Void Lycan's Advent

Danger

Orion, Evangeline, Marcus, Emma, Drake and Alex took measured steps while they carefully observed their surroundings as they moved forward.

Orion ears suddenly twitched before growing longer, resembling that of a werewolf. The sight startled his teammates, but remembering the world they lived in now, they quickly calmed themselves down and asked silent questions with their eyes.

He glanced at them and pointed at his ear. “I have two skills, I can change bits of my body into that of a werewolf. And, as you’ve noticed, I can also control darkness. Right now, this change is increasing my sense of hearing.”

The five glanced at him in surprise as both those skills seemed really powerful. But they didn’t pry and simply accepted his answer.

Orion, on the other hand, now finally understood what the ‘minute’ he had seen in his system meant. This was because whenever he chose to use the [Werewolf Transformation], it would either transform that area completely. He was unable to transform just his claws since the change would affect his entire arm. If he had tried transforming his ears before, he reckoned it would have affected his entire head.

So this new change made him happy. That single word made it possible for Orion to further manage his Ether.

A chaotic symphony rang out in Orion’s ear, leading him to wince a bit. It took him a while before he could finally filter out the unneeded information his ears were picking up on and focus on what he needed. “I can’t really know the strength of the aberrants based on just my hearing so I’ll simply avoid leading us to areas with too much enemies to fight.”

The five nodded and followed behind him as he moved. They were surprised to notice that Orion’s feet barely made any sounds at all as he walked forward – a skill, he had learnt before his regression. In fact, if he had gotten used to the lesser amount of power his body possessed as compared to his former strength, his steps would have produced no sound at all.

They didn’t know that though, so, inwardly, they all wondered what kind of life Orion had lived before the apocalypse began. But before they could ask, Orion suddenly paused, bringing out his knife and enveloping it with a thin film of gray Ether. His legs also began shifting, releasing crackling sounds as his feet became digitigrade.

His actions immediately alerted the rest. Their respective skills were activated as they got into a battle stance, pushing away their anxiety and fear to prepare themselves for the upcoming battle.

He nodded, satisfied by their reaction, before speaking “About 6 to 10 aberrants. We’ll follow the plan, injure them as much as you can without killing them then leave their incapacitated bodies to Mr. Derek and the rest.”

Once he was done talking, Orion dashed forward, his feet barely staying a second on the ground. His movements were more fluid than the last time he fought, this was because he was now getting used to his regressed body.

His knife, shining with its gray light, cut into the skin of the first aberrant he laid eyes on. The monster still wore tattered clothing that looked like the formal wear of a teacher. Orion’s movements were as precise as could be. His knife couldn’t cut the entire arm of the aberrant and he would waste too much Ether if he enhanced it to such a level, so he simply cut away at the tendons in the monster’s arms.

He then crouched as another aberrant swiped its claws at him from behind. As he did so, his knife blurred and moved multiple times, slashing away at the attacker’s tendons located at its thighs, knees and ankles.

The monster promptly fell to the ground as it lost control of its lower body afterwards. It growled in anger and attempted to reach for Orion with its claws but he swung his knife once more and cut at its arms too, thoroughly incapacitating it and doing the same to the first aberrant he had attacked.

Orion glanced around. The aberrants had numbered 7. He had taken two down, so had Evangeline. Her metal discs flowed around her in a grand manner, dismembering the aberrants which sought to kill her. Judging by how she used her [Metal Manipulation], Orion guessed that her Etheric Power attribute must have been quite a high number, possibly above a hundred. It made sense though, her attributes were probably mage based, focusing on her Etheric Power, Agility and Perception attributes.

He could tell that if he had gained the Void Lycanthrope class before his regression, it would probably focus on only Strength, Constitution and Perception. Thankfully, now he had the true system with him.

Marcus had quickly made quick work of the aberrant he was against. The other three had joined forces to take care of the last two monsters.

Derek’s superior strength and pre-apocalypse training allowed him hold back an aberrant with his fists alone. Alex smartly used his telekinesis to force the second monster to slip up multiple times, evidently toying it. In the end though, both of their powers, in its natural state, had to do with blunt force so Emma was the only one dealing damage as she fired one fire ball after another at the two aberrants.

Luckily, Ether would be divided based on one’s contribution, something which was calculated by the Ether System so all three would receive their power-up. Emma would receive the most though, since she was the one who ended up killing the aberrants.

After the two monsters were reduced to charred corpses, the three stared at the dead bodies with a bit of unease in their eyes. The aberrants looked like humans after all. In fact, they were humans. Just humans who had failed to fully evolve as they had.

“You shouldn’t bother yourself with that.” Orion’s voice suddenly rung out, causing the three to jolt a bit. His apathetic eyes glanced at the dead corpses as he spoke. “They aren’t alive anymore. The only thing seemingly human about them is their physique, nothing else. Their minds are long gone.” His voice hardened at the end, brimming with unconcealed conviction. “It’s a long game of survival, you have to make sure your mindset evolves along with your body to fully survive.”

He then pointed at the five remaining near dead aberrants and handed them his knife. “Alex and Mr. Derek will finish two since the Ether they received isn’t as much as yours, Emma.”

The teenage girl nodded, taking the knife then walking up to a body. Her eyes steeled with resolve while her fingers gripped the knife in her hand tightly before she drove it into its head.

The familiar golden energy left the body, splitting into two and releasing a more significant flow into Emma’s body and strengthening her attributes. The other half flowed into Orion’s body and prompted the system panel.

_

24 Ether points gained.

_

The points gained was much less than he should have gained but Orion wasn’t surprised. The Ether he received would be of lesser quality of the one already in his body so it would have to sacrifice a bit of itself to match the quality within him.

Well, it didn’t matter. What mattered to him was that the three would be able to strengthen their wills before the actual fighting began. He really couldn’t risk them freezing up in front of the enemy. Derek and Alex also stepped forward, gaining their respective Ether and increasing their cumulative attribute.

“For now, let’s continue with our path.” Orion spoke, after the three were done with their upgrades. He glanced down at his knife and frowned. On its surface he cooked inspect multiple cracks, not because of the monsters he had killed but because of the influence of his Ether. ‘As expected of a subpar pre-apocalypse equipment. It won’t be handle my Ether for much longer.’

He sighed and placed the weapon back into its sheath before turning to Evangeline. “Miss White, would it be possible to-“

Orion suddenly stopped speaking. His eyes dilated, blood pumping even faster from his beating heart while his hair rose up to their ends, warning him of imminent danger. His body twisted to the left while his arms immediately rose up in a crossed form with his left arm over his right.

The next thing he felt was a powerful force slamming into his body before he was sent flying, crashing into a nearby building, breaking down its walls and disappearing inside its dilapidated structure. His life and death unknown.