Chapter 158: A Life for a Life

Rainer vanished in a Void-walk, Aurora not far behind. Within an instant, he appeared in front of the Wolf King, at the head of his party. A s.h.i.+ning [Arcane Blade] extended from the hilt in his hand as [Arcane Awakening] erupted to its maximum. His newer physical attributes combined with [Arcane Awakening: Surge] made him faster than ever. The blade sang with a new sharpness as he influenced it with [Arcane Energy Manipulation] combined with [Soul Presence].

Aurora hovered in the air right above the pair, already pinning down the Wolf King with a [Void Hold] as planned. She burnt through her Void Will, doing her best to pin down his Aura Pool as well. Slowing down his attempts at defense. The surprise attack had helped that even further.

Rainer paid no attention to the series of attacks now coming at him, his blade just inches away from reaching the Wolf King. The man himself partially defended and sent his own Aura strings to cleave Rainer in two. He wrongly a.s.sumed Rainer would care.

As far as the [Archon] was concerned, this was a trade worth making. The blade sang with Arcane and partially affected reality as it cut through the Wolf Kings hastily erected Aura defense. Almost simultaneously, the blade cut off the mans head just as Rainers body was bombarded from all sides. A series of [Arcanum]s destroyed the remainder of the Wolf Kings body and Rainer briefly noted a lack of sensation as he Void-walked away.

Rainer did his best to breathe only to not feel the sensation of air. [Arcane Invigoration] flooded through the reminder of his body, but the damage was truly extensive. And without a feeling for many of the missing parts, it didnt look like hed survive. His head fell to the side as he got a view of the arena.

But a quick check with [Soul Detection] showed him he had done exactly what he set out to do. 14, and now 13, Souls that didnt belong to his side. The Wolf King and his control with his Aura had been their biggest worry. Especially since Rainer recalled how it made [Void-walking] difficult. Aurora losing her mobility was the same as the physically weak Elf dying. Physically weak by general standards, that was. Not to mention the Wolf Kings survival abilities and his reputation as a Mage-killer, something they had many of.

Killing him was the same as winning this round. If he could smile, Rainer would.

Art was high above as planned, quickly spreading his poison. Tian was using defensive spells and his pa.s.sive spell-enhanced self to protect him as he did so, fighting one versus two. Amer was sending out curses and teleporting all over the places and generally making a nuisance of himself as Aurora did something similar. The rest set off to their own battles, each playing defensively with the knowledge that they needed only to wait for Aurora to kill people and free up others to fight.

Rainers eyes healed enough to where he could see the battlefield better. He avoided looking at himself, knowing it would only shock him, perhaps to a final death. Not that he was sure if he could move his head well enough in the first place. At this point [Arcane Invigoration] was keeping him alive rather than actually doing any real healing. Luna was with Kara, which meant he was on his own. In fact, they likely a.s.sumed he had died in the exchange, something that was expected.

Scanning across the battlefield, he figured hed make himself useful. With a low distorted chanting he let out the [Devils Soul Language]. It seemed to be coming more from his Soul than his mouth. He found Auroras target and went after him. A Mage if his blurry vision, even while [Arcane Revelation] enhanced, could be trusted. Influenced by [Soul Manipulation], [Soul Presence], and his far stronger Soul, the mage froze as the cursed words attacked him. Any attempts at using magic to dodge the [Void Call] failed as the upper half of his body vanished.

And so it went for three more quick deaths until it was noticed what he was doing. It wasnt long before a series of sharp spear-like ice spells flew towards him. [Void Call] sent those away, and left the mage who fired them, a Guildmaster if Rainer recalled right, disappearing to a [Void Call] from Aurora.

Unfortunately, the quick use of the [Void Call] from Rainer had caused his focus to slip from [Arcane Invigoration]. He died as he should have done many moments ago.

He found himself revived alone in the previous Arena, waiting out the rest of his party. Every unanswered death on the other team meant another two versus one situation would be created. Rainer guessed it wouldnt be long.

Switching to his current world-traveling Avatar, Rainer got his first glance at the new plane. The entire region seemed to be covered in a vegetation so thick, the rainforests of Earth would look like an empty clearing. In the distance, he saw a large monster rampaging through. Somehow, the trees behind the ma.s.sive beast recovered on their own, seemingly unbothered by being torn down.

Looking at them with [Arcane Revelation] had been a mistake. Rather than the density, it was the sheer amount of magic that was almost blinding. Trying to pick out monsters or people from this place would be difficult. It was good he had a skill like [Soul Detection]. Especially good, Rainer thought, as he burnt a tiny insect that was about to bite his neck.

With the knowledge that his resources would recover at the start of the next round, Rainer started [Void-traveling], checking out this plane. He first noted that it was far larger than Earth or his current home. Whereas [Void-traveling] anywhere there had a negligible cost, distance not really mattering, here it did.

While the scenery changed from dense forests, the type did not. Everywhere he looked was a paradise of green. But what bothered him was the lack of civilized habitation. While admittedly he was traveling quite randomly, he saw no signs of any roads or anything else. The monsters he had seen thus far were quite stronger than he expected. In fact, he rarely found any Souls that would indicate they were weaker than of the 3rd Tier. Rarely in comparison to the other worlds hes visited.

Was that why the [Natures Walkers] lived so poorly? Or was he simply having bad luck in his random search? The plant life certainly wasnt friendly in the few times he headed down to inspect it.

He didnt have time to negotiate and meet with them again, given another upcoming battle, but he also had little else to do. Out of curiosity, he headed to the edge of the plane, feeling s.p.a.ce growing strange as he did so. No different from the Abyssal Plane. A good place to head home then, he thought.

It was truly a strange experience to stand on the edge of a world. It was desolate, the fluctuations of s.p.a.ce likely making it impossible for anything to grow normally here. He looked out into the blue s.p.a.ce, still affected by whatever star s.h.i.+ned down on this plane. Two, actually.

Did Planes have a bottom? Rainer suddenly asked. He tried to Void-travel there, only to be unable to. The natural forces of the planet, or plane in this case, that protected him from ending up in empty s.p.a.ce, seemed to block him from there too. Maybe hed have to dig down. Was it another world? Or was there some weird sort of distortion that would cause him to end up on the same side? The more he thought of the existence of Planes the more confused he became. Did they exist in separate dimensions?

A puzzle for another time, Rainer thought, as his party returned victorious.

Locklar stared at the empty s.p.a.ce above his home. With a thought, s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+mmered around him as he tried to find a trace of his visitor. He started looking around, a.s.suming the guest had only pretended to leave and instead returned to stealth, but found nothing. It was at this point he realized that whether now or at his earlier entrance, there was no sign of any spatial fluctuations.

What sort of manner of teleportation was this?!

He growled in frustration as he kept searching and searching but he found absolutely no sign of any teleportation. How was this possible? Even the greatest of teleporters left signs. At greater distances it was the equivalent of a magical bomb in the amount of fluctuations that were caused. Some had even learned to harness this offensively. But there was nothing. And Locklar had enough confidence in his abilities that it wasnt that the fluctuation was too small.

Eventually he returned to the rest, rethinking his plans for discussion with this mysterious traveler. a.s.suming he ever saw him again. At least from his disciples stories, he genuinely seemed interested in Magic. A man with simple wants was easy to deal with.

Howd it go? Rainer asked, seeing his party return. The victory system message of course told him the broad strokes.

Sarah and a few others looked at him strangely, so it was his grandfather who spoke first.

They seemed quite shocked to lose the Wolf King. I would a.s.sume their plans had centred around him. That was a good choice, Frederick said.

Rainer smiled, Without the experience of [Sleep Learning], Im sure its much harder for others to think of plans that involve trading lives so easily. Luna quietly sat on his head as he spoke, gently ma.s.saging his head.

Whats next for Neutral City and that Aura users party then? Kara asked. Rainer wasnt the only one who ran into the nigh invincible Golden Aura user.

Rainer thought it over before sending his Mana-well guarding Avatar to Elelaria. She would know best who to target first.

What else. Ill distract the Aura user while you deal with the rest. And Im sure Elelaria could shed some light on the Neutral City party, Rainer said, wondering if his lack of confidence was clear in his voice. While his upgraded [Arcane Blade] and use of Void Will gave him some confidence, he knew that man would gain his Will back again.

As it turned out, Elelarias information was useful. Of the three strongest, her grandfather was the most dangerous, the Dwarf had the greatest survival abilities, but the Head Lamia had the skills that would be most detrimental in a group battle. Not to mention her granddaughter, rivaling Kelleria in terms of most dangerous, but she lacked his survival abilities.

The targets were set. Rainer began to relay that and other information to the rest of his party. It seemed that while they were early, they werent that much ahead of other groups. Any further thoughts were interrupted as they were teleported to their next battle.