The Harvester

Chapter 53: Cold Star Manifestation

Rakna unfurled his wings, which were even more imposing and striking in that form. It wasn’t every day you saw a werewolf with a pair of feathered wings.

He crouched and gathered mana in his legs before jumping as high as he could. He then used a few trees to jump even higher and started flapping his wings. He flew up while holding Sonata and when he felt like he was high enough, he looked down at the forest and his Fabled Sight locked on his targets.

Even now, his Stealth was still active and, coupled with his massive sense value reaching over 330 during his full transformation, someone would need to have an absurd insight to be able to detect him; at least for someone who wasn’t too high leveled. And those Dreorins were no exception.

While flying in circles, Rakna first tried to channel mana into his weapon, wanting to see if he could produce a skill like his Reinforcement. Sonata began to glow as an azure aura enveloped it. Soon enough, a System window appeared.

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Through executing a specific action, you have learned a new skill; Weapon Reinforcement.

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Weapon Reinforcement (Lv.1): One of the most basic applications of mana. By infusing your mana into a weapon, it is possible to increase its sharpness and toughness as long as it’s able to withstand the toll.

Minimum Cost: 1 MP per min.

Note: Depending on the weapon, the durability will be more or less decreased.

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Rakna checked Sonata’s attributes only to see that the attack value had not changed. ‘It seems that much like body reinforcement; weapon reinforcement isn’t managed by the System. This means I’ll have to get the feel for it by myself,’ he thought then proceeded to cast the spell that would decide if he could kill these dinosaurs or not.

“[Cold Star Manifestation,]” he intoned and clenched his hands as he felt all sorts of burdens being imposed on his body. His mana flowed out of his body before swirling around him.

That finally seemed to put a stop to the Dreorins’ fight as they looked up in haste after sensing the surge of mana, followed by a wave of cold air that even made them shudder.

“[Internal Release,]” Rakna added and the mana around him was sucked back inside his body.

Then, it happened. While the tips of his tails and ears remained white, the rest of his fur slowly changed color and turned into a blue as clear and glittering as ice. His body began to produce so much cold that it covered the entire forest below him into a thick fog.

“I can’t use Dáinsleif yet so…” Rakna extended his free hand outward and activated his magic. However, this time it was a bit different.

“[Mystic Star Make,]” he muttered and a long polearm appeared in his hand. It was a long double-edged spear with two pairs of small razors below the main blade and intricate patterns all over its surface. The color was mostly the same as the usual cold energy but this time it also had a white outline to it.

Rakna’s eyes shined golden as he held his two polearms. The new star-construct in his left hand radiated an aura considerably higher than what he had used against the golem.

The Dreorins both instantly felt oppressed by the raw power it emitted but they weren’t the apex predators of the area for nothing. The two creatures made an unspoken agreement and cast one magic at the same time.

Rakna promptly felt something trying to drag him down from the sky and he instantly recalled the magic Aquila had used. ‘Anchor,’ he thought and instead of going against the pressure, he did something that surprised both dinosaurs.

He pumped a great deal of mana into his wings and plunged using Anchor as a convenient speed boost. At the same time, he made sure to focus as much soul power as he could into his weapons as he descended.

The two Dreorins were surprised by his behavior but they happily welcomed it. The stegosaur acted first as Rakna got closer. It lifted its front legs and slammed them on the ground at full force. At that time, the Tier 7 spell, Eruption, was conjured.

From underground, massive walls of stone surfaced and destroyed a large portion of the forest in the process. Rakna’s eyes widened as he watched the incredulously fast stone walls surround him in the air.

It was the first time had seen a magic with such a scale but that didn’t stop him from executing his plan. Right before the wall could enclose him, for the split of a second, his body released even more cold mist that entirely shrouded his figure and made it impossible for the Dreorins to see anything.

Instantly after, the stone walls collided in the air and broke apart. Countless debris then started falling toward the ground and the stegosaur could only snarl angrily since both the fog and the dust made it now impossible to see if the werewolf had escaped or not.

The triceratops chose to clear everything and cast a tornado that blew all of it away. But for some reason, the fog was very persistent and seemed to always come back when dispersed.

When the sky was cleared, the Dreorins grimly noticed that there was nothing in sight. They looked at their surroundings, trying to hear or sense anything, but unexpectedly, the danger still came from above.

A condensed volume of blue mist hit the ground between the two of them and before they could react, the mist had already turned into a frosty werewolf wielding two spears.

Rakna growled and, while reinforcing his limbs as much as he could, rushed toward the triceratops at his left. He poured mana into Sonata and swung it at the beast’s neck. The blade did hit its target but only left a shallow cut, not deep enough to cut any vitals.

Rakna clicked his tongue and kicked the ground to jump over the triceratops as it retaliated with a tail swipe that would have at least made him critically injured. While in the air, he flapped his wings and took his distance again before rearing the star-spear.

“Gungnir!” He shouted and the spear rocketed toward the triceratops. The latter reacted quickly and conjured a magic that raised a magically reinforced wall in front of him. It was a Tier 8 magic specifically made for defense. It thought it would be enough to hold against the spear.

But, just before the tip of the spear could hit the wall, Rakna flicked his fingers upward and the spear changed course right away. The triceratops was unable to do anything as the spear pierced its back and discharged a blast of cold energy.

The explosion that resulted was at least three times bigger than the one made by Dáinsleif. Rakna reflexively covered his eyes because of the blinding light. Since he had still his Fabled Sight active, the effects were magnified to him.

Then, during his momentary blindness, something deep within him reacted violently. His instincts and soul were warning him of an impending doom. Purely following those urges, Rakna’s senses went overdrive and happened to pick up something coming from behind him.

He turned around as fast as possible and put his wings in front of him as several earth spikes were thrust at him. All of them went through his wings, causing more pain than he expected, but they stopped before they could reach his body.

He snarled and activated Stealth before turning into mist and blending in with the fog, just like he had done earlier when falling. The spikes that were stabbing him naturally dropped to the ground while he simply became incorporeal.

The stegosaur thundered in fury and glanced at the Dreorin it had been fighting until now. The triceratops was not dead yet but after the explosion, a huge hole had made its appearance in its body and it was only a matter of time before it died.

The stegosaur had no idea of what it should do. A lot of its stamina and mana had already been exhausted while fighting both enemies. It barely had enough energy to perform one last powerful attack but if it couldn’t even see where its opponent was, it wouldn’t matter either way.

After an excruciatingly long minute of silence, the blue mist made its resurgence above the stegosaur. It shaped the silhouette of Rakna who unhesitatingly thrust Sonata at the Dreorin.

The ancient dinosaur responded in kind, using parts of its remaining mana to reinforce itself, and lashed out a tail swipe that Rakna wouldn’t even have been able to see if it wasn’t for Fabled Sight.

Seeing that he couldn’t avoid it in time, he dropped his weapon temporarily and turned into a wolf in midair. The sudden change in his size allowed him to evade the attack and he turned back into a werewolf afterward whilst catching Sonata between his fangs mid-transformation and stabbing the stegosaur’s eye.

The Dreorin roared in pain as the cold energy carried by the blade pierced through its flesh. In a moment of panic, it tried to use every last bit of mana it had into one last magic. A torrent of energy was released that shredded everything nearby and the whole forest’s land started shaking.

Rakna immediately flew away but not before pulling out six of the exploding discs he had bought. He threw them at the beast in one swift motion and they all exploded on contact. But the stegosaur struggled through the blow and calmly prepared to cast his magic.

“Shit,” Rakna uttered. “I only have ten seconds left…” His mind hurriedly raced through several scenarios but before he could go through any of them, he spotted a peculiar yellowish fog getting mixed with his own.

The unfamiliar fog encircled the Dreorin that inadvertently inhaled it and the results were instantaneous. It stopped moving and Rakna snorted as he dashed through the air. He landed on the beast’s back and pressed his hand on its neck without resistance.

“Good job, little guy,” he muttered and a red light flashed under his hand. “[King of Spades,]” with these three words, an ethereal blade shot out from his palm and beheaded the Dreorin in one clean cut. Rakna immediately felt his body getting stronger thanks to the gained experience. He sighed in relief and his fur promptly shed its blue color and reverted to black.

His eyes also went back to purple from golden. Although Fabled Sight had no cost, it still was hard on his spirit to always keep it active. He would have to practice it.

As Rakna was about to open all the System notifications that Alexa had hidden for him as to not bother him during the fight, his instinct made him arch his back as a blade of wind passed by and slashed dozens of trees on its path.

Rakna looked at the source of the attack with a frown and saw the triceratops slowly getting back up, although visibly struggling to even keep its legs straight.

“Give up,” he said coldly and used his Star Make to craft three small knives. “It’s over,” he added and threw them at the blatant hole in the Dreorin’s body. They stabbed into its bare flesh and exploded just like the other constructs, albeit in a far weaker fashion.

The behemoth finally succumbed and collapsed on the ground lifeless. After that, Rakna sat down cross-legged on the dead stegosaur’s back and brought up the numerous System windows.