Violet lightning split the night sky.
Joren streaked through the air a hundred meters above the ground, wrapped in the power of [Thunder Dominion].
The wind screamed around him, but none of it touched his body. An invisible field of impossible sharpness covered his skin, slicing every current of air apart the instant it drew near.
[Primordial Bladebody].
[Blade Dominion].
Below, the Ironspike Dragon fled at full speed.
It could feel death closing in from above. That presence was so sharp it seemed to pierce straight into its bones.
"Roar!"
The beast bellowed in desperation.
Its scales rose across its body as a dull yellow glow spread over its iron hard hide. In an instant, its defense reached the limit. Even a direct missile bombardment would have struggled to break through.
Unfortunately, it was facing Joren.
Joren, wielding the S Class heavy blade [Heaven’s Sin].
Joren, who possessed both [Divine Mammoth Might] and [Primordial Bladebody].
He looked down at the enormous beast and swung once.
Buzz.
For the briefest instant, space itself seemed to slip out of alignment.
The strike carried crushing weight, yet moved faster than lightning.
Slice.
It sounded like scissors passing through rotten cloth.
The Ironspike Dragon’s scales and earthen defensive glow offered no resistance before [Heaven’s Sin]. The blade touched its spine and passed straight through.
The beast stiffened in the middle of its charge.
Pain had not even reached its mind.
Momentum carried it another dozen meters.
Then its enormous body opened cleanly along the center.
Organs, bones, scales, everything had been severed by an edge of pure Blade Intent.
Blood poured across the ruined street like a waterfall.
An instant kill.
The middle stage Rank Four commander class Voidbeast died without even managing a scream.
Joren landed between the two halves of its body, holding [Heaven’s Sin] in one hand.
Not a speck of blood reached him.
Anything that came within a foot of his body was thrown aside by the force surrounding him.
His gaze had already locked onto the black shape scrambling up a wall a thousand meters away.
"You think you can get away?"
The corner of his mouth lifted.
Crackle!
Blue lightning erupted beneath his feet.
[Thunder Dominion], full power.
[Divine Mammoth Might], unleashed.
Boom!
The concrete beneath him shattered, leaving a crater ten meters wide.
Using the recoil, Joren shot forward as a streak of violet light, skimming just above the ground too fast for the eye to follow.
A thousand meters vanished in a blink.
The Demonface Spider clinging to the outer wall saw him coming through all eight eyes.
Thunder rolled behind it.
Too fast.
There was no escape.
Then it would fight.
The spider twisted around, its abdomen contracting violently.
Puff!
A vast white web burst outward and spread across dozens of meters.
The strands were strong enough to restrain heavy armor and coated in venomous slime. Even a Voidbeast of the same rank would become helpless once caught.
Joren never slowed.
With a thought, the invisible Blade Intent of [Primordial Bladebody] spread over his entire body.
At that moment, he was not merely carrying a blade.
He was one.
Rip!
The toxic web could have trapped a heavy tank, yet it tore apart the instant it touched him, no tougher than wet paper.
"Hah!"
[Heaven’s Sin] swept through the air and drew a black crescent beneath the moon.
The heavy blade possessed no sharpened edge, yet in Joren’s hands, its cutting power surpassed that of a laser.
Clang!
The Demonface Spider raised both forelegs to block.
Its limbs and its hideous head flew away together.
Green blood burst across the sky like a grotesque firework.
The headless body lost its grip and fell from the fortieth floor.
Boom!
It struck the street below and sent dust rolling through the ruins.
Two Rank Four Voidbeasts.
From the moment Joren moved to the moment both were dead, less than ten seconds had passed.
The system notifications arrived at once.
[Ding! Middle stage Rank Four Voidbeast Ironspike Dragon killed. Bloodstars obtained: 1000.]
[Ding! Middle stage Rank Four Voidbeast Demonface Spider killed. Bloodstars obtained: 1000.]
[Ironspike Dragon]
[Available Talent: Spiked Stonehide, Blue]
[Cost: 1000 Bloodstars]
[Demonface Spider]
[Available Talent: Marionette Threads, Blue]
[Cost: 1000 Bloodstars]
Blue Talents.
Joren rubbed his chin.
At his current level, blue Talents were becoming awkward.
Too weak to excite him.
Too useful to throw away.
He glanced at his balance, already above forty thousand Bloodstars.
Neither Talent offered much raw power, but both had unusual functions.
And he was hardly short on points.
"Buy them."
Two thousand Bloodstars vanished.
Spending freely really was addictive.
[Ding! Plunder successful.]
[Blue Talent acquired: Spiked Stonehide]
[Description: You are a child of the earth, and your skin is the strongest stone. Your outer flesh can petrify instantly, producing countless sharp spikes across your body. Anyone who attacks you will learn that the pain they deal can return to them.]
[Effect: Physical defense increased by 200 percent. When struck by a close range physical attack, reflect 30 percent of the damage back to the attacker. Reflected damage has a chance to inflict Bleeding.]
[Blue Talent acquired: Marionette Threads]
[Description: You are no spider hero. You are a puppeteer lurking in the dark. Nearly invisible energy threads can be fired from your fingertips, each tougher than steel wire. The living are your prey. The dead are your toys.]
[Effect: Release energy threads carrying powerful paralytic toxins. Targets bound by the threads suffer a 50 percent reduction in neural response speed. If the threads pierce the brain stem of a recently deceased corpse, the body can be converted into a temporary corpse puppet. The puppet retains 70 percent of its former combat strength and lasts for ten minutes.]
Joren raised an eyebrow.
Interesting.
The raw numbers were not overwhelming, but the effects were vicious.
One punished anyone who attacked him at close range.
The other let him control corpses.
[Ding!]
[The number of blue Talents previously possessed by the host has reached the required threshold.]
[Talent Fusion System activated.]