~"Great, keep doing that."~
An hour later, Luke finally had achieved some breakthrough in the Astral Projection spell. The glowing lights around him, caused by the constant supply of the magic power onto the magic circuits had shown a beautiful view if one had enough time to appreciate the scene.
However, Luke was definitely not one who had enough time for it. Even now, sweat could be seen
"Sh*t!" Without any delay, Luke used the prepared rune within his bracelet, in case anything unexpected happened. The teleport spell activated immediately, flashing in bright light to envelop Luke's body, only to shift the body to a place where Luke had sensed the creature's position, last time he checked. 'What's that!? It's so fast!' Even for Luke, it was the first time he had seen something so fast, excluding the fact that the Inner Disciple specialized in speed back when he had fought in the forest. ~"It has yet shown you everything it has got. It didn't even try to be serious at all. Somehow, it has underestimated you."~ Informed Rein in Luke's head, gauging the demonic beast’s capability all this time as he advised, ~"It's better to leave. I think this cave was its lair. Just leave this place and you will be alright."~ Pondering over Rein's suggestion, Luke gazed towards the empty space six hundred meters away from him. He was no battle maniac, so if he could walk away from t
Staying silent for a few breaths, Luke responded, "Let's do some cleaning." ~"Huh... Why did I see that coming from miles away."~ Said Rein helplessly. Raising his eyebrows, Luke played along and spoke, "Oh, you did?" ~"Very funny, kid."~ Commented Rein, however, his voice indicated how unamused he was. Then, suddenly, Rein spoke, ~"Hmm? Someone is still alive in here?"~"What!?" Surprised by what Rein had uttered, Luke chanted his spells, strengthening his vision to look around for survivors, "Where?" ~"There, eleven o'clock from where you stand."~ Spoke Rein quickly. Without wasting any time, Luke rushed to the direction Rein had pointed at, looking around at his left and right as he ran through the street. After that, in the corner of his vision, Luke sighted a small quiver under a heap of logs. Going near, Luke grabbed the logs and began to toss them away one by one. Underneath it was a child, who seemed to be eight years old at the most. He was lucky enough that one of the l
"Ying Ying…" Hastily traversing the slope, a boy with a dagger in his hand was running with all his might. His eyes wandered to the ground, scrutinizing if there were any clues when the bandits crossed this path. He and his friends had seen their base once, purely from mere luck and coincidence. Now he had set off by himself, planning to sneak inside and rescue his best friends. Among the paths he had taken, there were some branches which had snapped in half, proof that someone had stepped to it. Jogging with caution, the kid sighted another track of the bandits. This time, there were several hooves printed on the field, possibly belonging to the bandits because they had brought their horses when they raided the village. Dashing recklessly from what he saw, the boy became more convinced that he was on the right path to the hideout. But then, a humanoid shadow had leapt down from the sky, blocking him before he could take any further step. "What are you trying to do, boy?" In front
~"Jump!"~ Adhering to the instructions, Luke carried the boy again on his back while he leapt high in the air. Another scorpion had caused an eruption on the ground, similar to the rest four giant scorpions behind them. -"There's more and more of them! Are you sure this is the way?"- Doubted Luke, apparently apprehensive by how the things had developed so far. ~"You have a better idea?"~ Retorted Rein, assessing the situation once more as he spoke, ~"Over there! Go to 45 degrees from your position, then activate the detect spell."~ Following the words without any further queries, Luke dashed to the said position as he chanted the spell. Sighting a trace of energy before him, Luke grit his teeth and trusted Rein, leaping forward decisively. Then, the space in front of him began to distort. Without any time to even blink, Luke had arrived in another place in a flash.Swiftly checking on his surroundings, anticipating what would happen next, Luke saw that he and the boy were floating
"ᚲᛟᛗᛈᚱᛖᛋᛋᛁᛟᚾ. (Compression.)" Lighting up, the bullet left the muzzle of the gun, streaking through the air at a very fast speed. Any cultivator who was on the scene would be able to tell how monstrous the energy emitted from the bullet was, like a torrent of storms compressed into one, tiny projectile, unleashing all of it only when it hits the mark.~"Good shot."~ Praised Rein already as if he had already expected the eruption that soon would follow. Shortly, his expectation was right off the bat while he watched how the tiny bullet engulfed half of the island in a firestorm. The main target, the purple pillar was eradicated, leaving behind no ashes although it looked really tough. Furthermore, the rest of the pillars around it couldn't avoid the destruction of the blast either, causing many of them to crumble from the shock wave of the detonation. "I guess that's enough?" Responded Luke with a soft sigh. At the next moment, Luke and the boy found themselves right in front of a hu
"And... I will kill you all!" Shooting his handguns as fast as he could, Luke backed away at the same time, predicting the counter-attack of the duo. His predictions weren't far off from the mark, because when one of them shifted his position to block the bullets, another one had dashed towards Luke, brandishing his twin short swords in an agile manner. Moving like a phantom, the cultivator almost reached Luke's position in milliseconds. However, Luke had anticipated this scenario and took out a green crystal, glowing in orange light. ~"At last, you take 'that' out! Now go rampage!"~ Cheered Rein when he looked at the crystal in Luke's hand. Soon, Luke's figure disappeared without a trace. Seeing that his swords only hit empty air, the man was stunned for a moment before his instincts kicked in, telling him to duck immediately unless he would have his head rolling on the ground. Following his guts, the man had grazed with the death as he sighted Luke already right behind him, shoo
-"Hey, Striver."-Watching the corpses of two Soul Rejuvenation realm cultivators battling against the bandits’ group, who had ambushed them from one of the rooms within the corridor, Luke asked out loud.-"If you can control those corpses and have a deep understanding of souls, why don't you possess one of the corpses? That way, you can have more freedom right?"~ ~"What's this? Complaining that I'm in your mind? Afraid you will get busted when checking on the girl's rack? Meh, don't worry, I'm a man too. By the way, you like it small or big?"~ With his veins bulging on his forehead, showing that he was annoyed, Luke retorted, -"No! It isn't that! I'm just curious… and I like it big."-His face flushed a little when he spoke of his reference, Luke continued, -"Besides, is it fine for you to use magic power? Last time we talked about it…"-Remembering the conversation back when they were in the spatial domain, Luke frowned slightly. …..[FLASHBACK]"Mana Stone…" Thinking his eyes pl
~"Do you want to be hated by the kid?"~ Quipped Rein as they walked to the staircase leading to the underground basement. After searching the whole manor, they had found a secret door behind a bookshelf. -"It is true that I am one of the cultivators from the dark sect."- Replied Luke, as he carefully treaded the staircase with eyes looking forward for any potential ambush. Although the two corpses already served the purpose by walking in the front of the group. ~"Yeah but you haven't killed anyone yet, have you?"~ Said Rein, puzzled by Luke's acting of some sort of cringe, ~"I can tell from your personality. By the way, you saying that you're a bad guy is cringe."~ -"Did that bother you greatly?"- Asked Luke calmly, not minding Rein's words at all. ~"A little bit."~ Proceeding to the underground floor, at the end of the staircase, there was another passage. The lighting in the passage was dim, and there was a discomforting feeling ever since Luke stepped on the passage’s ground.