Chapter 58: Through The Wall, The Void-Stalker Falls

The giant jaw came down.

The Void-Stalker’s phased jaw was inches from her spine. It was close enough that she could feel the space around it pulling at her skin.

She didn’t close her eyes. She pushed harder into her SunFire barrier. She burned Essence she didn’t have, watching the golden light shine brighter against the crack in the tunnel wall.

’Students first. Always students first.’

The jaw dropped.

CRASH.

The tunnel wall behind the Void-Stalker exploded inward.

It wasn’t from the monster. It was from something else. Something hit the wall so fast that it turned strong stone into sharp flying pieces. Rocks and dust exploded through the tunnel. It hit the Void-Stalker’s shell and created a grey dust cloud.

A streak of silver light cut through the dust.

The Severing Sword Aura crescent hit the Void-Stalker with full force! The sharp air blade, glowing with Clearwater acid power, hit the monster’s phased shell.

The special acid in the air blade did not attack the monster’s physical body.

It attacked the energy holding its phased form together.

The phasing stopped.

For a tiny split second, the Void-Stalker became completely physical. Its dark crystal shell turned into something real in this dimension.

That was long enough.

The push of the Severing Sword Aura hit the solid shell and cut the monster cleanly in half from head to tail.

SLICE.

The Void-Stalker split into two parts. Both halves fell forward, spilling dark blood that sizzled and dissolved when it touched Serah’s SunFire barrier. The monster’s legs twitched, then stopped moving. The vacuum sound died instantly.

Alvian walked through the hole in the tunnel wall.

His sword dripped with monster blood. The blue glow on the chipped steel blade pulsed with remaining acid power. His clothes were burned and torn from the wild energy coming off his body. His eyes quickly checked the tunnel.

Two dead A-Rank students lay on the ground. Blood pooled under them. A SunFire barrier was still holding against a crack in space. Serah Garrick was shaking and barely standing with her hands pressed against the golden light.

He didn’t look at her.

His eyes looked at the crack in the wall, then up at the main Rift. A monster horde was still pouring into the courtyard.

"Keep the barrier up," he said.

His voice was flat and calm. It had none of the warmth she was used to. No greeting. No relief. No emotion. Just an order.

Serah’s hands were shaking. She turned her head just enough to see him. The boy who sat in her lab and let her upgrade his Talent was gone. The person standing in the hole he punched through stone was someone completely different.

"Alvian," she started.

"I’ll clear the courtyard."

He turned and walked toward the main Rift. Toward the horde. Toward the hundreds of Rank 3 and Rank 4 beasts that had broken the Academy’s defenses.

His Clearwater Coating flared across his skin. His sword hummed with Severing Sword Aura. His Abyssal Dissolution Domain, an S-Rank Skill, sat ready in his Essence reserve.

Serah watched him walk away. Her throat felt tight. Her eyes burned with tears and sweat.

’What are you?’ she thought again.

She didn’t ask out loud. She turned back to her barrier and pushed.

The golden light held strong.

[DING!]

[Kill: Rank 5 Void-Stalker (Level 55 equivalent). Base EXP: 2,000.]

[Roll: 15x (Uncommon). Total: 30,000 EXP.]

[Stat Gain: Essence +0.5. Remaining EXP banked.]

[Tactical Discovery: Clearwater acid stops phase shifting.]

[Acid dissolves the energy holding phased forms together, forcing phased monsters to become physical.]

[This makes Clearwater very effective against Rift monsters.]

[The System notes that the Host’s trash Talent is actually the best counter to Rift monsters.]

[ Funny how that works. ]

Alvian didn’t read the popups. He was already moving through the tunnel toward the courtyard.

Clearwater didn’t just dissolve physical objects. It dissolved the energy between dimensions. Phased monsters existed in two places at once. His acid broke that connection and forced them into one place where they could be hit.

’The Rift makes monsters that phase through attacks. Clearwater breaks that phasing. I am built to fight Rift monsters.’

The thought was cold and clear. He felt no pride or fear. It was just facts.

He reached the end of the tunnel. The courtyard spread out before him. It looked like the end of the world.

The Academy’s nice lawns were turned into mud. The training dome had collapsed. The front of the main building was cracked and burning. Hundreds of Rift beasts ran wild across the ground. The teachers had failed to hold the line.

Helen Croft was on one knee. She leaned on her war-hammer for support. Blood ran from a wound on her ribs. Three teachers were down, and two were dead.

Alvian held his sword tighter.

He walked into the courtyard.

The closest beasts felt his presence. A pack of twelve Rank 3 Rift-Hounds turned toward him. They were four-legged monsters with fur that warped the air. They charged together at high speed, showing their sharp teeth.

Alvian didn’t dodge.

He covered his sword in Clearwater acid, cast Severing Sword Aura, and swung once.

A silver air blade flew from his sword. It was three meters wide and twenty meters long. It swept through the charging pack like a scythe through grass.

It cut all twelve beasts in half. Twenty-four body parts hit the mud. The cut edges smoked as they dissolved. Every piece melted further into grey goo within seconds.

He didn’t stop.

He kept walking forward.

Swing left.

A flat wave of acid cut a path through a group of Rank 3 Voidcrawlers. The silver blade sliced five of them. The acid on the blade did not just cut them; it melted them. Wounds got wider. Shells softened and fell apart. Monsters that survived the first hit died seconds later as the acid ate their inside organs.

Swing right.

A straight vertical wave split a...