E-Rank or SSS-Rank: I Awakened a Skill That Shouldn't Exist-Chapter 326: Escape!!!!!

Chapter 326

A silver needle floated gently from Ronan’s hand.

Then it split.

Two became four. Four became eight.

It kept multiplying, again and again, until the entire area they stood in was drowned in gleaming silver. Half the plane was covered. Thousands upon thousands of needles filled the sky and the land, hanging there silently.

Ronan looked from the needles to the Norua lord.

The Norua lord stared back in confusion.

"What are all these for?"

He would understand soon.

And it would not bring him happiness. Only pain.

"Escape," Ronan said calmly. "Let me see how well you succeed with that."

He launched forward.

The Norua lord reacted instantly, wings flaring as he launched as well, but Ronan vanished mid-motion. In his place, a single silver needle floated.

The Norua lord’s mind short-circuited.

He knew that skill. He knew what happened when Ronan used it.

Suddenly, the vast plane felt small. Suffocating.

His wings trembled violently as he looked up at the sky filled to the brim with silver needles, then down at the ground, then all around him. Needles everywhere. Surrounding him. Encasing him.

Fear returned. Stronger than ever.

Shaking, he slowly lifted his head.

A black figure stood amid the ocean of silver. Ronan hovered there, purple eyes glowing calmly.

"You finally understand," Ronan said. "Good. That makes the next part more enjoyable."

He vanished again, leaving behind another silver needle.

"Pl—"

The plea died in the Norua lord’s throat.

Cuts appeared across his body. Small. Large. Countless.

But the cuts were not the worst part.

The pain followed.

Agony unlike anything he had ever known flooded his existence. He screamed at the top of his lungs, tears streaming down his cheeks. Green tears turned black. The green flames around his body flickered, then vanished completely.

His will collapsed.

The attacks did not stop.

His body shredded piece by piece as time dragged on. He screamed the same word over and over.

"Please. Please. Please."

Ronan did not stop.

Why should he?

If their positions were reversed, the Norua lord would not have hesitated to torture him. So why should Ronan hesitate now?

Purple flashes filled the space. Each flash brought new wounds. Each wound delivered lifetimes of pain.

"Why won’t you stop," the Norua lord whispered weakly as his life drained away.

Finally, Ronan stopped.

What remained was a broken heap of flesh and bone, still muttering the word please under his breath.

Ronan stepped forward.

His sword pierced straight through the Norua lord’s head.

"Enough," Ronan said calmly. "It’s over."

The Norua lord’s life vanished.

But Ronan was not done.

He looked into the distance and smiled.

"Time to deal with the second one."

He vanished.

Far away, a figure fled through the void.

This was the injured Norua lord, the one who had fused with his twin. During the hopeless battle, his brother had made a decision. He would leave. The injuries affected him more severely since he had been maintaining the fused body’s form.

If anyone could escape that reckless human, it was him.

During the chaos of the onslaught, he had separated using partial teleportation, slipping away when Ronan failed to catch one of their wings. The fused state would convince Ronan they were both dead.

I must leave this place.

But where could he go after leaving this plane?

The question lingered with no answer.

Monster races hated humans. That was true.

But they hated each other just as much.

They were territorial to the extreme. Bringing different monster races close was almost impossible.

And yet he was running straight into that reality.

No, who cares about that. He would just gamble on the other lords. There was a high chance he would head toward the Dark Goblins. They were cruel, yes, but they still had some form of control. If he headed to the Red Giants or the Red Orcs, he would be killed before he could even explain himself.

Just when the Norua Lord was fully convinced of his plan, ready to pour all his remaining essence into opening a portal to a plane inhabited by Dark Goblins, something changed.

The air suddenly grew heavier. Thicker. So deep it pressed against his lungs until breathing became difficult. That familiar sense of doom washed over him.

No. He could not be here.

Before the thought could finish, the silver needle embedded in his side during the battle activated. The Norua Lord never even realized it was there.

Switch.

Ronan was suddenly standing beside him.

The Norua Lord’s eyes widened in horror as Ronan’s sword flashed. Clean. Precise. All three wings were severed in a single motion. The scream that followed was inhuman. Pain unlike anything before exploded from his back and spread through his entire existence.

He crashed into the ground with a heavy thud.

Ronan stood over him, expression blank.

"How do you kn—"

"I know," Ronan cut in calmly. He glanced around the distorted space. "It was easy. The moment you two left your fused state, it was obvious. Your will weakened. Your body weakened. Hitting you became easier."

"Please," the Norua Lord begged, voice shaking.

Ronan shook his head. "That would be partial. I killed your twin. Letting you go would be wrong. As a righteous guy, I have to end you too."

The Norua Lord wanted to move, to resist, but pain and terror consumed him.

"It’s fine," Ronan continued. "I won’t torture you. There’s no time anymore."

Ronan raised his sword.

"Why," the Norua Lord asked weakly, his light fading. "Why did all this happen to me."

Ronan answered simply. "Because you are weak."

"Weak," the Norua Lord repeated, then laughed softly. The irony burned. A great warlord reduced to this because he was weak.

The sword flashed.

The Norua Lord was cut in half.

Ronan exhaled as system notifications flooded in. Rewards for completing the raid on this plane. He did not smile. He only looked up at the sky.

"It’s starting soon," he muttered. "So troublesome."

If things went wrong, he would need every reward he could get. Still, he had the others. There was a chance. A small one.

"Buster," Ronan said quietly, "you’re long dead, yet your trouble still reaches me."

He vanished, leaving the portal behind.

"I guess I need to face my trial next," he said softly. "And hope things didn’t go too wrong."

TO BE CONTINUED...