[1000 PSs chapter bonus]
Sylas bolted, practically leaving a streak of black in his wake.
His body seemed to instinctively react. He leaned forward, using his tail as a balance as he accelerated more and more.
He pulled on and his newly minted Bronze Mastery Madness Comprehension. With both working in tandem, he not only quickly grasped the best ways to use this new body, but his running efficiency reached a new realm in an instant.
In not even half a second, he hit his top Speed.
The feeling of 123 Speed whipped against his scales, gliding off.
With his tail as a balance, he was several times more aerodynamic.
He didn't worry about anything else. Just move faster, faster, faster…
His mind was its own clock. He counted down the remainder of his 30 seconds, feeling that the time wasn't enough, but there was nothing else he could do about it.
To his back, Sylas could already feel that there were several figures rushing after him. Only one of them was truly a threat. However, Sylas didn't turn back to find out who it was. His mind was entirely focused on increasing his Speed. If he turned back, his Efficiency would plummet and he would waste precious seconds.
Then, he saw what he was looking for in the distance. His slit eyes flickered.
It was a military jeep located outside the range of the portal. He knew that Joel, Mordicai, and Linzie had to have come here with some sort of transportation, and he had correctly deduced that the reason they were walking in from the distance was because they didn't want it to be destroyed by the Aether as all technology seemed to be.
However, it was still a gamble. That was because he had no idea what the vehicle would be; it might very well be one he couldn't drive. And even though he was lucky that this turned out to be a military jeep, would there be a key?
Even from 200 meters away, Sylas knew that this jeep wasn't on, which means the likelihood that the key was in the ignition was low.
Could he hot-wire it? He wasn't sure. He had only seen Bloom do it once before, and he had no idea how to do it himself other than copying and pasting what he had seen and hoping for the best.
His gaze sharpened as an arrow entered his visualization range.
With a stomp, he slid to the side.
He didn't have much time to figure this out, but he had an idea he got courtesy of the professor.
The system could be used on things that weren't of the Aether Plane.
Almost instantly, Sylas' mind was flooded with information about the military jeep. It was so detailed that it felt like a flashbang had gone off in his head.
He still had Madness activated, so was displaying far more prowess than it normally would, and in an instant, Sylas' mind had been downloaded with more information than even a veteran mechanic would have.
Sylas leapt into the air. He soared over ten meters high, crashing down and through the front windshield. He didn't waste any time at all. Going around and using the door would take too long.
He broke the back of the front seat, forcing it to push back far more than it was ready. At the same time, he had conveniently made room for his long, black-scaled tail.
With a twist of his waist, he slid into the broken chair and shattered the bottom panel of the wheel box.
From start to finish, he didn't even look up. His hands moved in a blur, and when he sensed that another arrow was coming even at the expense of the jeep, his telekinesis reached out and ripped apart the Skill leading it. Then, he rotated it in the air, sending it back toward the archer with even faster Speed.
The engine turned over and Sylas slammed the gas, forcing the jeep into reverse.
For the first time since he began his escape, he looked up.
His gaze narrowed as the car continued to accelerate backward. Level 11 or not, she was still no match for the Speed of a car.
However, Sylas didn't take his eyes off of her, nor did he turn the car around. He continued to drive in reverse, relying on his visualization to show him what was to his back rather than taking his gaze off of her.
It took three whole seconds for Linzie's expression to change. Realizing that she was about to lose her opportunity, she took action, a javelin appearing in her hand as all of her momentum came to a stop with a single stomp.
The ground shook and with his newly sharpened gaze, Sylas could see the muscles in her plant leg practically double in size, veins bulging across it.
The javelin shot out of her hand like a cannon. A violent ripple of Wind Aether surged and the sound made Sylas' heart shudder. He didn't have the time to realize that it wasn't that it broke the sound barrier, but was instead an illusion Linzie had formed on purpose.
A harsh whistling filled the air and Sylas' hair stood on end.
Sylas' hands shifted, slamming the brakes and pulling the wheel hard. He felt that there was no time or possibility to swerve out of the way of this attack, but he did this purely so he could stand while using his tail to press on the gas.
He circulated Basic Aetherflow to his greatest abilities and unleashed a roar that sounded more beast than man.
In that moment, his aura completely changed, a violent green swirl appearing around him.
If he pushed as hard as he wanted to, he would shatter the bottom of the jeep and his getaway vehicle would be ruined. That meant that he had to approach this with his Efficiency hitting near rock bottom.
He gathered up his telekinesis and focused on his fist, doing everything but driving his power through his legs.
Then, he pushed out, and the world seemed to be enveloped by a fist of illusory green.