313 Burning Boots
Dilan was by far the fastest but that didn’t mean he could attack all opponents at the same time.
Victoria created several Blood-Ice Lances which she fired at the opponents around her, accurately piercing their vital spots to finish them off.
Her crimson eyes were glowing brightly and they moved around rapidly while simultaneously keeping a watchful eye on every single detail that happened around her.
She smiled in excitement and killed the monsters she had attacked with the second barrage of Blood-Ice lances.
Yvonne dived down all of a sudden, smashing into the ground next to Victoria. A dark mole appeared in the crater Yvonne’s sudden dive had created. It was bleeding from several wounds because of the attack Yvonne had executed. However, the young Ascender was far from done.
She was staring down at the huge mole without a trace of mercy as she slashed out with the longsword that had manifested in her hand. Yvonne knew that showing mercy would endanger her or her allies. Her first attack was enough to inflict severe damage to the mole, which had attempted to attack Victoria from below, while the second attack killed the monster immediately.
Kathrine saw this from the side of her eyes and nodded her head approvingly. Even if Victoria was usually a bit annoying, she was still a member of their group. In fact, Kathrine would be lying if she were to say that she hated Victoria. It was quite relaxing to be next to Victoria and the only thing that annoyed her was Victoria’s attitude concerning anything that was even remotely related to Dilan.
Thinking about that, Kathrine released several bolts of lightning she had prepared beforehand at once. The monsters she faced were all somewhat resistant to lightning but that didn’t mean they were immune. Kathrine’s bolts of lightning were lethal and powerful enough to restrict her opponents for a short moment.
Some of the monsters she attacked were partially restricted in their movement for an entire second. This didn’t sound like much but it was enough for Kathrine to cut through the chest and head of two monsters that were frozen like a statue.
Dilan dashed past her to eliminate all the monsters that hadn’t been attacked by any of the three women. He instinctively avoided the monsters they targeted, which was something the women noticed in the following seconds.
The wind pressure Dilan created just by running past them was tremendous and the vast majority of monsters they were supposed to face after they were defeated in the first encounter started to collapse on the ground.
Dilan smiled brightly as he moved over the ground with the agility of a cheetah. Every single step caused loud crackling noises to resound through the surroundings as the electric current around his feet connected with the purplish-blue grass.
His arms moved rapidly and the Thunderbolt Daggers cut through the lifeline of the monsters he attacked, killing them instantly by beheading them, cutting through their arteria, and by piercing through their wildly beating heart.
Dilan’s eyes moved quickly as he analyzed the situation around him. Blood spurted through the surroundings but Dilan avoided it from splattering on his face. Running through the battlefield as if he had wheels for legs, he hacked, slashed, and killed mercilessly, obliterating one opponent after another.
With an Agility that was around 130 times higher than the average human before the Primordial Ascension, it was not easy to change his direction. His ankles suffered a lot under the immense pressure caused by the changes. With short spurts, sudden stops, and other movements, he would wear down his ankles and end up getting injured.
By then even his high Health and Agility wouldn’t be of use anymore. Dilan was able to tell that, which was why he actively used the bodies of his opponents as a means to change his direction.
Because there were no walls or trees to push his feet against, Dilan decided to make use of the corpses and pushed his feet off their body. The monsters were blasted in the direction opposite to what Dilan ended up in, which both injured the monster he had pushed away and the monsters behind, and Dilan didn’t have to slow down.
It was difficult to make use of the monster’s bodies because their numbers decreased rapidly. They collapsed to the ground, much faster than Dilan would have expected. Only when more than a hundred corpses were lying on the ground and all of the monsters he was supposed to attack had been eradicated did he stop.
Dilan slowed down his speed before he came to a halt in the middle of the battlefield. He took a deep breath and looked down at his feet. Something was bothering him and when he looked down at his feet realization struck him.
“My boots….” Dilan let out a cry of frustration but as everyone had just finished off their last opponent, the three women turned instinctively in his direction. He sounded sad, which was something they weren’t used to hearing often from Dilan, even less when he had just released some of his stress.
Dilan should have been happy right now, not depressed but when everyone saw his boots, they could clearly tell what was going on.
“I always wondered why they never caught fire,” Kathrine mumbled quietly when she looked at the Aeris’ leather boots that were burning brightly.
“Yeah…I think his boots survive for the longest, and they’re just Tierless Silver treasures…” Yvonne laughed, which was why she was glared at by Dilan.
The leather boots Dilan owned were subjected to a lot of wear and tear and only after Victoria used her Blood-Ice around his feet did they stop burning. Unfortunately, this didn’t change the fact that his boots had been destroyed.
He looked at them with a sad expression before he shook his head in frustration. With smooth movements, he pulled off his boots before he threw them aside.
“That will happen with Tier-1 boots the moment I advance to Tier-2 as well…so annoying,” Dilan grumbled which everyone heard. They laughed out loud and averted their focus to start collecting the Essence crystals of the monsters they had just killed.
Dilan walked around barefoot but that was the least troublesome fact on his mind right now. He collected the Essence crystals and kept repeating the same complaints over and over again.
-My Agility is so much lower now…-
-I cannot use [Gale] anymore…-
-When will I ever find boots like these?-
-How am I supposed to fight now?-
Dilan complained a lot but everyone found that cute, especially because he was known for grumbling the least.
It was an interesting change and it eased the tension among the three women considerably. They were focused on becoming stronger and wanted to upgrade all of their abilities as much as possible. The loss of Dilan’s boots might be tragic but it was not as if they lacked pieces of equipment. High-ranked boots were something they had in abundance. In exchange for some essence crystals, Dilan was certain of receiving even better boots than he had just lost.
When all the corpses and Essence crystals had been collected, Dilan didn’t immediately absorb all of them.
[Allow ‘Switch’ to devour the absorbed Essence? Yes/No?]
‘No’ The moment Dilan read the notification he selected the second option. He looked at the notification, thought about a few things, and finally decided to allow [Switch] to absorb his Essence.
‘Let’s experiment a bit then…’ He thought and his expression turned serious as he absorbed one of the weakest Tier-1 Lightning Essence crystals he had gotten his hands on.
The Essence Crystal that had purplish edges crumbled in his hand and an enlightened yet also somewhat disappointed expression formed on his face.