God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 324: Carving a Trail of Blood.

Cain's eyes were filled with killing intent as he called the {Heart of Scourge} from his {Armament Armory}, and activated {Riding Tempest}.

The first boost of speed hit him immediately. Flashes of lightning enveloped his legs as his body accelerated.

The blades in his hands danced beautifully as they drew electrifying arcs across the air. In that moment, Cain had activated {Lightning Thief}. {Lightning Thief} was a skill he had gotten from consuming the mana core of the {Manticore of Sky Purgatory}. It gave him the power to steal elemental lightning from his surroundings and make it his own to use as he pleased.

It was very similar to lightning manipulation. However, he couldn't generate this lightning himself. If there was no lightning elemental energy nearby, he would be unable to use the skill.

This downside was made obsolete by the fact that he could also use the skill to store lightning charges temporarily. Also, his {Elemental Vault} made it possible for him to store even more lightning elemental mana.

Although the concentration of lightning mana wasn't very high here, it was still present. As such, arcs of lightning clung to the surface of the {Hand of Stingè}.

The {Savage Tigers} bared their fangs at Cajn as they clashed. Clad in the metal exterior of the {Heart of Scourge}, he was like a Devil God reborn in the flesh.

Sparks and afterimages were left behind as he dove into the herd of aether beasts, severing limbs and taking heads as rivers of blood flowed.

Still, the {Savage Tigers} proved their mettle. Before Cain could claim his tenth victim, he could feel the {Savage Tigers} withdraw all of a sudden.

'Hm?' Looking all around him, he realized that they had broken into groups of five. Some were retreating, while the remaining were attempting to surround him thoroughly, completely cutting him off from Evangeline.

'Such intellect!'

By doing this, he will also have less room to move around and will be forced into close-quarters brawling with them. As they were much bigger than he was, it was only natural they would think like this. The others that had pulled away had only done so because they also had a role to play in keeping Cain pressured.

{Wind Tunnel} acted as targeting assistance for the {Savage Tigers}. As long as they could lock onto their target, so long as their target wasn't faster than the projectile, it would hit a majority of the time.

Cain had only ever used long-range attacks on the {Savage Tigers}, and as a result, they had fallen under the impression that he was a mage, and would be weaker in close combat.

'Smart. However, they failed to take a few things into account.'

A nasty grin appeared under his helmet as he allowed the {Savage Tigers} to proceed with their plans.

Soon, he was properly surrounded. Claws descended toward his head like raindrops, covering the sky above him in darkness. At the same time, various parts of his body tingled as wooden and bone spears flew at him from all directions

However, Cain had more than a few tricks up his sleeve for dealing with enemies like these. Steel spikes exploded from the ground, impaling a few {Savage Tigers} and forcing the rest to jump away.

He pulled {Maelstrom} out of his inventory and took a deep breath. Arrows of concentrated cosmic water flew away from his bowstring. He fired off a swift barrage of arrows in quick succession, knocking all the flying spears to the ground before the {Savage Tigers} that surrounded him could do anything about it.

Cain didn't stop there as he continued releasing arrows. The spikes of metal were destroyed, and the {Savage Tigers} that still had him surrounded pounced forward with fury.

To their amazement, he danced in their midst, always staying one step ahead of them. When he couldn't dodge, his neck was always saved by a swift golden glint that appeared from nowhere.

In a few seconds, the {Savage Tigers} that tried to snipe him from afar had the tables turned on them in the worst fashion possible. They ended up being the ones dead on the ground, filled with holes.

The slick, streamlined body of {Maelstrom} disappeared in a flash of light stored in the {Armament Armory} until it was needed once again.

"Now..." Cain's words wormed their way into the ears of the slightly frightened Aether beasts.

Since his face was hidden behind the helmet of the {Heart of Scourge}, there was no way for them to know what he looked like. All they knew, was that a fearsome demon had come to murder them all.

"Let's make this fight bloody interesting!"

Cain had taken a liking to hand-to-hand combat after his most recent battle with the {Chaos Orc}. The creature was not only skilled with weapons like the axe and daggers, it could throw hands very well. It could do this so well, that during their fight, Cain had found himself completely overwhelmed at times during close-quarter combat.

Cain had no formal training. The only training he had ever received was with his master all those years ago. However, when it came to the art of fighting and battle, he was a natural-born talent.

He had managed to pick up a portion of the essence behind the hand-to-hand fighting style of the {Chaos Orc} when he had activated his [Ki Fire] ability.

Hence, he was eager to try it out. The nature of his [Ki Fire] made it so that every blow he threw out was akin to a critical hit multiplied by two. A reduction in seventy percent of defense was no small thing.

A creature's defenses were its most important lifeline. It was just as, if not more important than its vitality. Once its defenses were rendered useless, it was almost a matter of time before it died.

Cain took in a deep breath as he extended his left arm and tucked his right arm in close. His knees were slightly bent, and his legs were spread apart. His toes dug into the soft ground, and his eyes pierced through the soul of whatever gazed into them.

The {Savage Tigers} let a collective roar loose as they activated their {Frenzy} skill together. {Frenzy} was a skill that incited the energy within their blood, boosting their physical capabilities and their ability to wield aether. The intensity of its power increased the more {Savage Tigers} activated it in tandem.

The only down side to this is that they lost their reasoning the longer it was kept active.

"Yes... Let us lose ourselves in this battle together!" Cain murmured to himself with a grin.

Flashes of electricity danced around his body. In that split second, the intensity of the flashes increased. Cain turned into a bolt of lightning as he tore into the group of aether beasts.

There was no saving for them. The difference was just too much, regardless of how hard they struggled or fought. A single blow created an explosion. Anywhere Cain's fists landed, an explosion of blood, flesh, and bones was created.

Anybody relatively skilled in martial arts would have seen through this situation in an instant. Cain lacked any form of skill. His form was terrible, and his center of balance was all over the place.

However, what he lacked in skill, he made up for in stats. Thanks to his control stat that governed every other stat, he was still able to mow through the lives of the {Savage Tigers}. The fact that all it took to take the life of one of these aether beasts was a single punch didn't help at all.

Still, Cain noticed this and was very displeased. As such, he chose to take his frustrations out on the poor aether beasts.

In the blink of an eye, all that was left on the ground were small pools of blood and broken corpses.

'I see...'

Cain had a disappeared frown on his face as he became lost in thought. Since his face was hidden, all that could be observed, was a field of devastation, and the culprit, standing in the midst of the carnage he had wrought, his gloved hands still dripping with blood.

Evangeline was seated on a small hill made of broken corpses, her hand resting on her chin. All this while, she had been observing Cain battle it out with the remainder of the contingent of {Savage Tigers} with a brooding look on her face.

She was also clad in armor that was a bit different from Cain's {Heart of Scourge}. Her armor was pitch black and covered with small stars that seemed to be moving if one gazed at it for too long.

'Ha... He's terrible.' Was the thought in her mind as she watched Cain brooding in a single spot.

'Still, it isn't time yet.' Shaking her head, she turned to the other side, ignoring Cain who was deliberating seriously.

'I must not be terrible, but that is only because of my stats. If I encounter another human with similar stats and better technique, I'll lose my head!'

Shaking his head, he turned to stare at Evangeline who was seated with her back facing him on top of a pile of corpses.

"We should check for mana shards and be on our way."

Without saying a word, she disappeared from the pile of corpses, leaving Cain alone,

Cain's eyes twitched, "How the hell did I get stuck with someone so lazy?!"

Gritting his teeth, Cain began sifting through the corpses to harvest their mana cores.