Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1258: No Need [Bonus]

Megean breathed heavily. She had fallen to her knees again, her four legs crumbling beneath her weight. She tried to hold herself up with her tall bow, but her arms and back were screaming just as much as her fingers were.

Maybe that was because she had stripped so much flesh off of her fingers that they no longer seemed to send pain signals at all. Or maybe that was because she had pulled her back and arms taut so many times by now the muscles responsible for the actions had been shredded apart just as badly.

Her face could hardly be seen beneath the streams of blood, flickering ghostly arrows and blades sticking out of her body from all directions.

Somewhere deep inside, she realized that this was probably the end of the line. Her Will was still blazing strong, but her body had nothing left to give.

It was simply... impossible.

She had killed so much, made it so far, but even as she continued to trudge forward, there was no end in sight.

A flicker pulsed into existence before her, and she tried to stand again. Realizing she would fail, she pulled her bow up instead, pulling on the muscles that still remained in her torso to hold herself up just long enough so that she could aim and fire.

The figure sidestepped as though her arrow was shot from a string of cotton fluff, falling impotently to the ground in a destructive wave that harmed no one at all.

Megean sighed inwardly. It seemed this really was the end of the line. She hadn’t seen an echo until now that moved so sharply and with such anticipation. Maybe she had crossed so far into the Golden Battlefield that there was nothing left for her but these powerful opponents.

Even so, her arms seemed to move on their own, thoughts of her grandfather and pulling him out from underneath Sylas’ thumb filling her with conviction and a powerful urge.

However, the echo seemed to move again, and before she could react, a palm was on her hand.

She tried to lift her arm to fight back, but the strength was too much, as though the heft of an entire world was pressing down on her.

”It’s me.”

Megean’s heart shook. She hadn’t known this voice for very long, but the impression it had left on her was as heavy as could be.

”You...”

For some reason, Megean relaxed at that moment, and her body crumpled.

’So tired... I can’t...’

Her last bit of strength and rationality seemed to hope to make things easier on her savior, her body morphing back into its human form and carrying much less of the heft her true Unitaur form held.

Sylas caught her, looking down in silence.

After he memorized the formation, this Golden Battlefield had truly become like his own backyard. It only took a thought to find Megean after that.

Given how much time he wasted—days, in fact—the Sanguara group should have found Megean first. But Megean had had quite the head start.

While the Sanguara were moving far faster, she had never stopped moving either. And because the Sanguara were in a group, there were more echoes attacking them at a given time.

In about half a day more, Megean would have been caught and killed by them in all likelihood. But Sylas had gotten here first.

He looked down at Megean’s body and shook his head. He didn’t have time for Lust right now, though the fact she was distinctly lacking bottom-wear again was hard to ignore, especially with her thighs cradled in his arms like this.

But one problem at a time. Though... Sylas had a very hard time seeing any of what was to come as a problem.

This was his domain now, and that was stacked onto the benefit of the Golden Battlefield forcing everyone onto a level playing field for the most part.

He tried to put Megean away in the Hibernation Realm like the others, but he frowned when his Luck sent him pings of warning. It seemed that he couldn’t without a heavy cost.

’It must be because this quasi system is heavily invested in her outcome right now. Her life and death is what the results of all this hinges on. If I bring her to a separate world, it would be like ripping her out of this quasi world, and that would be the same as canceling the quest forcefully, and that’s something this entire world would fight back against...’

Sylas’ eyes flickered.

His Luck was blaring warnings at him, but they weren’t as substantial as one might expect. In fact, it almost seemed possible to take this route.

It must be because of his upgrade to Bronze. This was an E-Grade World, and his Hibernation Realm was an E-Grade realm. Theoretically, they were equivalent...

Sylas slotted this to the back of his mind for now. It seemed that he would have to take Megean with him, and also somehow ensure she didn’t die with all of these injuries.

...

Chi.

A fist burst an echo to pieces.

”You’re still using too much,” the Duke said calmly. ”But you are getting better. Your reservoir is deep, but using more energy than you need to against an inferior opponent will just waste it unnecessarily. Once you learn how to use your Will to feel out an enemy and react accordingly by taking the amount of True Blood you need, and no more, you’ll reach another level.”

This was the second reason they had yet to catch up. The Duke didn’t know exactly how powerful the Golden Champion was, so he was helping to train their greatest trump card.

The problem?

The Duchess wasn’t nearly as talented as the Prince. He thought that between these two, if one was going to awaken True Blood, it would certainly be the latter. But it seemed the universe still loved its petty tricks.

The Prince would have likely picked up on this already, but the Duchess was still lagging behind.

That said, her control had still improved substantially. Plus, if she was against just one opponent she was willing to completely drain herself against... what need would there be for control?

The Duchess had only just retracted her fist and the Duke had only just finished this thought when another ghost appeared before them.

But this ghost... was one they had sworn they had killed with their own hands long ago.

Sylas stood there in silence, a half-dead woman draped in loose covers being carried in his arms.

It seemed that he had decided that he didn’t need arms for this.