Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 66: An Invading Nightmare

A sword streaked through the air, tussling and disturbing the wind. The edge of the razor-sharp blade vanished through a mans neck. He clad himself in heavy armour, but it didn’t matter. His head flopped to the floor. The blood vessels took a second to realise what had happened before blood spurted from the gaping wound.

Astrid gazed at the shocked eyes. They were looking back at her with an unwillingness. He didn’t want to die. Maybe he had a family to look after? Parents? A wife? Children? It didn’t matter. Daniel asked no questions as he reaped their lives one by one.

Astrid glanced around at the battlefield in front of her. It all looked so familiar, swampy forest to her flank, and bubbled walls to her front.

Then the scene changed. Warriors stared at her with blank expressions. Ones body was barely hanging on by nothing but his heavy armour. Fletcher had a hole in his throat, and needles lay embedded within his skin.

Another warrior stumbled forward, a needle clearly visible within his eye. He looked side-to-side as the needle moved along with it.

“Why did you do this to us?” The man pulled out the needle, his eyeball followed. “To me?”

Astrid frowned. It was like an illusion, but different. It was too lifelike to be a dream, or maybe it was? Was it because of her psychic energy and added intelligence? Was it the spirits of the dead haunting her?

“I had a family, a daughter and son,” He said, tears of red fell.

Astrid stepped forward. Instead of fear, or guilt, only an unbridled rage gathered within her heart.

“And you want to place that blame on me?” Astrid fumed. “We are the last of humanity. We should fight alongside each other as friends, yet you aim for others lives for a few pieces of gold. Instead of enjoying what’s in front of you, you aim for what you can’t have. I may be naïve, sheltered even, but I would never degrade myself, like you right now.”

Astrid yelled, “Haunt me all you want, but at least die with dignity.”

Her psychic mana flared, it raged around her. The surrounding people clutched at their heads and screamed at the top of their lungs. Blood seeped from their ears, nose, eyes, and mouth.

Astrid raised her hand, and the dirt ground followed her command. It uprooted the surrounding trees from the forests floor and the soldiers rose into the air against their will. It was effortless. No amount of their struggling could help them. Their lives were firmly in the grasp of the conquer. Her hair flapped within the psychic storm. Astrid glared at them with the X clearly visible within her eye.

“My mind is my domain. Don’t you dare ruin my precious sleep!” Astrid screamed, and the world was torn asunder. She reaped the warriors of their eyeballs, tearing them from their skull, followed quickly by their limbs.

Then Astrid clenched her hands as a catastrophic explosion ripped apart the space. Her [Crash] Skill was vastly superior to her previous attempts. She ripped apart the world; she erased the surrounding area from existence.

Astrid woke up with a start. She gasped and clenched at her chest. She pulled her shirt taut. It felt like something was constricting around her heart.

Was that really a dream? What the hell was all of that? Sweat dripped from her forehead, and it clung to the back of her silk top. She brushed her hands against the wet bed sheets and grimaced. She languidly peeled the wet covers off her and shimmied out of the bed. Her wobbly legs clambered up, and she waddled over to her dresser for a drink. Pouring out some filtered water, she gulped it down.

Strangely, the previous faces of the warriors were no longer haunting her memories. It was as if she had purged them from her mind.

A gentle orange light illuminated her room. She gazed over at the window as the suns rays warmed up her cold skin.

Dammit, now I can’t get back to sleep. She glanced back at her saturated bed.

It would be impossible anyway. With a sigh, she wandered into her sizable bathroom and ran a bath of scalding hot water. Just how she liked it. If there wasn’t a risk of burning her skin to cinders, then it wasn’t hot enough for her liking.

Astrid opened up a clear bottle of gel and took a whiff of the perfume. It was a citrus base, with a hint of mint that refreshed the skin. Astrid nodded in satisfaction and emptied the entire thing into the tub. She stripped off her clothes and sank into the raging hot bath. It was hotter than she usually would have it, but that was because of her heightened constitution. She dreaded the thought of the water no longer being hot enough.

Astrid sat within the boat as a group of Seafarers guided them to the drop off point for the Bubbled Town. The weather took a turn for the worse. The gentle sun was nowhere to be seen, instead a dreary cold took its place.

The boat crashed against the turbulent ocean. She grasped hold of the side railings of the boat to keep her body steady. She had her backpack tightly grasped in between her calves to stop her bag from bouncing out of the boat.

Then the rain started. A light trickle transformed into a pelting downpour as it struck her face. She resisted the urge to form a Mind Barrier to protect her against the rain, it would be a waste of her mana.

They approached the drop off area with speed. The stench of fish and the copper tang of blood wafted through the surrounding area. The Seafarers had already begun their slaughter of the monsters that patrolled the vast ocean. Someone stood at the edge of a Seafaring boat. He waved his hand, and the mana swirled at his command. He slowly separated the blood from the water as the visibility cleared.

Astrid peered down. Tens of Seafarers were undergoing intense fighting.

“Wayfarers!” the man at the edge of the boat shouted. “It’s time!”

Astrid nodded and stripped off her clothes. She had everything prepared.

“Follow me,” Calum said.

He was the leader of this mission, a second year that had a bright future ahead of him. He was the marquis' sons. Astrid's memory was hazy when she looked up at him. Well, it’s not like she paid much attention to faces when she was growing up. Not when it came to the sons and daughters, anyway.

He had a chiselled chin and held an engraved sword and shield. Astrid looked closer at the engravings, especially the shield. It had a small hammer and blazing flames encased it. It was the sigil of the Marquis family, Lowery. They were a family that prided themselves in their advanced equipment. Judging by the quality of his sword and shield, that was clear.

Level 55 - Calum Lowery, Class: Warrior.

They leapt into the ocean. Thanks to the storm, it was a lot colder than usual. Astrid bit down on the mouthpiece of her respirator. It also held an additional effect that made it quite expensive.

Uncommon - Level 15 - Anti-Pressure Respirator: The APR is designed and enchanted to relieve the harsh pressure from the deep ocean.

Astrid wasn’t sure how it worked. Neither did she care. All she was worried about was it failing. As they travelled further down, the intense beating of the waves above was no more and she could finally get a good look at this town's bubble.

It was much larger than the first one they had entered for the examination. Astrid guessed, but it looked to be around three times bigger. They reached the bottom and quickly entered to not put more strain on the APR than needed.

Astrid took a breath of fresh air. The first thing she noticed was a sprawling forest, and thankfully, unlike the previous mission, there was no swamp in sight. Over the trees, the mountain was clearly visible. Clouds even formed around it. They spiralled around it, just like Ruitera and its sun.

Astrid, Leena, and the other second years waited until the others had changed back into their outfits as they stood in formation.

Astrid used Psych Domain and scouted out the area. It was clear, not a monster in sight. Not from her current range, anyway. From the previous mission, she had learnt to not fully rely on her matter sense. The image of that damned crocodile and its camouflaged scales entered her mind.

They all stood at the border of the bubble and where the trees began. Astrid carefully scrutinised Calum. Would he be capable of leading this mission? From the gossip of Gloria, it was apparently his first leading mission. It was a test from the headquarters to see if he had it in him to lead multiple units.

She wasn’t sure if he was confident, or he hid it well, but she couldn’t see a hint of nervousness in him.

With everyone dressed and ready, they set off into the forest.

“Scouting users, tell me if you noticed anything straight away,” Calum said. “Even if you think it might be nothing.”

Astrid alongside the others nodded.

With me and Leena being the strongest here, it’ll fall on our shoulders to take command if something goes wrong–Astrid was awakened from her thoughts when many red hearts made their appearance.

Judging by the strength of their heartbeat, and the thickness of the veins, they weren’t strong, not to her anyway. Astrid waited. She was curious to know how far she could detect enemies compared to the others. The creatures made it within thirty-feet before the other scouting users detected them.

They brandished their weapons. Some panicked, while others gripped their weapons with a faint tremble. It didn’t take long before their colourful scales emerged from behind the trees. With a quick look from Identify, they were the kobolds they had been warned of. They were crafty and loved using traps.

They had a thin snout, and teeth protruded from the side. Their size resembled the goblins she had faced before. Much like the goblin’s, their weapons were made from scrap materials they had salvaged from the Town. A thudding appeared from behind the newcomers. A kobold twice the size growled from behind the first line.

Level 40 - Kobold Chieftain.

A rare evolution straight off the bat. This is going to be fun. A heat bubbled within her as she excitedly glanced around at the monsters.

The kobold chieftain’s appearance signalled the start of the battle.