Haki immediately crawled onto his feet and ran away from the monsters, heading in the direction of the distant walls of the cavern.
The monsters behind burst into action as well, shaking the ground and filling the air with their cursed hisses as they did.
“AHHHHHH!” Haki screamed just as one of the creatures stabbed the ground next to where he was running and, frighteningly, the ancient sword almost managed to cut his arm as it crashed into the ground.
Haki ran for what felt like an exhausted eternity as he barely managed to dodge the barrage of attacks the monsters were loosing on him.
His heart raced, each breath was like fire to his lungs and his legs threatened to seize from pain but he kept running.
*Mara!* Haki cried as he scrambled away from the pursuing terror.
[Yes?]
*What are those things?!*
[Those are warriors from a time that has since been lost. They once fought in a war where the sky was set aflame and the lands were torn asunder to form the world as you know it.]
*Why aren’t they dead?* Haki rolled just in time to avoid being impaled by one of the seven swords behind him.
[They have been revived by a primordial magic. One that churns within their ancient hearts.]
*What should I do?*
The wall was rapidly approaching and Haki couldn’t see any kind of escape or even a hole.
It was all just rock.
[It would be optimal if you managed to escape alive]
*Where is the exit?!*
Maranam remained silent which made Haki’s heart sink.
He eventually reached the stone wall which he desperately hugged while turning back to face the Undead Dragons one of which tried to impale him.
Haki narrowly avoided death by ducking beneath the huge blade which excavated any rock it came into contact with.
Another Dragon Warrior then swung its sword at Haki who ducked beneath it as well, pushing his exhausted body far beyond its limits.
Two of the Dragon Warriors then accidentally struck each other’s swords, giving a panicking Haki an opening and an idea.
In an act of sheer madness, he ran towards the warriors and again, two of the seven swords collided only for those two to block the remaining five in a fanatic series of collisions.
Haki ran up to the closest warrior, who tried grabbing the boy with a clawed hand. However, Haki rolled forward, avoiding the grab and narrowly avoiding getting cut in two by a sword that descended onto the warrior he was engaged with, cleaving most of its neck open.
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[Name: ???
Race: Undead Dragon Warrior
Coalescence Level: 100
Health Points: 4]
Haki summoned [Maranam’s Aruval] (25DMG) and cut the last threads of flesh that kept the warrior’s head attached to its body.
Time then seemingly crawled to a standstill.
A wave of excruciating pain then washed over Haki’s body and his vision blurred to near darkness but within this darkness, he could see words.
[You have levelled up 20x!]
[You have gained 4x Cycle Shards!]
[Name: Haki
Race: Human
Coalescence Level: 21
Available Cycle Shards: 4
Health Points (HP): 290/290
Willpower (W): 100/100
DPH (Damage Per Hit): 100
Defence Rating: 10%
Equipment: [Training Garbs] (+9%)
Skills and Spells: [Maranam’s Breath] (-50HP, +50DMG)
Artefacts: [Maranam’s Aruval] (25DMG + 5 for every Coalescence Level)]
The pain from before rapidly subsided and the relief that followed came with it more bright words which were clear even in Haki’s racing mind.
[That is a list of skills which you can acquire by drawing from the power of the Cycle. There are thirty in total and five tiers among them with tier one being available from level one. Tier two is made available at level ten. Three at twenty-five, four at fifty and five at seventy-five.] Maranam explained as Haki looked over every spell.
Two stood out and those were the ones that he chose.
The first was a basic healing spell and the second allowed him to conjure a screen of black smoke.
[Do you want to acquire [Healing Touch] (-1W, +10HP), [Umbral Veil] (-1W)?]
*Yes!*
Time returned to normal and Haki watched as his dagger grew to become a longsword with a forward curve.
Emanating from it was white smoke which Haki now knew possessed the power of death.
[Willpower (W): 99/100]
He looked up and watched as the remaining Dragon Warriors swung their blades towards him.
Haki immediately cast [Umbral Veil] and threw himself backwards as the warriors all struck the ground where he stood only moments prior.
Trying to block at of their attacks was too risky since his newly extended sword could possibly break and he didn’t know how to deflect so he relied on the one thing that had gotten him this far.
Narrowly avoiding damage.
The warriors all raised their swords and- in another act of madness, Haki sprinted towards them.
Several of their swords loudly clashed above as Haki ran beneath the nearest warrior.
But, as if it had learnt from the mistakes of the others, the one he was beneath jumped backwards, leaving Haki open to the barrage of incoming attacks.
He surrounded so casting [Umbral Veil] wasn’t going to help so he raised his sword to block one of the swords while praying.
One of the warriors struck his sword and, while the Aruval didn’t break, Haki was sent crashing to the side but- to his surprise, he managed to land on his feet a few dozen meters away from the warriors.
[That… is the power of Coalescence. By absorbing the fallen warrior’s Cycle Shards, you gained some of the power that drives creation itself. Now you stand stronger and faster than ever before.] A seemingly out of breath Maranam explained and this in turn answered how Kutsunga was able to kick Haki so quickly.
The dragon warriors all leapt towards him and, in defiance, he blocked another of their sword swings which catapulted him towards another which opened its maw to eat the young man and it was here that he decided to forego whatever sanity he had left.
He jumped into the warrior's large mouth, narrowly avoiding its large teeth and, not a moment later, five swords impaled it with Haki stabbing it from within.
The swords of the warriors all just barely missed him as the dragon which had eaten him thrashed around only to eventually die as it was riddled with holes.
[You have levelled up 20x!]
[You have gained 4x Cycle Shards!]
Haki ignored Maranam’s voice as he jumped out of the now-dead dragon.
He felt faster and stronger and his vision was clearer than ever.
But the dragons were stronger and faster.
One of them abandoned its sword and just punched Haki, launching him into the Claw of another who slashed across the boy’s body sending his body tumbling to the side.
[HP: 490/310]
Haki let out a pained scream but was surprised to see, as he rolled on the ground, that he wasn’t in as much pain as he expected.
Yes, his chest had a large gash across it but he wasn’t bleeding as much as one would expect and could still move quite freely.
So, with a stubborn Vigour, he challenged the remaining dragons by glaring into their hollow eyes with his own.
He was going to survive.
He was going to get strong and then he was going to humiliate his father for what he had done!
