"Ohh… Now look who came," the voice sounded inside the portal room right after Ray stepped in. On alert, Ray looked around as he saw a silhouette walking out from the other side of darkness.
"Tip…tap.." the footsteps echoed like the drops of water after a rain. One second they were like a calm reckoning and the very next second, they felt like a maddening cry of a demon.
This affected Ray a lot as he felt disoriented right after he heard the footsteps echo, "Aurora!" He called out in frustration as things were taking a u-turn. The situation was spiraling out of control as Ray felt like loosing control over his subconscious mind.
"Don't worry. I have got things under control. The person is using some sort of hypnotizing technique to trick your mind into chaos and then taking your submission but don't worry, I will counter it. You just keep holding back and try to get as nearer to the person as possible," Said Aurora calmly. Her soothing voice yet again helped Ray get a grip o himself as his yees flashed with as cunning glint.
He looked at the incoming silhouette as a flash of hatred shone on his face. Ray suppressed his emotions as he looked forward and kept up with the act. He moved forward haphazardly as the person in front of him laid down his guard.
The person in front was none other than Will. An old member of Nia's team who had cooperated with Josh and the others to defeat the trolls and make it this far. Will's current strength far surpassed his previous strength and so did his abilities. Before, he had a gravity manipulation ability but right now, his ability seemed to be completely different. Not only that, but the expression on his face and the blood thirst gathered around his body, it was clear that something wasn't normal with him.
Ray noticed it all, he was keen and all the abnormal signs didn't miss his eye. Also, being the class monitor; Ray usually had the data of every student in the elite class and this led to him knowing about the change in Will's ability.
"Aurora, this person's ability is different from before," Said Ray gravely.
"Yes, i noticed the abnormality. The ability he is currently using comes from another source and not from his system. Also, his system seems to be corrupted," Aurora answered.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Okay. So what do i do?" Asked Ray.
"Just get closer to him so I can gather more data," Replied Aurora in a calm but serious tone.
"Okay," Ray nodded as he tripped froward.
Will observed Ray as Ray came towards him like a fool. Just from the way Ray walked and tripped around the whole place, it was obvious that he wasn't in his senses and that his mind had been disoriented completed. However, that was just something that Ray wanted him to feel. In reality, Ray was completely conscious and fully alert of everything around him in a 500 meter radius.
"Now then. Aren't you the class monitor of the elite class and the so called leader of everyone. Also, i heard that the dean favors you the most and that you are the strongest amongst all those in the first year of the academy," Will spoke in spite. His words were laced with hatred as the anger and jealousy on his face was apparent, "What a sick joke!!" He exclaimed madly and started to laugh like a lunatic.
He stepped forward and took out a dagger from his pouch. The dagger looked extremely ordinary and only had a dark red ruby on the middle of its handle. However, the aura it gave of was co,platelets different. The dagger reeked of death as Ray felt his body responding to it immediately.
He felt goosebumps all over his skin as his bones shivered in fear. Ray glanced at the dagger and used the system to scan it.
[System Analyzing Weapon]
[Weapon Type:- Dagger]
[Weapon Ability:- Corruption]
[Weapon Stats:- Unidentiifed]
[Description:- Dagger of unknown origin. It was an ordinary dagger but the ruby in the middle of its hilt changed it all. The ruby is an extreme Emily rare material only found in the most dangerous areas of the world of System Online. The primary ability of the dagger is corruption and as for type type of corruption and its side effects, it is unknown as more analysis is needed]
Reading the description and the complete analysis, Ray was curious of the dagger and the ruby especially.
"Just what sort of stone is it to cause such a change to an ordinary dagger. Imagine if it was used on a good weapon, it might bring out its full potential," he thought, slightly ecstatic as the thought of having the dagger for himself came to him.
"Aurora, what do you say?" He asked for a second opinion as he turned to Aurora.
"I say that you deal with the current situation and then we see the thing with the dagger," Replied Aurora.
"Yes, you are right," Ray nodded in realization and then asked, "Should i drop the act because if the dagger touches me, I don't think that even you would be this carefree with the situation,"
"Yes, you are right. I have got enough data. You go ahead and showing this bastard what you are made up of,"
Getting the green light from Aurora, Ray smiled. His heart started to beat faster and faster as his eyes turned strange. A Void covered them as he pulled in the Void Element around him. Spatial cracks appeared everywhere as he stepped forward and disappeared. The space distorted as a spatial tunnel was created and Ray appeared behind Will.
The Void Stones hovered in the air as Ray brought down his hands and the Void Stones rained down on Will. Due to the sudden change of circumstances, Will was left frozen for a couple of seconds and Ray took it to his advantage. He used the time to summon bolts of lightning and pointed any Ray as the bolts of lightning rained down on him.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDue to the speed of lightning, the bolts hit Will first and so did the Void Stones. Ray wasn't a fool to do this. The reason he threw the Void Stones was to lock the space around Will because the abnormalities shown by him were not only strange but dangerous as well and Ray didn't want to underestimate his enemies.
Ray took a step forward and punched ahead. His fist was laced with a burning heat as layers of fire had condensed over it. This made the color of fire turn a darker hue as it resembled molten lava. While punching forward, Ray's mind suddenly shook. He felt a strange wave invading his consciousness. His vision turned muddy and Ray found it hard to keep his footing. However, Ray held on. He had fought against enough enemies to be baffled or disturbed by the mind attacks. Not only that, but he had also trained with Noah and Elina as they both had used illusions and spirit attacks on him to distract his mind and focus.
Ray kept his hands steady and punched forward. His momentum was derived from his stance as the energy flowed from his feet to his upper body and then towards his punching arm.
"Bang!!!" A dull sound resounded in Ray's ear as Will's whole body shook uncontrollably. Ray saw waves of energy moving up Will's body as tears appeared over his skin/
"Blerghhh!!" Will vomited blood as he fell on the ground. Ray held his head in pain as blood leaked down from his nose. He looked behind him and saw a pair of eyes staring at him with immense grief and hatred.
"Just what the fuck is wrong here? Why are there so many students in here and this strange aura of hatred and oppression? Just what is going on?" He questioned himself in distraught. Suddenly, pangs of pain hit him as he fell to the ground.
The mental attack was stronger than before and right now, Ray had just attacked Will and was caught off guard.
"Aurora, i need help. Call Sirius and Nia," he told Aurora in pain. His head hurt as if a thousand needles were being hammered into it while he was constantly bleeding from his orifices.
"Ray, there is an issue. I am trying to contact them but I can't reach them. There seems to be something blocking the signal," Aurora cried out in worry. She was working hard to send signals outside the portal room but something was constantly blocking them.
"Sigh," Ray breathed out in desperation as his thoughts went awry. He couldn't even think straight now, "Aurora, do one thing. Release all the stored bloodlust and let my aura surge. The best thing to do is to let my Berserker Title come into effect," Ray said to her as he steeled his resolve. He was ready to get some human blood on his hands.
"You sure?" Asked Aurora, "Things wouldn't be the same afterwards,"
"Yes, i am sure. Just do it. Killing some fellow students is better than dying myself. It is a cruel world we live in and its high time that I understand it," He said with resolve and closed his eyes.
Aurora didn't object. She also thought that it was right of Ray to do this and let out the bloodlust that Ray contained within him. Naturally, Ray had killed a lot of beasts and even humans in System Online. Therefore, the bloodlust he had maintained was enough to trigger his Berserker Title and that too to the higher stages of the title.
"Here it goes," Aurora said as the bloodlust was released like a gushing river.