Anxious, but excited at the sa ti, Corin led his most powerful n towards the nest. He was worried that the S-Ranker—Moon—had bitten off more than he could chew due to his recent rise to fa.
Naturally, Corin had learnt about Moon's background like everyone else, and he was worried that Moon had falling into arrogance.
Everybody knew that clearing beast nests wasn't simple, and often tis too difficult even for an entire team of elite awakeners. There was a reason why they were unable to do it themselves after all. So, when the two hour deadline hit, Corin was at the nest site.
All sorts of doubts instantly vanished from Corin's mind upon inspecting the scene before him. "This…"
The nest's parater was littered with corpses, with random beasts scavenging the remains of the Black Ants, trying to devour them—to grow stronger.
"Kill the leeching beasts, don't leave a single one remaining! This is our loot, we paid for this!" Corin imdiately cried out, charging towards the nearest beast that was suddenly alerted by his war cry.
The battle that unfolded was a one sided slaughter that claid the lives of most scavenging beasts, whilst leaving the very few that had high mobility off with a few injuries.
They hurriedly stored the corpses outside in their storage rings, before entering inside the multiple holes. Although it appeared that everything was good at first glance, the team were still treading carefully inside the nest's inner system.
They all knew that the inner nests were much more dangerous due to their layout, lack of space for mobility and overwhelming presence of the stronger, older Black Ants.
Their worries appeared unfounded as they found the sa scene inside, as they did outside. Every ant was slaughtered, their muscles and at cooked from the inside out.
"I didn't expect S-Rankers to be this much stronger than A-Rankers…he could kill so many A-Rank ants alone." Corin muttered to himself in disbelief.
He was very well aware that Moon had only left them the scraps, taking two thirds or possibly more—they could never verify, nor do anything about that though.
"What a monster…"
Unknown to everyone present, Moon didn't kill these beasts with fire, rather with his re hands. But before leaving, Moon had used his fire elent on the beast corpses he left, keeping his monstrous physical strength hidden from their eyes.
♢♢♢♢
"Only a few hours left before we arrive at the Crimson Wasteland," Moon sighed as he sat atop the galloping Mirage, wind blowing his hair, watching the landscape features pass by him.
The First Sanctuary was really spacious and many places remained undiscovered to this day—traveling without orbital transportation was exhausting and ti-consuming which made Moon feel extra grateful that Mirage had evolved and grown significantly stronger over the past weeks from their encounters.
Without his companion's high stamina and fast legs, reaching all the destinations Moon had mapped out for his advancent would have taken nearly a year, even with access to the fastest comrcially available tad beasts like the ones Kael had been riding when they'd first t during the Dugbug incident.
Still, Moon tried not to complain about the inconvenience. A few years ago, he'd read historical accounts about ancient civilizations that had taken months traveling across deserts on unevolved horses and donkeys for journeys covering far less distance than what he'd already transversed.
Perspective was important for maintaining morale during long expeditions.
Moon had also successfully evolved both his newly acquired skills to Rare rank, and he was thoroughly satisfied with their improved performance:
[Stone Clasp]
[Rank: Rare]
[Level: MAX]
[Details: Your hands gain devastating crushing strength, allowing you to firmly seize weapons, enemies, or objects with overwhelming force. Your attacks have a 10% chance to stun an opponent for 1 second. 150% Physical Damage. ]
——
[Heaviness]
[Rank: Rare]
[Level: MAX]
[Details: You have mastered understanding of your body's mass distribution, turning it into a perfected weapon. You can apply your full weight behind attacks with flawless precision and timing. Current effect: Increase bodyweight by 100% or Decrease bodyweight by 50%]
Both abilities had improved trendously after evolution. [Stone Clasp] could now potentially stun opponents, even if the percentage chance was relatively low. And [Heaviness] had gained the versatility of weight reduction in addition to its original enhancent effect. After so testing during his journey, Moon found both skills had beco significantly more useful than their Uncommon versions. Reducing his body weight by 50% granted him an estimated 10% increase in agility, but it ca at the cost of a 10% decrease in strength. The effect worked in reverse as well—when he doubled his body weight, his strength rose by 15%, while his agility dropped by roughly the sa amount. The uses of the skill were nurous. Lighter weight for more mobility during evasion or pursuit, heavier weight for more powerful attacks, and the ability to switch between modes based on the opponent he was facing.
Despite the trade-offs involved, both skills had trendous potential when used at the right monts with proper timing. Overall, Moon was more than satisfied with his new skills and looked forward to testing them against the S-Rank beasts rumored to inhabit the Crimson Wasteland.
"Although it's a pity I couldn't copy Caleb or Grant's skills…Even Nina's would have been useful." Moon said, his mind returning to the teammates he had joined in the S-Rank gate expedition. They were the cre of the crop awakeners, and they were all physical warriors—mainly. Copying their skills would have certainly granted him stronger skills, knowing that they most likely had epic rank skills to their na.
♢♢♢♢
After their long journey through treacherous hills, and stone infested valleys, they finally arrived at their destination—The Crimson Wasteland.
The region stood true to its na, it was a true wasteland, filled with crimson sand that occupied everything you could see for kiloters in distance.
The Crimson Wasteland was a desert with crimson sand, and hot temperature. The weather wasn't extre, but the heat could be felt in comparison to other regions around it.
[You have entered a new zone]
[Death Penalty: 700 Lives]
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