[Psychokinetic] Eyeball Pulling - Chapter 134 (Patreon)

Why does it have to be zombies… And I need to get close to them. Astrid groaned as she took another step back. They were approaching. Slowly.

Level ??? - Mushroom Blighted Soldier
Level ??? - Zombie
Level 104 - Fervent Squirrel

Astrid sighed in relief. Without waiting, she bolted to the side where the zombies weren’t approaching from.

However, the squirrels were lightning fast. Much like the ent warriors, they had vivid pink eyes, and spots on its fur to match. Their fur looked almost velvet, Astrid could only imagine how soft they were to the touch. They would have looked like pets if it wasn’t for the razor-sharp claws that seemed to glow an ethereal light.

The murder fluffs reached Astrid in only a second.

She wasn’t that confident in dealing with these monsters with only her sword skills and her matter control, Astrid didn’t even have a damaging Skill for her sword which only exemplified that feeling. But, as a warrior of Sinwen, she just had to make do with the situation she was given and come out on top.

But they’re fluffy… Astrid grit her teeth as the fluffy murder machine leapt toward her.

Taking a side-step, Astrid swung her blade in a wide arc as the blade sliced straight through the squirrel. Blood and guts spilled, but Astrid wasn’t happy. Even cutting through a frail squirrel was a chore without having the momentum of [Crash] to help her sword.

It seemed that just relying on her stats wasn’t the most optimal way of dealing with the monsters, but that's the only method she had right now.

With one dead, two more replaced it as a frenzied look appeared within their eyes. They leapt up and swung their claws in mid-air. Mana of pale blue shot out from the claws as it tore straight for Astrid’s throat.

Dodging to the side, Astrid sprinted behind the tree. She was about to use Psych Domain to figure out where they were going to pop out from, but it was instantly cancelled.

Swearing, Astrid was about to move again when she heard something rapid come from above. Whipping her head up, a squirrel sprinted straight for her and with a swipe of its claws, it shot a blade straight for her head.

Astrid dodged the majority of the attack, but she felt a hot sensation tear into her shoulder, only to be stopped by her voidbent bones. The impact made her stumble forward, but she used the force to sprint forward, out of the range of another incoming attack from the second squirrel.

Her mind was working overtime to think of a solution, until it wondered to something that she didn’t like. With the idea in her thoughts, she wasted no time and bolted straight for the cluster of zombies that were languidly approaching her.

Dodging another blade, it continued past where her body used to be and sliced straight through a zombie with a thud, before the one behind it stopped the magical attack. It looked like the zombies bodies weren’t of the decomposed kind, rather, their bodies looked like hardened leather.

Astrid shot straight into the crowd of undead as she used her speed advantage to dodge all their attacks. It was chaos. The squirrels' attacks tore through the zombies bodies, the zombies ended up attacking each other as if they were in a lucid dream.

Minutes passed and Astrid’s hopeful plan had come to fruition, it seemed the squirrels couldn’t use those mana infused attacks for very long.

As soon as spectral claw’s ended, Astrid emerged from the crowd of undead like a bullet fired from a barrel and shot straight for the squirrels.

One attempted to leap up into the tree, but having just fired its attack, it seemed to be too tired. Astrid didn’t give the beast a moment of respite as her sword cleaved the murder fluff in two.

The other squirrel used its friend as a distraction and scarpered up a tree. But Astrid wouldn’t let it get away. Astrid bolted toward the tree, then leapt up with a mighty jump. The beast attempted to dodge, but it was too weak. The golden haired female’s sword pierced straight through its neck.

Astrid landed with a thud and quickly dodged an attack that screamed straight for her heart. Rolling on the ground, she sprinted into the distance.

A mushroom blighted warrior chased her. It was a humanoid figure, just like the tree ent warriors she had faced before, but these ones had mushrooms growing from their head. As if spores had sprouted from their very brains.

She hoped to be able to gain some distance to try and figure out the psychic cancelling problem, but the mushroom warriors didn’t plan on giving her time to accomplish it. The monster attacked, and Astrid dodged–barely. Its stats were obviously far higher than the ent warrior she had faced before, to the point where she wasn’t even able to counter-attack.

All her focus was on defence.

As Astrid moved along the cave, the other monsters sprouted into action, but instead of posing a threat to her, they seemed to deem the mushroom soldier as a bigger threat. Their attacks caused the soldier to half its movement. It gave Astrid a couple seconds to look around once more.

In the distance loomed a huge mushroom that was more akin to a tree. A pink haze sprouted out from its cap now and then, causing the particles to shoot up in the air as the draft brought it throughout the entire cave.

That must be it. Astrid’s eyes widened as she shot straight for it.

She wasn’t sure if the monsters understood her intentions, but their attention moved from the invading soldier, to Astrid.

The air around her surged as the soldier blasted toward her. Its scythe-like weapon cleaved straight for her as she barely stepped to the side. Gritting her teeth, she snapped her leg forward with her matter infused body and slammed it against its chest.

It sent her backwards, only for a spectral blade to fire straight against her chest. Blood splashed. Her bones rattled at the impact. The remnants of the blade gouged out a deep wound within her face as she growled, and cranked the mana within her body to the maximum.

From the kick, and the blade impacting against her bones, it helped her close the distance to the mushroom.

Sprinting straight for it, she swung her blade in a wide arc with all the strength in her muscles. The blade entered the stalk, and unlike a tree’s bark, the mushroom trunk was soft. Astrid’s blade sliced straight through the mushroom stalk, and continued out to the other end.

The moment the massive mushroom was chopped from the base, Astrid’s psychic mana surged like a stormy ocean wave. The monster approached her like a raging stampede, but she wasn’t afraid.

Her hair rose as if static electricity coursed throughout every single strand of gold.

Astrid [Crashed] the matter in front of the monsters before they could even use their psychic cancelling Skill. Because she had used it so fast, it wasn’t able to reach its full destructive capabilities, but it was enough for her.

Feeling the hot liquid streaming down her chest and face, she first closed the wounds with her matter control. A raging inferno bubbled within her stomach as her strange pupils flared. Astrid bolted forward. Now she was confident.

[Crashing] the matter behind her blade, it cleaved straight through the mushrooms that were adorned onto the soldiers head. It screamed in pain as the fungi plopped to the ground. It seemed to have a great effect on the monster as it fell to its knees and held its skull–or brain. The soft tissue where the mushrooms were growing out from began squirming, as if in agony.

Astrid had no desire to see what would happen and [Crashed] the inside of its skull, sending blood and bone scattering in the vicinity. Then, she instantly put up her Mind Barrier as an incoming pinkish blade tore into her barrier.

Unlike the brain moles, or the tree ent warriors, it didn’t completely shatter her shield, but instead she could feel the increased damage against her psychic barrier. The squirrels obviously didn’t have a very high power level, so the fact that it dealt so much damage to her barrier was a testament to its anti-psychic Skill.

Now, Astrid went on the offensive. Every swing of her sword was designed to kill. Those who were slow to react almost had their heads blown off with [Crash], while the higher Levelled ones were just able to cancel her Skill as they timed it perfectly.

It didn’t matter much to her, for they were still destined to die. Whether it was one attack, or two, it made no difference. They still died.

She tried attacking the mushroom soldier’s body, but she quickly realised just how strong they were if she didn’t aim for their weakness. Her sword was barely able to cut through their flesh, let alone their empowered bones.

They must have a tank Skill. Astrid thought. Although of course, the Skill didn’t work against the mushrooms on top of its head. It did try and defend them, but Astrid was too slippery, and crafty.

Astrid also realised something else. Not all of them had the instant cancel ability like the tree ents. They still had it, but it had a huge drawback. It took time to cast. Against Astrid, that spelt their death.

***

Huffing and puffing, Astrid stood on a mound of corpses. It didn’t take long for the natural vegetation to reclaim the bodies as their own. Or perhaps it was the tree kings doing, whatever it was, Astrid began scouring for the exit.

With the mushroom no longer producing those awful psychic cancelling spores, Astrid Levitated instead of hiking through the dense jungle. The last thing she wanted was for her to scrape her leg from a poisoned thorn.

Astrid wasn’t entirely certain she could expel the poison from her bloodstream with Omni-Kinesis, although she should be able to in theory. At the thought, it brought her back to her recently gained Skill Matter Absorption.

She should be able to absorb poison and use it for her own attacks–right? Astrid could just imagine what would happen if that were the case.

Would her psychic mana undergo a poisonous mutation? Or would her blood just become the poison? Although she wasn’t sure what would happen, or what the possibilities would be, she needed to test it all. Even if it wasn’t poison, that still left so many materials to try out. Like wood for instance.

While her mind was busy in thought, she stopped in front of another door. Although this one was enormous. It was as tall as a fishing trawler, and the interlocking roots were as thick as an entire tree trunk.

Big door equals bad. Astrid took a breath.

It was time to check her System. She had levelled up after all.