CHAPTER 82: BREAKTHROUGH

Harry stored all the corpses and jumped onto Wolfie’s back.

"Run, you bastard!" Harry screamed in panic.

Wolfie wanted to throw this man off, but he couldn’t afford to play around—his life was also in danger. He ran at full speed.

It took Harry quite a while before he saw them disappear beyond the mountains.

His happiness didn’t last long—three Behemoths were still following them.

"Oh... damn... damn! Run faster!"

Harry was sure they were at least level 6 beasts. Behemoths weren’t known for their speed, but on the other hand, Wolfie wasn’t an expert at running in mountainous terrain either.

Harry felt the distance between them increasing. A smile formed on his face, but suddenly, Wolfie came to an abrupt halt, nearly causing Harry to fall off.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" Harry yelled, but his eyes widened when he saw what lay ahead.

Until now, all his focus had been on the Behemoths chasing them. But now, in front of them, stood another group of Titan Behemoths.

"That way! Run that way!" Harry ordered, kicking his legs.

Wolfie didn’t dare play any tricks. He immediately changed direction.

This pattern continued for quite a while—they ran, encountered another group of Behemoths, changed direction, and ran into yet another group.

After racing for about an hour, Harry checked behind them. Finally, they succeeded.

There was no more tide of crazed Behemoths on their tail.

It would have been a relief, but there was no time to relax. Another group was already in front of them.

This time, Harry used everything he had learned from his previous mistakes.

The first thing he did was eliminate his first target in a single strike. Using Shadow Step, he attacked one of the level 5 beasts while, at the same time, Wolfie infiltrated the group, targeting other beasts.

Behemoths had an attunement with stone. It was rare for beasts to have elemental affinities. Until now, he had only seen very few with special skills.

Stone spikes shot up from the ground, forcing Harry to use barriers to glide upon.

He was careful not to get hit while in shadow form. Harry sent a barrage of Soul Pulses, then quickly shortened the distance.

It was the first time Harry had seen such high resistance to soul attacks.

Using Serpent Stride, he dodged all the stone attacks. When he threw another Soul Pulse, a wall of rock rose up, blocking it completely.

Maneuvering around the rock, Harry gripped his Judgment Sword and with the extra boost he felt from it, he pierced through the Behemoth’s tough hide.

But the force behind his strike was lacking, which cost him—a jaw-breaking hit from the beast’s powerful limb.

"Oww... That hurt!" Harry groaned, adjusting his jaw and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"It’s so... ironic," Harry chuckled at his own joke, enjoying the adrenaline rush.

Using Hemokinesis, he formed small spikes around the Behemoth’s wound. But before he could execute his next move, another Behemoth launched stone spikes at him.

"You filthy beasts... Let me deal with you one by one!" Harry growled, retreating.

He had removed his mask long ago—he wasn’t sure if he could control his words, and he didn’t want to waste such a good treasure.

A mild, eerie smile remained on his face throughout the battle.

Meanwhile, Wolfie had already dealt with two of the Behemoths.

Harry wasn’t about to let all that experience go to waste.

Ascending onto barriers, he poured blood over the Behemoths from his saved tank.

Now, it was his battlefield.

A sword strike—then he vanished into the shadows, emerging moments later to throw a solid punch at another beast.

Soul energy wasn’t working on a mental level against these creatures, but the physical boost it gave him was enough.

First came a dent, then a deeper dent, and with his continuous hit-and-run strategy, it became a full-blown injury.

As soon as a beast had an open wound, Harry’s Hemokinesis started showing its magic.

[+40,000 Exp]

For the first time, Harry had killed a level 6 beast on his own.

[+20,000 Exp]

After that, the rest of the group was dealt with in no time.

[Exp: 306,400/417,600]

Harry was approaching his level-up mark.

But before that, he wanted to use these corpses to ascend in soul cultivation.

Sitting inside a cave, Harry used Soul Eater on the first corpse.

These Behemoths had more soul energy than normal beasts, which only strengthened his resolve to kill them and level up.

But when he used Soul Eater, nothing happened.

"Not again," Harry cursed.

He set the corpse aside and tried again with another one.

"AHHHH! It hurts!" Harry screamed. But this time, it wasn’t because the skill had failed—he was in pain.

His mind was functioning perfectly. He could sense the cave, see the opening... but at the same time, he felt a sword slicing through his skin, daggers carving their way in.

It was mind-boggling.

Harry wanted to stop, but he couldn’t.

The pain kept increasing. He felt more cuts, more wounds opening—but there was nothing there.

After some time, the pain subsided. Harry was drenched in sweat.

"Oh, shit... It’s a drawback of the Soul Eater skill," Harry realized the moment his mind was free of agony.

Until now, he hadn’t noticed any drawbacks. He thought he was a special case.

But he couldn’t have been more wrong.

"It seems the soul has to be strong enough to trigger the drawback," Harry theorized.

He sighed. The soul energy was still there—he just needed time to assimilate it.

It took a while before he felt his cultivation shaking—but it stopped just before a breakthrough.

Harry sighed. "I guess I can’t run from the pain."

He used Soul Eater on another Titan Behemoth.

This time, the feeling was different. It felt like sharp jaws sinking into his flesh, claws digging deep into his skin.

"You... bastard... be gentle next... time," Harry muttered through gritted teeth.

The pain vanished after a while, leaving behind a massive amount of soul energy.

But he didn’t start assimilating it just yet. He used Soul Eater on the remaining two corpses.

Harry braced himself for another round of hellish training.

But the pain never came.

The beasts were lower-level, with weaker souls.

One thing became clear—the stronger the soul, the clearer the pain.

Finally, with so much accumulated soul energy, he attempted to break through.

It took him the whole day to assimilate the energy.

[Congratulations! You have reached Elemental Master Level 2]

[+2 Stat Points]

By the time Harry completed the process, something had also changed in the Beast Space—Wolfie had evolved.