Modern Awakening - A cultivation, LitRPG, apocalyptic novel

The blue and red crows reacted first. Lightning and fire rained from them toward Shen, who used his All-Encompassing Pursuit and Whispering Transformations to dodge the fire and keep going. The lightning, however, followed him and was too fast for him to avoid.

So he took it with his Unrelenting Pursuit instead, his F+ resistance and Boundless Qi protecting him from any damage.

Shen still felt pain though. The electricity couldn't pierce his skin but ran over his entire body, and the searing pain forced him to slow down.

He shouted in defiance and anger and kept going.

Seeing he wouldn't fall like that, the black crow attacked next. It moved at a breakneck speed toward Shen, yet it was also stealthy. Like an arrow shot by a master assassin, it made no sound at all despite breaking through the sound barrier. The darkness of the crow's plumage also seemed to consume the light when it moved, making it harder to see the monster.

If Shen was completely honest with himself, he didn't think he would've been able to dodge it if he hadn't had a clear line of sight to the crow at first.

Fortunately, he did have a clear view of the beast, and better yet, he was almost as fast as the crow when he filled his body with qi.

So he crouched, accumulated qi into his legs, and all but launched himself against the black crow. The monster was moving way too fast to dodge, and they met each other a split second later. The boss' beak met Shen's qi-enhanced spearhead, and the former gave in. His spear went through the crows' entire body and came out on the other side while the monster turned into light already.

| Kuisskar (E) | 8,114 → 8,214 AP

One dead, three to go.

Shen briefly considered that if this was the fastest the final bosses could move, then the wolves who had killed him were definitely unique. It made Shen resent Achr a little because the giant rainbow wolf had claimed it had experimented on those wolves. But for now, Shen took it off of his mind.

He landed a few dozen of feet away from the orc and kept rushing at it.

The other crows cawed in what looked like anger and started attacking in a frenzy. They didn't care whether they would hit the orc; they wanted Shen gone.

Meanwhile, the Shuuhs just fled. It fit what the Stage Overseer had said; they had killed mortals to get a more extensive health pool. They were afraid of death and didn't want to face genuine opposition.

Lightning, fire, and ice pikes—this time from the white crow—came at Shen and the orc, both now engaged in a melee.

The orc's metallic tower shields and plate armor should've worked for its disadvantage as it attracted lightning. However, the monster released an invisible defensive bubble that pushed Shen and incoming attacks away. It left the cultivator to deal with the offensive spells alone, and he was almost grateful for the practice he had had in the Techmages' dome. The flames and ice shards never got close to him. An outsider would wonder if it wasn't a choreographed dance rather than a fight.

The pain from the lightning, however, only got worse.

He clenched his jaw and grunted in pain while trying to find an opening against the orc. However, every time he approached, the orc used the same ability to push him away. Shen used his qi-enhanced spear to pierce the bubble with his spear, but the resistance made his spear almost stop, and it didn't even scratch the orc's shields.

Shen kept going like that for a few seconds, moving around the orc until he was behind it and closer to the cat. Alicia threw a couple fireballs against the orc, but they did nothing to its magic defense. When Shen was at the place he wanted, he disengaged and rushed at the Purrrkrrrr.

The cat had been licking its paws all the while, but it turned its head to Shen when he approached.

Their eyes met.

Purrrkrrr's blue eyes, which seemed to contain spiraling galaxies, shone brightly. Stars came out of it and enveloped Shen into a beautiful image of expanse and infinity—

"I'll kill it and the cat no matter what," Shen said, turned to the bosses, filled his body with Boundless Qi, and rushed at them.

The four crows— Wait, shouldn't there be five? And why was the counter showing he had to kill three final bosses rather than four like an instant ago? The groups of people to his sides were already engaging their bosses; when had that happened?

He would love to investigate further, but not now. Now, he had a fight to win.

Anyway, the four crows let out cries of what seemed like pain and anger and attacked... the cat. Fire and lightning rained upon the little monster, but they never hit it. The elements just ceased to be when they approached.

In retaliation, the cat just looked at the crows, who grew older in instants. Their white, blue, and red plumage turned grey and fell to the ground in an instant, all their lives happening in a blink. Then they turned into dust and motes of light as they disappeared.

Shen gulped. The Laws of Reality had a clear hierarchy, and the Laws of Time and Space were some of the strongest he knew of. He had never seen anyone wield them before, but he had heard stories. Now, he was witnessing their glory.

A single glance to deliver the inevitability of old age—and consequently death—upon one's enemies.

Shen had no idea if he could resist that, but he would try. At the moment, the tutorial mattered less to him than killing the orc and the cat. His morals, his Path, all of his being demanded him to right the wrong of letting those terrible beings live.

The Shuuhs started fleeing again, but the cat turned to them, and they froze in place. Then they returned and created a living barrier of glass bodies in front of Purrrkrrrr, like an honor guard.

Shen had reached Shaar'Tuok by now and thrust his spear. The orc didn't even raise its shield; it only released an invisible bubble around itself, and Shen's spear rebounded on it.

He struck again, this time expecting the technique, which the orc did use again. The spear filled with Boundless Qi and the invisible bubble hit each other. The spear broke through the bubble but lost considerable speed. It would deal no damage to the metal tower shields the orc wielded if nothing changed.

Fortunately, Shen wasn't being barraged by lightning, fire, and ice this time—

He frowned and immediately retreated as he considered that stray thought. He had never been barraged by lightning before, only fire and ice in the Techmages' dome. His frown deepened as he also considered he only needed to kill three bosses, how Purrrkrrrr had killed the crows, and how he had missed the other humans getting closer to their bosses.

Shen turned to the cat, and stars seemed to come out of its blue eyes. They enveloped him slower than a snail, yet faster than light. The Laws of Time didn't mind something like paradoxes.

He could do nothing to resist.

"I'll kill it and the cat no matter what," Shen declared, turned to the bosses... and froze.

He had only about seventy percent of his qi remaining. The crows were nowhere to be seen. The number on the corner of his vision was a three rather than a four. And around him, humans and final bosses were already engaged in a furious battle.

Shen wasn't sure how he concluded it, but he just knew this had something to do with time reversal. And he also knew such sudden realization was common for people who had been sent back in time. When he put two and two together, it became obvious either the orc, the Shuuhs, or the cat could reverse time, though not revive those who had been killed. The greater mystery was why five crows were gone, yet he had only gotten one kill.

"Shen?" Alicia called.

He turned back to her with a frown. "I'm confident one of them can reverse time," he said and explained his thoughts to her.

Alicia was understandably wide-eyed at the end. "That sounds... Impossible."

"Yes," Shen agreed. "From everything I saw of the E- power, that should be impossible. Fireballs, ice shards, and a slight increase in gravity are orders of magnitude weaker than time reversal. I guess whoever did this just found a way to bypass their restrictions."

"Shouldn't that be against the rules or something?"

He shrugged. "The Alliance never tells us all the rules, do they?" He heard the orc approaching; it was only a dozen yards away from them. "Anyway, we're too weak to deal with the Laws of Time unscathed. I have a plan, but I'll be out of qi if it fails, and we'll probably die. I'm willing to try to kill these scum. What about you?"

Alicia only had to glance at Shaar'Tuok for an instant for her face to burn with rage again. "Kill the rapist fuck, and I'll be happy even if I lose everything."

Shen nodded, filled his body and spear with qi, then rushed at the Shaar'Tuok. When his spear was about to hit it, an invisible bubble pushed it away. He recovered quickly and thrust again, and though the weapon pierced the bubble, its speed decreased too much. It didn't even scratch the metal shields.

The Shuuhs and the cat didn't move or attack, so Shen focused on the orc. Unfortunately, Thrust or swing, from one side or the other, no attack worked. He could break through the bubble but do nothing against the metal shields behind it as his weapon lost momentum. Worse still, when he pushed past the bubble, it didn't burst it. Only the point of penetration was kept vulnerable for a few moments. He couldn't just burst the enemy's skill, then Backstep to strike it.

Shen tried to Backstep anyway. His spear went through the bubble and almost hit the orc's plate on its back. However, the spear slowed down just enough that the monster stepped ahead and sideways in time to dodge.

He had an idea then. He disengaged, got beside Alicia, and whispered his plan to her. She nodded, and he returned to the fight.

The orc and Shen "fought" for a while, if a man weakly striking a shield could be called that. Shen was always worried about the other four enemies and always prepared to counter the time-reversal. It took some bite out of him in the fight, but it was better than being sent back in time again.

Finally, the orc showed its back to Alicia, and she attacked. Three fireballs went for the monster. The first two were close to each other, while the third was a few seconds away.

Shen made sure to look only at the helmeted monster's face to give nothing away. The first fireball struck its bubble and, as Shen expected, broke through. It was utterly spent and did no damage, but the second fireball entered the hole and exploded in an inferno of red fire.

| Shaar'Tuok (E) — 221 / 240 | -19

The damage was negligible, but it was just the first step of his plan.

Shaar'Tuok let out a roar and turned to face the next fireball, leaving its back to Shen. Or so the orc would do if it hadn't realized the ploy. So it turned sideways instead, put his shields to his sides, and left himself protected from both attackers.

Shen made as if he would move to the orc's back, making the monster turn slightly and pay more attention to him. He made sure to keep his pace just fast enough to make the orc overconfident. He waited until the third fireball was about to hit the bubble and Backstepped.

He appeared behind the orc exactly when the fireball hit. He was there right when the opening appeared on the orc's bubble, before the fire of the explosion could even die away. Heat surrounded him without dealing damage while he thrust his qi-filled spear against the orc's nape. Without any magic to slow the weapon down or deplete the qi on the spearhead, the weapon struck true and pierced the helmet with relative ease.

Shen rotated and twisted the spear as much as possible to maximize the damage. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough. Shaar'Tuok used its bubble skill again from "ground zero," pushing the spear away even from inside its head. At the same time, it turned, and soon Shen's spear was striking its shields instead.

| Shaar'Tuok (E) — 40 / 240 | -181

Still, that was a good amount of—

Stars started dancing around Shen. He turned to look at the cat, who was—

Shen flared his Boundless Qi beyond what was healthy. It boiled his body alive, and his health pool dropped quickly together with the qi in his core.

He screamed in pain and defiance as the world twisted, and his vision saw only a rotating tunnel of light.

A moment later, it was gone. Shen had lost over thirty HP, had less than twenty percent qi remaining, Alice and the final bosses were back at the starting position, and the cat...

...the cat was running away.

Shen frowned. So Purrrkrrrr was the master of time among them. Using his Boundless Qi had allowed him to resist the ability, but it had cost him a lot. At least it seemed like he wouldn't have to worry about time reversals again.

Still, it sucked that he wouldn't be able to kill that little monster—not if the others interfered.

Be it as it may, he turned to Alicia to see her looking at him with a confused expression. She didn't remember anything, of course. He approached her and explained everything.

"Holy fuck," she wisely stated.

"Can you change your fireballs' direction midair?" he asked, and when she nodded, he knew they had it. They planned for the orc, and Shen was confident of the outcome.

At least one of the monsters they wanted to kill would die that day.

Instead of rushing against his foe, Shen waited for them to come this time. He had learned he needed allies for some fights, and running ahead of her would leave their enemies outside her range.

The orc started coming immediately, uncaring about having only three of its original nine allies. The three Shuush didn't move for a while but eventually decided they would. They kept some distance from the orc but approached Alicia and Shen all the same.

When Shaar'Tuok was close enough, Shen nodded to Alicia. "Time for round two."

They attacked.