I exhaled sharply, lungs burning from exertion, and launched myself toward the beast's broken body.
Mid-air, I raised my hand. My will surged outward.
Essence, thick and charged, churned to life around me. I seized it.
"Absolute Fire"
The raw Essence responded in an instant, boiling into a crimson blaze. A swirling inferno coiled around my arm, and then—
I unleashed it.
A beam of fire roared down, a spiraling jet that screamed like a dragon. It struck the beast's broken form with a deafening impact, setting the ground ablaze. The flames didn't just burn, they consumed.
I didn't stop.
More Essence surged through my channels. The fire intensified, forming a blazing pillar that pushed me higher into the air just from its recoil. I hovered above the inferno, suspended by the backlash of raw force and heat.
Below, the beast writhed. Its once-thick armor began to melt, green liquid bubbling and evaporating into noxious black smoke.
It screamed, a horrible, rattling sound like a creature being torn from the inside out. Muscles twitched. Spikes cracked. Its frame thrashed once more before falling still, limbs twitching in protest.
Still, I didn't let up.
I pushed another wave of Essence into the beam. I would erase every last trace of it.
Only after the beast stopped moving completely—no twitch, no growl, no final trick—did I let the flame die.
My arm trembled. My veins throbbed. I was soaked in sweat, my skin stinging from the rising heat. I slowly lowered myself to the ground, boots crunching onto scorched earth, the smoking carcass of the Spiky Mauler before me.
I stood there, shoulders rising and falling with each breath, and watched the fire die out.
I closed my eyes and focused inward, checking the state of my body. The poison was still moving through my bloodstream, slow but steady. I took a breath and guided Essence into my veins. At my command, it surged forward, slamming into the poison like a wave crashing through paper.
The poison didn't stand a chance.
Within moments, it broke apart and dissolved into nothing. My body felt lighter, clearer—like I could breathe again.
Then, I heard the familiar chime.
[Level Up!]
[Level 62 → Level 70]
[Skill Level Up!]
[Havoc Sfera: Level 2 → Level 3]
I opened my eyes and turned around. Steve stood a few feet away, staring down at the smoking remains of the beast. His face was serious, but I could see the questions behind his eyes. He finally turned to me.
"How much is your Psynapse now?" he asked, voice tight.
I pulled up my status panel and glanced at the number. "Five twenty-four," I said.
His jaw dropped slightly. "Five twenty-four? Fuck. That's insane. No wonder you can use Fire like that."
I shrugged. "Something like that."
I didn't want to linger.
"Let's move," I said, starting into a run. "I spotted a few things spying on us earlier."
Steve nodded and followed without question. I expanded my perception, which had grown stronger thanks to the level-ups. I could feel more now, like my awareness had stretched out even farther.
I began drawing in Essence again, faster this time. My channels pulsed with energy.
'We need to go deeper,' I thought, locking onto the fleeing creatures I had sensed earlier. They believed they had gotten away clean. They were wrong.
We chased them through the forest until they reached a pool and dove in without hesitation.
I didn't slow down. I reached the edge of the water and stopped just long enough to watch their forms disappear beneath the surface.
Steve caught up. "What happened?"
"They went inside," I said. "We're following."
He gave a quick nod, and together we dove in.
The cold water closed over us. Visibility wasn't great, but I could still track them. The creatures moved fast, cutting through the water like it was nothing. I narrowed my eyes, examining them more closely.
They looked like some strange mix of a mouse and a sloth—long limbs, twitching noses, thick fur that barely moved in the water. Odd, but not aggressive.
They kept going deeper and deeper.
Seconds passed. Then more. The pressure increased, the light dimmed, and I started to wonder just how deep this pool went.
The walls of the pool narrowed the further down we swam. Eventually, we were in more of a tunnel than a lake. Then I saw it.
I raised my hand to stop Steve.
We floated still, surrounded by silence and shadows. Ahead of us, the creatures had stopped in front of a massive rock at the very bottom of the pool. Sitting atop it was something even more surprising, a huge crab.
Curious, I scanned them all.
[Greedy Rat – Level 73]
[Greedy Rat – Level 69]
[Decapoda Crab – Level 111]
It didn't move at first. Just stared down at the two sloth-like rats. They stared back. No words, no sound—but I could tell they were communicating.
After a few moments, the crab shifted. It stepped off the rock and used its massive pincers to push the boulder aside. A hole was revealed beneath it. Without hesitation, the rats dove inside.
Then, the crab carefully rolled the boulder back over the entrance and returned to its spot atop the stone.
My heart jumped. No corruption. No trace of abomination in any of them.
'Finally… something clean. Maybe even edible,' I thought, my stomach growling slightly at the thought of real meat.
We waited.
The crab sat motionless. The current whispered softly around us.
Then, I made my move.
"Absolute," I whispered.
My will surged outward, blending with the water. I commanded the affinity to shift—to make the water accept me. Flow with me. Resist me less.
The water trembled. I felt it. Less drag. Less pressure. I was part of it now.
Essence pooled at my feet.
Boom.
I shot forward like a spear. The crab noticed instantly, letting out a distorted screech and raising its pincers.
Too late.
"Ice!" I commanded, thrusting my hand forward.
The water around the crab twisted and spun. In a second, it froze—turning into a spiraling column of frost that wrapped around the creature like a prison. Its movements stopped instantly. I reached the Ice block and placed my palm on its surface.
More Essence poured through me. I reinforced the ice, thickening the block, layering it again and again until the prison was nearly ten feet tall—an ice cube suspended in the deep.
I allowed just enough water inside to keep the crab alive. It floated, silent and stiff, its black eyes locked on mine from within the frozen tomb.
And then it blinked.