[Psychokinetic] Eyeball Pulling - Chapter 233:

Astrid’s mother brought the team to the bubble wall on the far side; where they were closest. The barrier was no longer there. Instead, the regular walls of the bubble had blessed their sight. The shimmering of colours like that of a rainbow, and the clear reflection of a mirror.

Eli didn’t stop. She ran into the wall shoulder first. In an instant, her entire body was saturated. A blood mist trailed from her wounds. She was swallowed by the deep dark of the ocean. Astrid could only see it because of her dark vision.

Astrid and the others were quick to follow as they attached their breathing apparatus. It was a necessity this far down in the depths. Without the resistance to the pressure from the enchanted equipment, they would be crushed by the water. As the least injured of the squad, Astrid had automatically taken charge of the rearguard.

They weren’t out of danger just yet.

The spawn weren’t only limited to the inside of the bubble. A lot of them were already waiting in the depths of the ocean. The moment Astrid and her mother emerged; they attacked.

Weak, Leena and the others fought on. It didn’t matter that they had little energy left within their bodies. All that mattered was that they still had to fight. The moment they stopped, death was the only thing that awaited them. It was what they had all learnt as Wayfarers. You couldn’t stop. No matter what.

Astrid blasted the spawn, swirling the pitch black depths even darker. While Eli relied upon her mighty legs to kick the spawn until they were vaporised into paste.

Astrid lost count after one-hundred. They kept on swimming up to the surface as they annihilated any spawn that threatened to get close.

A fast spawn approached. It swam through the waters at breakneck speed. The creature seemed to ignore any resistance there was this far down. The pressure was enough to crush any being into dust, but the spawn moved unimpeded by the same force that wanted to push Astrid downward.

With a shark’s fin at its back and gills located at its chest, it opened its jaws wide. Rachelle was the target. Her eyes widened and just as the monster was about to close its jaw, an arrow slammed into its skull. Lisa held her bow.

With the threat neutralised, they continued to ascend, but there was too much spawn to kill them all before they reached.

One of them swam too close. However, Astrid already had Psych Domain activated. Without her command, an image of darkness tore through the spawn. What was left was jagged flesh. Like something huge had taken a chunk out of its body with dagger-like teeth.

It wasn’t the only victim either. Whatever swam close to Astrid, and by extension, her team, were devoured by darkness. The others may have been unable to see what was happening, but Astrid could.

Beasts of all shapes and sizes swarmed Astrid.

There were over one-hundred of them, and they all had one thing in common; they protected Astrid. It was the Legendary Skill she had earned after consuming Jabari Cole’s eyes. It was the Dance of Monsters.

With the help of her monsters, they reached the surface mostly unharmed. The only wounds her team had were those that they had already suffered during the short dungeon detour.

Astrid broke out of the water and gazed upon a graveyard of ships. In truth, the water was barely visible. Amongst the broken ships, scrap metal, and corpses of spawn, there wasn’t a spot of water that remained uncovered.

In the far distance she noticed a few ships that remained largely intact. Amongst the debris, Astrid trembled at the sight. It was her ship. It was Seabreaker! But how? They hadn’t come on her ship. They had used the Sinwen war ship to assault the city…

“Astrid!” A familiar voice tread from beyond the graveyard. It was Calum.

“Calum!” Astrid shouted, relieved. Her mana container was running empty. And so was her potion supply. If it wasn’t for the powerful accumulation thanks to her Internal Engine, she would have been long running on fumes.

Seabraker chopped through the scrap metal and corpses. The strong metal edge of the ship cut through any obstacle in its way. That was why she had named it Seabraker. It was capable of cutting through any waves, no matter how strong they were.

However, monsters converging on her location severed Astrid’s excitement. Five. Fifteen. Thirty. Fifty. The number continued to grow. Not only were they coming from the bubbled city down below, but they were arriving from all over the ocean far and wide. It was easy to guess why.

A shriek pierced. It was filled with wrath. Filled with agonising pain. Everyone cupped their ears in an attempt to mute the overpowering noise, but it was no use. Their ears bled. Astrid was the only one that had escaped mostly unscathed as she cut off her sense of hearing the moment it had happened.

It was coming from down below. It was coming from the Leviathan. What had happened to make the legendary monster of their nightmares create such a noise.

Was father close to defeating it?!

The thought sent a ripple of hope throughout her. They may not just come out of this alive, but victorious. If it was her father, anything was possible!

She put the thoughts of victory to the back of her mind. Right now she had to focus on her own battle. The number had reached beyond one-hundred. She didn’t even know if she would escape this herself.

Astrid took a breath and swallowed the last remaining potion that she had stored in her space dimension. Her Internal Engine broiled to a blaze as it readied her for war.

Wavebreaker’s engine roared. Thunk. Thunk. A barrage of ballistae shot out from the ship. The huge bolts the size of a powerful warrior slammed into the ocean. Astrid saw that at least twenty monsters had died from the volley.

It wasn’t enough. The spawn broke out of the water, fangs bared, claws pointed at their throats. They leapt up, returned to the waters, only to leap up once more like dolphins. They were fast. In only ten seconds they had reached not only Astrid, but Seabreaker, as well.

Astrid Crashed everything in her vicinity. She didn’t spare any of her mana. She couldn’t. Her team was badly wounded. Lisa was struggling to hold her bow, and together with the maimed soldiers that had followed them, they lacked range.

From the psychic explosions, Astrid had killed fifty or so spawn, but it didn’t even leave a dent in their number.

Astrid, her mother, and her team desperately fought on. Astrid wasn’t able to escape unscathed either. Claws gouged into her flesh. Teeth sunk in her skin. A small yet powerful shark had even tore a chunk out of her leg before she blasted it into pieces.

Eli looked at her. Leena looked at them both. Astrid met their gaze. She shook her head, snarling. Astrid snapped her head to an nearing spawn before turning it into mush with an explosion.

The monsters that swirled around her were being devoured by the numerous spawn. If it wasn’t for her new Legendary Skill, Astrod would have already been defeated by now. They were hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

“Astrid, we need to–” Eli said, but she was interrupted by Astrid.

“Don’t you dare!” Astrid snarled.

“One of us needs to live,” Eli said calmly as she kicked the head off a large crab-like spawn.

“We will all live.” Astrid blinked, dodging the sharpened claws of a spawn before killing it with an accurate void bullet.

“Listen to me!” Eli shouted. Finally losing her calm exterior. “Amongst all of us, you have the most potential. If Rebirth wishes to rise amongst the threats that aim for our necks, it needs you. Not me. Not your father. Not your brothers. You. My sweet girl, you are our hope.”

Astrid glanced at the others. Leena, Brett, Losef, Rob, Rachelle, Lisa, Bellona. Even the militant forces from both Rebirth and Havel turned their attention to Astrid.

With a Legendary Class and a Transcendent Class to go along with it, she knew it all too well. The words of the Great No-Eyed One appeared in her mind like a phantom.

“The strong walk alone.”

But she couldn’t. She couldn’t leave everything she loved behind to die while she lived.

“Just shut up,” Astrid spat. “Keep fighting.”

As the fight raged on, it was evident no-one was coming to their aide. Seabraker was taking too much damage. The warriors on the ship, whoever they were, Astrid could hear their screams of pain. For all she knew, Calum was already dead.

Something tugged at Astrid’s chest. She looked down. A large metal rod had impaled her. Blood spurted. Her strength drained. She was about to fall, but Leena was there to catch her.

“Screw this,” Astrid said as she activated Overload. She selected Killing Intent.

The colour of her flesh changed. From a pale white to a dark grey. Her hair also transformed into an abyss-like black as it rose. Her fingernails also turned into the same colour and they grew sharper.

She felt the unbridled strength soar in her body, but with it, she felt her mind warp under the pressure. She lost control. Her mind snapped. She looked at a Wayfarer. He had fought long and hard. Wounds covered his body, yet she looked at him. That was all it took for his body to explode.

The next targets were the spawn in her vicinity. She annihilated them with a mass of psychokinetic explosions. Bullets, saws, drills, were created en-masse. She could feel her mana container splitting. She pushed on. One-hundred, two-hundred, she kept on killing. More just kept on arriving in the thousands. Answering the summons of the crazed Leviathan.

Then she gazed at her team. Her mind flared, but she chomped down on her lips. Blood spilled. She fought the urge back.

This wasn’t what she wanted…

Just as she was about to give in to the carnal desire of Killing Intent. Something appeared from the skies. She squinted in her crazed state and saw something ridiculous. An army of flying kobolds arrived. They held something round in their hands. Then they dropped them.

Once they reached the water, an enormous explosion rocked the ocean. It created huge waves, disturbing the scrap rubble. The result sent tumbling metal shards with enough force to penetrate the spawn’s flesh.

They dropped the bombs ten at a time as they wreaked havoc on the spawn forces. It was mayhem.

In the lead was a white kobold. It was Kr… Krekka? The name was blurry. Astrid was losing control. No, it was a spawn.

Her mind surged. Her flesh split from the uncontrollable mana. Ten powerful, dense void-bullets danced above her head. Just as she was about to fire them, something hard struck the back of her head. Her vision turned blurry. She glanced over her shoulders as blood streamed from the blunt impact.

Brett stood behind her with his dagger in a reverse grip.

Overload cancelled. The sound of psycho screams echoed against the waves. Reinforcements had arrived.