He was simply five feet to the left when an earthen spike shattered the floor where he was standing.
"Too slow," he sighed. "Is that all? I was hoping for a challenge. I'm running a little low, you see."
Eric admitted to himself that Rakel was fast, well, for an earth-bender. Yet again, stomped his foot, and a wave of solid earth rippled down the hallway toward Eric, buckling the floor, turning it into a chaotic mess of spikes and ridges.
Eric didn't simply step away from the attack this time. He ran. He ran powerfully up the wall, using his spectacular speed in bursts to defy gravity. More spikes followed him up the wall. He kicked off the wall, did a mid-air flip, and landed behind Rakel.
"You're making a mess of your own establishment, Rakel," he tutted. "Bad for business."
Rakel spun, his face a mask of fury but something tiny betrayed the sliver of fear he had. He must have realized Eric wasn't just fast. He was playing with him. Turning to face him, he created a shield of solid rock in front of him, thick and seemingly impenetrable.
Eric just stood there, waiting. "You done?"
[Killer Dash cool-down complete]
Rakel screamed deeply in frustration and the shield morphed, shooting out dozens of stone shards, a loud blast of earth that filled the room.
Eric didn't move at first. He let them come. Right before they hit, he used Killer Dash skill, just slightly evading the stones, moving very quickly to his right. The stone shards passed through the empty space where he had been a nanosecond before, shattering against the far wall.
Rakel gasped at the even faster speed Eric performed to evade his fastest attack. He was sure the boy was going to be impaled by his stone spears that time after seeing how fast Eric moved with just his legs. But he didn't know about the Killer Dash skill.
Eric straightened up, brushing a speck of dust from his shirt. "My turn."
"What are you gonna do? You don't have an active ability or any elemental ability anyway. Seeing how young you are, your stamina can't keep up with your super speed long enough to see this face-off through," spat Rakel. "You'll wear yourself out eventually. You know who would never get tired? Me–"
Eric used Killer Dash again, not to attack him. He appeared directly in front of his stone shield, his face inches from the rock. Then tapped it gently with his index finger.
Then he dashed away, appearing back where he started.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, a spiderweb of cracks spread from the point he had tapped. The solid shield, Rakel's wall of defense, crumbled into a pile of gravel and dust. But he was quick enough to rebuild it instantly.
"That was a showoff actually. You get what I did there? No one could have tapped your defense wall and make it crumble that fast without having a similar ability as yours. I just used my own earthbending ability on you," Eric announced.
"What?" Rakel was confused.
"What I mean to say is, we both have the Terrakinesis ability, old man. But I kept it just so I could have some fun."
"What the hell are you talking about, boy? No one has double abilities. Don't try to bullshit me. Keep being fast while I sink my rocks in your gut."
Eric shrugged and laughed childishly.
"Well, maybe you should cure your dementia first, old man, 'cause there's another raging person right behind you who actually wants your head more than I do," Eric giggled while pointing at the man.
"Gah," Rakel gasped, trying immediately to conjure another wall to cover his rear. But...
Alley had dashed blindly at Rakel who was kept busy by Eric's taunts. Eric only said a warning after he was sure Alley was in a close enough range to brutalize him with her fire.
Panicking, Rakel had immediately built a solid wall behind him but Alley had closed in so much that the wall only managed to enclose the both of them in a tight space. It was dark in the space, until... A blazing fire erupted from the enclosure where Alley and Rakel were.
A deep cry of anguish rose in the hall as Alley's fire increased in intensity. To Eric, it was like a pit of hell, and the torturer was little Alley Queen.
C'mon. At this rate, she'll probably burn his mana with him... Don't know if that's possible.
"It's okay, Alley. He's burnt enough," Eric called, touching the mud wall which was slowly crumbling as Rakel kept screaming.
"One more second, please," Alley begged. "I wish he won't die yet. He's got to suffer for what he did to me."
[Special mana ready to be consumed]
That was when Eric confirmed that Rakel was dead.
He summoned his mana, relished it, and got another notification.
[Host not hungry]
[Mana stored successfully in the Mana Bank]
[Mana Bank: 1/1000]
"Oh."
[Mana from a special being consumed]
[Reward: +30 random stat point added to Stamina]
[+30 increase in Elemental ability: Terrakinesis]
"Whoa, that's cool. Killing special beings actually make give me a boost? Now, I might get covetous. Plus, their mana feels even more intoxicating than normal beings'."
"But is there a gauge for my Elemental abilities? How do I know what level I am with each ability?"
[Elemental abilities' Gauge]
[Your Mana God awakening granted you total control and God tier damage level for every ability including elemental ability]
[Elemental abilities:]
Pyrokinesis: 100/100
Aquakinesis: 100/100
Aerokinesis: 100/100
Terrakinesis: 130/100
[Other abilities:]
Telekinesis: 100/100
God-tier swordsmanship: 100/100
Shadow bending: 100/100
Clairvoyance: 100/100
Charming Intensity: 100/100
Transmigration: Not available
"Why then is 30 points added to Terrakinesis when it's already 100. That's over the limit."
[The extra 30 points can be shared with a Mana Slave which you have transferred the Terrakinesis ability to]
[But if you do not want to share it, you can keep it until you've reached a bar of 200/100. Then, you get an extra Terrakinesis ability which you can transfer to another Mana Slave]
[You must remember that you cannot transfer an ability twice, except through this method]
[For clarity, you have transferred Pyrokinesis to Alley Queen, and you do not have an extra Pyrokinesis ability to transfer to another Mana Slave. But if you want to transfer another ability of the same type, you must consume mana from at least 100 Pyro-men to fill your gauge to the brim. Then you get an extra Pyrokinesis ability you can transfer to another Mana Slave]
"I quite understand. And sincerely, I have nothing to say other than, 'damn, I'll really be the end of this world.'"
"Killing special beings to fill my ability gauge so I can get extra abilities to transfer to my slaves? That's a very tempting game I want to play, but I shouldn't."
"Here I am, thinking wicked again. It's must be all that Immense Willpower reward I got from Mana King awakening."
Eric reeled back to present, only to realize Alley was still there behind the wall, with her fire still blazing hot.
"What the hell, Alley? He's dead already!"
Wait... she's killing herself.
He requested for Alley Queen's screen from the system, and saw that her Energy Point (EP) was near zero, and her Health Point (HP) was taking a huge decline also.
"Shit."
Instantly, he rushed through the weak wall and brushed Alley away, breaking her focus from Rakel who was more of less just a pile of ashes now.
Her fire stopped pouring out of her while she wobbled on her feet. A moment later, she slumped carelessly on the floor, but not before Eric stopped her from hurting herself from the fall.
Damn, she must have been really furious at her boss.
She must have had high hopes for him at first only for it to get shattered by him trying to harm her. You can't be this mad at someone if you never cared about him in the first place.
Alley Queen, what did you go through?
"Well, let it not be said that I wiped out a squad and I didn't loot them," Eric said, his voice returning to its playful lilt. "Now, let's see if the former boss kept any decent loot in his office."