Ascenders Rift

Amid the chaotic clash of the joint army and Joe's party, there was an area that had fallen into complete silence. If one looked closely, they would see a figure with a large open wound that trailed from the side of his face, drawing a line directly over his left eyes towards the chest. The cut around his chest area had even sliced through his light armor, showing deep gash that was spewing out a chunk of greenish blood as he screamed in pain.

"Ahhhh! You little vermin, you dare to wound me?" Turg cursed in anger as he gripped the wound on his chest; his left eye had been damaged, forcing him to close it as he glared at Layla.

At this moment, Layla was now standing a few meters distance away from him; her breath was slightly ragged as her face had a hint of paleness. If one looked at her closely, they would see a wound on her chest that was glowing with her red blood.

'T-that was a close one, had I been a step slower I would lose my life. I can't lose sight of him again,' As Layla thought this, she had quickly drunk some of the liquid substance from a DH Tube before stuffing it in a belt compartment.

She then lowered her posture and glared at Turg with her purple-colored eyes as she waited for her injures to recover. Luckily for her, Turg was a bit wary as he first trying to understand her before he attacks again.

Layla took this chance to compare her stats with his and assess her previous faults.

[Layla Valentine - Special Status - ???]

[Race - ???+Human | State - Awakened]

[Class - None]

[Level - 2]

[Next Level - 3000EXP]

[Total EXP - 2]

[Health - 200]

[??? Power – 22((+4) ???Presence Boost + NSB Per Level)]

[Strength - 22(13+3+3+3)]

[Vitality - 24(21+3)]

[Agility - 20(13+3+4)]

[Defense - 8(2+2+2+2)]

[Stat Comparison:]

[Previous: S - 10| V - 16| A - 10| D - 0]

[Current: S - 22| V - 24 | A - 20| D - 8]

[Talent:]

[??? Presence - A trait inherent to only those of a divine nature, its wielder will naturally inhibit the aura and properties of such beings.]

[Life Touch (+4 Vitality per level)]

[Inherent??? Power (+4 per level) ◆: Unawakened]

[Skills - None]

[Bone Knife - Rank 1: Low Grade]

[Damage - 3]

[Durability - 2]

[Scale Knife - Rank 1: Low Grade]

[Damage - 3]

[Durability - 2]

[Goblin Coat - Rank 1: Low Grade]

[Vitality - 3]

[Defense - 2]

[Durability - 2]

[Reptilian Arm Bracers - Rank 1: Low Grade]

[Defense - 2]

[Damage - 3]

[Durability - 2]

[Reptilian Leg Brace- Rank 1: Low Grade]x

[Defense - 2]

[Agility - 3]

[Durability - 2]

[Goblin Battle Boots - Rank 1: Low Grade]

[Defense - 2]

[Agility - 4]

[Durability - 4]

As Layla inspected her stats, she shook her head while in thought, 'My stats are weaker than his, but my power is many times stronger. My only weakness is that I can only control about half of it. If I can hinder him from going into stealth, then with my superiority in power and speed, I should be able to finish him in one swift blow.'

As Layla had wrapped up her thoughts, the wound on her chest had already stopped flowing with blood. Her eyes flashed in purple lights as she pressed her feet against the ground, preparing to charge towards Turg.

Turg, at this moment, had already calmed his mood; he noticed that Layla was plotting something, causing his mind to become alarmed.

'I was careless before, but I won't let that happen again, I must fight her while in stealth and avoid taking direct hits!' Turg said as he quickly gathered all his energies, preparing to use his stealth technique once more.

Yet, the moment he did this, Layla had once more vanished like a blurry shade. With a swooshing sound, she had appeared within his position as one of her knives struck towards his neck.

"Stea... shit!" Turg was about to use stealth, but it had been canceled and changed into a defensive attack, he swung his dagger towards Layla's knife as sparks flew into the air, their collision making a 'clinking' noise as he parried her strike with the daggers broadside and shifted it downwards to mitigate her power advantage.

Though one of her knives missed, Layla still used the other; her glowing eyes left behind blurry lines as she spun her body and slashed the second knife at Turg's chest when her previous knife attack had failed.

Turg's eyes strugglingly followed Layla's movements as he jumped from the ground, he balanced his leg on the flat side of her shimmering knife and used the force of her overpowering strength to push himself into the air by a few meters as a sneer came on his face.

"He jumped from my knife; how did he do that?" Layla said in shock at Turg's battle techniques; it seemed that he wasn't a commander for nothing.

As she noticed the look on his face, however, her face turned pale when she thought, 'This isn't good, he's out of my range, I can't let him get too distant!'

Upon thinking this, Layla's body glowed in small chunks of purple energy before she jumped from the ground like a rocket soaring towards his airborne figure with both of her knives aiming for his vitals.

Despite this, however, Turg made a sly grin while looking down from above with his single functioning eye while he spoke, "Keke, your power is far greater than mine girl, but your techniques are truly that of an amateur. Now, let's even the odds shall we, stealth!"

Turg's figure soon after became shrouded in darkness once more before fading away, Layla seeing this was stunned as her knives passed through his location.

'This isn't good, I let him vanish again, how can I find him? There must be a way; if I can't use my eyes then I must find a way to use my senses,' Layla rapidly thought as she was now falling from the air, as she fell Layla placed both of her arms together with her knives firmly gripped as she tried her hardest to concentrate.

While this happened, a little distance from her was Turg's invisible silhouette; he glared at Layla with cruel eyes as he too fell from the sky.

'This time, I won't hold back, you will die to my blade in one attack!" As Turg shouted this in his mind, he shifted his body towards her direction, falling at an even more rapid pace as the dagger was aiming for Layla's forehead.

Layla suddenly felt a sense of crisis, beads of sweat trickled down her forehead when she pushed her mind to its limits. Soon though, her efforts were rewarded, as if it sensed her will, the purplish energy within her body became more attuned to the surroundings.

Layla's mind began to sense feelings of lifeforms; each of these conveyed a different meaning. Some were carrying a hint of excitement, others bringing sorrow, but most of all, the feelings she sensed in this region mostly comprised of hatred, murder, death, and fear.

The most definite feeling came from above as if a sharp pointed tip was rapidly approaching her forehead, Layla having felt this quickly reacted. The moment her feet touched the ground, she shifted her body to the side and made a twirling motion, this caused her to narrowly avoid the murderous feeling that came from above.

As she did this, a surprised voice came from before her, "This... what?" Turg said in surprise as he saw how Layla avoided his attack easily, he wanted to understand what was going on, but sadly, he would no longer have this chance.

The instant Layla had avoided Turg's attack by instinct, she promptly made a follow-up attack during her spin. With a sharp humming sound, both her knives glowed in bright purple lights as they cut through the air with great force. As they slashed across the dazed Turg's neck, they made flesh piercing noises along with a loud earth cutting sound before the scene return to silence.

As this happened, Layla stopped her movements and opened her eyes. When she did this, she looked at the scene before her with a look of surprise.

Currently, Turg's corpse had fallen onto the ground; his neck was gushing out green blood which stained the ground as all life had vanished from his being. Behind him was two scars made on the earth, as if someone had taken two large knives to leave two small but deep fissures. Although Layla didn't like this scene, she didn't take her eyes away and looked at him deeply as if she was waiting for something. Soon, the information she was looking for had appeared.

[20 EXP gained.]

As Layla saw this, she heaved a sigh of relief before backing away from the corpse and thinking, 'I don't like it, but as Evan said, the only way to tell that the enemy is dead is to check for their EXP. Whew, I'm glad this one is over with, I wasted too much energy in that attack just now, I still have to properly learn control. Sigh... now I'll need to recover a bit before I help Joe and the others.'

Upon thinking this, Layla wiped the sweat from her forehead while gazing around at the chaos around her, the joined army seemed to be at a stalemate with Breya and Emilia's combined suppression tactic.

However, Fatty Joe was now fighting a tense battle against the three remaining commanders. Layla looked at this from the distance while gripping her knives. She spoke softly, "Try to hold on Joe, I'll help out in a bit."

After saying this, Layla took a deep breath and began to strive to recover her condition by doing meditation. Though her eyes were closed, with her newfound sensing ability, she was able to barely use it to keep track of anything that came within two meters around her. The battles around Layla only grew tenser by the second, as the air of the battlefield became sullied by the thick scent of blood.