Maria had a tough fight.
It wasn't easy to fight a sub-rank higher, even more so as the rank increases.
She used a few treasures here and there to create favorable conditions but in the end, it was her own strength, tactics and courage that helped.
Even the rank 6 dinosaur didn't expect the prey it chose to be so ruthless. After making enough injuries on it, Maria started drilling into its body and 'devouring' its blood and flesh.
Everytime, she was expelled by its intense internal Qi and suffered injuries. Initially, she always had more injuries than whatever healing she got inside. It seemed like she's failing again and again and wasn't learning anything.
But when the dinosaur discovered that all the loss of vitality that Maria sucked was starting to affect its attack, it was a bit too late.
From then, Maria steadily gained an upper hand. It sounded easy but none of her peers could guarentee of replicating the feat.
Even though she stumbled a bit in the early stages, after regaining her power, Maria was showing why she was hailed as one of the future pillars of the Alliance.
Her victory, however, didn't invoke any positive feelings in the man and woman who provoked the beasts and set up the fight.
"Damn it! How is her seal already broken?"
Their plan had only a small chance of suceeding because of the treasures she held. But they harbored a tiny hope that perhaps she wouldn't be able to react in time as a rank 5 and would be instantly killed.
Even their primary and certain objective of the mission—making her waste the treasure—wasn't fulfilled.
"If it doesn't work on this floor, then the next, or the next! She needs to climb three more to finish the world tree set!"
While the two acquintances of the rowdy princess left for the next floor, Maria decided to find Varian.
"He won't die with all those treasures but he'll be reluctant in using them. If I go now and help him when he's in big trouble, he'll owe me big." Maria chuckled with a conspirational smile and dashed through the air.
A few seconds later, she stumbled onto an area that not too long ago was a mountain range. The mountains were gone now and instead, a large lake of red replaced them.
All across the mountain ranges, there were scattered pieces of flesh, guts, and bones.
The ground, the trees, the grass, the birds, the beasts—even the air—smelled of heavy blood.
Even though she was yet to find anyone or anything, Maria felt a primeval killing intent throughout the whole place.
It gave her a feeling that whatever fought in this place wasn't a man and a beast but two equally wild animals. There were no rules, no restraints, and certainly no escape. It's a fight unto the death.
After a few minutes of serious search, Maria finally found Varian in the middle of a giant carcass, punching down on the remnants of the dead beast, breaking its bones, tearing its muscles, and ripping apart its parts.
"B-Baldur?" Maria's voice was shaking.
Varian didn't turn around. Instead, he raised his fist and slammed it down on the beast's head.
Its skull, formidable enough against any rank 5, didn't yield to his strength.
Varian growled and his Mystic aura soared to the peak of rank 4. He slammed down his fist again, without any restraints.
A crack reverberated across the surroundings. But it was Varian's hand that cracked.
"Stop it, Baldur! You can't break it!"
Varian's hand healed at such a miraculous speed that Maria could only attribute it to some wonderful treasure working behind the scenes.
And then, he slammed his fist down again.
Crack!
Again!
Crack!
And again and again and again!
His hands continued to crack like they were made of glass with every punch. But he was relentless, like an unceasing wave of flood, bent on breaking the dam.
"Baldur, you've lost your mind, stop now!" Maria was worried more than she was furious.
She didn't want to approach him but she also didn't want to leave him here. She needed his help in at least getting to that place. For all her prowess, she was severely lacking manpower.
'I didn't try to contact anyone since the bones guy must be keeping an eye on me.'
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Maria decided to stop Varian's madness by force if needed. As she gathered her power to take action, a different crack sounded.
It was weak, almost like a whisper brought by the wind. But Maria was clear about what it was.
"Hahahahaha!" Varian let out a laugh of triumph and then slammed his bloodied, broken fists one last time.
KACHA!
The skull shattered.
"W-What the fuck was that?" Maria backed off, goosebumps at the eerie sight.
A peak rank 5 beast wasn't scary for her. But this…the skull being resilient until now and then shattering after getting one small crack.
Maria realized something ridiculous as she watched Varian's back with wide eyes. "No way!"
Since the beginning, Varian wasn't punching the same spot twice. It was seemingly random, but in retrospect, it seemed like a specific pattern.
'He was aiming for this from the start!' Maria's wariness towards this man she knew but didn't really know skyrocketed.
Varian turned around and slowly exhaled. Even though the wild smell of blood and guts on him, his torn clothes, and his distorted smile hinted he was in a state of bloodlust, his eyes…they were eerily calm and indifferent.
Maria was perplexed more than anything. This was a man who didn't make any sense whatsoever.
Was he deep in bloodlust? Yes.
Was he perfectly rational? Yes.
"I'd have died if I escaped. This fight helped me break my seal." Varian's aura was stronger than earlier.
[Adept Rank 4: 100/1000
<Congratulations on your advancement. As an Adept, you're on your way to developing a perfect body. You're a master of close-quarter fights and you can use your qi to help you with long-range attacks to a significant extent.>
Assimilator Rank 4: 350/1000]
Maria was having trouble identifying his rank or even path. It's just…weird. Sometimes, he felt like a rank 2, then a rank 3, and sometimes a rank 4.
What the hell was going on?
'I don't want to think about this or I'll be the one going crazy!'
Maria did what was best for her mental health and ignored his weirdness.
"We got the seed on the 31st floor. Now, soil on the 32nd, water on the 33rd, and fertilizer on the 34th. And then we're set to go!" Maria explained in a casual tone, pretending she hadn't witnessed the madness of her temporary teammate.
"What about the pesticide?" Varian asked.
He thought Maria would call the question silly and be annoyed by it. Instead, her face paled and she parted her lips slowly. "Trees have innate protectors. We are the pests."
"What?!"
The tower climbing continued.
32nd Floor:
The soil was the bone ash of a three-winged bat-like creature that resided on the edge of a black hole—tribat.
These were solitary creatures and a rank 5 beast's bone ash would do. It was supposed to be an easy mission.
Varian didn't think there was any need to help when Maria went off to the tribat.
BOOM!
Oh boy was he wrong.
A dozen creatures, each resembling an octopus with wings, flaunting their tentacles, appeared out of nowhere and ambushed Maria.
They were ambushed soon after and had to fight their way out. Thankfully for Varian, Maria couldn't fight the rank 6 beasts and fled to a nearby star system.
Most of them went after her, but a few flew toward him.
Varian considered himself brave. Even reckless. But not stupid.
There's no way he was going on a suicidal fight against a rank 6 when even one of their attacks could potentially one-shot him.
So, he did something that neither the beasts nor the guys who lured them here expected.
"Halt!"
A blinding brilliance filled the space as the toy sun shone in its full glory.
Holding the treasures against the beasts who were clearly uncomfortable against its brilliance and dangerous aura, Varian said with a smug smile, as if they were afraid of his power.
"You shall not pass!"
The beasts looked at each other. They didn't have any considerable intellect but what they had was very good instincts. Instead of facing the brightly annoying light, they decided to flee.
The teen beasts that were in rank 5 were already about to escape.
But terrifying flames shot out of the toy sun and formed a barrier, locking them with Varian.
"But you," Varian pointed to the rank 5 beasts and nodded. "You can fight me."
The mindless beasts had to pick the lesser danger of the two—the dangerous flames that could definitely kill them or the man who possessed the flames but wasn't exuding a dangerous aura.
They rushed to him.
Varian raised his arms.
"Praise the sun!"
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