Chapter 117: Chapter 117- Expansion
Under the influence of pure rage, one would lose most of their rational senses. Things like the feeling of pain, sadness, or any other feeling. Meanwhile, their impulse to do things they wouldn't usually do would take the spot.
In this case, Talon's sense of pain was put aside and his desire to kill that woman took utmost priority. He didn't want to let her escape or he knew that it wasn't going to end well.
'Even if every muscle in my body explodes, I will kill her!!' He thought to himself.
Running as fast as he could, he shortened the distance between them. Meanwhile, the Aetheris Blades flew like bullets as they attacked the woman from both sides.
Clenching her teeth, she quickly jumped forward as she rolled on the ground, leaving the two blades to stab the ground instead.
Landing on her feet, she quickly sprang up and tried to continue running. However, at that moment, she suddenly felt an extremely sharp pain in her stomach.
'Ugh…' Her eyes widened as she found herself unable to breathe. 'My skill effect… is over… Not… Now!!'
This entire time, she had been using an active skill that basically turned all of her injuries and pain into an extra boost to her overall strength. It was a very useful ability in brutal fights that won her most confrontations.
But, it also had a very bad shortcoming. When the effect of the skill is over… The pain and consequences of all attacks would come back double. So, in a sense, this skill required the user to finish the fight as fast as possible or they were going to be in deep trouble.
Blood splurted out of her stomach as she coughed violently. Stumbling forward, she tried to continue moving. Talon was closing up on her and she had no time to dwindle. So, she quickly bit her tongue as strong as she could, jolting her senses back up and giving her a rush of energy that she used to continue moving.
At the same time, Talon had already shortened the distance between them as he suddenly stopped and arched his arm back in a throwing stance. An overwhelming painful shock ran through his entire body and threatened to knock him unconscious, but, he ignored it as he clenched his bloody teeth.
Then, using all of his strength, he launched his arm forward, throwing the spear like a bullet.
"AAAAAGHH!!!" A hoarse cry came out of his throat.
*Swish*
'Go!!!' He yelled in his head as he watched the spear fly toward his target.
That throw carried every ounce of strength he had at that moment and more. He genuinely didn't know how he was able to even muster the strength to do such a thing. It was a throw for everything that happened because of that woman. For all the pain she inflicted on him, on Hyun-Jae, and on every other student.
Slicing through thin air, the spear crossed a vast distance in a moment as it reached its target. The woman looked back with widened eyes. Everything happened in a split second, way faster than her sluggish reaction speed.
The spear stabbed through her back as it exited from the other side.
The woman coughed a huge mouthful of blood as she fell to the ground, motionless. Everything was completely submerged in silence again, the rain continued pouring endlessly as if it was the end of the world.
Meanwhile, Talon stood rooted in his place as he looked at her. His breath was ragged and his body was completely slumped forward. A few seconds passed in that state.
"Is… she… dead?" He murmured to himself.
But, he already knew the answer… She wasn't. He still didn't receive the notification that he killed her which meant that she was still alive somehow.
"I… need… to finish her… off…" Clenching his teeth, he started walking slowly.
At this point, he was still moving with sheer will. His body had long passed its limit and was now beyond destroyed. There wasn't a single part of his body that wasn't injured or exhausted.
Step by step, he closed the distance between them like a turtle struggling to move as if it carrying a huge weight on its back.
But, somehow, he was able to reach her while still on his feet. Looking down, he could see that she wasn't moving at all as if she was truly dead. But, since he didn't get the notification, he was sure that she was still alive.
So, he slowly moved his hand and grabbed the handle of the spear. Then, he pulled it out of her back with whatever power he could muster.
The woman's body flinched when he did that. Then, Talon aimed his spear at her neck slowly. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper and the lack of blood made him feel as if he was freezing to death in the cold weather.
"Rot in hell… Bitch…" He murmured tiredly as he lifted the spear and then sliced it down.
However, at that exact moment, things shifted.
A loud booming sound echoed in the entire world like the sound of drums. It was so loud that the entire world stopped just because of it.
"What…"
***
Meanwhile, in the earth's atmosphere, the Core Gate's pulses were far stronger than ever before. Their pulses grew louder and brighter and the black fog spinning around its center grew thicker and more ominous. The heart of the gate grew brighter till it seemed like a massive star.
This has been the rate for the past day or so. But, at that moment, the pulses reached their peak, and when that happened… It sent a gigantic shockwave across the world.
Each continent and ocean were hit with that shockwave, sending everything into an endless frenzy.
Before Talon could deliver that last blow, the ground beneath him cracked violently, throwing him back.
His eyes widened in shock as he fell on his back. Everything spun around in his head as his eyes fell on the giant core gate.
Seeing its pulses exploding so violently sent a chill down his spine and shook his very soul.
"Not now…" Clenching his teeth, he rose up from the ground with great difficulty. All around him, craters started appearing out of nowhere, separating entire areas of the campus away from each other.
Talon's heart sunk in as he realized the disaster that struck.
"The expansion…" He murmured. "Of all fucking times… Now?!"
Crusing his shitty luck, he stood up.
"You need to leave right now! The situation isn't going to get any better!" Acrypha alerted him as she flew ahead to scan the area for the best possible route he could take.
Meanwhile, Talon looked back at the woman. While she was still lying on the ground, the crater between him and her kept growing in size till it was impossible for Talon to jump to the other side in his current condition.
Then, his eyes moved to the opposite side where Hyun-Jae was. She was still lying in her exact place. The ground around her was cracking quickly and the surface was shifting rapidly. If she was left there, Talon was sure that she was going to fall into the craters.
'Dammit! I couldn't fucking deliver the last hit!!' Clenching his teeth as he shook his head, he ignored his enemy and moved toward Hyun-Jae as fast as he could.
His feet were extremely numb and his throat hurt like hell. But, he had no time to complain or even rest as he had to move quickly before things completely turned into chaos.
"From here," Acrypha called for him as she moved through the safe areas.
Meanwhile, one shockwave after the other, the entire world was being changed completely. Unbeknownst to all creatures on earth, the globe was entirely coated in a blueish hue at that moment as it very slowly expanded in size.
Each pulse would separate entire thousands of kilometers of space from each other. Buildings crumbled and mountains shook violently as they were hit by earthquakes. Water flooded many places across the world due to the expansion of the ocean and the areas that weren't hit were turned upside down by the rampaging monsters that were fleeing the change.
As Talon moved, his balance would shake each time the world swayed. It didn't help that he was barely still standing on his feet at that moment.
'I'm too slow… I need to hurry or I'm going to die!!'
The distance between him and Hyun-Jae was expanding really fast and he was losing momentum the more he walked.
'Think, think… What do I have that can help?' Talon looked around him frantically as he suddenly noticed something.
In the corner of his retina, there was a set of notifications that he didn't see the entire time. In one of those notifications, he noticed that he acquired a new skill.
Till this point, he was still unaware of the evolution of his Enhanced Focus ability and he frankly didn't care.
'Please be something useful… Please be something useful!'
[Ding!]
[You have acquired a new ability 'Dash'.]
(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )