Free Web NovelChapter 159: Chapter 158 - In The Heart of Eden(Part 5)
Point-of-View: Kiyana Waller
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This guy’s pretty powerful, one hit from one of his Skill techniques and I’ll be in real trouble...in which case, I’ll stay in close and prevent him from using those attacks.
I drove my right fist towards his throat, using my Electro Skill to speed up my arm, which he narrowly evaded and began to form a wind blast in response.
I swiftly struck his wrist with my left hand and dissipated the attack, before ducking as he let out an angry snarl and swiped at my head, and then slammed a headbutt onto his midsection and knocking the wind out of him, sending him stumbling back with a strained wheeze.
"Damn it, you little bitch-...!" He began as he formed a spinning water blade, before I zipped forward while keeping low and fired out a small but rapid Light Blast at his hand, striking it before he could respond and dissipating the water he’d charged up.
He then formed a wind blade and began to slash down at me as I closed in on him, before I ducked low, placed my hands on the ground and launched myself up at him feet first.
As his wind blade grazed the side of my face, I wrapped my legs around his neck and swung myself up, eliciting a strangled gasp from him as I choked him with my thighs, before slamming my elbow onto the top of his head, feeling his skull crack upon impact.
"G-get off me!" He snapped, as he fired out lightning blasts at me from both hands.
I quickly let go of his neck and launched myself off his shoulders, grimacing as a streak of lightning struck my left ankle, stunning my left leg.
As I landed, I swiftly placed a hand on the floor, combining my Terra and Aqua Skills to form a quicksand trap by his feet, which sunk into it and restrained him, as I looked to buy myself some time for my leg to recover, quickly healing it with my Light Skill.
I then shot towards him as he desperately tried to free himself from the quicksand, forming wind blades along both his palms and slashing them inwards at my head as I closed in on him.
Right before they could strike, I rapidly raised two spiky earth pillars on either side of me, his wrists slamming onto them and getting pierced by the spikes, as he let out a cry of pain.
I then channeled lightning into my arms and fists as I unleashed a rapid, continuous barrage of punches at his torso with all my strength, each punch getting faster and more powerful than the last.
He let out a gasp of agony as the force of my punches wrenched his feet out of the quicksand and sent him flying back and slamming onto the wall behind him, coughing out blood as a dazed look appeared in his eyes.
Alright, time to finish this. As I raced towards him with a rapidly swirling water and wind drill around my right hand, he suddenly raised his head with a look of pure fury in his eyes, before firing out a rapid, powerful and massive blast of water and lightning from his mouth.
Crap, I’m too close, I can’t fully dodge or block that in time-...suddenly, a portal opened up in front of me, swallowing up the attack before it could hit me.
As the portal then closed, I shot forward, increasing the momentum of my drill and driving it at his chest, piercing into it and tearing open his body in an instant, killing him before he could even cry out in pain.
I then formed a ball of water and splashed it onto my face to wash away his blood that had splattered onto me, as Neo walked over.
"Wow...you’ve improved like crazy. Particularly your hand to hand combat, your movements are much, much faster and sharper than before," He remarked with a impressed nod.
"Oh, um...thanks, it’s probably because I’ve been sparring with Aurora a lot lately, though even now I can just barely even land a hit on her," I responded sheepishly.
"You know, if this had been a bigger space and he’d been able to keep his distance, he probably would’ve beaten you. But since it’s a more narrow space and you were able to overwhelm him with your hand to hand combat, it was pretty one-sided in your favor. I doubt there’s many people who can beat you in areas like this one," He replied thoughtfully.
"Including you?" I inquired wryly.
"Heh, you really have gotten more confident, haven’t you?" He laughed in response, before adding, "And honestly...yeah, I’d probably lose if you prevented me from using my portals, I’d definitely be lying if I said I could hold my own against you in hand to hand combat.
You know, what...I think I might recommend you to the higher ups for a promotion to Category 0. You’ve always been one of our best when it comes it hand to hand combat, and now, you just might be the best.
Plus you’ve got five Skills, and once you learn to better incorporate them into your fighting style, you’ll improve by leaps and bounds."
Hm, he’s right, I could stand to use my Skills a lot better...my control and mastery over them is pretty solid, but my use of them in unison with hand to hand combat is still a bit on the shaky side.
Mainly because since I’ve been sparring with Aurora so much lately, she never gives me time to use a Skill technique, and as a result, I’ve been forced to rely on my hand to hand combat a lot more when sparring against her.
"Wow, thanks, I really appreciate that...Category 0, huh?" I replied in slight disbelief.
"Well, that can wait till after. For now, we’ve got a whole lot more Eden members to purge from this place. Let’s keep going," He remarked, as he led the way, "Watch my back...after seeing you fight, I’m itching to get into the action myself."
"Alright, got it," I nodded affirmatively, as I followed after him.
As we went down a long, winding corridor, it wasn’t long before we encountered a group of around ten Eden members...before Neo swiftly dropped them through a portal, and we kept going.
The next half hour or so seemed to progress in a repetitive loop...we encounter some Eden members, Neo opens a portal beneath them, and we keep going with barely any delay.
"Only weaklings so far, huh...well, not that I’m complaining, but it’d be nice to get a challenge," He sighed wistfully. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"Where exactly are you dropping them into, anyway?" I asked him.
"Oh, middle of the ocean. X told me that the area where I’d dumped her into before was pretty heavily shark-infested, so I’m tossing them in around that area," He informed me.
"Wait, but if she managed to survive, won’t these Metas be able to do the same?" I pointed out with a frown.
"Nah, the circumstances under which she survived were pretty extraordinary and unlikely, so I doubt it," He replied with a shake of his head.
"Why not pick a volcano or something instead?" I inquired in response.
"Well, because that’d require a lot more precision. But with how vast the ocean is, I can be a bit more vague, meaning that I can open the portals a fraction of a second quicker than usual," He explained objectively.
Okay, I guess that makes sense.
"Wow, it’s a pretty foolproof attack to use against most, I doubt there are many people who can avoid it," I remarked, as he portaled another pair of Eden Metas away.
"Actually, quite a few people have managed to avoid my portal traps...those who can fly are especially good at that, and others who have sharp intuition have evaded them pretty well too."
"Why not just open a portal too big to evade?" I suggested, as we turned around a corner.
"That’d work against most, if not all, who can’t fly, but the bigger the portal, the longer it takes to open, which leaves me vulnerable. And if I’m attacked before it’s fully open, it’ll close abruptly," He answered, before halting as we reached a dead end, "Hm, looks like there’s nothing further this way."
"Should we head back?" I inquired, as I glanced around.
"No, there’s no need. We can just bust down this wall. Either that, or I can use a portal to jump to the first clear spot beyond this wall," He replied, after a brief pause.
"The latter option is probably safer. This place isn’t fully constructed, so causing too much structural damage might be dangerous," I pointed out.
"True...alright, then, portal it is," He responded, as he opened a portal and gestured for me to step through.
I formed a lightning bolt as I headed in, just in case there was an enemy on the other side. I stepped out cautiously and looked around, before lowering my hand as the coast was clear.
Neo then followed out after me, the portal shutting as he stepped out of it.
"Alright...let’s keep heading forward, shall we?"
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