Chapter 87: Chapter 87: What is that thing?
His heart raced with a mix of fear and shock, as waves of pain surged through his body. Instinctively, he reached for the back of his head, his hands coming away stained with his own blood.
He was shocked by what was happening. Just as shocked were other Heroes in the place. They hadn\'t even come out of their daze.
Xiu Ying was the same. She knew Eren was strong, but was he really this strong? She found it hard to believe. She could feel that something was wrong with him. It was as if he was not himself.
Celeste had also flown far away, hiding behind a tree branch, appearing scared of the unknown.
The Heroes came out of their daze. Although it was shocking to see Astral get beaten, it was all the more reason for them to act! Eren was too dangerous.
"Just what is that thing?!" Astral asked the Spirit, surprised.
Eren was able to touch him in the astral form, when he was in a different space. It should have been impossible. There should have been no one other than the Overlords who could do this.
"I-i don\'t know what he is. Even as a spirit, I feel scared when looking at that thing. I don\'t think you can win! Escape when he is distracted by others!"
The Spirit had only one piece of advice for Astral. It was to run away.
"Do you think it is possible to run now?" Astral looked around him, feeling a strange disturbance. He noticed that he was not able to create a portal.
"I have lost too much blood. Why are your abilities so hard to use?!"
There was one thing that people did not know about Astral. Everyone thought that he was a true master of space, but only Mist knew that his strength was limited.
Just like other heroes, he also had a weakness. His weakness was different from others. His weakness was blood. The more blood he lost, the harder it became for him to use an ability.
A Portal was the strongest ability of Astral which he had barely managed to master. If it was real Astral, he might have created a portal.
Unfortunately, the fake Astral could not do it.
"Heal me," he called out, his voice desperate and filled with pain, as he commanded a healer from their group to come to his aid.
Meanwhile, he ordered the other Heroes to engage and eliminate Eren, uncertain if they could actually accomplish what he had failed to do.
However, they had an advantage, which was their sheer numbers. Sometimes, strength was in numbers.
Even if their objective of killing Eren seemed impossible, their efforts could at least keep him occupied until he had a chance to heal.
Winning the battle was not his immediate goal; his priority was to heal himself so he could make his escape. If escape proved impossible, he could at least create a portal leading to Mist\'s room.
He was certain that if he could bring Mist here, the battle was as good as over. Even if Eren was strong, he was nothing before the Overlord of the Southern Continent.
However, his plan started to crumble before his very eyes. Instead of being distracted by the other Heroes, Eren charged straight at him like a predator targeting its prey.
Astral attempted to alter the fabric of space with a wave of his hand, hoping to stop Eren\'s advance. Unfortunately, his efforts proved useless; nothing could stop Eren\'s relentless onslaught.
In a desperate attempt to shield himself, Astral grabbed the healer who had come to aid him and hurled him towards Eren.
Tragically, before the healer could even reach his intended target, he was torn apart by an unknown force.
Realizing that his spatial manipulation was ineffective against Eren, Astral resorted to wielding a weapon. He knew he could not rely solely on his spatial element to halt Eren\'s advance; instead, he had to take the fight directly to him.
With a swift motion, a spatial layer enveloped both of Astral\'s arms, augmenting his physical strength. He also infused his sword with a similar enhancement, granting it the power to slice through even the toughest of materials with ease.
His vision became sharper and time started flowing slower for him. Every second was akin to a hundred seconds for him. At this speed, he had even managed to beat Xiu Ying. He was confident in this skill.
"Huh? What?"
Astral was shocked. The moment time slowed down for him, he wasn\'t able to see anything. Instead of appearing clearly, Eren had turned into a shadow.
He attacked Eren, only to have his Sword passed through. His sword hit the after image of Eren.
If time had slowed down for him, then Eren had surpassed the limit of this skill.
[Time Remaining: 01:09]
Astral had lost the sight of Eren. Before his eyes could catch up to Eren\'s movement, his hand did. Or rather, Eren found his hand.
Eren grabbed his wrists. A kick connected with his stomach before Astral could react.
Astral was sent flying. For a moment, he was thinking about methods to defeat this man. But soon, pain caught up to him. He noticed that both his arms were missing.
He saw those same arms were in Eren\'s hands just as he crashed in the distant house.
Eren appeared before Astral again. In the back, the other Heroes kept attacking him with their various skills.
Their attacks kept disappearing just as mysteriously before they could reach Eren, making it appear as if there was a large invisible barrier around him.
"Let me go..." Astral sat amidst the rubble that was covered in his blood.
He could not even move anymore. With so much blood loss, he could not even use the weakest ability anymore. He was like a lamb, waiting for slaughter.
"If I die, Mist-"
Slam~
Before Astral could finish his sentence, a foot came crashing down. Blood splashed everywhere, creating a gruesome scene.
The other Heroes had been constantly attacking Eren. But the moment they saw how useless their attacks were, they had almost given up. Things became even worse when they saw Astral die.
They lost their courage in an instant..Instead of fighting a losing battle, all of them preferred to run away.
Eren raised his hand. He clenched his fist, and in that moment, multiple lightning bolts fell from the sky, like heaven\'s punishment.
Every single light bolt hit the target that was running away. In a single second, all the Heroes that had accompanied Astral died.
The Hero that was called impossible to kill also died in this place. If the news were to spread, it would have been impossible to believe for the citizens of this continent.
Xiu Ying stood up and watched the carnage around her. The entire place was turned upside down.
She did not care about this place. Even if everyone in this continent was to die, she wouldn\'t have cared. She only cared about Eren.
She walked over to Eren, who looked like he was still in some pain.
She reached out her hand. Even though she was scared, she wanted to do everything in her power to help Eren.
The moment her hands touched Eren\'s shoulder, he turned around and grabbed her by the throat.
Xiu Ying struggled to breathe. She could attack Eren to free herself, but she could not get herself to attack him.
She felt suffocated as she was raised in the air, every second Eren\'s grip getting tighter. He was like a complete stranger in this moment.