Chapter 54

Chapter 54
## Chapter 54

Elf (2)

A few days prior.

“Haa— Ha! The air is incredibly crisp, likely due to the proximity of the peaks.”

Harley made his way to the Iron Fortress, a stronghold marking the edge of the Tulk Kingdom where it met the northern mountain range.

His journey to this place had been filled with numerous complications since he first launched his career as a mercenary back in Tarak.

The land was vast, and it seemed to harbor no shortage of lunatics.

There were short-sighted fools who picked fights with him, dismissing him as a barbarian, even after witnessing his striking and massive physique.

“That’s the fellow who completely wrecked Ralph’s crew…”

“Shh! Keep your eyes down.”

Those instigators seemed to possess a fair amount of self-assurance, given their local reputation.

They were competent combatants capable of manipulating aura, the internal force wielded by martial artists, at an advanced level.

“Word is he shattered every single bone in their arms and legs using nothing but his bare hands.”

“And that blades can’t even pierce his skin?”

When that initial brawl broke out, Harley had been uncertain about how to handle the situation, having never traded blows with a human before.

As someone destined to become a true hero, he couldn’t simply slaughter people carelessly in the middle of a city just because he failed to regulate his own power.

‘So I simply grabbed hold of them one by one and carefully snapped their bones!’

By doing that, there was absolutely no danger of taking a life by mistake!

It turned out to be quite an educational encounter for him, as it allowed him to test exactly how much pressure a human frame could endure before collapsing.

‘Furthermore, I managed to figure out the mechanics of utilizing aura.’

He remembered the shimmering heat haze drifting from their struggling forms and the sudden hardening of their flesh.

Granted, they still broke once he dialed up the pressure, but the underlying boost to physical capability was rather impressive.

‘It was beneficial to grasp its application by bending those fellows’ limbs… however… ’

The real issue was his inability to channel it within his current form.

His physical makeup resembled a monster far more than a standard human being.

It was only logical that methods tailored specifically for human physiology wouldn’t function correctly for him.

Altering his bodily structure back to a human baseline just to employ aura would actually leave him far less powerful than he was currently, rendering it a pointless endeavor.

‘Still, any knowledge gained is bound to serve a purpose down the line.’

Harley smacked his lips with a hint of dissatisfaction and redirected his steps toward the northern mountain range, seeking targets that could elevate his strength.

—

“Kraaaagh!”

“Hahaha—! Down you go!”

With veins bulging in his eyes, Harley let out a wild laugh as he drove his axe toward the massive, bear-like beast.

The instant the axe gripped in his right hand bit into the knee of the upright monster, the weapon in his left hand buried itself deep into its hamstring.

“Kwwaaagh!”

The beast’s massive paw came crashing down in retaliation.

He evaded the heavy blow with a simple, calculated sidestep, immediately driving his right-hand axe straight into the creature’s armpit.

These were remarkably precise axe forms that contrasted sharply with Harley’s savage demeanor.

The dual hatchets in his grip carved fluid, deadly arcs through the air, systematically tearing the beast apart.

Crack!

“Groan…”

The moment the creature began to totter under the relentless barrage of heavy strikes,

“Haa!”

Harley drew a deep breath and lunged directly at the beast, rotating his torso with immense force.

Utilizing his swelling muscles and the momentum generated by his rapid spin, he…

Crack—!

Slammed a sweeping low kick directly into the bear’s leg.

The monster’s leg bone snapped instantly, sending its massive frame spinning ninety degrees through the air before it slammed violently into the dirt.

“Heave-ho—!”

Refusing to let the opening slip by, Harley the predator leaped into the air and brought his blade down hard against the bear’s throat.

“Kuagh!”

The sharp edge failed to bite deeply into the incredibly dense hide and iron-like muscle fibers.

If a single strike wasn’t enough, he would simply keep striking.

A brutal, rhythmic execution commenced as his two muscular arms took turns raining down heavy blows.

After a considerable interval…

“Hahaha! You certainly put up a decent fight!”

Harley, now perched atop the lifeless carcass of the monster, roared with laughter.

Tossing his weapons to the dirt, he drove his sharpened fingertips straight into the beast’s chest cavity.

His talon-like fingers tore easily through the dense tissue of the monster.

When he withdrew his hand, it held a magic stone roughly the size of a fist.

He carelessly wiped away the coating of gore, popped the stone into his mouth to crunch down on it, and paused to reflect.

‘…To think my unarmed strikes are actually more lethal than relying on weapons… ’

This was a harsh reality he had been actively trying to avoid facing.

He had gone to the trouble of procuring axes and mastering specialized forms, yet they proved ineffective against high-tier monsters!

The sheer durability of creatures that utilized mana converted from their own physical essence was staggering, meaning he couldn’t deal significant harm using ordinary armaments devoid of internal energy.

While he could dominate them right now through raw, brutal strength, continuing down this path would eventually cause even his reliable black steel axe to shatter.

Conversely, if he restrained his strikes to preserve the weapons, he couldn’t breach their defenses, leaving him stuck in the strange paradox where his bare hands—capable of unleashing his full, unbridled power—were far more devastating.

This was practically identical to a legendary martial master forced to masquerade as a novice!

‘Wait? That angle might actually be entertaining… ’

He found the concept briefly appealing, but it didn’t align with his ultimate ambitions.

“Whew— Time to harvest the requested materials.”

Harley observed the shifts occurring within his own physical makeup courtesy of the digested magic stone, sharpening his fingernails once more.

He then sliced open the bear’s underbelly to retrieve the bear bile, which was the objective of his contract.

‘Altering my biology via “Physical Transformation” to harness a monster’s traits makes things incredibly straightforward, so why does… hold on?’

His hands froze mid-motion.

The inherent power of monsters, their very life force, which channeled the mana residing within their physical forms.

The aura of human combatants, which involved purifying the external mana drawn into their internal systems.

‘Ultimately, both forces involve manipulating internal energy to serve the user’s needs. The methodologies diverge, but the end point is identical.’

Monsters required no intricate refinement systems because their natural anatomies instinctively channeled mana.

Humans, lacking that biology, devised systems to purify aura and developed advanced styles to direct mana through dedicated training.

The paths were distinct, but the destination remained the same.

Therefore, if he managed to fuse the strengths of both approaches…

‘Could I potentially govern my life force by applying the principles of aura control, entirely bypassing the need for refinement?’

The most tedious and intricate aspect of mastering aura lay in the purification of mana.

Advanced methodologies were tightly guarded secrets kept within prominent martial factions.

However, the actual techniques for directing that energy once purified were hardly classified secrets.

It wasn’t a terribly complex application to begin with.

Drawing upon the insights regarding aura he had seized previously, he set to work immediately.

A sequence of adjustments and failures ensued.

He utilized both “Mutation” and “Physical Transformation” to contrast the structures of a human anatomy against his current form, correcting any underlying friction.

Unholy mana, sanguine energy, and divine power.

His extensive background in manipulating diverse energies accelerated his progress significantly.

As he remained entirely immersed in guiding his life force, sustaining himself on bear meat whenever his stamina dropped,

A sudden spark of realization washed over him.

《The subject has fulfilled the necessary prerequisites and achieved a breakthrough. You have unlocked the unique attribute “Bio-Aura”.》

A subtle, shimmering haze began to emanate from the weapon resting in his grip.

“Heh… Hahaha—!”

Harley let out a booming, triumphant laugh.

At that exact moment, a beast wearing a human countenance succeeded in grasping a human power.

—

Swoosh—!

A massive skull spun through the air as the neck was cleanly severed.

Thud!

A colossal Ogre hit the earth, causing the terrain around it to vibrate violently.

“Heh… That monster was truly formidable.”

Harley dropped to the ground right where he stood, rolling onto his back.

His own physical state was far from pristine.

He was drenched from head to toe in gore, and a metallic taste kept rising in the back of his throat.

While “Regeneration” was actively firing to repair the damage, his fractured left arm was still in the process of mending.

Growl—

A ravenous, all-consuming hunger gripped his core.

The fierce clash had completely drained the reserves of energy he had built up from sustaining “Physical Transformation”, “Bio-Aura”, and “Regeneration”.

“Ugh… I must consume sustenance to rebuild my reserves.”

Staggering back to his feet, Harley limped over to the fallen Ogre and channeled aura into the axe gripped in his right hand.

The Ogre stood nearly five meters in height.

Its entire frame was packed with incredibly dense muscle tissue, granting it physical capabilities that bordered on the absurd.

Its perceptions were equally formidable; it had managed to detect his presence and launch an immediate counterattack despite him masking his approach while it slept.

“As suspected, trying to hack through pure muscle is an arduous task.”

He had suffered multiple fractures and ruptured internal organs over the course of the engagement, but he managed to endure via “Regeneration” while systematically wearing down the Ogre’s vitality through the deployment of “Bio-Aura”.

“Hahaha—! Yet, the last one standing is this very body!”

A triumphant chuckle escaped him.

Thanks to the passive benefits of “Gluttony”, his stamina had returned sufficiently to allow him to laugh.

“The returns are exceptional precisely because the quarry was so formidable. This hunt was entirely justified!”

The moment he sated his hunger, restored his baseline energy, and crushed the monster’s magic stone between his teeth, his anatomy responded.

His muscular structure underwent rapid sequences of expansion and contraction.

His skeletal frame reinforced itself, his nervous system grew sharper, and his outer hide became significantly denser.

“Whew… remarkable.”

Savoring the sensations of his newly upgraded physique, he returned to carving up the Ogre’s remains.

After stowing the premium components inside his spatial storage items and recovering the weapon that had slipped from his left hand, he scanned the terrain to figure out his next move.

“Come to think of it, where exactly am I?”

The trees grew thick and dense all around him.

The environment had been torn to shreds by the catastrophic battle with the Ogre, leaving him without any immediate landmarks.

Harley quickly scaled a towering tree nearby to survey the horizon.

The sight of an endless, rolling sea of green provided a wave of satisfaction.

“Hahaha! It appears I became entirely too focused and ventured a bit too deep.”

He had spent the past several days trailing different targets by relying on his heightened olfactory senses, and it seemed he had wandered deep into uncharted territory by blindly pursuing intriguing scents.

It was an oversight born from his obsession with collecting diverse genetic traits, leading him to move carelessly without respecting the sheer scale of the northern mountain range.

“Ah well, I can simply chart a path using the night sky once darkness falls!”

Naturally, it wasn’t a major crisis.

Having resided within Auterica for greater than a year at this point, mapping his coordinates via the stars was basic execution, and there was no pressing need to rely on the teleportation array.

He couldn’t activate it anyway, considering it was currently locked behind its recovery period.

Descending from the branches, he plunged back into the thickets, figuring he might as well claim a few more targets before twilight arrived.

As the daylight began to fail…

Sniff—

“Hmm?”

His acute, non-human perceptions picked up an incredibly recognizable signature.

It carried a familiar resonance, akin to a scent from a place he had inhabited for an extended duration.

“The trace of unholy mana?”

Furthermore, it was a barely perceptible vestige of magical energy, clearly being masked by some form of cloaking field.

Drawing from his extensive tenure spent within Hans’s hidden workspace, he was absolutely certain of his diagnosis.

“Is there an unholy practitioner lurking in these woods?”

He paused briefly to consider this, then silently shifted his trajectory toward the source of the scent.

The recognizable signature flagged by his instincts left him feeling intrigued.

Ultimately, he located the origin point.

A concealment boundary maintained through unholy sorcery.

‘This design is also familiar.’

Hans immediately evaluated the warding magic that Harley observed through his eyes, relaying his deductions.

It matched the cloaking boundaries utilized by the Oath of Heaven’s Defiance, an faction he had run across during his early days as a Demi-Lich after claiming the initial Immortal King’s Fragment.

‘To think they established a sanctuary here as well. Then again, they always gave the impression of a massive syndicate rather than a local group restricted to the Talia Kingdom. Back in those days, they were bound by some sort of soul-binding contract.’

Their spirits had all been channeled to some external destination.

While Hans possessed the capability to bypass that binding mechanism now, he had been entirely occupied with evading the relentless tracking of the Saintess, leaving him no leisure to seek them out.

‘Yet here they are, falling right into my lap.’

A wave of unexpected satisfaction welled up within him, until…

‘Wait?’

Hans, detecting an intricate cascade of unholy power vibrating through Harley’s refined perceptions, adjusted his evaluation.

‘A grand sacrifice is currently underway? And this particular array is… ’

He reviewed the unfolding event by tapping into the dark occult insights granted by “Forbidden Knowledge”.

An offering ritual of this magnitude would inevitably leave a massive spiritual footprint.

Consequently, groups performing them typically vanished immediately upon completion, tearing open a portal to the nether regions using the residual unholy force of the victims, rendering subsequent tracking virtually impossible.

Simply put, if he failed to strike them right now, there was no telling when he would cross paths with them again.

“Heh… Having stumbled across them like this, I might as well introduce myself.”

He flashed a predatory, toothy grin, gripping his weapons tightly while centering his focus.

A dense, heavy shroud of aura—amplified by his recent victory over the Ogre—flared up and coated his blades.

The raw bio-energy radiating from his entire physical form was channeled directly into the edges of his twin axes.

“Hahaha—! Break!”

Bringing both weapons back over his shoulders, he unleashed a massive, sweeping strike against the barrier.

Boom—!

Following a deafening detonation, the ward shattered to reveal the entrance of a hidden cavern.

An immediate panic echoed from the interior, but Harley paid it no mind as he stepped across the threshold with absolute confidence.

“I can’t simply sit back and let you lot go about your business.”

These individuals belonged to the exact same cabal that had turned on Hans and slaughtered the inhabitants of his village.

Had there been a method to exploit them to his advantage, it might be a different conversation, but under these constraints, his sole objective was to sabotage their efforts completely.

If he managed to secure some spoils along the way, all the better.

And if the situation turned dire, he could always beat a hasty retreat!

‘This definitely has nothing to do with harboring a personal vendetta.’

As he advanced rapidly toward the epicenter of the pulsing unholy energy, a contingent of defenders intercepted him from the shadows.

“What?! Who goes there?!”

“Cut him down!”

They were the rank-and-file retainers of the unholy practitioner.

Specifically, one combatant of knight-caliber and five ordinary mercenaries.

‘No point in delaying! Full power from the start!’

The muscle groups in Harley’s legs expanded violently as he dropped into a low stance, resembling a predator preparing to spring.

Then,

Boom!

In a flash, he appeared directly in front of the knight-caliber fighter.

“Ugh! Impudent wretch!”

A dense coating of unholy mana erupted along the length of the defender’s drawn blade.

Despite the sheer suddenness of the assault, the man demonstrated sufficient competence to swing his weapon and deflect Harley’s incoming axe.

Clang—

“What?!”

However, that deflection proved to be his downfall.

The moment the defender’s posture wavered under the unexpected, monstrous weight behind the strike,

Slash!

The axe held in Harley’s opposite hand sheared cleanly through his throat.

‘Overconfidence remains the ultimate vulnerability.’

Evaluating the man’s blade technique and his level of unholy mastery, he wasn’t an opponent who should have fallen so effortlessly, but his assumption that Harley was merely a typical physical combatant sealed his fate.

“Hahaha! Face me together!”

Letting out a wild laugh, he threw himself directly at the surviving retainers.

A short while later,

Harley was once again moving swiftly down the subterranean corridor, drenched in fresh blood.

‘The lackeys weren’t even worth the exertion. Are the primary spellcasters deeper inside?’

As he focused his intent, bracing himself for the decisive confrontation with the leaders,

His instincts flagged an object tunneling rapidly through the earth toward his position.

“What sort of magic is this?!”

He failed to register any hostile intent from the approaching signature, but nothing friendly should be moving so unhindered through an enemy stronghold.

Just as he prepared to bring his axe down on the disturbance,

“Eek!”

A diminutive girl emerged directly from the stone floor.

She possessed a striking, delicate beauty that remained apparent despite her tattered garments and the heavy iron collar binding her neck.

She was an Elf youth, distinguished by her elongated ears, pale verdant hair, amber eyes, and a pristine bough clutched tightly against her chest.

In that exact instant, Harley deduced the true identity of the child before him.

“…Hahaha! Well, this complicates matters!”

He scratched the back of his head, chuckling out loud to mask his sudden surprise.

“So, young miss. What might your name be?”

He inquired once more to verify his suspicions, attempting to soften his fierce expression into something resembling a gentle smile.

The Elf youth, though visibly shaken by his presence, offered her response meekly.

“C-Cecily… My name is Cecily.”

Deep within the subterranean sanctuary of the Oath of Heaven’s Defiance,

The fateful intersection of High Elf candidate Cecily and the primitive combatant Harley had officially taken place.