Free Web NovelChapter 16: Terror Harbinger
"I would appreciate it if you could defeat me, to be honest. I wanted to do something else, something that can make me stronger, but I had to come here for this Tier-3 Terrorized Dimension." Rai put the sword forward, standing in an ox-guard stance.
Aidan blinked. "Does that mean you are a strong enough C-rank Hunter for the guild to forcefully put you in this contest?"
"I guess? But I have a feeling I’m going to get a surprise." Rai grinned, his aura surging as a glimmer covered his blade. "Let’s start."
Rai disappeared from his spot, his speed as fast as he appeared next to Aidan, swinging his blade straight towards his ribs.
But when it neared Aidan’s body, a strong swirl of wind flowed, fast and intense, deflecting the strike and forcing it upward, flinging Rai’s hand up.
Passive Spell—Spiral Gust Deflect.
Rai suddenly sensed something above him and dashed sideways without hesitation.
BOOM!
The place where he had previously stood was blasted by five Magic Bullets.
’Not bad. I suppose he is quite skilled and is at the absolute peak of C-rank in terms of stats.’
’What the...’ Rai’s eyes narrowed at the destruction. ’Fast and powerful...’
Naturally, Aidan was holding back, keeping his stats suppressed to C-10, the same as Rai. At C-10 Speed, Rai could react to his Magic Bullets.
[Someone is inspecting you with precision. Transcendent Players can create a false status that will show itself whenever their stats are measured by people or devices. I’ve set them on par with peak C-rank, with all five stats at C-10 for now. You may adjust them if you want later.]
’Oh, that’s handy. Thanks.’
Swooosh!
Rai swung his sword while keeping a distance of ten meters, unleashing an icy blade projectile, thin, sleek, and sharp.
Aidan blinked, his eyes flickering with patterns.
Defensive Spell: Gale-Blood Wall.
A curved, windy wall empowered by blood manifested. It had layers of sharp and spinning winds with blood threads that generated sharp friction and vibrations.
The ice blade shattered upon impacting the wall.
’Blood and Wind control?’ Rai’s eyes glinted.
The other onlookers were also surprised.
Blood Energy had slightly unique characteristics compared to other elements. It provided straight-up overall power, which entirely depended on the user’s parameters.
In short, Blood Energy’s characteristic was embodying the five basic parameters of its user.
Of course, if Blood Energy were combined with some mystical aspects, it could expand into more lethal and terrifying powers like blood curses, manipulation of other people, forceful control, and so on.
The global 3rd-ranked Guild—Blood Crown, founded by Hunter Crimson Rose Bella, had a rather infamous reputation thanks to her blood-related powers, with all of the above-mentioned powers and more at her beck and call. A bona fide Legendary-rank powerhouse.
"Let’s do some blade clashes." Aidan smiled as he used another spell, causing a beautiful yet deadly-looking crimson-cyan blade to appear in his hand.
Weapon Spell: Crimson Wind Blade.
Rai grinned.
Swoosh!
Both of their blades met as their figures vanished, creating sparks of crimson, cyan, and blue across the air in different spots.
Rai was clearly a better swordsman. He had a solid foundation of basic techniques and advanced techniques, pressing Aidan from all sides and not letting him attack much.
His strikes were more precise, controlled, and flowed into the next strike faster.
Aidan was fully focused. He wanted to learn and get better. Absorb what Rai knew and make it his.
The only reason he was deflecting and staying equal in this fight was thanks to his hidden stats that surpassed Rai’s, which he mainly used to remain faster and react better, as well as his passive spell—Spiral Gust Deflect.
’Wind and Blood, huh... What are his talents, Beatrix?’ Howzer asked Beatrix using Magic Whisper, a sort of target-based telepathy.
’His talent is not related to Wind and Blood. As for his talent rank, it’s SS-rank. I don’t know many details, but the talent is called Power Bond.’
Aidan had to reveal one talent, so he decided to reveal Power Bond.
Beatrix knew about Arthur and Aidan’s Summoner talent, but that was a secret for the sake of a relatively peaceful life that would otherwise be destroyed if his real talents and Arthur were revealed.
’Power Bond, SS-rank. That’s interesting. There are too few SS-rank and SSS-rank Mystic-type talents, and their conditions for evolution are also rather hard to figure out more often than not, but they hold the most troublesome powers. His Blood and Wind manipulation is on par with Blood and Wind elemental talents of SS-rank.’ Howzer’s eyes flickered. ’How sure are you that your nephew won’t leave and go for a bigger house? The top ten guilds would gladly welcome him.’
’You don’t need to worry about that, Vice Leader.’ Beatrix smiled. ’He could go to them, but he deliberately didn’t, saying he wanted to stay with me. I am his only family in the world, so he wanted to become a part of the same guild as me.’
’Haha, that’s rather reassuring. I suppose I can leave his development to you.’
’Leave it to me.’
Zooooom!
Rai arrived next to Aidan and released a burst of icy vapor that rapidly started freezing him, but Aidan didn’t plan to extend this any longer.
Rai’s legs were suddenly bound by blood threads and squeezed tightly as he fell, while Aidan’s eyes flickered as he executed a technique, causing a powerful wind pressure to blast over Rai, slamming him into the ground.
Technique: Air Pressure Blast.
"Alright, that’s it." Howzer clapped once. A wave of magic washed over both Rai and Aidan with the effect of healing wounds.
But only Rai had been wounded so far. Aidan was entirely unscathed.
"Haha, that was fun. Thanks for the match." Rai smiled.
Aidan smiled and nodded. "Same."
"Rai, you are free to leave for the Tier-4 Tear expedition. As for you five, get to know each other. After thirty minutes, all five teams will enter the dimension," Howzer said before walking back into the tent. "Captain Beatrix, please supervise them and give them the necessary information."
"Got it."
...
Aidan got to know his teammates and their talents.
Marvin Forz was the oldest of the group, aged twenty-four. Six feet tall with a bulky, muscular figure. He had an A-rank talent called Frenzied Warrior, giving him bonus Defense and Health stats, as well as increasing his Attack whenever his health lowered, with a 1% boost in Attack per 0.5% reduction of his vitality.
Next was Carol Jonis, aged twenty-three. Curly blue hair and a busty figure. She had an A-rank talent called Flower Symphony, giving her the power to grow flowers on people or things. The grown flowers each had a beneficial effect that lasted temporarily or until the flower was destroyed by an attack.
The other two were twin siblings.
The brother, Regis Vale, aged twenty-one. He had an S-rank talent called Infernal Ranger, giving him dark-orange fire manipulation that could inflict persistent burns as well as consume the mana and stamina of the target. His talent also granted him an ethereal flaming bow as a weapon.
The sister, Bella Vale, aged twenty-one. She had an S-rank talent called Tundral Dominion, giving her control over ice, as well as the ability to create ice-based puppets.
In terms of overall combat power, Bella Vale was the strongest, with twelve ice-type puppets at her command, and a rather powerful arsenal of Ice spells and techniques.
"Alright. Everyone knows each other now, and the event is about to kick off in five minutes." Beatrix grinned. "One last thing remains, and you’ll have to decide that among yourselves. A leader. Every team needs someone who can hold the team together in some way and achieve the goal of this contest."
"There’s no need to hurry to decide this, and you can also do that after entering the dimension, but keep one thing in mind. Don’t oppose each other and create division that others can exploit. We need this Terrorized Dimension, and you five are smart enough to prioritize things."
Everyone nodded.
And just then, something happened, but only for Aidan.
A beep. Sharp, low, and a harbinger of something very annoying.
Aidan’s eyes shook. ’No fucking way. Not this shit again.’
[It is the despair of someone.]
’It feels quite different than the previous despair. This guy...is not in immediate threat to his life. No, this despair is stemming from something else.’
[It seems you are getting a good grasp of the despair, giving the myriad of different types of despair you endured in the innumerable lives you lived.]
’...’
[Wait, this...]
’Huh? What?’ Aidan was surprised.
[Emergency Quest triggered.]
[Quest: Kill the Terror Master’s Minion]
—> One of the people entering this Tier-3 Terrorized Dimension is in contact with a minion of Terror Master, a being who enhances one’s desires and leads them astray, filling them with darkness to turn them into a Terror Harbinger.
—> Kill the person or prevent the person from turning into a Terror Harbinger.
<Reward> fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
—> 10 x Omni-Slot Machine tickets.
—> 1 x Random Treasure Chest.
[Player Aidan. This is important. If this hunter becomes a Terror Harbinger, their body can be used to create a rift that can spew out Terrors of varied ranks. You already know if people die because of Terrors, their souls would enter the Darkness of Despair, turning them into Terrors.]
’The reward seems nice.’ Aidan blinked. ’Alright, let’s do this.’
"It’s time," Beatrix called out to the group. "Let’s go. Everyone is gathering at the dimension gate."
