Chapter 254: Tarakus Cullin
—
Name: [Tarakus Cullin]
Role: [Hero Candidate]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: B+]
>[Dexterity: B+]
>[Intelligence: BB]
>[Endurance: B+]
>[Charisma: BBB]
Talents:
>[Spatial Mind: A-]
>>[Abilities: Control]
[The space around you becomes an extension of your limbs. Godsfall Pathways, various Skills, and Spells, the limitations and boundaries that others face are not your cross to bear]
>>[Abilities: Twist]
[Command the space to take a new form. Shape it into a different mold and fashion it into a new creation, allowing an extension of your abilities that you may not otherwise have normally]
>>[Abilities: Erase]
[Overwrite the laws as they are. Don’t just command, impose, using the world as you canvas and life’s blood as your ink]
Skills:
...
—
Even as the world slowed around Zarek and he read the description of this Cullin’s abilities, his understanding didn’t immediately lock onto exactly what was happening.
The ways to interpret this Talent were simply too many, and the overlay of abilities was hard to read and track. Was it a spatial ability or was it not? Was it more like a Charisma and control-type ability or was it not?
It felt like one of those abilities that could be taken and interpreted a million different ways, its horizons only limited by how far the user could see.
And that was what made it dangerous.
This heat... it looked like Tarakus was using up a large amount of Godsfall, but he wasn’t. Any normal person would have to first grab Godsfall within their bodies, then expel it in a large enough wave to form this barrier that blocked Zarek’s Lurker’s Godsfall from progressing any further.
This was the natural progression of things and it made sense. Plus, it was well within the abilities of someone with Core Stats like Cullin to do something like this.
However, Cullin was cutting out the middleman entirely. Between himself and the wall of heat, there wasn’t the slightest change to the temperature at all. It was like he only needed to use the thinnest barrier of Godsfall to display its effects.
His control was exceptional, and the fact his Charisma was actually higher than his Intelligence told an important story as well.
Not only was Tarakus talented, but he had really focused on his strengths and knew exactly how to best make use of his abilities. In fact, this was an opponent Zarek hated to face almost as much as he had disliked Urouge.
And that was because he usually fought by using the weaknesses of his opponents against them, relying on his experience and ability to comprehend their own Talents, Skills, and various abilities—maybe better than they could ever fathom themselves doing.
However, what stood out here so much was that Tarakus couldn’t be used so easily.
When he fought Eliz, he used his Godsfall Intent to counter her void skill. But someone like Tarakus had already found his own method of countering it because his deep understanding of his own Talent more than allowed him to.
Both he and Eliz might have had A- Class Talents, but it was clear that one was only at the surface level, while the other understood even his Talent’s secondary and tertiary abilities and aftereffects like the back of his hand.
Then, there was the last of the elephants in the room...
’Hero Candidate.’
When he checked Eliz’s screen, he saw Hero Strength Candidate . In fact, if he checked Urouge’s...
—
Name: [Urouge Cullin]
Role: [Hero Spirit Candidate]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: B]
>[Dexterity: B]
>[Intelligence: B+]
>[Endurance: B]
>[Charisma: BB]
Talents:
>[Maze of Mental Mirrors: A-]
>>[Abilities: Adapt]
[Your mind is flexible and the paths you can take are endless. Distractions are your friends as they help you to learn, to Adapt]
>>[Abilities: Split]
[You can live with your distractions, but they not necessarily need to live with you. Separate them from yourself, create independent minds and centers of control, each with a body of their own and a strength of their own]
Skills:
...
—
Indeed... Urouge’s stat page was similar, but his Hero Candidacy was specified as well.
Usually, it meant something special if there was a specialization attached to something. But Zarek had a feeling that in this case, it was actually the opposite.
If he was correct, a Hero Strength Candidate, or Hero Spirit Candidate like this case, would only be able to go after very specific Hero Spirits.
Tarakus, by comparison...
Had no such limit at all.
Zarek grinned. Neither had moved just yet, their aura and Godsfall clashing in the middle of the forest. Green grass withered beneath the heat, while on the other half it was completely swallowed up by Zarek’s presence.
"Interesting."
They both spoke out the word at the same time, probably noticing the exact same thing. Neither had an easy path toward defeating the other.
The description of Tarakus’ Talent made it hard to find openings. It was too flexible. And though Zarek could easily fight without such handicaps in the first place as usual, he was used to his Scouting Skill not working at all even in his previous lives since Counter Skills were so common...
There was something about Tarakus that made him look full of openings, and yet not at the same time.
This man was experienced.
Too experienced for his age.
Zarek’s eyes narrowed.
Rebirther.
He was sure of it. The question was—why hadn’t he sensed it the moment he stepped foot before Tarakus?
—
...
>>[Abilities: Erase][Overwrite the laws as they are. Don’t just command—impose, using the world as your canvas and life’s blood as your ink.]
—
Zarek chuckled. How interesting indeed.
A Rebirther not from Earth, and yet so adept at hiding it.
Was Zarek completely and randomly guessing? Yes, he was. Tarakus also didn’t seem to have reacted particularly fiercely to his appearance either.
However, there were two rebuttals to that.
First... Zarek was quite used to trusting his gut. There was no kid in this world or any other that could possibly stand so tall and have not a single loophole for him to take advantage of.
The Cullin’s Talent was also far too complex. Even Zarek couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Of course, someone like Tarakus would have the best guidance possible. But unless there was someone with an identical Talent leading him all along the way, there was simply no way for them to have as much insight into it as he did.
All things considered, the improvement of a Talent was a very, very personal journey.
As for the second...
This wasn’t the first time Tarakus was seeing Zarek. He would have seen Zarek on the ship making a fuss, talking to Thalion, and making a bold proclamation to Priya.
He would have had all the time in the world to accept that Zarek was a Rebirther and decide how to function knowing this information.
But that made this all the more interesting. That was because Zarek had only just found out that Tarakus and his people probably really didn’t like Rebirthers. So...
Was this the fissure in the Hero Association that Zarek had always known had to be there?
Zarek’s eyes slowly shifted from Tarakus to the badge in his hand.
Well... the odds that he could kill Tarakus today were next to zero. Zarek didn’t believe that anyone—even a Rebirther—was better than him in combat. However, Tarakus being experienced and having stats so much higher than his own currently would bridge whatever gap there was and likely put his life in great danger.
"It’s too bad," Zarek said slowly. "I just made a big show in front of my girl. You know the saying—pride goeth before the fall and all that fancy stuff. So I’m going to need that badge."
Zarek hopped down from the tree, his feet grazing what should have been the sticky tar as though it was normal flat ground. It didn’t obstruct his movement in the slightest.
"Tell you what, Urouge. I know you’ve been shitting bricks for the past month. Help me restrain him and I promise to not come after you again. How about it? You want revenge, don’t you? At best I wasted your time. But this guy... well, he kind of embarrassed you."
Urouge’s heart skipped a beat and then a flare of rage sparked in his eyes.
This was the first time in his life he had lost so thoroughly, and it was to one of his peers no less. He had spent his entire life believing he could do things at his own pace. He never even took the rankings people with too much time on their hands made seriously...
But he didn’t even last three exchanges against Tarakus, and he had even lost two precious summons that had taken him years to prepare for this trial.
He did want his revenge, but more importantly, he wanted to get out of here alive.
"Count me in."
Zarek smiled at Tarakus, deciding from this moment on, he wouldn’t be letting this man out of his sight for the slightest moment.
"It’s so nice talking to smart people. Now..." Zarek slowly pulled out a familiar glove, slipping it on. But rather than taking the javelin that came with it out, he pulled out an even more recent prize of war... an enormous red-gold greatsword with an edge that curved almost as wildly as a scythe. "... Let’s dance."