Chapter 179 179. CRIMSON
Silence. His words met utter silence; but he didn\'t feel insulted by their lack of words.
Heck the question was more to himself than his colleagues, which showed of how weird their situation had become.
"Is he even human?," one males present spoke, and his words met another wave of silence.
"He definitely is. He has no resemblances to the other races," the man fire mage explained, storing his sword, and straightening his position.
"But I heard that high level dragons, or dragons with noble blood can manipulate their physical form...." The man who had mocked Aiden upon his unconscious arrival tried to make sense of the situation.
"You heard yourself. How would a high level dragon, or even noble dragon lose to a mere grasshopper. What would one even be doing here," the fire mage snorted placing Aiden\'s body on his shoulder.
His colleagues reasoned his words while carefully following his movements due to the entity on his shoulder.
"It\'s time to go," the fire mage, who also seemed to be a changed man announced seeing that they weren\'t moving.
"Shouldn\'t we leave him! And will he even be suitable for the ritual," the black haired lady questioned, worry evident on her face.
"We can\'t leave him. He\'s the last Individual we need to fulfill our side of the deal. He also isn\'t impenetrable; all we need is more power," the fire mage spoke, getting on his grasshopper.
"There will be middle-staged experts present for the ritual. I doubt his body can withstand one of their attacks," he explained.
"All we need to do his make sure he doesn\'t rise from his slumber," he added.
"Seeing as he hasn\'t moved since last night, we can only hope he remains like that until we arrive at our destination," he explained while placing Aiden\'s body on his beast.
The others nodded at his words, each of them simulating what could happen if their luck ran out out. Would they even be capable of stopping him? They thought.
They journeyed deeper Into the forest, until finally arriving at its end, where an underground passge laying await for them.
They crossed the hill from underneath it and the passage took them towards the outskirts of the Claw city, where mostly trees and small bodies of water existed.
The flora and fauna of that city thrived Incredibly due to the high density of mana, but most of the beasts migrated towards the landemasses at the horizon, and they usually did in groups.
Their travel remained mostly silent as no one desired to awaken the sleeping beast.
This reality further added tension to thier minds. Everyone was on edge, and suddenly the pay for that mission didn\'t sound good enough.
Morning eventually arrived, this day being the third day since Noah arrived there, but only a few hours remained for that time limit to be complete.
Not having an ounce of energy in his core, Aiden couldn\'t gain consciousness. And even if he were close to it, the pain his body experienced would shock him back to his coma of sorts.
It seemed being part Speedling had started to reveal its cons.
"We\'ll rest here," the man atop the grasshopper eventually announced, stoping in front of another relatively large cave.
They had travelled for nine hours straight, and the sun had already risen at this point, but the day still remained fresh.
Relieved gasps escaped their mouths at those words, and they quickly filed into the identical cave. They had utilized it on their journey to the small forest.
The illumination from the outside wasn\'t enough for the cave, so mana bulbs were utilized.
They had reduced their usage of magical items in the forest since the barrier they had set in that area of the forest needed such requirements.
It was to keep their presences hidden, while their beast went out to bring individuals into that area.
They placed Aiden\'s body at one corner of the cave; where their eyes could easily sight him. They weren\'t taking any chances.
A few hours eventually passed, and something eventually happened to Aiden\'s body.
[Commencing reintegration of >Hosts< real memories.....]
[Process will begin in seven seconds.....]
*
*
*
Darkness
Noah felt himself exist inside a strange darkness. It didn\'t feel like the one where his disembodied soul resided, but something else something both strange and familiar at the same time.
It seemed even with his memories wiped, he still existed outside of himself, something that baffled him beyond measure.
Time seemed to flow both normally and abnormally that black space, as he felt capable of numbering the passage of time, but not by his own will.
It felt as though he did that simple action through someon elses\' view of time.
Even the space in that utterly black place; felt both immense and small. And he felt as though he would pass-out from the overwhelming feeling the place gave off.
Noah\'s thoughts flowed in ways he didn\'t totally understand. He didn\'t seem to think, yet actually did. He didn\'t seem to exist, yet actually exsisted.
That state remained confusing, seemingly dreamlike, but also real.
A period of seemingly years passed, but in reality were only three days.
And he felt shocked to hear a voice at some point.
"What do we have here?" The male voice boomed softly. A few seconds of silence passed, and the voice released a short \'hm\'.
"Your situation looks pretty grim, so I\'ll assist you," the seemingly tired yet energetic voice spread out.
"I\'m not supposed to do this but since you\'re so close, I\'ll make a compromise," the voice explained, and Noah immediately felt a tug on his consciousness, something that shouldn\'t have been possible.
His environment instantly changed, and he found himself descending into a white area with an island at its center.
An instant later he felt memories wash over him; someone else\'s life mixing with his, causing great confusion.
Ignoring his present internal dilemma, Noah willed his consciousness back into his body, and the first thing he felt was pain.
An incredible amount of pain and seeming emptiness engulfed his mind, as his body threatened to go back to its unconscious state.
Panic spread inside him during that instant, but a crimson coloured panel abruptly appeared in his eyes, and power suddenly filled his whole being.
[You have received skill from an unknown entity]
[Unique Berserker(Active)[Tier 3]]
[Unique Berserker(Active)]: During your time of dire need; call upon the power of your rage and the resources available to you to receive Incredible power. When activated you experience a 25% increase to all stats for 15 seconds.The skill is termed "unique" due to its ability to utilize whatever source of energy the user has available.
Cost: 2500SE/Whatever is available to user. Duration: 15 seconds. Cooldown: 2 days.
Backlash: 10% decrease to all stats for 3 days]
[Note: Skill can only be upgraded when the right conditions have been met]
[Conditions for upgrade:
>Utilize the skill 30 times: 1/30<
>Gather 40 skill points: 0/40<
>Kill 500 people under the influence of the skill: 0/500<]
Noah could only read the first line of the panel as rage engulfed his mind before anymore words could reach his eyes. A red maisma then burst out of his figure, sending waves of violent energies into the cave.
His eye sockets blazed with a crimson light and his environment got tinged with that unique colour, a foreboding aura quickly stretching out to match that fantastical scene.
Noah felt pure power course through his whole being, but couldn\'t focus on that detail since in return for that might, his body had almost turned into a skeleton. A very powerful one that is.
He soon understood that the skill would only be capable of keeping him awake for a second or two; as his body needed essence to sustain it. He could even die from prolonged exposure to its violent energy sapping feature.
Four small bottles of yellow contents appeared in his hand, and his environment slowed down immensely.
Feeling his consciousness tremble while it threatened to return into his body, he threw the bottles into his mouth and directly crushed them with his teeth.
His tongue received Injuries in the process but healed almost instantly.
In the next second he had eaten the remaining three bottles, and their energy vansihed immediately his core absorbed them, nut in return his healing process began.
He soon turned off the skill to lessen the strain on his body, but still passed-out anyway.
His body healed so rapidly, that steam eventually began to pour out of his body in fumes.
In the next second, his muscles had regrown, and he soon got able to remain conscious, which he did.
Noah sat cloth-less on the bare ground, and quickly unfolded his consciousness to trap the individuals with him.
The event that just happened had occurred in four seconds, which was enough time for his captors to make their escape.
But having been blown away by Noah\'s explosion of power, their bodies had inevitably recieved Injuries which in turn delayed their escape.
Shivers shot down their spines when their consciousness touched his. In addition to that; their bodies also gave up on them when their eyes met his cold one\'s.
Noah was livid, and the already frozen cave confirmed it.