[400 PSs Bonus]

Accepting Olivia's arbitrary cost for perfect beast skins that definitely made those high-class armors she was wearing, not saying anything about the fact Olivia had them fight while she and the militiamen did nothing and now this.

Olivia probably thought he had no idea, but if there was one thing Sylas wasn't, it was a fool. If the bone ax was worth over a thousand coins, then the armor Olivia wore was easily worth as much. Paying 50 coins for a beast skin that could make at least two or three of them was practically spitting in his face.

However, he accepted it for a simple reason.

He was 100% certain that Cassarae hadn't ordered it.

Madness.

Sudden Burst.

<Madness Control>.

The sneering Lurk froze.

With Sylas on the ground and him leaping backward from tree branch to tree branch, there was still at least 20 meters that separated the two, but Sylas suddenly became something even more than superhuman.

Sudden Burst not only allowed him to reach his top Speed instantly, but when he really pushed it and didn't deactivate the skill, basking in the stress his body was under, he could feel himself breaking beyond that limit.

Under <Madness Control>, his body didn't rip itself apart, neither did the Gene Talent run out of control. Instead, the world seemed to slow to a crawl around him, and the entire potential of Sudden Burst was unearthed until it evolved to something beyond a Dexterity Skill.

In an instant, Sylas had cut the distance in half. The effects of Sudden Burst ran out and he could feel the burning in his body that told him he wouldn't be able to use it again for a while. However, this was enough.

A dagger came out from his Madness Key, and under the +150% Will and +200% Charisma that came from Madness, the Physical of his telekinesis skyrocketed to just over 75!

It whistled through the air with a high-pitched screech and impaled Lurk's chest down to the hilt in what felt like an instant.

The gnoll elite opened his eyes wide, not expecting that this would have happened.

However, Sylas' mind was on something else entirely. It wasn't just the fact that Lurk had managed to keep his sanity beneath Madness' effect, but that he had already been spotted.

Just as the gnoll elite was falling from the trees, another group of four gnolls had already spotted Sylas.

Sylas came to a stop. He could feel his body aching beneath the effects of Sudden Burst, but his mind was still moving like a roaring engine. Despair was the last on the list, and he didn't have the luxury of going through all his emotions one by one.

His eyes shifted from the group of gnolls that had been waiting for him to run into the trap to the quiver that had been crushed beneath Lurk's fall.

It spilled out with arrows, what must have been about a dozen crudely formed ones. As for the crossbows strapped to his wrists, each one only had a single bolt attached with a not-too-

subtle dripping green liquid on their tips.

Now Sylas understood why the archer had only sent three arrows until now. Lurk had a limited number and even his crossbows were one-time-use items.

Judging by the bone ax he hid on his back, he probably chose an unorthodox path on purpose. He probably never planned to kill Sylas with an arrow.

Even with all of these thoughts, Sylas was still the first to react. His telekinesis ripped out an arrow from Lurk's quiver and it tore into the forehead of a gnoll.

The group hesitated about escaping for only a moment before Sylas' Madness field enveloped them.

'It's so much easier.'

This was the only thought Sylas had before another arrow tore through the air.

The gnolls reacted better this time, but it still tore through one of their shoulders.

They charged toward Sylas with madness in their eyes, thoughts of running and reporting flung far to the back of their minds. The distance between them wasn't far to begin with. By the time Sylas had ripped out another arrow to use, they were already bearing down on him.

His focus shook as he braced himself, and the arrow fell to the ground.

Sylas cursed again.

He could only control one thing with his telekinesis at a time. It required his Will, and by obvious extension, his focus. He wasn't sure if he could practice to make it better, but right now obviously wasn't the ideal situation to do so.

Three weapons bore down on Sylas from three different sides and he felt a panic awaken in his heart. He had run down the list and finally hit despair.

When he could focus on one enemy at a time, everything was perfect. But he was only human. He couldn't calculate his way through the intentions and reactions of three separate entities at once.

Retreat.

That was all he could think of, launching himself backward to try to get out the range of their strikes.

The harsh whistling of their weapons cut through the air and whipped against his face with displaced wind. He could practically imagine those blades cutting right into him and very much human emotions began to bubble up within him.

'Focus!' Sylas roared in his mind.

A steel-like will forged through decades erupted. It wasn't a mere stat; it was Sylas Brown.

He accelerated in his retreat, weaving through the trees along a path he had already been through once. He didn't even turn back, his eyes focused on the three enraged gnolls that rushed after him.

He could feel that <Madness Control> was already about to run dry. His Intelligence was only at 10 and his Aether pool was pitifully small as a result. Using this high-level Skill for extended periods of time was impossible, but being able to keep out of the range of these enraged gnolls while running backward was impossible without it. He wouldn't have the control needed.