Chapter 524: A Sizzle of Hope!
Chapter 524
"Time to get to work." Grey smirked.
Without hesitation, a dozen of the beasts lunged for Grey, but he did not even flinch. Thalos, however, did.
The gargoyle quickly leaped away and perched himself on a protruding mound of rock, his glowing eyes scanning the battle about to unfold.
’You said you wanted to reclaim your lightning magic, right? Well, let’s see how you plan to do that. And mind you, I’m not helping you one bit. You brought this on yourself.’ The gargoyle grinned widely as he carefully watched what was about to happen.
’I need to make this easier for myself. No sword, no Ki, no wind magic. Let’s see if I can survive long enough to regain my magic.’ Grey thought as he kept his hands tucked in his pockets. Without hesitation, the beasts all lunged forward at full speed.
Two immediately closed in on Grey. They leaped off the ground with claws gleaming in the sunlight, slashing down toward his face.
’Come on, at least spark!’ he roared inwardly as he ducked sharply under the beast’s swing. He pivoted hard, barely avoiding a thrust aimed for his head.
His heartbeat pounded like a war drum in his chest as another beast’s maw suddenly snapped wide right in front of his face.
’Oh shit!’ He gulped loudly as he grabbed the jaws with both hands, holding them open and refusing to let the beast snap shut even for an instant.
Two more beasts suddenly crept up behind him. With a frown, Grey smashed the beast he was holding into the ground with all his strength. The earth cracked beneath the impact.
He leaped up, spun around, and swung his leg. To his surprise, he unknowingly unleashed a burst of wind that blasted into the two beasts, sending them hurling backward with howls of pain.
"Fuck! Mistake." He clicked his tongue angrily. His eyes widened as another set of claws sliced toward him. He spun just in time, raising his arms like a guard to block.
’No Ki!’ he reminded himself when the claws raked into his forearms, dragging him backward and leaving a thin trail of blood. The wound stung but was not deep enough to cripple him.
Gritting his teeth, Grey swung his foot into the beast’s gut, smashing it away with a shriek before it collided with the others in a heap.
’What’s wrong with me?! I entered an unknown world without even properly planning how I was going to unlock the affinity. Fuck me!’ he roared inwardly. His mind swirled with panic, yet he forced his body to keep moving.
A tusk suddenly shot toward his abdomen. He caught it with both hands, clamping down tight, but without Ki his grip faltered. The beast kicked off from the ground, driving Grey backward and carving trenches in the dirt with his heels.
Gritting his teeth, he held firmly to the tusk, refusing to let go. Mana flared faintly around his arms as he poured in every ounce of strength he could muster.
’Come on! Spark! I need you to spark and fry this ugly beast’s brain! Do it, damn you!’ he roared internally, veins bulging on his neck as he tried to channel everything into his palms.
But no matter how much he focused his mana, nothing came. Not even a flicker. The energy fizzled uselessly. The beasts’ growls grew louder as the rest slowly began to circle in, their eyes glowing with bloodlust.
The pressure mounted. Sweat dripped down Grey’s brow. His mind screamed at him that if lightning did not return now, he might not walk away from this fight alive.
"Fuck it!" He roared angrily as, instead of mana, Ki flared around his hands. With a surge of power, he wrenched his arms back with brutal force, ripping the tusk clean from the beast’s body.
Without hesitation, he smashed his Ki-filled foot straight into the beast with all his might, causing a gaping hole to tear through its abdomen. That was not all.
The beast was hurled countless meters away, its massive body smashing into its companions like a battering ram and sending them sprawling across the battlefield like scattered dominoes.
Grey flung the tusks away with fury. His chest rose and fell, but it was annoyance burning in him, not exhaustion. He ripped the mask from his face, his glare locking on both the mangled corpses and the surviving beasts that were struggling to rise once again.
He clenched his fists tightly, trembling at his own failure. He had not been able to awaken the element he needed, and that reality carved into him harder than any claw or tusk. The mask dissolved into nothingness as his teeth ground audibly, a sound sharp enough to make even Thalos twitch.
His nails dug deep into his palms, almost drawing blood, as the beasts that survived began rising for round two, their roars echoing across the barren field.
’What’s wrong with him? Why does he suddenly look so pissed? He’s losing his cool over nothing. This is really unlike him.’ Thalos frowned lightly, his wings shifting against the rocks as he continued to observe.
Then it happened. Around Grey’s fingers, sparks of lightning suddenly danced. They weren’t only visible; they crackled and hissed loud enough to echo in the silence. Grey’s eyes widened, and his lips curved into a sudden, almost desperate smile.
But that smile died as quickly as it appeared. The crackling faded, the sparks fizzled into silence, and the magic vanished altogether, leaving nothing but a faint trail of smoke in the air. Grey stood stunned, his face hardening as rage boiled inside him.
The beasts wasted no time. Snarling, they charged forward again, their fangs gleaming and their claws tearing grooves in the ground.
"Curses! And that does it!" Grey roared, thrusting both palms toward them.
"Wind Magic: Aerius Ultra!"
BANG!
BANG!
Two deafening detonations split the air as the wind howled violently. In the next second, a colossal gust of air exploded outward, slamming into the charging beasts with overwhelming force.
Their bodies were flattened into the ground as if crushed by invisible mountains, their bones snapping under the pressure before the storm snuffed the life out of them completely.
The battlefield fell silent. Grey stood amidst the wreckage, huffing and panting, staring down at the massacre before him. His expression twisted with disappointment as he slowly raised a hand and facepalmed himself angrily.
"That wasn’t what I came here to do," he muttered bitterly.
CRACK!
KA-BOOM!
The thunderous noise drew not only Grey’s attention but Thalos’ as well. Both of them glanced up sharply, their gazes drawn toward the horizon in dread.
Far off, the looming mountains trembled under a storm of their own. Sparks of lightning rained down endlessly, striking the peaks with devastating fury, each bolt loud enough to rattle the skies.
"How the fuck didn’t I notice this earlier?" Grey muttered, completely stunned by the phenomenon unfolding in front of him. His eyes narrowed, a chill running through him as he realized that the battle here had only been the beginning.