Free Web NovelChapter 9: Side Quest, Power Bonds
[Relentless Force: 1]
[Relentless Force: 3]
[Relentless Force: 4]
Each tick of that number pressed on his temper like a thumb on a bruise. The despair wasn’t a distant signal anymore. It was flooding him, thirty separate threads of it, raw and frantic and getting worse by the second. He could feel them. Thirty people, somewhere in that dark Terror Tear, and every one of them was screaming inside.
His jaw tightened.
[Relentless Force: 7]
The despair in his skull that was converting into anger was deafening now.
His jaw clenched so hard it ached.
’Arthur. Can you turn invisible and enter the crack such that nobody would notice?’
’Roar!’
’Good. Do it.’
The dragon’s body coiled and flickered as exotic light, like pixels, coated over him before both Arthur and Aidan vanished from sight.
Arthur’s ability to turn invisible also applied to Aidan, so he didn’t need to use the mask’s ability.
The 30-meter radius around the tear was void of any items or people, anyway.
Silently, Aidan hit the tear and vanished inside.
Cold blackness swallowed him whole.
And in that instant, Arthur was gone.
The warm, solid weight beneath him simply ceased to exist. One heartbeat, the dragon was carrying him, the next, there was nothing, and Aidan dropped into the dark on his own two feet.
Far away, in a pocket of exotic space tethered to a single golden thread of his Summoner talent, Arthur reappeared.
The Tear’s tier was too low to hold a being like him.
It got cast out.
Aidan stood alone in the dark, mana already gathering around his fists, the despair of thirty dying strangers howling through his skull.
’...Right.’
His eyes blazed gold.
In front of him were trees. Not normal trees, but burning trees.
Not burning with normal flames, but burning with a hazy blue flame with a purple hue.
He could feel overwhelming despair in one direction.
Swoosh!
Aidan began running towards it.
And while running, he opened the Random Weapon Box first.
[Congratulations. You have acquired a Tier-9 Weapon—Blood Hunter Knuckle Dusters.]
Knuckle Dusters. Crimson-gold with neon-glowing patterns of fangs over them.
Aidan took them out of his Inventory and equipped them.
[Blood Hunter Knuckle Dusters]
Rank: Tier-9 fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Attack Damage: SSS-6
Effect:
—> Striking a target and making them bleed prevents them from sealing the wound and causes bleeding.
—> Each strike reduces the toughness of the target by 1% to 10%, depending on the hit effectiveness and power behind the hit.
’Tier-9 is equivalent to SSS-rank, and Tier-10 is Epic...’ Aidan’s eyes glinted. ’And then comes Legendary like Arthur, I suppose.’
[Power Bond triggering...] frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
The Knuckle Dusters glowed.
Aidan could feel them.
Suddenly, a cartoon-styled Blood Hunter Knuckle Duster appeared in his head.
’Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!’
’...’ Aidan asked, ’What the fuck?’
’Are you going to punch stuff until they bleed and break? I drink the blood of others.’
’Well...’ Aidan’s eyes glinted. ’You can bet your ass I am going to do that.’
’Great! Great!’
The cartoon vanished.
[Power Bond formed successfully.]
Aidan suddenly felt like he was welling up with power!
His running speed suddenly got a big boost! He was 75% faster now!
An additional slot appeared in his Power Bond talent.
[Power Bond: Blood Hunter Knuckle Duster]
Power: 13,780
Bond Level: F
Attributes: Attack +80%, Attack Speed +75%
Aspects:
—> Blood Energy. (100%)
—> Bleed. (100%)
—> Break. (100%)
[Due to meeting the power requirement, you can have up to three bonds now.]
Ignoring the notification, Aidan asked, ’So how do these aspects work? I can feel three new things appearing in my source.’
[It is as you guessed, Player Aidan. The Blood Energy aspect allows you to convert your Mana into Blood Energy. The Bleed and Break aspects can apply Bleed and Break to your attacks.]
’Awesome.’
Aidan then quickly used the Random Technique Scroll.
[Congratulations. You have acquired a Tier-9 technique—Spiral Fan Blade.]
[Spiral Fan Blade]
Rank: Tier-9
Proficiency: 0%
Technique Aspects:
—> Wind. (0%)
—> Spiral Flow. (0%)
—> Spin. (0%)
—> Blade. (0%)
Effect:
—> Once you have learned the technique, you can manifest and unleash Spiral Fan Blade, a long-range attack with heavy impact, edged penetration, and fast spin that gives it more power. The cost of Mana depends on your proficiency.
’A technique that just uses Mana?’ Aidan raised his eyebrows.
[All techniques can become elemental if you have a talent that generates energy at the cost of Mana. You can use generated energy in place of Mana. Some techniques perform better with certain elemental synergy, such as this Spiral Fan Blade that performs more lethally with Wind.]
Aidan’s eyes glinted. ’My talents are not elemental, but I just got an Aspect that gives me Blood Energy.’
’But...’ Looking at the progress of this technique, it seemed that this wasn’t something he could learn right away. He’d have to study the scroll and learn it.
[Power Bond Triggering...]
’Wait, no way, right?’ Aidan’s eyes brightened. ’A technique scroll can also become a power bond!’
It appeared in his mind, in the cartoon form, with spiral fan blades whirling around it.
’Cut! Shred! Destroy! Are you ready?! ARE YOU READY?!’
’...Calm the fuck down. What’s with all the screaming?’ Aidan was speechless. ’But yeah, I am ready to cut, shred, and destroy.’
’GOOD BOY!’
Suddenly, Aidan felt even stronger!
[Power Bond: Spiral Fan Blade]
Power: 17,492
Bond Level: F
Attributes: +100% Speed, +90% Control
Aspects:
—> Wind (100%)
—> Spiral Flow (100%)
—> Spin (100%)
—> Blade (100%)
Aidan’s mind was filled with more information via the bond.
’What if I do this...’
Aidan suddenly flew up as he used the Wind aspect, consuming mana to fuel the wind spiral flow attached to his back and feet.
Swooosh!!
He drifted through the burning trees, crossed a blue-glowing river with color sparks, and then he saw the trails of blood that were in the same direction from which he was sensing the despair.
Suddenly, he found himself on a cliff.
Heavy shaking was occurring as he saw gigantic horned giant creatures with shells and four legs, numbering over a hundred, rolling down the curvy slope.
People were ahead of them, running at full speed, some alone, some carrying others.
[Side-Quest triggered. Destroy the Terrors. | Reward: Mystery Box.]
But the number of people had already reduced.
Aidan had sensed it dwindling from 30 to 24.
Six were dead.
The curved slope ended at a huge barren ground, and the 24 people soon arrived there.
The giant Tier-8 Terrors far outnumbered the people, and Aidan could easily sense that it was only a matter of time before those 24 people died.
And those people also knew that, so his mind was rumbling with anger as their despair flooded him.
[Relentless Force: 37]
’So I just need to kill the giant Terrors, and this annoying noise will be over.’ Aidan cracked his knuckles. ’Let’s be done with it fast.’
He crouched down as wind whirled around him.
And then... BOOOM!
He jumped in a long, powerful arc, crossing the 3-kilometer distance while boosting his fall and speed with the wind, landing right in front of the group of people running.
BOOOM!
His landing cracked the ground far and wide, halting the group of Hunters who were left with less than 20% of their energy reserves—low stamina and low mana.
"W-Who are you?! We have to run and hide quickly!"
"Fuck! Fuck!"
The group was about to take off again before Aidan’s wind suddenly appeared, surrounding them and then levitating them as they flew upward.
"I’ll deal with these Terrors, so for God’s sake, calm down and stop thinking you’re going to die!" Aidan said loudly, annoyed. "Stay up there."
