Harassment

[Athan`s point of view]

The first thing I became aware of was the feeling of falling. Immediately my reflexes kicked in, I closed my eyes to better concentrate on my aura manipulation. I started to draw upon the warm energy that was located at my heart. Pulling it with my mind and then spreading it to all parts of my body and giving it a command to reinforce it, not paying any extra attention to make a complex aura reinforcement, moving purely by reflexes and instinct. After that I moved on, I started pulling more energy from my aura core, creating a second stream that led the energy to cover myself in a barrier, it would shield me from harm, again nothing complex just a rudimentary barrier for protection, simply throwing aura into it to protect me instead of taking the time to construct a complex barrier.

Almost as soon as I was done, I felt an impact that shook me. But the barrier did its job and protected me, it was a softer impact than I had expected. I understood why when I had opened my eyes again. I was underwater, the barrier keeping the water away from me. I started to swim upwards, soon reaching the surface. I had not fallen very deep into the water. I scanned the surrounding with my eyes, but I saw nothing that could put me in danger. I was in a small lake surrounded by a forest. I started to swim towards the edge while keeping my surrounding in mind.

I did not know if I should have been happy or worried. This was probably pay back from Amara for having annoyed her. The problem was that this was child`s play. She could have simple teleported me into a volcano, in front of two clashing armies, or in a dungeon if she really wanted to harass me. Maybe she was not that annoyed and just wanted to at least protest a little bit, that was a possibility, or maybe my goddess had intervened and shifted the teleportation location to save me from harm. Whatever the truth was, I needed to keep an eye on my surrounding in case the harassment was not over.

After having gone up to land and connected myself to the forest with my aura I noticed why she had chosen this location. I sensed something unnatural rush towards my position, and it would arrive in a minute, not long enough to escape but enough to prepare.

I let my aura enhancement and barrier go, letting the energy constructs fall, like a house of cards losing its support. Sending a mental command to my aura core for it to absorb all the residue aura left over from the collapse. Next, I started to weave intricate aura patterns to create a more complex body enhancement. After that, I started with the barrier, building it piece by piece. Like building a brick wall, one brick at a time, except with this its more like hexagons intricately built to support each other. But in the case of the worst, I build my supports, drawing out small amounts of aura from my core to form small pseudo cores all having aura streams leading between each other and the main core and all left with the mental commands to reinforce and repair my constructs.

I took off my bag and pulled out a small bottle containing a green liquid from it. Before I drank it, I sent out a small aura stream into my brain to dampen my sense of felling, with this done I pulled the cork from the bottle and drank it all. It felt like drinking liquid fire. I put the bag on the ground, then I did the same with my bow and quiver, they would be of little use for me in a direct fight. I put some distance between me and my baggage and started to wait.

Soon I could hear it, its footsteps heavy but still fast, luckily there did not seem to be any technique to it. Either the creature had never learned any or it is not smart enough. I hope it's the later. Any creature with the raw power of a beast combined with high intelligence is a nightmare to fight.

It finally came out of the woods and into the little clearing around the lake, ready to fight. It looked like someone had taken a wolf and then changed its figure into that of a human. If that was everything, I would have concluded that it was a werewolf, but I was not so lucky. It had three extra pair of eyes, one each below and above the main eyes and one extra besides the main eyes. The main eyes where red in colour while the extra sets where shifting colours constantly. There were also a second pair of arms below the main pair, the secondary being a bit smaller than the main ones. If I had to guess, I would say that a biomancer had played around with a werewolf before releasing their creation to field test it.

The fight had not begun yet, the creature wary of me and I unsure if we had a hidden viewer. I could not take the risk of letting some crazy mage swoop in to attack me after having made me exhaust energy to fight the creature. I made the first move, sending out an aura shockwave to sense the area around us for a peeping tom, and to get a basic reading of the creature that was facing me.

When the aura touched the creature, I noticed that it had its own aura barrier to protect itself. It was less constructed and more like it was radiating from the creature, meaning it could use aura on instinct. I could perceive no other person which was good. But my aura wave had signalled the start of the fight and the creature rushed me.

It covered the distance in no time making me barely have time to backstep, barely dodging the claw strike aimed for my head. The strike graced my aura barrier and I learnt that it had reinforced its claws even more, compared to what my scan told me. But my barrier was stronger, the attack did not manage to damage me. I Pulled my sword from my scabbard and slashed in one move, I managed to get some room as the beast jumped back.

The creature seemed to be confused why its claws had not scratched my face. I took this time to throw away my scabbard and entered a stance that my grandfather had taught me. Entering the mindset of a special martial art that specialised in dodging and countering the enemy, my favourite.

The werewolf creature was more wary this time, circling me. After waiting long enough it launched itself towards me trying to strike me again. This time I was ready, moving a bit to the side and just outside its range. After it was so far along its attack that it could not change its movement, I stepped in. I slashed with my sword, aiming to sever the secondary arm. The slash hit correctly but the creatures aura reinforcement working with its natural resistance made it so my sword only managed to create a minor wound on it. The creature became enraged by its wound and started flailing around, forcing me to retreat a few steps.

After retreating a few more steps than necessary I channelled an aura stream into my sword to boost its performance a little. The sword drank up my aura and the pathways built into the sword spread the aura into different parts of it without any resistance. After doing that I started to insert some aura into my stomach, where the elixir was currently waiting to be used. After inserting my aura into the elixir, I started to pump the essence from the elixir to all parts of my current aura constructs enhancement. My aura started to transform, previously it was invisible to the naked eye but now my aura started to become a faint green colour. My body and sword faintly glowing green.

I had concentrated on boosting myself for a bit too long. In that time the monster had stopped thrashing around and once again jumped towards me. With no time to dodge I followed my instinct and launched an aura shockwave towards it. This time I did not construct it with the intent to scan the surrounding but instead with the purpose to push the creature away. The creature was mid jump, having no way to resist the wave it flew backwards, like it had been hit by a giant hammer.

Looking at the creature, it was obvious it had not taken any real damage from the attack, but it had done its job and created some space between us. I let out a breath to relieve myself of my tension. I started breathing in a specific rhythm. I let my body sink into a stance once again, this time a more advanced stance of my previous martial art, one that was created to counter fast humanoid creatures. When the creature managed to stand up again it immediately rushed me, either too blinded by anger to learn from our previous clashes, or maybe it was just that stupid.

I made no movement, letting it come close and only moving when it was right in front of me. It tried to slash me with its claws again, apparently it was that foolish. I moved to the side again dodging its attack and I raised my sword and slashed downwards. This time I did not aim for an arm, this time my aim was its neck. The sword struck true and this time my boosted aura cut through its own aura and resistance with ease. The head fell off and blood sprayed like it came from a fountain. I moved back, keeping an eye on the corpse for several minutes before launching some aura waves at it to scan it. Only after scanning it three times did I dare approach it.

I learned a hard lesson a long time ago about approaching seemingly dead creatures. This worked double for creatures that a biomancer had messed with. You never knew what kind of atrocious designs those mages had thought of when they designed creatures. After approaching it I let my aura enter the creature to give me a full scan of it. I got my confirmation. The creature had indeed been something that a biomancer had created. Now it made more sense why it never used its second pair of arms to attack me, it probably was not used to having them.

This made me worried, since it was indeed created by someone then they should be near but there was still no sign of anyone approaching. I started moving, I cut of all four hands, and cut out the heart. With the creature being dead its aura had started declined so cutting it up was much easier now. After taking all the parts I used my own aura to reinforce the parts, making sure that they would not degrade.

I could not afford to spend too much time here in case the mage was around. I connected myself and the forest to check if there were any cities nearby. Soon enough I found one, it was a few kilometres away. After picking up my bag I created a small barrier around the body parts to make sure they would not bleed in the bag. I also inserted a small aura core into the body parts to with the job of managing the barrier and the reinforcements.

After having spent so much aura I did not want to waste more if I could help it. I let go of my personal aura constructs and the sword enhancement. I collected all the aura left over and then created a small aura enhancement so that I could run faster and a minor barrier in case of a surprise attack. Even after having spent so much of my aura it would soon be back to normal thanks to the secondary effect of the elixir. I just hoped I would not have to fight again before I filled up.

I realised something while I was running through the forest. I had messed up. I had the perfect opportunity to enjoy a fight with a new creature, but instead I let my reflexes kick in and I boosted myself so that I could kill it without any difficulty. My grandfather would have been proud if he could see it, enhancing myself just enough so that I could easily kill it while taking no risks. But that was another reason I ran away from home, I was never allowed to enjoy my fights, always being told to take the most efficient path, and being punished if I did not obey. But my disappointment was cut short as I could soon see a stone wall and the shimmering of a barrier.

I had arrived at the first destination of my journey.