But Astartes would not let things go in the way the Lionman General dreamed of!
[Darkness Hand]
Astartes activated his second skill and the figure of the Lionman General was bounded to the spot by the long appendage of a hand of darkness that wrapped itself around it! The Lionman General roared in rage as it struggled to break free of the [Darkness Hand] but could not do so immediately.
The few seconds the [Darkness Hand] bought Astartes allowed him to once again keep his distance and even fire off another [Icicle Blast] at the eyes of the Lionman General. Although it closed its eyes to protect its pupils, the onslaught still managed to damage one of its eyes!
The Lionman General broke free of the [Darkness Hand] and activated its [Great Vitality] skill. Its wounds began closing up much quicker than before. With the regenerative boost given to it by the [Great Vitality] skill as well as its fury at being unable to get near the pesky human allowed it to ignore its injuries and charge at Astartes with everything it got!
But Astartes did not panic. Every action of the Lionman General fell into his eyes and he was more than prepared for any eventuality. He fired the Icicle Blast once more, and kept injuring its behind. This time the effect was almost halved due to the activation of the [Great Vitality] skill but Astartes only kept targeting a single spot, bleeding out the Lionman General over time.
Also the numerous times his [Icicle Blast] landed on the Lionman General caused a gradually cold effect to fall on the latter reducing its movements gradually.
But even despite all this, the Lionman General lived up to its power as a F-Ranked Catacomb Lord. Its endurance was great and it used its sheer strength to ignore the injuries slashing down at Astartes with all its might!
But before Astartes could be hit, his [Darkness Hand] skill activated once again, holding the Lionman General and preventing its attack from landing once more. He then retreated again repeating the same kiting strategy.
The stalemate continued for several moves although it was clear who had the slight advantage. The [Icicle Blast] skill damaged the Lionman General but its incredible resilience kept it in the battle otherwise the battle would have been long over.
As for Astartes, he was not in a rush or frustrated at all, and was patiently staring at a certain skill on his status panel.
SKILL: DARKNESS HAND (F)(25)
Almost there...
The continuous usage of the [Darkness Hand] was increasing his skill proficiency and it was only a step away from reaching the Great level of proficiency!
After he used it once more, the proficiency stat increased by an extra point, reaching the Great Proficiency!
[Darkness Hand]
He used the skill once more. This time, when the appendage of dark energy appeared, it was more corporeal than before! If what appeared at first was a shadowy hand, this hand was very firm and real! Also a deathly aura emitted from it that made the life around it or wherever it passed wilt in an instant!
After facing the [Darkness Hand] skill many times, the Lionman General was expecting this attack and moved to the side, dodging it. However, its attempt was futile as the dark hand changed course just as fast and caught up to the Lionman General and coiled around every inch of its body, imprisoning it!
The binding was tighter and the [Darkness Hand] skill began draining the Lionman General's vitality! Even after it managed to use all its strength to struggle against the [Darkness Hand] it was not only after a several moments before it broke free from the skill.
However, it was clear that its aura had grown very weak. Unfortunately for the Lionman General, Astartes was not planning on letting up with his attacks and cast [Icicle Blast] once more, slashing its legs, arms and every part of its body, leaving it bleeding it several areas.
In a desperate struggle it activated its [Great Vitality] skill but the Lionman General was only met with another vicious [Darkness Hand] that nullified the effects of the [Great Vitality] skill thoroughly and left the Lionman General helpless to the fate of hand its limbs chopped off by another [Icicle Blast]!
Astartes eyes showed no mercy and in a final move, decapitated the Lionman General!
A Catacomb Lord of a F-Rank Catacomb was simply murdered by a newbie ranker who awakened a few days ago!
It was nothing short of outstanding!
Astartes finally heaved a sigh of relief. The battle was truly mentally tasking and he had to maintain a heightened focus at all times. He was glad that it was over.
He quickly walked towards the dead body of the Lionman General which dissipated into several attribute cores an equipment and a skill. He took a deep breath, processing the magnitude of what he just achieved.
He had cleared a Catacomb all on his own. Without a party. His feat was definitely going to send shockwaves throughout this city. But Astartes did not fear it. He had no time to bide his time in this merciless world of the strong and weak, prey and predator.
He had to use every means to elevate his strength and reach the pinnacle of power at the fastest possible speed! With this God-given Inherent Skill he possessed, he was confident that he could not be inferior to anyone of the same rank!
Even A-Rankers would not be a threat to him if he reached that level!
He collected the cores and other loot within his already full backpack and made his way towards the teleportation door that had appeared before him exiting the catacomb!
Arriving at the entrance of the catacomb, his appearance was met with surprise by the guards who stared at the his figure and the red, impenetrable barrier that appeared behind him afterwards.
"The catacomb has been cleared?" The guards blurted out confusedly. They stared at Astartes, stupefied. Being the one who emerged from the catacomb, it only meant that he was the one responsible for the occurrence!
They just simply could not reconcile the fact that this youth cleared the catacomb alone.
Or perhaps he lied about his Ranker qualification and was actually a D-Ranker?
Unfortunately for them, Astartes had no intentions of explaining himself to anyone and left the place. However, word had began to spread among the rankers in the city, of how an F-Ranker reportedly single handedly cleared a catacomb!
Astartes boarded a flying transport to the Rankers Association building in Yosemite City. He had obtained a massive boon after clearing the catacomb himself and he planned to rapidly increase his powers and advance to the E-Rank in one go!
After that he would sell the remaining spoils and get himself some adequate equipment.
However, while he had this thought in his mind and was a little absentminded, a middle-aged man approached him just before Astartes reached the counter.
"You must be Ranker Infinity. It is a pleasure to meet you." the middle aged man said, drawing Astartes' attention to him.
"And you are?" Astartes asked. The middle aged man before him was not as tall as him, but he was very bulky and although it was very faint, Astartes could tell that he was hiding his power. Even Adele did not give him such a dangerous vibe so Astartes could immediately tell that this man before him was much more powerful than he made himself appear.
"My Ranker name is Blaze Beam. Branch Chief of the Rankers Association in Yosemite City."
Astartes gaze widened a little after knowing who this man was but he was still composed and questioned, "What do you want with me?"
Blaze Beam smiled and replied, "I seek cooperation, Ranker Infinity. I am sure we can both reach a beneficial arrangement. Why do we have a little chat in my office? I can explain myself better there." He gestured towards Astartes.
Astartes thought about it briefly before nodding and following Blaze Beam to his office. His office was at the highest floor, the 51st floor and was very elegant and spacious.
"Please, have a seat, Ranker Infinity."
Astartes took a seat. "I am still curious as to why an esteemed D-Ranker such as yourself would be interested in me. I am a newbie ranker, after all."
Astartes knew that Yosemite City had a single D-Ranker in the city, Blaze Beam. Although he had his suspicions, he wanted to hear it from the man himself.
Blaze Beam had an understanding of Astartes' vigilance towards him but he did not mind at all and said, "You cleared a catacomb by yourself, despite being awakened six days ago. As the association's branch chief of this city, I naturally have an eye on all activities regarding all the catacombs in my jurisdiction."
Astartes was unsurprised when he heard this. His actions were not particularly discreet actually and this answer was within his expectations.
"I am disinterested in your secrets. Everybody has one. My aim is to protect this city in the best possible way I can. I need more talents to help me do this. Otherwise, we are doomed to fall," Blaze Beam said seriously.
"Why does the Ranker Association not send in more reinforcements to the city? Why watch on as several thousands of innocents die?" Astartes questioned. As someone who had lost several of his loved ones to creatures of the catacombs, he did not have a very good impression of the Rankers Association or the Angelus Empire.
Blaze Beam was calm and simply passed several documents before Astartes. Astartes looked at them closely, and frowned at the horrible sights of the deaths and ruin that was displayed on the reports.
"Gondor City. Harran City. Outer Oasis City. These cities are Class D and Class C strongholds that has been destroyed by massive catacomb outbreaks due to the lack of sufficient high level rankers to deal with it. The casualties number over one million. This report was from a month ago. A good friend of mine lived in Gondor City, a Class C stronghold," Blaze Beam's voice was low.
"So you answer me this, Infinity," Blaze Beam asked. "How does the Angelus Empire protect over 720 catacombs spread across one hundred cities perfectly with less than a million rankers?"