Parallel – A Virtual Reality. - Chapter 51

A terrifying roar reverberates, sending shockwaves filled with death energy. The ground breaks apart from where Alwen is standing, sending debris as if they were bullets. We use our defensive skills to placate the impact as I feel like my brain is trembling.

‘Shit! What terrifying mental attack!’ I think while gritting my teeth, holding on with all my might. It only lasts for a couple seconds, but it still sends shudders down my spine.

I look around, and grimace runs on my expression. Except for the Aren, the Barbarians were totally out, their condition was already poor, so adding a mental attack of that magnitude knocked them out. Same with the Scardinians besides Isca and Grudell.

That attack left us shaky on our legs, but we held on. Soon enough we can finally see the form that Alwen has taken.

This time it looked oddly composed, standing the same height he did initially at 2.5 meters. His mane turned a dark grey, and all around his body exuded a chaotic dark grayish aura filled with death, covering its wounds. Its clear white pupils were devoid of the fury that they had previously, a cold expression replacing it.

Alwen observes us, and then steps forward slowly, as if the previous calamitous beast never existed in the first place. Our guard up against any attack, even with its strange transformation, its hostile intent is still very clear. However, we know that it is at its last breaths, its transformation not healing it at all, but it prowess increased exponentially.

Just as it is going to lift its other leg up to step forward again, Kagito appears behind it and I push forward at my fastest speed using elemental enhancing to its maximum output. Kagito’s attack arrives first, tremendous might sprouting from his sword as he swung downward to its head. I arrive a moment latter, changing my combination of elements, increasing my attack power as I swing both of my swords to the sides of its body. I felt as if my body splits in two doing so, and each of them swung individually my swords, my level in swordsmanship clearly going up at this moment.

As my attack is ongoing, two projectiles appear just above my head, each of them going to each side of the ċhėst of Alwen.

In my focused state I can feel the others rushing in, clear fighting spirit soaring towards Alwen.

For a moment, at the edge of my vision, I can see Alwen smirking. Cold sweat runs on my spine but I still keep my attack, increasing my output as much as I can.

Moving its head slightly to the left, Kagito’s sword falls on Alwen’s left shoulder, cutting the death aura shrouding its body, cutting its flesh slightly. Its upper body falls back slightly and then receives the full power of the full burst and an explosive arrow, and, while not as strong as the first one, it still held a lot of power comparable – or higher- than the full burst. Both shots pierced through its dark gray coating, delivering small wounds in each side of its ċhėst.

Because of those attacks, it is shoved backward more, and using the momentum it lifts its leg while pressing firmly its right leg to the ground, kicking forward with its left. It seems like a harmless kick, but all the alarms in my head start resounding, but I grit my teeth continue forward with my attack, not deviating for one bit.

My swords slice the aura effortlessly, touching flesh at the same time the kick is almost touching me. A majestic shield appears before me like it did with Kagito back then, defending me from that seemingly harmless attack.

The shield cracks instantly, and soon the kick goes through it, soon smashing on my upper body. My armor cracks soundly as I gnash my teeth, trying to vie for as much time as I can for my attack to go through completely, annulling, absorbing and releasing power.

My attack grew in power at an alarming speed, but I couldn’t hold on anymore and I am sent flying backward like a bullet. Blood spouting out of my mouth as my vision blurs. I can’t even control my body for landing as I fall on my back and roll on the ground helplessly, letting go of both of my swords when I fell.

I knew what this meant.

– Your Health has gotten too low! You are in Critical State.

– Your body suffers internal bleeding and organs are slightly damaged. Your Health start dropping slowly!

– Your…

I have been incapacitated.

Juran’s head fell into chaos but sobered up briefly after the mental attack of Alwen, he always seemed to be in an advantageous position against monsters in this dungeon, and this one was no exception.

But still, that did not mean he could go toe to toe against it, as the power it showed would crush him very fast if they were to go one on one for a moment. So, he decided to pressure it with his own aura, disturbing its mind and make it hesitate on some action by briefly showering it with his power. But this time he felt hopeless, the enemy before him transformed to something out of his league.

He knows that, while his previous tactics would be effective damage-wise, it wouldn’t really make this beast flinch for a second. Clenching his teeth and his fist, frustratingly, he only would focus on support and healing from this moment onward.

And his turn soon came as he saw Ardha flying back and falling down like a comet, stopping to roll after a while. Of course, he rushed as soon as he saw that, desperately in fact, as his friend was currently in dire needs of support. Sounds of battle could be heard as Vladi and Grudell focused on cover fire, Vladi furiously shooting as she recklessly came closer to the battlefield to inflict as much damage as she can.

Everyone was doing their best, fighting hard but bȧrėly keeping themselves from losing their grasp on their weapons as bursts of death aura came out of Alwen, attacking all of them at the same time. The only one keeping up against it being Zenith, his own power increasing too.

Zenith demonstrated again and again why he was the successor to the Death Lord position, fighting with all its might against monsters and creatures stronger than him without batting an eye. He seemed furious at the fall of his closest friend, as he attacked relentlessly at Alwen, keeping that beast at bay from doing the same to the others. But it showed on his face the weariness.

Each clash was like an explosion, each movement like a raging tide!

Isca was not falling behind on his physical strength even when put besides each of them, managing to stand tall and strong against Alwen while suffering some wounds here and there.

Juran clenched his teeth again, impotency and frustration welling up, but he didn’t dare distract anymore as he arrived at Ardha, applying his skills to the best of his abilities while keeping the buffs he gave to everyone.

Divine energy surrounds Ardha, but the heal was delayed as the concentrated death aura permeated his body. Ardha’s body starts convulsing slightly, pain on his expression but resolution behind it. It seems the stunned state was lifting as he could now move, bȧrėly, his body, but then, the Divine Energy starts being absorbed by Ardha.

My expression changes and say, “Don’t be reckless, Ardha! You will die!” He obviously knew about the skills of his friend, as he has accompanied him for quite a while now, and absolutely knew that this skill left no small strain on his body.

“Juran… I can bȧrėly…keep it. I need you to gain… time for me!” Ardha says in between hard breaths, slowly stabilizing.

Juran is surprised, and says, “How can I gain time for us? I can’t do nothing” a very bitter expression on his face. Even to this moment, everyone was clashing with sweat and blood on that perilous battle against Alwen.

“Keep giving me… divine energy, you will see soon…” Juran’s eyes become sharp as he hears that, and, without hesitation, gives more divine energy to Ardha, healing him as much as he could meanwhile.

Then, a sphere of concentrated energy appears on Ardha’s hand and he looks at Juran seriously as he says “Take this, and your strength is going to be increased momentarily”. To which Juran reaches with his hand quickly, but then, Ardha says “Its going to hurt a lot!”

With no hesitation whatsoever, Juran absorbs the energy inside his body, elemental power rushing at his body, increasing his divine aura tremendously. Tremendous waves of pain course his entire body as he lets out a grunt while opening his mouth slightly.

“Gah…” He clenches his teeth hard, trying to control all this power suddenly rushing inside his body. He knew this was the pain his friend had to go through to obtain this, so he could not disappoint him!

He slowly stands up, his aura shooting to the heavens!

“Two minutes… no, one! I need one minute!” Shouts Ardha briefly and stops talking, concentrating fully to healing.

Juran didn’t say anything back, not because he didn’t feel confident, it was because he couldn’t waste any more time.

He ran and ran towards Alwen, using the opportunity while everyone was fighting with their lives on the line, distracting that monster, he jumps at it, doing the motion of a superman punch.

Alwen’s brows shot up, feeling the very dangerous attack flying at him. Even at a meter of distance, his death aura was dissipating a bit.

A punch thrown at it, simple yet it was vastly the most terrifying punch he had been sent, not because of its strength, but because of that aura!

Alwen didn’t hesitate at all as it decided just one thing.

Kill that man!

——————————————————-

With Juran joining, the battle slowly turned in our favor, as we relentlessly attacked Alwen whenever his death coat dissipated. It could be seen its two clear gushes of blood from the deep wounds Ardha gave it before being kicked.

I slowly timed my attacks, sometimes giving Power Waves, or closing in using the full might of Heaven Splitter, the skill I inherited from my master, Drakon.

I am the one most impervious to Alwen’s attack, being my main attribute death, I even got buffed up because of the environment but…

Suddenly, a claw materializes in front of me. I move my sword and swiftly defend, being pushed even when the ground cracks because of my firm footing. I couldn’t be distracted even for one moment against this opponent.

Thankfully, everyone was covering me, but I could sense how everyone was already fatigued. If it wasn’t because Juran joined in, maybe one of us would have fallen already, besides the ones that already did after that mental attack.

Time slowly ticked, and each second felt like an eternity. We knew we were dealing damage, even more than before, but Alwen seemed immortal, receiving all of our attacks with such superb reaction speed and skills. The only person that I have known with such a reaction speed is Ardha.

I could feel his aura slowly growing stronger, years of battling together gave us a link to easily perceive our conditions and cooperate instinctively even without talking or seeing our movements.

At the edge of my vision, I could see Juran sweating a lot. But still maintaining his composure to attack whenever possible. His body obviously at its limit despite the brief time he has been battling, but he kept holding on.

Then, Arksen slips by for a bit, faltering on his step as he expression visibly says ‘Crap’. Waves of powerful attacks hit him hard, sending him flying backward, but before he is chased after, Isa appears, and Juran covers her. Kagito attacks Alwen, but his attack didn’t hold the same power as before, as he is sent flying to a wall after being hit.

Aren, Isca and I close in, covering every side of Alwen with our swords. Knowing that its defenses are being destroyed by Juran, he swiftly steps forward attack, knowing that it couldn’t passively defend and counterattack after like before. It evades Aren’s attack with ease, and using both of his palms, grabs mine strongly, letting Isca’s fall on it.

A bad feeling goes through my head, I could get out of this grasp quickly, and without suffering damages, but it would take me a bit of time, then, I feel strong power from the body of my sword, making my grip move a bit and being thrown slightly to Isca’s side.

‘Shit!’ I try to warn Aren, but it was too late, he got kicked mercilessly by Alwen, being shot back as blood could be seen from his abdomen, mouth and nose.

I face Alwen as growls leave my throat, firmly regaining the grip on my sword. Power coursing my body ready to wreak havoc.

Kill my enemies! Severing life and bringing death!

My reason is eaten bit by bit, without being able to stop it, nor wanting to actually stop it. ‘¿Why should I?’

But then, an aura washes over me, bringing my reason back, power leaving my body, but my will becoming firmer. ‘Peko… I won’t let you down!’ I think as I throw Alwen back while pushing forward strongly.

Juran gasp hard and I nod at him, it was thanks to him I managed to stay sane at that moment. Then, I feel a familiar presence closing by rapidly and a smile blossoms from my face. Tapping lightly on Juran’s shoulder, a voice sounds on our ears.

“Time to end this!”

Ardha has come back to battle!

———————————-

I can feel how my body creaks whenever I move, but that didn’t matter to me, I knew that any more time wasted might bring death to my friends, so I cannot wait anymore!

I tap Juran slightly on his shoulder to make him know that he has already done enough, but I could feel his indomitable fighting spirit increasing instead. I smile secretly at that and think.

‘Really, our comrades are very dependable’

Alwen was already in a very shabby state, even his death aura couldn’t block his injuries from showing. But it still maintained its composed expression, the same it had before kicking me.

Two clear blood streaks flowing from its sides from the injury I left it. This time, I won’t just leave those!

Firmly stepping forward, I feel Juran’s power compressing rapidly. Zenith and I also preparing our respective attack along with everyone else.

Alwen obviously preparing too, and then, as if a flint is being lit, without knowing who was the first on giving the first step, or maybe everyone did it at the same time.

We clashed for last time.

Juran let out his compressed power along with a roar.

Alwen’s death coat dissipated into the air.

Alwen threw a full powered punch, containing each shred of his will against Zenith, killing intent visible.

Arrow and bullet hitting its body leaving deep holes and fearsome damage, yet it didn’t stop. Isca’s sword, as he is the closest to Zenith who closed his eyes focusing all his being on the next attack, fall on Alwen’s punch, affecting it bȧrėly but at the same time he is blown out of the way.

Isa making a split-second decision as she pulls her great shield and stab it harshly on the ground, creating a defensive field to shield everyone unconscious that has been left behind her.

My attack, focusing each bit of power I could muster on it, driving my elemental enhancing wildly while becoming one with my swords, falling on the same place I cut them previously, this time my swords easily cutting deeper.

But that didn’t stop the drive in Alwen’s attack, even if it already spelt its incoming death, without having a shred of intention to halt to defend itself.

I increase my power as much as I can, yet I knew I would still be too late to kill it before its punch reaches Zenith. It had an even stronger vibe than the kick it gave me, looking harmless but full of killing intent and destructive power.

Then, Ardha’s eyes shot open and steps forward, facing the punch head on, his Broadsword slashing from above his head, his aura shooting up strongly, focusing his all on this one move.

I smile while watching that and continue my attack fully confident of my friend.

Many limits were broken that day, and my friend definitely gave a step forward at that moment.

BOOM!!!!!!!!!

– Congratulations! You have killed Death Grand Beast, Alwen!

– Your level has increased…

– Your fame has increased…

– Perseverance, endurance, fighting spirit has increased…

– Elemental Enhancing has increased…

– Sword related skills has increased…