MM - Chapter 193 - ATLAS HAD IT EASY

A guttural rumble swept through the Primal Realm when Selena activated the eighth shrine. Nearby, Raine battled above heaving waves as the land tore itself apart. Cracks snaked through the ground, sucking away the lake’s water until only damp soil remained. Over two hundred Fetches were exposed to open air. Enraged, they hissed and turned their collective hatred on Raine, attacking with a unified shriek.

Without the water, they no longer had access to their electrified Water Bombs, which confirmed Raine’s theory that the ancient beasts integrated with their environment, not the other way around. Stripped of their ranged attacks, they were forced back to their old strategy of roaring at him with caustic sprays of Primal Energy. 

Instead of wiping them out with brutal efficiency, Raine took his time, picking them off one by one with scalpel-like proficiency. All the while, he honed away the rough edges of his new sense. Each flicker of aggression and pinprick of malice was caught within his bloodlust, creating a web of cognizant awareness. He sidestepped an unseen swipe and Parried an unheard claw. The beasts’ hatred drove their furious assault, and simultaneously broadcast their every move.

While he danced amidst a sea of writhing vines, the terrain continued its violent transformation. Four colossal mounds of stone and soil clawed their way toward the sky. The peaks of these fresh hills were so high that their curvature blocked the view from below. Atmosphere was displaced, sending a freezing wave of air rushing down to wash across lands now sprinkled by pine trees. Raine’s breaths released frosty clouds, but his dismantling of the Fetches didn’t slow for a heartbeat.

Four hills and four shrines left.

Raine drove his fist through the last Fetch’s head and leaped back to avoid the spray of golden liquid. He frowned up at the nearest hill. Its slopes were smooth, devoid of trees or rocky outcroppings.

Whether the Fetches come from above or below, we’ll be completely exposed. And how the hell are we supposed to go that high when just a few meters into the air is cold enough to kill?

Raine kicked off the air, rapidly arriving at the nearby shrine. He found Selena standing within the protected grove. She was staring at one of the hills with a mixture of awe and dread. 

She didn’t turn at his approach. When she spoke, her voice was hollow, lacking the sharp condemnation that her words implied. “This is all your fault, you know? The lake shrines were only supposed to have a handful of guardians, easily slipped past using a little stealth, and there was no mention of them having ranged attacks. Those hills… they are at least ten times larger than they’re supposed to be. And then there’s Zagan… Why haven’t we heard him chasing us? I’ll tell you why! Because he’s waiting! A world boss is hiding in ambush between us and the end of this ordeal, and it’s all because of you.”

Raine snorted, not disagreeing with her assessment. “I’d be disappointed if he was still chasing us.” Raine came to a stop beside her, gaze fixed on the same peak. “Saves me the trouble of tracking him down.”

“You’re still… How do you not hold a shred of guilt for what you’ve done?” Her voice cracked, betraying the fear beneath her anger. “You promised to protect me, yet put my life in grave danger at every turn.”

A dry, humorless snort escaped Raine’s nose. His eyes were devoid of warmth, no longer seeing the Primal Realm around them, but a war long past. “You're not very good at this whole princess thing, are you? You can’t afford to be so shortsighted. You've seen what Travelers are capable of. Yet, you’ve somehow completely missed the fact that the Dantinian Empire has nearly double the population of Silvergate. That includes Travelers. What's the point of keeping you safe today if you die tomorrow? This is your only, and last chance to gain as much power as possible before they come for your home, for our home.”

Selena’s mouth opened, then closed. A fiery retort died on her tongue, smothered by the cold logic of his words. She held her shoulders, falling in on herself. “That’s too much. That responsibility isn’t for my shoulders. I’m not special like Qavid. He’s so strong, unwavering, brave; I’m nothing like him. You talk of protecting our home, but that’s the last thing I’ve ever wanted to do. I want to be happy, left alone.”

“Oh?” Raine smiled softly, knowing just how to convince her, “And what was Qavid like before coming here? Did he wish for the same things? How much did this realm change him? How much will it change you? I’ve got another good one for you: the only constant in the universe is that there are no constants. Eventually, everything changes, and you will too.”

Selena sighed heavily, shaking her head. “I don’t want to change. I love my life. I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t forced on me.”

“Power has a way of… altering perspectives. I’m curious if you’ll keep that sentiment once we finish here and you become Qavid’s equal.”

She shied away, aghast. “Equal?! W-what are you suggesting?”

Raine didn’t roll his eyes so hard it hurt. “Don’t be so dramatic. Nobody said anything about making a claim for your mother’s throne. Just think about how much more good you can do if you leave stronger than you entered. Obviously, that’s the whole point, but there are degrees of strength and growth. Why settle for 20% when 200 is within reach?”

Raine wasn’t in the mood to bicker further. His tone softened, “You said the hills are taller. You knew they were coming, which means your ancestors dealt with the cold up there somehow.”

Selena lifted her nose, voice a sneer. “Of course I knew. Tell me again whose favorite words are, ‘it’s a Traveler thing?’”

Raine didn’t miss the attempt to bring the conversation back to a lighter tone. He acknowledged her hard-earned point. “Keep whatever secrets you want, princess, so long as they don’t get us killed. So, the hills?”

Selena crossed her arms over her chest, shivering at the memory of being coated in ice. Her glare lacked bite. “How have women staved off the cold since the dawn of time?”

“I don't think cuddling is going to be enough, if that's what you're suggesting.”

“What?! No, you perverted heathen!” She snapped, stomping the grass with a heel. “They used fire! The trees in this realm contain the spark of all life. A torch made from a branch is usually enough to ward off the chill.” She turned back to the nearest hill, her neck craned to inspect its snow-capped peak. “But going that high… if any who came before has attempted such idiocy, they did not live to spread the tale.”

Raine snapped his fingers, slightly annoyed at himself for not realizing the solution right away. “The Ordeal of Survival and Piety. What's survival without a little fire?” As the words left his lips, Raine triggered Purge, followed immediately by Soul of Reformation. The healing skill washed away the sensations of his cells being torn apart and flushed clean of Primal Energy. With a full-body shake, he cast off the last vestiges of the brief agony, feeling whole again. “All right, I'm ready. Let's go.”

“So soon? Are you allergic to rest?”

“Yup,” Raine confirmed, flashing his teeth.

With the Fetches cleared out, their journey toward the ninth shrine started uneventfully. Selena was huffing and sweating by the time she caught up to Raine, who was waiting for her at the base of the first hill. The annoyed twist to her lips was proof enough that she had been counting on being carried yet again. 

Already, they were at a high enough elevation that the top halves of the nearest trees were encased in frost. Knowing it would be pointless, Raine didn’t bother searching for a fallen branch. He picked the closest healthy tree, a specimen as thick as his torso, and casually punched its trunk. A sharp crack, like a thunderclap in the frigid air, echoed up the slope as splinters exploded away from the point of impact. The tree toppled with a groan.

Approaching its crown, Raine swapped back to his demonic armor before letting the Soul Flames of Amanesh flare over his hands. The highest branches burst into a smoky blaze. Raine positioned himself in the middle of the tree and swapped to the Fraction of Solidity, boosting both Potency and Physique to just under 1,000 each. By comparison, a regular level 40 Traveler would be lucky to have 500 in any one attribute.

With strength well beyond what his level should allow, Raine hefted the burning tree onto his shoulder as if it were a mere log. With thudding steps, he took off up the hill, leaving a gobsmacked Selena behind. Her shock was warranted. It was a fundamental law of all realms that the materials found within each zone tended to match the strength, durability, and weight of the attributes of the nearby beasts. As a level 40 Mystic Realm, it should have been impossible to lift even half the load he was currently running uphill with. It was no less ludicrous than seeing a regular human on Earth do the same thing to a massive oak tree.

“W-wait!” Selena chased after, quickly catching up with his slower-than-normal pace. “Argh!” She jumped away from the burning boughs. The heat they released was just as abnormal as the biting chill creeping in around them. She gave the burning tree a wide berth. She caught up and matched his pace, sword drawn. The cold was so pervasive that it nearly doused the passive fires gushing from Raine’s armor, allowing Selena to jog within a few paces of him.

Raine was on high alert, head on a swivel. There was no way they would be allowed to reach the next shrine completely unmolested. After catching sight of Selena eyeing him critically, he growled. “Keep your eyes open!”

Not a hundred meters later, their newest challenge revealed itself. A dozen Fetches came from above. With vines spread wide, they rode the high winds like dandelion fluffs. At the center of each ball of vines was a shriveled core, looking like more of a weathered corpse than a beast. Each wielded a lance of solid ice like a javelin.

Not good. If I leave the range of the tree’s heat, I’ll be dead in seconds, and ranged combat is my biggest weakness.

Thinking fast, Raine dropped the tree and leaped backwards to avoid the first thrown lances. Despite their size, the javelins were silent as they cut through the air. They sliced deep into the ground, leaving Raine with no doubts about the efficacy of their armor penetration. His high Defense, which had saved him so many times before, didn’t mean anything to these versions of the versatile Fetch.

Even worse, their lances were made from the same cold that permeated the sky. If one of the weapons ended up lodged inside flesh, it would freeze him solid in seconds. Raine couldn’t spare a glance at Selena to see if she was evading successfully. Another seven lances were on the way, each guided by the uncanny accuracy of a martial master.

Raine sidestepped and weaved around the first two, then side-kicked the air to dodge a third. The last four came together in a loose cluster that left no room for evading without being struck by at least one. A gauntlet of flames solidified atop Discipline-reinforced flesh a fraction of a second before a scraping clang echoed through the air. [-617] The deflection was only partially successful. The last javelin bit deep into Raine’s forearm before skittering to the side and sinking out of sight. In the brief contact, he was flooded with a pervasive chill.

Healing Burst topped off his health, and with the help of multiple sources of flame, overwhelmed the cold. Having reached his destination with the last evasive Lunge, Raine snapped off a thick, burning branch and Leaped into the air while roaring over the wind, “Don’t get hit!” He Lunged repeatedly to catch the Fetch, who managed to strike him. The beast was rapidly floating away in a fierce breeze, but not fast enough. Raine caught it in seconds.

As bloodlust ripped away a fifth of its attributes, a greatsword appeared in his free hand. He closed the distance, weaving through twelve meters of extended vines with subtle manipulations of the air. The vines tried to wrap around him and snuff the branch keeping him alive, but a few arcing swings cut them away. Nearing its core, Raine locked eyes with the snarling beast just before Guillotine Slash tore a rent in space.

Raine Lunged away as the Fetch’s undefended core was sucked into the tear. [-70,946] [Critical hit! -150,221] The beast’s lack of defenses made up for Raine not having Primal Energy to boost his damage. With only 200 thousand health, it died long before the skill ran its course. Not that Raine stuck around to watch. He was already air-hopping toward the next nearest Fetch when the first was diced into pieces.

Ice Lance wasn’t known for its rapid cooldown. Raine managed to catch and kill five Fetches before being forced to focus on evasion. By that time, Selena had broken off her own branch and used Canon Thrust to take out two of her own.

Since all but one of the attacks came from outside of bloodlust’s range, Raine had to rely on old-fashioned eyesight to evade. Afterwards, he mopped up the remaining five enemies before dropping to the ground. He didn’t waste a moment, hefting the tree and running up the hill harder than before. Already, their oversized torch had lost ten percent of its mass to the flames. 

Raine was confident they would reach the shrine in time. Getting back down without freezing to death was an entirely different story.

[Fraction of Solidity: (PTC +20%) (PHY +20%) Upon command personify the sturdiness of the Unassailable Aegis preventing all damage and negative effects for 5 seconds (Cost: 40% of maximum health) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]

[Guillotine Slash: (Beginner) With any melee slashing weapon, cut space for 3 seconds, pulling enemies within a 2 meter radius at 600% force. Slashes 5 times for 700% physical damage each. Reduces users Defense and Resistance by 45% for 10 seconds (Cost: 18 Discipline) (Cooldown: 18 seconds)]