Chapter 122: Overload: Obsession 3/4
Chapter 122: Overload: Obsession 3/4
Astrid finished pulling out the eyes of the remaining femora within the area. Another three hours had passed since the fight with the Femora Prince.
The name of the monster was a dead giveaway that there were stronger types within. She didn’t know where. But they had to be somewhere. Well, she would just make them come to her.
Astrid had a plan.
She gazed at the trees surrounding her in every direction.
At first she had the idea of just chopping them all down, but it was clear some had the ability to step in mid-air. She’d rather not have them use that unpredictable ability. So if the damned femora loved using the trees so much, she would just make them into a deathtrap.
Using the time of having just cleared out the area of any monsters, she took out a chunk of Voidbent ore. Originally, she was going to embed the trees with hundreds of small needles, but she had a better idea. However, it was more difficult to create.
Entering Mind Domain was too dangerous without protection, so that meant that she had to create it without the infinite material.
I can do it. Astrid rubbed her hands together and smirked.
Sitting down, she placed her hand on the metal and began warping it to her desire. She used her illusions as a guide as the ore slowly transformed into a thin roll of dough. It was then that she realised that it would be a whole lot more difficult than she had originally thought.
Sculpting the metal into a sword was one thing, but reducing the size by manifold without wasting the material was a great task. But she persisted.
With strenuous mental effort, the roll of dough-like Voidbent metal became thinner and thinner, until it was eventually created into a trailing, straight, and undoubtedly solid piece of noodle.
Astrid frowned at the mental strain. She took a while to gather her mana, and continued.
An hour had passed and Astrid gazed in pride at the incredibly thin string that was pulled taught with her matter control. They interlocked each tree in a wide space all around her.
Just one large piece of Voidbent metal was enough to cover over sixty trees in the metal thread.
Disconnecting her psychic connection with the thread, they turned lax. Like spider-thread that had lost all of its stickiness. Reconnecting with it, they pulled taught once more. Although connecting to such a thin object and controlling it was difficult, since she already had the connection formed–it was easier.
Now all that was left was to create a wide illusion so she could catch them in position.
Screeches echoed through the forest. They were angry.
Astrid grinned and immediately formed the illusion. The femora’s were approaching.
It wasn’t long before they arrived. She resisted the temptation to whistle out loud as they appeared in the hundreds. She already had an escape planned just in case another evolved showed up, but it looked like that wasn’t the case.
The evolved femora must be worth quite a lot considering they wanted to beat her with sheer numbers. Although that was just a guess. She had no idea if they were that smart, nor did she care.
Astrid just wanted them dead. She wanted the Levels.
One of the braver femora’s cocked its spring-like legs then shot forward. Astrid yanked out its eyeballs despite its high speed. The monster’s head exploded, but its body continued forward. Astrid used [Crash] as its body was pulverised into a bloody mist.
Her Mind Barrier caught the scattered remains of its insides and the scarlet red as it dripped off her shield.
The death of their friend, or member of the pack had incensed the others. Like a hive mind was angered, they all leapt at her together, wanting nothing more than to chop her up into little pieces.
Astrid could feel the intense desires pervading around their minds. It didn’t scare her in the slightest, rather, she welcomed it.
She had killed them, so it was only right that they wanted to end her life. It was the order of this world. Now it was them, but one day it would be her.
The intense void flashed within her right eye, and the X branded within her left eye appeared to the world. Her hair rose as she flared the psychic mana within her mind. The golden hair was a symbol of the Sinwen household, and it surged like a golden wave.
Your obsession has reached 91/100
I want their eyes. Astrid licked her lips as her eyes shone brighter than ever before.
Just as they rocketed towards her all at once, Astrid connected to the wires and pulled them tight.
The femora’s were incapable of stopping themselves, even if they could see through the illusions that were placed just in front of them. The moment their bodies touched the illusion, it shattered, and a web of hundreds of barely discernible threads met their vision. It was too late to react, even if they could.
Their incredible momentum and speed worked against them as the unbreakable thread, powered with Astrid’s psychic mana, cut into their flesh like a sharpened blade.
Even their bones weren’t spared as the purple wire sliced through them.
Thousands of severed limbs pelted her Mind Barrier en masse. It was as if her barrier transformed into a red cocoon as the clean area around her turned dark from the layer of red paint above.
Astrid blasted the layer of red off her shield and gazed around at the battlefield.
The stench of copper assaulted her senses, along with the visceral appearance of her handiwork.
Your obsession has reached 95/100
The urge was like a fever within her mind as she yanked out their eyeballs. Some didn’t even have an intact skull, yet she still did it anyway. After making sure that they were all dead, she touched her Voidbent string.
Cutting off the connection to the wire, it turned slack. She gathered it all into a coil and placed it within her Void Storage for safe keeping.
Astrid thought back to the bloody display. It only lasted a moment, but it lingered within her thoughts. It was just another creative use from her Skills, yet the result was amazing.
But idea’s only flashed within her mind every now and then. It still hadn’t been very long since she awakened, she just hoped the flashes of inspiration would keep wandering within her mind.
She rubbed her hands together in excitement, she couldn’t wait for it.
With the femora’s cleared out from the area, it gave her a good while to get her System notification in check. It was the good thing about being in a predator's domain, once they were cleared–there was nothing left to sneak up on her.
However, the moment the jungle became contested, the status quo would change. Perhaps she had already altered the land around her with her presence.
Clearing out so many femora all at once would invite other predators within the domain. Well, it was something to worry about after she checked her System messages.
You have gained the Title - Warping Spider Threader: Damn Astrid. You're like a spider queen, but with razor sharp thread! The way they were dissected into different shapes and sizes was awesome!
| 30 added Intelligence.
| 25 added Dexterity.|
| 50% extra damage with Psych Warped Thread.
"Really, Pupil?" Astrid said, but there was no answer. Wait, did altering the damned System text use up Pupil's energy?
The epiphany caused a slight smirk to form on her face before she moved onto the rest of the System messages. The Title wasn't worth using... for now.
You have defeated - Femora Prince - level 128
You have defeated - Femora - level 112
…
You have levelled up!
Psychokinetic level 91 -> Psychokinetic level 94
Voidmare level 91 -> Voidmare level 94
Gained 30 stat points.
You now have 274 wisdom.
Skill level up!
Void Graviton level 4 -> Void Graviton level 5
Eye of the Void level 4 -> Eye of the Void level 7
Void Storage level 3 -> Void Storage level 4
[ Stage 2 ] Major Image level 16 -> Major Image level 17
[ Stage 2 ] Mind domination level 16 -> Mind Domination level 17
[ Stage 2 ] Weightless Levitation level 14 -> Weightless Levitation level 15
[ Stage 2 ] Mind Armour level 18 -> Mind Armour level 19
[ Stage 3 ] Mind Barrier level 2 -> Mind Barrier level 3
[ Stage 3 ] Crash level 1 -> Crash level 2
[ Stage 2 ] Psych Warp level 11 -> Psych Warp level 12
[ Stage 2 ] Psych Domain level 15 -> Psych Domain level 16
[ Stage 2 ] Psychic’s Power level 15 -> Psychic’s Power level 16
[ Stage 2 ] Omni-Kinesis level 4 -> Omni-Kinesis level 5
[ Stage 2 ] Anti-Disabling Field level 7 -> Anti-Disabling Field level 8
Experience gained!
Astrid’s palms tingled at the extra levels. She was getting so much closer to Level one-hundred. Most users received their class upgrade at level one-hundred, but with her having the Pupil and Voidmare, she became uncertain.
Pupil didn’t have that kind of information either. He was either completely mind wiped when he arrived here, or was just born. Somehow.
Astrid scratched her head. Alien things were always so confusing.
Continuing further in the jungle. She was happy to discover that the boring trees that she had become accustomed to had suddenly undergone some changes.
High above, built around the tree were wooden buildings. Each of them had a rounded platform that presumably gave the residents some walking space.
Astrid ducked behind a tree as the door creaked from one of the houses above. A femora walked to the edge of the platform and leapt over to another house.
Of course there was no need for bridges when they could just jump from tree-to-tree. She was about to make her move when she heard a shrill screeching. From the distance, a femora pointed at her with its crooked finger.
Sighing, she readied herself for battle. Something told her that the femora wasn’t calling her over for a nice cool cup of tea, but rather to slice her in two.
Why couldn’t they be civilised? Astrid smirked as a few of them had already leapt toward her. Wrath was clearly visible within their insect-like eyes.
It didn’t take long for Astrid to rip out their eye-balls. Some managed to live as the extra Skill from her Eyeball Pulling ring failed to activate, but it wasn’t for long. She followed it up with several [Crashes] as their bodies blew up.
Each level up also improved the range she could connect to the matter, increasing her effectiveness ever further. Although she wondered what would be a good point to put the focus back onto Intelligence. The next milestone Skill was at one-thousand, and it was a powerful one.
Her father had told her that the power up at one-thousand was equivalent to a class upgrade. Although was that a Legendary class upgrade, or a lower one, she didn’t know.
Either way, the femora’s were no longer a match for her. Not the basic ones, anyway.
Once all of them were dead, something wandered into the range of her Psych Domain. She quickly levitated up to one of the house's platforms and gazed down.
Before they entered her vision, she could see them through the trees within her Psych Domain. The mass of matter looked similar to humans.
Is it the others? Astrid turned hopeful, then it was crushed.
There were far too many. Astrid thought to her culling the femora. Had another race used the opportunity to invade their territory?
Astrid flared her psychic mana, readying herself for a fight.