Chapter 8: The Lich And The Broken - Fixed
Howls blew through the forest as they approached their deceased brethren, the stench of rotten flesh wafted into his nose.
'At least three Branded Wolves.', Mana began flowing down into his feet and fist.
Thud...
The tree to his right shook intensely, a claw ripped past the moss dangling off the tree, aiming directly for his head.
Without hesitation, Ariel stepped backwards with his right foot, his right hand sliding past the Branded Wolf's claw, shifting its direction.
"Hah!", twisting his waist, Mana began surging through his left leg, rekindling his fighting spirit.
Twisting his hips slightly, his weight was transferred through to his left leg.
The Mana surrounding his leg changed shape slightly towards the form of a dagger.
Bam!
"ARGHHH!"
The Branded Wolf collided with the ground, blood spewing through the gash in its abdomen.
Swish!
The air split behind his head, another claw aimed to crush his skull.
Turning his eye he caught a glimpse of its Brand slowly turning a dark purple colour.
'A Lich's Essence Branding.'
There was a difference in Branding, the one he killed had a normal white Branding, this one was dark purple.
A white Branding meant it was a normal slave, a dark purple meant that the Lich could boost its strength at least 2-fold by burning its life away.
Swoosh!
Ducking down, the claw sliced through the air.
Voom...
All of his Mana surged towards his legs.
A dull thud muffled outwards as he performed a half head-stand, kicking the purple Branded Wolf up into the air.
Mana pumped violently through his right arm to stabilise him in place of his missing arm.
'Tch.', his missing left leg disoriented him slightly, causing him to stumble downwards awkwardly.
Quickly dropping back down, he looked up at its face. He could sense its shock.
A grin spread across his face, 'If your speed is doubled, then I just have to remove your ability to use it.'
Sparing a glance to the Wolf he smashed into the ground a moment ago, he confirmed that it wouldn't be able to get up for at least another 5 seconds.
Opening his mouth, Mana covered his teeth, forming razor-sharp blades. Lowering his mouth to his right arm he began kneading and chewing the Mana around his fist, forming a rough dagger.
"Now then, you can die first.", his eyes shifted upwards, a glint of excitement within them.
The earth beneath his feet vibrated as he jumped upwards towards the Branded Wolf dangling in the air.
The Wolf looked down at his cold-blooded eyes as it sensed its demise approaching.
Splurt!
A rainbow of blood scattered across the air.
[0.5 EXP Gained]
With a smirk spread across his face, he looked back down,
"Don't think I forgot that there were 3 of you."
The final claw was already approaching his spine, it cruelly sacrificed its friend to complete the hunt.
Rotating in the air, he grabbed onto the body of the Branded Wolf and flung it downward.
"Don't mind if I do."
Thud!
The dead Branded Wolf collided with the other one mid-air, crashing them both down into the ground.
Making use of his height, he built up his velocity and shot downwards, Mana cascading through his fist.
Splatter...
[0.5 EXP Gained]
Brain matter and flesh scattered across the ground.
"Hoooh...", letting out a deep breath he recollected himself.
'I'm basically out of stamina.'
Looking back at the first Branded Wolf he found it slowly whimpering away in fear.
Slowly walking towards it he collected the last traces of energy within him and raised his fist.
[0.5 EXP Gained]
And ended it.
-----
Mana is the fundamental source of power used by all beings on the path to greatness.
The greater your control of Mana, the quality of your Mana, and the volume of your Mana, the more powerful you are.
Ariel may currently have Mana of low quality and volume, but his control remains tiers above your average monster even though it's currently limited.
Thus leading to the loss of all four level 5 Branded Wolves to the level 1 Ariel.
Not to mention his experience.
-----
'Luckily Mana and Stamina only rely on each other to a certain extent, otherwise, I would have been screwed.'
Grabbing onto the next tree, he continued pulling his way through the withered forest.
Grumble.
Searching through his pockets he pulled out the last energy bar he had and slowly ate it as he traversed the forest.
'But my luck is quite bad to arrive at a Lich's Essence Grounds.'
Ariel suddenly paused.
"Wait a second."
Sitting down quickly, he turned the power on his phone back on and checked his notes.
Gazing at an insignificant corner, he confirmed his worries.
'I knew it, it shouldn't be possible to be placed within the continent of Ecnedal right after the tutorial, but that's also the only place where Liches reside at the beginning of the game.'
The world of Elegance Online was narrowed down to 3 large continents at the beginning.
Harnedal, the continent of Humans.
Carnedal, the continent of Beastmen.
And Ecnedal, the continent of Monsters.
'All Testers were to be placed in Harnedal, but the fact that I'm facing Liches means something has gone wrong.'
He placed his hand on his chin.
'But what exactly went wrong...?'
-----
Testers began to appear all around the continent within their predetermined locations.
Desolate screams and cries were thrown into a violent ocean, never to be heard of ever again.
Liches, Vampires, Goblins, Orcs, Werewolves...
Every monster race was given a free meal on this day.
A faint scent of grief could be seen silently following the crunching of bones, the pounding of flesh and the slurping of blood.
Within an Orc camp...
The usual grunting of the Orcs was missing on this day.
A young man with short bloody hair placed his left hand on top of an Orc's corpse.
Swoosh!
The blood within the Orc began flowing out, swirling around his left hand and piercing through his skin, causing his flesh to mutilate and reconstruct at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"A-Ah-Ahhh-Ahaha-Ha!", a broken voice left his throat, it was almost robotic.
He remained calm as the blood reformed his body, the immense pain leaving no imprint on his facial features.
"I won-de-r i-f mo-mm-y w-ould en-jo-y t-his food!", his dark red eyes shifted back to their original colour.
His voice was slowly returning to normal.
The Orc corpse was wrung of all its blood by the end of the feeding.
Plop.
He dropped down to his knees, his hand scraping at his face.
"No, there's no way mommy would enjoy it..."
His voice was no longer broken-
Splatter...
His tears began staining the ground...
-but his mind was.
-----
Deep within a glorious castle lined with skeletal remains...
An undead dressed in red robes lined with gold coating sat on top of a rusty throne.
Raising his fingers he tapped lightly on the armrest.
Creek...
The gate to the throne room began to open, revealing an undead in knights armour.
Its eyes glew up in a bright purple flame as it walked in.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
With each step it took, the floor beneath them shook.
"My Lord.", kneeling, it awaited instructions, but the Lord continued tapping away at the armrest.
After a moment of silence, it began to speak, "A rat has been messing with my lowest slaves, go deal with it on my behalf."
BOOM!
The undead knight raised its arm and smashed at its chest.
"Understood Lord!"
Creek...
The door closed once again, leaving the Lord behind to continue planning his moves.
His fingers tapped continuously for a few more minutes, sometimes the tapping increased in speed, whilst at other times it slowed down.
"I wonder which rat has the guts to kill my slaves."
-----
Ariel arrived at a small cave covered with cobwebs and purple moss.
'Should be good enough for the night.'
Moving the purple moss to the side, he broke the cobwebs and made his way in.
"Cough! Cough!", the dust made its way into his nose and mouth throwing him into a coughing fit, after it cleared up he made sure to cover his nose and mouth with his sleeve this time.
"This place is very dry, no moisture and no signs of life either."
He ran his finger across the jagged cave wall, collecting the dust and then rubbed it away.
'It's been covered up for quite a while, it's cramped but it should be safe enough in here to recover my Mana and stamina.'
Laying on the floor he closed his eyes and quickly fell into a state of light sleep.
After an hour his face began to scrunch up, sweat dripping down his face and his body shivering.
He began muttering to himself at a volume too quiet to hear.
-----
Drop... Drop... Drop...
Squelch.
Pulling out the dagger, the feeling of flesh tearing sizzled through his nervous system.
A sense of nausea flowering within his body.
"A-Ah-AHHHH!!!!!!!"
Clatter.
The dagger dropped onto the floor.
Plummeting down onto his knees he began crying his heart out, blood staining his face as he wiped the tears away with his blood-drenched hands.
Glancing back up at the figure, "Why...!"
The dark figure drifted away in the darkness, leaving the young man behind in an empty void.
-----
His eyes opened back up, greeting the sun through the purple moss.
"I had that dream again..."
Letting out a bitter laugh he stood up, "Even my dreams followed me back."
Stretching his limbs he prepared for a new day.
"If even my dreams followed me back, then I wonder what else followed me back."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AlwaysTired
AlwaysTired Yeah chapter every other day until I get used it.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed it :D
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