BXBX NOVEL Chapter 82 Mutation [1] - Shadow Owl Mutation
Since Lloyd knew that any of the owls above peak first commandment wouldn't be hurt by his attack, he closed his eyes and felt his surroundings.
He could feel everything, from the trees that brushed one another to the presence of the owls in the sky alongside him. Yet, he quickly blocked everything out before focusing on the owls and his flame bullets.
With flames coming out of his feet and back to keep him floating, Lloyd opened his eyes with the utmost concentration, and with a thrust of his arms and clenching his open palms into a fist, he split all the flaming bullets into 15 groups, shooting them all at the weakest owls and barraging them with a rain of flames.
*BOOM, BOOM, BOOM*
The sound of explosions filled the air as Lloyd's bullets ripped through the owls, creating clouds of smoke and burning feathers that made it impossible for the group to see what was going on.
When he finally stopped shooting, Lloyd took a moment to observe his work before noticing something peculiar.
All the owls on the weaker side had turned into carcasses, while all the stronger owls remained unscathed since Lloyd was not aiming for them.
"Well, that used a crap ton of mana..." Lloyd muttered in disbelief before suddenly being pulled back into reality when he felt a gust of wind almost freeze him in place.
He wanted to move, yet before he could do anything, he felt an intense aura coming from one of the stronger owls, causing him to close his eyes so he wouldn't be affected by its presence.
When he opened them again, he noticed that the owl had grown darker, almost like a shadow that seemed to quiver with its every movement.
Lloyd couldn't determine its exact type, yet he could tell it wasn't an ordinary owl. While it wasn't as strong as the stronger owls that the rest of the group was fighting, the thing before him was growing in strength at a tremendous rate... Which could only mean one thing.
"A mutation?" Lloyd asked himself, yet before he could try to get answers, the answers came to him in the form of a dark spear appearing mere inches from his face, giving him less than half a second to dodge the attack.
"Weren't shadows supposed to be the slowest element," Lloyd asked himself with a grunt as the spear cut his cheek, yet the excitement in his voice could not be faked despite wanting to sound angry.
'I could get a new shadow ability.' He thought as a smile threatened to extend from the corners of his lips.
But before Lloyd could give it more thought, he saw several figures shooting toward the owl like arrows, distracting it and drawing its attention away from Lloyd.
It was then that the others arrived, and the fight began anew, yet despite them seeming like they wanted to support him, he could not help but feel slightly agitated by the disruption.
'Don't they have their own fights?' Lloyd thought while staring at Tina and Roderick with a slight frown. Little did he know that, due to them both being mid to late Topaz seals in the second commandment, their senses had improved enough for them to see Lloyd's unsatisfied frown.
"Stop attacking it." Roderick shouted.
"What? Did you hit your head or something. Lloyd probably used all his mana on that attack, so not only is he much weaker than that thing, he is also not equipped to fight it!" Felix shouted back.
"Is that worry I sense in your voice?" Roderick teased.
"YES! I am worried that the only intelligent person in your group will die, and you assholes are just gonna watch!" Felix retorted, making Roderick chuckle.
"We hold off for now. If you see Lloyd struggling against the mutant one, I want you to help him." Hime commanded, instantly ending th argument where it stood.
Seeing that no one was going to help him, an uncontrolled grin appeared on his face. The same one that appeared the first time he was going to fight one of the owls.
'Hopefully, this time I actually get to fight these monsters rather than being pulled into my own shadow as an unsuspecting victim of that thing...' Lloyd thought, unwilling to call the creature he saw by its actual name... Or at least the name he gave it.
Seeing the creature flying towards him, Lloyd turned off the flames and allowed himself to fall towards the ground, yet he was not without a plan.
As he closed in on the ground, the owl closed its wings and perched towards him, the shadows around its body flickering wildly as its piercing blue eyes stared at him like a hawk.
The owl was closing in fast, yet Lloyd was closer to the ground than he was to it. However, when the owl had come extremely close to getting him, it was already too late.
[Shadow Movement]
Suddenly, Lloyd's body sunk into the ground the moment he hit it, and despite the owl's attempt to slow itself by opening its wings, its momentum was far too high for it to stop immediately.
However, just before Lloyd could move away from his shadow, leave it and kill the creature to cement his victory, the sound of something entering a murky and thick water entered his ears, and when he looked around, he understood what it was.
"Since when could shadow users also enter my shadow!" Lloyd muttered before trying to take out his katana.
'It's not here!?' Lloyd inwardly screamed before remembering that he had dropped it when his arms began to crack.
With a loud screech, the owl shot toward's Lloyd at amazing speeds, but despite the owl's amazing increase in strength, it wasn't the only one who had reached a new level of strength that day.
[Shadow Enhancment]
Covering himself in shadows as well, Lloyd took the creature before his head, speeding towards it by creating flames behind him that allowed him to accelerate faster than his body would have been capable of, even with the help of [Shadow Enhancement]
Shooting towards it, Lloyd readied his fist and sent out a powerful punch, yet the owl, being stronger than him, easily clashed with his punch and sent him tumbling for a few meters.
Surprisingly, however, it was not only Lloyd who was pushed back, but it was also the owl being forced back several meters.
Finding his balance, Lloyd continued to slide for a few more seconds, but this time he had placed his hand on the ground while fueling it with mana.
*SCREECH*
The owl immediately flapped its wings and shot towards Lloyd, yet when it reached him, a shiver went down its spine before the grin on Lloyd's face was thoroughly imprinted in its mind. After all, it was the last thing it saw before pale blue flames burst out of the ground, swallowing its entire vision and shooting it out of his shadow.