[Pyschokinetic] Eyeball Pulling - Chapter 225 (Patreon)

A primordial scream followed. Screeching, it sounded like metal plates grinding against each other, then amplified by an order of magnitude.

It happened so fast that Astrid didn’t have time to prepare.

The scream sent a shockwave resounding throughout the town. It fell buildings, crashing them to the floor in a plume of dust. It uprooted trees from the earth and threw them straight toward the camp. When the shockwave struck her, Astrid braced.

Astrid’s ears were bleeding. All she could hear was a sharp ringing in her eardrums. Connecting to her sense of hearing, she cut it off. Silence remained, yet she could feel a deep presence wash over the entire city. No, the entire world.

Instinctively she knew. Her heart sank.

The smoke in the distance was like an enormous flower blooming high into the sky. It almost looked like the stem of the flower had spouted huge thick branches. Then a pair of eyes emerged from the middle of the smoke.

Endless. Terrifying. They signalled the end times. The cloud settled, revealing a monster that was so familiar, Astrid swore she had seen it in her nightmares. And she had. It was the Leviathan.

Scaled feathers were as dark as a night sky without stars. They were so dark that they looked to be dipped into purgatory itself.

A large horn stuck out of its forehead like a powerful lance. Astrid couldn’t see anything else, but something was dropping off the monster's back. They fell in the hundreds, or thousands. Astrid squinted her eyes as more of the dark grey dust settled.

She bit her lip. From Leviathan’s back, Spawn fell. They weren’t weak either. Most of them stood far taller than Astrid as they flailed in mid air. If Astrid wasn’t deaf, she’d be able to hear them crashing onto the ancient concrete roads of Apocrypha.

“Is that?” Rachelle said as she stared at the monster in horror. Her shoulders trembled, unable to move.

Not even an experienced Wayfarer could handle the pressure the Leviathan was radiating.

“It’s the Leviathan.” Daniel locked his gaze on the monster. His hands clenched into fists

Before they could move, lightning crackled against the bubbled walls of Apocrypha. A lightning rod slammed into the body of the Leviathan, moving it ever so slightly. But it would take a whole more to damage the mythical beast.

High in the sky, Lord Sinwen appeared. His face was twisted in fury. And covered in blood. He sent another attack to the Leviathan. He blotted the sky with his formidable magic. Wherever his lightning travelled, it ripped the air as if it was paper.

Then it struck the Leviathan. It screamed once more, but this time Astrid was ready. So was everyone else as they used whatever defensive Skills they had at their disposal. For those who didn’t have them, others were there to help them.

Astrid had created a Mind Barrier around her group, making sure that the sound couldn’t penetrate her shield.

She didn’t know what to do. Astrid didn’t have to wait long to receive an answer. Her mother arrived. Her long brunette hair flowed as if it was weightless. As if mana had imbued each and every strang. She was now covered in a slender armour that was thicker with plated metal in her most vital areas. Her legs had vanished. Not because they were gone, but because they were covered in blazing white flames.

The temperature sharply increased when she arrived.

Her face was covered with worry. But once she spotted Astrid, she sighed in relief. She shot over, grasping Astrid in a mighty bear-hug. She was incredibly strong. Astrid groaned. Her mother stepped back and cupped her dirt ridden hands around Astrid’s face.

“Are you okay?” Her mother asked in worry.

“I’m okay,” Astrid said, unable to keep her eyes off of the cataclysmic ongoing battle. Without a doubt, humanity's strongest were in a fight for their lives.

Lord Sinwen, the high elders of Rebirth, and the eldest sons and daughters of their respective families. Blood filled the air.

“Mum, what do I have to do?” Astrid stripped her attention from the battle and looked at her mother.

“You stay by my side. We need to hurry to Rebirth.” She turned to the hundreds of men and women in the camp. Her voice rose. “We will return to Rebirth. It is our only hope. Everyone with me.”

Leviathan screamed. More buildings fell. Skills of all kinds blotted the skies, making it difficult to distinguish who was winning, or what was losing.

“Where is Noah?” Her mother asked.

“She had to return to Rebirth because of her injuries. She is still recovering,” Astrid said.

Astrid’s mother nodded and turned to face the bubbled wall of Apocrypha. Although Astrid only saw the side of her face, she noticed her mother’s grim expression.

She ran up to the wall, and just as he was about to leave, the bubble solidified. Her mother frowned. She took a step back. She moved faster than Astrid could see. Shifting her weight, her mother snapped her leg to the bubble. The air distorted, and then made contact in a millisecond.

Clang. The flames around her mother’s legs remained on the bubble. But there wasn’t a crack. Not even a dent. The wall was unable to be broken.

Astrid realised the situation she was in and ran forward. If brute force didn’t work, then maybe another method would. She touched the wall and used Disintegration. Nothing happened. Her Skill refused to activate. Astrid stomped the ground as an outlet of her anger.

Everyone realised right when Miss Sinwen couldn’t force her way out of the bubble that their situation was grim.

Astrid’s mother turned on her heels. She was furious. Like a mother hen protecting its egg, she walked to the front of the group. Her fingers twitched. She was thinking about something.

It was a rare display of hesitance that her mother rarely showed. Usually she was so straightforward. If she wanted to attack, she would attack. If a situation required diplomacy, she would already have the resolution in mind.

If there was one thing her mother was, it was quick witted. Even now, her eyes had the answer. But it wasn’t a good one. And that was why she was hesitating.

“What’s the plan, mother?” Kaylan stood next to her. His face was cold.

“We–” Her mother hesitated once more. “We find a way to smash through the bubble walls. If we can’t, then we’ll have to find another way.”

Screeches arrived. It was Spawn. The Internal Engine hiding behind Astrid’s eye roared with life. It grumbled with slaughter. She stepped forward and said, “I’ll deal with the weaker spawn. Mother, please find a way out.”

Her mother nodded. She turned on her heels and began using other attacks against the wall. The others in the camp joined her. Relentless attacks both magical and physical smashed against the bubble with ferocity.

Astrid watched as the spawn arrived in the hundreds. Her eyes didn’t lie. They were huge compared to all the other spawn she had fought with before. Some of them had natural weapons such as bone blades attached to their arms, long, sharp claws and teeth, or they held onto makeshift weapons scavenged from the endless ocean.

Some of them even had tiered equipment. Most likely obtained from other adventurers up on the vast seas. Each one of them was experienced. Astrid could tell because of their eyes. Each one of them had killed before.

There was one in particular that stood out amongst the rest. It didn’t look strong. In fact, it was half the height of any spawn around it. But there was one distinction. All the other spawn refused to stand close to it.

It was a slender humanoid wearing nothing but a loincloth adorned with ears. Human ears. It looked more human than monster. If it wasn’t for the squished nose, webbed hands and feet, fins for hair, and reptilian, fish-like eyes. She would have confused it for a human. But it wasn’t. It reeked of spawn just like the rest of them.

Level ??? - Enhanced Leviathan Offspring.

Astrid sucked in a cold breath. It was Leviathan’s own child.

Astrid attacked.

Starting with the weaker monsters, Astrid flexed her new engine. Her mana gurgled through the powerful Slayer Engine, and it was already funnelled into her container. The energy was so powerful that it acted like static electricity. Her hair floated, and so did her body.

She connected to the matter surrounding them, and simply Crashed it. In an enormous blanketed explosion, the weaker of the spawn were transformed into a red mist. Stray eyeballs floated, while any limbs that managed to survive simply thudded to the floor like chopped up vegetables.

Havel mounted the assault on the offspring. His attacks were fearsome and brutal. He didn’t fear  receiving injury as long as he dealt a blow in turn. For any ordinary being, Havel’s combat method would be a nightmare to face.

But the Leviathan’s offspring was no normal opponent.

It dodged each blazing attack with ease. With simple head movements and impeccable footwork, it stepped out of the way of each attack.

The ranged attackers followed. Because of their incredible accuracy, it didn’t matter if Havel was there or not. They could hit their target while avoiding the berserker.

However, the same scene occurred. The monster dodged everything, ranged attacks and all. Then in a split second, it lashed out its leg, striking Havel directly in the chest.

The mighty berserker was flung backward like a cannonball shot from a cannon. He wasn’t able to control his body as he smashed against the hardened bubble. Blood spewed from his mouth.

Astrid grit her teeth. She readied herself to face the offspring along with her brother when the temperature turned hot. The heat was blistering as Astrd took a step back. Even the flames of Avemoth couldn’t hold a candle to the current temperature that engulfed everyone, and thing, in the surrounding area.

White flames spouted from the earth. Whatever they touched corrupted it into ash until the greenery of the area turned into a land of death.

Astrid turned.

Her mother was engulfed in white flames. It wasn’t just her legs that had vanished, but also the lower halves of her arms. Her eyes had turned into the same hazy white. She moved. No. She teleported in front of the offspring.

By the time she had arrived, her leg was already in the air.

And Leviathan’s offspring no longer had a head. Only a seared mass of flesh remained. Then it fell to the floor.

A shiver ran up Astrid’s spine. She was being watched. Lifting her gaze to the distance, Leviathan looked at her.