Chapter 58: Rune of Pathfinder
Erik lunged forward. Dust scattered beneath his giant feet. His hand, tightly gripped around the Battle axe he wielded, swung in an unbelievably fast motion.
Seeing this, the Ice Ghost immediately reacted.
A wall of ice manifested between them. Just as the Ghost felt reassured that the axe would not reach it, Erik smirked.
Swish. Swoosh.
"Kuahhhhhhhh!!!"
The ghost screamed in agonizing pain.
Erik, who disappeared from his original position, reappeared from the back of the Ice Ghost. His swing successfully landed, tearing apart the transparent ghost form.
Paw! Stab! Rip!
A punch from his under left hand, followed by a dagger stab from his under right hand left noticeable wounds on the Ghost's back.
Pure golden mana shimmered faintly on the blades and his four fists. The bloodless ghost turned around amidst its own pain. Its' eyes burning with resolve to kill the Titan boy in the most painful way possible.
Erik read those emotions.
No, he felt it on his skin.
But instead of feeling fearful, his smirk deepened.
"You see..." He said.
Woosh.
His axe moved horizontally as he gripped it with his upper two hands. His posture stable, breath calm, eyes steady and his smile…mischievous.
Erik rapidly disappeared and reappeared from different directions, swinging his axe with all his might.
Most of his attacks were blocked.
"You little rat—" an irritated voice bursted from deep within the Ice Ghost.
At that moment as the Ice Ghost was about to summon dozens of ice spears, Erik appeared right in front of it. A few inches away from its face.
"...You are not the only one who can command the winter." He said mischievously.
Crackle. Whoosh. Swish.
The temperature in the already cold land plummeted even further. A profound sensation of natural cold different from the cold ice spells made of mana slowly generated, starting with a lone snowflake.
Woosh!
In an instant the world turned into a vortex of white. A snow storm enveloped both the Ghost and Erik.
Those snowflakes and ice shards as sharp as blades and cold wind as strong as tornadoes were enough to cut one to pieces and freeze them on the spot. This was true winter. The winter that Titans loved so much. They left traces all over the space, dominating the scene in an instant.
"Ahhh! I wish you would just act like a pillar!!!" Erik heard Levana yell after getting hit by the snowy wind as cold as the northern glacier.
"Ahahaha…my bad!" Erik's booming voice was soon swallowed whole by the strom.
"Foolish brat! My cold affinity is too high for you to freeze me to death!" The Ghost's sinister grin did not crumble Erik's mind.
"Is that so?" He merely tilted his head. Teal blue hair fluttered softly in the snowy wind as if the concept of gravity had been nullified.
Whoosh!
Perhaps because of the same pattern, when Erik attempted to slice the Ghost's neck after using his most valuable active skill he gained from his Space attribute, The Ice Ghost easily paired his attack.
"Hmmm~" Erik stepped back immediately, humming rhythmically as if he was carefree from all the worries.
The Ghost's white claws, imbued with Ice attribute mana, slashed past his nose.
If he had been a fraction slower, he would have surely been caught in the counterattack.
Slash. Woosh. Slash.
Erik pressed forward, never losing his carefree smile. He swung again and again. Each slash was fast. It seemed that he gave up on brutal strength to focus on agility.
'Hmm..this is not bad, but I wish there was a way to predict its next move.'
Erik tilted his head, finding it increasingly hard to predict the Ghost's attack and defense moves. It was a high ranking ghost after all. Thus, one of his under arms dissummoned the dagger he held for a while. Soon, one of his runes on his face shimmered golden like a beautiful gathering of fairy dust.
Snap.
His teal blue nails glowed faintly as he snapped his fingers.
The snow storm closed in, wrapping around the lower body of the transparent ghost. Frost settled in, freezing the ghost.
Just as it says, the ghost resisted easily. Physical attacks, paired with ice attributes were things this ghost could ignore as if breathing. But there was always a set time that must be consumed to ignore those actions.
And that was enough for Erik.
Woosh. Swish. Clash.
The series of quick strikes let him circle around the Ghost, just like the rampaging snow storm around them.
And finally, he found an opening.
An opening was a precious opportunity for any kind of warrior. Erik knew it instinctively.
He swung his axe coated with Pure Mana, sure of landing a fatal strike.
…Or so he thought.
Bang!
Erik felt a tremendous impact on his side.
'Huh?' he was momentarily bewildered as he lunged backwards, flying through the snow storm.
Boom!
His back collided with a giant tree.
Crash!
The tree split in half.
"Kugh!" Erik vomited out blue blood.
He could feel blood flushing out from his side too. The wound appeared to be deeper than he imagined.
"Hey! Your Highness! Are you okay?!" Levana spoke in panic as she cut down another Ghost.
She was already overwhelmed by the numbers. Erik had no intention of burdening her with more tasks.
"I'm alright! Focus, Miss Levana!"
"Yes!" Levana tripped, he dagger stabbed a nearby ghost with the sound of a cloth ripping aggressively.
"Pfft." He already knew how clumsy she was and how that clumsiness had benefited her, but seeing it with his eyes, it felt refreshing every time.
"You're laughing? Why? Finally realized your life is futile?"
The Ice Ghost twisted its lips as it approached Erik.
"Who knows…" Erik grinned as he brushed the blood with the back of his hand.
His skill
'What a waste'
He wasted his mana. The wounds he inflicted on the Ghosts were too shallow that he felt his carefree smile falter a little. The other skills he had seemed to be useless in front of a higher ranking ghost as well, making him not even consider activating them.
Erik tried to move. But before he could even get up, the Ice Ghost pounced on him with its sharp claws.
"Dammit! You rat-like bastard!"
It was an instinctive move. Which warrior wouldn't move when seeing death approaching?
Erik reappeared from above. His eyes now held a stone-like determination. Although he felt frustrated that he couldn't use his weapon arts or skills, there was no way he could crumble under a mere Ghost.
Slash!
Just as his axe reached the top of the Ice Ghost's head, it paused.
'huh?'
He barely saw the Ghost's eyes flash red as it punched his guts.
Bam!
His battle axe slipped away from his hands as the ghost was tightly gripping it with its claws. Erik flew away like a rag doll.
'Ah, damn.'
Pow!
Before his body could collide with anything, the ghost, which closely followed him with ease, punched him once again. The impact was enough to change the direction of his fall.
Bam!
Another punch.
Boom!
Another one.
Crash! Paw! Bam!
A relentless amount of punches and kicks persuade Erik like a magnet in a breath's time.
And finally—
Slam!
He clashed on the ground, making a carter.
Blue blood, glittering with silver and golden stars, leaked from many visible wounds. His clothes had been tattered long ago. His original blue skin, clear as a lake, now appeared frozen from several places. White frost, eerily chilly, clung to him like a second skin. It looked painful, so much so one couldn't afford to scream properly.
'As I thought…if only I had a way of knowing where those punches come from'
Erik laid there, his eyes closed. All he could think of was his lack of ability to assess the situation. It was humiliating that he lost his weapon. As a warrior, this was counted as death itself.
Regardless, Erik's still beating heart refused to acknowledge his looming death.
"Hah! Titans are Titans after all. The strongest after the 'Big three'" A sarcastic laughter rang in his ears.
Characteristics of a ghost, Erik could barely detect the approaching ghost. He wanted to stand up and fight, but even opening his eyes seemed challenging. He felt a few of his ribs and bones broken and shattered. The wounds were far too painful to ignore.
Thankfully, his
Erik had gone through countless duels and monster hunting. Moreover, he had even cleared dungeons solo.
But never in his life he felt this kind of crisis.
This kind of looming death.
In that sense, this was his first real battle. Set to fight to death.
It was a 'You die or I die' situation, just as his father once described.
A chill ran down on his spine. Erik shuddered unknowingly. It couldn't be helped. He was young and inexperienced, fighting a death match against a stronger foe.
His earlier carefree and mischievous attitude was his mistake. To be like that, he had to have skills to back him up. And he acknowledged the fact that he was still far from that.
"Damn pest. Die."
Bam! Pow! Rip! Boooom!
Punch after punch, paired with claw attacks, descended upon the young titan without a rest.
"Goddammit, Your Highness!!" Levana shouted from afar, her struggles were evident in her shaking voice.
"Kekekeke!!!" Her voice was soon buried with the sinister laughter of his enemy and the beeping sound ringing in his ears.
The Ice Ghost had the power to finish him in one go. But its punches were slow, deliberate. As if it was toying with him.
"Haah…I can feel it. Your fear, rage, regret and so many negative emotions!" The Ghost whispered in an ecstatic voice. "This is a feast! My powers are growing stronger thanks to you…Kekekeke."
'Ah, so that was it...'
The reason he wasn't dead yet was because he was being treated like a farm animal. The ghost is feeding on his negative emotions.
Erik had nothing to say.
Too painful to even let out a groan, he tightly shut his eyes. He laid there, defenseless, bleeding from head to toe like a lifeless body. Even his regeneration seemed to struggle with the damage he was getting at every second.
Baaam! Paaaw!!
'If only I hadn't taken this too relaxingly.'
Even at his final moments, regret washed over him.
Bam!
'If only I hadn't been too arrogant.'
Pow!
'If only I was capable like my siblings and father.'
Riiiiip!
'If only…I could see a path ahead.'
Crack! Snap!
Just then, something snapped inside of him.
Heat very familiar to him rose inside his body, crashing with the deathly cold frost. It rushed in through his blood and veins. Each blood cell, each nerve gave him an unbearable pain he thought he wouldn't even wish upon his enemies. The heat rampaged inside his body like an uncontrollable storm, The destination of the storm; his forehead. The already miserable pain doubled. He felt like someone was carving something on his forehead with a dull knife.
Ssszzz.
Erik was far too exhausted to even scream. He had no energy to spare on his doubling pain. His mind went hazy.
〖Ding!〗
Another familiar sound cleared his mind a bit.
Erik's long teal blue eyelashes trembling. Tears fell as his heavy eyelids opened.
〖Bloodline ability awakened!〗
〖You have acquired
The ghost's clenched fist rose for another punch to his face as Erik's eyebrows arched up.
The technique, the effects, the correct way to use the Rune— everything came folding into his mind.
The ghost's fist descended. Erik's bloody lips curled upward at the same time.
Boom!
"Huh?" A bewildered sound foolishly escaped the ice ghost's mouth.
It looked at Erik, who had tilted his head slightly to avoid its punch. It frowned in frustration upon seeing his smug smirk once again tugging at his lips.
"Haven't learned any lesson yet, huh? Lucky brat!"
Bam!
This time too, it missed by a narrow margin.
It's face twisted.
"I'll kill you!!!"
Erik saw the white claws wrapped with ice mana rising over the ghost's head.
Before it even descended, he saw a "path".
Not one or two, but several paths in a transparent golden hue.
Time seemed to slow as if a mythical dragon had cast a time control spell. In that time, he read and calculated.
Those fist sized golden lines were "paths" that the ghost could take. Following it meant that the end of it was always aimed at him. Just as he wished, he was now "predicting" the moves the ghost could take to attack him. It was easy to find the correct path in battle.
Furthermore, not only the path where attacks came at him or he could dodge or counterattack those attacks, but also the path where objects and debris go was predictable with a high accuracy of 99.999%.
It was a rune magic similar to the unique bloodline ability any demon was born with.
His eyes flashed as he instantly grasped the path he wanted. Yes, not only could he see the paths of his opponent, he could also see the paths he must choose. The decision came without delay. He curled down at lightning speed.
Boooom!!!
A loud roar of the shattered earth rang, twice as powerful as those earlier punches. The ground groaned under pressure, forming spider webs like cracks.
Erik lifted his head, his smirk had returned. This time with clear confidence.
"I won't die." He whispered softly.
No mischief, no carefree undertone. Just pure resolve to live.
And then…
He vanished.
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