Chapter 284: Ryun

Chapter 284: Ryun

Choices

The monster leapt at him and he shaped six spikes beneath it, letting it impale itself on them. Another dashed forward from his side, but he raised a wall and had spikes grow out of it. The monster smashed into them and killed itself. He was in one of the dungeons given to him. It was a massive cavern, so large that his sense couldnt even register the ceiling. After coming back to the capital from the Ornn gathering and getting his gear he had returned to clearing dungeons. His [Reave] was getting a lot of work, and he had been accumulating a lot of Essence. Still, his return had been slightly abrupt, after they had come to an agreement there didnt seem to be a need for him to stay. And it was a family gathering. Nayra and Daria were still with their family, his Sect Leader had decided to stay and protect the walls. And despite Ryuns desire to have her back in the sect, he did understand that there was a need for her here. He had allowed Daria to stay and serve by helping keep her sister safe. It wasnt like they could help with the mission, though Nayra had gotten very strong, her description of the battle against the enemy general was enough to make him proud. She had taken his Path of the Final End and had pushed it far, utilizing it in the ways that it was meant to be used. It was almost a shame that her main focus was Class.

He shaped steps beneath his feet as he ran through the air, moving swiftly, looking for monsters. His new skill, |Celerity| was a passive boost to his speed, all of his speed. The boost wasnt anything impressive, but he could tell. It worked on everything, increasing his physical speed, the speed of his thoughts, even the speed of his Qi and his Essence draw in. Like all skills, the passive ones could be slightly improved by actively leveraging ones will. The increase wasnt anything insane, but it was there. It meant that Ryun was slightly faster than his stats would suggest. It was also only on its first evolution so far, and he was looking forward to seeing how he could develop it.

He had been testing out his new set as well. He wore the copies of the items, of course, his forge gave them extra stats and durability on top of the extra durability that his awakened item perk gave any item that he wore. Altogether, the robes were 52% more durable. He had sacrificed one of his copies during one of his earlier dungeon runs to see how much damage the robe could take before it stopped working. The answer was quite a lot, but in the end if his body was constantly damaged it couldnt keep up, which meant that he lost the buffs that it provided. Still, he could always just replace the damaged robes with another copy from his forge, even mid battle. The rings were also a lot more impactful than he had expected. They allowed him to stay moving a lot longer. The barrier ring was good as a Qi saving tool instead of him using his shaping. He still carried his other equipment, of course, an amulet that increased wisdom and his ring that boosted regeneration, and a few others.

Fighting against horde of enemies was easier for him in part because his stats and regeneration soared when he was in those situations. The moniker that they gave him in the core, the Undying Void, was truer than they knew. What they had seen in his fights was not the full extent of his regeneration. In the right conditions, he was a lot harder to kill.

Still, he was supposed to be training and preparing for their mission. And since the Empire had little to offer him other than resources, he was forced to simply clear dungeons. Though, he had managed to acquire a bit Void Essence, not enough for him to cycle more than once, but anything helped, and he had spent a few hours while visiting the Ornn gathering in the void.

Awhile later, there were only a few monsters left in the dungeon, and he moved around through the air, killing them with void spikes and void beams, using [Reave] when it was available. As he killed one more monster, his sense took note of something in the distance, which made him pause for a moment, but then he continued running around the cavern, hunting down and killing the rest. He spent around an hour afterward collecting all the loot, barely even looking at it. Potions and materials went into his storage, and any items were fed to Bright Star. His potion bath had given him a lot of stats, the Empire had managed to provide some benefits to him, despite not being able to help him as a Cultivator. Which left a lot of the improvement on him. He could try and improve some of his skills, though that would put him back into imbalance. He was wary of that, only because he knew what madness could be and feel like. He didnt want to join his current tier 7 skills, he had something else in mind for that. Which only left him with practicing what he already had. Improving on that as much as he could.

With the dungeon cleared, he slowly made his way back to the entranceon foot. The dungeons landscape was open, like a hedge maze made out of stone, with large open areas thrown in. There was only one ceiling, too far above for even his sense to touch. It was an underground world, the only reason he knew that it was underground was the lack of any Sunlight or Moonlight Essence. There were other types of light Essences though, mostly coming down from the ceiling far above and some from the plant life around him. Not that it mattered to him, his world didnt have night or day, it was always filled with every color imaginable.

As he walked into the large open area in front of the entrance he came to a stop.

This will not end well for you, he said loudly. There was no verbal response, but then again, he didnt need one. His sense picked up on the three people hiding around the exit stiffen, he sensed them glancing in each other.

He had sensed when the three had entered the dungeon, overheard their conversation, he knew their plans already. A few moments passed in eerie silence, and then they moved. Ryun cycled his Qi, preparing techniques. He sensed no Qi from them, but that was to be expected here in the Empire. They would then be Classers and Skill users. His sense told him that they had high physical stats, two of them at least, but the last one wasnt physically focused. They had to be strong, if they thought that their plan could work at least.

Three people stepped out from their hiding places behind large boulders, a winged drake, a demasi, and a kreacean. The drake wore heavy armor and held a large battle-axe in his hands, the demasi wore a black robe and had a wooden staff as tall as he was. The kreacean had four short swords in his hands, and silver armor fitted for his kind.

They were here to kill him, had planned to strike from an ambush. They hadnt spoken much after they entered the dungeon, but from what little they had said Ryun got the sense that they had some knowledge about what he could do. He wasnt certain just how much they knew though. He didnt know who they were, he had never met them and he was pretty sure that he had never even been in their presence. One option was that the Empire had betrayed them, that they had sent these people to kill him. If that was true though, he did not think that they would send only three people, and he was pretty sure that he would have little chance of escaping with his life. They were in the heart of their power after all. He didnt truly think that it was them, a Framework made oath was not something that could be broken, and he didnt think that there was much room for interpretation in the one they gave.

With another moment of respite, he let his second prepared technique out. His {Avatar of the Reaper} formed next to him, a copy of his evolved form. He had wondered about that, he didnt get the chance to test it. His mind split, and for a moment there he felt something, inside of his copy. Almost like

He moved, as fire came for him again. His avatar and him running in different directions. Shaping steps beneath their paws as they ran through the air. Ryun turned his head and opened his maw. A {Void Beam}, as thick as a tree trunk, cut through the air at the demasi caster. He burst into flames as void pierced him, then reformed in the distance. Ryun followed with his beam, forcing the man to run again.

The drake beat his wings, swinging his axe for Ryuns head. His avatar intercepted him, forced him to switch targets. He swung his axe and cleaved through the beam that the avatar fired at him. Ryun didnt have the time to be surprised. Bolts of fire were coming his way from all around him, and he was forced to stop his attack. He kept two techniques active, his mantlekeeping his wisdom boosted as far as he couldand his {Void Shaping} so that he could constantly shape steps beneath his paws.

His avatar occupied the drakes attention, so Ryun focused on the caster. With an [Inevitable Step] he closed the distance. The demasis eyes widened as a giant wolf appeared next to him. Ryun swiped with his claws, using |Perfect Cut: My Foes, Torn Asunder|. A shining barrier stopped his attack but cracked under his assault. Ryun surged forward, before the man could react, his stats bolstered by what he stole and his enemies lowered. Fire surged forward from his staff, but Ryun leveraged his will, lessening the impact of the fires special damage on his body. He opened his maw, fire burning through him, and snapped his jaws shut. Flesh parted, bones cracked, and a man died. He focused and changed his mantle to vitality again to heal the minor damage. The void in his mouth dissolved the parts of the body in it, while the rest fell to the ground.

On the other side of the room, his avatar burst apart as the drake cut the copys head off.

Ryun stood in the air, all four legs on steps, his knees bent and ready to move.

The drake looked at him, his eyes holding a storm of emotion. He burst across the distance, swinging his axe. Ryun leapt to the side with |Pouncing Rush| and opened his mouth to unleash another {Void Beam}.

And then his mind was assaulted by pain. He winced, and the drake took advantage, he buried his axe in Ryuns side. A shockwave burst from it, shaking his body. But none of that mattered, he reached through his mind, through the link that had filled his mind with pain.

Selia? he spoke. He felt her pain lessen, then turned to anger. And he relaxed.

We were ambushed, he heard her say, faintly, ineptly. She didnt know how to use their link properly. He had made a mistake when he had kept his side so closed off. He realized that now. He felt the axe get wrenched from his body and something smash him into the side, sending him tumbling through the air. He ignored that for the moment.

I was too, Ryun said. Fight well.

With that he pushed his mind back to the matter at hand, neither of them could afford to be distracted now. He hit the ground, the drake followed close behind, his axe ready for the killing blow. Ryun burned through his Qi to regenerate the wounds the drake inflicted and then shape a technique as he approached. With his usually quick technique speed and the boosted speed from his Evolved Form he formed a {Staggered End} and let it out before the drake reached him. The drake pulled his axe back, defending. His armor lost its top layer from the first wave. He beat his wings, getting back out of range of the those that followed. Ryun was surprised that he was that strong, but he didnt give him the time to recover. He shaped steps and ran at him. In his evolved form he was faster, both because of his stats and just because of the wolf form. He caught up and opened his maw. A {Void Beam} hit the drake point blank, and he saw his armor give out. The drakes body started to get disintegrated, but he obviously had some defensive perks that lessened Ryuns power and probably high endurance.

In the end it didnt matter, Ryun shaped a wall behind him, and the drake collided with it, allowing Ryun to reach him. Wolf Claws, reinforced his own with blood red crystal, and finished what his beam started. He raked the drakes stomach open, then sent another {Void Beam} at him point blank, ending the fight.

His core nearly empty, he landed on the ground and let his evolved form go. Then, quickly he walked out of the dungeon, his mind focused on the link he shared with Selia that radiated anger.