Eik cried in agony as he charged in. It felt as if it was his chest that had been pierced.

  He called for Andihar as he exchanged blows with the monster. Again and again he called out but no answer came. Andihar’s eyes had grown dim and lifeless.

  Several times Eik tried to get Panacean Quintessence into him but the hated enemy simple dispersed it with those damned energy blasts.

  Gul’s shadow soldiers emerged from the dome and manifested in the air around them in enormous numbers, but they simply weren’t powerful enough to have a meaningful impact on the fight. Gul’s own magical attacks also shot out from inside the dome but were batted away easily.

  Rather than leaving them trapped within the crystal barrier while he fought, Eik collapsed the dome. The group inside immediately moved back as Gul kept up his assault at range, the rest of the members not even bothering with the attempt against such a powerful opponent. Their attention was better served watching their surroundings for other threats.

  Infuriatingly, the monster smirked and held out Andihar’s body still hanging pierced by its arm. It’s speech came in a gurgle. “He is… dead.” A tone of glee was evident in its voice.

  “Like hell he is!” Eik shouted and charged in again. An S-ranker like Andihar might not be able to survive such a terrible injury forever, but he should be able to last at least a little while longer even if his heart had been damaged. The Ak’ki in his body would keep him alive. But it wouldn’t last long.

  “But… soon.” This fucker was enjoying playing with him. If it wasn’t already speaking, that showed a certain intelligence and control over its own instincts that monsters didn’t typically show. Did it have something to do with the appearance of the Lord of the Moon?

  “Fuck you!” Eik snarled and reengaged. Despite its enjoyment, the monster was taking the fight seriously now as it felt the Profound Toxin really sapping its strength, and its gradual power growth probably wouldn’t continue endlessly. The weakening effect of Eik’s poison, however, would. Right until it died.

  It seemed to be keeping the impaled Andihar close just so it could thwart Eik’s attempts to inject Panacean Quintessence. Whether that was to affect his mentality in combat or in order to satisfy some sick sadistic nature, Eik couldn’t be sure.

  A particularly quick attack took him in the stomach before he could react, taking his breath away. It fucking hurt, but Eik had been waiting for something like this. With a body now made of Profound Toxin under the effects of True Toxic Harmony, he crystallized his entire torso and then added more and more on top, keeping the abomination stuck.

  It wouldn’t last longer than the blink of an eye, but that was all Eik needed.

  In an instant, he cut off its other arm that held his dying friend. Andihar tumbled to the ground in a limp heap as the monster snarled with anger and ripped its arm free. Eik gasped and tried to leap away but another attack sliced into his eyes and down his chest before he could get away. Shouldn’t a body made of toxin be incapable of feeling pain?

  Injuries like this wouldn’t kill him like they would a person made of flesh and blood, but he could tell how much they drained his energy. And regardless of what he was made of, he would need energy to survive.

  He felt it stir above in the same moment that it dove and a moment later, the Living Manifestation Raised to the Occasion slammed into the monster and, rather than doing a simple fly-by, entered the wound in the severed arm that had only just begun to heal.

  In that same instant, Eik conjured a large orb of crystal in front of the bastard and sent a mental command to Accelerant before it had even finished forming properly. As the beast was sent flying, Eik took the opportunity to dive to Andihar’s side.

  The man wasn’t breathing and his skin was growing pale at an alarming rate. Panacean Quintessence flowed through the wound and began the healing process but an S-ranker’s body was too powerful to be healed quickly by Eik’s ability. And Andihar’s injuries were even worse than Eik had initially thought. He might well die before he could be saved by that alone. Something had to be done.

  “No, no, no, no,” Eik mumbled under his breath as his brain frantically turned over every stone of his mind to figure out a solution. And that was when it struck him.

  There was something he still hadn’t had a chance to test out. And what could be a better time to test out something unknown than when there were no other options left?

  Closing his eyes, he reached into himself for that new power, knowing full well that the terrifying monster would be upon him again at any moment. From the beginning it had felt like it wasn’t exactly something for himself. It could almost be said that it yearned to leave him, as strange as that sounded.

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  He laid his hand on Andihar’s chest—one of his dearest friends. No, they were family, not by blood but by trust and love.

  He spoke the words as if to bring it into reality.

  “Toxic Initiation.”

  And just as it had seemed to have wanted, the presence of the skill left him entirely. The sensation as it flowed through his body, into his hand, and then into Andihar felt strange but right. There was no doubt that this was exactly how it was supposed to be used.

  Blue jetted across Andihar’s skin, originating from Eik’s palm. More and more appeared, sinking into the elf’s body in much the same way as when toxin returned to Eik’s own body. Andihar began to glow a bright azure, the light focusing on the gaping wound in his chest and Eik felt the man undergo some kind of change.

  But that was all he got to see before a massive blow struck him in the ribs. Hooked into the earth with a rod of crystal as he was, Eik simply spun on its axis and returned the favor with a heavy kick in the monster’s face.

  In the same movement, Eik hauled Andihar off the ground as the Profound Toxin did its thing on him and yoinked him bodily toward Grandpa Gul who had one of his shadow soldiers catch the elf. “Take care of him!” Eik shouted. “I think whatever’s happening to him can save his life!”

  Gul nodded gravely as Eik turned and received a powerful thrust from the monster’s sword hand. Profound Toxin must have really taken hold because he managed to deflect it along the edge of a blade of his own. Exploding in blue mist, Eik pushed the range far enough to envelop his friends who hurried to enter deeper with the hope that it might force the beast further away and deter an attack on them.

  As the monster backpedalled out of the deadly cloud, a virtual tidal wave of poison followed. Hundreds of bands of toxin zipped through the air. Now that the bastard’s movements had become at least a little bit more manageable, Eik could finally split his attention between more than a handful of moving parts at once.

  Retreat must have been an instinctual difficulty for the thing because the moment Eik’s left the blue cloud, it doubled back and rocketed toward him with reckless abandon. Four bands of flying toxin struck it in the back as Eik blocked the monster’s blow. Like arrowheads, small blades of crystal led them and opened wounds in its skin through which more could flow in.

  The topography of the battlefield had been fundamentally altered by the fight. Each of the countless attacks thrown out by both Eik and the monster scored massive craters in both soil and rock. Any trees that had stood before had been obliterated down to the deepest roots and all snow had been blown away cleanly, even the torrential snow storm unable to cover the earth again before another strike would clear it again.

  With Profound Toxin having balanced their levels, Eik thought they were more or less home safe but as he slashed the beast across the chest, two streaks of toxin piercing through its back, it suddenly howled and released a massive pulse of energy that threw Eik hundreds of meters back.

  At once, its already overwhelming aura rocketed straight past all previous limits.

  ***

  Everything hurt.

  Everything hurt so terribly that it could barely be tolerated.

  Andihar had been through a lot in his life, not to mention his career. He had experienced much pain, both emotional and physical. It was never fun. But this was something else.

  This was the feeling of death approaching to claim him. Horrid.

  But just as that sensation of a life ending had dominated his mind entirely, something else floated into his consciousness. Something friendly. Something warm. It was familiar.

  It permeated him completely, in mind and body alike, bringing along a cool, soothing effect. People did say that the last moments before death were peaceful and even comfortable. Was this it then?

  How much time passed exactly, he couldn’t say for certain but when his eyes shot open, he was looking up into the worried face of that new cartographer. Sireal, was it? “Mr. Dayarunar!” the man exclaimed as he realized that Andihar had woken up. “Mr. Dayarunar, can you hear me? Hey, everyone, I think Mr. Dayarunar has come back to us! Thank goodness!”

  Gul was there in a moment, his hands still releasing dark bolts of energy toward an enemy Andihar knew, even if he couldn’t see it right now. “Hey, there,” he said with a glance down at his old comrade. “How are you feeling?”

  “What… What in the world…?”

  “I’m not sure what happened, but Eik did something to you that I haven’t seen him do before.”

  “Panacean… uuh?”

  “No, well, yes, that, too, but not just that. There was something else.”

  Now that he was awake and talking, albeit knocked into a stupor, he was feeling something trying to grab his attention. Like Eik, he had long since simply let any messages about his status etch themselves into the skin of his forearm. He checked it.

  [Acquired Vigilance — Lv…]

  Even though he had managed to do little against the monster except buy time by getting hurt, he had been awarded with a surprisingly generous number of levels. Unfortunately, if anything, that just proved how powerful this being truly was.

  Manifestation of monsters like this had happened during the Expulsion before, but what was concerning was how early it had happened. Because if this was what appeared now, then something worse would undoubtedly appear later when the concentration of Ak’ki grew even denser. Whether it was because it had been triggered prematurely or because of the ritual to awaken a Worldbreaker had influenced it, the Expulsion was more intense than any he had experienced before,

  He even gained a grade to his rank.

  [Reached S-rank — XII]

  Even considering the situation, that felt amazing. With a life that mainly consisted of managing the Dayarunar business, it had been a long time since he had seen a grade up.

  When that faded, an incomprehensible message wrote itself out on his skin.

  [Initiated into the court of the Monarch of Toxin — Accept?]

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