Chapter 269: How about that?

"What exactly did you do to her?"

With the engulfed black energy inside Ned, his body went into a change. His senses enhanced and he felt as though time around him slowed. He could hear spikes of the Kruthiks clanking above the tower against the stones, Katolin's breathing, and his own heartbeat. As the mana around him being siphoned, his muscles stiffened, combusted. After a long while, he relaxed. He needed to grit his teeth in order to lessen the pain that travels his body.

The air around him swirled as though it was an eye of the storm. Suddenly, all came to a halt, silence brewed the air.

"Tch!" Rassus couldn't hold himself but to keep on mocking Ned. "Nothing much. I just blocked her from interfering. Listen hear, Ned."

Rassus paused to let his words sink into Ned.

"You see... she's slowing you down. If you want power, keep her out of you. But... Wait, not now... I guess I'm learning from her a thing or two about you and your history."

"You're invading my privacy now?"

"I can't help it, that's one thing I'm good at and since I'm inside you. Well... How would you say it? Were both compatible. Hah!"

Rassus's laugh reverberated inside Ned's head, so much Ned needed to shake his head.

You wait, Ned thought. You'll leave my body soon.

"Ned?"

Katolin moved beside Ned. Without the smaller beasts, Katolin reached Ned without much of a hustle.

"What's happening to you?" She said, she almost smiled but sensing the ominous aura from Rassus's energy, she took a step back. "Y-you... That energy ain't yours."

Indeed it wasn't. But for now, this power will have to suffice.

Ned nodded then as the sound of spikes coming from above getting louder, he looked up and frowned in dismay having the thought of when will they have to rest.

Ned hissed and said, "We need to leave, now."

Although Prime Evolution has just started to strengthen Ned, they have to move to reach the ruined plaza.

Ned kicked the iron door with his raw strength, its rusty braces bent but the hinges affixed along the wall didn't bulge. Ned had to kick two, three times for its lock to move.

They then left the broken base of the tower as another wave of Kruthiks approached them from above and behind.

Ned spun and conjured a spell to destroy the iron door and to trap the army of the beast inside. This will give them time to reach the ruined plaza.

Ned released the Fireball he just conjured. A black orb of fire boomed to the iron gate. Ned expected his spell to at least threw off some rocks, and make a dent in the thick iron door. To his surprise, his Fireball didn't do just that. After the dust wears off, the iron gate was completely torn to pieces, the walls around it shattered that completely sealed the beasts inside.

That spell would give them much time to prepare. If there was no one expecting them from the plaza.

"What happened?"

Ned frowned at his question. He did kick the iron door three times to open it. But, with his Fireball in black, it only took him one time to do it.

Katolin raised her golden eyebrows, but knowing that Ned was talking to himself, she went quiet. She knew Ned was talking to ICE. But what she does not know was it was Rassus actually. Rassus remained a secret after all.

"Ha!" Rassus cried inside Ned's thoughts. For the time being, he needed to get used to Rassus's voice. "You evolved Prime Evolution and for some reason, your whole body was connected to this system thing that was almost like a gaming mechanics. Who would even do that? Trying to play with your body? They might as well rigging you. Anyway, I'm different, prick. I don't do that kind of thing. I only want from you: become so fucking strong that you could Devour everything."

"Ahhh." Ned hesitated for a moment before speaking to Rassus. "What did you do? That is all I'm asking?"

"Tch!" Rassus hissed. "Having successfully evolved Prime Evolution to level 1 from zero. You, lucky not-so-human get to taste my power. All your spells are now amplified by 10%. Courtesy of my skills that strengthen your body. Also, you can now conjure another element. And as you might have guessed, the closest element next to Fire is Wind. So, hello Wind Spells."

Ned should have been surprised, or happy. But the thought of the Prime Evolution blocking him to use different elements stripped him from smiling so.

"Why not let me use all the elements?"

"Tch!" If Rassus could have a face, his lips hissing and his brows could be raised by now. "I hate your bitchy-controlling-artificial intelligence being, but for one thing she is right—and I repeat, for one thing, she is right to say that your body is weak to handle immense power. How could you fit a ton of immense strength if your body can only handle an ounce of it?"

Ned went quiet. He slowed their ran which prompted Katolin to do the same. Katolin was in her human form and Ned had seen too much that he wasn't bothered anymore by what he was seeing under her. Katolin tagged Ned by the hand and started to run faster.

They were both right. Ned's daily routine. His training and exercises led him to handle two elements at once. So even if the Prime Evolution evolved to the next stronger level but if his body couldn't handle the strength then it would still be useless since they will both block him from using his immense strength.

Outside the tower was filled with different paths that lead to different locations. Some were caverns to their left, to their right were tunnel-like hallways that lead to another underground. But they were going straight ahead. Crystals in white, and blue, and green adorned the walls, and woods were used to brace the tunnels.

There were many different paths, but only one leads to the ruined plaza.

They leaped rocks and shattered pillars. Then proceeds after a series of inclined pavements acting like stairs. The path they were running to were slabs of stones with complex designs of overlapping circles, cascading triangles, and oversized rectangles. The designs were made as though someone was well proficient with digits and vectors.

As the scene around them blurs with their speed, Ned thought that maybe this place, this ruined castle or prison, might once be basked in the sunlight on the surface above.

Three smaller Kruthiks made their way inside the tunnel behind them from the shattered ceilings. Their spikes went past them. But noticing that the three won't stop, Katolin halted and circled Ned to protect him but was tapped by Ned on her shoulder to do otherwise.

It's time to test this, Ned thought with a grin plastered on his lips.

Without ICE's notifications and display, Ned had to feel his current mana. From the Devouring, Ned felt that his mana was half replenished and could only use a dozen of his minor spells.

Ned's memory was filled with different things. Too much, he needed time to remember them all, but once he got what he wanted, the rest of his memory was abandoned immediately. Looking past his memories, Ned found what he wanted. A Wind spell, the lowest of form and tier. Ned chose from dozens of his known spells. Upon deciding what he wanted to use, Ned focused, and with a thought ( not using any gesture, or incantations ) he tried conjured Wind Needles. A spell made of wind element that chose to attack the target precisely on their weak spots using a thin form of wind like needles.

It did nothing, no wind spells, no wind was formed, no mana flowed, no spell was conjured.

"Eh?" Ned shrugged his shoulders.

With the three Kruthiks now in attacking range, Katolin pushed Ned aside and blocked the spikes using her spider-like limb.

"You all right, Ned?" she said over her shoulder while gritting her teeth. Her left knee went down with three of the Kruthiks's spikes she was blocking. Normally, three Kruthiks were not much for her, but due to her using her powers almost to the empty, Katolin was having a hard time with the three of them. "I'll hold them"—her body shuddered while the spikes were overlapping her limb—"here! Please... "

Shit! Ned cursed in his mind. Of course, his old ways of doing spells won't work anymore. Hurriedly, he chose a different kind of spell. The simplest and easy to conjure, and the one he already knew from his current world's standard. Windball.

He raised his hand, gestured, and guided the black energy that flowed to the tips of his fingers. Distortion comes first, followed by the mana transforming to a ball of wind with streaks of black.

To Katolin's side, above her shoulder, Ned released the Wind spell.

Conjuring Wind spells were much faster than conjuring Fire spells in return with less damage. Still, the conjuring time varies on the kind of spells. But conjuring Windball was much faster than conjuring Fireball. the orb of wind traveled with a whistle, and upon reaching the three Kruthiks, the orb of wind hit the one in the middle, then the pressure around it exploded with a pop and the rest of the spell reached the other two.

The explosion wasn't devastating as the one with Fireball, but the effect of it scattering was wider than the Fireball itself.

The Wind spell left slices over the chest of the three Kruthiks. And as the explosion pushed the three backward, their spikes were cut as though a sword passed through them. The three died with their chests wide open, and spikes cut to half along with their brown liquids leaking.

"How about that?" Rassus spoke as though he was grinning.