Chapter 771: Higher Humans & Lower Humans - 1

Chapter 771: Higher Humans & Lower Humans - 1

Ding!

>Divine Energy of Human Monarch, Aethon Veyr Malakar, Detected.

>Type: Astra-infused Shastra (Energy-Infused Weapon), Evoked Through Thought

>Class: Low (Mid 4-Star), Single-Target

>Effect: Infuses the user’s weapon with the divine essence of the Human Monarch, Aethon Veyr Malakar, amplifying the destructive power of every strike. It dramatically increases the attack’s penetrating and destructive capabilities, allowing it to inflict devastating damage beyond the weapon’s and user’s physical limits.

>Condition for Usage: Weapon Compatibility, Sufficient Physical Prowess, and Adequate Mana Supply.

>Cost of Usage: 500 AVMFP (Aethon Veyr Malakar Faith Points)

"Huh?"

Leo was baffled, but this was no time to get distracted when the mantis beast was right in front of his face.

Since his hand hadn’t been completely severed, he refocused, teleported a short distance away, and let his regeneration kick in to heal his arm.

Aric quickly spotted Leo and reached his location in a blink. Thankfully, Leo had expected that and teleported away once again, this time creating an even greater distance between them.

There was no way he was allowing himself to get hit by a weapon coated in divine essence.

Even if the system read Mid 4-Star, Low Class or some shit, divine essence was divine essence. And according to what Leo knew through the system, getting injured by it would mark him in the gods’ eyes—or, in this case, the eyes of some Emperor known as Aethon Veyr Malakar.

The first thing he did after stabilising himself midair was send Lily back to the territory. She was still coughing up blood, and allowing her to get hit by the sickle would only make things more troublesome.

Whoop!

She was gone.

As a matter of fact, he should teleport to the Aurelius Building himself and get some help from his trusty profes—

Swish! Swish!

Leo immediately fell flat on his back as the twin chained sickles ripped past him.

"You aren’t going anywhere, maggot!" Aric declared, pulling the chains back.

Leo didn’t even have time to focus on the medallion to teleport before he was forced to draw his daggers, which were always strapped to his waist.

Clang! Clang!

He successfully deflected the retreating sickle blades, but the Mantis had once again reached his location. And unfortunately, the beast was way too fast.

Piiiccchh!!

The sickle’s natural blade dug through Leo’s chest and hurled him toward the ground.

THOOOM!

Dust rose from the impact site while Aric had already hooked one of the fallen trees—a massive one, 4 meters thick and 100 meters long—and hurled it at Leo with ease.

Leo hadn’t even stood up when he saw the enormous mass of wood hurtling toward him.

DHHOMMM!!

"Ack!" Leo spat out more blood from his already bleeding mouth.

But Aric didn’t give Leo a single moment of rest. The entire tree was sliced into thin strips the very next moment, and the pieces of wood were blown away.

Leo managed to raise his daggers once again.

THAAAGG!!

CRACK!

He successfully blocked Aric’s sickle blades once again, but the pressure created a massive spiderweb of cracks across the ground, radiating outward from their point of impact.

"I see you’ve become way too strong by parasitising off our hard work!" Aric said, applying more pressure to force Leo’s arms backwards.

The two men made eye contact as the sickle slowly crept closer to Leo’s neck.

Aric was momentarily distracted when he saw how rapidly Leo’s body healed, even though there was no sign of any healing skills being used on him.

"What kind of heaven-defying talent did you awaken by leeching off our efforts?!" Aric demanded, his eyes sharpening as the eerie glow of his weapon intensified, its blade coming within a hair’s breadth of Leo’s skin.

"Hm?!"

Aric immediately jumped sideways when Leo opened his mouth and breathed concentrated sun-flames toward his head, barely saving his face from being incinerated.

Leo also flipped and landed on the ground, but the Mantis beast once again managed to slash at his back with its blinding speed.

[Spike Pores]!

A wave of green mist suddenly spread through the surroundings, forcing both enemies to inhale some of it.

"Hm?" Aric wiped away the small drop of blood that trickled down his nose and looked at it.

"Annoying skill," he spat.

It was nothing more than a minor annoyance to him. His 5-Star body was far stronger than the skill’s 4-Star realm strength, as Niri was still in the 4-Star realm. The spore essence simply wasn’t potent enough to grow rapidly through his body and cause any meaningful damage.

But what followed was a massive tornado of flames.

[Solarflare Tornado - Tier 4]!

The Mantis beast immediately created some distance because flame-based attacks were super effective against its insect-based body.

"Hmph." Aric simply snorted, not even bothering to move an inch as he extended his hand.

VRRROOOOOOMMMM!!!

Bhuuuussss—dhoooooom!

The ground erupted as terrifying wind pressure swept through the area, tearing up the earth itself before smashing into the tornado of flames and Leo. At first, both attacks collided, creating a kind of stalemate, but then the Mantis joined in.

Whhhooosss!

The flames were immediately blown away.

It wasn’t that Leo had stopped generating them. He was still doing so, and the extremely hot wildfire spread behind him as the wind forced it backwards.

Leo gritted his teeth and tried activating [Solarflare Cataclysm], as it had greater penetrating power, but the flames didn’t even travel a few meters before being blown back again.

The wind was simply too strong!

It was surprising he managed to stay standing, though it was clear he was using thick vines to hold his legs in place and keep himself and the surrounding ground from being blown away. Even opening his eyes felt painful.

Suddenly, the wind pressure decreased by a notch. When Leo forced his eyes open, Aric was already there.

"Gave me a lot of trouble."

Slash!

"Trash human."

Leo was thrown backwards as a brutal gash formed across his chest, spraying blood that was immediately swept away by the wind.

"You managed to save that girl from getting marked..." Aric said, looking toward the territory.

With that, Aric disappeared. Even the Mantis was gone.

Thud!

Leo fell to the ground, wheezing and coughing up blood. Somehow, an attack that had sliced his heart in half wasn’t fatal enough to teleport him to the academy temple.

"Arrghh!" Leo groaned and tried to roll over to stand, but he failed.

"Fuck! Why is it healing so slowly?!" Leo cursed, repeatedly activating [Nature’s Heal] while his regenerative traits from Niri and Agnivar also helped.

But the healing was abysmally slow.

"Fuck! Divine essence!"

The divine essence infused into the sickle blade had slowed down his healing.

He immediately touched his right shoulder, where the life-saving talisman given to him by Cassian Aurelius—the Aurelius Academy Principal—had marked itself.

The mark immediately glowed, and the next moment, Tarun and Gunther appeared.