Chapter 114: Saint's Eternal Bastion
First heartbeat.
Armor made of mana appears on my body. As always it's super simple and not very intricate.
Second heartbeat.
The Gargoyle reaches me and I use all this kinetic energy to strengthen my body, but this time not only my endurance but also my speed while my head rings and my body continues to complain.
Before the fist reaches me, I grab it and, using the energy of the monster's swing, I throw it over my shoulder, against the wall of the house. The monster is send flying through the wall and into the room. Without even turning around, two cones of absorbed kinetic energy shoot behind me, obliterating two invisible monsters sneaking up on Isabella.
Another heartbeat and I dash inside the room, punching the gargoyle right in its face, making it stagger backwards before dodging under its swing and hitting its bottom chin. Then I use the force of its attack to throw it on the ground, stepping on its neck.
What now you asshole? Did you have fun?
Mana explodes from the gargoyle and I get pushed away, crashing through the wall and as I stand up, the monster is already in front of me, throwing another hit at me.
I watch its stance, its shoulder, and its movement, and more mana and kinetic energy flow through my body and this time I do not dodge, I slightly shift my body, letting the monster hit my strengthened arm, only so I can follow with my knee burrowing into its chest, throwing it against the wall.
Then I dash against it and boost my strength, hitting the middle of its face and sending it crashing through the house, and back on the streets.
I absorb the kinetic energy from the falling house and use it to strengthen my body even further, again reaching the gargoyle and I burrow my feet into the ground, twist my body, and with as much strength I can muster, kick the Gargoyle that crashes deep inside another house.
I ignore the screams of my logical mind and my body in pain.
Sword? Oscillation? Disruption?
That wouldn't feel so satisfying. I need to move my body, I need to feel my fist hitting something. I need to vent and tear this guy apart.
I lift two stones as big as my fist and throw them towards where I feel these annoying probing touches, only to boost them with a massive amount of kinetic energy. Two stones fly as a rocket and in a split second both of them reach their target. Two notifications and disgusting touches on my presence disappear.
The gargoyle is back once again and this time I reach out and [Redistribution] explodes at full power, slowing the monster to a crawl, and at the same time, I release that same energy inside my body, strengthening it, boosting my speed, increasing my endurance so it won't break apart.
One quick step and my fist hit its chest and before it's thrown crashing into another house, I grab its arm and pull. The monster flies away and the arm stays in my hand.
This time I get to the monster and before it reacts, I swing with its arm in my hand against its head, sending it staggering backwards before another hit smashes its skull, denting it inside. I let go of the arm and using the power of my body hit its head, literally tearing it from its neck and sending it flying away.
Adaptive Physiology, I miss you. I even miss the traits I was offered, Regenerative Tissue, Adaptive Resistance and always, there is always only one person to blame.
Noname (Hell, group 4) - BenDover? I'll fuck you up if we meet in the tournament.
BenDover (Hell, IDK) -What? I didn't even say anything. Fuck off.
I close the community again, feeling slightly better.
The story goes like this. Once, tens, maybe hundreds of years ago, a beautiful kingdom existed. Not unlike the kingdom or empire from the second floor. A kingdom full of gifted people. Mages, warriors, healers, they were everywhere.
Kingdom full of wonders. Beautiful building, tools powered by mana, healers able to restore limbs.
Oliver, his wife, and his kid don't know what happened - in the end they live far from the center of the city where most of the knowledge is, but they know something happened. Something bad.
Something that created Decay. The variant of mana that takes over the monsters and sometimes even people only to make them seemingly undead, dangerous, mutate them, and twist their being.
Billions of people died to it, unable to fight Decay and getting infected. Just a simple exposure for a long enough time could be dangerous, just having too weak mana would get you infected. So billions of people got infected, farmers, workers, and most of the people that didn't handle mana got infected first, totally ruining the food supply and sending panic through the continent.
And slowly the Decay grew in power, after a few months infecting even people that used to be able fight with mana.
So under the iron rule of the king, they collected all the uninfected people and grouped around him, his three warriors, and the Saint. The saint created a field that covers a huge area and doesn't allow Decay to infect people within that and that's where the city started.
Years passed and every single human still alive that got this information moved to this city that expanded well beyond its intended size.
We are currently in the outskirts of it, slums if you will, where the most unlucky collect, and the deeper you go into the city and closer to the saint and the last king the safer it is.
But not everything is okay, tens of years, and generations passed and even the center of the city has to deal with Decay that even changed the weather. There is no rain, food is scarce and the monsters are moving closer and closer, either through weakening the field made by the Saint or the Decay getting stronger.
On the outskirts, no one knows what's happening deep in the city, but it seems that the stronger monsters are able to push even deeper than where we currently are and there is no leadership, no help coming anymore, not for years.
Everyone left on their own in this dying world.
The last city on the planet.
Saint's Eternal Bastion.