Chapter 151 - Aura

Luna laughed at that.

"Hmm, that’s true. I don’t recall him ever having any shame."

I looked at her, offended.

"What do you mean? Don’t slander me."

Then I lightly tapped her forehead and said,

"Don’t use your main attacks at the beginning. This floor will test our stamina, mana, and how long we can last here, so be careful with your mana."

She glared at me.

"Hey, stop hitting my forehead, or else..."

I looked at her, and an evil smile appeared on my face.

"Then how about this?"

I pinched her cheeks.

She stopped mid-sentence and looked at the hand pinching her cheek. Then she looked at me, but I acted like I didn’t notice and continued pinching her cheek.

She immediately swatted my hand away from her face and puffed out her cheeks.

"Gray..."

I looked at her with innocent eyes.

"What? You told me not to tap your forehead, so I pinched your cheek instead. And I have to say, it’s way better than tapping your forehead."

She tried to say something, but a wolf suddenly came from the side.

My Perception caught it, and I immediately grabbed Eclipse and moved toward the wolf.

I studied its movements with my Perception and used Eclipse to cut off its head in one attack.

Then Luna came toward me, and I got an idea.

"How about we two team up and kill all these monsters together instead of fighting separately?"

Luna’s eyes lit up, and she nodded.

"Hmm, that sounds good. Let’s go."

I nodded, and we moved together.

I used Eclipse to attack another wolf, cutting a deep wound into it.

The wolf screamed, but Luna dealt the final blow and killed it.

We immediately moved on to the next one.

As for Elara, she went to help Amy because their elements were compatible.

Eventually, we killed the last beast in that round.

We all gathered together, and Amy looked at us.

"Hmm, you two work really well together. Keep that up."

We nodded and rested until the next round.

"Hey, Luna."

She looked at me.

"What is it?"

"How long do you think the other teams can hold on?"

She thought for a moment before replying.

"Hmm, that’s hard to tell. I really don’t know the others’ full strength, and we don’t know how much stronger each wave will become."

I nodded.

I looked around at the rubble of the fallen buildings and closed my eyes.

I concentrated on everything around me.

While fighting earlier, I had felt another kind of power within me. It was strange. I could feel it for a moment, and then it would disappear.

But it only happened when I wasn’t using any elements and was relying solely on my sword.

So I decided to use my sword without relying on any elements and solely rely on my Perception.

Then we heard another sound of monsters approaching.

I opened my eyes and saw Luna standing in front of me.

She tapped my forehead.

I sat down and concentrated on that strange feeling.

I became so focused that I didn’t notice Luna at all.

Then I suddenly fell backward onto the ground.

A moment later, I heard Luna’s bell-like laughter.

I got up from the floor and glared at her.

She simply huffed and said,

"That’s what you get for bullying me."

I looked at her dumbfounded.

"Hey, when was I bullying you? I just pinched your cheek a little. It’s so tempting that I can’t hold back."

She simply ignored me and went to kill the monsters.

I looked at her and sighed before following her.

This time, orcs appeared, so they had much better defenses than the previous monsters.

I used my mana to augment my body and moved forward with a clean katana slash.

Without using any elemental attack, I managed to cut through one of the orcs from its belly toward its neck.

The wound I inflicted was massive, and blood spread from it.

Luna simply finished it with her sword while the orc agonized from the wound.

She aimed at its head and plunged her sword into it, killing it.

At the last moment, she used Light to make sure the orc was completely dead.

Then she retracted her sword and looked at me.

"Why aren’t you using your element?"

I simply replied,

"Someone pushed me and my element broke, so that person has to take responsibility and protect me."

She smiled and hit me.

"Stop joking around."

I grinned.

"Who said I’m joking? You broke my element, so you have to take responsibility."

She simply rolled her eyes.

Then I continued,

"I felt a different energy while using the sword without my elements. I want to try to feel it again."

She sighed and smiled.

"Hmm, that sounds exciting. I need to try it too. I heard that the aura needs to be practiced as well."

I nodded.

She understood me completely.

"Isn’t it? Let’s use only mana in this battle."

She nodded.

To our side, Amy and Elena saw us and looked at each other.

"Ah, these two never learn. They’re always like this."

We abandoned our elemental abilities and used only mana.

I pushed myself and used my Perception as I moved toward three orcs.

"I’ll attack the leg and bring it down. Deal the final blow. I’ll take their attention."

She nodded.

I moved forward.

One of the orcs attacked me with a massive hammer.

I avoided it and immediately went for its leg.

My strength was reinforced by mana, and I augmented Eclipse with mana as well.

With one slash, I cut off its leg.

The orc fell down, and Luna immediately killed it.

Her swordsmanship became better with every attack.

This was the first time in a long while that we had used pure swordsmanship without any help from our elements.

Usually, either Luna or I would use our elements.

I would use Gravity or one of my other applications to improve my attacks.

As for Luna, she augmented her swordsmanship with Light and made her attacks more lethal.

But now, it was pure swordsmanship with only mana augmentation.

Then the other two orcs came at us.

I looked at Luna, and our eyes met.

I looked toward one of the orcs, and Luna immediately understood.

She went toward the other one.

Taking care of one orc was no problem for me.

I used my Perception to avoid the attack the orc aimed at me.

I took a step back and slashed, cutting off its arm.

Using the same momentum, I plunged Eclipse into the orc’s heart and killed it.

Then I looked toward Luna, who was fighting the other orc.

"Hey, Luna. Need any help?"

She didn’t look at me, but she replied,

"No need. I can take care of it."

So I tried to feel that strange sensation again, focusing all my attention on it.

After a moment, I managed to summon a tiny blue spark on my sword.

I immediately recognized it.

It’s Aura.

The same kind of Aura Amy used.

My eyes lit up, and I looked toward Luna. She had already killed her orc and was now standing beside me.

I showed her the tiny spark.

"Hey, Luna, look at this. Isn’t it amazing?"

She looked at the little spark and observed it carefully.

She immediately understood that it was Aura.

Her eyes lit up.

Instead of making fun of my tiny spark, she looked excited.

"I need Aura too. That’s not fair!"

Then she closed her eyes and began concentrating deeply on her power.

Elara came to my side and asked,

"What are you guys doing?"

They had already finished their side, so Amy and Elara came over as well to see what Luna was doing.

I grinned and said,

"Hmm, I managed to awaken a tiny bit of Aura in my sword. Luna is trying to awaken hers too."

Elena looked at us like we were monsters.

"You two tiny monsters never cease to surprise me."

Then Amy came closer.

"Show me, little brother. Let me see your Aura."

I nodded.

"It’s still only a tiny spark. Don’t laugh at me."

Amy smiled and brushed my hair.

"I would never laugh at something like that. You’re extremely talented. Even more talented than me. I awakened my Aura at the age of twelve. You awakened yours at eleven."

I nodded and closed my eyes.

I focused on that strange sensation again and summoned the spark.

This time, it was more powerful than before.

Amy looked at it and nodded with satisfaction.

"Hmm. You’ve already done the hardest part. Now you only need to grow it. That will naturally happen as you fight in the future."

I nodded with a smile and ask "so how one use aura in a battle is it like elemental augmentation or something else..."

I didn’t have the time to finish my words Luna suddenly opened her eyes and shouted,

"I got it too!"

We all looked toward her.