Chapter 312
The red aura around me dissipates, and in turn, my entire body feels like it just went through hours of intense training.
My mana bar is far from depleted, but my mouth feels dry, and my head starts to ache.
I stumble in my steps for a moment, and my eyes threaten to shut, but I catch myself before falling and keep walking straight ahead.
I wince at the sharp pain that flows through my legs, but activate my self-regeneration skill to try and heal my sore muscles as best I can; as expected, it hardly helps. Abby reacts instantly too, using her restoration skill. Its green healing magic expands beneath my feet before I get another word in.
The soreness and body fatigue start to fade as I face my teammates.
Behind me, high in the sky, red trails of magic residue stay stagnant and slowly swirl in the light nighttime breeze. It gives off a weak and spread-out energy signature but doesn't dissolve into the atmosphere like normal mana or even Demonic Energy.
It's just left behind in trails, following where I previously was.
The healer speaks.
"So how do you feel? And how does the buff feel? I assume it lives up to its description?"
Even with a full restore from Abby, my joints feel stiff, and my muscles are sore. I'm much less fatigued, but my body is still completely exhausted... So that's a good sign. If I needed to jump into battle right now, the minor side effects wouldn't be much of an issue. However, it feels like this kind of fatigue is something only a real meal and sleep can heal over time.
It's a good thing I didn't go all out and only tested this power to a minor extent. It seems the drawbacks of using aggressive amounts of the Red Hydra's energy will have unforeseen fatigue and stress on the body.
"We'll only be able to use this buff in emergencies, or near the end of a battle as a final last-ditch effort. Even after the full restore, I'm not back to 100%. However, the power increase was incredible... and you won't feel the negative side effects until you deactivate the ability. I don't have anything to test it on or compare it to, but it was like I was moving over twice as fast and wielding denser magic while only using my normal energy output. The Hydra's mana intertwined with my own and boosted every movement and attack."
I go into more detail about the whole experience one more time, preparing them to face the Hydra, assuming they'll experience the same mind-bending reality shift that I did.
Arie steps up.
"This makes sense. I'll go next. I know the risks and trust I can handle it with your help."
He turns to Abby as she begins glowing green to power up her restoration circle.
"No wonder you have so many people after you."
Chester lets out a nervous chuckle as four flashing red lights illuminate the desert sky above us. Below, four hunters zip across the sand, testing out their newfound power. I reply.
"Yeah, I'm sure us successfully absorbing these stones will only bring more problems in the future. Though, I'm grateful that it will give us the edge in the short term."
My teammates all come back, showing the exact same signs of weariness that I did, all to be healed by Abby's restoration moments later. They're all brought back to their normal healed states, but the same hint of fatigue remains. Maria has a cheerful grin on her face.
"We're more than ready now. It's like we all just ranked up again! This strength and power is on another level!"
I smile back as the others agree with her and close the case with two gems remaining before tossing it into my item storage.
Each of them shares their experiences while testing out their new buff for just under a minute. It's been a long day no matter how you frame it. We need sleep before confronting the Sector leaders tomorrow.
My four teammates and Chester all leave to go back to the house. I stay behind, letting them know I'll catch up soon. The streaks of red energy left behind in the desert are very interesting. No amount of flames, MP absorption, or wind magic can get them fully out of sight. They only fade and spread out. Like toxic waste, unable to be destroyed or dissipated entirely, clogging up the air.
After a few minutes of attempting to clear the residue, I shrug and move on to greater matters. No one ventures out into the desert this far, and we'll be leaving the city tomorrow anyway. It should dissolve or be blown away by the winds given enough time. There is one last preparation that needs to be taken care of. I silently air-step back to the Abyss.
While running from the massive worm monster previously, I drained my Demonic Energy stores to 0. Although I could probably absorb 1 or 2 units from the dungeons back in Solara, filling up from the source will be much more efficient.
I won't venture into the Abyss; I'm not looking for a fight. I'm just looking to fill my core to the brim, making sure I'm fully prepared for what's to come.
About an hour and a half of scouring the edge of the Abyss goes by before I take out 4 Demonic Wolves and fill my core up past 40 Units.
I'm missing out on precious hours of sleep, but I'm pretty glad I didn't go through that whole soul-bonding process with any Demonic Energy in my core. Even with my skills deactivated, I'm unsure what all the magic pressure would have done to my body while my mind was elsewhere.
I return to the house to find everyone else already sleeping. Worn out from the day's work, my eyes close and I soon fall asleep as well.
—
Hours later, I'm woken up by Maria's voice and her lightly shaking me.
"It's time to go, the sun is about to rise."
