Limits

My reason behind asking the King of Avians for someone to pick me up, when I gave a sign, was very simple. 'I want to test my strength, against those creatures first. If I can kill them without the Yellow Dust, then that will be great' I thought. I wouldn't attempt it unprepared, although I would test my strength, ultimately, I was after something else.

I arrived at the pond, and rolled my sleeve up. "Frosty, come out, I need to do something first" I said. Frosty changed to its corporeal form, and waited in front of me. I took out the Water Stone from my Storage Feather, and placed it in my right hand. "Let's see what type of effects, will one stone have" I said to myself. My hand started absorbing the stone, without me thinking about it.

I could feel more coldness emanating from my arm, until it basically froze. I was a bit alarmed but didn't feel any pain or discomfort. The Water Stone was absorbed rather quickly, but my arm stayed frozen. 'Do I wait now or something? I can't really do much, with my arm in that state' I thought. I decided to wait it out, maybe the absorption process was not completed yet. I looked at Frosty, but it didn't seemed worried.

'If Frosty isn't worried, then I shouldn't be either. After all, Frosty can somehow enter my arm and become a tattoo, it probably knows more than me at this stage' I thought and waited. The time passed, even though I couldn't see the weather change, in the North. Some time later, the ice on my arm started to melt. 'Finally!' I thought. A short while later, the ice completely disappeared. My arm appeared to be more white-ish, now that the ice was gone.

Frosty seemed happy for some reason, and started motioning. I had no clue what it tried to say, maybe it was happy due to the improvement of my right arm. I stood up and decided to test it. I walked in front of a tree, and focused. The freezing abilities of my right arm awakened. With the improved freezing effect, even I could feel strong coldness coming from it. I threw a punch at a tree, using only about 40% of my strength.

"Boom"

The tree shook, while I punched through it. What happened next, shocked me. The tree started to freeze, it wasn't only the area around my right arm, it was much larger. It took a short while, but eventually, the whole tree froze. "WOW!" I exclaimed. 'I can probably freeze those Tentacle Creatures to death now! With this, I have another weapon, especially against creatures, that are resistant or immune to physical attacks' I thought.

I called out to Frosty "It's time to go. You can change back now. I will go alone, it will be less complicated that way". Frosty nodded and jumped onto my shoulder, then changed back to the tattoo quite eagerly. 'With my right arm improved, I can now dive into the depths of the pond' I thought, and jumped in.

At the mid point, inside the pond. I closed my eyes and started awaking my Darkness Perception. About 20 seconds later, I was ready. I quickly dived towards the bottom, then took the tunnel to the left. This time, I was much faster, it was because I wanted to attract attention. When I reached the underwater cave, the Tentacle Creatures were still there, but in greater number. There were 20 of them now. 'Good, I can kill more of them at once' I thought and swam a bit closer.

When the Tentacle Creatures finally noticed me, they gave chase. There was one Creature, that chased me with an exceptional anger. It was the Elite Creature, that I damaged previously. 'It has a grudge with me, there is no doubt about that' I thought, and swam towards the surface of the pond.

This time, I didn't struggle as much. I was much stronger, but more importantly, I was more experienced now. I knew how to increase my swimming speed, and I could last much longer underwater. The Creatures were chasing me relentlessly, which was the exact thing I wanted.

I swam like this for a while, then exited the tunnel. I could see the pond's surface, high above me. I didn't stop swimming, although I still looked down. I needed to check on the Tentacle Creatures. The Creatures were still after me, another added bonus was that, there were another 2 Elites, trailing close behind the raging Tentacle Creature, I damaged before.

I soon reach the surface. "Splash!". I shot out of the water and landed outside. The Creatures were close behind me. "SPLASH!... SPLASH! SPLASH!" the 3 Elites arrived. "Right guys. It's time to fight!" I said, and released all the energy from my legs. "BOOOM!". I ran towards the Tentacle Creature that arrived first.

With my left fist tightly clenched, I punched. "BOOOM!" The strength of my attack was so strong, that the Tentacle Creature flew through the air, and shattered couple of trees in the process. I also received some recoil from the impact, and was pushed backwards. "SCHEECH!". The Tentacle Creature screamed. Although it didn't die, the force behind my punch was not something, it could've expected. The Creature screeched for a while and tried to pick itself up, but it was unable to.

The other Tentacle Creatures, didn't stay still and attacked me. I was already backing up, so I easily avoided those tentacles. 'With my maximum power output tested, I should now freeze them to death!' I thought, and stopped backing away. I pressed my foot hard into the ground and launched forwards again, leaving a booming sound behind me. Utilising the Natural Path Skill, I quickly arrived in front of the Tentacle Creature. I punched with my right hand this time. "BOOOM!" the creature flew back, just like the 1st one, but this time, the screeching was even louder. It was due to the freezing ability of my arm. I aimed at the main body of that Tentacle Creature, so that was the area affected first. The screeches stopped all of a sudden, and the whole creature became an ice sculpture.

When the other Tentacle Creature saw this, it started to instantly back away, but I didn't give it that chance. As it was trying to run away, I quickly chased. 'These Creatures might be faster than me in water, but on land, they have no way of reaching my speed!' I thought, and arrived behind the creature. With another punch, the Creature flew forwards at an even increased speed, and smashed whatever was in it's way. Before it could stop, it froze to the point, where tentacles shattered into small pieces of ice.

Silence filled the area for a while. Before another round of splashes sounded from the pond. 'The rest of them have arrived!' I thought and gave the sign, for one of the Avians to pick me up. While I was at it, I shouted "Give me the Yellow Dust!". The creatures saw the carnage and immediately went back to the pond. 'Ah, shit. They escaped' I thought. I looked up and saw no Avian arriving. 'What the hell is going on? Why none of them moved?' I thought. 2 Creatures died, while rest of them escaped. There was only one more left. The one that didn't die, the one I punched in the beginning.

It was struggling to stand up and run away. I said, while walking slowly towards it "I don't know where you came from, but this is the end of your road". I could finally see fear in its small beady eyes. I extended my right arm and punched. "STOP!", "BOOM!" "SCREECH!". The Creature started to freeze and died.

Soon after, the King of Avians arrived and said "You shouldn't have done this!". I was confused and asked "Why, You asked me to exterminate them. Did you change your mind?". She said "I was checking the ancestral records, and only now I arrive back. I know what this creature is called". I looked at her and asked "What is it then?". When I finished speaking that sentence, I noticed fear on her face, a fear much greater than the prospects of the Yellow Dust exploding or Corpse Dogs invasion. She said "These things are called Yagaroths. This is not something we should've killed. We are in deep trouble now".

I was confused but also worried, I asked "Why? Why do you fear them so much?". She said "It's their High One, that I fear. My entire flock, would not be able to kill it. You would die as well, nothing would escape it. That creature has by default, broken through its Inner Limits, who knows how strong it would be, after a long time. Maybe even approach the Primal Limit".

I asked again "How do you know, that the High One of Yagaroths still exists?". She shook her head and said "I'm certain, otherwise, these Yagaroths wouldn't exist! If they decide to come here, we are done. I should've checked the ancestral records before… I just hope they don't come for revenge".

I asked "What if they do?". I could see a sharp glint in her eyes. 'This is bad' I thought and started running. She shouted "CATCH HIM!". 'Fuck, I knew it!' I thought, as I tried to get away from the Vulture Cliffs.