I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Chapter 1038: Sael of The White String [part 3]

Sael’s mind raced as he bounded between the wind platforms, each leap calculated to maintain an erratic pattern. The creature’s black eyes tracked his movements with predatory intelligence, confirming his suspicions.

’Good. Intelligence means patterns. Patterns mean weaknesses.’

He suddenly shifted direction mid-leap, feinting left before spinning right on a fresh platform. The monster’s head followed the false movement for a split second—enough time for Sael to note the delay in its reactions.

The creature’s mouth began to glow with that ominous purple light again, but Sael was already three platforms away, the bow transforming in his hands. The living wood flowed like water, extending and branching until it resembled a massive net of interconnected branches.

“Let’s see how smart you really are.”

His burned jaw throbbed with each word.

He hurled the transformed weapon wide, the wooden net expanding as it flew. The creature, predictably, dodged—but that wasn’t Sael’s target. The net sailed past and began to circle back, the living wood responding to his mental command.

The monster prepared another beam, this time aiming where Sael would land rather than where he was. Its intelligence was adapting, learning his patterns.

But Sael smiled grimly. He had counted on exactly that.

Instead of landing on the next platform, he dismissed it entirely and plummeted. The purple beam seared through empty air where he should have been, and in that moment of the creature’s confusion, the wooden net struck from behind.

The living branches wrapped around the monster’s wings, not to bind them—Sael had learned that lesson—but to anchor himself. He swung on the net like a pendulum, the momentum carrying him in a wide arc that brought him face-to-face with the creature.

His bow had already reformed in his hands.

“Gotcha,” he breathed.

At point-blank range, with the monster’s mouth still glowing from the missed beam, Sael drew the string of light. This time, he didn’t aim for the wings or chest.

He aimed for the throat.

The arrow of pure light punched through the creature’s neck just as it tried to unleash another beam. The result was catastrophic—the purple energy, with nowhere to go, exploded outward in all directions from the wound.

Sael barely managed to swing away on his wooden net as waves of searing energy washed over them both. The creature’s agonized shriek shattered windows in the distant city below, and three of its four wings beat frantically as it tried to maintain altitude.

But Sael wasn’t finished. The hundreds of light arrows that had been hovering around him earlier reformed, positioning themselves in a perfect sphere around the wounded creature. The monster looked around desperately, its black eyes wide with what might have been fear.

“I told you I don’t enjoy this.”

Sael’s voice carried on the wind despite the distance. The burn on his jaw flared with pain, but his resolve remained absolute.

“But I love them more than I hate killing you.”

The creature made one last desperate attempt, diving toward the city with its remaining strength. But Sael had anticipated this too.

He raised his hand.

“Lunar Aria.”

The hundreds of arrows fell like a deadly constellation, each one guided by his will. They struck with surgical precision—wings, joints, the creature’s center of mass. Not meant to kill outright, but to cripple, to ensure it could never reach the city below.

The monster plummeted, its wings shredded, its body broken. It crashed into the dark forest beyond the city walls with a thunderous impact that sent tremors through the ground.

Sael landed gracefully on a final wind platform, breathing heavily. He watched the dust settle around the creature’s motionless form, his expression a mixture of relief and regret.

He touched the burn on his jaw gingerly and winced. The pain was a reminder that intelligence could be as dangerous as brute strength—perhaps more so.

In the distance, he could see more shapes moving in the darkness beyond the wasteland. The real battle was just beginning.

But for now, he needed to tend to his teammates. He turned to dive toward the walls, only to see an azure-blue monster falling down the wall.

He paused and smiled a little.

“Did I forget they’re elites…”

He shifted and faced the darkness before him.

Over time, the slow march of the darkness had grown even slower. It had halted perfectly, forming a vast, endless black wall against the city’s barriers.

And this black wall dwarfed the city terribly.

Sael stood on the wind platform he had formed, gripping his bow and staring, searching for ways to dispel the darkness.

In his numerous escapades as a Drifter—from Nomad to Sage—which had consumed thirty-five hard years of his life… Yes, despite his youthful appearance, Sael was a fifty-year-old Drifter, one who had been a Sage for eight years with no hope of becoming an Ascendant.

However, he had grown tremendously even as a Sage. He had discovered countless ways to harness his talent abilities and even unlocked three levels of his heritage, which explained the wind platform beneath his feet.

Sael had faced and weathered many horrors, but never had he encountered a moving darkness that couldn’t be attacked. All they could do was brace for its assault and somehow hope they survived until daylight.

That was the strategy the Headmaster and others had devised, at least.

But with his experience as a Drifter, the one thing he could always sense was that things rarely unfolded as expected.

Monsters, rifts… they were shrewd and wicked things that shouldn’t roam the world as they pleased.

More monsters flew out of the darkness, but they were nothing as threatening as the Devilish Maelstrom he had just slain.

He exhaled and struck the string of his bow gently. Arrows of light began to dance around him, striking different flying monsters with devastating force.

The Drifters on the wall also regained their resolve. With Lira and Nova on the ground, the wall became even more functional, supporting him from below with terrifying vigor.

Nova’s bombs resounded from time to time, making the wall tremble. And for the next hour, they continued their ferocious and stalwart defense of the city.

Until the shadow storm began moving again.