Chapter 91: Facing an Army.
Chapter 91: Facing an Army.
Taking no notice of the frightened gazed which were directed at him, Lucius turned around and walked up to Alex.
"Wa-wait. wha-what are you doing?" seeing this 'lunatic' heading towards him, Alex immediately tried to raise his hands in defense. His arrogance was completely absent, fear taking root in his heart. He was truly afraid of this 'monster', whose strength seemed to have no limits.
Not bothering to reply, Lucius simply reached his hand out. Grabbing Alex by his shoulder, he circulated his soul power and started to replenish Alex's empty reserves.
Feeling the recovery of his soul power, Alex was astonished. He felt a much purer and denser energy fill his body, restoring his body and removing his paralysis. The wounds on his body also began to recover.
"Gather the remaining soldiers and prepare for battle. Separate them into proper teams and direct the battle. Do not have them engage in close-combat. Have them support me from long range." cutting straight to the point, Lucius relayed his orders.
Seeing Alex have a lost look in his face, Lucius added.
"If you fail to obey my commands or your men execute it incorrectly, I will kill you." he stated. Rather than call it a threat, he made it sound as if it was obvious.
Unruffled by Alex's rapidly paling face, Lucius then continued towards the direction of the girls. Arriving in front of them, he repeated the same actions, reaching out to heal and recover their soul power.
Reyna continued to stare directly at him, her eyes filled with uneasiness and nervousness. Olivia on the other hand, had her head hung low. She did not dare face his gaze, for she had clearly heard his comment when he appeared to rescue them.
'Disappointing. Absolutely disappointing.' Although Lucius did not direct it towards any single person and seemed to be remarking on the soldiers as a whole. Olivia clearly felt his displeasure towards her. She knew that she had let down his expectations.
Lucius could not be bothered with her mood and indifferently ordered.
Turning towards Reyna he said, "Gather the engineers and technicians. Find a way to restore power and activate the energy weapons and barrier. You have 15 minutes to complete your task."
Reyna directly nodded her head.
Lucius then turned to Olivia and continued in the same indifferent tone. "And you. Borrow a squad of soldiers and work on restoring order within the base. Something big will happen later and we cannot afford to have internal chaos."
Saying so, he directly stood up and walked towards the edge of the wall. All the above mentioned actions took Lucius a few minutes to complete. Even so not a single enemy standing down below had moved. Their bodies were still frozen for they dared not to displease this frightening being.
Lucius ignored these small fries. His gaze peered across the battlefield to look at the black armored being who stood at the very back. This one, unlike it's alien brethren was not frozen in shock. It was pleasantly surprised to find the existence of a strong being like Lucius but was not overly worried.
It seemed to be confident or maybe had a backup plan. Perhaps both. Either way, the confrontation between the two parties could not be avoided. It directly met Lucius' gaze and nodded it's head, seemingly recognizing his strength.
"Tch, how annoying. A slightly bigger 'ant' dares to challenge me." he clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Still this was a fight meant to happen. A test that he had to face. No matter how much Lucius demeaned his opponent, he still understood two thing.
He wasn't the Stage 7 [Killer] he previously was.
And that black armored bug was stronger than him.
'[Killer Vision] tells me that, that bug is at Stage 1 Peak Level. Much stronger than the current me. This will not be an easy fight.' he inwardly thought.
Stretching his muscles, Lucius prepped himself for the battle. There was no doubt that it was going to be a long battle. He would be surrounded on all the sides, he would inadvertently get injured, his soul power would be exhausted.
Perhaps even the soldiers atop the walls might not help him, not that he was counting on them anyway.
Lucius would have to face this battle all alone, depending on only himself and his strength. Still this was exactly how he liked it. Him and his scythe surrounded by thousands of enemies, whose lives were waiting to be cut down. Just the thought of it was euphoric.
'Plus, this is a good chance to complete my [Killer] soul's advancement condition by a fair margin.'
To recall, the advancement condition for the [Killer] soul type into Stage 2 was, taking the lives of 10,000 Grade 3 species. The alien bugs beneath the walls, perfectly fit this condition. Their numbers were also in the few thousands.
Just as Lucius was preparing to jump down, a weak voice was transmitted into his mind.
"...are those, my children I sense?" the dark-gold crystal in his pocket shone with a dim light, as Ka'lor'ah exhausted voice sounded out.
Lucius was not surprised. Rather than surprised, he was waiting for this very moment.
"Yes. The Ordeals for the Ascension have already begun while you were asleep." he replied.
"I see. Allow me to absorb their life force, once you kill them. Remember to leave the Life Crystals of the bigger ones for me." Ka'lor'ah indifferently stated, to which Lucius simply nodded in response.
Gripping his scythe with both his hands, Lucius directly jumped down.
The shrill scream of the 'Leader Bug' sounded as it ordered the others. Kill this human!.
Immediately upon hearing that command, the previously immobile Sickle Bugs and Tanker Bugs, immediately rushed towards Lucius. Hundreds of enemies in his immediate vicinity raised their forelimbs and close in upon him with their blades.
Stepping forward, Lucius closed his eyes. He manipulated his soul power to create a field surrounding him. Any creature that entered this field would be immediately sensed by him.
In a 1vGroup scenario, especially in fights were one is surrounded by an army of beings. it was absolutely foolish to only rely on one's eyes or ears. No matter how sensitive or trained one's six senses are, it was bound to fail against enemies of such numbers. Sensing through his soul power, however was entirely different. It allowed him to 'feel' every single thing within it's radius.
Mistakes were still bound to happen, at least they would be lesser in numbers.
Feeling dozens of Sickle Bugs directly entering his field, Lucius immediately moved. Holding his scythe horizontally with his hands, he directly slashed at the oncoming enemies.
"First Movement- Slash." he gently said.
The bugs which had entered his range were immediately sliced in half, not a single one surviving. While this was an astonishing feet in the eyes of the people above, to Lucius who was facing thousands of such numbers, it was just an ordinary attack.
Not stopping his attack in the slightest, Lucius stepped forward once again and moved his scythe diagonally, cutting another few Sickle Bugs in the process. His steps were firm and his movements were light.
The scythe continued to rip and tear in Lucius ' hands as batch after batch of Sickle Bugs were dispatched en masse. Lucius' movements continued to become increasingly fluid, as he started to chain every attack.
A strike from the top, a quick flick at the bottom, a diagonal slash aimed at their thorax, his feet continuously moved as his soul power continued to pour into the weapon. From afar, he seemed to be dancing.
And it truly was a graceful dance. The scene of a handsome young man, who seemed to be less than 18 years of age holding onto to a beautiful scythe which pulsed with crimson veins leaking baleful energy, was something that none of the people present would ever forget.
His slaughter was unimpeded as the bugs continued to die. Some tried to sneak onto him from behind while others tried to play dead and assassinate. Alas, both these types were destined to fail. Under the effect of his soul power's sensing, he could immediately find such attempts and effectively block them.
The other thing that was unimpeded was the the transparent stream of energy which seemed to endlessly flow into his pocket. Inside his pocket was a small dark-gold crystal which devoured all this energy without pause. It's size slowly started to grow and the its brightness also seemed to increase.
"Ah! Such pure life energy. As expected of me who created them. Good job me!" Ka'lor'ah weakness had disappeared and her usual jovial personality had returned once again.
"MORE! Give me MORE! FILL ME UP!!" her tone went an octave lower. A stranger listening to this scene was bound to have a 'misunderstanding'.
"Shut---!" Just as Lucius was about to shout at her to shut up, he was interrupted by a loud roar.
"ROOOAAAAAR!" "ROOOOOAAAAAR!"
Well, two loud roars to be exact.
Two large 'Tanker Bugs', one headless and the other normal, rushed towards Lucius. They did not seem to care about the smaller Sickle Bugs present underneath their feet, as they continued to stomp over them as they rushed.
"Great, it's these guys! Quick! Get me their life crystals!" Ka'lor'ah screamed in delight. Much like a small child who had laid her eyes on candy.
Lucius who was getting a headache over her behavior, directed his anger towards the two 'Tanker Bugs.' Their end was not going to be pretty.