It had been almost two hours since Kieran had started heading for the orbital shuttle landing zone. He nearly gave up hope when he saw the orbital shuttle leave the city and fly off into space, only to return a few minutes later, landing in another area. Slowing his progress in reaching it.

His thoughts were currently fixed on another problem that had arisen in front of him as he moved rapidly between two destroyed buildings, dodging jets of corrosive venom as he used the surface of the walls to move with his unconscious brother still securely strapped to his back.
His body looked bruised with numerous burn marks and open wounds, his body's natural regeneration couldn't keep up, and every move he made was painful, but his face remained unfazed, letting nothing show.

Despite the many injuries he had suffered, no marks could be seen on Ryan's body. Whenever an attack threatens to hit Ryan, he uses his own body to protect him, only using his earth and fire elements as a last resort to save his crystal essence.

His body spun through the air, dodging a poison-covered web that had appeared in his path.

Swinging his claws against the wall, he clung to its surface. Stopping him in place to catch his breath. His eyes stared at the numerous oversized poisonous spiders that surrounded him from all sides, with their fangs dripping with green liquid.

He used the strength of his legs to propel himself off the wall, dropping backward. The spiders screeched, their mouths wide open, and sprayed sprays of venom in his direction.

Spinning with his body in the air, he formed a platform of earth beneath his feet, then propelled himself inside a building, dodging the sprays of venom.

A cold glow shone the instant he stepped through the window, taking him by surprise. A dented blade penetrated inside his abdomen, causing him to take a step back.

"Gihihi!!"

Inside, a horde of goblins had gathered, their mouths smeared with blood and their hands tearing apart the corpses of humans strewn on the ground. Their greedy claws tore off pieces of flesh which they hastened to bring to their voracious mouths.

The tallest of them seemed to have detected Kieran's approach and reacted quickly by swinging its blade.

Kieran slashed forward, slicing the heads off any goblins in his line of sight. His left hand moved over his abdomen, creating a flame to burn the wound he had just received from the goblin, leaving a new burn mark on his body.

*screech*

A shrill cry came from behind him. Without hesitation, he dodged by jumping to the side, narrowly avoiding a web covered in poison that came through the window behind him. The web settled silently over the goblin corpses, then contracted sharply, engulfing them without leaving a trace.

Kieran straightened up quickly, his gaze alert, as several small spiders infiltrated the building through cracks and openings. Their slender legs and glistening eyes seemed to burn with an evil gleam as they spat numerous webs all around them, restricting his movements.

Knowing that he couldn't face them all inside the building if his movement was restricted, he jumped back through the shattered window, finding himself once again in the devastated streets of Ozryn, where he was greeted by giant spiders that had already caught up with him for that short while.

A tangle of giant spider webs had formed between the two buildings, creating a prison from which Kieran could not escape, with a horde of giant spiders rushing at him. Threads of poison-filled silk wrapped around the structures, creating something like a cocoon that locked them all inside.

As his body fell, he came face to face with a spider lurking in the shadows, ready to unleash its deadly venom. A green jet shoots out of its mouth, but before it can reach Kieran, he reacts with agility. He created a platform of earth directly below him, using this support to leap toward the spider.

With a precise movement, he cut off the spider's head, ending its life. In an instant, he leaned on its lifeless body, rising into the air and dodging a rain of poisonous green jets that shot in his direction.

Kieran moved quickly, slicing through the giant spiders that tried to overwhelm him. His sore, bruised body struggled with the pain, but he was not weakening. He fought his way through the beasts, using the Dance of the Heaven and Earth proficiency to the fullest to defeat them one by one.

As Kieran approached a corner of the cocoon formed by the giant spider webs, he pulled the fire elemental particles into his left hand, creating a fiery fireball. With a slight movement of his hand, he threw the fireball in the direction of the webs, causing an explosion that burned and partially tore it.

Taking advantage of the breach, he made his way through the flaming web, escaping from the suffocating cocoon. The fresh air did him good, but his relief was short-lived as another giant spider loomed in front of him, ready to attack.

In a move of last resort, Kieran created a barrier of earth to protect himself. However, before he could create it in time, the spider spat out a powerful jet of venom that violently hit his eyes. Searing, blinding pain engulfed him, clouding his vision and plunging him into darkness.

"Argh!!"

Kieran staggered back with a cry of pain. He couldn't see clearly, only blurry shapes and moving shadows. Panic threatened to overwhelm him, but he forced himself to remain calm.

His crystal sense, which he no longer used to reduce his crystal essence consumption, was extended around him, giving him the spider's approximate position. With a wave of his hand, a blade of fire swept through the air, incinerating the spider in seconds.

Wasting no time, he rushed forward. Running as far as he could from the spider's nest he had fallen into.

His still cloudy vision slowed his progress, and the pain he felt in his eyes grew every second. It was as if his eyes were burning.

Suddenly, a dark wolf emerged from the shadows, rushing towards him with disconcerting speed. Kieran spun to the side, but he couldn't dodge his attack. He felt a scratch tore off part of his right flank. Blood flowed from the wound, mixing his body pain with the pain in his eyes.

Almost unable to see anything, Kieran struggled to discern which direction the wolf was coming from and swung his sword around, relying on his hearing and instinct to spot him, but the wolf circled around him, attacking him each time in a blind spot.

"To your left!"

Runihoril's voice echoed in his mind. He didn't even think and swung his double-bladed sword to his left. He felt the blade hit something before it sliced through it.

"Run straight!"

Kieran gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. He listened to Runihoril's instructions as he guided him through the city.

As he moved, he tried to move his crystal essence toward his eyes to reduce the pain, but Runihoril stopped him.

"Don't do this. I know it hurts, but bear it, don't waste your crystal essence."

"I couldn't fight properly like that."

"Don't worry about that. Even without your eyes, you can see. Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. Use your crystal essence as if you were deploying your crystal sense but keep it within a 5 meter radius around you. Then scatter your crystal sense in this area to create a dome filled with crystal essence particles."

Despite the searing pain in his eyes, Kieran focused his energy on following Runihoril's instructions. He extended his crystal essence within a radius of five meters around him, then scattered his crystal essence into numerous particles in the air.

Amazement crossed his mind for a moment when he felt how easy it was to follow Runihoril's instructions despite having never tried such things before. Training at the forge over the past month had made his control of the crystal essence grow more than he had thought.

Between the darkness and the hazy shadows surrounding him, he began to feel the movements and vibrations around him, creating a mental picture of his surroundings. The crystal essence particles moved like echoes in his mind, giving him a rudimentary perception of the arrangement of nearby objects and beasts.

Taking a step forward, he moved his sword horizontally. Slicing a dark wolf that rushed towards him forward.

"Good. Keep going straight."

Kieran nodded, concentrating on keeping the dome around him. His crystal essence would deplete faster this way, but he had no choice in his situation. His only option was to rush faster toward the landing zone of the orbital shuttle, hoping that his crystal essence didn't run out before reaching it.

Sleds

Four chapters will be released this week, to reach the 100th chapter, the additional chapter will be released Thursday. However, there won't be a new chapter next week.