Chapter 45: Upper Management

[Furious Flame] was a skill I didn’t use often for a few reasons.

Flames spewed from me like a flower blooming in all directions.

Most of the people who were on top of me jumped back to avoid my attack but a few were caught in the fire, but it really didn’t matter, the flame just kept on growing. 

I shotgunned towards the crack in the sky and the flames continued to flow like a waterfall.

When the goons heard the command, “Commence Operation Moonglow.” Hundreds of them flew straight for the portal.

Espr gave an analysis of the portal.

(“ The cracked portal only allows people and what they are wearing to travel through, so don’t be afraid to send attacks near the crack ”)

“Good…” I growled. [Disruptive Starlight].

I sent out a concentrated blast of the skill damaging all communication equipment for a long while.

“Dammit!” I heard an annoyed grunt, and a large heavily armoured figure bolted towards me.

They were one of the individuals I saw flying earlier, and here they were again with a powerful jetpack. 

I could tell his aim was for me, not the portal, so I took evasive manoeuvres to dodge and fly around the crack.

My attention was divided, as I wanted to ensure if not no one, that the least amount of people could make it through the portal. 

The man who kept charging at me like a rhino was covered in my flames, but with a shout, the flames dispersed.

Damn, well a few were going to have at least a decent control over Fire.

After that, I began to get shot at by another one of the flying individuals from earlier. Keeping their distance, their cloak stretched into a pair of wings and hundreds of green bullets were fired at me every second.

When I was dealing with two tougher Hood members attacking me directly. Suddenly, six Hood members accelerated fast and blitzed towards the portal.

Shit! 

I was able to react in time, but that didn’t mean much when I had two people actively attacking me, six targets to stop, and a hoard of other goons to deal with.

Well, time to do what I can! 

All happening in a brief ten seconds, my burning figure launched itself at one of the escapees as my fire rained down and I launched a [Solar Orb] upwards.

Exploded!

The ball that had been absorbing the heat this whole time detonated in a brilliant explosion. Not the most effective when it came to doing damage, but the bright light and force of the explosion briefly stunned the nearby aggressors. Five [Star Lances] appeared around me, and a sixth appeared in my hand, the five around me while still forming launched at their targets while the target I was chasing was saved for the one in my hand.

Whether it was due to equipment or skills, the results of my attacks were lacklustre thanks to the opponent's response.

However, it wasn’t without some reward. 

The target I was chasing recovered quickly from the flash and tried to dodge my strike, but they underestimated my movement speed. I just poured more mana into my next [Burst] and rendered their attempt useless.

The lance penetrated through their armour into their heart, but with their strength, they tried to grab me.

However, I knocked their arm away, grabbed their shoulder and tore into it with claws made of Starlight.

The fire releasing off me flowed into the wounds, but the man didn’t scream and his body glowed purple light. 

“Do better than that!” 

I swung the corpse by the head at another Hood member who was about to escape using my immense strength.

The purple aura shrunk before exploding, but my target was still out of reach before it happened.

Fuck! Only was able to kill one.

(“ Bright side, you were able to seriously injure another, and some of the others could be looking better ”)

I did end up using a chunk of Starlight for those lances to ensure they would break through even a strong protective layer.

Name: Ceella Stella (Celestira Luxpoir) | Race: [Human?]

Mana: 29% Starlight: 63%

However due to a case of poor timing when I attacked the one I killed, the few who were going to try and defend against the attack took notice of its deadliness and took immediate action to dodge. Two of which were grazed and damaged by the lances. 

Those who chose to dodge initially and reacted in time were unscathed, but there was one who couldn’t move fast enough and the lance shot a hole through the lower half of his upper body.

The rhino paused for a moment in shock, maybe surprised at how fast his companion died but I guess the reason didn’t matter. I was just angry that five individuals broke through and made their way through the crack.

“Want to go chase after them?” The commander taunted from a distance.

I laughed, “Do you want to try your luck and see if you can make it through?”

With the success of the first wave, more goons flew with their mana wings or jetpacks for the portal.

However, the flames continued to fall. And the realisation for my enemies of the danger of this skill was only beginning to kick in. Those who initially caught up in the blast and those who got embers stuck on them began to panic.

Many of my fire skills had at least some form of control to them, even if it was limited in rare cases.  

[Furious Flame] was something I had no natural control over. I could manipulate the flames like normal, but it felt like manipulating natural flames than flames created through my mana–the latter of which was much easier and the former was more expensive and difficult for the untrained. [Furious Flame] was overall cheap, and was a type of sticky flame that spread the moment it touched an object and wouldn’t disappear naturally until whatever it was burning was gone from this world.

Dominous Hood members who didn’t realise the nature of the flames and thought their armour was going to protect them had their lives burned up into smoke. While many others sustained injuries removing the flames.

[Furious Flame] main weakness was that anyone with a remote semblance of fire manipulation skill could remove the sticky flame from themself, well it had many other weaknesses and it honestly wasn’t that hard to remove if you knew the skill–but people don’t always have that luxury.

Many of the remaining goons went for the portal but some chose to stay back and continued to shoot at me, but some of them were still caught in the flames as well.

Honestly, the decrease in goon numbers didn’t matter much when determining how difficult this fight was going to be. After a certain number of opponents, additional enemies don’t matter much, it is hard enough for four people to attack one moving target. More numbers when used properly can make a difference, but Dominous Hood can't make full use of the strength of these goons for this fight. Unprepared and outmatched they were mostly there to be extinguished, however, I still had to be careful as I would never know where each individual’s power lies. It only takes one well-timed effective attack to turn the tide of combat after all.

A command was given out by someone unimportant, “Disengage and travel cautiously, don’t get those flames on you!” 

A bit too late for that.

After that command, the situation didn’t get better for me.

Rhino boy and the shooter continued their assault, and both were skilled enough to make counter-attacking hard while I was dealing with everything else. The commander stayed back but I could tell they were waiting for the perfect opportunity, I couldn’t see their eyes, but the slow methodical movements of his head were like a beast waiting to strike. I made sure to watch him carefully with [Star Mapping].

The fight kept going on and I had to do something.

I needed to make a choice again, one that I should’ve made moments earlier, if I did, fewer would’ve got through.

[Primal Guardian Lord]. I activated the skill again and felt my body filled with energy again.

(“ Desperate times call for desperate measuresCelestira? ”)

Shut it! I don’t need to use it. I angrily replied before I just sighed. I just have to.

Fire had lit up the moon’s surface like a star, and many of the goons were dead but too many had made it through, while there were still plenty who were waiting for their opportunity to either attack me or escape.

Rhino sent a concussive blast my way which I tanked instead of dodging as I would’ve been hit by the green bullets.

Then, the commander jumped towards me and in a moment he was behind me. 

A crimson blade bared in fangs down towards me from behind, but the moment my [Star Mapping] picked up his disappearance I had my armour glow a shining purple light. I formed a Starlight gauntlet around my hand and turned around.

Upon impact, the blade shattered the Starlight gauntlet and cut into the armour, but my strength managed to catch it. The blade's draining effects felt stronger than before.

“I guess you really do have eyes on the back of your head,” the commander muttered loud enough for his allies to hear. 

I joked, “Upper management huh, I swear, they’re always a pain to deal with.”

The commander replied seriously, “What, saying you want to give up?”

“Hardly.”