept some in a trophy case, claiming to have stolen it from an organization even he hadn't known about until a conflict forced their confrontation. Dark Matter was so rare that those who possessed it in the universe could be counted on one hand. It was also violently unstable—if its wielder was weak, it would consume them instead.
Just when Tor thought he'd cataloged the threats, the third corpse drew a cursed sword. Darkness bled from the blade like ink in water, spreading outward until it swallowed all light in the immediate area. Tor's vision dimmed drastically, the world reduced to vague shapes and the sound of his own breathing.
Almost immediately, both archer corpses began firing.
Soul fire and Dark Matter arrows streaked through the blackness at speeds untrained eyes couldn't follow. The projectiles whistled as they tore through air, leaving trails of distorted space and burning essence.
They even have great coordination, Tor thought, watching the synchronized volley close in.
The arrows struck his invisible spatial shield and vanished, absorbed into dimensional pockets. But the corpses increased their fire rate instantly, adapting. Little by little, Dark Matter began eating through the barrier—visible now as parts corroded away like paper turning to ash, edges glowing faint purple where reality itself was being devoured.
Both arrow types began penetrating.
Tor dodged.
Not with panic or urgency, but with the casual precision of someone sidestepping raindrops. His movements were minimal, efficient—head tilt, shoulder rotation, half-step. The arrows screamed past, close enough to ruffle his hair, yet never touching.
The spatial barrier shattered completely.
At that exact instant, the Blood Ape launched itself from its position, trajectory calculated to intercept Tor's evasion path. The creature's crystallized fists came down like falling mountains, soul fire erupting from beneath its weight as it smashed into the ground.
The earth exploded.
Dust billowed outward in a massive cloud, flames dancing through the debris. The impact crater was easily ten meters wide, edges glowing with residual blue fire that refused to die.
"I must confess," Tor's voice drifted from within the settling dust, "that was a bit dangerous."
He stood before the corpse wielding the soul fire bow, completely unharmed, not even winded.
"Now I seem to have adjusted to the dark." His smile was visible even through the cursed sword's shadow—a flash of white teeth, casual and confident. He grabbed the corpse's leather armor before it could react.
The cursed sword wielder was already moving.
It appeared beside Tor in a blur of motion, blade slashing horizontally. A massive wave of cursed energy exploded outward, reality warping in its wake like heat shimmer over hot stone.
Tor blinked.
He reappeared in the air above them, spatial displacement leaving only afterimages. Both archers immediately adjusted, firing upward while spreading apart—covering angles, eliminating escape routes.
Arrows filled the sky.
Tor dodged mid-fall, body twisting impossibly. The projectiles moved at velocities that should have been unavoidable, but none touched him. His trajectory seemed less like falling and more like controlled flight, descending with purpose toward the Blood Ape below.
The possessed creature was building soul fire again, flames coiling around its crystallized fists like living serpents. Its eyes—pure pale blue orbs—tracked Tor with savage intelligence.
The ape threw a punch with everything it had.
Soul fire erupted outward in a wave, scorching the already barren ground, turning sand to glass in an instant.
Tor compressed the space between them.
Impact.
The sound was apocalyptic—a thunderclap mixed with shattering stone and tearing metal. But what struck the ape wasn't just Tor's fist. It was the weight of all the compressed space, gravity multiplied exponentially, pressing down like the hand of a god.
The Blood Ape buckled.
Its crystallized legs cracked audibly, knees bending at wrong angles. The ground beneath it didn't just crater—it collapsed, forming a massive pit that swallowed the creature whole. Fissures radiated outward for hundreds of meters, jagged lines splitting the earth like broken glass.
The cursed sword's darkness still blanketed the area, but the ambient soul fire cast enough flickering light to reveal the devastation.
Both archers stopped firing, uncertainty freezing them mid-draw.
"You dead things shouldn't stop now," Tor said, emerging from the dust cloud, voice calm as ever. "Come at me."
The cursed sword wielder didn't hesitate.
It rushed forward at lightning pace, blade humming with malevolent energy. The other two resumed firing, arrows streaking in from opposite angles—coordinated assault meant to overwhelm.
Tor dodged arrows while the sword corpse closed in, blade techniques flowing with inhuman speed. Each slash released waves of cursed energy that carved trenches in the ground, but Tor slipped through the gaps like water through fingers.
He appeared behind the swordsman.
Roundhouse kick.
The corpse blocked, but the force sent it skidding backward, boots carving furrows in the earth.
Tor immediately broke into a sprint toward the Dark Matter archer. Arrows and sword strikes converged on him from all angles. He wove through the lethal web, each movement perfectly timed, body language reading trajectories before they fully formed.
A roar of pure rage erupted from the crater.
The Blood Ape launched itself out, landing with enough force to create a secondary shockwave. Soul fire consumed everything within a five-meter radius, blue flames licking hungrily at the air. The weaker corpses that had been running toward the battle finally arrived, surrounding Tor in a loose circle.
He could tell that playing around would only make this more annoying.
Tor vanished.
He reappeared directly atop the Dark Matter archer, hand already descending. His fingers closed around its skull and drove it face-first into the ground with crushing force. The impact shattered stone, creating a small crater of its own.
"Devour."
Dark purple mist erupted from the corpse, mingling with pale blue soul energy as both were drawn into Tor's body. The sensation was immediate—raw power flooding his channels, Dark Matter's volatile essence integrating with his spatial mana.
The cursed sword wielder appeared, exploiting what it thought was an opening.
Its blade descended.
CLANG.
The sound was deafening—metal on metal, amplified by sonic shockwaves that radiated outward. The corpses closest to the clash were torn apart by pure acoustic force, bodies shredded before they could react.
"So this is what Dark Matter feels like," Tor murmured.
A black shield wreathed in purple lightning had materialized to block the strike. As Tor looked up at the sword-wielding corpse, his pupils had turned pitch black, purple electricity crackling through the darkness like miniature storms. The air around him distorted, reality bending slightly under the pressure of integrated Dark Matter and spatial mana combined.
The corpse stared at its failed ambush, frozen in what might have been shock if the dead could feel such things.
Tor smiled.