Essence swirled around me as I lifted my gaze to the Abomination, wondering if it even understood what had just happened to its wind blade.
I chuckled and shook my head.
"Thanks, man. Let me help you move on from this life."
I focused on the Essence gathering in my core and channeled it into my staff. Instantly, I felt its weight increase in my hands.
Without hesitation, I shot forward. The creature shrieked and lunged at me, its claws slicing through the air. I leaped high, raising my staff over my head, gripping it tightly with both hands. The moment I reached the peak of my jump, I swung down with full force.
The staff slammed into the bat's skull, driving it straight into the ground.
A thunderous boom echoed across the ruins. The impact was brutal, its upper torso exploded, torn apart by the sheer force of the blow. Blood and the rancid stench of decay filled the air.
I exhaled, rolling my shoulders as I felt my core burning hot, churning with Essence. With a thought, I transferred another ten units into Strength.
[Level Up!]
[Level 26 -> Level 27]
I tapped the butt of my staff twice against the ground and kept moving.
As I walked through the wreckage, I started whistling, a tune forming in my mind.
Soon, the words followed.
"Man, in the wild. Man, no more home.
Man, in the dust. Man, forever gone."
The melody carried through the ruins, blending with the distant echoes of the broken city. I picked up my pace, stepping over shattered stone and rusted metal, until my walk turned into a sprint.
Two minutes passed.
No signs of life—if these things could even be called that.
I skidded to a stop atop a crumbling building and exhaled.
"Alright, alright. Let's see if I still can't pull you out."
I raised my staff high above my head, activating all my innate skills at once.
Essence responded to my call, gathering at the staff's tip, green and glowing, swirling and compressing. I shifted its state, feeding it more Essence. Fire roared to life, forming a sphere that hummed and spun, growing larger with every second.
One meter.
Two meters.
I spread my will over it, locking it in place. Then, with a single thought, I slammed my will into the core of the fireball.
"Explode."
With a deafening boom, the fireball detonated, but I didn't let it scatter. Instead, I condensed it into a single, blazing pillar that shot skyward like a beacon.
Flames roared, painting the dark ruins in a furious glow. The explosion's shock wave rippled outward, shaking the broken buildings around me.
I stood firm, my staff raised high, continuing to pour Essence into the inferno above me.
A burning lamp in the darkness.
Then, the sound I had been waiting for.
Screeches.
They echoed from every direction, growing louder, closer.
I grinned.
"Come to daddy."
The fire roared above me for another ten seconds, crackling and raging like a living beast. The air shimmered with heat, the ruins around me glowing under the intense light.
Then, satisfied, I lowered my staff, cutting off the flow of Essence.
The flames died, leaving only the scent of burnt dust and smoke in their wake.
I exhaled slowly and spread my perception outward, my Psynapse stretching through the air like invisible threads. Essence pulsed all around me, calm at first, until the first ripple of movement.
A disturbance to my right.
Then another, from the left.
Then more.
More.
One after another, the distortions spread through the air like ripples in water.
I grinned, my heart pounding in anticipation.
This was what I had been waiting for.
I rolled my shoulders and took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the thick, scorched air. My muscles tensed, my body thrumming with energy.
Then, without hesitation, I bent my knees and launched myself off the building and landed on the ground with a loud boom.
I planted my staff into the ground and waited.
My ears twitched at the sound of heavy thumping to my right, followed by the sharp whoosh of something slicing through the air.
Wings. Something was gliding.
Before I could turn, a dark green shape darted from my right. It moved in an awkward mix of running and flying, its body jerking forward in unnatural bursts. A moment later, it slammed headfirst into the side of a crumbling building with a sickening crunch.
Dust and debris rained down as the creature staggered to its feet. Its elongated head twisted toward me with a series of cracking pops, bones shifting in ways they shouldn't. Then it let out a piercing screech, its maw stretching far too wide.
I grinned.
Without hesitation, I launched myself toward it.
[Level 43]
Spinning my staff in my hand, I adjusted my grip, ready to drive it straight into the thing's ribs.
But the abomination braced itself. Its clawed feet dug into the cracked pavement, and its chest swelled unnaturally. Then, its jaws unhinged even wider, and before I could react—
It roared.
A blinding column of fire exploded from its mouth, racing straight for me.
"Holy fuck."
I slammed both feet down, forcing my body to a stop as the fire surged toward me.
My hands moved on instinct. I raised my staff and brought it down in a brutal overhead arc, splitting the oncoming fire in half. The searing heat roared past on either side.
I straightened, letting out a slow breath. My grip on the staff tightened.
"Not cool, man. Not cool. I was just coming to say hi."
I felt a shift in the air behind me, a disturbance, faint but unmistakable.
Tilting my head slightly, I caught sight of another bat hurtling straight toward me. This one was different. It wasn't empty-handed. In its clawed grip, raised high above its head, was a jagged, rusted iron pillar.
My muscles tensed.
I lunged to the side just as the creature brought the pillar down with a brutal swing. The impact shook the ground, sending cracks spider webbing through the pavement. A crater formed where I had stood moments ago, dust and debris exploding outward.
I turned my gaze toward the bat and scanned it.
[Level 46]
My blood thrummed with excitement.
Strong. This one was strong.
I took a single step forward, but a sharp crunch beneath my boot made me pause. My head snapped up as the building in front of me shuddered.
A second later, glass and stone burst outward as two figures crashed through the windows, slamming hard into the ground between me and the Level 43 bat.
They staggered to their feet, their wings flaring, ears twitching at every sound. Then their gazes locked onto me.
They screeched.
I scanned them.
[Level 42]
[Level 37]
My brows pulled together.
'What the hell is a Level 37 kid doing here among the adults?'
I turned to the nearest Level 46 Abomination, the one gripping the iron pillar.
"Is he with you? I don't think he should be allowed in a fight among adults. Definitely a bad influence."
The bat let out a low growl, then swung the pillar in a wide arc straight at my head.
I ducked just in time, the iron pillar slicing through the air above me with a sharp whoosh.
The sheer force sent cracks splintering through the building behind me.
Before I could counter, the two other Abominations screeched and lunged.
The Level 42 rushed in first, wings spread wide as it slashed at my chest with jagged claws.
I twisted my body, sidestepping the strike, but the Level 37 was already diving from above, aiming to sink its teeth into my shoulder.
'Annoying.'
I slammed the end of my staff into the Level 42's stomach, sending it skidding backward.
Pulling my staff back, I spun and swung upward, cracking the Level 37 across the jaw mid-air. It tumbled, crashing into the rubble.
A sharp swishing sound cut through the air, the Level 46 was already on me, its iron pillar swinging again. I raised my staff just in time, catching the impact, but the sheer force rattled my arms.
I gritted my teeth and pushed up, my leg shooting forward as I kicked the bat right in the gut. It skidded backward.
My perception flared as I sensed a disturbance in the Essence. A moment later, another fire pillar came crashing toward me from the Level 43 Abomination.