Genetic Ascension
chapter-388

There was no Beast Totem that appeared behind Sylas this time. He didn't have enough Aether left to use it in the first place, but it was never his intention to do so.

Although he had learned how to use his own Aether to speed up his own personal healing factor, it took time and, obviously, Aether. There might not be any breaks at all in this Dungeon, and he was already running low on Aether after his first real battle.

This was to say that there was no way he could afford to waste his high powered <Psychedelic Punch> now, not when he would end up with a useless arm and no Aether to rely on.

So instead, he set up the perfect situation to use the weakened version. This was precisely the version of Psychedelic Punch that relied on Slow and Freeze to work. It was just unfortunate that it dispersed a great deal of his power when it acted.

But...

The result of the punch shocked even Sylas.

His fist was almost agonizingly slow as it moved through the air, at least in the eyes of the elites here. If Sylas' usual attack speed was 100, then right now it was 40 at most.

Yet, when it landed on Sergan's head, the result was astonishing.

CRACK.

First, Sergan was frozen completely in place. Not figuratively, but literally. A barrier of ice completely incased him and pulsing blue runes rampaged through their surface.

Sergan's Aether skin was suddenly invaded by a cancerous army of ice-blue Runes and suddenly shattered to pieces.

Sparkling motes of Aether light fluttered into the air, and it seemed like something even more devastating was about to happen when Sylas suddenly took action.

Rune Soul moved and forcefully suppressed the action of the Runes. If Sergan's entire body became nothing more than ice shards and bits and pieces, how was he going to take advantage of his Genes?

"Retreat." Sylas commanded.

A pauldron slammed into the head of the beast still bound by Lolaleen's bind skill and the two swiftly left the bounds of the encirclement.

With a touch to his frozen shoulder, Sergan's body had already vanished into the Madness Key as Sylas continued to retreat.

By this point, the eyes of the Sylphs were practically spitting fire. Without Sergan, this competition was practically lost. Vayu couldn't possibly uphold the burden all on its own.

On top of that, they had lost their best support Class. Although they had another, it was impossible for just one alone to support them all, and it was even worse because this second support was inferior to Lolaleen as well.

Sylas had taken out two of their key pillars and he seemed to have come out completely unscathed.

"Dismiss your Skill."

Lolaleen complied and the pressure on Sylas' Aether vanished. <Maddened Enlightenment> continued to churn, swiftly adding to his reserves.

'It's so much faster now. Usually, I can only be this fast when I enter a real state of meditation, but now I can do so while on the move.'

Lolaleen's eyes couldn't help but flicker, her shock palpable. She had never seen such a powerful Aether replenishment skill before. It felt like Sylas' very pores were opening up to allow Aether in.

What she didn't expect was that this was precisely what would start happening moments later.

Usually, Aether could only be taken in through the mouth and nose. Only those with exceptional skill could take it in through other parts of the body. Usually, it would require a special Comprehension or Gene Talent, sometimes even a Species change or Class change.

However, Sylas had grasped the intricacies of his Aether Pathways after absorbing the Bronze Intelligence Gene. He had a better appreciation for how Aether moved throughout his body so he had no need to only use the default pathways.

Although it was definitely still much slower than when he took it in through his mouth and nose, Sylas found that he could increase the potency of <Maddened Enlightenment> by another 20% or so. It was very worth it although it was a drain on his concentration and Wisdom.

'It should be about now...'

Vayu's team practically wanted to eat Sylas alive, but they didn't get the chance to. Sylas had planned out everything too perfectly.

Before the battle began, he had quietly snuffed out the spawning wolves in his region, clearing out a lane of retreat. Then, when he had his big burst and destroyed a large number of them, he purposely left several more around Vayu's team.

While they were fighting it out with the wolves, he was recovering as though the battle had nothing to do with him at all. What he also couldn't help but notice was that they didn't even realize what he had done.

This gaze Sylas a valuable piece of information. They couldn't sense his Rune Soul at all, likely because their Rune Mastery was just nowhere near his own to begin with.

This made things even easier on him. They didn't even realize that they were behind on points, so even though they were infuriated, they were still focused on at least securing their

victory.

Which was why what happened when the last wolf fell made them all pale.

[1. Sylas Grimblade - 237 points]

[2. Vayu Aerovane 36 points]

...

Vayu's eyes opened wide when he saw the system message.

"HOW?!"

He unleashed an infuriated roar, unable to believe his eyes. His only thought was that Sylas had cheated, but they were all here. How was that even possible?

His head snapped toward Sylas' direction, only to see violent blue winds whipping around him as Aether poured into his body in a frenzy. However, even in that storm, there were a pair of green orbs hovering within them, staring right back at him.

Vayu felt an inexplicable cold chill run down his spine, his body losing control for a moment.

Just what was going on here? How could there be someone so fearsome on a Summoned World?