When Varian came to his senses, he realized that the toy sun was forming a barrier around him.
"Haa! Haaa! Haa!" He took deep breaths out of habit, even though there was no near air in space.
The five Octavians were trying to break through the solar barrier while the toy sun formed a special protective cover around him to keep them away.
Varian checked his body and realized it had not a trace of injury. With a particular suspicion in his mind, he turned around and checked the space outside the protective cover.
Scattered blood, flesh, and bones were floating around in the space. They didn't belong to the monster.
"More than two hours passed?" With his time powers, Varian was able to discern it accurately. That's why he was even more shocked.
He already knew that fighting against peak rank 5s was dangerous. He might kill one or two but even that came with a big risk. Thankfully, he went in prepared for the worst case.
"I don't need to feel down. My rank is way lower than theirs." Varian shrugged and decided to do a bit of both meditation and recuperation.
The five Octavians did their best to get out of this cage and failed. Then, they tried the next best option and attacked the protective cover around Varian. This time, they not only failed but also got some of their tentacles burnt.
After an hour of leisure, Varian opened his eyes and saw the Octavians staring at him.
He couldn't speak their language and they might not even be that sentient to speak a language.
But thanks to his Spirit power, he could understand what they were feeling—at least the gist of it in his own language.
<This is so unfair! You're not following the rules in a fight!>
<Are you a fighter or a referee?!>
<You aren't a true warrior! You're a coward!>
Against the aggressive accusations, Varian smiled shamelessly. "I never said I'm playing it fair, kiddos."
With a snap of his fingers, the protective cover around him faded.
Stretching his arms, Varian shot forward like a missile.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe Octavians fought him hard. Having witnessed his shamelessness, they were extra cautious.
This time, Varian only managed to kill one Octavian before being pushed into serious injuries.
So, he did the honorable thing of using the Toy Sun once again and pushing them into a truce they didn't sign up for.
Then, he fought again.
And again.
And again.
When there were only two Octavians left, Varian was already fighting in the region of the blackhole, resisting gravity and sometimes, using it.
Something clicked inside him and two powers soared.
Varian grinned and fused his powers.
The power of time reached new heights and acted on the Octavians. The creatures slowed down to 0.75X of their usual speed.
But to Varian who used his powers to push his Adept power to rank 5, that was enough.
His physical attacks, while mostly blocked by the gravity waves released by the creatures, still managed to blow off half their bodies.
When they tried to counterattack and take him down with them, his rank 5 Spiritual attacks broke their plans.
The Octavians still didn't give up and put up a difficult fight. Varian forgot his surroundings and fought for a long time.
By the time he was done, he barely had any energy left. The blackhole tried to eagerly suck him in. Thankfully, Varian's space powers were now stronger than ever and let him exit.
Moreover, he didn't go too deep into the black hole in the first place, so it wasn't that risky.
"Let's see, I spent 10 hours fighting them…so, 20 minutes passed outside?" Varian muttered, looking back at the black hole.
Time flowed slowly near the black hole. So, he didn't dwell much on it.
Rather, he was eager about the fruits of his labor.
[Space Rank 4: 100/1000
Time Rank 4: 100/1000
<You used your surroundings a bit too conveniently, Host. Blackholes, Octavians, and the Toy Sun>]
"Efficiently, you mean." Varian corrected and reached his hand towards the black hole.
A line of white space appeared in the darkness. It was as if the endless dark space was cut open by a pointed knife. The space line extended toward the tribat resting at the edge of the black hole.
Varian pointed a finger at the creature and the timeflow of the creature flowed down by time threes.
The avoidable space line attack touched it on the head. Then, like a thread, the white space line began to envelop and constrict around it.
The low rank 5 creature struggled violently. In response, Varian clenched his fist. The white space lines enveloping it suddenly tightened and sliced through its body, cutting it into pieces.
With a snap of his fingers, the space fluctuated around the bones of the creature and smashed it into fine powder before teleporting it above his palm.
"Bone ash…" Varian muttered with a grin. "We have the seed and now the soil."
Water and Fertilizer were left.
And if Maria's words were to be believed, once got them all, he'd have a faster way to climb the tower.
'I can quickly get out of the tower…' Varian exhaled and extended his space sense.
His body blurred. He blinked in and out of space as he traveled incredible distances with each teleportation.
Ten minutes later, he found Maria hiding in a planet behind a mountain of barren planet.
He withdrew all his aura and sneaked behind her. In the tense silence, he wanted to prank her.
'But she's rank 6. A panic attack from her without any restraint is dangerous.' Varian decided to be wise.
He put on the mask, <Thief Of The Tower>, and achieved near-complete stealth.
To be honest, the mask was a bit nasty. It was a clown crying, due to which the makeup seemed to be fading and reminded him of some things back home.
Shaking his head at the artistic taste of the tower, he used his sliver powers to construct layers of armor upon himself. Finally, he also used his own powers to build layers of defense.
Finally, he approached her and said.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Yo!"
"DIE!" Maria's spear flew before he even finished his greeting.
She missed since she couldn't accurately assess his location due to the mask's excellent stealth.
But because of being incredibly close to the attack, the defenses he built up using the slivers broke down quickly. Then, even the defenses he built using his powers shattered.
By then, whatever was left was no longer dangerous. Instead, the sensation was like someone elbowing him after a nasty joke.
'My calculations are correct. I can survive one attack from a weak rank 6…as long as I prepare beforehand.'
Varian wouldn't tell Maria he used her as an experiment specimen.
"It's me." He took off the mask and raised his arms.
"Prove yourself!" Maria's hair was messy, her clothes seemed to be torn long ago and like most celestial awakeners in battles, she used her aura to condense clothes. But even these sturdy clothes couldn't hide the blood flowing from the injuries present on almost everyone part of her body.
'She had a tough fight, eh.' Varian sighed inwardly and showed the bone ash.
"No. It's something anyone can know." Maria raised her spear and a thick killing intent permeated the air. "However, I just got here. How can Baldur follow me when he's bogged down by peak rank 5 beasts that are way above his pay grade?"
Varian's lips twitched.
"And he's so weak. He nearly lost his mind against one peak rank 5 beast, there's no way he can survive against so many. The only thing he can do is get back to the safe zone using some treasure." Maria's gaze hardened and the grip on her spear tightened.
"So, you are an impostor! You must be!" Maria pointed her spear at him.
"You shitty princess!" Varian facepalmed. "Whoever sent you on whatever mission you are must've gone mad! Can't you just sense my aura and confirm if it's me? If you suspect they masked my aura to deceive you, you can ask me about things only we both know! Why are you jumping to conclusions so early?"
"…" Maria blinked twice before withdrawing her spear a bit. Still not letting down her guard, she said. "You got one minute to prove yourself."
Varian crossed his arms and looked at her. "You have a potty mouth. You swear worse than a fucking pirate! I honestly think you should be banned from interacting with children, you're a bad influence on th—"
"Stop! Stop! I get it, I get it, son of a bitch! It's you!"
"You're at it again! Stop swearing for fuck's sake!"
"You know how much shit I've been through after those squid faces chased me? I want to fry their tentacles and shove it up thei—"
"Enough, woman! I have no interest in your fetishes!"