Being in the middle of this particular battle was an odd experience to say the least. Both sides boasted some ridiculously powerful Awakened but everybody was simultaneously fighting at their best but also with extreme caution, avoiding attacks that would cause large scale damage.

Even a single stray arrow or miscalculated destructive skill could spell the end of them all in an instant.

Initially, the Alliance had succeeded somewhat in forcing the cultists to separate from the ritual, but counters had quickly been devised and the work to drain the Life Harvesters into the tethered sphere of glowing and humming metal soon continued.

At this point there were fewer than twenty Life Harvesters left to be drained. It was all happening too fast, and something needed to be done.

Eik darted in between allies and enemies alike as massive, forty meter long blades of blue crystal crashed into the ground around him, Apocalypse Canvas raining destruction down upon the cult barriers while carefully avoiding the central area. Streaks of precisely directed Profound Toxin sliced through the air, mercilessly targeting any open wounds on the cultists.

In fights against similarly leveled enemies Eik had gotten used to fighting solo but now, able to dash around unmolested as allies handled the brunt of the cult's attacks, he was able to realize once more where his strengths lay.

If he was allowed to focus entirely on offense like this, there really was nobody deadlier than him.

Abruptly, he activated Movement Boost at full power and dove toward the center where the ritual was taking place. To obscure his passage, blue mist spread in his wake and in one smooth motion, he sliced the throat of one of the cultists maintaining the drain. Blood gushed out messily but was virtually forced back inside as a reverse flow of poison pushed its way inside, the cultist collapsing to her knees as she clawed at the wound.

The second cultist working on that specific Life Harvester didn't even have time to look up and register that something was happening before he received the same treatment as his partner, both of them mere A-rankers immediately losing their heads as Eik Accelerated disks of solid toxin in their necks. The transfer of energy from the Life Harvesters lessened and then stopped completely.

A sudden feeling of danger made his body move at once but a sharp pain erupted along his triceps as a large chunk of flesh was sliced off. He groaned and disappeared into the blue mist as his body liquefied. Rematerializing at a different pair of drainers, he killed the first cultist quickly again, but the person who had just cut him before had predicted his move and was already there to meet him, forcing Eik to deflect a heavy overhead swing from a sword.

To make matters worse, the second drainer of the pair was also an S-ranker and rapidly weaved from quiet spell casting into smooth manipulation of water she pulled out of the atmosphere. Injured and suddenly against two S-rankers, surrounded by cultists, Eik didn't feel quite as sure of himself as he had.

With an exertion of his will, he released the Monarch without holding back, Tyrant's Pressure freezing all cultists for a precious second, allowing Eik to slash open the S-ranked ritualist's abdomen. He couldn't Accelerate large quantities at a time for fear of inadvertently damaging one of the nearby Life Harvesters, and was carefully directing his aura to only affect the cultists as well.

Both S-rankers recovered and went at him together, both of their abilities excellent for single target attacks, forcing him on the back foot.

Lightning-quick stabs of the sword were deflected by shells but even a single miscalculated strike would pierce right through and reach his body. And the ritualist was capable of shooting jets of pressurized water at such force that it was no different than a blade.

Blue mist continuously seeped into her stomach wound, preventing it from healing and weakening her gradually, but it was just wasn't fast enough and when a figure rushed in from the side and slammed a fist into his ribs with a sound like a boulder thrown into a lake from a cliff.

Eik gasped and coughed up blood, leaping away with desperation. A horde of Profound Toxic beasts descended from above and swarmed the swordsman while the boosted dragon hammered into the water manipulator, parts of its body hardened to tough crystal.

The impact stunned her momentarily but rather than trying to get more damage in on her, Eik decided to retreat completely now that a third cultist S-ranker—the fist fighter—had joined. Eik dodged one punch and met the next with his boot, letting the power of it send him flying back toward his allies.

For good measure, he took a head on the way but otherwise ran without stopping while releasing toxin and Accelerating anywhere it wouldn't injure his allies.

Although they had lost a chunk of their large army, not all of the Alliance warriors could participate equally in the fight, the volatile center of the battle making large numbers too risky. Instead fighter were substituted frequently in an attempt to reduce losses. Unfortunately, the core of S-ranked cultists made it extremely difficult to finish it without large scale destructive skills.

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Eik landed next to grandpa Gul, Panacean Quintessence already doing its thing on his severed triceps muscle, his ribs, and a score of smaller injuries already nearly healed by his natural regeneration.

"How's it looking in there, boy?" the old man asked, his summons harassing cultists from all directions, Gul himself sniping stragglers whenever he could.

"Not great at all," Eik said, scouting his next path of ingress. "We're running out of time."

"I can see that," the old man said. "A new pair of ritualists just stepped in to take over where you killed two just now. Do you see all of that glowing script below the metal ball?"

"Yeah."

"That's definitely a ritual, and a spent one at that. The ritual's already resolved, so all they need is to supply the energy to activate it." The old man ground his teeth audibly.

"But I destroyed their materials two years ago. Did they collect it again this fast, or did they hide this from the Oracle as well?"

"However they did it, it's bad, Eik."

Eik craned his neck to see. "Fuck… What the hell can we do? We can't just bombard them in there. We'll eradicate all of us as well. Is this one of those we have to die for the greater good kind of shitty situations?"

Gul shot him an arched brow. "Of course not. We have no idea how that floating metal sphere works. For all we know damage could be what brings the ritual into the next phase."

"Oh yeah, right, right! That makes sense. Self sacrifice is a no-go. Good."

"Where's Andi?"

Gul threw his head over his shoulder where a small group was gathered around someone on the ground. "Down. Not dead, though, so don't start—"

Eik was already by Andihar's side before the old man had finished speaking, startling the warriors standing around him.

"Andi," he breathed. The elf was absolutely covered in blood and it was still pouring from his wounds. His breathing was ragged, a huge crater in his armor a testament to the kind of damage he had suffered. Lying in a deep crater, a long groove in the sand showed how his body must have come to a sliding stop. He didn't appear to be conscious. "Why isn't he being healed?" Eik asked the gathered Awakened.

"Eik Magnasen! I'm trying, but we don't have an S-ranked healer available right now and Andihar Dayarunar is an S-ranker boasting a formidable physique," explained an A-ranked healer as his fingers weaved an invisible substance through the elf's would. "As A-rankers we just don't have the kind of power needed to get him back on his feet any faster than this."

"Scoot over then," he said and hipped the guy away. Concentrated Panacean Quintessence flowed from his hands and into the patriarch's grievous wound along with green mist through his nostrils to numb the pain when he woke up again.

Eik dumped healing potion after healing potion into the wound as the flesh, skin, and bone began to knit itself back together. Pretty quickly, Andihar's breathing became steadier and less labored which Eik took as a good sign.

"Not bad, boss," one of the others said—probably one of the guys from the rescue mission. Only they called him boss so cheekily.

"I concur," said the same healer whose task Eik had taken over. "The potency of your healing is astonishing. If I didn't know better, I would think you were specialized."

"Nah," Eik said. "It's just something I picked up. Lots of people are better than me."

He glanced up to see a row of doubters but didn't say anything to it.

"Are we… winning?" one of them finally asked. Everybody was constantly throwing anxious peeks at the metal ball. All of them possessed the mentality to be on the battlefield but this time there was more than just their own lives at stake. This was for everybody at home as well. For their loved ones.

"Winning might be too generous of a word," Eik said, hoping they wouldn't notice his own trembling hands.

"So it's—…"

"not going so hot, no," Eik finished.

"What are we going to do?"

Eik's chewed on the question before answering, the Panacean Quintessence flowing continuously throughout. "We might have to take a risk or two, I think," he said cryptically. As he spoke the familiar buzz of incoming status messages made itself known. "Just let the green stuff hang out in Andi and I reckon he'll be fine." He stood up and made his way back to Gul.

He checked his notifications. The earlier fight against the two S-rankers had given him a good chunk of experience and now more came rolling in.

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 185]

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 186]

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 187]

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 188]

[Acquired Movement Boost — Lv. 189]

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 148]

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 149]

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 15…]

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 153]

[Acquired Apocalypse Canvas — Lv. 154]

[Skill evolution available. Skill available for evolution: Apocalypse Canvas]

[Choose one]

[Apocalypse Canvas — Diverse Palette]

Again with this once choice crap… But what could he do about it? If Diverse Palette allowed him to deploy other colors than the standard blue in Apocalypse Canvas, it would be incredibly useful, so he couldn't even complay. Even if he wanted to.

Without hesitation, he accepted and quickly moved on.

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 262]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 263]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 264]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 265]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 212]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 213]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 214]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 215]

And the final skill…

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 304]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 305]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 306]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 307]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 308]

"How is he?" Gul asked.

"In bad shape, but he'll live."

"Good. What are you doing?"

Eik took a deep breath and brought up a message he had gotten earlier, when Profound Toxin had hit lvl 300. "Whatever I can."

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 300]

[Skill evolution available. Skill available for evolution: Profound Toxin]

[Choose one]

[Profound Toxin — Death Star]

[Profound Toxin — Extinction Zone]

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