God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 254: Ambushed and Ambusher (2).

Staring at the creature, Cain could only come up with a single plan...

'I will have to kill it in a single blow...'

Despite his confidence, Cain knew killing such a powerful creature with a single blow would be impossible. The creature was just as strong as the {Abyssal Realm-Walker} he had battled against previously. He suspected it was even a bit stronger.

Killing it with a single strike wasn't very likely, but he wasn't alone this time. This time, he had the help of a very powerful friend...

If he went all out immediately, it would be possible to kill the beast in one fell swoop. Thinking over the plan, Cain nodded his head in satisfaction.

'If things go south, I can always use {Spatial Jump} and try again later, although it would only get harder.'

Letting out a sigh, Cain turned to Ignis who had a contemplative look on her face.

"I need you to buy me ten seconds, perhaps a little bit more. You need to last as long as you can— without dying of course."

She immediately frowned, "What did I say about suicide missions?"

Cain rolled his eyes, "Relax... As long as we do this right, you have nothing to worry about." Then he smiled and spoke in a strange tone,

"Or are you telling me you are scared of the beast?"

This seemed to strike a nerve in her, as her demeanor changed instantly.

Without saying another word, she turned back to stare at the creature with anger and bloodlust in her eyes.

Nodding in satisfaction, Cain spoke once again,

"Be ready on my signal..."

Seeing her nod, he relaxed behind the boulder they were hiding behind. It was not time for him to make preparations.

Opening his status screen, he scanned through his list of skills for the one that could deal the most damage in the shortest amount of time.

An idea struck his mind as he came across a certain set of skills he had obtained not too long ago. The evolved form of the {Art of Fire} skillset he had been building on.

The abilities in the skillset were the {Flame Orb} skill, then the {Implodong Star} and the {Vampiric Star}.

All three skills were interconnected, yet unique in their own way. Cain suspected the only reason the system grouped them together, was that there were very few differences between them when viewed through a magical lens.

{Flame Orbs} absorbed flame mana and compressed it to form a spinning ball of very hot flames that could pierce through solid defenses. However, the energy stored within the orbs of flame was still very volatile and if not controlled properly, it would result in dire consequences.

{Imploding Star} was the phenomenon that occurred when the energy within the {Flame Orb} had broken past a certain limit. The surrounding space wouldn't be able to handle the heat and pressure caused by the reality-warping force of the {Flame Orb} and would be forced to give way, producing a very destructive implosion.

{Vampiric Star} was some sort of middle ground between the two skills. Unlike the previous two, {Vampiric Star} couldn't do any damage by itself.

It was a bank for storing a lot of flame energy and releasing it all in one annihilating conflagration. The skill was not only very powerful but also very dangerous. Just like the {Flame Orbs} it absorbed flame mana, and like the {Imploding Star}, he compressed it to the point it affected the surrounding space.

However, without a limiter component, the magic circle was free to absorb as much frame energy as it wanted as long as there was flame energy to absorb. It borrowed this concept from the {Flame Orbs}. However, it achieved something the two earlier skills couldn't.

Stability...

With the {Vapmiric Star}, Cain was confident he would be able to bring almost any foe down as long as the environment was suitable and he had enough time to chant.

However, he planned to take it a step further...

Since he wanted to make a bang, he decided he would go all out...

'The first thing I will need is to gather enough flame elemental mana. I can use {Flame Orbs} to gather that, I think...'

'Then I will need to get close enough to deliver that strike. With Ignis drawing some attention, he would have a relatively least time.

"We move in thirty seconds..." Cain said out of the blue.

"Ehn..." She said with a frown. It was apparent she still wasn't pleased with the idea.

Chuckling a bit to himself, Cain began making mental preparations. To ensure the plan worked as he envisioned It, he would need to take every small detail into action and respond quickly should any problems come up.

Soon, the thirty seconds were up...

"Now!"

It is dashed out from behind the boulder. With the speed of a moving train, she ran at the creature with her top speed. Clouds of flames danced at her ankles, making it seem as though she was running on clouds.

The ground beneath her turned into puddles of magma with every step she took. In the blink of an eye, she was already upon the creature.

It didn't show any signs of panic. Instead, it sidestepped Ignis' deadly attack and whipped its stinger forward.

Jumping back as fast as she could, Ignis was ready to jump back when she was something that made her skin crawl. Before she could do anything about it, she was surrounded on all sides by a group of {Bloodeyed Death Beasts}.

'Fuck! It was suspecting an ambush?! What kind of creature is this?!'

Cain fought the urge to ask this question and focused on what was happening. Without getting any time to rest, Ignis' was bombarded from all sides.

Her body danced through the flurry of wild attacks as she used her legs, feet, fists, and even palms to lay waste to the creatures before her. There were about ten of them, all of which were very much more dangerous than normal creatures.

The worst part was that every single one of them was many times stronger than her in terms of levels. A random touch should have been enough to turn her into meat paste.

However, it seemed as though she had turned into a burning streak that slipped between the bodies of monsters. Grabbing the stinger of one of the creatures, she grunted heavily as she lifted it off the ground and used it to smack another creature in the head.

However, even more creatures stabbed their stingers at her. She skillfully weaved past some of them. However, the speed of the stingers wasn't something she could contend with yet.

Four stingers slammed against her armor, producing a metallic ring...

Blood gushed out from her mouth as she was flung backward. Despite the weight of the attacks, the armor was spotless without a single wear or tear on it. However, it was clear she hadn't come out of the situation unharmed.

Gritting her teeth, she rushed back into the ferocious melee.

On the other hand, Cain hurriedly rushed to try filling the {Vampiric Star} with enough energy.

Small rapidly spinning orbs of flames orbited around a red star the size of a basketball, slowly pouring into it as Cain concentrated.

'Faster!'

His goal wasn't to fill the {Vampiric Star} up to capacity. He just had to make sure there was enough flame energy to kill the creature immediately.

The orbs of flames continued phasing through the {Vampiric Star} while Ignis tried to survive the onslaught of rabid beasts against her.

A sensation of heaviness suddenly came across him. This familiar sensation told him that the {Vampiric Star} now had a substantial amount of flames stored within it.

'Not enough! More!'

Cain drained his mana like his life depended on it. Despite how annoying Ignis was, Cain didn't want to send her to an early grave if he could.

And so, his veins turned red hot as a furious amount of flames burned through his spirit and into the ball of fire floating in his palms.

'Done!'

Then he took it a step further...

Cain activated the {Flame of Darkness}...

***

{Flames of Darkness} (passive): A spell that transcends its level in potency and power. You have combined the element of darkness and the element of the flames to birth a heretic spell that possesses the power to destroy the world.

Also known as the Evil Flame of the Sorcerer, the Flames of Darkness will consume everything in their path, including he who conjures it. The flames of darkness cannot be used alone and must be linked to a skill or spell before it is used. Boosts the magic damage of a spell or skill by 1000%. The {Flames of Darkness} will last until they are dispelled.

Costs: 5000MP per minute.

Cooldown: 3 days.

***

Light was stolen from the world around him...

A dark star, burning in all its majestic splendor floated right above his palms, filling him with pride, satisfaction, and fear.

Blood rushed into his face as he felt the urge to throw up. He was feeling a bit lightheaded due to expanding a lot of mana rapidly.

The dark star was like a tear in reality. Cain didn't know what the outcome of hitting something with this was, but he knew it couldn't be pretty...

Cain jumped with the speed of a bullet fresh from the chamber and was airborne in a split second. He kept the large creature who hadn't engaged with Ignis since the initial attack in his sights.

The dark star floating above his head glowed fiercely with dark light. Its radiance consumed the world around it with a cold heat that was almost unnoticeable.

Activating {Wind Weaver}, Cain remained airborne for a while then stretched his hand forward.

A spinning ball of black flames erupted from his outstretched hand. The flame orb contracted and collapsed upon itself violently until it began to twinkle in and out of existence.

Blood seeped through his lips as the strain of holding the skill bore down on him. Cain knew the creature had sensed him since the beginning and had orchestrated a trap in response.

Its plan had most likely been to catch both him and Ignis. However, Cain had thought two steps ahead and reversed their roles...

Now, it was really hard to tell who the ambusher and the ambushed were...

A little over ten seconds had gone by, and Cain was finally ready.

He immediately screamed in his mind,

'Run!'

The metal link between him and Ignis relayed the message to her instantaneously. She disengaged from the creatures and immediately booked it.

The creatures tried to pursue, but the situation changed at that moment...

A dark star fell towards the fragmented earth...

The lead {Bloodeye Death Beast} bent its powerful limbs in an attempt to lunge at Cain and bring him down, but before it could do anything, the dark star fell onto its body like a shooting star...

There was a moment of silence...

Then a world-trembling explosion came after. Dark frames rolled like the waves of an ocean and consumed the body of the creature and its menagerie. The flames devoured everything in sight and didn't distinguish between friend and foe.

It came upon Ignis in a flash...

She wasn't fast enough to evade the stream of black flames, but luckily, Cain hadn't left her to die.

Cain dove down from the sky with twice as much speed as he had used in his ascension. Grabbing her with an arm, he activated {Spatial Jump} and the next moment, they twinkled out of existence.

Not even a second later, the wave of black flames washed over their previous location...