Earth's Alpha Prime

287  Blood & Dread

Yinad, determined to end the battle swiftly, targeted the weakest link among his attackers, Min-soo. As he clashed with Henry and Kensei, Yinad unleashed a barrage of powerful arrows at Min-soo whenever he spotted an opening. Though Min-soo managed to teleport himself away at the last possible moment, the enchanted arrows relentlessly pursued him, warping through the air to follow his every move.

This left Dante no choice but to focus his efforts on saving Min-soo rather than helping Henry and Kensei in their melee struggle. The absence of his support heaped tremendous pressure on the duo, as they were already struggling against the onslaught of Yinad's relentless attacks. Each movement was hounded by blades of violet Dagger Aura, which hunted them with the same tenacity as the arrows. Their bodies bore the brunt of these attacks, wounds accumulating until their defenses began to crumble. Battling Yinad while contending with the ceaseless pursuit of those deadly auto-guided blades of Dagger Aura left them teetering on the edge of collapse.

Just when defeat seemed imminent, Dante unleashed the move he had been quietly preparing for. He activated the first of four powerful buffs granted to him by the║Deck of Fate║, the buff║Aura Disruption║. The arrows Dante had previously fired, now scattered across the battlefield, became channels for his ability. Acting like antennas, they interfered with the Aura Arrows' tracking capabilities, sending them off course. Instead of striking Min-soo, the arrows veered off and crashed into the icy ground.

The disruption didn't just affect the arrows. The cresents of violet Dagger Aura, which had been relentlessly chasing Henry and Kensei, was similarly affected. Their deadly pursuit faltered, allowing the two fighters a moment to catch their breath. Dante had waited patiently, quietly planting arrows throughout the battlefield and allowing their number to grow until the disruption could reach its peak.

Though the interference hindered Henry and Kensei's own Aura abilities, they had been warned in advance. In terms of raw stats, Henry and Kensei weren't far behind Yinad, but when it came to pure combat ability, Yinad clearly outclassed them. He fought them both without finding himself at a true disadvantage. However, Yinad soon realized that his Aura was being disrupted by Dante's arrows, and the interference was affecting his ability to unleash his full power. He tried to distance himself from the arrows' reach to regain control, but each time he attempted to retreat, Min-soo would teleport him right back into the fray, forcing him to engage Henry and Kensei head-on.

Yinad found it increasingly odd that it was taking him so long to defeat opponents who were weaker than him. He couldn't help but admire the precision of the bow user, Dante, who, from a distance, was influencing the entire flow of battle. It was a rare moment for Yinad—a realization that he was genuinely being pushed to the edge, something he hadn't experienced since the start of the Trial Program. For the first time, he found himself in a tight spot.

Yinad's strength was no accident. He had been blessed with not just one, but three Innate Talents, two of which were Weapon Talents of the top caliber. Both his Bow and Dagger Talents were Grade-9, allowing him to master those weapons with exceptional proficiency. Those alone would have made him formidable, but what truly accounted for the sheer extent of his achievements and power was his third Innate Talent.

It wasn't of a particularly high grade, nor was it powerful on its own, but it was a Variant Category Innate Talent that amplified his potential far beyond any ordinary weapon user. It was a Grade-5 talent that granted his Aura rudimentary sentience, allowing him to control it with a degree of autonomy only achievable by Tier-8 individuals and above.

Yinad could assign tasks to his Aura, such as controlling his arrows or directing his Dagger Aura, and it would carry out those commands with precision.

It was this talent that had propelled him from being merely a strong fighter to becoming the 6th strongest in the entire Trial World. In the early days, Yinad had leveled up at an overwhelming pace, simply by using his Aura to control his attacks from afar. Yinad's Aura control was like a cheat, granting him victories no one else could match. He had even slain the Subsidiary Fiend that invaded during the 1st Tournament, securing his spot as the 6th Power Ranker. Yet here he was, struggling against a group of four Alpha Chosen who weren't even in the Top-10. The only person he felt he truly had to watch out for was Olivia, the Omega Chosen, who was leading a Raid Party elsewhere. However, this group had somehow managed to stall him, and an unfamiliar ability was disrupting his Aura, weakening his fighting prowess.

Yinad knew he couldn't afford to let this battle drag on. The longer he stayed, the more his army would suffer at the hands of Olivia's Raid Party. He had to break free—and quickly. Desperation seared through Yinad as he launched himself toward Min-soo, eyes blazing with lethal intent, forcing himself to endure the relentless attacks from Henry and Kensei.

They did their best to stop him, but Yinad powered through, his focus locked on the space-user. He knew that if he could eliminate Min-soo, the entire strategy of teleporting him back into the thick of battle would crumble.

Min-soo, fully aware of the danger, desperately tried to teleport Yinad away without risking pulling him out of the range of Dante's Aura Disruption arrows. For a time, Min-soo managed to keep Yinad at bay, but he was rapidly exhausting his Spirit Energy, even with the heavy consumption of Spirit Fruits. His reserves were running dry, and the toll on his mind was becoming unbearable.

Despite Henry and Kensei's relentless attempts to halt Yinad's advance, their efforts fell short. In a sudden, vicious maneuver, Yinad activated his Agility Burst skill, propelling himself toward Min-soo with blinding speed. The air seemed to ripple as he moved, faster than anyone could track. Min-soo barely had time to register what was happening before Yinad's dagger sliced cleanly into Min-soo's abdomen, the cold steel tearing through flesh and muscle in a swift, brutal motion.

Min-soo's breath hitched, a sharp gasp escaping his lips as blood gushed from his mouth. His body went limp in Yinad's grasp, lifted effortlessly, dangling like a broken puppet impaled on the blade. The sight of their comrade's life hanging in the balance stunned Henry and Kensei, freezing them in place. They had anticipated this moment, knowing that Yinad would target Min-soo eventually, but they had placed all their faith in Dante. Surely, they thought, Dante's arrows would come at the last second, striking Yinad down and saving Min-soo from the killing blow.

But the arrows never came.

With dread creeping into their hearts, they turned toward Dante, standing a kilometer away with his bow resting loosely at his side. His posture was calm, almost resigned, his eyes fixed on the scene before him. There was no panic in his gaze, no surprise at Min-soo's plight. Only a heavy, grim understanding.

Dante hadn't fired. Not because he couldn't—but because he knew. Dante had foreseen this moment long before the battle even began and yet, for reasons that weighed heavily on his shoulders, he hadn't acted.

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Author Note: Exclusive artwork for every free chapter is now available on my PATRE0N page! You can find the link in my Discord server.

I'm thrilled to share that I'm taking a big leap forward! Alongside Earth's Alpha Prime, I've launched the first sub-book for EAP.

ALTER REALITY: Online

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The first ten to comment for new chapter releases will get '1 ADVANCED CHAPTER' for free on Earth Alpha Prime's Discord server.

In the discord server, I opened a private channel for those Top 10 candidates, where I posted the respective Advanced Chapter.

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