Hell Difficulty Tutorial Chapter 808 - And who might you be?

Upon my arrival on the other side, an immediate assault, a focused beam of oscillating mana, targeted me.

A round containment barrier materialized around me, activating further defensive formations. Behind these, individuals began to congregate, all clad in attire identical to those I had recently subdued. This unfolding scene took place within a central chamber hewn from rock, from which five passages diverged, each adorned with protruding tubes along its walls, while the distant hum of machinery permeated the air.

Another surge washed over me, its intensity threatening to force me to my knees. The energy beam widened, narrowly parting before me as I sliced through it, diverting the streams to either side. I detected continuous waves of probing mana searching within me, and as their search proved fruitless, the assaults only escalated.

Recognizing the nature of the situation, I recalled the frequency signature of the implant observed in the velnar's cranium and replicated it, establishing a connection that allowed for a diagnostic check. After several attempts, I succeeded. For a fleeting moment, the beam ceased, the oppressive pressure and barrier dissipated, and the alarms fell silent, a stark contrast to the agitated movements of the gathered personnel.

One individual barely had time to utter a cry before my lance impaled him, propelling his form into the dim tunnel. Another man collapsed, his body pierced by Needle Point.

I shifted once more, just in time as the barrier reformed and the pressure returned. The mana beam erupted, traversing the wall, which fractured under its passage as it tracked me, and then reacquired its lock. A burst of a nearly identical attack emanated from me, momentarily resisting the incoming stream before widening and intensifying with greater ferocity.

My counter-assault penetrated the beam as they clashed briefly before mine overwhelmed it. It struck its target, the device, piercing and annihilating it completely.

Employing Wraith Dance, I evaded the onslaught, repeating the maneuver multiple times to sidestep a pair of highly agile combatants who had commenced their pursuit. Noticing another man attempting an escape, my lance shot forth, breaching his defenses and pinning him against the wall.

One of the swift attackers reached me, his dagger aimed at my chest, but a section of barrier materialized before me, intercepting it completely with only minor ripples disturbing its surface. The assailant vanished as if swallowed by the earth. I tracked his movement solely with my gaze, pinpointing his intended reappearance. By the time he emerged, I was already positioned there, my body propelled by kinetic energy and mana, a dagger now present in my hand.

That dagger pierced the barrier overlaying his skin, his armor, and the chainmail beneath, embedding itself in his heart. I channeled a small amount of thermal energy into the dagger, leaving it impaled. At that precise moment, it detonated, just as I initiated Wraith Dance again to evade the other speedster.

He dodged the explosion and swiftly located me, resuming his pursuit. This one was a lumoran, and the crystalline structures adorning his neck and forehead began to emit a glow, releasing a high-pitched sound – a form of sonic assault – directed at me while simultaneously attempting to destabilize my mana. From behind me, a creature resembling a spider with only four legs leaped from the shadows to attack. Some kind of beast.

The man's familiar.

A moment's hesitation, and the four-legged spider seized me, its fangs sinking into my arm.

My own thermal energy incinerated the venom, and my mana surged around me, countering the pressure, bringing all motion to a halt. I penetrated the natural defenses of both the man and the spider, forcefully reactivating the teleportation array and expelling them both before disabling the array and overwriting it with my own configuration.

Before it could reach me, the surrounding colors leached away, and this effect expanded outward. It pushed against the pale red, ink-colored domain, and faster than its expansion, I caused it to contract as if time itself were in reverse. It crashed against the man, who gasped for air as his control over the array and mana batteries faltered. The lynthari subordinate, clearly intended as his mana conduit, did not even have the opportunity to fulfill his designated role.

[Eclipse - lvl 70 > Eclipse - lvl 71]

A colossal surge of mana erupted from him, threatening to annihilate the entire area with the resultant pressure, radiation, and friction. Yet, before it could even touch the lynthari's hair, I seized control. All that mana halted under my grasp, the spectral imprint of an explosion caught at the precipice of destruction.

My blood surged through my veins, bolstering my other two innate abilities. I manipulated that mana, initiating a spin and directing it towards the artificial Mana Crown situated above my head. It constituted an immense quantity, likely equivalent to what I could accumulate in a week of sustained effort by converting the thermal energy from my Ignition Heart into mana.

I began to question why I had chosen to teleport the man and his companion away instead of dispatching them then and there. It was at this moment the lynthari man, his crown now absent, contorted and spewed a substantial amount of blood. His form disintegrated, and from within his remains, a newborn infant descended to the ground, its entire being slick with gore and viscera.

That infant rapidly ascended in size, accompanied by the sounds of tearing flesh and snapping bones, until it attained the stature of an adult mora, its slim and tall physique mirroring that of the Crimson Forge trio. The creature simply gazed back at the corpse from which it had emerged, gave a snicker, and then proceeded to lick the blood from its lips.

[Endo Knight - lvl ???]

“And just who might you be?” the creature inquired.

The mora stood double the height of the human, its entire form coated in the lynthari’s blood and organs, amplifying its already terrifying appearance. The spinal column it had just extracted solidified and elongated, transforming into a weapon. Simultaneously, it tore pieces from the human’s body, forcing them into its own chest cavity where they merged, mending the injury I had inflicted.

“So, you prefer to engage in games,” it declared, its laughter echoing through the junction of the three subterranean passages, before launching its assault.

Its movements were erratic and primal, exhibiting a speed that was astonishing given its size. The extremities of its body became a blur, almost appearing to leave trails of translucent blue and green afterimages in its wake. The spine-sword in its grasp extended further, morphing into a greatsword that surpassed its own height, and it swung this colossal blade towards me.

Both the mora and its imposing weapon froze mid-swing as I halted them. A barrage of a dozen swiftly conjured projectiles then tore through its body, dismembering it.

Following the flow of mana, I observed another blood-drenched infant emerging from a nearby corpse. It began to rapidly grow. Before the mora could fully reconstitute itself, I propelled myself forward and seized the spinal greatsword. Closing the distance, I slammed the enormous blade against the nearly reformed creature. It attempted to block with its forearm, but the limb was severed, and the sword embedded itself deep into its shoulder.

Despite this, the mora exerted immense force, rising to its full height, now twice my own, and still covered in blood.

It grinned as I released the sword, and it promptly reclaimed the weapon.

When a surge of kinetic energy erupted from me, it interposed the greatsword and was violently hurled across the chamber to impact a wall with a sickening thud.

As I unleashed further blasts, the corpse adjacent to me, the very one from which it had emerged, swelled and detonated with startling power. Even before the blast reached me, mana coalesced into a defensive barrier around me, which was then splattered with crimson blood and fragments of flesh. My vision was partially obscured, but utilizing my other senses, I tracked the mora’s movement. Its spine-sword descended with tremendous force, accompanied by those tell-tale green and blue afterimages.

The spine-sword sliced through my barrier as I sidestepped, embedding itself deep into the ground beside me. Before the impact area could erupt, I absorbed all the kinetic energy. In a fluid motion, I advanced on the mora, striking its knee and releasing the stored energy as an explosive force. This caused it to stagger and collapse onto its knees, its previously towering form diminishing significantly.

It still gripped the spine-sword and swung it in another attempt to attack me, but before it could connect, another high-pitched blast of kinetic energy detonated within its body. In the subsequent instant, flames engulfed me, erupting outwards and incinerating every remaining corpse in the vicinity.

No kill notification appeared, nor could I sense the mora’s presence anywhere within the complex. I remained stationary for a brief period before making my decision.

My consciousness surged through the connection, asserting control, restoring it, and reinforcing it. I channeled a portion of my mana to fuel this endeavor and then traversed through that very same conduit.

The destination was markedly different from the subterranean tunnels. This area was immaculate, with pristine white walls constructed from an unfamiliar stone. Numerous potted trees were strategically placed throughout the space, and a small fountain trickled nearby. In the center of this stark white chamber stood a mora, flanked by two females of its kind. The corpse of a third lay on the floor. One of the females was draping a white fur robe over the bloodied body of the slain mora as it issued commands to the other.

[You have defeated Blood Mage - lvl 256]

[You have defeated Farseeing Elementalist - lvl 191]

The flames contorted mid-air, pursuing the beast-like movements of the Endo Knight. I adjusted the trajectory of the fiery stream to keep pace with him, the inferno lashing against the walls and consuming the foliage as he continued his evasion.

Massive pillars detached from the ceiling, hurtling towards me as defensive formations activated. However, an additional surge of mana enveloped my form, manifesting as a partial suit of armor. Though it comprised only the upper half, it towered to triple my actual height. The falling pillars struck this armor, partially melting and disrupting the mana construct, but the armor held firm, effectively nullifying the defensive mechanism.