Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 567: Frustration

I exit the cave and propel myself higher into the air, rising toward the top of the floating island before coming to a stop near its edge. Gathering a large amount of mana, I unleash a powerful pulse, sending it as far as possible in an attempt to detect any wayward beasts.

I detect them, along with several signatures of attendees, mostly from Hard and Normal difficulty, along with a few from Hell.

As for the beasts, I find thousands of them, tens of thousands, but most of the signatures feel weak.

Flying into the air again, I collect more mana. It swirls around me and compresses into the shape of an orb that quickly cycles through shades of pale blue, dark blue, and purple, before hovering on the edge of destabilization. I create a few more and compress them further, turning them bright white.

Each of them shoots ahead toward where I sense groups of monsters and no attendee signatures, and I boost myself toward another island with notifications about kills following me.

Even though this time I find stronger beasts, there are still no Special grade ones, so I repeat the process. Though at some point I grow tired of this, opting instead to raise myself high enough to look down over all of the floating islands, letting the humongous area of the second event stretch out below me.

I activate Mana Wavelength Iris and then compress my mana to the point it collapses into that oppressive, mana-devouring black. I use it to strengthen my body and power my trait.

The pressure becomes incredible, even with my mid arcane passive protecting my mind. I take in all the information my trait can provide, all those mana signatures, fluctuations, and movements.

I quickly activate [Focus] to filter the information, narrowing it down to mana signatures. My thoughts race at such incredible speed that the outside world feels sluggish. I locate Savant, then Myrra. I find Jean, and I pinpoint every member of Group 4. My eyes take it all in, and I track every one of them.

But best of all, I locate three out of five of the Special grade beasts.

I gather all the black mana coursing through my body and force it out, shaping it into a javelin.

When I stop using kinetic energy to keep myself afloat, I begin freefalling through the air. The wind whistles past me, pressing against my body. I feel it in my hair, whipping against my face, and slipping between my fingers. Only when Iʼm close to the treetops do I boost myself forward, passing through them and into a space that barely qualifies as a clearing. The ground is broken, the trees are scorched, and pools of lava bubble across the landscape.

The air here is blistering, an effect of the heat radiating from the beast nestled in the crater, partially submerged in lava as its body melts the surrounding rock. It shifts, waves of heat rolling off its form. Its obsidian horns pulse, with the glowing veins of magma coursing through them. The ground beneath it cracks, molten rock clinging to its hide.

The Emberhorn Behemoth is a massive, bull-like creature with a thick, cracked, dark hide traced through with glowing veins of magma. Jagged obsidian plates run along its back, radiating intense heat. Its broad head sits low to the ground, crowned with two massive, curved horns pulsing with molten energy. Its deep set eyes glow dimly, and smoke rises from its nostrils.

Finally seeming to notice me, it shifts, dragging itself from the lava, its hooves sinking into the half melted ground. With each step, sending a spiderweb of smoldering cracks spreading in my direction as the ground buckles beneath its weight.

The heat distorts the air, making everything waver. Its horns pulse brighter.

I donʼt wait.

The black javelin I created streaks through the air and drives deep into the beastʼs neck. Compared to its massive size, it looks insignificant, but I know exactly how much mana I poured into it.

With astonishing speed, the javelin starts absorbing the beastʼs mana and breaks the structure of the skill it was already moving to use. My Mana Wavelength Iris allows me to see how normal mana reacts to it, revealing just how oppressive the black mana is.

Another projectile forms near me, this time forming an [Empyrean Lance] with its core of white and gold glowing brilliantly. Threads of luminous energy weave themselves together, layer upon layer, condensing into a single radiant lance that hums with the immensity of the compressed mana contained within. And just as before, the lance pulses with the heartbeat of a star.

It shoots forth, hot on the heels of the first, and the beast senses it. It stops trying to pull the black javelin out of its neck and instead turns to the new threat. A deep, loud roar vibrates the air, and the lava in the pools surrounding us begins to ripple.

The heat, already overwhelming, intensifies as a concentrated wave of energy crashes into the lance.

It sizzles against the surface of the lance; it burns the mana within and dims the glow of the lance. Even so, whether due to the oppressive nature of the skill or the black javelin lodged in its neck, the beast fails to destroy it completely. The lance pierces through its side, then tears through its entire body, exiting on the other side in a geyser of burning blood that quickly evaporates under the weight of the heat.

The wound scorches itself closed and shivers with the heat as the bleeding comes to a stop.

When its enormous eyes turn back to me, they are full of anger.

Then I teleport, reappearing just over the beast as I step through the [Ley Line] attached to my [Empyrean Lance].

Right away, the heat crashes against my body as the beast lunges, jaws snapping at me. Each movement cracks the ground, sending splashes of lava through the air.

The heat radiating from its skin isnʼt thermal energy or even a fragment of eternal fire, rather, it’s a purely mana based skill or trait pushed to the extreme. The beast intensifies it even further, causing the lava around it to rise and flow through the air toward us.

[Redistribution] works overtime as I absorb the heat around me and store it in an orb hovering nearby. Simply handling it, absorbing it, and taking control with [Redistribution] converts the heat into thermal energy instead.

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Half of my mental capacity focuses on just that to keep myself from being burned alive. The heat surges to an extreme as I ignore the pain of the beastʼs scorching skin as it sears the soles of my bare feet and move to grab the black javelin, yanking it free. The weapon having grown vastly stronger than the one I originally fired, having absorbed such vast quantities of mana.

I mold and reshape it, forcing it under my control with effort. Then I modify its structure to absorb more mana without destabilizing, and transform it into another orb.

Within a blink, all the heat reaching me vanishes, reverting to mana as the black orb absorbs it. Like a whirlpool, the orb pulls everything inside, breaking the skill’s structure to restore it to its original form, mana, which it then devours.

The flames and heat from the beast’s skill vanish, leaving only a few pathetic remnants behind. Despite its power, the beast is slow, relying on its durable body and the flames and heat it can create. Even the lava it tried to move crashes to the ground, unable to be controlled without mana.

I leave the black orb where it is and I teleport again, reappearing in front of an eye, which is easily twice my height.

Its pupil dilates as it turns toward me.

Then I grasp the golden orb of absorbed heat, freshly converted to thermal energy. I punch my hand through the eye’s surface and release all the heat within the orb.

The pupil widens even further, its surface blistering and warping in an instant. A sharp hiss pierces the air as the eye sizzles, bubbles, and then bursts apart, spraying me with scalding liquid. The thick, red hot fluid clings to my skin, but I barely register the sensation before the true destruction unfolds.

The heat surges past the ruined eye, racing through the creature’s skull and deep into its brain. Flesh sears, nerves rupture, and boiling fluids expand until the entire mass collapses inward, cooking the brain from the inside out.

The enormous body spasms violently, limbs jerking before locking in place. Then, with a final shudder, it topples, crashing into the crater with enough force to send molten rock spraying high into the air. It twitches once more, then goes still, steam rising from the smoldering corpse.

One of the special grade beasts has been defeated!

The remaining Special beasts have sensed the Emberhorn Behemoth’s fall. Now more alert, they will grow increasingly aggressive toward any perceived threat!

And thatʼs it.

There is no telling how many points I have gained at this point.

Even in my current state, I can’t help but deeply resent it, as if another layer of control has been stripped from me.

Not once before now has the system done something like this. Even during previous events, the system has shown us notifications and point totals. And just now, it’s decided it doesnʼt want to.

With anger, I teleport and surround the black orb with [Eclipse] and [Mana Domain]. Then I activate the Mana Wavelength Tyrant. The mana around me freezes in place, all of it, even the ambient mana in the air, along with the beast’s lingering energy, and my own. It all stops and waits. The black mana resists more than the rest; the more it absorbs, the more difficult it is to control. But it hasnʼt reached that critical point yet.

I grab the black mana orb and change its shape, turning it into a spear longer than I am tall, and fly into the air, further boosting myself to increase my speed.

After landing on the floating island I visited first, I locate the remains of the ruins I saw with my eyes during the scan.

As I reach the area, some beasts rush at me immediately, but a concentrated pulse of kinetic energy blasts them away. Then I [Focus] once more and stomp, releasing waves of kinetic energy in a series of modified vibrations. It ripples through the surface. The ground splits open, and rocks push through the dirt to the surface. I repeat the process several times, releasing more and more.

I continue to do this until, in a moment of frustration, I release too much, causing the area around me to explode in a shower of debris and fragmented ruins.

Lighting up a single thermal orb, I jump down and blast away more of the bedrock, and enter a tunnel made out of stone. Its walls are covered in long dormant inscriptions, obscured by roots and an assortment of greenery.

There are beasts, all of which feel ethereal and spread an incredible chill as they move through the air.

Just a bit of the first seal peels away, and I donʼt bother trying to hold the thermal energy the Ignition Heart generates; instead, I let it immediately seep into the air, blazing through the tunnels and filling them with gouts of golden flame.

The beasts, incapable of resisting or escaping, die even as they rush to flee.

I send multiple pulses of mana through the ruins and locate what I was looking for, confirming what I saw before.

A [Ley Line] stretches out, rushing in the direction I want to head, and I teleport, only to reappear just a step away. The black mana spear I hold interferes with the teleport, disrupting it as the black mana eats into the skill. So I donʼt bother making another attempt.

Changing my direction, I run through the tunnel until I reach the metal door and blast it away; the metal is as thick as my torso, starts to creak and bend, groaning audibly until it finally gives in and splits, creating a long, ragged split in the once solid barrier.

I step through and release another wave of thermal energy, killing more beasts along the way.

A bit further ahead, I spot another door, much larger and thicker this time, but without mana powering the inscription, it lacks strength. They resist my blasts of kinetic energy, so instead, I grab hold of the thermal energy and release it in a thick stream, then narrow it until it forms a beam thinner than the width of my pinkie and focus it on a single spot.

The metal around the spot begins to melt and sizzle until, a few moments later, the stream of thermal energy pierces through. Then I move it, carving a circular hole halfway through. Then I stop and release a blast of kinetic energy, bending the half cut metal open like a can.

I enter the massive ruin and find a similarly huge pillar in the middle. Itʼs crystal white and transparent, and inside of it, a heart is located, surrounded by incredibly intricate inscriptions. There are also circuits filled with a substance that resembles blood, sustaining it.

That heart inside is still beating and generating all this incredible amount of mana needed to keep this enormous island afloat.

There are inscriptions taking some of that mana and using it for healing in some twisted way, using pieces of flesh and a cut off hand, also in the pillar. Other inscriptions supplement the heart with something else, pale blue liquid contained in a nearby tank. There are even secondary inscriptions intended to kickstart the heart if it stops beating, and who knows what else.

That heart isnʼt even human. It is easily half the size of my entire body.

I glance over the room and take in everything that might be of use, all the inscriptions I can remember. Then I lift the spear made out of black mana and, with a burst of kinetic energy, drive it into the pillar.

The spear pierces through the crystal and stabs itself into the heart, immediately starting to hungrily absorb the immense amount of mana.

The mana that keeps the island afloat doesnʼt vanish immediately. Other failsafes and mana stores act as an emergency supply, preventing it from falling.

But not for long.

The system doesnʼt want to tell me how many points I have.

Fine. I’ll collect so many that no one else can even come close to first place.

I wonder what an islandʼs worth of beasts is worth.