OverXelous
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Chapter 33 - Alone in the Shadows
🕑 Added 2024-10-29 02:43:02 +0000 UTCAlex felt weary to the bone. The small trio had been moving at top speed through the tunnels and Alex was using his mana almost as quickly as it could regenerate without giving himself a headache.
[Empowered Step] was making great progress, and it was the only reason he could keep up with the Mana Spinner as it seemed to glide along its mana webs as if they were rails or tracks for a train. Val would fly along beside them until he was too tired and he would wrap around Alex’s upper arm and shoulder.
When the group stopped for rest, Alex began to use his mana to practice his mana tendrils. [Mana Shaping] was struggling to allow him to thin out his mana.
Gah, I really just can’t get it even close to as thin as the spider’s web.
While Alex’s tendril had shrunk in diameter, it was still thicker than an HDMI cable. The more thin that he got it, the easier it seemed to be able to maneuver and reach greater distances, but he felt that it was still clumsy and too noticeable. The mana webs that the Spinners used were as thin as real spider webs, and so light that they were affected by the currents in the air if not strengthened.
Alex felt a jolt in his side that caused him to jump and break his concentration.
“No. Again.” Said the elder. He also sent across feelings of impatience and frustration.
Alex sent feelings of frustration right back at him.
During their first day of travel, the elder had seen Alex practicing with the mana tendrils, trying to make them smaller. At first it had been helpful and the coaching led Alex to have a quick breakthrough.
The second day, things had changed. The elder had begun to send small shocks of mana or loud thoughts and emotions through a mana web link to distract and disrupt Alex’s train of thought. Most of the time this caused the web to crumble and fall apart.
Sometimes, the elder would compare Alex to a baby Mana Spinner, and other times, like the most recent attempt, he would just be frustrated.
Alex grumbled and looked around, glad to see that Val was still watching the entrance to the cavern they were in. At the beginning of their dash from the colony, Alex had been wary of letting Val keep watch on his own. Many of Val’s mannerisms still seemed so young and childish to Alex, though he did tend to forget that the mana wyrm was a beast on the same level as him now. That fact had been quite obvious when two Cave Crawlers attempted to attack the group and Alex had been able to see Val’s new skill in action.
There was a short pause of panic as Val charged and began to glow a bright blue, but when the following flash and explosion ensued, Alex instantly received two notifications about his bonded companion slaying two creatures.
Not for the first time since then, Alex found himself eyeing the blue wyrm and wondering if it was already stronger than he was. With the Mana Glutton Trait, it seemed like he could super charge that mana discharge with twice as mana as he’d normally be able to with that level mana.
From where he sat on the rock, Alex felt another jolt as the elder used a bit of pinching pain to regain his attention.
Alright, alright. Relax.
He refocused on the training, knowing that he would only have another day or so of attention from the elder. The tunnels in the last day had begun to slope upward at a steep angle. A clear sign of their approach to the surface had also been noticeable with Alex’s Heavenly Eye as mana seemed to show itself in the different ways.
Small patches of vegetation became common to see in the tunnels or caverns, most often in the form of moss or hardy vines. Seeing the blue-green tint that the plants held, Alex had found himself distracted with questions of mana types and what dictated the different colors that he was starting to experience.
Once they began traveling again, Alex directed his focus to their next steps. He and Val would be on their own after reaching the surface and Alex had been attempting to look through the survival manual that he’d bought from the camping store.
After some time looking through it in his downtime, he was unsure of how helpful it would be in this scenario. It was clearly meant for the Earth’s environment and covered certain key points of focus for survival that tended to revolve around setting up a ‘home base’ of sorts. While surviving was obviously the main goal in their current situation, that was with the caveat that they made it out of the Rift. If surviving meant setting up a home base and building a shelter near a water source, Alex would prefer to just make a break for the Rift exit and attempt to gather what was needed as they went.
He had several days worth of the greenery he had been eating during their time with the colony and was uncertain of what would await them on the surface.
Alex did his best to remember the scenery of the darker side of the Rift from the few minutes he’d taken to view it at the Rift’s entrance. From that distance, the forest had seemed dark and dead, the trees completely baren and looking close to a haunted forest.
Not likely to have deer or rabbits frolicking around for an easy source of meat, huh?
The travel time flew by, and by the end of his tenth day in the Rift, Alex was happy to take a deep breath of fresh air.
Finally, back on the surface.
Even though the sun was setting, Alex could see his surroundings with normal vision without a lantern or chem lights for the first time in over a week. Tears came to his eyes briefly and he realized that reaching the surface was a major milestone for his return home.
Subconsciously, ever since he’d washed up on the small sandy landing by the river, the Rift exit had just felt like it was a world away- impossibly hard to reach. Reaching the surface made it feel like there was a relatively straight shot to his freedom.
His thoughts were brought back to the elder as a mana we reached out to him for communication. Alex tended a tendril of mana and could feel the sense of thought that the elder sent through the vibration of magical energy.
“Must faster return. Be safe.”
There was a short exchange of emotions and parting words before Alex reluctantly let the elder Mana Spinner break off the connection. While spiders had always been a bit creepy, the large arachnids had been the source of safety and growing power for Alex over the last week.
He suddenly felt very vulnerable when he realized he was back on the surface with just his own wit and strength to rely on.
Val bumped his head into Alex’s.
Okay, yeah. Your strength too, buddy.
Alex wished for the support of his friends and wondered how Mark and Sarah were doing. He then began to think about how they might do in this situation.
Mark would probably be making jokes or light of the situation. Oh god, Mark, with a super-powered sense of energy, is a terrifying thought.
Sarah would be analyzing the situation for sure. She’s so analytical. I bet it would be a lot easier to get out of here with her making a plan.
His heart ached a bit at the thought of his friends. Alex didn’t feel like he’d been a very good friendly lately. He’d thrown himself into the entire Awakened experience while keeping Sarah at arms length and Mark in the dark.
I’ll remedy that as soon as I get out of this mess.
He firmed his resolve.
I’ll get out of this Rift. No matter what.
Feeling motivated, Alex turned in a 360 to survey his surroundings.
The first thing he noted was the temperature difference. While it wasn’t hot in the tunnels, Alex wouldn’t classify it as cool either. The wind of this dark forest was already nipping at his cheeks and causing the hair on his arms to rise from the chill.
He had a good view through the forest, as there seemed to be very little underbrush, and the trees were barren of leaves. He could see the snowy mountain peaks off to his left. His Core was subtly tugging toward his right, indicating that the exit was in that direction. He turned to look that way and saw uneven terrain and sparse growth, though more than he had seen below.
His Heavenly Eye was catching sight of more mana than he had ever seen with it. The air carried some tint of grey to it, while the plants also carried grey, green, and brown colors. The trees themselves drew Alex’s attention as they were black spots in the vision of his left eye, indicating that they didn’t have any mana in them at all.
With the sun beginning to set, Alex had a hard time seeing with either of his eyes. The right was adjusting to the dim light, while his left attempted to make sense of the flood of sensory information.
Alex decided to ‘enjoy’ the scenery more on his way out of the Rift. He took off at a jog and had Val fly higher in the air to get a better view of the surroundings. While Alex had been learning to communicate with the Mana Spinners, he and Val had come up with something of their own way to communicate. Val had grasped the concept of sharing emotions from observing the spiders and had begun to imitate that through their bond link. The emotions weren’t nearly as complex as what the Mana Spinners could send, but sending through the feeling of excitement, fear, or hunger was quite easy for the little wyrm.
Alex was determined to begin teaching Val how to speak English when they returned home. It was clear from looking at his companion’s Status Window that he wasn’t lacking in intelligence. In Alex’s mind, it wasn’t a matter of if the little guy could learn to speak; it was a matter of when.
They’d been jogging through the dry swamp for less than an hour when Val signaled that there were others in the area. When he flew down and landed on Alex’s shoulder, it pointed in the direction they were coming from. Alex was relieved that it was from the opposite direction of the Rift exit.
Guess that means we just need to pick up the pace.
And so they did. Alex began using [Empowered Step] to enhance his speed and covered three or four times the distance he would have been able to at a normal run. He gained distance until Val could no longer see or sense them from the air and then found a small alcove of trees to hide in when changing their direction slightly to get out of the way of pursuers.
Not for the first time, Alex marveled at the wonder of Stats.
My body has changed so much in the last ten days. I can run further and faster than an Olympic level athlete and almost all of the fat has fallen from my body.
The changes weren’t just physical, either. Running from the pursuers was significantly different than his initial flight from the Celestial Lotus Sect members ten days prior. As his magical power and control had increased, he was able to use [Empowered Step] with more power and with greater mana efficiency.
He was just beginning to feel good about himself and give a small pat on the back when a rustling of leaves to his left caused him to instinctively jerk to the side. He turned his upper body away from the noise as he fell, doing his best to shield himself and the shoulder that Val was resting on.
After the fact, Alex would realize that this small movement was the only reason that he lived through the ambush.
In a mad scramble, Alex got his feet under himself and felt hot liquid run down his arm, and it was clear to him that his shoulder was cut badly. Val flew upward and Alex drew the rapier into his hand, unsure of if he should run or fight.
Alex scanned the trio of dark, garbed individuals as they stepped from the shadows of surrounding trees. The one in the lead flicked his blood-smeared rapier to the side dismissively.
“Hei Fang, you missed him! Ha, wait until I tell senior brother about this.” The shadowed figure to the left said.
Unsure of how to handle the situation, Alex activated his Heavenly Eye and attempted to scan the trio in front of him.
***
Hei Fang - Level 35
Class: Serpent Acolyte
Primary Stat: Agility
<Hostile Humanoid>
Ren Ying - Level 32
Class: Serpent Acolyte
Primary Stat: Agility
<Hostile Humanoid>
An Liang - Level 34
Class: Serpent Acolyte
Primary Stat: Agility
<Hostile Humanoid>
***
There’s no way that we can fight against these three. We’re still too low leveled.
Fuck.
Just as he was frantically thinking of a way out of the situation, Alex saw Val silently descend behind the trio. His eyes widened as he saw Val begin to glow.
Alex dove away from the group, ignoring their mocks and jeers at his flop to the ground. Uncaring, Alex covered his head and waited for the explosion. It followed a few heartbeats later, ruffling his clothes and sending dirt spraying over his back.
He didn’t get any notifications, so he knew that the fight wasn’t over yet. Despite bracing for the impact, Alex’s ears still rang as he searched the nearby area. He found the three sprawled acolytes easily. Two were unconscious and badly injured, while the third was missing a leg and screaming at the top of his lungs.
Alex jumped forward and killed the first one without thinking, scared that he would alert others to come and investigate. As soon as the sword sunk into the young man, all that Alex felt was relief as their surroundings grew quiet.
It wasn’t until the notification appeared and he saw blue motes of light form that Alex felt sick to his stomach, and the realization slammed home that he had just killed another human.
***
You have slain Human - Level 34
Congratulations Awakened. You have leveled up!
You have 3 Free Points to distribute.
***
Before Alex could have a meltdown, he heard one of the others nearby begin to groan. He took a hesitant step toward the man but stopped. His hand felt numb, and he worried he might drop the rapier.
Alex stared at the sight of the broken boy on the ground.
He could hear calls of concern or confusion a short distance away in the forest, and Alex had to assume that they were closing in on his location.
It’s them or me at this point.
Alex had to convince himself that this was okay. He didn’t want this fight. Not only had these three started the fight, but they’d attempted to ambush and kill him without any warning or an attempt at resolution.
He firmed his will and moved swiftly, letting his body take control of the situation where his mind was wavering. Alex stabbed both of the others, waiting for two more kill notifications before he continued to run. As he ran, blue motes of light streamed after him.
Alex and Val ran, slowing only when it was absolutely necessary. In an attempt to distract himself from recent events, Alex worked on his [Mana Shaping], gaining several more levels through desperation and willpower. He convinced himself that if he had the ability to leave trails of mana webs as the Mana Spinners did, then he could have been alerted before the ambush and perhaps left before the fight even happened. The webs could help them be safe.
This continued for several days. Alex and Val would run hard and long, stopping only when necessary. His shoulder throbbed, and he used some supplies from the first aid kit he’d brought from the camping store to clean and bandage the gash.
Though his shoulder ached, he knew that if he could get out of the Rift in time, he’d be able to get to a hospital and get it taken care of.
Getting out of the Rift was proving to be much more of a challenge than he thought it would be. Even though Alex was changing their path and doing what he could think of to throw others off of their trail, small groups seemed to constantly find the two.
This caused Alex to get progressively less sleep. Less sleep then meant that he was moving slower as he had to flee or fend off ranged attacks. He had less time and less mana to then work on his [Mana Shaping] causing him to feel like he was fighting a losing battle.
Alex knew that he’d only been able to make it this far from his sheer stubborn pride of not wanting to give up after coming this far… and his enhanced Stats. That played a part, too.
After three more days of running and operating on barely any sleep at all, Alex decided to lay a small trap and see how the groups kept finding him. He set up two snaring rituals and hid himself in a tree that had clear line of sight of anyone who may be approaching his direction.
Not more than an hour later, a group of four crested the small rise. It look Alex several long heartbeats to notice a small black serpent leading the group of four humans. Its head was raised and its tongue was flicking in and out in a rhythm.
Knowing that the group was too much for him and Val to handle, he abandoned the ambush and decided to run and think about the information he’d gathered.
The snake was tasting the air. Are they using the smaller snakes as a way to track me? Like a hunting dog tracks game?
It puzzled Alex for the rest of the day, and he couldn’t figure out what would allow the group to track him so consistently.
It has to be magic of some kind, right? How do I fight against the unknown magic?
Val cooed in his head and sent the feeling of safety, darkness, and mana.
Alex recognized this feeling as how Val referred to the Mana Spinners and the Colony.
The Mana Spinners?
What about them, buddy? We only saw them fight once. It seems like they hide instead of fight most of the time. When we saw-
Alex cut off, and a thought struck him.
They hide.
Of course! Val, you brilliant blue bastard!
Despite the fatigue and injury to his arm, Alex continued to run. Even though their situation had barely changed, Alex now realized what he should be working on instead of the [Mana Shaping] exercises.
I don’t need mana webs. I need to be able to hold in this mana that’s leaking from my body!
Alex looked down at himself and through his left eye, saw the small whisps of blue smoke that curled from his skin. After the thought settled in, he was willing to bet that the snakes were able to track his leaking mana like a hound on a scent.
A plan formed in his mind, and a feral grin crossed Alex's face on his 13th day in the Rift.
Comments
Elinar Godly
TFTC Just before the elder leaves a B is missing: "His thoughts were brought back to the elder as a mana weB reached out to him for communication."
OverXelous
Ooh, good catch! Thanks for pointing that out!
Casual Ham
Thanks for the chapter! There's a typo with one of the attacker's names. In the dialogue, it says Hei Fang, but the scan says his name is Hai Fang.
