Chapter 150: Obtaining the Evolution Stone

Chapter 150: Obtaining the Evolution Stone

The large glistening stone suddenly cracked and split into three sections. The one evolution stone had turned into three.

Astrid’s eyes widened at the sight. They were no longer aiming for one slice of a pie, but three. She knew what that meant. One was for personal power, two was capable of increasing it further by giving another to a close subordinate, or friend, three had the possibility of evolving an organisation.

She had no idea what the evolution stone did, but if the masked-haloed man was amongst the terrorists back on Rebirth, Astrid couldn’t let them have it. No matter what.

Astrid wasn’t the only one that thought so, the haloed man shot forward on the cloud of gas–ignoring the spouting–and thrashing lava whips.

Clicking his finger in quick succession, clouds of gas exploded, erasing the lava whips from ever existing in the first place.

Sending a blanket of illusions, Astrid closed the distance within a second. The strengthened matter in her body coursed through every strand of muscle fibre as she flew through the air. She ignored the air as it wicked away a tear from the corner of her eye, and focused.

The haloed man was forced to encounter the stalwart mountain. It had no intention of moving, but that meant it couldn’t yet afford to move its body to take one of the evolution stones.

It was forced to continue channelling its ability to stop the incoming team of masks.

From one of the larger spikes, Astrid could hear a thrum of concentrated power, then, a bending line of molten rock whipped straight for the haloed man. It was larger than the rest, and Astrid could even feel the dense mana surrounding it as it hurtled for their cloud.

The leader focused on creating a huge cloud, and the man by his side sent it forward with a blast of energy. It reached the whip instantly, then a click followed.

Molten rock exploded, sending it in all directions.

As Astrid was incoming, she noticed a thick blob of the lava heading straight for the hidden Jonathan. Gritting her teeth, she formed a Mind Barrier around his body just as he entered range of her Skill.

The moment the globule of molten rock impacted against her barrier, it sizzled, and crackled. A faint blue hue from the mana created shield turned into a mist as the attack melted away at the translucent layer. It lasted only a second before it fell.

Jonathan jerked his shoulders and threw his body to the side, yet he refused to move. He simply grinded his teeth together and waited.

Fool. Astrid spat. She had saved his life once, there wouldn’t be a second time.

After-all, she was entering the fight. There was no room to spare a moment of her concentration.

Astrid’s brow twitched in surprise. She wasn’t the only one.

The moment the large lava whip was blasted apart, another shot up from underneath. The earth split, and like a lance piercing the sky, a thick molten tendril moved very fast toward the men riding the cloud. Faster than they could react, it pierced the cloud.

A scream left the mouth of the man by the leader’s side. Red fell. Followed by his body as he crashed to the jumbled up ground with a wet thud. His body was quickly absorbed by the tumultuous earth. The mountain king claimed it as his own.

With the man capable of blowing the clouds forward now dead, the leader had lost the majority of his speed. But it didn’t matter–he was already in front of the last living king.

The wretched smell of rotten eggs wafted through the air. With no way to control it, the wind carried it. Thankfully for him, the wind took it straight to the king.

Noticing the incoming attack, an outer shell of rock formed on the top layer of the king, acting like a cocoon.

Click. The cloud exploded in a chaotic storm of fire and rock. Not letting the cloud settle, Astrid stormed through the air like a bullet.

She strained her vision through Psych Domain. The mountain king lived. Barely. Astrid [Crashed] a huge amount of matter inside the gaping wounds of the golem’s body.

Rock split and fragmented. The notification she had been waiting for blessed her vision.

You defeated a - Mountain King - level 210!

Another smell of gas wiggled into her senses. Snarling, she immediately exhaled the gas from her nose, and formed a barrier.

The explosion was coming, and it was a strong one judging by the intense smell of rotten eggs. It far outstripped the power of the previous attacks.

The mana thrummed in protest.

Astrid put faith into her barriers and gripped her fingers around the gem, only to find her staring at Jonathan. His hand was on the other. He looked at her for a second, or more accurately, his vision was stuck to her hollowed out eye.

“You’re going to die for power.” Astrid sighed. “I don’t trust my barriers to hold against his attack.”

Jonathan grit his teeth, but he held a badge to his heart. Ah, so he isn’t completely insane then.

The moment Astrid plucked the evolution stone from the pillar, she heard a click. There was no time to help Jonathan, she had to focus on her own survival.

She blinked. A world of darkness flashed for a millisecond before she re-opened her eyes. All she could see was an ocean of red and orange from the resulting explosion.

Behind right behind the leader, she could feel his chaotic mana. It was becoming unstable. He had mentioned the fact she was capable of being in sync with the black blobs.

So it seemed that this order of fanatics, terrorists, or whatever they were, had an instability within them.

Well, she didn’t care. She lunged her longsword forward and [Crashed] the matter just behind the pommel, increasing its momentum. It tore through his heart with no resistance.

Having no Constitution, it was like sticking a hot knife into a lump of butter. Effortless.

You defeated - ??? - level 195!

Extra experience is granted for defeating an enemy many levels above!

She yanked the stone from his hands.

Two stones, Epic grade mission complete. She nodded in satisfaction before remembering about Jonathan.

Flying over to him, all the others had arrived. There was no greeting, instead, the frowned at the mangled body of Jonathan.

He was clutching a tiny golden shield within his hands. However, it had lost its lustre. Cracks formed into its surface like hundreds of tributary rivers branching off in random directions.

Astrid fumbled around her Void Storage, before picking out a Rare potion. She was keeping it for emergencies, but she guessed this counted as one.

Using Psychokinesis, she unplugged the cork from the special bottle, and tipped the contents into his mouth.

Astrid could see he was about to cough and splutter, so she forced it down by connecting to the matter, and pushed it into his stomach. Soon, a rosey-red bloomed onto his burnt cheeks. However, potions had a limit. The real life savers were the healers.

Healing capabilities from raw mana were truly different compared to different ground up herbs.

Jonathan’s breathing was hoarse and strained, but she could feel a strength surging from deep within. From the cracks in his skin, a horrible stench seeped out from within.

It was viscous, almost like a jelly. Astrid retched.

She scoured his body for the stone. Not that she would take it, she wasn’t a thief, but she was curious as to where it went.

He didn’t have a storage ring, or bag on him. A quick glance to the surroundings made it clear it had vanished.

The evolution stone was nowhere to be seen.