Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2151: Fluctuation

Lightning sparked around Sylas, lanes of curved emerald crystals arching through the air. His feet landed on them and he zipped by the attack of one, slipping past a second as he prepped an attack.

He pulled the staff back almost like he was gearing up a baseball bat. He stored so much strength in it that it bent on the pull back, then snapped forward when his hips unleashed all the torque he had stored up.

BANG.

A monkey shattered into a rain of blood on impact.

The crimson scattered in motes of red and gold, sprinkling onto the tree and being quickly absorbed.

Sylas leapt from his track of emerald crystal, landing on a branch that bobbed to accommodate his weight. He didn't seem to notice that there was a drop to infinity beneath him at all, his confidence in his own stride shining as bright as the sun.

BANG.

The branch bent again and Sylas unleashed carnage.

There was a subtlety carving through the air in the form of his emerald lightning. Every shift and movement seemed to time itself to the fluctuations of the monkeys' Will.

He timed his attacks perfectly, mixing in supreme movement into his combat style to target his enemies the moment their Wills dipped beneath a certain threshold.

And when he did decide to strike, it was a single strike to a single kill.

The command golden monkey launched itself toward Sylas from above, recovering from the previous head-butt with added clarity and less unbridled fury. Watching its companions be slaughtered by its own weapon left a smoldering anger in its heart, but it suppressed it, smashing down toward Sylas' head with both fists.

Sylas flipped through the air, his curving path of emerald crystal forming a loop that turned the soles of his feet upward.

BOOM.

The smash of the golden monkey commander landed on it, and the creature instantly felt like a large amount of its Will had suddenly had a bite taken out of it.

The world swayed for it. Luckily, its Will fluctuated up to near the B-tier a moment later and instantly recovered, but Sylas had already appeared behind it in the short lull.

It spun around, swinging a back-handed fist at its own staff, but the crack of bone echoed instead.

It let out a yelp of pain, but Sylas had already swept its staff at its ankles.

It crashed onto the emerald crystal path.

Sylas raised the staff up high and smashed downward.

The monkey rolled out of the way, but there was a flicker in Sylas' eyes when he saw this. It had rolled before he even finished raising his staff.

He had noticed during his battle that the combat instincts of these golden monkeys were off the charts. He could exert far more power than them between his telekinesis and Cryst Emperor Path, but they survived much longer than they should have.

The path of emerald shattered and the monkey took the opportunity to fall through.

It landed on a branch below and then bounded forward.

'It's running?'

Just as Sylas was about to pursue, he sensed a troubling fluctuation from the Duchess behind him, and then the three that remained of the golden monkeys leapt toward his back.

Sylas' gaze turned ice cold.

Chi.

The branch beneath him swayed out of his way with a snap and he fell through.

The three golden monkeys slammed into one another, but they didn't lose their orientation in the air. They locked hands, spinning in the air until they roared and sent two of themselves flying at him.

These two were still linked together and had already begun spinning around one another as well.

Then they repeated the same action as though linking their power into one blazing, flying golden monkey.

The monkey closed the distance fast, appearing before Sylas in the blink of an eye.

Sylas fell through the air, turning to face it. It charged, slashing down its staff.

Sylas shifted, Runes blooming across his palm. He was finally starting to understand the patterns in this world.

The staff slowed, but it still connected.

PA.

Catching the staff in a hand, Sylas kicked at the monkey's waist. The momentum of the staff's swing flipped their positions in the air. Suddenly, the monkey was beneath Sylas and Sylas was the one on top, his wrist stinging with fractures.

Yet, he didn't flinch even a single moment. He held onto his now second staff tightly, kicking down with a sole arching with lightning.

BANG.

The head of the monkey exploded, its headless corpse falling through the air.

Sylas didn't even watch it collapse, spinning through the air like a top with the staffs held tightly to his body.

BOOM.

BOOM.

He threw them both, each leaving his fingertips with the momentum of streaking stars. They rotated through the air as though drilling through space, every branch, leaf, and wind current they passed through splitting in response.

The first caught the second monkey in the chain of throws off guard. It barely had the time to open its mouth and make a screeching sound before the staff impaled its maw, driving through its teeth and out the back of its skull.

The staff soared past, and the moment its other end left the golden monkey's body, its body exploded as though the volatile energy alone was too much for it to handle.

The first monkey in the chain had far more time to react, but its vision was obscured by the sudden cloud of blood. Just when it thought it would react in time, the staff curved just the slightest bit.

BOOM.

It impaled its chest, nailing it to a tree.

The monkey's body shuddered and it looked at Sylas with endless hate.

BANG.

Its body shattered, the residual energy too much for it to handle as well.

Sylas caught a branch with a hand, exhaling a breath as blood rained down only to be absorbed by the tree once again.

The Duchess.

He lifted himself up, a hint of focus appearing in his eyes as he remembered the troubling fluctuation.