Path to Transcendence-Chapter 535: Dangerous

The increase in power he felt coming from the chimera wasn’t the main thing that disturbed him. No, it was the transformation the creature was currently undergoing.

A sphere of crimson red light appeared around the chimera. Julius immediately sent several ruinflame-powered spikes at this barrier. However, to his astonishment, it was much stronger than the one he had broken through just moments ago.

This one unraveled his technique, and before it could impact the shield. It felt like it was actually using its Authority properly and tearing through his own constructs. It was like the monster was changing before his very eyes, evolving into something different.

Something dangerous.

He needed to stop it before it could complete its transformation. He was sure of that.

So he dashed forward, his limbs already regenerated during the short period. He loaded up his kinetic energy and gathered more destructive flames. Once he got close to the barrier, he used [Void Step]. If he couldn’t break the barrier, then he could just bypass it.

Or rather, that was what he had been planning on. Instead, he found himself inside the chaotic void, and the spatial energies were already trying to tear his body apart. Unlike usual, he wasn’t able to locate the spot he wanted to teleport to, and before he could try to cancel the skill, he felt his body get squeezed by the collapsing space.

He was spat out of the void and groaned in pain. His body, which had received the backlash of the interrupted skill, was more of a mess than before. His limbs, which had already been destroyed twice, were a mess once again—only this time around they looked like someone had wrung them like an old dishrag.

It wasn’t just his limbs either. It was his body as well. He was barely able to protect his heart and brain, but the rest of his chest was a broken disaster.

He lost control of his wings, and they faded as he plummeted from the sky. His healing skill and Drasil were going into overdrive, trying to heal him.

However, void damage was always a bit of a pain in the ass. The same aspect that he enjoyed using with [Void Strike] was now preventing him from healing as quickly as usual. He supercharged his Phoenix Concept and his Emblem to make up for this.

The strain on his soul was intense, but he needed to heal before the chimera finished whatever transformation it was undergoing.

He choked out one last groan, and to his relief, he felt the impedance from the void damage finally get overwhelmed. His body started to heal, and he took a deep breath when his lungs were regenerated.

As he healed the rest of his body, he looked at the chimera hiding in its little cocoon.

He was still befuddled as to why he was unable to teleport through the barrier. From what he could tell, there hadn’t been any anti-spatial aspects to it. However, even if there were, it wouldn’t have mattered. His skill was meant to go through enchantments or similar techniques.

The only thing he could compare it to was the feeling he got when he had tried to teleport a spike into a living creature. Not too long ago, he had thought about teleporting an explosion-rigged construct into his opponent’s head—a nasty idea with great potential.

However, there was an unbreakable barrier that prevented him from doing that. Freya mentioned that there was some natural defense in one’s soul that protected against such techniques.

Of course, if one were powerful enough to ignore these defenses, then it didn’t matter. But since Julius was already a tier lower than the chimera, it clearly didn’t apply to him.

He started to believe that this cocoon was an extension of the chimera’s soul.

He didn’t give up, though; he kept on sending more attacks against the barrier. He wanted to see if he could disrupt it somewhat. Unfortunately, it became apparent that his efforts were in vain, so he stopped his attacks and instead focused on building another salvo of spikes to throw at the creature.

He would wait until whatever it was doing finished, then throw everything he had at it.

Thankfully, that time came soon, and when the cocoon shattered into small shards of red light, he sent all of the spikes he created at the creature.

The chimera didn’t have any time to react. The ruinous enhanced spikes immediately bombarded it. Consecutive explosions rang out in the surrounding area as each of his spikes slammed into the chimera.

However, Julius felt something was off. His instincts were screaming at him, and he saw the reason why.

The chimera, whom the constructs had heavily injured before, was standing there looking no worse for wear. There were no gaping holes or wounds on its body.

Not only that, but the creature’s transformation had been much more dramatic than he expected; instead of getting larger, as he thought. The chimera had shrunk a lot. Instead of being the size of a bus, it was now the size of a large truck and much sleeker.

Its previously black scales now had an ominous crimson glow to them, and the spikes running down its spine now covered most of its body.

However, what was more concerning was the amount of heat he felt in the chimera’s body. It wasn’t just the heat, either; it was the source of heat. It was the same heat that came from his ruinous flames.

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This little shit had somehow absorbed his ruinous flames. He knew this because he saw small flickers of the ruinous flames being distributed along the spikes on the chimera’s body. Of course, they were nothing but a weak imitation, but it was still annoying to see.

He was about to say something in protest, but he was forced to blast himself to the side to avoid the piercing beam heading straight for his face. The stinging heat from his ruinous flames burned his cheeks.

However, he wasn’t to focus on that particular aspect because the chimera had moved with a speed he hadn’t seen so far. It disappeared, and he was barely able to sense an incoming object coming right behind him.

He used a barrier to deflect it, but the chimera shattered right through it, as if it were made of glass. Julius was forced to use [Void Step] to avoid the charging monster. Even then, he was almost too slow and got clipped by one of its claws.

Beforehand, the chimera had been a large and slow target. However, that appeared to have changed, and Julius didn’t like that— not one bit.

He remade his wings and flew up high into the sky. This seemed to draw the chimera’s attention. It looked up at his position and snarled.

He didn’t know if he was seeing things, but he could have sworn that the monster had more intelligence in its eyes than before.

Julius stared right back at the monster and started to gather more fire mana into his crown. However, he was forced to fly backward as another concentrated blast of red energy flew at his face.

He was thinking about how lucky he was that the beast couldn’t fly when he was forced to create several barriers in front of his face. Out of nowhere, the chimera’s jaw was closing around his face.

Apparently, the chimera could still reach him all the way up in the sky. It was using some kind of skill around its six legs to propel itself through the air.

His barriers broke just as easily as they had seconds prior, and he shoved his arm upward, using it to block the monster. Unfortunately, all this was to give the chimera a free meal. His arm was removed with one single bite and disappeared into the chimera’s stomach. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Julius kicked away, using as much kinetic energy as he could.

To his curiosity, this seemed actually to hurt the beast more than his spikes had done. He felt his kinetic energy penetrate where his spikes hadn’t.

He continuously blasted himself backward, avoiding the follow-up claws. While he did that, he desperately tried to figure out what had changed. He clearly needed to make some adjustments. The evolution this beast had undergone was definitely more dangerous, but it was clear there were still some weaknesses he could target.

The only downside was that it appeared his kinetic energy was the way to go. That meant he had to get close to the beast that was suddenly as fast as hell.

He felt the familiar waves of fear, excitement, and adrenaline rush through his veins. Everything faded into the background as he concentrated all of his energy on enhancing his body.

If this monster thought it had him just because it changed a little bit, then it was in for a rude awakening. Julius’s whole skill set revolved around being versatile. If you took away his constructs, he would just beat his opponents with his fists.

He sensed the chimera already closing in, moving so fast that it was practically teleportation. As a matter of fact, he would much rather deal with a teleporting foe. At least their movements were more predictable.

He dropped to the ground, a place where he felt like he could maneuver better. He stepped to the side when the sharp claws of the chimera tore at his face, barely avoiding them. He siphoned as much kinetic energy from its movements as he could, doing his best to slow it down and gain more energy to use.

He avoided another three swipes, and when he felt an opening, he made his move. He took all of that gathered kinetic energy and slammed his leg into the beast’s chest. He used as much of his Force Concept as he could, trying to penetrate its defenses. He also used his ruinous aura.

While it was able to absorb his flames, it wasn’t able to absorb his aura. The creature roared and spat blood, showing that the attack had damaged it. A wave of regenerative magic washed out from the chimera, but Julius didn’t let this stop him.

He stayed close, not letting the chimera use its superior size to dictate the battle. He also decided to create a staff. If he was going to beat this thing up, he was going to need something bigger than his fists.

The staff was strong, unlike his spikes, which were meant to withstand continuous damage.

While it was clear he was slower than the chimera, the beast's fighting style was simplistic and lacked skill. It relied purely on speed and sheer strength.

Still, it was a hard battle. He would avoid the relentless assault, only taking a few glancing blows in return for slamming his staff into anything he could reach. The chimera was getting increasingly angry.

The staff was already breaking down, but Julius made sure he kept it together. Constantly reinforcing it with more mana and aura as the fight went on.

He was ahead so far, but the real problem was the tiny mistake he inevitably made. They were so small that during a normal fight, nobody would be able to punish him for it. But against a creature this powerful, each mistake was amplified, and soon enough, he found himself mistepping by a couple of inches when his pivot foot slipped out of place.

This caused him to be right in the way of the monster’s tail, which clobbered him. He could feel his entire chest get crumpled like a tin can and found himself flying across the field. He used his kinetic energy to help slow himself down, but when he slammed into a rock, he still shattered his spine.

He didn’t even get time to groan in pain. Before he could stagger to his feet, the chimera was already on top of him. It snarled in his face as it tried to tear him apart. It was pretty apparent that the earlier damage he inflicted hadn’t been forgiven.

The chimera was holding quite a firm grudge and was doing its best to rip Julius into a dozen pieces. He would have teleported away, but the constantly brutal assault didn’t give him the chance. He didn’t have the skill channeled, and the onslaught was so overwhelming that he didn’t have the capacity to weave the complicated skill together.

His sole focus was on staying alive. He didn’t even care about staying in one piece, either. He was forced to sacrifice an arm and a leg just to gain some distance. He didn’t even bother to heal his limbs.

At this point, they were just wasting his mana. Instead, he created artificial limbs out of mana for the time being. They were basically what he made for his armor, anyway.

He kept on struggling to stay alive, though. Now that the momentum was on the chimera’s side, he was in real trouble. He tried everything he knew. However, it was so strong and fast that it barely mattered.

It was like he was facing a stupider and weaker version of Cain. There was nothing he could do but retreat and keep himself alive.

He was about to start taking drastic measures when he felt someone appear out of nowhere. They slammed into the chimera; the force of their blows was so intense that the beast was blasted ten feet into the dirt.

This finally gave Julius a second to breathe and heal.

He looked over at Isaac and gave the other boy a grateful nod. Isaac didn’t even bother looking at Julius. For the first time, Julius saw that Isaac wasn't laughing and had a somber look on his face.