Chương 168: Limitless Path Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Two

Beth took advantage of their unfocused nature, slamming into the man with a renewed fury, knocking him further back before knocking him down. The spear woman interrupted, thrusting at Beth over the man laying on the sand, but Beth pulled a move that caused a shocked look to appear on both of their faces, digging her right sabaton under the man and snapping her leg up and forward in a kicking motion.

She launched the greatsword-wielder into the air, causing him to take a direct strike from the woman before bouncing off of her and tumbling to side. Beth stepped in as the woman staggered from the force of the large, blunt weight smashing into her, lashing out with three deceptively quick strikes, so fast that they were a blur, her skill and speed combined with her high STR allowing her to move her greatsword much more rapidly than many would think possible at her level.

She knocked the woman's spear down, away, and then reversed with the third slash to give her a second, gaping smile. Beth didn't even slow after the third swing, shoulder checking the corpse away from her as she dashed forward after the man. Her killing of the woman had taken only a second, and the man was too tired, too injured, too discombobulated to spring back up quickly and get back into the fight.

He had just gotten his feet back under him when Beth slammed into him, smashing his sword out of the way with a powerful horizontal Monstrous Blow, spinning a full three-sixty with the momentum while curving her sword around and up before bringing it down with a dull, ringing THUD right into the man's head, cleaving it in two. Her swing wasn't even fully complete before he was teleported away, saved at the moment of death by the safety measures of the arena.

She only had a few moments of rest, almost subconsciously pulsing healing throughout her entire body, feeling a touch refreshed, before she was right back in the shit again. An opponent charged her from out of nowhere, giving her very little time to deflect his dagger strikes, Beth having to work hard to keep up with his high level of DEX and skill.

They went back and forth for a handful of seconds, sparks flying as mana steel clashed and shrieked, before Beth suddenly felt weightless for a fraction of a second, finding herself tumbling through the air as a searing pain exploded in her right side and hip. A woman specializing in Unarmed had quickly and quietly come up behind her as she was fighting knife-boy and hit her with some kind of high-force skill delivered through a high kick.

It wasn't like Beth's Crush, but was something that caused a heavy wave of force to explode out of the other fighter's limb when used. Beth slammed into the sand and tumbled even further, a few choice curses bursting from her lips as she corrected her motion and spun up into a crouch. Like how often happened, her two opponents had gotten tangled with each other, though they were quite close to her.

She assumed that the fist fighter had chased her tumbling body only to be attacked by the dagger-wielder before she could finish Beth off. The two were engaged in a fierce exchange, both leaning more towards speed than power as they were practically a blur to most of the spectators, though Beth could still fairly easily track them.

She was back on her feet and leapt forward, waiting for the perfect moment when the two were in the very middle of an exchange before dashing into them, pulsing on her Presence to trip the two up before swinging her blade in an enormous chop into the side of the unarmed woman, flexing every single muscle in her body as the strike hit.

The woman was picked up off the ground and slammed side-on into the dagger wielder, who, almost accidentally, stabbed the woman in the throat with their lefthand dagger before being taken off their feet by the momentum of the fist fighter. The woman disappeared midway through the dagger user's tumble, but the person didn't even get a chance to right themselves before Beth's sword was wedged in the side of their head, clearly penetrating far enough to disrupt their brain as the woman disappeared.

Beth sneered for a moment, pissed that she didn't get both kills, but quickly turned to face the next threat. Not yet. I won't fall. She moved forward, lunging into danger, knocking away the rapier of the opponent before the tip of her sword sunk into the man's hip. He staggered just enough that his follow-up thrust wasn't able to properly pierce a gap in Beth's tattered armor, and she used that new opening to smash her left gauntlet directly into his face.

She could feel and hear his nose crunch and snap from her strike, and she leapt on him as he was disorientated, slamming her fist into his face three more times in incredibly rapid succession before chopping open his throat with her blade. He tumbled backwards before disappearing from the arena floor, Beth shaking out her fist before moving forward towards the next opponent.

She was still in a bit of a daze and, though she wondered about how frequent the fights were, she was just too tired and focused on what was in front of her to realize the edge of the area they had been fighting in had been shrinking during the course of the fight. She fought two more opponents in rapid succession, taking more hits in the process but coming out on top. She had a brief moment free, panting as she observed the blood-soaked sand, grimacing at the constant noon-time light and heat.

She pushed a small bit of her remaining mana reserves into her body, finding that halfway focused state she had achieved earlier to heal herself while still being able to pay attention to what was around her. She had to stop and fully focus on what was happening around her as she was yet again attacked, going toe-to-toe with a four-armed woman wielding four maces.

Not quite fair here, she thought with a deep frown, struggling to stave off the attacks from all four arms, heavy chunks of mana steel whistling in towards her from varied angles and paths. She pulsed mana through her body for a split second, slapping the four maces away with an absolutely beautiful combination of angled chops before lunging forward. The mana burning within her muscles faded, but it was exchanged for a greater power as space bent very slightly around her, a red, lupine crown settling on her head.

She had focused on the power of the thrust and movement more than ever before, in a stunning display of precision piercing right through a weak section of the opponent's armor to neatly bisect her heart. She grinned very briefly as the woman disappeared, though that grin was quickly wiped off face as she was sent sailing again. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

She tumbled through the air, her frustration at getting blindsided by quietly moving opponents so often building to a great head as she slammed back down into the sand. She skidded across the bloodied mess that the arena floor had become, feeling her own blood spurting out of her to join the mess below. She grit her teeth as she came to a stop and cursed loudly, righting herself only to see the head of a huge maul whistling right at her own head.

She was kneeling on the ground at a slightly awkward angle, not quite able to move out of the way even if she threw herself down, so she decided to meet it head-on. I will not be stopped! She lashed out with her armored left fist, planting a strike on the side of the head of the maul with all her might, all her buffs burning as the crown settled on her head.

There was an extremely loud snapping sound, like a glacier splitting in half, and the man stared down in horror at the shaft he was holding, now sporting a broken end with only a few jagged pieces of metal attached. Disregarding her broken and shattered hand, Beth surged up and punched him in the face, hard, before chopping open his neck with a swift strike of her blade. She saw she had messages waiting for her…

well, even more messages than what she had a few minutes ago, but she ignored it all as she looked around her. She found that from five thousand, they were down to less than a hundred participants. It was at this point that she also noticed that the walls had been closing in, quite literally, and they didn't have a whole lot of room left to work with.

She also noticed a distinct lack of a tall, gorgeous, dark-red-haired woman with wolf ears anywhere in the arena, cussing quietly as she came to the realization that Blood was already out. She was determined to come out on top, determined to prove she was truly one of the best, determined to show Baelvyr wasn't wrong for picking her as his disciple.

The next thirty minutes was almost like a dream, Beth finding that fugue state as she pushed herself past her limit, past all reason, into a realm where grit, toughness, and an unbreakable will burned all else away. She fought and struggled and slaughtered, coated in more blood than she had ever seen before, than she thought could come from even five thousand people. She was battered, bruised, broken and maimed, but she was standing, nothing but blood-soaked sand and scorching sun surrounding her.

Her left arm was almost entirely gone, her right only some little better, and both her legs were more like a roughly treated bag of chips then normal flesh and bone, but she wasn't laying on the sand, she was standing tall. As the arena faded away, Beth was greeted by a roar like a cyclone, a maelstrom of the overwhelming noise of jubilation and celebration.

She stood tall in the center of the floor of the arena section of the CRA Hall, holding her sword aloft with her now fully healed right arm, head bowed as she saluted the crowd. The noise re-doubled, the very air quaking and trembling at their adulation, Beth just soaking it all in as she celebrated her total victory. This is it. This is what, deep down, I've always longed for. Not the crowd or the glory, but the battle.

That feeling as I fight, this feeling as I stand here now, only blood and broken bodies at my feet. With that thought, the stage ended, Beth and Blood re-united in the array room as they were teleported back to the dwellings of the Trial of Celestial Awakening. They needed two firm grumbles from one of the Warders before stumbling away from the central array, too tired to do or even process anything but getting back to the room and crashing.

They had barely just enough energy after stumbling through the front door of the suite, Blood shutting it behind them, to strip out of their armor and clothes before stumbling back to the bed and collapsing next to each other.

They woke many hours later and Beth made the executive decision to burn their second rest day to give them some time off. They were both a little slow to wake, and they lay next to each other in bed for a minute before heaving themselves up at the same time, Beth chuckling at them doing so, before they slouched into the bathroom.

Beth stretched in front of the mirror before grimacing just slightly and rubbing at her left arm, still processing what it was like fighting the last few opponents while most of the limb had been torn off. Blood was brushing her teeth, a habit she had picked up once she had gotten her human form, and she gave Beth a hip bump to reassure her while she brushed.

Beth wrapped an arm around Blood's shoulders, giving her a side hug quickly before stepping away, not wanting the super cuddler to try to latch onto her while still brushing her teeth. Beth started her own brushing, seeing Blood continue for a second before finishing up and moving over to the huge shower stall. She leaned in and started the water running on quite high heat, leaning against the wall next to the stall door for a minute as the water heated up.

Beth stopped watching her beautiful companion and started scrolling her messages while she brushed, noting several rather important ones. She started in reverse order, seeing what happened at the end of the stage, the memory of her standing before a hundred and fifty thousand screaming fans still freshly seared in her mind. For performance beyond the stage condition, additional rewards are granted. Reward of compounding experience granted. Applied granted reward.

It was the standard message about completing the stage and gaining a bonus reward. Beth guessed it was for the fact that she not only went quite far in the stage, but she won the whole damn contest. She checked her level quickly and was stunned to see she was sitting at one hundred and sixteen, with twelve free points open for her to distribute. She quickly assigned the points before starting to scroll through the rest of her messages.

"Blood," she called into the shower.

"Mmh, yeah?" Blood called back.

"Have you checked your levels?" Beth asked.

"No-what the fuck?" Blood called out.

"Pretty sweet reward."

"Six whole levels?!" Blood cried out, an edge of glee in her voice.

"Make sure to throw your points in," Beth reminded her.

"I know, I know," Blood grumbled good naturedly, and Beth grinned before resuming checking her messages. Going newest to oldest, the next message she came across was something about gaining an ability. She looked the message over carefully, trying to figure out what it was and where it came from. The skill was called Indomitable Heart, and Beth struggled to come up with how she had earned the new skill, a little peeved that the ending part of the melee was a bit of a blur to her.

The only thing she could think of was that single moment where she had chosen to put it all on the line and win, sacrificing her left hand to destroy the maul of the man who nearly knocked her out of the contest. She checked the description of the skill to find out what it was all about: Indomitable Heart Copper[4] {Your will is strong, your heart is unstoppable. This skill passively increases your mental defenses and actively increases your physical toughness based on the strength of your will.} The description was a little vague, saying things like 'increases your mental defenses,' and 'increases your physical toughness,' though it gave no indication how much those increases were, nor was it really specific about how her will played a part in it all. She leaned back against the counter of the vanity, grinning just slightly as the cold marble pressed against her naked butt, tapping her chin while she examined the skill, as if her intense study would yield more results.

She was interrupted from her deep introspection by the water turning off and Blood stepping out of the shower stall, water glistening on her sleek muscles and gorgeous curves. The wolf stretched languidly before grabbing a towel and starting to dry off.