The Regressed NoBody

My eyes darted cautiously around the vicinity of the forest, taking a fortifying breath, as I tried to feel for, or observe any change or fluctuation in the mana or might there be any slight tingle which could bypass my eyes—the demonic energy moving just as irregularly as always, moving wherever it wanted to heedless of it’s surroundings, like on a whim, in contrast the motes of mana moving in a constant and purposeful path to either fill the spaces around it or staying close to it’s natural element—around me or sense any presence which might be available in our surrounding belonging to the cephtalurians.

My feet silently moving closer to where I had laid Runda, looking at her heaving for breath as she held on to her shoulder where she had been bitten on by the cephtalurian.

Her face had started to turn pale, black blood staining the wound over her shoulder as her face distorted and hissed with pain. Her own blood mixed with the black murky substance dripping down her shoulder, staining almost half her torso.

Her face twisted even more as time passed on as she barely looked up at me with half open eyes, taking a heavy breath and biting her lips, trying to stabilise her deteriorating breathing and condition.

Her eyes still gleamed strongly, but her form and demeanour looked weak, a clear contradiction to her sharp gaze.

I bent down coming to eye level with her and examined the wound, it wasn’t too deep but still a pretty nasty one. Her skin turning sickly pale where she had been bitten only moments ago. I brought my hand closer to her, our eyes met shortly, as I kept tentatively glancing in her direction. My fingers touched the black acid still dripping down to her torso, the skin over my fingers burned before stitching itself back together.

Runda winced, her face breaking into an even more agonising frown, her lips parted for a second, her head turned as she sank deeper into the trunk, looking more and more weak as the skin on her body burned as the acidic poison licked her form.

I had both poison resistance and the ability to regenerate myself naturally from any wound dealt to my body, be as bad as it might be. It was within my body’s scope and capacity that it could heal itself. But same was not the case with her.

Her wounds would stay unless she was given some supplement or potion to deal with it. And on the worse side, that cephtalurian had also ingested it’s blood into her body, supposedly having gone through her blood stream already.

Uito had mentioned in our conversation before, that the cephtalurians’ poison was a far worse substance to their body than it could be to mine. It was a poison which was there biggest weakness. It was a slow killing poison, bringing the thalassalithions closer to their deaths, if not treated in due time.

But I don’t think that it was able to ingest a strong amount as it bit last minute.

But even this amount could leave this much damage to them. I wondered looking at Runda's twisted face.

My eyes went back to her wound, her shoulder was slowly turning pale and blacker as her veins bulged outward, like worms swirling inside her body. She pulled back, trying to steady herself, but the poison was having a far stronger effect on her than she could handle as she grunted in pain.

Her face twisted with a painful sneer, her nose wrinkling as she looked at me, taking another heavy breath to fight against the pain clawing away at her.

Her body started to convulse with spams, shaking wildly as the knuckles of her hands turned white from her strong grip. A weak moan barely above a whisper escaped her mouth as she bellowed something akin to a curse under her breath in a very weak and shaky voice.

Slowly she tried relaxing her body and the spasming of her muscles stopped as her dilated unfocused eyes finally gained some clarity to them. She tried to make out of her surroundings, taking slow fortifying breaths, but her breathing was getting shallower, she didn’t have enough time left.

Something needed to be done—of the poison—or she would die.

I took action and quickly withdrew an advanced ranked potion from the inventory and removed the cap from the head of the flask, bringing the flask closer to her.

But she whipped my arm away with what little strength she could have mustered, the flask released from my grip and dropped over the surface of the branch, the translucent liquid spilled around as the glass flask cracked stumbling several times over.

I clicked my tongue, as a tight sneer creased passed her brows. My eyes bore down at her, her form wailing as her face turned completely white.

I sighed taking a moment to appease my fuming face. I withdrew another potion from my limited stash and this time forced her to grab hold of the potion by pressing it into her palm and gripping her hands tightly.

“I don’t have time to deal with your damn stubbornness, Runda. Don’t act so pathetic and prideful when your damn life is on the line.” I bellowed with anger laced in my tone, face cold, glaring down at the thalassalithion. “Just do what I tell you or your life will be in danger.” I barked with my voice stern and compelling, as the thalassalithion looked at me with her bright eyes.

Her lips parted slowly, a hoarse cough came first, she took a hard breath, her face finally failing her demeanour and the sharpness of her eyes dulled, where she still tried to put up a facade of bravery even in the face of life-threatening danger taking a few more seconds.

“I-I don’t n—eed...y-your help.” Surprise bled from my face as my brows knitted, hearing Runda speak. Her tone was hoarse and felt weak as she tried to glare in my direction, but pulled back as her body convulsed again.

“You can speak all along?” I inquired, looking stunned as I gazed at her but still probing her wounds which had the murky liquid dripping out of several protruding muscles and pores on her skin. A glare had made it’s way from my eyes towards Runda.

I shook my head with a shrug of my shoulders, trying to stay focused on the task at hand right now, putting aside my others thoughts and questions.

“That aside, it hardly matters to me if you need my help or not in this situation. You’re in no position to decline my favour, in the pitiful condition you’re in right now. Nor are you physically capable to do so as well.” My eyes solemnly bore down at her, not giving her an inch to back off.

She sank deeper into the wooden trunk of the gargantuan tree, her body flailing as her expression twisted further. Her complexion turning dry. “And if your wound isn’t treat immediately then only your death awaits you. Be my guest, if so much as you wish to die, but...I don’t want Uito to scorn himself for your death as well.” There was a slight pause and a tinge of hesitation and uncertainty laced in my last words as I addressed Runda.

She grimaced, looking at me with uncertain half open eyes. The mention of Uito had a better impact on her than I had thought, her demeanour shaken up now. I guess she held no trust in me, whatsoever.

I once again brought my hand closer to her wound. Mind’s Eye allowing me to observe clearly the motes around me, further fortifying and increasing my visionary capacity to see even the slightest of detail of her wound.

Wait, the poison has already penetrated her body and into her blood stream and nervous system, and the clear indication to that was her veins turning black and her body failing from spasms.

Patching up the outer wound before treating the poison and damage done to her from within is more important. And making this black blood mixed with her own to stop before she bled to death also held priority.

My eyes slightly went to the potion held in her hand now. The elixir given to me by Uito had a very strong capacity to heal and clearing poisons injected into the body, but I didn’t have any on me, and going back to the village will consume a lot of time.

And honestly speaking, in the first place taking into account everything, these potions were originally made for human consumption only with the mixture of different chemicals and herbs to match our physique and biology, and not for mana beasts to consume. I don't know just how good of an effect would its properties have on a beast such as Runda.

Considering the time I had given one to Imeru, the potion had healed her injuries quite quickly, but Imeru had only smaller level of wounds inflicted on to her, and she hadn’t been directly effected by the poison in her pursuit by the cephtalurian. I had learned that from the memory she had shown me, but Runda was being directly effected by the poison which had been ingested into her directly by her being careless.

And taking into account that these potions were also made for temporary use, to either heal a person’s body or recover their mana or stamina when an emitter was not available near them.

I didn’t know if the potion could heal her completely but it was worth a shot.

As I focused my mana into my arm, the tip of my index and middle finger blazed with red light as the motes of fire available around me rushed along my arm and near the edge of my hand.

My control over the element of fire wasn’t too bad in all honesty, but I just didn’t use it much, considering my greater magnitude of control over the element of wind and having incorporated that very element entirely into my swordplay.

But still I was having a hard time gathering and influencing the element because of its scarceness.

Two small fires began to burn on the tip of my fingers, crackling like small bonfires, as the heat generated by them was felt in the air and on my skin. Well fire could only exist and keep itself burning if there was oxygen in the air to fuel itself with in the first place, so with my control over wind the second element in my control being fire helped in that as well.

The flames flickered and doused a little, as I lowered their amount and strength to what I needed to.

Runda’s jewel eyes reflected the fire burning, as her facial expression dropped in horror, realising what I was trying to do.

Her head bobbed with a groan as she shook her head almost like a child with a less serious expression this time.

And I nodded back at her with a determined expression.

Then my fingers moved and just as they were close to the wound, Runda held on to the sleeve of my shirt, gripping it hardly as the fire began to consume her skin and muscle, cooking and burning them.

The fire blazed more as I channelled and focused more of my mana, to clear and burn the poisoned and protruding muscles and skin to patch the wound from causing any more blood to spew out of her.

The crisp smell of burning flesh evaded my nostrils as I kept my eyes fixed on the wounds.

Runda not being able to deal with the agony, gripped hard on to my forearm, holding it as tightly as she could, her strong grip increasing each second as she chocked back sobs and tears.

But unable to do so any further her weak wailing groans and moans filled the air around us. Her face twisted more as I burned and patched up the wound, the skin and muscles changing colour.

After a second or two, I extinguished the flame and gesture for Runda, gently shaking her stiff and frail body, whose teal blue hair covered half of her face as she breathed in and out with choked sobs in between.

Her good arm came closer to her left shoulder and the motes of blue rushed to her command, as small droplets of water took shape above her palm and over the wound and began to clean it and enveloping it to cool of the heat left on her skin.

After a through process of cleansing the wound for a minute or two—losing focus several time along the way, baring with the pain as the droplets of water lost their shape—her hand flailed and plummeted as she cried out, the water mana shimmered and lost its shape as the motes returned after the spell had been broken.

Then I moved, making a slow and relaxing wind to clear and dry off the water left on her skin.

Despite that her condition was still the same even after patching up the wound from the outside. But the constant bleeding had stopped which was the bigger issue.

Now all that's left was to deal with the poison still lingering in her body.

“Drink the potion now.” I ordered as Runda did so without a word.

The substance inside the flask vanished in less than a second as Runda sank into a fetal position against the trunk. Her face expressionless and breathing shallow.

Withdrawing a small clean cloth from the inventory, I wrapped it around the wound as Runda winced in pain again.

In the meantime I kept watch over her—as well as the surrounding to be on the look out for any ambush from the cephtalurians, who might be hiding—observing her body as the potion took its effect.

The effects weren’t as instantaneous as I had in mind, so the process of cleansing and healing her body took a few minutes at best.

Runda opened her eyes, looking at me with a very slight wry smile over her face after a few more minutes passed. “I guess, I won’t die today after all.”

“Well you were lucky I was here, or I guess it was bye-bye for grumpy Runda.” I jabbed with a playful smirk curving at my lips as I retorted drawing a line along my neck

Runda went expressionless once again as she heard me, taking a deep breath to steady herself, leaning her head backward.

But just as I could say anything further, I heard a loud and horrendous roar come from deeper inside the forest which shook the very air itself, instilling a kind of hardness and dread in the atmosphere

I twisted my head to my left, as I sensed a very strong mana signature in the far distance, at least a few hundred metres away.

I turned back and Runda was already looking at me.

“I will drop you to a short distance away from the village before I go,” I said, as I saw uncertainty over the thalassalithion’s face. “Its better for both of us if you comply quietly.”

Just by watching her fight, I knew just how much she hated the cephtalurians, but her recklessly rushing into battle would only bring her own demise, and so would mine if she went along with me. She becomes too hot-headed when she sees the cephtalurians.

“You—”

“You need to understand!” I spoke with my voice calm, but somewhat rushed as I cut her off. “You have to return home, back to your people. It is the same for me—my purpose is to kill the Chief of the Cephtalurians and return to my people. I know the animosity your kind holds against them runs deep, but for me to leave, and return to my home and loved ones the only option I have is to hunt their chief. And once that purpose is fulfilled I will leave as soon as I can.”

Runda didn’t say anything back, but a complicated frown was creased across her face, but after a second of consideration she gave me an understanding nod.

I stood to my feet fast, and helped the thalassalithion to hers.

“I can walk on my—” Her feet staggered and knees buckled as she almost slumped back down, before I had caught her half-way in my arms.

“Still think you can?” I said with a wry smile pulling at my lips as I raised a brow.

The poison had weakened her body and left her in a state in which she can’t even walk properly now.

Runda glared back at me as I gave her an innocent smile.

I lifted her in my arms as Runda squealed in surprise, her face flushed that her body froze for a second like a statue.

“We need to hurry and you’re in no condition to walk on your own, and this is the only position I can carry you in while running.” I voiced looking down at her as I began to move.

Crossing the forest wasn’t a problem for me. Along my way, I had left several markings in places only I could remember and hidden from the eyes, so I could make my way back to the village if need be.

And they had already come into use.

After an hour of running through the forest while carrying Runda in my arms, I was close to reaching the village.

And along the way, Runda didn’t once tried to hide her dissatisfaction once. Her face was slightly fumed with a frown as she kept glaring daggers at me.

I looked at Runda before making my mind and finally asking. “Did I do something wrong to deserve your irk?” My words hanged in the air as I moved, leaping from a tall branch and landing on to one a few meters below, as the impact of my feet was cushioned by the manipulation of wind mana to decrease the speed of my fall, sending my clothes and hair ruffling, so Runda’s teal blue hair.

Runda’s brows knitted as her nose wrinkled in dissatisfaction, as she winced yet again that I almost dropped her from my arms due to her struggling.

But after a long deep sigh, she exchanged an exasperated gaze with me, her eyes looking annoyed and somewhat stupefied, as she spoke. “You beat up Rito mercilessly, and so his companions, and that fool had to go bow to you. An act of great meaning to my people.” Her voice sounded harsh like the tip of a sharp knife.

“You beat up my son, and you wonder why you have aroused my irk?” She finished with a snorting of her nose as she scoffed in my arms moving her head away.

‘So Rito was her son!’ I had an inner thought, flabbergast, as I shockingly looked at her on the sudden revelation of their relationship.

Well she did show little signs of affection when tending to the young thalassalithion when we had just met. And it does explains her clear display of anger against me.

“Fare enough!” I conceded with a shrug, as I barely showed any sign of apology.

I mean, they were the ones who attacked me in the first place without knowing any better, so getting beaten up was the right thing for them. And I was only on the defensive side.

After a minute or two of running through the forest, we finally arrived a kilometre away from the village.

“This far should be enough. And you have recovered enough to fend off if attacked or ambushed suddenly. But this part should be safer being your territory and all, compared to the deeper side." I said as I released Runda free from my grasp as her feet touched the dry dead ground.

I whipped around, ready to dash forward but was stopped by the thalassalithion as she pulled on the back of my shirt.

“What? I’m not gonna carry you any farther than here! You’re heavier than a damn sack, my arms are somewhat numb, I’ll have y’know.” I snorted looking back at her.

Runda’s jaw clenched as she glared at me with intense bloodlust in her eyes. But taking a deep breath she tried to appease herself of her anger, pushing it down albeit forcefully.

“I w-wanted to...say thank you...—for saving me.” She said through gritted teeth as the muscles on her face twitched with anger, the lower muscles of her face forcing themselves to turn into something which could barely be considered and recognised as a smile, if that what she was trying to do.

A jolly grin pulled at the side of my lips, my face covered with an astound expression, with playful eyes looking her way.

“Heh! I guess Uito was right, you aren’t as bad as you make yourself to be. Still the anger-issue are no joke for you.” I joked with my arms crossed with a demeaning and playful attitude as I barely dodged a fist hurled in my direction by a hair’s length.

“Get lost from in front of me.” She uttered with an exasperated voice but with playful banter mixed along as she shooed me away like some annoying fly.

“Yeah, yeah. I will! I don’t wanna see your face any longer too.” I said as I spun. “Be careful on your way back.” I quickly added.

“And by the way, say my regards to Uito.” I finished, looking above my shoulder, and giving Runda a smile as I pressed my feet on the ground.

After that I dashed across the deep dark forest, making my way as fast as I could by following the marks I had left previously.

***

After running for almost an hour and a half without so much of a stop or break in between I finally came to stop on a high branch which connected to a wide tree leading to the destroyed ruins of an ancient hut whose front was nowhere to be found and it’s side collapsed on itself with a destroyed branch close to it.

I took a deep breath as I cleared my forehead off sweat. But with a long tired sigh I leaned against the side of a branch with an exaggerated frown over my face.

I was really remembering my heydays, yearning for when I was able to fly back in the days, just soring through the open skies. Seriously, flying was an essential skill I needed back at all costs. But I couldn’t just buy my ticket to flying from the system.

But in my previous life when I had learned to do so, I would just fly in most places I needed to reach quickly or in a short time.

With another exaggerated sigh I cautiously walked down from the branch. Taking a path carved naturally by the colony of trees and their thick branches, working like streets.

I was yet again clearly reminded of the usefulness of being able to fly, and my own inability to not do so, and taking into account ariel combat, when certain opponents would attack while flying in the air.

It was indeed a very useful skill.

Running here and there is just a useless waste of time and waste of good stamina, considering I can only use Leap once every two hours. Just why was there even a cool down on the skill, anyway? I grunted moving with a glare around me as if I saw the system hovering in front of me through my mind’s eye.

‘The system was seriously fucking with me.’ I thought with an exasperated expression etched over my face.

But peering around me I think I was close to where I had heard the roar come from an hour and half ago. The mana signature I felt was strong, far stronger than that of Uito or either Runda or any of the thalassalithions.

So I can assume it was the Cephtalurian Chief’s mana I felt and saw.

Slowly moving through the ruins of the old thalassalithion village, I crossed the uneven alien ground, an uncountable amount of craters around me filled with contaminated water.

Several of the tree had collapsed canopies and trunks lolling down like broken sticks, old wounds and scars still visible on the trees around me. There was one who even had fist size holes drilled into it where a hut's remains were barely left.

A reminder of the ruthless battle, the massacre caused by the cephtalurians ages ago, causing a wave of uncomfortable emotions to rise up.

The memories I had witnessed of children, women and men of the thalassalithion race being massacred mercilessly by those cephtalurians repeated inside my mind like a fixed tape as I moved along the uneven path with my sword resting in it’s sheath, lightly tapping against my waist.

Well their circumstances were similar to the things I had experienced long in the past. So the clear emotions I felt when seeing this destruction reminded me of my past to a good detail.

I stretched out my senses trying to feel the slightest of sounds or movements, as I looked around me seeing the mana and demonic energy visible in the atmosphere.

The farther and deeper I went into the forest the more alert I became. Five minutes, ten minutes, my feet carried me deeper into the forest. The mist around me had become shallower to the point that I could now easily make out of my surroundings.

Then just as I took another step forward I bent down, sword drawn in my hand as I performed a side-diagonal slash, avoiding the black blood splashed, dropping instead on to the ground as a tentacle crashed beside me.

I stood tall, looking indifferently to my left as I laid eyes on a cephtalurian who stood a few meters away from me, hissing in pain as some murky black acid drooped and stained the ground, as it’s spider-like eyes glared at me.

Slowly I was surrounded by a pack. Four of it’s companions had arrived to help the cephtalurian.

With a slow breath my mana burst in my feet increasing my speed as I was over the cephtalurian I had laid eyes on previously.

It gawked at me with stupefied eyes, not being able to react to my movements.

It’s other companions shot their tentacles in my direction. With the length of their tentacles reaching up to six meters they could attack while protecting themselves from a head on confrontation in battle, while they could also release the innate potent poison they possessed.

But that wasn’t a problem for me. Neither their poison or their numbers gave them an edge against me. Numbers didn’t matter in a fight of greater strength.

And their fighting style was crude like any other mana beast I had fought, who only followed it’s instincts. Unlike the thalassalithions who fought in a more calculated form of control and technique to learn to counter their opponent’s greater strength.

My feet pressed hard into the mud, mana bolting through each and every muscle reinforcing my leg as I leapt in the air, the ground gave out, forming a small crater on the impact, dodging a tentacle lurched in my direction, as I grabbed hold of one mid-air, crushing it in my palm and severed two more as I spun my body.

The loud shrieks of the cephtalurians hammered into my ears as I took aim at the first one.

My sword moved with mana coalesced around it, giving it an enchanting light as the force of my swing was further enhanced by the particles of wind, but I didn’t stop there, I went further while manipulating the particles of fire, a blazing hot flame carved and wrapped around the blade, the hot red flames roaring as wind reinforced it, the air around us burning intensely, causing my sword to severe the cephtalurian’s head, as blood gushed out of its open wound as the head went rolling on the ground with a thud.

It’s body tumbled backwards, lifeless, as I turned to the others. I released the tentacle I held in my palm and turned to the others.

Their bodies shrivelled back, their tongues hissing and growling, maw quivering as their eyes shook with fear.

They were beasts indeed, but even a beast would know instinctively its chances of winning when facing against a stronger predator.

I whipped my sword, clearing it off the blood of the cephtalurians, as I took a stance, mana moving and covering my body in a protective layer as I released a breath.

I took a step forward and the cephtalurian pulled back, my face cold and eyes indifferently baring down at the pitiful beasts.

But to my surprise, I saw four large tentacles, each twice the size of a cephtalurian's two, appearing from behind them, and penetrating them from behind and wiggling out from their bulk like worms.

Blood sprayed everywhere, staining the ground and the trees around them as the tentacles flailed in the air.

My brows knitted as I focused my eyes in front of me and saw a massive figure walking closer in my direction.

With the mist shallow around us now, I made out of the beast’s appearance.

It’s body was humanoid just like any cephtalurian’s, but its bulk and figure was twice the size of theirs. Its big shiny amethyst eyes burning with malevolence as it’s tongue lolled out of it’s octopus-like head with maw perfectly visible. Its skin was a dark shade of reddish purple, riddled with scars all over.

Tentacle like arms on it’s torso and four more jutting out of it’s back making the beast look horrendous to the eyes.

Each step it took caused the ground to shake around it, as it’s tentacle wiggled in the air, like four different individual monsters.

But I observed through Mind’s Eye that the cephtalurian chief was able to drain the mana out of it’s target body—which in question were it’s own kin.

Their bodies shrivelled upon like dry cactus, skin turning pale and sickly as they cried in agony but soon stopped when not even a drop of mana was left inside them as their bodies turned cold and lifeless.

The cephtalurian chief stopped just a few meters away from me, baring its maw it released a deafening roar, which supposedly even shook the trunk of the trees and ground. It's bulk moving forward and backward, trying to make itself look as intimidating as possible to me.

I almost scoffed looking at him with nonchalantly cold eyes.

I held my sword strongly in my palm, as mana bolted in and out of me, causing the space around me to distort as my intent was released in the atmosphere causing the cephtalurian to growl and look at me with it's ferocious eyes.

I took a stance, as I saw the beast releasing the cephtalurians from it’s meaty tentacles and throw their shrivelled bodies away like twigs.

With another roar, its bared it maw and lurched in my direction.