I jumped off the freshly killed creature, my target already chosen.
I didn't warp, I needed to save it a little.
I merely ran over the rough terrain, the slumbering creature raising its form, it seemed, it had sensed something amiss.
It wouldn't save it.
Two cores started glowing, the creature was preparing to attack.
I couldn't see it, nor did I need to.
Now in close range, warp didn't require soul essence.
I willed myself to appear in the sky once again, dodging the attack.
I heard rocks shatter, then melt. A heat attack.
I ignored it.
Blood sense expanded once again, refreshing the image in my mind.
Finally, gravity forced me downwards. My momentum building with it.
I saw the cores start glowing again, and just as they peaked in color.
I warped behind the flames, right into the creature's midsection.
My momentum did the rest, the [Vamparic dagger] cleaving through the flesh and bones of the Dormant Demon.
The soul shards were crushed right as they changed from the soul cores. My gaze was unwavering.
Yet the pity, the sadness in my chest grew.
Why did I have to kill to grow? My own kind no less.
But that was life. And I definitely couldn't get a job that paid well enough.
Steal. My treacherous mind whispered to me. The same one who was still stuck in the outskirts. The one who wanted to use such great power not for good, but for evil. To push down the weaklings. As if I wasn't one of them before.
I shook my head, barely dodging something.
My gaze locked onto four cores, my lifeless eyes narrowing.
The cores also glowed strongly, perhaps even a Fallen Devil.
The dagger vanished, twilight bow manifesting in my single hand.
Three arrows appeared. But I didn't warp them away like always.
Instead, I suspended them mid-air, the enchantment unable to activate without movement.
The bow vanished, and the dagger appeared.
Just in time to activate blood sense once again.
And I got the view of the creature.
It was a strange one; it had a long, coiled tail with an enlarged tip.
Two ginormous pincers in front of it. And the overall body was long and pressed to the ground.
I warped one of the arrows through the tail, pinning it into the ground.
A horrifying screech rang out, but I shut the creature up with an arrow into the mouth.
It trashed violently, all four cores glowing far brighter than anything I've seen, other than the white flames of course.
Something shot towards me, and I barely managed to warp away from it.
Blood sense scanned the area once again. And it had been... water? No, ice. A thin line of ice, that punctured a hole through several boulders behind me.
My gaze narrowed, trying to figure out where the creature shot it out from.
The creature's muscles audibly tightened, armor and muscle coiling on itself.
Then I heard it, the arrows shattered like glass. The creature let out a shriek of what seemed to be triumph.
I scoffed, warping right onto its back.
The dagger descended like a thunderbolt, already augmented.
The next moment, the near-transcendent memory drilled through the armor.
First a crack, then the armor fully shattered, not unlike my own arrows a moment ago.
There was a screech, and I warped away to avoid the tail.
The cores glowed once more, a line of ice shooting right past my head.
My eyes narrowed further, the tail now my goal.
The creature rushed forward, its large body slightly dragging across the rough ground.
One of the pincers shot out, trying to snap around me.
I warped again, further this time.
And just as the cores started glowing once more.
I warped my last arrow into the base of the tail.
The next moment, a small explosion rang out. The spell informing me of the kill.
I shuddered, my fingers slightly numbing.
Everything had gone cold.
Blood sense showed me the reason.
Everything within a ten or so meters radius was covered in ice. And the creature's corpse in the middle, a frozen statue.
I breathed for several moments, giving myself a short but needed break.
Then I rushed off once again, a target already selected.
My mind wandered once again, thinking of the past.
I wondered how Fenrir, and the rest of the family were doing. I hoped they didn't get stupid without me there.
That horrid place was filled with abominations.
Anyone could wander into a seemingly peaceful place, and get their souls crushed.
Such was the nature of the stronger creatures there.
Over the decades, the stronger ones grew something of a mind.
Not fully sentient, but more instinctual, tactical in its nature.
It was a terrifying thing. And once learned, the grounds were abandoned for good.
I dodged a claw, punching through the creature with my augmented body with ease.
And just as I stepped away, ready to rush to another creature. I felt it.
Blood sense expanded once again, this time at its maximum range.
And what I saw terrified even me.
From the very tips of the hollow mountains, a slow, almost physical mist descended.
My gaze narrowed, my body already warping through the mountains.
Travel wasn't a problem anymore, without needing soul essence for short ranges. I could warp hundreds of times before my own body grew exhausted.
And that's exactly what I did.
I warped directly in front of a creature, cleaving it in half.
I barely got the time to grab the soul shards, warping away once more.
I was warping downhill, to have as much time as possible.
My body appeared on a creature, which was also running. Clearly knowing the danger.
It also seemed not to notice me. Or it was too scared to care at the moment.
I stayed on the creature's back, blood sense extending every few seconds.
Just as the mist was approaching, I shot a hand through the creature. Completely obliterating half of its weak torso.
The soul shards were collected, and I warped away.
This time, I didn't warp for a short range.
Instead, I focused my soul essence, warping me to the bottom of the mountain instantaneously.
My blood sense expanded every second, I needed to know the limit of the mist.
It would significantly ease my hunting later on.
Just as the mist approached the normal ground, it stopped.
I let out a sigh of relief, walking towards a Boulder.
I needed a break, my whole body was aching from the constant movement.
I thanked whoever was listening that I had augmentation, or my body would probably already be long gone.
***
"You are to return at once. The time has come to face Song."
Her father, the king of swords. A Sovereign. Anvil commanded.
I nodded. It seems, the time for relaxation had come to an end. And the time for business had arrived.
"I shall be home by tomorrow."
There was only a grunt of acknowledgement, before the line went dead.
I let out a sigh, but got up nonetheless.
I needed to inform my squad of the mission's temporary pause.
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