abcnovels
Chapter 28: The Power of Emotions
Chapter 28: The Power of Emotions
Chapter 28: The Power of Emotions
“Goblins to the right!” Astrid failed to stop her forward momentum. Her shoulder slammed into the wall.
“Shit…” Astrid gazed at another orc down the hall. It felt like her blood was about to freeze as they locked eyes. Shaking her head, she blasted the nearby goblins back.
The wide hall changed into a narrow corridor with multiple rooms on either side. Gloria dashed to the door. She didn’t seem to have much hope of it opening, as she used too much force. The door swung open and clattered against the doorstop.
The duo heard a sudden heavy stomping and the clanging of metal armour. Goblin screeches followed. Gloria sprinted to the window. She was about to punch it when Astrid threw a chair; it hurtled past her head. Shattering the window into broken fragments.
Gloria was the first to jump through. Astrid followed closely behind just as the sound of clanging metal charged entered behind her.
“Into the alleyway!” Bert shouted behind them. His large body thudded against the ground as he leapt out from the window.
Glancing back, the orc smashed through the thick brick walls of the bank.
Astrid spun around and dashed into the dark alleyway. As Bert’s heavily armoured body bolted in, Astrid [Crashed] the building’s roof above. Sending debris crashing down and striking the rapidly approaching orc. Dust swept through the alleyway.
“It’s still alive.” Astrid warned at the still movement matter.
“Of course it is.” Bert snapped.
With a shout, the orc hurtled through the dust cloud.
Gloria flashed to the side of the barreling orc, twin daggers pierced towards its unarmoured throat like a blood-thirsty pit viper. The orc raised its arms in anticipation, but the attack didn’t come. Instead, Gloria disappeared from the spot. Her dagger slashed into his leg, but its high constitution negated most of the damage. The blade only sliced through the skin–stopping above the thick layers of muscle.
A cracking roar rumbled out of its throat. Gloria was rooted to the spot as blood seeped from her eardrums. The orc displayed a beastly smirk. It was about to turn towards Gloria when a boulder cracked against its skull.
One after the other, boulders tore through the air, clashing against the orc's face. With one arm held up like a shield, it spun around. The monster's arm swung round like a steel mace towards Gloria’s slender body.
Astrid’s eyes widened, she clumped together a mass of matter as she [Crashed] it. However, it merely slowed down the fist.
With a flash of light around Gloria’s wrist, she dropped one of her daggers onto the floor and ducked underneath the attack. She rolled and leapt forward with the other dagger, lunging it into its ribs. The orcs' tattoos glowed, however, it was noticeably different to the other taller orc. There were less of them, and they were dull. But it didn’t matter. Within the blink of an eye, it latched its sizable hand around Gloria’s throat.
Bert rapidly approached and swept his axe into the orc's chest. The orc's leg snapped to the side, sending Bert back. His axe cleaved into the side of the walls, regaining his balance as he recklessly charged forwards again.
Astrid gazed at the enormous orc. Then she glanced at the dagger Gloria had dropped. Astrid’s mind connected to the dagger. With all of her strength, she flicked it upwards. Followed by rapidly forming matter–she crashed it–blasting the dagger upward. With a wet tear, the sharp blade penetrated the underside of its throat. Dark liquid cascaded out from the gap in between the blade and skin.
Gloria pried her dagger free from its shoulder and slashed it across its throat.
“Gloria, get over here!” Astrid shouted as she pulled down the rest of the building.
Gloria was quick to act. Her body exuded a purple haze as she reappeared behind Frank, freeing her from the orcs grasp. The orc spun around. Blood descended from the wound like a funnel. Shoulder first, the orc charged at Bert at a blinding speed.
Astrid’s eyes widened. Without reserve, she pumped her psychic mana forward. Repeated Crashes exploded the air like artillery. A pain imprinted itself onto her eye as she kept on casting Crash. The orc wasn’t able to defend itself. It tried using its own arms as a shield, but it was no use. The matter formed behind it and continued to explode.
Bert held up his axe. His body glowed with a red hue. Sweeping down, the orc's skull cracked.
The monster halted. With a thud, it fell to its knees. Astrid formed more matter around the orc's eyes… and then stopped.
She sensed goblins arriving. With another explosion, Astrid felled the roof of the building on the other side. Cutting them off from the oncoming green men. Gloria joined her with strained breathing. Blood trickled down from her nose.
“You have blood on you.” Astrid said.
“So do you.” Gloria caressed her neck, the orc had left a dark red imprint around her throat. “Next time it's your turn to get injured.”
With a scoff, Astrid looked at her System messages.
You defeated a - Totemic Orc - level 42!
Extra experience is awarded for defeating a high levelled enemy!
Experience is reduced for fighting within a group.
You have levelled up!
Psychokinetic level 27 -> Psychokinetic level 29
Illusionist level 24 -> Illusionist level 26
Gained 20 stat points.
Crash [ Stage 2 ] level 1 -> Crash [ Stage 2 ] level 2
Psych Domain level 8 -> Psych Domain level 9
Anti-Disabling Field level 1 -> Anti-Disabling Field level 3
New - Unique - class passive skill gained - Overload: As a psychic, you need to closely pay attention to your emotions. Once an emotion reaches 100 you will gain immense power related to that emotion. You have thirty seconds to spend the overload, or the raw mana will destroy your mind. Each emotion holds a different effect.
Emotion? I remember Ms Melton warning me about it. Another system message followed.
Your Murderous Intent has reached 90/100.
Can that be considered an emotion? I just feel rage. As the pictures of the orc separating her team flashed in her mind, she grit her teeth. She quickly added her stat points. Judging by the hazy look in Gloria’s eyes, she was doing the same.
You now have 155 intelligence.
Astrid heard scratching at the rubble. Little demons climbing it like a damned hill.
“Gloria, get out of your System.” Astrid jostled her shoulder.
“Okay, I get it.” Gloria spat. “I had a lot to get through. Any ideas?”
“We need to get back to the others.” Bert said, spitting out blood.
“That’s suicide.” Gloria picked up her daggers from the ground and clasped them.
“We’ve got to try.” Astrid said, nodding toward Bert.
“They might already be dead.” Gloria said.
“Shut up.” Astrid scowled.
Your Murderous Intent has reached 95/100.
Gloria gulped as she gazed at Astrid's wild eyes.
I really hope nothing bad happens when I reach 100.
Astrid gathered a smaller cluster of matter than normal to the wall and used [Crash]. The bricks were sent flying like rectangle projectiles. Less strength next time, got it.
Rushing through the building. Astrid knocked down the walls as she sprinted from house-to-house. She blasted away any goblins that they encountered. Astrid smirked. It was rather satisfying seeing the unsuspecting goblins fly off in all directions. The only ones capable of resisting her Psychokinesis were the evolved goblins with constitution classes like tanks. However, with a little effort, it was all the same. The stage 2 skills worked wonders.
With the smile still on her face, she looked at the scale of overload. It had fallen back to 90. How the hell does it work? Measuring my emotions on a scale. For some reason, it feels uncomfortable…
Astrid and Gloria circled all the way around the commotion. Most of the goblins were near the alleyway they had just come from, and the rest at the front of the bank trying to break in.
Re-entering the bank from the back of the building. Astrid performed a quick recon with Psych Domain. My range has increased.
They had entered an office room. Desks and paperwork were messily sprawled all over the place.
“Where are they?” Gloria approached the opened door and peered around the entrance.
A harsh sound assaulted Astrid’s eardrums as the floor shook.
“They can’t still be fighting that orc, right?” Gloria glanced back at her.
“Let me have a look.” Astrid’s Psych Domain stretched outwards. Clusters of matter were moving erratically. However, the cluster on its own drew her attention. She could feel the strength radiating from it. It bore down on her mind.
“They must be.” Astrid joined Gloria by the door. “We’ll flank it?”
“Alright, any other goblins around?” Bert said.
“No. it looks like the goblins are hesitant to enter. They could have entered the windows on this floor any time they wanted.”
Gloria and Bert nodded. They cautiously made their way up the stairs. Turning the corner, a beastly roar threatened to split their eardrums. A heavy smash that rocked the marbled tiles followed it. Astrid quickly placed her hand on the wall, regaining her balance at the sudden rumble. It was then an arrow drilled itself through the wall right by her head. The sharp tipped arrow head slashed past her cheek, drawing droplets of blood.
A scream scratched at Astrid’s ears. Bert charged straight forward. Astrid was quick to follow as they dashed into the room.
Astrid’s eyes lay on the enormous orc in the middle of the room. The monster was puffing out air like a steam engine. She glanced over at her team. Wounds littered their skin, their faces were struck with fear as they trembled at the sight of the rampaging orc. Astrid’s chest violently rose, the pain from her eye creeping up once more.
Your Murderous Intent has reached 97/100.
Your Murderous Intent has reached 98/100.
Astrid then looked to the other side. Frank’s arm was bent at an awkward angle. Anya lay crumpled in a corner of the room. She gazed at the human-like visage of the orc. It was a strange feeling, seeing something that resembled a human so much displaying such acts of violence. The unadulterated rage it displayed as it attempted to tear everyone into pieces. The tiles on the floor shattered at the orcs attack and sent debris towards Froderick and the others in the corner. Froderick and Josh quickly used their bodies to shield the others.
Your Murderous Intent has reached 99/100.
Your Murderous Intent has reached 100/100.
Astrid could feel something within her mind break. It replaced all the anger she thought she had with… the want to kill. The X within her iris was on full display.
Your Murderous Intent has reached 100/100.
Overload: Murderous Intent.
Increasing intelligence by 150.
Increasing wisdom by 100.
Increasing psychic damage by 100%
Increasing Psychokinesis control by 300%
Mana capacity exceeded by 500%
Kill.
The orc lunged forward, its fist cracking through the air towards Miller. Price was about to move, but he bit down on his lip and moved a second too late, his hesitation doomed Miller to death. Miller looked at Price in horror as the orc’s fist threatened to reap his life.
Astrid’s psychic mana connected to the monster. She hoisted the enormous wounded orc into the air. Its limbs snapped and twisted in every direction. The orc tried to struggle free. Its high strength tugged at Astrid’s mind, but it was futile. Its head slowly rotated backwards, it met some resistance–with a pop–its neck turned like an owl. Astrid pulled out its eyeballs. A spurt of blood cascaded down like a broken stream. Then its limbs exploded, one by one. Finally, after the energy within her mind ran out, she let go of what was left of the orc as it thudded to the floor.
Overload spent.
The excitable tug at her lips disappeared as she deeply gazed at what she left of the orc. The only sign of its existence was the dark beads around its wrist, and its thick torso that survived the onslaught of psychic mana.
You defeated - Totemic Orc - level 55!
That, seems low level. Astrid stumbled back with her weary mind. Why was everything stronger than their levels? Why were there so many monsters even when they had cleared it? Where did they come from? Astrid pinched at her temples. She needed a mana potion desperately.