Chapter 410 - Dangerous beauty (Patreon)

As always, only more questions come to mind. The Beyond trial rewards were always very generous, so being able to enter Beyond for 3 days as a reward is weird. What kind of place is Beyond?

I let kinetic energy flood my body and boost my movement as I jump on the tree and then higher and higher until I land on the top.

The jungle stretches on seemingly forever, and there is nothing else but the forest as far as I can see. No mountains, no lakes, no sea. Just the never-ending forest. And high in the sky, an orange sun that seems to be bigger than the one we have on Earth.

I won’t lie; the view is kinda alien, but it has some kind of raw, dangerous beauty.

Moving a bit lower, I rest against the trunk and while watching a leaf that is as big as me, I think.

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 at the level of Gaiathra.

The gravity pressuring me is also an added complication, but I’m quite used to using kinetic energy to strengthen my body, so this much is fine. I even feel like I’m being lazy because I don’t do any mana shaping exercises Lissandra showed me, but first I need to assess the danger. Playing around is something I can do later.

As if on cue, I feel mana move nearby and the trunk of the tree below me explodes, the tree starts falling down. With a loud cracking noise, the tree as tall as a smaller skyscraper tilts and falls down, its leaves hitting the trees around.

I move and the trunk I was resting against also explodes, splitting the falling piece into two.

Another attack crashes against the barrier I create and throws me to the side where I absorb my inertia and send another pulse, trying to detect the attacker.

Once again, an attack lands nearby and even the second tree explodes and starts falling down.

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

My crown activates and the barrier I create this time easily blocks the attack and I boost my body heading in the direction where I came from.

The attacker changes its attacks and instead, multiple smaller ones shoot at me, each of them insanely fast. One of the attacks even pierces through the barrier, grazing my arm.

They are all extremely compressed air. The smaller ones are very sharp but with limited area of impact, and the stronger ones with an area of impact as big as smaller buildings.

I place multiple anchors and teleport, avoiding the attacks while I continue to fly where they came from.

From below me, some other monster jumps up, a maw as big as a car snapping against me.

A block of kinetic energy sends the huge monster flying and it crashes against the tree where it quickly gets on its four legs and howls before rushing after me.

Something akin to a furless wolf just much bigger?

[Pale Howler - lvl ??]

Ignoring it somewhere behind me and the destroyed trees falling all around, I finally reach the attacker.

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

Seeing me so close, the monster quickly moves. Its elongated and noble feathered form climbs down the tree and coils around it before jumping through the air to another one.

It moves extremely nimbly on its eight legs and its feathered but snake-like head watches me.

This time I bombard it with attacks, mana javelins boosted by kinetic energy tearing pieces off the trees as I keep boosting my body to follow it. A few of my attacks hit it as well, red blood appearing on its white feathers.

I dodge to the side and a compressed air attack tears apart the Pale Howler behind me who kept following and then another attack destroys the trunk of another tree.

An anchor I place explodes into golden flames and the Galeprowler coils into a ball, pushed away by immense wind pressure it creates and then uncoiling and landing on another tree before running.

I teleport through multiple anchors and 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, a dozen attacks crash against it, making my barrier crack and nearly break a few times as I’m forced to use even more compressed mana to power it.

When it finally gives, I boost my body with as much kinetic energy as I can, moving behind the tree that immediately explodes nearly in its entirety, a dozen attacks landing on it.

My eyes activate and I disrupt another wave of attacks.

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

[Galeprowler - lvl ???]

…

A dozen monsters crawl onto the trunks and the one I was following has that almost cheeky expression 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 colors and the noises quieten down, only the monsters surrounding me are important currently.

I can run away, I know that.

An armor surrounds my body and I boost myself with kinetic energy, flying right into the middle of the group. A disruptive wave is sent from me and [Redistribution] slows the monster trying to run away.

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

[You have defeated Galeprowler - lvl 311]

[Lvl 250 > Lvl 251]

Jumping away, its body explodes into feathers and bloody gore under the other attacks.

The monsters mess with my [Tether] but with the help of my eyes, I still place it a few times and reach another monster and tank head-on an attack of compressed air. The bark of the tree under me explodes, the huge branch breaking and falling down.

A blast of kinetic energy tears through another compressed attack and gouges a huge hole into the monster's side. Then the attacks of other monsters hit me, sending me crashing against another tree. But I endure it all, using [Infusion] to make the armor endure it all.

I follow the wounded monster and now, being slower, the javelin as long as I am skewers it and pins it against the tree. The javelin then explodes, tearing the monster in half with a blast of kinetic energy.

[You have defeated Galeprowler - lvl 309]

The speed of the remaining monsters increases and their attacks become more dangerous. They are clearly improvising and changing their strategy to deal with me.

Long slashing cuts, more effort into disrupting my anchors. Even some projections to confuse me. They go into overdrive and move faster, even attacking at melee, some sort of venom dripping out of their fangs and spreading through the air and corroding my barriers.

Even so, I take them on one after another, until the last one remains standing against me in the big patch of destroyed forest.

The monster that attacked me first and lured me here.

It doesn’t try to run away anymore, until the end staying with its group and there is that determined look in its eyes even as it dies pierced by multiple javelins I use to pin it against the tree.

[You have defeated Galeprowler - lvl 314]

Checking my area multiple times I sigh out and rest against the tree.

My wildly beating heart calms down a bit and a sizable chunk of my mana is missing, proof of the fight I went through. That and the wounds currently healing, especially my one blinded eye. It heals slower than usual, most likely caused by the venom in the smoke-like attack they used.

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

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 and radiate as much mana as I can, whips of it tearing the area apart.

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

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

[Mesmerwing- lvl ???]

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

Golden flames surround me but a wave of its wings disrupts them temporarily. The Mesmerwing reaches me, its claws reaching towards me, coated in sickly looking yellow mana.

A thin cone of kinetic energy reverberates the air, and a hole gouges into the monster's chest, throwing it to the side.

It tries to stun me again with that weird mental attack, but finally finding the right frequency, I disrupt the attempt and placing an anchor I reach the monster as it tries to take off.

An armor surrounds my body, making me twice as big and the mana hand of that armor catches the monster's leg, ignoring the talons biting into it.

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

Through the arm I send thermal energy and golden flames envelop the monster as I hold it while it screeches and tries to get away, breaking one of its wings in the process.

A constant stream of mental attacks tries to pierce my defenses but I hold it and swing it again, crashing it against the tree.

When its movements slow down to weak flails I put it down and stomp on its head.

[You have defeated Mesmerwing - lvl 315]

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

This place is different from any other I visited before. The gravity here is much stronger, the air feels different, the flora is huge and the monsters are all of levels high enough to be considered Calamities in one of the earlier floors.

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

How do The Living Tree, The First One, or Fallen Hero of the 4th floor compare to the monsters I just killed? They are all of similar levels, but in some way, the Calamities from the 4th floor feel much stronger. Is it a difference in levels of their skill? The quality of traits, passives, and active skills compared to “normal” monsters around that level?

There is also the possibility the system constantly plays with the levels of the monsters we meet and in reality, they would be much stronger.

I let another Pale Howler reach me, the monster reminding me of a furless wolf, pounces on me and my passive activates. The kinetic energy of that attack is absorbed, passively turned into mana that floods into my reservoir. That mana is already changed to perfectly fit me.

Dodging to the side, I avoid one attack and let the other land while observing the effects. The passive is highly situational and could even be said that it's not that useful currently. Sure, the insane defense against physical attacks is good but not 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, I love the newest addition to my arsenal.

It might take a while but the same as Champion Laten did with thermal energy and the heat of a volcano, I will learn to actively turn my primordial energies into mana. Even the opposite should be possible, turning my mana into my primordial energies anytime I want without relying on my heart which has a limit on how quickly it can do it.

The kinetic energy reverberates around me and pierces a dozen holes into the Pale Howler, tearing pieces of his flesh and the last attack hitting his 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 will be able to stay here and turn it into a private leveling area.