Chapter 14: Further Discovery

Cursed energy is a unique substance. Just from the information revealed by the panels alone, it was something that came from another world, making it hard for Aleph to come across any teachings he could find.

That meant he was left alone to explore this path.

It was only now did he discover a hint to its true nature.

'Cursed energy comes from the heart. Human nature. Negative emotions.'

The word 'curse' signifies the darkness hidden within human hearts. It was something all humans have. Cursed energy is simply the physical manifestation of negative emotions. 

If so, regenerating cursed energy lies on the negative emotions exhibited by the user.

There are more mechanics when it comes to it, but for now, verifying them is Aleph's priority. 

He pushed these thoughts aside.

'Three chariot-class and several pesky birds.' Aleph thought. 'They really are more common than I thought.'

For some reason, Aleph did not come across many seraph-class and chariot-class honkai beasts when he was with Kevin and Mei. The former often appeared in groups yet they didn't encounter much during their hasty escape, only occasional undeads.

It could only be attributed to luck.

In reality, seraph-class honkai beasts appeared in groups. Their bodies are hard enough that an ordinary person would not be able to break it. Kevin's physical strength bordered the realism of absurdity, which was the reason why he could fend them with a single baseball bat.

Chariot-class honkai beasts, on the other hand, are similar to honkai's foot soldiers. The Templar-class honkai beasts are the ones that could be considered as 'elites'.

There are also the Knight-class above them. They are humanoid undeads that have a honkai beast mount. Each one of this unit are the top elites of honkai.

Finally, there is the Emperor-class honkai beast. Fire MOTH had already confirmed the existence of at least two of them, with three more suspected ones based on the aftermaths left on several places around the world.

As of now, the only way to deal with such beasts are clean nuclear bombs.

Rumble-!

One of the chariot-class beasts went straight to Aleph. A small cloud of rubble and dust were left behind in its trail.

Sou-!

Using his experience, Aleph easily dodged its attack.

'Let's try it.'

A second later, his cursed energy began expanding outwardly from his body. The pink hue mixed with black colors trembled for a moment before turning transparent. He went to the dust cloud as he did so.

When he came out, the chariot-class honkai beasts had seemingly lost their target. Aleph strode towards the blind spots of the three, thus making them lose vision of him. Coupled with the [Sphere Boundary] that silenced his footsteps and hid his traces, he effectively turned invisible for several seconds.

What they didn't know was that the person they were looking for was hiding behind one of the chariot-class beasts.

'I needed two strikes to sever the lower torso before. If it's now…'

A line with a ratio of seven-to-three appeared in Aleph's eyes. The seventh division was placed exactly on its lower torso.

He held the greatsword with two hands before the sharp blade struck.

Psshk-!

A clean cut appeared on the chariot-class beast's lower torso. Bits of purple blood began appearing in it as the beast's upper torso began sliding down. Utilizing the momentum, Aleph rotated clockwise with the greatsword in hand.

Another ratio line appeared on its upper torso.

Psshk-!

The momentum of the second strike was far stronger. The honkai beast was immediately killed the moment it was struck.

Everything took less than five seconds to occur.

By the time the remaining two honkai beasts processed it, Aleph strode towards them slowly.

'Alright.'

Seeing their positions on the ends of a "v" shape, Aleph carried out his next plan. He was standing on the base of the "v" while the other two beasts were on the ends.

Inevitably, the two lines will intersect at a certain point.

Zoom-!

Zoom-!

'Wait. Wait. Now.'

Aleph strengthened his legs and avoided their point of collision. As a result, the two chariot-class beasts clashed at each other. The momentum behind their charge was extremely strong, akin to a speeding truck. 

According to the law of interaction, two accelerated forces bumping towards each other will result in a force that will push them in the opposite direction.

Bam-!

Rumble-!

The two honkai beasts were sent flying by their own moves. All Aleph had to deal with was the shockwave of their collision, which was manageable. The two beasts were sent flying on separate three-storey buildings.

"Are they dead..?"

A line appeared in his sight that confirmed his guess.

[Achievement Unlocked: What a Borrowed Knife!]

[Reward: Major Energy Box]

[What a Borrowed Knife: Kill your enemies by their own hands.]

Looking at the deformed bodies of the two honkai beasts, Aleph smiled wryly. He had this entire scenario in his mind back then, but it was only now did he get to try it.

Since the charge of the chariot-class beasts couldn't be stopped, he could use them to clear out his other enemies in his surroundings. 

For some reason, he felt another sense of deja vu. It's as if he did this thing dozens of times in the past.

Knock-!

There weren't any enemies left around him. This gave Aleph the leisure time to come in close contact with its shell. As expected, it was built similar to silicon walls. Only an anti-material rifle or anti-tank shells could pierce through them. The seraph-class beasts have thinner shells, thus a strong enough force could cause them to bleed internally, leading to their deaths.

It was different with the chariot-class beasts, however.

"Hm..?"

At this moment, Aleph noticed something wrong. To verify it, he punched the shell with his bare fist.

Bam-!

A crack appeared from the point he struck it. Without any weapons, Aleph damaged the silicon shell on his own.

'What the hell…'

However, that discovery was not what made him pause.

'With my strength back then…'

Aleph recalled the memories of his first fight. He only wielded a dented baseball bat. The hundred twenty points of cursed energy shouldn't be able to make up for the lack of his physical strength.

Against all odds, it did.

The moment he awakened [Ratio], his cursed energy was restored to the fullest. He managed to kill the honkai beast in three strikes.

'I shouldn't be able to do that…'

The facts became distant from what he had seen just now. With 120 points of cursed energy, no matter how much he enhances his body or utilizes [Ratio], it shouldn't have been possible. Aleph made that judgement through his barehanded strike just now.

At best, he would've been able to strike twice before collapsing.

'It felt smoother compared to now.'

As he thought about it, the small details he overlooked began appearing one after another.

'It's as if I am using a more advanced [Ratio]. How strange…'

The [Embryonic Power System] contains more than the techniques themselves. He verified this conjecture once more.

'The [Adaptation] was locked, but it was different from the other two with question marks.'

The second point was the [Adaptation] technique. Aleph could not recall when this thing popped up. It was far different from the other unknown techniques in his arsenal.

'Ugh, I'd just think of it as more things to discover.'

For now, unlocking achievements comes first.