The Astral soul system-Chapter 121: My way
[soul form]
Zaine’s body shifted at the last second becoming purely ethereal and the rock went through him, slamming against the barrier.
[- 20 Astra]
Zaine groaned at the notification. It was obvious he couldn’t keep using this form for long so he quickly reversed it.
He looked around and realized that this place was too narrow for a greatsword , throwing it onto the ground before doing the same with his jacket, knowing fully well that Sable would bitch to him about it if he ruined it in a fight.
He sighed,punching the barrier again, this time using charge to double his stats.
A few cracks appeared to the shock of the gangsters but it didn’t break.
"Fuck!"
Zaine felt the temperature rise and looked back to see multiple fireballs heading for him.
He decided to briefly ignore the one with the barrier, seeing that the plan was obviously to keep him trapped and bombard him with attacks until he was exhausted.
With nowhere to dodge in the alleyway he opted to do something unexpected and went down, phasing through the ground and popping back up after a few seconds before immediately firing soul guns left and right, landing a few hits but getting no closer to breaking their formation.
"Is that all you’ve got? Get ready to die. Hahaha!"
The rest of the gangsters joined in, laughing menacingly
Zaine rolled his eyes.
"Theia. How many stat points do i have?"
"Counting your last level up, twenty one "
"Twenty.... wait a minute, what?! If i had that why didn’t you tell me when I was getting crushed by Bruno?!, and all those tentacles?!"
Theia didn’t say anything and just scratched her haid nervously. The answer was obvious: she forgot.
"Ugh forget it, put half of that in strength and the other half into my astra.
[Str: 10»»»20]
[Astra: 200»»»230]
The gangsters were confused watching Zaine as just like Zen, he didn’t bother talking in his head if it wasn’t necessary and was talking out loud to the system.
"Look, this moron’s talking to himself"
"Figures, you’d have to be crazy to mess with our gang"
Zaine closed his eyes and felt a warm feeling pass through him as strength filled him. He squeezed his fist feeling that although his strength hadn’t doubled like the digits, but he already expected this since Theia had warned him the increase in stats wasn’t linear or exponential. It didn’t increase the way the numbers did but according to his potential. Meaning right now he was at twenty percent of his full potential strength.
Zaine shuddered a little as the warmth came and passed, finding it strange.
"Looks like one stat point increases Astra by three. Good to know
Zaine quickly scanned the battlefield.
[Barrier Lv4]
[Fire Lv3]
[Earth Lv2]
[Earth Lv2]
[Strength Lv3]
[Hardening [Lv3]
[Barrier Lv3]
[Liquid metal Lv2]
Zaine was confused by the one that said liquid metal but it seemed he’d have to find out .
[Dash]
[Charge]
Zaine’s stats doubled and he struck at the barrier again, and this time cracks spread out from the center to all the corners of the translucent barrier. Everyone fell silent in anticipation and shock as the barrier flickered for a few seconds before disappearing completely.
Now that one of the barrier users was vulnerable, Zaine went in for attack.
He fired a soul gun straight at his chest, sending him flying but Zaine didn’t get any notification so he was pretty sure he was still alive.
Zaine felt a tremor in the ground and looked back, seeing the two level two earth ability users working together to pull a boulder out of the ground and handing it to the strength ability user.
"These fuckers actually have a strategy?"
Zaine dashed and was about to attack when he was hit by a burst of flames.
[-10 HP]
[-8 HP]
Zaine immediately dashed back, escaping the range of the attack and by then the strength ability user had gotten enough time and threw the massive boulder, not giving him time or space to dodge in the cramped alleyway.
"Fuck"
[Charge]
[Soul gun]
[Soul gun]
Firing the charged soul blasts at once, Zaine managed to blow the rock to bits but still got hit with some debree, although it barely did any damage.
He impatiently charged in again, this time, taking the fire user into account and dodging the burst of flames before firing a close range soul gun straight at the strength ability user.
Another translucent glowing barrier suddenly appeared, absorbing the damage of his attack despite the few cracks that quickly healed up.
’Tch! Forgot they had another one of those ’
Zaine charged forward, getting ready to smash the barrier when it suddenly fell, and before he could react another burst of flames was directed at his head .
He stepped to the side, dodging but before he could move he suddenly got a notification.
[- 65HP]
Zaine was confused for a second. He looked downward and saw one of the gang members with her hand in his chest.
[Soul form]
Zaine turned translucent and immediately phased through the person, getting some distance before solidifying.
Zaine snarled angrily and looked at the petite unarmed woman he had originally ignored.
He noticed her hand had a strange metallic gleam like it was made of some alloy, and was shaped like a drill.
The hand suddenly morphed back into its original shape, moving like molten metal before it regained it’s original color.
"Liquid metal.... Fuck me"
Zaine complained, looking at the hateful expression on the gangster’s face as she laughed hysterically.
Noticing a light in the corner of his eye, Zaine looked back, noticing that the previous barrier he had destroyed was back, with the previous gangster standing behind it,a destroyed piece of metal armor visible under his clothes.
The fire user had already started generating flames and started shooting inwardly with the gangster with liquid metal behind him.
He could already see the earth and strength ability users getting ready.
"And I’m trapped " Zaine muttered. He honestly wasn’t afraid of the fire but if it got onto his clothes it would just be a hassle.
Zaine looked behind him and decided to get rid of the barrier.
He got ready to charge up a soul gun but the girl with liquid metal suddenly dashed towards him, appearing before him in just a few seconds before throwing a punch at him . Zaine dodged before grabbing her hand and aiming a punch at her abdomen.
*Clang*
[-7HP]
The sound of striking metal suddenly reverberated out and Zaine pulled his arm back, seeing a bloody hole in it.
The girl suddenly escaped, running back to hide behind the hardening ability user and the fire ability user started attacking again.
’Damnit I’m getting hit way too many times, and how is she so fast?’ Zaine thought, suspecting it was some kind of gear
’Great, now they’re slow cooking me. If only i could fight without worrying about my body ’
Theia suddenly appeared in front of him and silently stared at him with a concerned look.
"What? What is it ?"
"Zaine... what’s wrong with your chest?"
Zaine looked at his stomach and immediately answered.
"What are you talking about? There’s.... there’s nothing there"
Zaine looked at his stomach suprised. The previous injury was completely gone.
"Astral’s have a much higher regeneration rate compared to humans. You can heal injuries that can stop you from fighting,mid-battle,as long as you have energy, and once your HP gets low enough you’ll sacrifice astra to increase it
"This is incredible. Why didn’t you tell me about this?"
The concerned expression on her face deepened as she muttered a bit worriedly "i did"
Zaine rolled his eyes.
"You forgot again, didn’t you? No need to make excuses"
"..."
Zaine grinned at this new realization. He’d been fighting so much like Zen, hitting and running, but it was only because he had no choice. Now he could showcase his real talent as a berserker.
The alley might have been too small for him to use his sword, but that didn’t stop his effectiveness in the slightest.
Zaine immediately dashed forward, dropping all the energy tricks as he went for the girl. She seemed to welcome this, grinning maliciously before charging towards him,her hands becoming metallic.
’yep, she’s definitely using gear’
Zaine didn’t even bother trying to dodge, going straight for an attack with a soul blade.
The metallic arm pierced right through his abdomen but he didn’t even flinch before stabbing his hand through her. Horrified, she tried to escape but Zaine grabbed her with his second hand and started charging a soul gun with the first.
A loud boom rang out and the lifeless body of the girl dropped to the ground, shocking the gangsters.
[Gained exp]
[Level up!]
[New berserker skill: Barrage]
Zaine didn’t have enough time to look at it and went for the closest one but was too late to attack before the barrier went up.
Keeping the intensity, Zaine used the new skill immediately.
[Barrage : -30 astra]
A black light coated his arms and a strange force suddenly pulled his arms into a boxing position. It took about five seconds to charge before he struck out with the first punch, hitting the barrier once,then twice then three times,then four and eventually five. The barrier had actually broken at the second hit but he just couldn’t stop the skill once it had started and kept punching.
Impressed, Zaine immediately used it again as the hardening ability user tried to confront him. The strange light coated his arms once more and pulled them into position. Not willing to wait this time, they immediately attacked, landing a few hits, but not hard enough to get Zaine out of the skill sequence.
It started up and Zaine threw the first punch, knocking out the hardening ability user.
Learning from before, he dashed to the closest enemy who happened to be the strength ability user and threw the second punch, matching their attack, but as it would seem, strength didn’t equal durability as although Zaine was a bit shaken, he kept his stance and completely countered his attack, finishing him with the third punch.
The fourth and fifth punch didn’t find a target in time, ultimately going to waste but Zaine was satisfied.
He grabbed the level two earth ability user who was practically useless without his partner and the strength ability user, knocking them out in one hit before doing the same to his partner.
The fire ability user,in a panic started throwing balls of fire in his direction, but Zaine picked the body of the unconscious earth ability user, using it as a shield and running towards his opponent.
The barrier at this point had recovered and been reinforced by the two barrier ability users working together but Zaine wasn’t bothered and used the new skill one more time.
The first,then the second, then the third and the fourth, every punch landed, glowing shockwaves spreading out from the point of contact. The moment the fifth and final punch landed, the barrier fell and Zaine instantly went for the kill now that they were all together
[Equipped soul: Lilith]
[Skill: Blood cannon]
All the energy in his body suddenly started to gather at his right arm’s open palm. Condensing into a large ball and after a breif charge, he fired it straight for the gangsters.
*BOOM!*
After a few seconds the only sound that could be heard was Zaine huffing and panting
"Unequip"
He commanded, taking it off as soon as possible.
[Astra: 0/230]
"That was a pain" Zaine mused, looking at his arm that was growing back extremely slowly.
"At this rate, it’ll take a few minutes, especially without any Astra to spare" Zaine pointed out , sitting down.
In the corner, Theia was still just floating there, staring at Zaine extremely worried, though it wasn’t because of his arm.
