Sweat pooled down Phillip's brow as he clasped his hands against the cold metal doors, keeping the passage sealed. Every few seconds, a powerful impact sent tremors down his arms, and he was struggling to maintain the essence reinforcement on the metallic barrier. Thankfully, his talent allowed him to at least partially deflect the force of the impacts, but he didn't believe he'd be able to keep it up for too long.
Behind him, Theodore was crouched next to a wounded guard. The guard, a man in his late thirties, clutched his side as it bled profusely, a massive bloody gash stretching from his navel and all the way to the back of his hip, nearly cutting his spine in half. Outside the passage, the other guard lay dead, having been bisected at the waist.
Behind them, Jacob, Rachel, and Karen stood, discussing the situation and planning their next move.
It hadn't been even fifteen minutes since a panicked guard ran up to them to report the terrorist attack. When they heard what was happening, they rushed to the passage leading back to the gorel realm.
They arrived just in time to spot a grievously wounded guard closing the door in the second lobby as four figures wearing black cloaks stood right outside the passage, one of them launching attacks at the man.
Ever since then, Phillip had been doing his best to maintain the integrity of the door the terrorists were trying to tear down. Their attacks weren't too powerful. But that only made the situation that much more serious.
Their enemy was methodically assaulting the barrier, reserving their energy while rhythmically wearing Phillip down with time. Jacob's party didn't have too long before they would be forced into a fight, and the more time passed, the worse Phillip's condition would be as they started the assault.
Theodore poured every bit of essence into his holy affinity, drowning the severe gash in the guard's side, trying desperately to help it seal. He cast Heal repeatedly, trying to make progress, but the situation was desperate.
The way things were looking, he would also be weakened when they started the fight.
Every affinity that had access to healing spells healed differently. Water could prevent, or even entirely stop bleeding, and it could significantly accelerate long-term natural recovery.
Life could grow tissue back and fuse it together, even reaching a supernatural healing quality at the upper end of power—in some cases, supreme quality, but that could only be self-directed.
Nature drastically sped up natural recovery, cutting weeks of progress to mere minutes.
The holy affinity was special. The healing quality was entirely stuck at supernatural, from the weakest spells to the strongest, but most of the effect was focused on purging foreign essence from the target's body. The man's wound was already pure—and supernatural-quality healing was expensive. Not to mention that Theodore was newly ascended, making all his holy spells stage zero.
Thankfully, they had plenty of healing resources at hand, lessening the burden on their support.
After a few minutes, Theodore dropped down, pulled a handkerchief out of his storage ring, and wiped his sweaty forehead. "He'll live," he said, shaking his head. "I can't keep this up if you want me to help in the fight."
"You did well," Jacob said. "What's your name?" he asked the wounded man.
"I'm..." He winced at the pain as he spoke. "My name's James."
"What's your talent and affinities?"
"I... I have enhanced strength," the man said. "And my affinity is air."
Jacob sighed. "Close your eyes and rest," he told the man, deducing that the guard wouldn't be of any help against their enemy, not in his current state.
"Thank you, sir," the man said as if he'd been waiting for permission, and he promptly passed out.
"So!" Jacob shouted, clapping his hands together. "Do we let the nerd pass out from exhaustion or fight back immediately?"
"I can buy you ten more minutes," Phillip said, gritting his teeth. "I think we need at least that much for Theo to recover."
"Make that five," said Theodore as he popped a pill. "I'll be deadweight if you can't protect me. I have enough essence for a Holy Blessing to get you back up to speed."
"I'd appreciate that, but..." Phillip shifted his legs, bracing himself harder against the next attack. "Save that for Jacob," he said. "I'd rather take a hit than—"
"No," Jacob said, denying him. "Give the blessing to Karen."
"What?" shouted Rachel, seemingly insulted at the suggestion. "Uhm... I'm sorry, but like..." She looked at the curly-haired woman, glancing at the saber at her waist. "No offense, by the way, but, uh..." She turned back to Santorio. "She's new to the team. I trust you with the blessing more than I do her."
"Rachel..." Jacob sighed. "Do me a favor and shut the fuck up." He massaged his neck, relieving some tension. "She's both more skilled and powerful than I am," he admitted. "Besides, I think I have a good plan for what to do."
Everyone in the room focused on him.
For all the man's shortcomings, Jacob was an excellent strategist. The man was a born leader, and even though he was a colossal prick, he never let his nasty personality or pride put his party in danger.
First, he asked Theodore for an assessment of their enemy. Even though they had seen their opponents briefly, Theodore had collected an impressive amount of information. "Four were visible, but the way they were positioned indicated the presence of a secondary ranged attacker, likely hidden somewhere in the canopy," he deduced.
The ice caster didn't hesitate, preparing to execute him on the spot, but a brief flash of light blinded them at the right moment, allowing Jacob to throw a quick fireball at their legs. The figure screamed in a woman's voice as Karen dashed at her, propelling herself on a single foot as a flawless saber swing decapitated her opponent.
The water-affinity martial artist was the only person left standing, and seeing his comrades defeated, he turned around to run.
A second later, a Piercing Beam fired from Theodore's palm, but the man dodged with insane reflexes, teleporting forward before the ability could touch him. But just as he reappeared a mere three meters away, Rachel, bathed in blood from head to toe, rose from his shadow.
From her left arm, a thick chain of darkness appeared and whipped around the man's neck, and she pulled back with all her strength as she punched a katar of blood right into his back, penetrating through his rigid body just deeply enough to reach his heart.
The man broke the chain with a Flowing Strike punch and teleported forward again, but a few seconds later, his steps slowed as he tumbled to the ground, dead.
A deathly silence descended upon them, but nobody dropped their guard.
Jacob and Karen had suffered debilitating injuries.
Rachel had lost tons of blood, but her blood affinity ensured she had plenty to spare. Most of her skin had been lacerated by thorns from her confrontation with the figure hiding in the trees. "Fuck me," she said. "Who the hell were these freaks!?"
Jacob took a deep breath.
Theodore tumbled forward, looking quite exhausted. The man had consumed a lot of essence. Usually, this wouldn't leave someone in such a condition. But the holy affinity was different. Both the light and holy affinities came with massive strengths and weaknesses.
As for the holy affinity, it had, by far, the most tremendous backlash among all common affinities. Using Holy Blessing twice in a single day and healing that guard had wrecked his body, and the quick and dirty method through which he replenished his essence wasn't helping either.
Jacob pushed himself off the ground, wincing at the numerous bruises scattered around his body. "We're in no state to go anywhere," he said. "Go back into the intermediate realm lobby. Phillip, wall the passage off as best as you can...
"I have a feeling we have a lot more work to do."
***
Latent aura was the most critical resource for securing long-term growth. The best way to acquire more latent aura was to embrace risk. However, not all risk was equal. And not all risk mattered the same.
For example, fighting a more powerful opponent was excellent. On the other hand, fighting an opponent of the same or similar power while there was a risk that a more powerful opponent might appear... wasn't particularly impactful.
Uncontrollable and unpredictable outside variables didn't matter because they were no indicator of skill or good decision-making—they were entirely dependent on pure luck.
The Netherecho in the interspace was an excellent example of such an environment. There was constantly a risk that a powerful remnant or spirit would just pop up out of nowhere and obliterate an archhuman's projection, and, often enough, they could attack from entirely outside their range of view, making reacting to the threat almost impossible.
Or, even worse, the threat could simply pop out of the ground. Sentient ether constructs could move through obstacles in the Netherecho.
Freddy had often used Bloodshed to help in the Netherecho, but it had never been an exceptionally reliable way to grow his star.
Well... not until Sophia came in.
He didn't necessarily feel stupid for failing to recognize Bloodshed's utility, but damn was he humbled by Sophia's wisdom.
Their projections stood side by side, his blue reaper holding a massive scythe as her projection took the form of a... princess? It was a small, doll-like projection wearing a fluffy pink dress, and her golden hair draped over one eye, covering it entirely, while her second eye was a massive, crazed orb of purple with small veins along the edges.
And her soul construct... while his was quite peculiar, hers was beyond bizarre. She had four fleshy tentacles growing out of her back—two hung above her shoulders while the other pair went around her waist, almost looking like freaky spider legs.
These tentacles could stretch far and exhibit quite a bit of power. Their unique ability was Bind. If she used it, all four tentacles would wrap around her target, making them an excellent way to restrain foes.
The two of them looked on as Bloodshed pummeled the head of what looked like a friendly earthen bear as it begged for mercy.
The plan was simple—the spirit would scout the Netherecho in the immediate area, making sure that no threats were lurking nearby. Then it would drag a remnant over to them, placing it in the middle of an improvised arena. It would assault the remnant long enough to reveal how it fought and to show if it had any special ways to attack.
This way, both outside interference and hidden powers were utterly ruled out of the equation, making their confrontation with the remnant a function of pure skill and strategy.
It was such a simple yet brilliant way to accumulate latent aura. It irked him, but he had to admit that she knew what she was doing. Granted, it was still quite dangerous, but with Bloodshed nearby, the odds of either of them dying to their foe were much lower than they would be otherwise. That did impact the reward in latent aura, but not enough to justify going against such creatures without insurance.
As Bloodshed finished the scouting and cleaning, it dragged forth their first opponent. It was a massive, hunched figure of black, flaky skin, taking the form of a dog-like creature that stood on two legs. Both its jaws and claws were a forest of sharp, fragmented spikes, and its wild attacks could even lightly damage Bloodshed itself.
Freddy winced. "By the way," he started, facing Sophia's projection. "How long do you think we should go at this?"
Her mouth widened into a creepy, wicked, toothy grin. "As far as it can take us, of course. Now, let's begin."