Chapter 8: Moving Forward
I retreated several steps as the Death Stalker rushed towards me. I'd made a small mistake in underestimating its speed, thinking that it would move slower seeing as it was so large.
The Death Stalker swiped its claw at me and I brought my blade down to meet it.
"Sun Breathing: Dance"
-500 AP
There was a loud clang as my blade impacted the claw, stopping it, but doing very little else otherwise.
The Death Stalker lashed out with its other claw. Bringing my sword up, I attempted to blow the hit, but was thrown back for my efforts.
-100 AP
Using the added momentum from the hit, I rolled to my feet and immediately Jumped into out of the way, just barely avoiding being crushed by one of the Grimms claws.
Jumping into a tree, I quickly scaled it in order to gain a reprieve. The Death Stalker was fast, strong and tough in a way that completely blew the Ursa Major out of the water. I needed to figure out its weak points if I wanted to be able to beat this thing.
My reprieve was cut short when the Death Stalker shattered the base of the tree I'd been standing on.
"Fine, if that's the way you want to play it," I muttered to myself as I tensed my legs. I didn't want to have to overwhelm the Death Stalker with sheer speed. The whole point of me fighting Grimm with Maria around was so that I could gain experience and learn how to deal with them in a safer environment while training my techniques, not just blitz them.
"Sun Breathing: Flash, One Step"
-50AP
The tree that I'd been standing on was thrown back violently as I raced towards the Death Stalker at a blinding speed. Bringing my blade up, I prepared to kill the Grimm in one blow.
As I neared the Grimm, I quickly realized I'd made a mistake. The Death Stalkers tail lashed out towards me at a rapid speed, passing directly through my guard, the stinger struck me in my gut, flinging me back at high speed.
-1500AP
I winced as I twisted my body in mid air as I prepared myself for a better landing. I tensed my body as I was about to collide with a tree, but quickly found my trajectory changed when I was tackled to the side by Maria.
Hitting the ground on all fours, I skidded to a halt and looked up to find her standing casually to the side.
"Doing alright there, Coal?"
"just fine," I replied. Standing up, I winced as I felt pain flare in my stomach. My Aura was still active, but it seemed part of the impact had traveled through it. "Man, that Death Stalker hits hard."
Maria remained silent for several moments, before letting out a sigh. "I think you're going to have to let me handle this Grimm. You've lost over a third of your Aura and you haven't even been fighting for five minutes."
"It'll regenerate soon enough," I replied. "Besides, I've just been feeling it out. Give me another shot and I'll be able to kill it."
Maria gave me a hard look before relenting. "Fine, but if you get hit by that stinger one more time, I'm stepping in and killing the Death Stalker, regardless of what you say."
"Thanks."
There was the sound of loud skittering as the Death Stalker crashed through several trees, charging towards us.
"Remember, one more strike and I'm killing it," Maria said, before leaping out of the way.
"Yeah, yeah. I've got it," I replied, not taking my attention off the Grimm.
Ducking under the pincer strike, I attempted to move to the side of the Grimm, but quickly found its stinger racing towards me.
Swinging my blade into the stinger, I grunted as I forcefully deflected its strike. In my brief exchange with the Grimm earlier, I'd learned what not to do when fighting a Death Stalker.
While the Death Stalker had speed, Its main ability was its overwhelming strength and armor. Fighting it head on with the strength that I had now would only serve to make me tired, so I had to change up my tactics.
"Sun Breathing: Flash, Three Steps"
-150AP
Darting around the Grimm, I attacked from the rear, swinging my blade into the base of its tail.
"Sun Breathing: Dance"
-500 AP
The Death Stalker let out a pained shriek as my sword broke through the black armor of its body, cutting through a quarter of its tail.
The tail came down and swiped at me in an attempt to knock me to the side as the Grimm scuttled around, trying to face me.
Rolling under the swipe, I found myself standing directly underneath the Death Stalker. It tried to scuttle to the side, but I followed it.
"So you can't get me from under here," I muttered.
Placing my hand on the underside of the Grimm, I noticed that it was armored, much like the majority of the Grimms body. I could attempt to kill it from under here, but that did leave me with two problems. The first problem being that I wasn't able to swing upwards properly due to the lack of space and the other being that once the Grimm died, it would fall on me.
An idea began to take hold. The Death Stalker's strength and durability would mean absolutely nothing if it wasn't able to charge towards me… I glanced at its legs and nodded to myself.
"Sun Breathing: Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance"
-800 AP
Rushing underneath the Grimm, I unleashed several slashes aimed at the joints of its legs, cutting through each of them, before I rolled out from underneath it and raced to get out of its tails range.
The Grimm let out another shriek as its body heavily dropped to the ground. Attempting to use what was left of its legs, it raised itself off the floor before collapsing back down, unable to move.
"Well, it's not the way I would have done it, but I suppose that it gets the job done," Maria commented as she landed by my side. "Now all you've got to do is kill it."
"That's easier said than done," I replied, breathing easily. "The bone is really difficult to cut through."
"What about the parts that aren't covered in bone?" Maria asked.
"They're much easier to cut, but they're still armored," I noted. "The stinger is still an issue, but I should be able to easily avoid its pincers now."
Maria hummed as she walked closer to the Grimm, but stood just out of range. "Then why don't you take care of the tail?"
"It's still difficult to cut through," I answered. I could see what she was doing. Instead of telling me what I should do, she was slowly leading me to figure that out for myself. "It would be a waste of Aura to whittle the Death Stalker down one piece at a time. I need to be able to kill it in one blow."
"But how would you do that?" Maria asked. "What part of it could you attack that would kill it instantly?"
"The brain," I deadpanned. "But I can't do that. The entire upper body is coated in bone."
"Then you're either going to have to find a way to remove that bone or fine a spot that isn't covered."
Find a spot that wasn't covered? The only part that wasn't covered by the bone armor was the Death Stalkers legs and its lower body. I examined the Grimm before slapping my head. "Its eyes."
"That would do it," Maria nodded. "Where ever there are eyes, there is a brain."
Well, now I felt like an idiot. The only question that I had now was which eye to strike through. There were several sets of them and I doubt my sword was long enough to reach its brain, especially if I chose one of the ones that were farther away from the brain.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go kill that Grimm!"
"Just give me a minute," I murmured, trying to figure out the best way for me to kill the Death Stalker.
Thinking back, I remembered that team JNPR fought and killed a Death Stalker, although their weapons were initially useless, doing very little harm to it. If I remembered correctly, it was Nora that landed the finishing blow on the Grimm, using her hammer to nail the Death Stalkers stinger into its brain.
"Alright, I think I've got an idea," I announced.
Moving to the side of the Grimm, so I was out of its pincers range, I rushed forward and jumped onto its side, quickly positioning myself so that I was standing between its eyes.
The Grimm thrashed around in an attempt to knock me off, but it was ultimately pointless. The muscles in its tail tightened as it prepared to strike me with the only thing it had.
The stinger shot towards me at a rapid speed.
"Sun Breathing: False Rainbow."
-50 AP
I twisted my body out of the way at the last moment, deftly dodging the strike. The stinger carried on and pierced through the bone armor. The Death Stalker let out a loud screech as its tail pulled back, ripping out a large chunk of the bone armor.
Not allowing it a moment to recover, I brought my blade down into the unarmored flesh.
"Sun Breathing: Dance"
-500 AP
The Death Stalkers body jolted as its tail straightened, before it fell limply to the ground and slowly started to dissolve. I glanced at my Aura and let out a relieved sigh.
AP: 3540/6467
If my Aura didn't regenerate at the rate that it did, I would probably only have a third of my Aura left… maybe even a sixth.
"I suppose congratulations are in order." Maria stepped forward. "You've killed your first intermediate leveled Grimm… and one on the higher levels of intermediate at that."
"What would count as a high level Grimm?" I asked, hopping off the Death Stalkers body.
"Manticores and Nuckelaves come to mind," Maria replied without missing a beat. "Although, you're a long way off from being able to take on any of those without help… although, I could probably count on you to help me fight them."
"You want me to help you fight high level Grimm?"
"Well I'm not planning on going out looking for any, but if we come across some on our trip, I would at least know that you wouldn't get yourself killed."
Coming from Maria, that was a pretty big compliment. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long before I was strong enough that Maria could trust me to fight those kinds of Grimm on my own. I just needed to be able to master my breathing and then I could train my Aura passively while I slept at night.
I should probably also perfect my Sun Breathing techniques. The description for it said that it was capable of burning anything that was made of darkness and I was pretty sure that applied to Grimm, although I'd yet to see any burning take place.
So far, the individual Sun Breathing techniques that I'd been able to level up had only made my strikes more effective by increasing the force I hit with and the speed I moved at. I suppose that I was going to have to fully max out one of my techniques to see the effect it has on Grimm.
"Let's head back," Maria suggested. "I don't believe that June is able to see us from here and I imagine that, if we stay here any longer, she will assume the worst and leave with Oscar."
"Yeah," I nodded. "But what about the rest of the Grimm in the valley?"
"What about them?" Maria snorted. "I've already taken care of them… I did, after all, have to keep them from attacking you, while you fought with the Death Stalker."
If what Maria said was true, then it only took her around five minutes to clear out all the Grimm… I mean, the valley wasn't that big and it's likely that the Grimm were all really weak, but she managed to kill them all in such a short time without attracting any attention… that's kind of insane.
…Breathe…
"Back when I was training to be an Atlesian soldier, we were made to study various types of Grimm," June explained as we slowly made our way back to the farm. "It was made clear that we weren't to engage Grimm above a certain level without the suitable weaponry and if we did, we would likely die."
I briefly reached up to scratch the back of my neck, before turning my full attention back to June.
"The Death Stalker was one Grimm that we were advised from ever engaging, regardless of platoon size. We could have a solid hundred soldiers in our platoon, but the number wouldn't mean much. If we ever encountered one, we were advised to mark down the area for air support and leave… You see, the way to dealing with them is to stay out of range and bombard them with high yield explosives."
"I'm not quite sure why you're telling us this," I said, continuing to scratch my back. It seemed the itch had moved.
"Because you, a teenaged boy killed one on your own." June replied. "I never regretted entering the army until I saw how you handled that Grimm. If I'd have just chosen a different path, I could have been so much more than what I am right now."
"Or you could be dead," Maria cut in. "When it comes to Huntsmen, not many people reach old age. In fact, not many live past thirty, those that do are either lucky or exceptionally talented. When it comes to Coal, he's a bit of both."
Nodding, I reached down the back of my shirt and grabbed the culprit for my itch, which felt like a large stick. Pulling it out, I immediately paled when I saw what it truly was.
A large black spider was trying to break from my hold, kicking its legs out, but was unable to reach me from my hold on it.
"Oh, it's a harmless rain spider. They're quite common here around this time," June explained. "They like to hide themselves in houses, bags and even clothing when it starts raining."
I threw it off into the distance and began to frantically pat myself down. I could deal with large Grimm any day of the week, but spiders! Regular spider! No, absolutely not.
"Maria, I need you to help check my back for spiders!"
"I just said that they're harmless," June repeated. "Even if they weren't, your Aura would protect you from harm, so you really don't have to worry."
Aura?! Which comes from my soul? A spider was running across the surface of my soul?! I quickly pulled my jacket and then my shirt off and began swatting at my back, all the while Maria cackled to herself, not helping in the slightest.
"I can't believe that you killed a Death Stalker," June muttered.
…Breathe…
I slowly opened my eyes to the early morning light. A new notification box sat in front of me.
…
Total Concentration Breathing has leveled up. Level 99 – 100
Total Concentration Breathing has evolved into Total Concentration Constant.
Total Concentration Constant (Passive) Lvl Max
By using Total Concentration Breathing constantly, your body is pushed to a new level, making it immune to harsh climates while massively increasing the rate at which your body recovers. All stats are increased by 150% and Aura Regenerates at 20% per minute.
You have gained three new Status effect.
Status effects:
Iron Mind
Due to master Total Concentration Constant, your mind has grown stronger and faster. You've gained a deeper understanding of your body and through focus can control it to a degree that was thought impossible. With enough effort, you could stop bleeding wounds.
Iron Body
Due to mastering Total Concentration Constant, your body now works on a level above what was thought to be possible. Your body has become resistant to blunt force trauma. If you should ever lose consciousness, your body will respond to threats automatically.
Iron Soul
Due to mastering Total Concentration Constant, your Aura can no longer shatter. It can, however, still be depleted or deactivated, but it will never break from stress.
…
I… did it?
I did do it. I'd finally mastered Total Concentration Breathing! I hadn't expected such a large boost from mastering it either. I thought that it would only increase my stats by 100% and give me an additional 1% to the rate at which my Aura regenerated, not this.
And those status effects… I really didn't know what to say about them. They didn't exactly give me a massive boost, but their effects were extremely useful. My Aura would never shatter, my body could fight when I was at my most vulnerable and I could stop myself from bleeding just by thinking about it hard enough.
That was just… Each of those could count as a Semblance on their own and I now unlocked all three.
I needed to outside and test this right now.
Standing up from the floor, I heard a yawn come from my side.
"Sorry Coal. I must have fallen asleep again," Oscar said as he rubbed his bleary eyes. "I'll make sure to keep an eye on you tonight as well."
"Actually," I began, feeling excited. "You won't need to do that, because I did it."
"You did what?" Oscar yawned tiredly.
"I mastered it. I kept my breathing active throughout the entire night."
"Oh that's nice," Oscar mumbled, before he realized what I'd said. "Wait, you did it?!"
I nodded. "I was actually about to go down stairs and test out what my body can do… You wanna come?"
It didn't take anything more to convince Oscar. I soon found myself standing outside, standing near the sprouting crops that we'd planted. The lighting was dull as the sun hadn't risen yet.
"Alright, I'm going to run a few laps around the farm without using Aura first, before activating it."
"Do… you really think that it's going to make that much of a difference?" Oscar asked.
"There's only one way to find out."
Starting out in a jog, I slowly increased my speed as I ran around the farm, before I was outright sprinting around it. It was only when I was running at my maximum speed that I began to feel tired and once I felt I was slowing down, I activated my Aura.
I soon began to kick up a cloud of dust as my speed increased by a massive degree. I let out a gleeful laugh as I tore a path around the outskirts of the farm. I felt incredible, like there was nothing that I couldn't handle. I felt like I could easily handle the Death Stalker that had given me such trouble the day before.
I was tempted to push my speed faster by using my Flash breathing technique, but decided against it. I didn't want to accidentally destroy something by moving too fast and not being able to control myself.
Instead, I decided to stop even though I didn't feel the slightest bit fatigued. Glancing at my Aura, a smile came to my face.
AP: 8125/8125
It had grown by a full two thousand points from yesterday. It's stat was increased by 150%.
"That was so much faster than yesterday," Oscar said, slightly awed. "Does being able to keep that breathing technique active really make that big of a difference?"
"It does," I nodded. "Total Concentration Constant pushes your body to a whole new level and Aura multiplies that level. The stronger and faster your body is without using them, the better it'll be with them."
"So if I had Aura, I'd be a lot faster and stronger than I am now?"
"Kind of," I hummed. "Aura needs to be trained too. When I initially learned how to use it, I couldn't even make myself twice as strong. You would get a little stronger, but you would need to train on how to use it… not to mention, Grimm would be attracted to you."
"Oh," Oscar muttered.
"Why don't I show you something that's both useful and won't attract Grimm?"
Oscar perked up at that. "Like?"
"This."
Tensing my legs, I darted to one end of the farm, before rushing back, coming to a stop in my original spot. Total Concentration Constant could turn anyone into a juggernaut, especially a Huntsman or Huntress. The breathing styles however… When mastered, they would allow a person to punch far above their weight class.
"I don't understand… I thought you said you weren't going to give me Aura."
"That wasn't me using my Aura," I replied. "That was… something else." I wasn't exactly going to teach him a proper breathing form, only the basics on how to augment his speed. Part of me didn't want to share that, feeling that it was a large risk, but a larger part felt that it was a risk worth taking.
I'd already made it clear to Oscar when I first began instructing him on how to do Total Concentration Breathing that he was never to share what I taught him with anyone, not even his Aunt.
"Oscar, I'm trusting that you won't abuse this and that you'll keep this technique to yourself. I'm not teaching this to you so you can hunt Grimm, I'm teaching it to you so you can protect yourself should the situation grow dire."
"I know," Oscar nodded. "I already promised that I won't show how to use your breathing technique."
"Good. Just keep in mind what would happen if the wrong kind of people learned how to do it, like bandits or the White Fang," I reminded him. Pausing for a few moments, I continued. "Now, start your breathing technique and I'll show you what you're supposed to do."
…Breathe…
Several hours passed, before we went in for breakfast. It took some time, but Oscar had gotten the hang of augmenting his speed by using his breathing. It wasn't anything too impressive, but as it stood now, Oscar could definitely outrun the average Beowolf.
Given time and effort, Oscar would definitely become faster. It would be a good starting point for him if the worst was to happen and Ozpin ended up in his head.
"Morni…" Maria froze when she caught sight of Oscar, who was currently coated in dirt. His initial attempts at increasing his speed hadn't gone so well. He hadn't been able to control himself very well and ended up tripping.
"Oscar, what even… No, never mind. Just… go get cleaned up," June said in an exasperated tone.
"Ahaha. Will do, Aunt June," Oscar replied as he quickly raced up the stairs.
Sitting down at the table, I noticed the questioning looks being sent my way. "What? I was teaching him to run faster and he kept stumbling. It's not my fault that he's covered in mud."
June nodded and went back to preparing breakfast while Maria began to tap her goggles lightly as the shutters opened and closed.
"Blasted faulty tech. It seems we're going to have to make a stop at Atlas to get my goggles repaired," Maria muttered.
"What's wrong with them?" I asked. I remembered that sometime in the future, Maria would need to have Pietro repair her goggles, but I couldn't exactly remember why.
"The Aura sensor is faulty. It's telling me that your Aura grew by a massive degree from yesterday, but that's impossible."
Oh, that… "Um," I began, not quite knowing how to explain this to Maria. "It's probably not faulty. I… fully mastered one of my techniques and it seems to have… given me a lot more Aura."
Maria's goggles blinked and began to twitch before she let out a sigh. "Coal… I would appreciate it if you left doing impossible things for after breakfast, it's still too early for this crap."
And so Coal has fought his first mini boss and mastered Total Concentration Constant.
The Iron status effects work in a similar way to gamer mind and gamer body, but there's more to them than what was described. With time, Coal will learn their additional effects and how to use them to the best of their abilities.
Anyways, I'm up to chapter 13 on the P word website.
P
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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.
Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.
Next chapter will be posted on the 24th of June.
See you all then, dudes and dudettes.