Chapter 230

Chapter 230

Astrid stepped through the darkness. The fine hairs on her neck stood up in panic. Before she could open her eyes, she was met with the stench of iron.

Then something struck her. It was incredibly powerful. Thankfully, she had already raised her defences. Yet it wasn’t enough. A hot sensation bubbled within her chest, then she was sent flying back. Her back struck a wall. She groaned in pain.

Astrid opened her eyes. They widened in horror. Her mother was missing an arm, Havel was missing a leg, and many of the troops they had brought within lay in a pool of their own blood.

A monster that could only be described from her nightmares tore into a Wayfarer. Crunch. It tore off his head with a single bite. The creature had thick, long limbs. It resembled an ape, but it had no hair on its body. Neither did it have any eyes. The fingernails were pointed at the ends, resembling savage spikes three inches long.

Level ??? - Horror of the Deep

Behind Astrid, past the broken wall that she had crashed into, was an infinite expanse of blue. It stretched far into the horizon. But in the distance was an angry darkness. It was getting larger by the second.

Below, were hundreds of floating rocks that dotted the blue sky. Each one of them had buildings built on top. Some of them were mere ruins, evidence of an intense battle. Judging by the smoke billowing from the embers; it happened recently.

Astrid’s heart beat against her chest. Thump. Thump. The mana within her internal engine flared as she sent dozens of high powered bullets at the monsters. They struck against the monster’s flesh, but it did little damage. They penetrated the skin, but Astrid didn’t have the power to send them further.

“Mother–” Astrid shouted in pain. Sh-she was missing an arm...

Eli growled and sent a blazing kick to the horror. The white flames tore off the monster's head from its body. It fell to the floor with a wet thud. Despite the monster's death, she wasn’t given a moment’s rest.

The horrors leapt from floating island to floating island. Three more caught the landmass that they were all on, and swiftly pulled themselves onto solid land. Eli flashed forward, reaping their lives with a few kicks.

“Astrid, find the monster responsible!” Eli shouted, dodging an attack from another horror that leapt up. Follow current novels on novelb((in).(com)

Astrid grit her teeth. Leena and the others were also in a brutal brawl. Blood spilled, but thankfully, most of it was the enemies. But they were struggling. The horror’s were too high of a level to fight continually. The only reason they were still alive was because of the monster’s lack of fighting experience.

Astrid knew they wouldn’t last for long. Mistakes were inevitable. Astrid knew what her mission was. She caught the sight of Leena’s eyes. Her battle-maid didn’t have to say a word. Her eyes told her everything Astrid needed to do.

Kill the monster, Leena said.

Nodding, Astrid tore her vision away from her lifelong friend as she shot into the distance. Psych Domain was telling her that whatever was creating the barrier was up ahead. Roughly ten minutes away judging by how fast she was flying.

Astrid was confused as to how the monster was creating the barrier when in another dimension. How was it possible? She murmured the question in her head. She had never heard of anything that had that capability.

Hoping that the beasts lacked the intelligence to battle her, Astrid created fifteen clones of herself. They all battled against the monsters, but because she didn’t give them much Constitution, they were defeated in an instant.

However, it was as Astrid had hoped. They couldn’t beat her Intelligence Stat. They couldn’t see through the clones, nor could their vision penetrate the illusionary clouds engulfing them. By the time the humanoid monsters destroyed her clones, she was already gone.

Not only that, but she had also escaped all the others that were chasing her from a distance. Of course, she played it safe. Every ten seconds, Astrid would send a clone off in the distance. It was impossible to chase her.

Astrid’s destination was a large island. It was huge compared to all the rest that she had passed by. However, unlike all the others, this one didn’t have any buildings so to speak. The only construction was a large level square cornered by four huge pillars.

There was no sign of a roof if it used to have one.

The square was floored with black tiles. Red lines intersected a red circle, forming a strange set of symbols. And in the middle, was a masked man in a black robe. He was from the order.

Astrid wasted no time. She moved to attack. To take his life. Firing twenty or so void bullets at the man, they turned the air purple as they tore straight for him. But before they could riddle his body with holes, a powerful barrier stopped the projectiles in their tracks. Purple haze covered the translucent shield.

Shit, Astrid thought with impatience. If the barrier was anything like the one from the bubble, then it would be impossible for her to destroy it.

Brought forward by desperation, Astrid flew at high speed to the barrier. The man had his hands on the ground. He touched the red symbols. His eyes were shut as the mana from his container was like a never ending ocean. Even Astrid couldn’t hope to compete with such a vast amount of energy.

Thankfully, channelling mana into the barrier seemed to come at a cost. His eyes were closed, as if he was in a deep sleep. At least that meant that he couldn’t attack her. But surrounded by such a barrier, there was no need to take Astrid’s like.

In front of the impervious shield, Astrid touched it. Just like the one in the bubble, it wasn’t capable of attack. Nor did it have any semblance of self-defence capabilities.

Screw you. Astrid stared daggers at the masked man as she swore to tear it down. She sunk her mind into the barrier and instantly discovered that it was the same substance as the one before. But it was also different.

It wasn’t weaker, but it wasn’t stronger either. Astrid didn’t know why, but she felt like this one could be destroyed.

Astrid spread her matter control through a small section around her hands. She focused with all her might. Then she saw it. Her lips curled. There was a weakness in the barrier.

Just as she was about to test her theory, dozens of screeches screamed at her from a distance. They were fast approaching.

With no time to spare, Astrid’s internal engine churned like a superpowered freight train. She pumped mana through it faster than she had ever done before until a blazing heat threatened to burn a hole through her chest.

She groaned in pain, then Crashed the weakness she had spotted down at the very foundations of the barrier. The world seemed to tremble at her command, then something cracked.