Chapter 38 - LOT - First Rough Draft (Patreon)

Chapter 38 - LOT

The feeling of the silver Time Essence covering his body, allowing him to move through time at a faster speed, was euphoric for Jack. The difference between a world slowed by five times, and a world slowed by twenty four times, was enormous.

If before the movements of the Void Shocker had been extremely fast and dangerous, now they were like a child’s movements.

Jack could perceive the smallest muscles on the behemoth of muscle twitching as it slammed its remaining arm downward, preparing to unleash a devastatingly powerful shockwave. He saw little pieces of shrapnel slow to a crawl through the air, the movements and frantic retreat of various Hunter’s as they sensed the impending explosion slowed to a relaxed pace.

He saw the eyes of the Rank A Hunter that had tried to rescue him, Irone Swift, bunch up as he held his two sabers before him, creating a visible guard. Light blue colored Spirit Energy vibrated out in front of him, creating a powerful barrier that began to stretch, trying to cover his companions.

He saw and processed all of this in an instant, a tiny fraction of a second.

And then he leapt forward.

He felt a certain amount of resistance as his Time Essence clashed with the world around him, forcibly letting him move through time. His eyes gleamed as he glanced at his blade. Once more, the sword was covered with a thick glow of green energy that gradually faded to black.

As he performed the technique once again, a sheen of sweat covered his forehead. Using the Unceasing Strike required an enormous amount of Spirit Energy. His current Spirit Pool had just enough for energy for three uses of the powerful cutting technique. He would only be able to use it one more time after this without resting.

Jack stared intently at the Void Shocker as he arrived in front of it. The anger and hatred in his heart seemed to cool as he paused for the briefest instant, considering the creature before him. It was animalistic, enslaved to serve the Void with no will of its own.

Killing it would be like putting down one of the scaled horses that had suffered irrecoverable injuries from the attack.

SHHK

Jack’s blade sank into the neck of the Shocker, and sliced cleanly through it, encountering only the briefest amount of resistance. He then knocked the head away from the body, preventing it from reattaching.

SHHK

SHHK

Two more slashes sliced off the remaining arm of the shocker, and bisected it, preventing any release of the shockwave it was preparing.

Jack then jumped backwards as he felt the black energy coating his blade fade, his technique used up.

He then released his Slowed State, a feeling of fatigue covering him. Using the Unceasing Strike twice in quick succession required a huge amount of focus, even slowed down, and was hard on his body and mind.

In the real world, only a fraction of a second had passed.

THUD

“Watch out!”

“Careful!”

“Stand under my co-huh?!”

The yells of the various Hunters cut off as they stared forward in shock.

The body of the Void Shocker collapsed, blood and black haze spattering everywhere as it literally fell apart. The trembling energy that had slowly been building up dissipated, the faint reverberations vanishing.

The Rank A Hunter Irone Swift stared at the dead monstrosity in astonishment before turning to look at Jack in shock.

“Did you do this?”

..

“How impressive.” The bronze skinned captain watching in the distance clapped his hands in delight, replacing the spear on his back as he settled down back on top of the wagon.

“Indeed. His attack there was far faster than any of his previous ones. He should have opened with that strike.” By his side, the lean Coroney frowned as he muttered under his breath, resheathing his rapier.

Captain Orin shrugged,

“Perhaps he had a breakthrough under the stress of a life or death fight, it happens. Regardless, he’s definitely a student of one of the Seventeen, and an accomplished one at that, though I don’t recognize him. He’s probably here to visit the Meteor Swordmaster, and participate in the Clan Tournament. We’ll need to inform Guerin.” The spear wielder sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“Things will get complicated if we antagonize them.” He sighed a second time.

“Do we know which Burn Lord we are supposed to target yet, Coroney? Or at least which Captain we are paired with?” He turned to look at the lean man siting next to him.

Coroney shook his head, his dark purple hair drifting in the simmering heat. Orin frowned.

“Damned Guerin and his damned secret plans. Whatever. It matters not. We’ll figure it out live, I suppose.”

Orin turned his eyes to the front of the caravan. Many miles away, in the distance, several large, distinct mountains could be seen. The central mountains that dominated the Magma Lake, where the Forinth Stronghold was located. The most powerful stronghold of the Magma Clan.

“You take one of ours, and that’s fine, Magma Clan.” He smiled, a cold light entering his eyes,

“Just know that in return, we’ll take three of yours.”

..

Many miles distant, a large city sat surrounded by gargantuan walls, nearly 50 meters tall. These thick, grey walls were each more than a dozen meters thick, made of extremely durable Toronite, a special type of heat resistant rock that was extremely dense.

Walls like this were not unseen in the world, thanks specifically to the Earth Raiser Clan, one of the strongest non-Super Clans in the world. Their unique Natural Ability made them extremely valuable workers, and their various creations could be found across all the Continents.

Within this city, Idglebar City, were hundreds of thousands of people, from all across the Roven Continent. The Recruitment Drive and Clan Tournament of the Magma Clan was a massive event, that drew thousands of Hunters and powerful warriors, as well as their families and various onlookers. It was the time when the Magma Clan would show off their younger generation and influence, showing their domain as a Super Clan.

Rival Clans, Allied Clans, subordinate Clans, as well as various powers would all be invited to watch. It was a grand occasion that happened only once every 5 years, showcasing the prestige of the Magma Clan.

The city itself was split into several different sectors. Several very large residence areas, a large marketplace for regular goods, a much smaller marketplace for special goods like rare or powerful Artifacts, highly valuable materials, and other exorbitant objects, and a large sector dedicated solely to Hunters. The zone closest to the Magma Lake was closed off to all but Magma Clan members and their guests, the last zone of the large city.

Currently, in this city a young man with long blonde hair was currently frowning as he looked over a scroll. He sighed, rubbing his eyes in frustration as he put it up, shaking his head ruefully and smiling.

“If only I had more clear information.” Liren muttered, stretching his arms above him.

He was currently inside the Golden Bar Inn, a random inn he had found inside the city to prepare. When their mission was over, they had agreed to meet at the Yellow Tooth Inn, closer to the edge of town, a place he had researched ahead of time. Till then, Liren would avoid all contact with them, just in case.

He grinned at the thought of Jack entering the Yellow Tooth Inn.

The first mission Jack had ever taken with the local Hunter House had been to defeat a Yellow Toothed Hyena. Liren had accompanied Jack on the mission, the two teaming up for their first task. Jack wanted to hunt it alone, but wanted backup with him in case anything unexpected happened. Liren had requested Jack do the same for him.

A Yellow Toothed Hyena wasn’t too powerful a foe, but it had a single unique characteristic that set it apart from other creatures.

It had an extremely shiny and durable yellow tooth. And, if it willed, it could create an enormous flash of light using that tooth, its chief defense mechanism.

Jack had slowly snuck up on the hyena, all prepared to take it by surprise. Unbeknownst to him, however, was that the hyena had extremely sensitive hearing. Their knowledge on Spirit Beasts, back then, had been rather incomplete.

Just as Jack had been about to pounce on the creature, the Hyena had turned around and flashed him.

Jack had been immediately blinded. He had taken it in stride, however, and lunged forward with his sword strike, a powerful green energy launching at where the hyena had been.

He missed, of course.

After missing, however, he had continued to charge forward, hoping to catch the hyena before it left. In fact, Jack had moved so quickly that, by all rights, he should have caught the hyena then and there.

Unfortunately, he didn’t calculate for the gaping whole he left in the ground, nor the shockwave that blasted the hyena away.

“Diiee- AHHHHHHH!”

Liren could still remember his high pitched shriek to this day as Jack had tripped and tumbled head first into the pit.

“Bahahahahahaha.” Liren burst out laughing, falling down onto the bed behind him in the small inn room. He wiped a tear from his eye a few moments later, still grinning.

Poor Jack. He hoped him and his two lads, Bale and Evan, were traveling safely. They should be around halfway to here if they were moving at the speed of a normal caravan, though all the late coming caravans moved pretty quickly.

Their plan would begin soon.

Liren paused, focusing back on the present.

His plan needed to go perfectly. The most important thing right now was retrieving the Space Gauntlet. Once he had that, he would have the power he needed.

As this thought crossed his mind, the ever present smile on face dimmed.

Power.

The only reason his Clan was forced to hide themselves, fleeing at even the sight of other Clans, purely because they lacked the strength to stand up for themselves. His eyes gleamed sharply, the smile fading from his face entirely.

Once he had power, he would fix everything. Every wrong that his clan had suffered he would right.

No matter what it took. No matter the costs. He would achieve his goal. His dream.

Liren’s eye twitched for the briefest second, looking out of the corner of his eye at a point in the sky far above the inn he was staying at.

No matter the cost.

..

A couple hundred meters away, floating in mid air, Lee Hiro, Liren’s uncle, the 5th Grand Knight of the Space Clan Conclave, one of the strongest warriors in the clan, currently stood swearing and cursing his luck.

“Damned brat. Sneaking out here on your own without permission after having me investigate the area. Of course I’d have to follow you.” His body shivered in midair, almost completely invisible. Unless you stood right next to him, you wouldn’t even be able to see the faint distortion that was caused by the unique Space Clan technique.

“I should have informed the council, at the least, or stopped you when you left. Simple escort mission my ass, you didn’t even escort the caravan, you just ran ahead…” He continued to grumble as he floated in space for a few more minutes, glaring down at his unruly nephew.

“Sigh…”