Chaos' Heir

Chapter 954: Runes

Chapter 954: Runes



Khan sat cross-legged at the top of the hill. The battle had ruined its smooth surface, adding cracks, digging holes, and covering it with maimed corpses and gory puddles. The pack was no more, but Khan's night was still long.

A purple-red light disrupted the dark environment. A bright, intricate rune hovered before Khan's chest, siphoning mana into his body. His flesh greedily accepted that energy, storing it under his skin to prepare it for the following absorption.

After the toxic pool completed Khan's physical transformation, he only had his attunement with mana to address. Bringing that stat to one hundred points would finalize the process, turning him into an official evolved warrior.

Increasing the attunement with mana had never been a big problem for Khan. The [Blood Vortex] had always made his growth extraordinary, fueling his fame and more than compensating for his inability to rely on infusions.

However, Khan's body had already achieved the evolution, so strengthening it required far more energy. He had improved on the [Blood Vortex]'s design, but the technique appeared unable to scratch his new limits. His flesh resembled a bottomless pit, accepting all the energy he gathered without showing signs of satisfaction.

On the one hand, that trend was promising. Being able to store so much energy spoke for the power of Khan's body. He could only imagine how strong he would become after reaching one hundred points. Chances were Khan would outclass the evolved warriors who had relied on the extreme induction as soon as he completed his attunement.

On the other, the process was bound to be extremely slow. Khan's superior training technique wouldn't stop his peers from surpassing his attunement level. That stat didn't speak for his actual power, but humans still relied on it to evaluate warriors. The new hurdle risked affecting his fame and welcoming new challengers to his rule.

Sadly, it was too late to do anything about it. Moreover, the solution didn't change. Khan would simply have to rely on an overwhelming show of force the second someone tried to defy him. He would have to make an example out of that enemy to deter future challenges and reinforce his fame.

A few monsters had just started climbing the hill when everything disappeared. A blinding radiance deprived them of their vision, and their fellow specimens shared that predicament. A small purple-red star had lit up in the area, and the damaged hill reflected its color, enhancing its brilliance.

The blinding scenery only lasted for a few seconds. Darkness soon descended on the area again, leaving Khan's training technique and the remaining six runes as sole sources of light. As for the pack, even experts would struggle to confirm its past existence.

Two massive grooves had opened on the hill's side, stretching through the terrain past its base. The emission of that raw, violent energy had destroyed everything on its path. Occasional hair, charred bones, and fuming pieces of insides lingered in those holes, but nothing breathed down there.

The only survivor stood at the very edge of the grooves. The monster had been in the back of the pack and had turned after sensing the impending danger. Yet, its reaction had been too slow, and the spell had almost eaten half its body.

The creature had lost two legs and its left side, leaving its damaged organs in the open. It had crashed on the ground, and a painful cry tried to escape its mouth, but to no avail. Its lungs didn't work anymore, and its breathing soon stopped. After that, the pack was no more.

'If only I could summon so much energy at will,' Khan thought. 'It's a pity this spell requires so long to set up.'

That was Khan's best attack in terms of raw power. Even a Thilku as strong as Izraz, the soldier on the military planet, had failed to defend against it, and Khan's evolution had only improved it. It stood to reason that the pack had no hope of surviving it, but its shortcomings were apparent. Khan probably wouldn't have the chance to use that spell against someone like

Bruno.

'I should be able to move it around freely if I stabilize its structure,' Khan considered. 'I guess I found something to do in these two weeks.'