Stabbing the stolen spear into the ground to steady herself, Selene didn’t fight the sensation of the increase in her stats due to killing rewards. Not far away, Benny’s body tensed up, and his breath quickened.
[[Darling, we are done!]] Selene chirped as she pointed her palm toward the sky, ready to drop her domain on Cynrik’s command.
[[Copy. Your new mission is to take Benny and meet up with Brance and Gabby under cover of your [Void Shift]. Brance needs time to dismantle his Tower, so I need you to be there and ready when he is done. I will stall my opponent as long as possible to give you guys enough time.]] Balling his left hand into a fist and drawing his elbow down and back to his hip, Cynrik gave Selene her next task while dropping into a one-armed combat stance.
[[On it! Be careful, Cyn.]] Selene confirmed as she stood up straight, removed the spear from the ground, and jogged over to Benny. Next, she grabbed the boy by the shoulder, startling him a bit.
“We are moving; our job is to go to the Tower and wait for the others.” Pointing the spear at the sky, Selene both deactivated her [Domain of Shadows] and activated her [Void Shift], turning herself and Benny into a mass of Dark Mana particles.
[[Selene, Gabby is waiting for you at the base of the Tower to bring you two up when you arrive.]] Overhearing what Selene and his brother were talking about, Brance interjected the first opportunity he could. To power down the [Radiant Tower] and absorb the leftover resources from the Pseudo-Codex was taking almost all of his attention, but he still was able to give the older girl a heads up.
—
After giving Selene orders, Cynrik threw everything except the fight in front of him into the back of his mind. To go from wanting to be passive and on the move one Second to then changing the focus back to direct confrontation was a tricky thing, however; since Cynrik was able to compartmentalize and split his attention between multiple objectives or plans, it was as simple as moving from first gear into second on a manual transmission.
While formulating the next plan of attack, Cynrik’s eyes flicked to the sky, where he spotted Headmaster Rivia floating stoically above before rolling his eyes to the side toward Garrison, who was locked in combat with the Spy Leader.
‘Too many eyes on me right now, so using my Bloodline skills is out, adding a second handicap, er third if you count my noodle arm. Tobs, do I have enough to increase [Shadow Sewing] by the necessary amount of points to bump it up to Tier-2.5?’ Cynrik asked his System AI calmly.
-No, you require an additional 79 skill points to raise your Tier-1.5 Dark Affinity Skill [Shadow Sewing] up to Tier-2.5. Currently, you have 196 skill points, which is enough to raise it to Tier-2. The Cost will be 100 skill points.-
‘Tsk, do it.’ When he thought of the words, a wave of dizziness ran through his brain but cleared almost instantly, replaced by the new skill information for [Shadow Sewing]. Contrary to what happened every time a skill evolved, this time, the first change Cynrik noticed was that there was now an (Enhanced) added to the skill name.
-Tier-2 Dark Affinity Skill: [Shadow Sewing (Enhanced)]-
-Category: Active Crowd Control Skill-
-By condensing Dark Affinity Mana into an arm, The User can materialize up to 25 tendrils of Darkness Mana. Each tendril will have a range of fifteen meters and can be controlled independently. By adjusting the amount of Mana condensed in each one, the User can adjust the thickness of the shadow tendrils.
-The Shadow tendrils can be used to attack, bind, or strangle; in the case of Binding, the tendril will root the target to their own shadow on the ground or nearest plane, inflicting the status (Bind).
-Status Effect: Bind- Targets under this effect are rooted in place and unable to move as long as the status is active. The chance of triggering this status is 20% per tendril attached to a target’s shadow.
-Shadow Strangle, a new technique acquired due to your control over this skill breaking through into the Second Tier. When a target is rooted with the (Bind) status effect, you can cause three tendrils to split off and climb to a desired body part of the target. Once in place, you can constrict the tendril causing continuous Chip damage to the target as well as disabling their breathing ability. (WARNING, using Shadow Strangle will rapidly deplete the durability of the tendrils and double your Sustain Cost for the skill.-
-The primary use of this skill is locking the target(s) in place; however, the shadow tendrils can be weaponized by adjusting their thickness or sharpness. Targets afflicted with the Bind status will have it until the User stops supplying Mana to the tendrils or the target breaks free by destroying them.
-Activation costs: 100 MP per Shadow Tendril Manifested.-
-Sustain Cost: 25 MP per tendril per Minute. The Cost to sustain the skill will increase if the target resists, increasing the MP cost and causing damage to the durability of the tendril in question.-
-Cooldown: 1 hour.-
‘Costs increased, but now I have more tendrils to work with, plus a new ability.’ Cynrik watched as the Brawler stood silently, with his broken leg raised forward, reducing any weight from being placed on his broken shin.
The Brawler wasn’t just patiently waiting for Cynrik to make an attack. This whole time he had been calmly waiting for the boy to drop his guard or make the first move. Since the Brawler could not move properly due to the condition of his lead leg, the only option was to set up his counter-attack stance and wait. His mind was a chaotic storm of thoughts as he pushed the Mana in his body to shut down the pain receptors from his leg to his brain and passively heal the broken bone, a slow but effective process.
Water Affinity Users had healing skills, but they weren’t nearly as potent as the ones a Light Affinity user could use. Since the man didn’t want Cynrik to know what he was doing, he chose to wrap the Mana around the bone itself and heal his injury internally instead of manifesting the skill externally.
Unfortunately, his actions didn’t escape Cynrik’s [Mana Sight]. The instant the Brawler’s Mana began swirling out of the Codex and down towards the injured leg, Cynrik cocked an eyebrow and smirked while tilting his head down slightly.
‘Well, that’s new; I had a theory forming that internal activation of skills would come up at some point but not so soon. Who would have thought that at Tier-3, you can channel Affinity Skills internally? I thought for sure it was something only people with bloodlines or beings at a higher tier could pull off. Whatever, enough waiting, time to go on the move. My opponent is down an arm and a leg; meanwhile, I only have the use of my left arm.’ Exhaling slowly and tapping his lead foot on the ground twice, Cynrik’s balled-up and clenched fist turned into a claw as he kicked off the ground and rushed forward.
In response, the Brawler simply raised his good arm in a defensive posture and carefully watched Cynrik’s movements as the boy juked from left to right in an erratic and unpredictable pattern.
“[Shadow Clone],” murmuring the name of his skill under his breath, Cynrik’s body split into a replica of himself. Unlike when he was training, he didn’t bother dumping a large amount of Mana into his shadow; instead, he capped it at only 10% of his MP. The goal was not to waste resources to create a secondary attacker; the only purpose the clone had at the moment was to be a visual distraction.
The biggest drawback to using the clone to fight a stronger opponent was that it only had 50% of his actual stats, meaning that even if he somehow landed an attack against the Brawler, it would only feel like a tickle to the man. But since that was never the plan to begin with, Cynrik and the clone smirked in unison before weaving in and out of each other like a blur as they drew closer to the opponent.
When they got within five meters, the two Cynriks threw down their left arms, extending a hidden blade, and cut sharp angles, braking past the Brawler on both flanks, forcing the man to choose which one would be attacking.
With his head whipping back and forth between the two boys, the Brawler made a decision, crossing his good arm over his body, and punched out at the nearest Cynrik. But just when he was about to make contact with the boy’s body, his pupils constricted as he sensed danger coming from behind.
“Nice try, asshole!” The Brawler howled as he pulled back his punch, spun around, and lashed out at the boy who had appeared right behind him and was trying to stab the back of his neck.
Cynrik’s eyes shot wide open in fear as time slowed down for him. Watching as the gauntlet’s mechanical parts moved systematically, chambering a round, he tried to avoid it at the last moment, but it was too late.
CHIK BOOOOMMM
All of the muscles on the Brawler’s arms tensed as his upper body recoiled slightly from his own attack, and he smiled in sorrow as he watched the blast blow a massive cannonball-sized hole through the boy’s chest.
“You were a strong opponent, boy, but this is the end. Although not fully against my code of honor, I don’t enjoy injuring or killing children. I hope you will live a fulfilling and joyful experience in your next life.” Closing his eyes and exhaling in exhaustion, the Brawler heard the thud of Cynrik’s body as it crashed into the ground. Allowing his body to relax from the formerly tense state, the Brawler reached into his inventory unconsciously and withdrew a couple of Health potions.
-Now playing “The Reluctant Heros” By Hiroyuki Sawano.-
Flicking off the cap with his thumb and releasing another tired sigh, the Brawler raised the bottle up and was about to take a sip when suddenly his whole body froze up, making his eyes shoot open wide in confusion.
“[Shadow Sewing].”
Cynrik’s chilling and emotionless voice sounded off behind the man; as in horror, he strained his eyes to the side where he found Cynrik kneeling down and clutching the air just above the ground. A hazy black glow radiated from around the boy’s left arm while his right was dragging in the dirt.
“Sorry, but it isn’t that easy to kill me, old man. How about we just hang out for a minute, I have quite a few things to ask, and you have more than enough of the answers I require.” Not bothering to hide the heavy strain in his voice, Cynrik forced all of the tendrils to lock into place, establishing the (Bind) status effect on the man.
-This series is exclusively published on WebNovel if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg-