Critical: Ages Below Critical - Chapter 17.1

Critical: Ages Below Critical II (L.O.R.D) - Chapter 17 Part 1

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[Six Years Ago – Extreme North – Congealed Stench Cave]

That orange lightning that is tight on her heels feels like Death wielding its sickle, brushing it past her ears constantly. The wind sounds like it can cut her throat at any time.

Teresa pushes forth at full speed. Her skirt of the goddess rustles as she speeds over the snowy ground, making her resemble a surging lotus over the snow. Teresa dares not pause, for the ghoul-like shadow behind her shocks her with his speed. In all her years, Teresa has never seen any soul master with such an unnerving speed in all the territories of Aslan. Even Qi La, without triggering his talent, is unable to reach such a speed.

Yet this is not the most horrifying thing.

What horrifies her the most is that, the orange flash she is unable to see clearly, its gift is still shrouded in the unknown. The volatile soul powers and such an unbeatable speed is merely his normal battle condition.

And until the very end, the person hunting her has not employed any soul powers of the water element or even soul beasts. His hunt is simple and effective, direct yet sharp. Teresa finally understands why the Silver Priests will let a monster like this await her. Because in such a frenzied state of physical combat, her Skirt of the Goddess, one of the top ancient soul weapons in Aslan that can shield against any indirect attack is utterly useless. It becomes a beautiful dress that is inadequate and can be ripped into shreds by the storming soul powers of the enemy.

And yet, Teresa is clear that if she continues running away like this, sooner or later her enemy will catch up. This is due to the overwhelming amount of soul powers required to maintain her speed in order to escape, and when her soul powers cannot keep up, the insanely sharp soul powers behind her will slit her throat in a matter of seconds. Even now, Teresa can feel her soul powers depleting exponentially, but the soul powers Teresa can pinpoint of the monster behind her if as violent and surging as when he just left the cave. It is as if he is in a constant pinnacle in his battle state……yet how is this possible?

Teresa’s eyes close and one can tell that there is a storming blizzard in her pupils from the way her eyelids twitch. She extends her sensory powers to the limit, yet what she can sense is still the violent and complicated, chaotic soul powers. It feels as difficult as attempting to identify the movement of wind in a cyclone. She clenches her teeth and with a sudden halt, she turns –

“Screech---“

A few shrill calls of insects’ scratch against the peaceful snow-filled landscape. The orange shadow of lightning stills instantly before retreating at full force. However, it is much too late. The voluptuous female body that had been of such charms a few moments ago seem like a sack of skin pierced through by countless knives. Numerous sharp tentacles shoot out from Teresa’s body will shrieking, colossal mantis-like forelegs increase and expand from her body, morphing into sharp blades. Dozens of sharp dagger-like feelers pierces through her face like petals. The shrill screeches are heard without end.

A series of dull and badly mutilated sounds are heard.

The bright light on the empty snow-filled field is blinding. Nothing moves as the blizzard engulfs all sound, leaving only silence behind. Two dark shadows can be seen on the vast field – one of a tall and strongly-built man, the other a barely distinguishable silhouette of a woman. However, blade after blade shoot from the woman’s silhouette, continuously stabbing into the man’s body.

Only Teresa’s full lips remain intact on her disfigured face and curves up lightly. Of course she has a reason to feel proud – her control of her darkness state now is far better than the young girl who lacked experience all those years ago.

However, her smile only blossomed on her face for a few moments before they freeze into a stiff curve. She stares at the man whose body is pierced by blades press towards her menacingly as if he is uninjured and unfeeling. The blades cut through his chest, shoulders, thighs and jut out from his back. The sound of metal blades rubbing against bodes unsettles her.

The man reaches out his lean and strong hand and Teresa’s vision blurs. She feels a sharp ripping pain on her right chest. As if made of thin blades, the man’s hand sinks quickly and effortlessly into her chest. Blood erupts in Teresa’s throat as she clearly feels the man’s fingers search with ease in her body before finally clenching tight on her collar bones and pulling.

Carnage sprays between the white heavens and earth.

Nether stares firmly at the strange girl before him, oh no, two strange girls.

The two of them stopped all movements after stating their hunger. One of them is currently holding Nether’s gaze – her large eyes are murky and lost, there is no focus in her vision and it looms over Nether like a thick and sticky web.

The disgust and dank horror in the pit of Nether’s stomach becomes more volatile, but he cannot stop himself from staring at them. He cannot move his gaze away at all, it is as if he is faced with a black hole and is rooted there.  He lifts a hand and a dagger of ice explodes from the found. With a flick of his wrist, it fires at the young girl. However, she does nothing to avoid the attack; even her eyeballs do not tremble as the blade pierces into her nose bridge with a crack. The cracking of bones echoes across the silent landscape.

The girl remains still. A few moments later, her blood melts the blade. The bones between her eyes has shattered, leaving behind a dark and bloody hole.

Nether cannot help but bend as he dry heaves. The dank fear surges out from his stomach.

“­Creak--- creak----“

The sound of twisting joints can be heard.

Nether lifts his head. The young girl who has been so still she seemed dead a moment before is now stiffly twisting her body. Her vision remains murky and the bloodied hole is still unsettling, almost connecting her eyes together. She turns slowly as her other body faces Nether. A face identical to the undamaged one of the girl before faces Nether again, directing the muddied and sticky gaze at him.

Nether’s pupils tighten and the golden imprints emerge on his right arm. He slices his arm down in the air and countless sharp icicles appear beneath the girl, growing quickly like bamboo shoots.

Pained cries emit from the girl’s throat, thin and sharp like a ray of light shattering the stillness of the field of snow, yet a moment later, everything becomes deadly silent again.

Under the blinding white rays of winter, a few thin icicles have pierced through the girl’s thighs and through her body. Two jab out from her chest, one from her beck and another from her right cheek. Her body falls back as blood surges out from her body.

Nether’s fear increases. The command of the Silver Priests was to bring the new corroders back to Gelanerte. Although he knows naught if the thing before him is human or monster, he dares not kill her carelessly.

He can only swallow the disgust he feels surging in his stomach as he watches the icicles melt. The cracking sound of bones twisting can be heard once again. The badly wounded young girl turns her other body forth again.

Nether’s pupils tighten immediately as he sees that the bloodied hole in between her eyes has disappeared and the girl’s face is intact again. She continues to stare at Nether with those muddied eyes; the strange and cold gaze tightens its hold on Nether like the coldest of wires.

Nether doesn’t even notice when his hands begin to shake uncontrollably.

The strong tug from before sends Teresa out a dozen or so metres. Her frail body seems to be a loose kite, falling from the sky with blood spattering. They splash onto the snow-covered ground and congeals into brilliant red flowers of ice. She smashes onto boulder uncovered in the snow. Her vision blurs and turns black. All the bones in her body seem to shatter as a tidal wave of pain engulfs her vision and hearing. Those sharp blades on her body resemble burnt spider feelers as they retreat noisily into her bloodied body. There is a large gap on her shoulder covered in blood, even her collar bone and the muscles on them have been ripped off by the powerful hands. She wants to call for Nether’s help, yet with her throat filled with blood plasma, she can only emit gurgling sounds.

In Teresa’s blurred vision, the orange shadow dashes to her again like lightning. The dim shadow raises his hands as sharp as blades, yet they do not fall on her.

Apart from the sound of the howling wind, only hurried breathing can be heard on the snowy ground.

Teresa regains her vision gradually and she sees an almost naked young man standing before her. His red hair is perched atop his head like flames and his eyes are tender and bright. His crimson pupils are warm and wet like gems while his brows are thick and soft like the fur of a snow fox. His nose is tall and his full lips are opened slightly, making him seem innocent and guiltless.

However, Teresa can clearly see the storming desire in his eyes. It is the most primal and intense desire – the heavy sexual desire between men and women.

Instantaneously, Teresa’s pupils become stark white. The blizzard fills the spaces in her eyes as she clearly feels the uncontrollable soul powers swarming in the man’s body. She closes her eyes and senses the orientation of his soul powers, “right here!” she lifts her hand and touches the left of his bare abdomen with the last of her strength. That was the location of his soul’s seal that she just sensed. She sends out sharp tendrils of soul powers from the tips of her fingers. The man can only feel the coldness of something piercing into his seal like toxic snakes before he falls heavily onto the black rocks.

Teresa heaves a sigh of relief as her soul powers reaches the limit. It feels as if she took a stroll around death. Closing her eyes, she allows her energy to deplete knowing that she will heal gradually.