ALL NOVEL Chapter 17: Elbaf's defeat
Everyone watched in horror, as their beloved ascended was being pushed back, while his men couldn't even do anything. The swordsman swung, but it accomplished nothing. The archer shot arrows, but every arrow had the exact same result...
Whoosh!
An arrows was shot toward Chiron by the archer one again. It was no different from all the others he had shot, the same material, same arrow head, same tail end and the same spin. The only slight difference was, that he had reposition himself to Chiron's side... and used his true awakened power for the first time throughout this fight!
It seemed as if it was an ordinary arrow, but it was rotating and the archer was shifting his fingers in a weird twitchy ways. The arrow approached Chiron's back and it looked like there would be no effect, just like the rest of them, but when it was a few meters away from hitting, the arrow drifted. It arced 80⁰ around Chiron and went directly for Chiron's one good eye!
The arrow arced so fast, by the time it entered its true trajectory, it was only a few centimeters away from Chiron's eye, it was half a second away from making contact and that would be the death of Chiron. Without sight, he would stand no chance.
All of that, only to eventually cause no damage once again, like the rest of the arrows. Unlike everyone else's, from Chiron's perspective something else happened.
His head spun around unnaturally fast, the fastest he has moved yet and he caught the arrow between his teeth! His smile reached all the war to his ears, as he bit down and broke the arrow's shaft and spat out the head. His full concentration was now on the archer, his one good eye, wide as a beholder's, looked directly into both of the archer's at the same time and seemed to even peer into his soul.
The archer saw the madman concentrate on him and shuddered. The only things keeping him safe from this unlikable beast was the distance between them and his teammates. And, as if a cruel joke by fate itself, the distance became nothing but a joke.
The short and clumsy man blurred, he ran so fast! Within 2 seconds, he covered the entire distance and swung his sword down onto the archer. Before anyone even realized what was going on, a third awakened had died!
Chiron took a deep breath, as his body suddenly stopped pulsating and his voice was no longer distorted "So, that's how my attribute works. Hehe!" His body turned around, slowly this time and stared at Elbaf now, his smile was gone now.
He looked as if he had achieved zen, as if the world around him didn't mean anything to him and all Elbaf could see was... Pity? As if he had ascended and the army surrounding him was no threat!
As if to rove this theory right, Chiron hit the ground with his sword and it instantly caught on fire! The blazing greatsword was at the ready to reap lives, as Chiron's one good eye stared into the depth of Elbaf's soul. His calm expression nothing, if not unnerving, as if his crazed persona before was nothing but an act and now he considered them so far below him acting was no longer needed.
"ATTACK HIM! EVERYONE! ATTACK! WE MUST KILL THIS CREATURE TODAY BEFORE HE HAS ANY CHANCE TO AWAKEN FURTHER!"
*Ah fuck, I think I oversold that. Now I scared the awakened too much for them to send more men at me and give me easy awakened kills.*
The soldiers rushed at Chiron, but he was in no hurry to fight back, he had plenty of time to think.
*So, these thousands of idiots want to fight me. What are my options? I can escape for starters. I finally figured out the impatient attribute, I'd say I'm at 99% mastery of it and how to use it in conjecture with my ability, but now I can't use much. If I use it, sure, I could TRY escaping, but what's the point in escaping? I can gathering so many dormant memories, hundreds maybe, and having as many memories as possible for my blazing glory is a good thing. With that huge bonus, how could I stop killing and say no?*
*Plus, if I use it, I will still have to fight my way through the encirclement, which will be easy, but a waste of good training time and no amount of time I compress will allow me to overcome the exhaustion of staying awake for over half a month. The coffee's effect will eventually run out. When the crash happens again, I don't want the crash to hit me at 10 times speed! If that happens, my concentration will slip and I'm as good as dead meat. I already made this mistake and cost me an awakened kill, so no more!*
That's right, Chiron's first attribute and the one he regarded as useless had an ability related to time.
This attribute of his allowed him to condense time, allowing him to do what he could only do in 10 seconds in 1. He would live 10 secondshimself, while only 1 would pass for everyone else.
Unlike If such a powerful ability was given by an aspect, it would have minimal flaws and consume plenty of soul essence, but this was a powr his real body used itself through an innate attribute. He could theoretically keep using it indefinitely, but living 10 times faster means in a single years, you would have to consume 10 years worth of food and your lifespan will decrease by 10 years.
*Such a power should only be used when absolutely necessary. I don't want to die a 20 year old 65 year old! Well, I don't care much about this illusionary body, so it matters not what happens to it! Hell, I want to constantly be in this state. The downside of 10 times lowered lifespan is nothing compared to potential years of combat experience I will gain from this nightmare!*
And so the final decision was made. Chiron decided to let this play out. He had a plan to get himself out of this situation now that he had awakened this power. He had enough food and water to ladt him several months and that's what he planned to do. He was going to bunker down, hoard all the items and eventually escape back to... What country was he fighting on the side of again?