241 Ming Bae Ki's Freedom II : She's Free

I was completely surrounded on all corners, there was no way out from this encirclement of fish men and their smelly breath. Usually I'm not one to resort to brute force and bulldoze my way through all of my obstacles. But what's the point of having supper strength when you can't smash everything to bits like the hulk.

I crouched down, and shot forward, angling my shoulders so that as I moved, I was smashing through bodies. It was like someone threw a bowling ball right into a crowd of fishmen shaped bowling pins. I guess to an onlooker the ensuing carnage would be down right gory and stomach churning. But what can I say, it is, what it is.

Limbs we're crushed and skulls were flattened as I worked my way through the seemingly endless crowds of Sahagin. I really didn't get for finesse as I smashed, punched, kicked and head-butted all of them into oblivion. I was obviously in a hurry, I needed to get this done, so that I could get home to Cassiel and Michael. Maybe it was just a case of new dad syndrome, but I really didn't like being far away from them, plus their mother has been really weird these past few days.

I continued my rapid onslaught, killing the Sahagin soul beasts in drives as I kept moving, moving around like some sort of lawn mower and cutting them down to size...…or death. But there really was no end to them, there was more and more and more until finally.

SLAP! OOOF!

I really didn't see that coming, not one bit. A massive fin has stretched out of the sea of storms, and brought my straight forward annihilation of the aqua sapiens to a halt. And while the fin looked badly mangled, as it had stopped a veritable, humanoid bullet in it's tracks, I was not in a good shape either, because that slap actually stung. So without a doubt, this new player must boat loads stronger than the simple fishmen here.

There was a crackle and a loud thud as the hulking form of a Sahagin showed up in front of me. This dude was not just big, he was the size of a great whale, and his body was ripped with muscles that would make the hulk green with envy...…well greener than usual.

"Dieeeeeeeee intruderrrrrrr!"

"Seriously? I don't have time for this."

I raised my hand up, and began to draw on most of the soul energy I had absorbed from the other smaller Sahagins.Then I pointed it at the bigger one, slowly gathering and building the energy at the tip of my fingers. And then I just released it.

ZAaaaaaaNG!

It was like the sound of electricity going haywire, and I felt myself vibrate in tandem with it as the beam of grey soul energy shot out of my hands, disintegrating every Sahagin in sight to dust. I blinked in surprise, but it seems my troubles were not at an end as more whale sized Sahagins showed up in front of me, and each and everyone of them looked seriously pissed. Well I guess it's time I got serious.

The mechanics of every rune circle worked roughly the same way. Once you come in here, it would only be with your soul form, a complete manifestation and representation of your consciousness. And it would mirror your real body, down to your strengths. The only thing missing would be your skills or any sort of ability. Which means all you have is your body and fighting skills to rely on and get through it.

But once you start killing whatever soul beast invests a rune circle, you would absorb the soul energy that they're made of. And once you do absorb the soul energy, you become stronger, faster, and more resilient. You then become capable of manipulating and using the soul energy you absorbed to attack. But the real advantage comes from the fact that you could literally shape reality in this place.

But there's a restriction to that as well, making things from thin air, like swords or shields and maybe guns won't take much concentration and soul energy because of how small they are. But without sufficient soul energy, and you try to make something like a Humvee or a fighter jet, you're probably going to implode your soul form, and end up a vegetable for the rest of your life, which wouldn't be long as the body and spirit won't last long without the soul.

I called forth a sword and shield, twirled the sword around a bit, and then shot forward towards the closest Whale Sahagin. I was too fast for it to put up any sort of defense, so I sliced through it's thick neck with ease. But the action of beheading it, slowed my moment down, and another Sahagin sent its giant forearm flying in my direction, the fins on the back of it, glinting like metal,as it's sharp edge sliced towards me.

I raised my shield up just in time, and a shower of sparks rose up from the point of contact. The power behind the hit, pushed me backwards towards the wall of storms, putting me in real danger. But it seems the Sahagins wanted to kill me themselves as another one sent his house all falling on my airborne form, probably hoping to flatten me like a pancake.

Since I was without my aura in this place, manipulating the gravity around me was not something I could do. I mean I could try with the soul energy, but it might not work. So instead I just took a straight forward method. I coated my sword with soul energy, letting it build, and then pushed upwards towards the massive palm that was now falling on my head. The sword released a beam of light with a boom, that brought my current course to a halt, and sent me hurtling to the ground.

The beam of light blew the huge hand to dust, and went on to vaporized the head of the Sahagin who owned the palm. I flipped my falling body in the air, and landed with a loud boom, creating a crater where I stood. But I didn't just stand there, as I shot forward narrowly dodging being stomped by another Sahagin, I swung my sword down, releasing another energy beam that completely bifurcated three Sahagins standing in line in front of me.

Using the same momentum, I turned, covering the surface of my shield with soul energy as I slammed it into the falling foot of another Sahagin. There was a loud boom as I was pushed back a bit, my leg skidding across the ground, while the Sahagin fell backwards onto a couple of his comrades, bringing themselves down in a tangle of fishmen bodies and dislodged scales.

I pressed my advantage, running towards the heap of giant Sahagins and took a leap upwards, using my soul energy on my foot as a propellant, and then when I got high enough that all the Sahagins we're nothing more than just simple specks in my eyes, I angled my body, and came falling down, moving like a meteorite that was slowly gaining speed as it approached the ground.

BOOOM!

I added my soul energy into the mix, breaking the sound barrier as I dissolved my sword and shield, and placed both palms in front of my face. Then I gathered every speck of soul energy in my body right now, pushing it towards my palm as I came down like a nuclear warhead.

KA-BOOOM!

Mushroom clouds are awesome, but something even more awesome are blast waves that spread out like the ripple of a lake, turning everything within its path to dust. I guess you could say I really did release the force of a nuclear energy, one that spread out across the entire world of the rune circle, killing and destroying every giant Sahagin in play on this board.

At first everything went white, and I couldn't see anything. I also had to deal with a wave of dizziness, as I felt a little weak in the knees. I guess that's to be expected, I just used every drop of soul energy with my previous attack. Eventually everything seemed to die down, and there was nothing in sight, no Normal or giant Sahagin themed soul beast around, it looks like they were all dead.

CRACKLE! BOOM! THUD!

"Oh! Come on! Why aren't you all dead?" I asked in anger as I turned around, only to get an armored fist to the face.

Now this one hurt, this one hurt a lot. I flew backwards, crashing on the ground and rolling for a few meters,before I dug my fingers into the pavement below me, stopping my momentum and leaving behind a two meter long claw mark on the ground as I glared at my new assailant.

It wad another Sahagin, dressed in armor, and holding a spear. There was some sort of crown on his head, which means he was probably the big bad boss of all the fishmen I just killed. And judging from the fact that he was the only one standing in front of me, it seems he's the only one left alive.

There was no need to talk to much, I just crouched down and ran towards him, using every speed I could muster. He did the same, moving even faster than me and swinging his spear at my neck. I leaned backwards and got on my knees, hoping to slide past him. But it didn't works out as well as I planned. First of all, there was a rock hard pavement without any sort of traction beneath me, which meant my knees were peeled apart, and I couldn't slide fast enough to dodge the knee strike that ended squarely on my face and threw me backwards again. Fuck the movies, they make it seem so easy, but the truth is they're all liars.

My knees were burning, and I was much too low on soul energy, so evaporating this bastard was out of the question. Either way, I guess I had to beat this bastard the old fashion way. The Sahagin shot towards me, his spear pointed at my chest, I already learnt my lesson about going low, so I shifted to the side, letting the spear pass me by.

The Sahagin gripped it tighter, looking to sweep it into my chest, but I was already prepared for that. As the spear was going past me, I grabbed it's shaft, and threw a punch right at his face. He held on to his spear tightly, so he didn't fly away like I expected. However that was a mistake on his part, it was beyond stupid, to fight me at close quarters, especially when you're unarmed, or partly armed anyway.

The Sahagin whipped his head back towards me, fury etched all over his face as he sliced his forearm fin towards me. But my head had already met the bridge of his nose, as he turned to face to face me. He was stunned, and so I took that opportunity to turn, dragging him and his spear over my head and down to the ground.

The impact forced him to let go of his spear, and almost immediately it dissipated into nothing. Fun fact about the weapons in a rune circle, if they're not created by me, I can't use them. Anyway I returned my focus back to the Sahagin and gave it a swift kick to the midsection. And then I proceeded to stomp all over it's body like I was killing an insect, or something of the sort. Then I took a step back to admire my handiwork.

The Sahagin was beaten black and blue, but given that it's scales and skin were a shade of dark blue and light green, that wasn't exactly accurate. The Sahagin got back up to kneeling position, his hands supporting his body as his head faced down. I guess it's about time I put an end to this.

I ran towards him, jumped, placed my foot at the back of his head and brought it down with all my strength. Stomping and crushing his fishy skull until it became a part of the concrete, splattering brain matter and blood on the ground. Then the world rumbled, shook and vibrated. I couldn't help smiling, thankfully this shit was over.

The world went white, and I felt the same falling sensation I was now very familiar with as I returned to my body. When I opened my eyes, I was standing face to face with a maniacally grinning Baeki.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! FUCK! YESSSSSSS! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Good God! What the fuck did I just let loose.