Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

”I’m going to take down the Homo erectus general,” Uhtred said to the expectant strike force watching him.

Mateo and most of the strike force members nodded immediately, understanding the logic behind Uhtred’s choice.

However, the look in Antoine Blanc’s eyes was completely different. He knew Diya was a member of Uhtred’s crew and someone close to him. Yet, Uhtred still chose to leave her behind for the greater good.

The fact that Uhtred prioritized the survival of the human race over the safety of someone personal to him made the Frenchman view him in a completely new light.

Even more, the moment Uhtred said those words, there was no look of hesitation in his eyes. He had made his decision, and he was going along with it with full focus.

Uhtred stood up immediately, but before he began to move, he gave the members of the strike force one last order.

”In my place, all of you are to head towards Diya’s location immediately. Find her, protect her, and rally any other high-level ascender you can find to do the same. She must not die.”

In truth, Uhtred’s calculation relied on one saving grace. There was still a very slight chance that the third ancient variant general was not currently hunting Diya.

He could still vividly remember that three nights ago the female ancient variant had fought against the mysterious savior that came to help him in the nick of time.

The trail of their battle had carried across till it left Mateo’s camp. Uhtred knew from those trails that the battle had been intense, so he could only hope that wherever the female ancient variant was, she was still nursing some wounds from that battle, enough that she couldn’t pursue Diya for the meantime.

With his orders delivered, Uhtred turned on his heel and immediately started heading west. He rushed down the rocky formations, wasting no more time on words, and charged into the open desert.

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Uhtred sprinted across the barren landscape, his high physical attributes allowing him to rapidly bypass varying terrains and local beast territories.

Normally, he would have battled several of these beasts, but his current aura was enough to put many of them at bay.

And for the ones that were more powerful, like the Dune Strider serpents, the saving grace was that by the time Uhtred reached their territory, the sun had already begun to rise above the horizon.

The Dune Striders were apex beasts, but they were nocturnal in nature. During the day, they rested deep beneath the sand from the heat of the sun, tracking the essence trails left by anything that crossed the surface, only going after them at night.

Uhtred didn’t care about the trails he was leaving. By the time night fell, he would have achieved his goal of reaching the Homo erectus general already.

However, in place of the resting Dune Strider serpents, the daylight hours brought a different persistent beast: those pesky desert jackals.

But as Uhtred ran through their territory, the encounter this time was entirely different. Days ago, he would have been forced to constantly manage his focus, budgeting his cosmic essence to fend off their attacks.

However, this time, with his new sub-core formation, his thermal magic was active simultaneously as he ran, enveloping his body in a barrier of heat.

That simple heat barrier completely prevented the jackals from attacking him at all. They could only sprint alongside him, baring their teeth and snarling viciously, but they couldn’t land a single attack without their jaws being instantly scorched by the thermal field.

At the same time, they also knew that getting too close to Uhtred was dangerous. Their bodies were extremely fragile, and a single hit from him was enough to fold them in two. All they had going for them was their speed.

They ran along with him for several miles before giving up in the end, seeing that Uhtred’s heat barrier wasn’t coming down any time soon. He left them in the dust and continued to run across the desert, keeping his speed fixed and his thermal field fully active.

His steps continued deep into the western regions, leaving a trail of calcified sand in his wake. Glass literally formed on the surface of the sand. If anyone wanted to trail him, they could easily do it, but Uhtred didn’t mind all of these minor details. His focus was mainly on reaching the Homo erectus general.

Already, he had begun to see the havoc the Homo erectus general had wreaked throughout the human camps at the border.

Hundreds of dead human ascenders were left rotting in the sun, their bodies torn apart and already being eaten by desert beasts and those large insect swarms.

The weaker survivors, the Level 3s, 4s and 5s who had been abandoned after their leaders were executed, were simply left wandering the desert to die, their morale entirely destroyed. They were the easiest that would perish, since losing the most powerful individuals was essentially a death sentence to them.

Of course, some of them might survive, but the Homo erectus general had achieved his purpose. The main powerhouses of the western front had been thoroughly erased.

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In the end, after running for the better part of the morning across the western regions, Uhtred finally reached a camp that had not yet been decimated by the Homo erectus general.

Chaos was ensuing presently, but not everyone was dead yet. The Homo erectus general was still present within this camp.

Uhtred stood on a dune, overlooking the havoc ensuing in the distance, and his eyes turned cold.

Several humans, normal low-level ascenders who had entered into this trial without knowing the full depth of what they were entering into, ran out of the camp in large numbers, fleeing into the open desert.

Some of them saw him and continued on, but a few who recognized him from his description, based on his terrifying reputation from his recent execution tour, were suddenly filled with renewed hope.

”It’s Uhtred!” someone screamed, pointing a trembling finger toward the dune. ”The number one ranker is here!”