Chương 199: Money Issue

A dozen or so Fire Kors ran towards me, roaring and scrambling to reach me faster. I expanded my aura, keeping a thicker layer around myself while pushing a thinner haze towards the approaching monsters. I could see my aura getting consumed fast, fighting against the ambient magic to resist the fire, getting burned while at the same time reinforcing itself as it consumed part of the magic it was affected by.

It was fascinating to watch, and even more fascinating to see the effect it had on the Kors as they entered it. Their fury transformed into dread. Some attacked one another, a couple retreated, while others simply soldiered on, their fury resisting the effect. This wasn't my plan actually, just a part of it. I started casting hexes. These ones had an effect I never used before: fear. The Virulent Hexes spread fast, stacking multiple hexes on top of each other while I focused part of my aura into my eyes.

Let's see if this works. I focused on one of the Kors closer to me. This particular specimen was lankier than the others, faster, and particularly aggressive. As my aura-infused eyes, boosted by Piercing Eyes and Reinforced Infusion, met its fiery ones, it stumbled. The moment of distraction made it tumble to the ground. Fucking hell, it won't work this way. I quickly changed targets to the next approaching one.

This monster slowed down until it stood still, its eyes locked with mine, and I willed my aura to link our gazes with a tether. The beast shuddered. While three others passed it by to reach me, I started absorbing their life-force and energy with Feast on the Ruined while still focusing on their kin frozen in fear. With the tether in place I could do many things, but there was one I never tried before, at least with the use of the skill. I commanded part of my aura to directly enter its body through the link.

The monster fell to its knees while clawing at its own eyes, screeching and howling as I pushed my essence into its skull. I would have liked to continue my experiment, but I really was about to get shredded by these three others, so I looked away from the kneeling Kor and shot three finger-sized magic projectiles formed of stolen energy at them, hexed again of course, but contrary to before, I didn't try to kill them outright. I was expending too much mana. I needed some to return to me.

The three bullets were made of a beautiful golden-red fire. Contained within their shape and trying to expand, they were the perfect mix of chaos I needed, a mix that exploded in a fiery conflagration as I used Curse Detonation before the bullets could pierce the monsters. The effect was that the three approaching Kors were blasted back, still alive. Their bodies were quite resistant, and their immunity to the flames meant they weren't harmed too much.

That was good, because I tethered them to me too, and together with the one who tumbled and was just now getting back on its clawed feet, I started both pushing my aura into them and draining everything I could. I noticed already that before I could use the tethers to gain more life-force, if only because less dissipated during the journey to me, but now the waste of energy became really minimal. Most entered me. Part of it, though, got absorbed automatically by my aura, strengthening itself. That was fine.

My aura didn't touch life-force, and that was for the better. That energy was precious. I used a sliver to rejuvenate my condition, while the rest ended in the Thirsting Halo, my ring. I felt immediately better. That stupid bracelet was still messing with me on a deep level despite my use of the fruits and tokens, so I would take whatever I could to resist its curses. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. The situation was more calm now.

Five Kors were screaming on the ground, tearing at their own bodies as if they could physically dislodge my aura from them. Well, they couldn't. The others were looking at me from the edge of my aura haze, scared to enter again. This was the reason I didn't want to put the mask on anyone, even if they were low level and weak. Who knew what someone had in store? If I could kill these enemies despite my limitations, so could that mask mess with me despite any precautions I could take.

But despite not suffering any injuries until now, I had to say that I was cheating with my aura. Without it I would have been in really big trouble. Still, it was one of my abilities, actually a really good part of my abilities, but I came here to improve, so I would have to focus on other skills after this. Especially because I was consuming too much. I would have to keep it in reserve if I faced something difficult to handle. I took a step forward.

The monsters on the ground were still getting drained while suffering from my aura invasion. There was no need to kill them due to their generous donation of energy. Instead, I approached the half dozen that remained standing. As I took another step, my aura haze moved with me, touching them again. One took a step back, then started running. That made the others look at it for a moment before following suit. I don't think so. Aura Tether. Six cords of aura extended from me to the fleeing Kors.

As soon as I manifested them, they became tangible, then I started to reel them in all the while draining them. The monsters tried to claw at the aura cords, but their claws weren't sharp enough to cut them and their flames were even less effective on my aura, until one of the tethers snapped. I turned to the side and saw a Kor that managed to chomp on an aura tether and tear it apart. Now a glob of fire was being prepared to be launched at me. I actually wanted to see the elemental powers of these things.

I waited a second as the monster focused its energy into a ball and then threw it at me at high speed. I had to accelerate my perception to see it clearly and react in time. The ball left a trail of fire behind it, then as it approached me it got eaten by my aura haze until only a golf-ball-sized sphere reached me. It was slow and weak. I batted it away with an aura-coated hand. The ball actually got slammed into the ground, creating a balloon-sized crater. It still had more energy than I thought... Anyway...

Curse Detonation. Boom! The Kor free of my tether burst apart in a spray of fiery blood and chunks of meat. My trait Hexer's Touch was a terrible thing to witness as more of my magic afflicted my enemies. Not to mention that there were four stacks of hexes on the thing. When all of that compounded, well, it made quite the boom. Now though, there was a little problem. I had a lot of fiery energy flowing into me. Contrary to stolen mana or even life-force, it was quite difficult to manage.

I probably didn't have much affinity with the energy, and the more I absorbed, the more it interfered with my mana. So I created a series of Entropic Lances, this time letting the skill operate without interference, and used them to stab the monsters into the ground, pinning them in place. Nearly a dozen monsters tried to fight against both the invading aura and the new implements, all to no avail.

It took nearly a minute before they died, their forms emaciated and their flames waning as their very lives got stolen from them. ──────────── Arcane Manipulation Lv45 – Level Up → Lv46 Entropic Lance Lv35 – Level Up → Lv36 Aural Manifestation Lv27 – Level Up → Lv28 Multiple skills ready for evolution.

You have killed a Fire Kor Lv50 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv48 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv53 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv59 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv51 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv45 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv47 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv50 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv49 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv55 You have killed a Fire Kor Lv48 ──────────── I expelled all the fiery energy in me.

Like a flamethrower it exited my palm and combusted in the air, then I exited the Kors' territory, retreating my aura and sitting on a boulder nearby. This whole thing left me really exhausted. Now that no more enemies were in sight, I could take a moment to analyze the situation. It wasn't good. Not at all. I had to accrue at least a hundred thousand points every day to pay for my use of the bracelet. I needed a way, and I needed it now.