Chapter 309: Uhtred vs Apetitan (I)

He thought of the hyper-specialized classes — people whose affinities were tied to a very specific method of use, like Black Sun Mateo and his fire weapon class.

Uhtred didn’t know exactly what Mateo’s class was yet — he hadn’t seen him after his Gnostic Eye upgrade. But he’d seen his ability in action.

This Apetitan Beast was very likely similar. It definitely wasn’t using a construct as advanced as a gun, but it was creating projectiles that used several of its affinities for one single powerful spell.

That was exactly what Uhtred also wanted to create.

He was Formless, after all. What was stopping him from creating his own hyper-specialized spell too? He just needed to think of how it would work.

That wasn’t to say it was going to be easy. This wasn’t like the Mortal Realm where he could come up with a fire, metal, earth, or any kind of elemental spell on the fly and its power would be enough to pose a threat to his opponent... This was the Nascent Realm. Those kinds of quick, on-the-fly spells weren’t going to cut it. They were simply insufficient against an opponent like the Apetitan.

He needed to create something that packed enough power to pose a threat to the beast despite the distance.

Realizing what he needed to do and how hard it would be, Uhtred retreated calmly behind some large trees just off to his side.

He could still feel the Apetitan’s gaze tracking him as he moved. The beast even sent a warning shot, almost as if to announce to Uhtred that it still had him within its sights.

The lightning projectile, fueled by space magic and enhanced by piercing Esoteric magic, bypassed several rows of trees and drilled deep into the ground about thirty meters in front of Uhtred.

For a spell so powerful, only a small-scale explosion followed after the projectile landed.

That’s definitely because of the space magic surrounding it, Uhtred surmised. It wasn’t designed to be flashy. Its only purpose is to deliver piercing damage to its target. For everything else in its path, and for every other target that isn’t living flesh, the damage is minor.

Uhtred could trace the path of the projectile — the trees it cut through before gravity finally took its toll, forcing its course into the ground — and the damages to them were insignificant. They only had tiny holes cutting through them. Some didn’t even have holes at all — a result of the space magic the lightning projectile was laced with.

Wait... doesn’t that mean that once the Apetitan releases each shot, they all have a set lethal point? Uhtred raised a brow in thought.

Was that a flaw of the Apetitan’s spell? If he could immediately change his position right after the Apetitan released a projectile — if he could abruptly get in close right at that moment, would the strike become much weaker? Would it simply pass through him the same way it did the trees?

Heh! I might just have found a flaw in this beast’s spell, Uhtred cracked a smile but continued to settle himself in behind the tree where he hid. It was one thing to figure out a flaw — if it truly was a flaw, that is — and it was another thing to be able to take advantage of it.

Even with Slipstream Stride earlier, the beast was still able to hit him perfectly.

It simply meant that even his fastest movement art wasn’t enough to exploit that flaw. Unless he could suddenly appear several feet ahead then thinking about the flaw was useless.

He instead focused on his current plan.

"Okay," Uhtred muttered. "Now how to create a construct?"

He lay down flat on the ground like a sniper, an image of a particular weapon forming in his mind.

Actually, he had a hard time clearly picturing how the weapon would look like, considering it wasn’t a mainstream weapon even back on Earth:

A Railgun.

"That’s gonna be hard to create," Uhtred muttered. He knew the principle behind how a Railgun should work. He needed a solid grasp of Electric or Lightning magic — something he hadn’t really dabbled into yet.

Using that, he needed to create an electromagnetic field, then, using that electromagnetic field, hold a projectile in place, allowing it to build up massive pressure — like a bow string being drawn — before releasing the projectile.

It was a terrifying weapon he had seen in sci-fi movies and media back on pre-integration Earth. Real science also supported its possibility, but actualizing it was a different story altogether.

Even back on pre-integration Earth, mighty nations like the United States only had prototypes of Railguns, and that was because of how ridiculously power demanding and expensive they had been to create.

They packed a punch — their projectiles easily reached speeds of more than six times the speed of sound — but their cost was just too overbearing.

The same could be said for Uhtred right now. Even though the world had changed and all he needed now was to replicate the effect rather than create the weapon itself, the insane electrical power to drive the spell would still come from him.

With a thought, Uhtred willed a spark of electricity into being. It wasn’t a hard feat to achieve, seeing as he understood how electricity worked. So long as it wasn’t something out of his depth — like Space magic or Healing magic, where he needed a teacher — he could always conjure a basic version of any element.

However, conjuring electricity was one thing, creating enough to power the spell he wanted was another.

"I need to scale this up before—"

Suddenly, a sharp, hair-raising whizz tore through the air and ripped a hole right through Uhtred’s shoulder again.

He sucked in a sharp breath, his heart thudding in his chest at the close call. The new wound burned with searing pain, but he was more focused on how he could simply have died just now.

He’d made sure to split his attention between the spell he was creating and the Apetitan in the distance. But for a few seconds, he’d lost himself in thought. And somehow, the Apetitan had caught on and latched onto his slip in concentration at that exact moment.

It remained at its spot, but its shot still reached Uhtred’s position perfectly. Its earlier "effective range" had been a ruse just like Uhtred predicted.

The strike this time had been a killing strike. It was targeted straight at Uhtred’s head, dead-center. If not for his quick, split-second reaction, he really would have died there.

The Apetitan fired several consecutive shots. Some of them scored hits on Uhtred’s body, the others missed entirely.

It was clear that the beast was dissatisfied at its first miss. It had hoped to kill Uhtred with that one strike. Now, Uhtred knew its range was way more than it pretended. He sped a mile more away — enough that he was sure the Apetitan couldn’t land a hit any longer — before stopping.

His body was riddled with holes at seven different spots. None were vital, though. He’d made sure to take the hits on non-vital areas when he knew he couldn’t dodge.

"Damn, this is the shittiest fight I’ve ever been in!" Uhtred cursed, gritting his teeth. He quickly cycled healing cosmic essence, targeting the worst of his wounds to stop his blood loss.

Frustrated and wracked with pain, the urge to just go all out with his Unified Elemental Strike and obliterate the damned Apetitan to kingdom come gnawed at him. It took serious willpower for him to calm his anger and re-focus on his original objective.

With a grunt, his eyes locked onto the distant beast. It had shifted positions, trying to get closer.

Uhtred reacted in tandem, widening the distance again. Each time the beast moved, he also moved to ensure he never came within its effective range. It fired several shots, all of which never came close to him at all.

Eventually the beast stopped firing altogether. It switched tactics, charging at Uhtred’s position with blinding speed. But the situation remained the same.

Just like the beast had an advantage with its long range spell, Uhtred also possessed an overwhelming advantage with Slipstream Stride. In a direct competition, no other movement technique came close to his at all.

The beast, seeing that Uhtred was unwilling to let it get close, switched tactics again. Instead of charging at Uhtred, it tried moving away from him, but Uhtred chased after it this time, maintaining the same distance no matter where it went.

"Do you understand now, you fucker!" Uhtred chuckled darkly, still nursing several wounds even as he moved with Slipstream Stride. "I’ll keep pestering you no matter what! If you move, I move! You’re the one that started this! Now we must see it through till the fucking end!"

A mad glint flickered in Uhtred’s eyes. Looking at him, one would think he was high on something. He seemed like a man possessed, unwilling to let the beast out of his sight.

The Apetitan grew frantic. Its roars filled the forest, a frustrated, angry cry at Uhtred’s persistence. It sped through different areas of the forest, crossing into other beast territories hoping they’d interfere.

Instead, they all cleared out of the way, realizing that two high level entities were engaged in a tense standoff.

The Apetitan grew even madder. It charged for Uhtred again, and Uhtred simply repeated the same tactic.

The cycle continued for what felt like an hour. Eventually, the Apetitan’s cries changed entirely. From anger, there was now a tinge of despair in its cry. It had now realized the full extent of its predicament.

This was no longer a fight. The "prey" it picked this time had turned its long range domination into a curse!