Journey to Valhalla (3)

[Warning! The host is in immediate danger!]

Ajax's expression turned grim, and he immediately brandished Abyssal axe. Dioni and the twins saw this and immediately summoned their weapons as well. 

"You guys get out of here; I'll handle this," Ajax instructed. The twins were about to retort when Dioni interfered. "What is going on with Ajax? We can't just leave you here!" Dioni said in a worried tone. 

"We don't have a choice; my senses are warning me of an impending danger; you guys will only get in my way go get out of here." Ajax spoke. Dioni reluctantly nodded her head and pulled the twins away. 

After they left, Ajax's senses picked up something approaching his location at high speed. Ajax immediately used [Reality armament] on his legs and arms; he also summoned [Void Shield] and [Eternium.]

Ajax was on full alert when the creature suddenly vanished from his radar; it felt like it never was there to begin with. "What the fu—?" Ajax said in confusion. But before Ajax could finish, he caught something in his peripheral vision. 

In the air, there were black ripples coming out, and a tear was forming; it looked like a spatial tear, similar to how portals formed back on earth. Suddenly, a massive hand came out of it and swiped at him; unfortunately, Ajax was caught off guard and was sent flying. 

Ajax felt like he was hit by a bulldozer before flying back at great speed; he hit multiple trees, shattering them upon impact. 'Ah.. fuck!' He cursed inside. 

Ajax gritted his teeth and stood up, ignoring the pain. He looked at the location of the abomination, and sure enough, it was gone again. Ajax looked around and saw another black ripple from above, but this time he was prepared. 

A tear formed above Ajax, and he immediately blocked the incoming attack with the Void Shield. As he was about to counterattack, the beast vanished again. "System, what is going on here?" Ajax asked. 

[The host's void sense is in effect.] 

'What? my void sense What does that have to do..?' Ajax came to a halt, and realization struck him: his void sense allowed him to sense disturbance in space! His radar couldn't sense the beast because it was jumping from portal to portal!

With this information in mind, Ajax watched his surroundings more carefully, looking for any sign of the damned beast. Black sparks soon appeared, and the noise of something tearing made it into Ajax's ears. 

He immediately dashed towards the rift that was forming. The monster once again came out, but to its surprise, its prey was already in front of it. Ajax sent out multiple [Void waves] towards the abomination. 

"I've got you now!" Ajax spoke with a massive grin on his face. But that grin was wiped off his face when the beast suddenly screamed, sending massive shockwaves. But what was more shocking was that his void waves hit nothing!

"Wait.. what? How is this possible?" But before he could finish his sentence, his [Void sense] warned him of an incoming attack from behind. Ajax immediately dove and tried to counter; however, the beast was already gone. 

'How is this possible? I was sure I got it back there; it couldn't have formed a rift that quick.' Ajax thought

Ajax saw another rift forming and decided to attack manually this time; he dashed forward, leaped in the air, and timed his blow perfectly. 'No running this time!' Ajax thought. 

The beast popped out and saw the incoming attack; it immediately tried to form a rift, but it wouldn't make it in time, and once again it screamed, sending shockwaves. 

Ajax swiped his axe, forming a crescent line as it went, but what happened next stunned Ajax to his core. Instead of his axe burying itself in the abomination, what happened was quite the opposite. 

Ajax puked blood, and the excruciating pain enveloped him. The abomination's arm pierced him, sending waves of pain and agony to Ajax. Right now there was one question in his head: how? He was sure he would hit the beast, but somehow it managed to hit him instead. 

The beast screeched and immediately pulled its arm out; the arm was severely damaged and slowly disintegrating. The beast wailed in agony and looked at Ajax as if he had killed its family before vanishing again. 

"Fuck" Ajax stood up and drank 3 healing potions from his spatial bag; fortunately, the abomination missed his heart so he didn't die on the spot. "What is happening here?" Ajax couldn't help but get frustrated at his situation; dealing with the beast was already a pain in the ass, and now he also has to deal with this bullshit.

With the help of the healing potions and his regeneration, the wound was already closing itself. He scanned his surroundings again and noticed something: the area where he and the beast had an engagement in was filled with green mist, but the mist was barely noticeable; if he hadn't paid any attention, he would've missed it even with his [Void sense].

"System, can you scan that green mist?" He asked the system. 

[Scanning... Scanning...] 

[Scan successful] 

[The green mist is leftovers of time manipulation; the host is only able to notice it because of the rank 3 [Void sense] 

'Time manipulation..? time manipulation..' Ajax's eyes widened as everything started to connect—the sudden disappearance of the beast and the sudden attacks—it all made sense that the beast was stopping time! 

'An abomination that can stop time! How is that even possible? Even the litch back then didn't have such absurd abilities!' Ajax saw black sparks again, but this time it wasn't just one, but multiple rifts being opened! 

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ajax immediately used the Void Shield and formed a dome. The rifts started opening one by one until it completely surrounded him, and multiple lightning projectiles came out of it, hitting the shield. 

The barrage of lightning projectiles chipped away at his astral energy at an alarming rate, and he was running out of options. While Ajax still had his soul weapon, he could only wield it for a fixed amount of time and not to mention the backlash was too great, but if he didn't use it now, it would be his doom. "Ah, fuck it," Ajax thought before summoning his soul weapon.

The beast arrogantly laughed at the state of Ajax's shield; it knew victory was near, but its early celebration came to a halt when a voice reverberated in the air. 

"Heed my words. My soul creates your body, and my will enforces your judgment."

As the voice started talking, the air started getting heavier, and the abomination started feeling threatened, but due to its arrogance, it didn't back down but rather stood proudly as if challenging the voice. 

"From the bottom of the abyss to the depths of creation, heed my call, oh great weapon of destruction." 

The abomination suddenly felt a massive threat, not only to its life but to its very being: its soul. 

"I call the mighty weapon of absolute ruin." 

"RUINATION"

Before the abomination could process what had happened, an aura so strong pinned it to the ground, incapacitating it. For the first time ever, it felt hopeless and powerless. 

Out of despair, the beast roared angrily. It hoped that stopping time might give it some time to escape; however, Ajax's soul weapon cannot be bound to any law or rule; it destroyed everything it touched. 

The beast saw how its time manipulation was destroyed by merely getting near Ajax, and out of fear of what may happen, it started jumping into rifts to escape Ajax, but he wasn't about to let it go. 

After analyzing the ability of the beast, Ajax used [creation manipulation] and started an experiment. The experiment was simple: he wanted to create a passive against time stops; fortunately, it worked. 

[Creating Passive: Minor time-stop resistance. Current progress: 78%]

The creation skill was steadily draining his astral energy, so he had to finish this fight quickly. He looked at the escaping abomination and sprinted towards it with great speed. The abomination wasn't going to sit idly either; it started formulating lightning orbs and ejecting them towards him. 

The orbs would explode upon contact, leaving massive thunder explosions, so Ajax had to avoid them. The beast didn't stop there; it also formed lightning whips and tried to hit him with them. Ajax casually dodged the attacks and severed them. 

The beast saw that its attacks didn't cause any damage, so it returned to its previous plan, which was to run. Ajax saw the beast hop into another rift; it was time to use that attack. 

Ajax took a stance, and a menacing aura spilled from the weapon; the abomination also felt the bone-chilling aura. Right now, Ajax was using his weapon ability, [Dimensional cutter.]

Ajax held the scythe with two hands, and a red and black aura suddenly erupted. With one single swoop, the scythe sent a massive wave of black and red energy towards the spatial rift, cutting it open and severing the abomination in half. 

[Congratulations! You have slain the "mythical (-)" ranked "Rift leaper."

[You have received an heirloom.]