The old ape didn't move and missed its final chance.
"Mffff"
Varian punched.
His gauntlet pierced through the coiling lightning and its spikes pierced the neck of the old ape.
"Splash"
The golden blood burst out of its neck and his gauntlets were dyed golden.
The old ape died a silent death.
"Hoo!"
"Hoo!"
The guards didn't catch the sound due to the cheers.
However, Varian was running out of time.
He unsheathed his sword, and a light flashed.
The recuperating ape that just opened its eyes was silenced. Along with it, every other golden ape was also put to rest.
He dashed to the walls and, using his greater human speed to the fullest, plucked the aura crystals.
"Hoo!"
"Hoo!"
Now it was all about risk management.
The sooner he jumps into the lake and leaves, the safer.
But the longer he stays, the more aura crystals.
Varian's space ring was a level 5 star treasure gifted by Maya. The storage capacity was as large as a mansion.
Even though the cave was large and had a lot of aura crystals, it was unrealistic for them to fill his mansion-sized space ring.
However, after checking so many nests, Varian knew the chance of finding aura crystals was rare. So he had to do his best.
Aura crystals were too important to not risk.
Without aura crystals, his progress would slow down and even if his talent was high, he'd have to spend a lot of time to advance to the next level.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Varian moved from one location to another, picking the aura crystals and filling his space ring.
He spread his space sense and focused his hearing on the outside. He had to be prepared for the guards' response.
If they sensed the slightest difference, the guards would be suspicious.
And with the unavoidable sound each time an aura crystal was picked, they were bound to notice sooner or later.
After a few minutes, notice they did.
"Hoo!"
"Hoo!"
The guards were furious but restrained their impulsive to attack directly. They didn't want to risk damaging their treasure land.
They rushed at him. However, they were thunder practitioners. Their speed was naturally slow.
Varian used this chance to pluck a few more aura crystals.
After closing the distance, they didn't have any scruples and raised their hands to zap him with thunder.
Varian wasted no time and jumped into the lake.
Boom!
Zzzz!
The lighting arcs struck the wall, and the cave shook a little.
The commotion above the mountain suddenly halted. The silence was scary.
Varian, however, didn't care and was already diving in.
The guardian apes roared and a huge lightning ball shot into the lake.
'Fuck!'
Varian tried to dive in quick, but the lightning ball was quicker.
"Argh"
The lightning flowed through the water and Varian was electrocuted.
Due to the distance, it wasn't a large injury, but his skin was still burnt and he started to bleed.
'Blood… gives away my position.' Varian gritted his teeth and reached into the tunnel.
At the same time, the System prompted.
[Lightning Path: Level 0: 10/30]
'You really can't find a better timing, can you?' Varian cursed and swam through the tunnel.
At the same time, he used space binding to freeze the space around his wounds. This prevented his blood from spreading in the water.
'That really hurt.'
The strike was weakened due to the distance it had to travel. If Varian faced the same attack on land, then he'd be severely injured.
As he swam out of the tunnel, Varian sensed something was wrong.
Looking up through the river surface, his heart stopped.
Hundreds of apes stood on the bank of the river and gazed into it. They all raised their hands and lightning twirled around their hands.
'This is really too much. I didn't even take half.' Varian was aggrieved.
If the apes understood his grievance, they'd have coughed out blood.
He stole their aura crystals and was now saying attacking him with all their strength was too much?
How shameless!
Even if they wore no clothes, their golden ape tribe had more shame.
Boom!
Boom!
One by one, the lightning arcs bombarded the river.
Varian swam to the bottom of the river to mitigate the lightning attacks.
Of course, the river was constantly and heavily bombarded with lightning.
Contrary to expectations, even such a large scale attack didn't kill Varian.
Firstly, there were no blood traces on the river.
Given the fact that the river itself was very deep, they couldn't pinpoint his location. So they could only resort to carpet bombing.
This led to the apes spreading themselves across the length of the river and targeting different sections of the river.
Of course, that did not mean Varian was safe.
Even though the amount of water reduced the electricity he had to face, it also meant he would be electrocuted, no matter what.
Zapp!
Zapp!
Varian had to bear the pain and continued swimming.
There were multiple injuries on his body. He was literally bleeding from everywhere.
This time, he couldn't freeze his entire body to the stop the blood.
He only locked the space around his blood and locked it from escaping.
"Argh"
The shock from the attacks caused his body to spasm.
He glanced at the river surface. It was covered by the golden lightning.
Varian gritted his teeth and continued to swim.
He had only way to survive. Swim away from this goddamn tribe. They wouldn't be able to follow him everywhere.
Varian channeled the chi in his body and took a deep breath.
Then he propelled forward.
Boom!
Zapp!
Zapp!
With each second, he was hit by the attacks indirectly and was further injured.
Even though the pain was immense, there was one silver lining.
[Lightning Path Level 0: 20/30]
'Almost there.' Varian took a deep breath and saw he reached the end of the line.
"Go!"
Ignoring the pain from his numbing legs, he pushed himself.
But at the last moment—
Zaaap!!!
A large lightning arc shot at the river and was aimed towards him.
"Aaah!"
It struck his body and Varian felt a burning, numbing pain.
The only thing stopping from the river turning blood red was his last trace of space binding.
But the attack did its job.
Varian felt like his body was falling apart. The world spun, and he was about to lose his consciousness.
'No! If I faint, it'd be the end!' He struggled.
Right then, the System prompted.
[Lightning Path Level 0: 30/30]
[Awakening]