God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 398: Returning through the Rift (12).

The day had finally arrived...

The temporary shelters in the camp had been disassembled, and the beastmen stood at the foot of the hill, decked out in armor and weapons.

Comparing their present selves to how they were in the battle between the {Blood Abominations}, one could say it was like the divide between two worlds.

They were much stronger. Even though two weeks was a short time, it was enough for all of the beastmen to begin their journey of Ki Plundering.

Because of the horrible experiences they had to suffer in this place, their bodies and minds had become stronger, making them the perfect vessels for a vital energy like Ki.

After battling and gathering power with their Ki Plundering techniques, the beastmen had then made a combined effort to take down the {Colossal Stone Cyclops}.

Of course, they had to receive support from Jenny and Susan, but they managed to defeat the huge, stone behemoth with Floki and Galip taking the lead.

Starting down at them, Cain had a serene expression on his face.

"Tch! Wipe that grin off your face. It's making me sick..."

Cain let out a chuckle as he threw Ignis a sideways glance.

During the past two weeks, they had definitely become closer, although that is how he saw it. For the first few days, he couldn't stand against her for more than thirty seconds without using special means.

Now he could go toe-to-toe with her for three full minutes. He still hadn't managed to beat her. The wealth of experience she had under her belt made it seem impossible.

"You look like you are in a good mood today," Cain said to Ignis with a smirk.

"Who wouldn't be? We finally get to leave this place." Jenny, who was standing at the other side of the cliff, said whilst looking through the scope of her sniper rifle with a slightly scrunched-up face.

"So, what's the plan?" Ignis asked.

"That's a secret," Cain said, trying to sound mysterious. However, that only earned him a gross look from the two girls.

'No dice, huh...'

Shrugging to himself, Cain went over his preparations mentally...

Soon, Susan and Hunter had climbed up the hill and we're now facing him.

"The preparations are almost complete. To be honest, I still have no idea what you are planning." Hunter said, throwing Cain a strange look.

Cain only smiled but said nothing more. Turning to Susan who was busy pouring over the contents of a piece of paper, he spoke calmly,

"How are things on your end?"

Without looking up from the paper, she spoke,

"So far, so good. There have been no monster sightings so far. No sign of Stingè, or {Blood Abominations} for that matter. I think we are good to go."

Cain let out a quiet sigh of relief. He had previously been worried about Stingè showing up all of a sudden from nowhere to take his revenge. But now he wasn't worried anymore.

'Still, the fact that he isn't dead yet means that I will have to confront him eventually one day.'

The urge to ascend to Tier 1 filled Cain's spirit.

'I'll bring the Totem of the Order up with the others when we get back to Urbus.'

Cain wanted to carry all members of his team along with him for the First Order Trial. If they all managed to reach Tier 1, their group would become incredibly powerful. He might even be able to take on the whale that had swallowed him once he ascended.

"In that case, I think we can begin now..."

All five of them stood on the cliff of the hill, staring down at the beastmen who scurried around. The tension in the air was palatable. They would finally be able to leave this cursed place.

Cain glanced over at Hunter, who had a complicated expression. It was clear that he had no good feeling about this place...

'Then I shouldn't keep him waiting too long.'

"Evangeline..." Cain silently called out.

There was silence for a while before the shadows beneath his feet trembled, and the white-haired beauty materialized from them, now standing directly in front of him.

Staring at one another without speaking, the others concluded that they must have come to an agreement beforehand.

Susan threw suspicious glances at the two of them but didn't say anything...

Sitting on the ground, Cain formed a hand sign,

"Alright. I'm about to begin."

Nodding their heads, the others jumped down the hill, leaving Cain alone there.

Once he was alone, Cain waited for a few seconds. A few meters away, the ground suddenly split open to reveal a hole. A huge worm-like creature, the size of a couch appeared from the hole.

Cain turned to the worm and smiled, "Look how big you are now."

Since the worm had no eyes, he didn't know if it was staring at him. However, he knew it was happy to see him.

How did he know this?

Because Ignis gave off the exact opposite feeling every time they met...

The {Amethyst Silkworm} broke away from the ground and used the nimble tendrils on its lower body to slowly crawl towards Cain.

If it was before, Cain would have been freaked out. There were very few people who enjoyed the company of bugs, and he wasn't one of them. However, to him, Pudding was more than a bug. Because of the [Body and Soul] contract, he could feel a connection between himself and the worm. To him, this worm was a special worm...

It also provided him with a lot of magic stones and metal ores, so giving it a bit of love wasn't a big deal.

Now that he had his worm, Cain was finally going to begin with the execution of his plan...

A plan that revolved around a skill he had acquired very recently...

Cain quickly chanted under his breath,

"Divine Essence of Metallurgy..."

An insane amount of mana poured out of Cain. All the metal elemental energy in the vicinity around the hill suddenly began to shift, flowing towards him.

Hundreds of golden chains shot out of a huge magic circle that appeared behind him. Like slithering snakes, the metal chains swam through the air at lightning speed, descending down the mountain in a flash.

The unsuspecting beastmen didn't see it coming. Even Floki and Galip who had been informed beforehand not to overreact if they saw something weird couldn't help but take a few steps back in fear and panic. The chains wrapped around the waists of beastmen, holding them tightly.

The five that had descended to the foot of the hill all stared up at Cain.

"Do you have any idea what he is planning to do?" Susan suddenly said her eyes trained solely on Evangeline.

The white-haired beauty sighed, "Just so you know, I don't receive any preferential treatment from the boss. I'm just as clueless as you are."

Susan was a bit taken aback, "B-boss?!"

Evangeline's lips parted to reveal her teeth. She was clearly grinning,

"Indeed. He's my boss now." She said in her raspy voice.

Susan looked speechless, "Is that so..."

Jenny looked like she was suppressing a chuckle,

"Come on, now. Let's pay attention. You wouldn't want to miss anything, right?" Her question was obviously directed at Susan.

Susan just shook her head, then tilted it to stare at Cain once again...

'First step, complete...' Cain thought in his head.

Now that he had secured the beastmen firmly, it was time to move on to stage two.

He sucked in a huge breath,

"Astral Avatar..."

All the Ki and Devil Essence in his body disappeared almost immediately, causing his face to turn pale.

However, the skill was successful...

{Astral Avatar} was a strange, yet extraordinary skill. It wasn't necessarily an attack skill, neither was it a truly defensive one. If one were to classify it, the category it would fall under would be illusory skills more than anything else.

{Astral Avatar} made use of his energy, namely Ki and Devil Essence to create a unique body. For this process to occur without problems, he had to make sure his control over his energy was optimized perfectly. One mistake and he would handle a terrible recoil that would lead to serious injuries.

However, his control stats were over the moon, so he didn't need to worry at all. The {Astral Avatar} could only take on one form. Once that form was decided, it could never be changed.

However, it could be controlled as an independent being by the individual using the skill. It could also react and interact with the world around it, just like a living creature could. It also possessed all of his physical stats.

Still, the skill had limits...

The type of unique illusory body that could be created was limited to the amount and quality of energy the caster of the skill possessed.

So what sort of being had he chosen to create?

Nothing. Because the choice had already been made for him...

The moment he had activated {Astral Avatar}, for some reason, all the Ki and Devil Essence had flown out of his body and had manifested into a thirty-meter-long serpentine creature with blackened gold scales and demonically crimson eyes.

The illusory creature was also as wide as a tunnel, and could easily carry twenty to thirty men on its back. The moment it manifested, it just stared at him curiously, causing him to panic. The moment he panicked, he lost control of his energy, leading to a severe backlash that knocked him out cold for hours.

'I'm definitely not making the same mistake twice...' Cain said to himself with grim resolution.

"Astral Avatar: Golden Devil Wyrm."

He couldn't think of a better name that would suit the devilish serpent that had manifested itself from the depths of his soul.

Still, he couldn't ask for more. After all, this beast was perfect for what he wanted to do. The system truly had his best interests at heart... if it even had one.

Because it was so big, Cain quickly ordered Pudding to crawl into its mouth. Although the giant worm gave him an uncertain look, it finally relented and crawled into the mouth of the giant serpent after he persuaded it.

'The key to activating and using the {Astral Avatar}, is a lot of control stats. If my control stat was even a bit less than it is, I'd be unable to use this skill at all.'

With a single mental command, Cain ordered the chains he had conjured earlier to wrap around the magnificent body of the Golden Devil Wyrm.

The chains slithered all around the creature's body wrapping around it tightly...

'Good...'

Cain quickly climbed into the back of his serpent.

'Let's hope this works...'

He then commanded the Golden Devil Wyrm to leap down the hill. Obeying his commands, the creature dived headfirst down the cliff.

Screams of panic came from the foot of the hill as the beastmen let ourlt cries of shock and horror. No one knew where the gigantic serpentine creature had come from...

Meanwhile...

"This bastard..."

"He's crazy! He's flipping crazy!"

"Unbelievable..."

"..."

The group of five standing directly at the four of the hill all had different expressions as they stared at the gigantic creature falling towards their heads.

The moment it had accelerated a bit, Cain activated the second. Spell of the day,

"Wind Weaver."

Although he had created a lot of chains using {Divine Essence of Metallurgy}, those hadn't taken too much mana. Now, he was going to concentrate the rest of his mana on {Wind Weaver}.

The serpent wriggled its long body as it began gliding through the air despite having no wings. This was possible thanks to {Wind Weaver}. As long as he didn't deactivate the skill, he could keep it running for as long as he had the mana. This meant, he had temporarily gained the ability to fly.

Another command made the illusory creature ascend into the sky in one quick motion, dragging up the beastmen that were held by the chains of gold.

Yells and screams of panic rose into the sky as the men fell into confusion...

Who wouldn't be confused when a gigantic thirty-meter-long flying serpent began pulling you along with the chains wrapped around your body?

Stabilizing the flight of the Golden Devil Wyrm, Cain let out a relieved sigh,

'Good thing I did all that practicing beforehand.'

A chuckle escaped from his lips as he stared down at the five still standing at the foot of the hill alone.

"What are you guys waiting for? Come on up!"