SWNOVELXO Chapter 516: Time
The mutant in front of them might be much stronger than the one he had seen before.
Upon that realization, Nathan's expression turned solemn. Even though Anubis had healed him, he might have to risk his life if he wanted to win against a mutant of this level.
Even though the mutant was changing its skin in front of him, it was already hard to keep track of him. In a high-speed battle, he wouldn't be able to stop the mutant at all.
Selena had reached Nathan while pointing her staff at the mutant. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." Nathan bit his lips. He was wondering how to beat this mutant.
Selena could use her blast, but if she kicked up the dust, it would become the mutant's smoke screen to disappear once again.
The mutant jumped away, not giving Nathan any time to think.
"No, you won't!" Fenrir leaped toward the mutant. He had the sharpest vision among them, so he was probably the only one who could do it.
On the other hand, Risa was staying near Selena and Nathan to protect them. Even Anubis was thinking about using his guardians to protect Nathan.
The mutant seemed to have realized that Nathan was the core of their team, so removing him would crush this team.
Meanwhile, Nathan realized there was a chance that the enemies were still conserving their force in that one direction. If they were not fast enough, they would be overwhelmed by the enemy's number.
"All we have to do is kill that mutant as quickly as possible," Nathan muttered.
Selena and Risa glanced at him, wanting to know his plan.
"Anubis. Focus your guardians on the aliens." Nathan raised his head, shouting, "Jinwu! I hate fighting in the dark!"
"What? Now?!" Jinwu asked in a shocked tone. Discover more content at empire
"Don't tell me. You…" Anubis frowned.
"Yeah. I'm going to finish this in less than fifteen minutes." Nathan smiled. Nathan took out eight magazines from his pocket. He first looked at Fenrir, who was still chasing an invisible alien, and roughly calculated the distance between them.
"Anubis. Explain it to Selena and Risa about that." After giving his instruction, Nathan rushed toward Fenrir.
Fenrir had already sensed him, so he just focused on the alien.
"Jinwu, now!" Nathan shouted, giving the final signal for their attack.
Jinwu activated his domain and brought morning to this area.
The sun illuminated the entire area, including the mutant. Due to the difference in brightness, the mutant had to change his skin color again to match the environment.
But that was when Nathan utilized his trump card for this expedition.
"Accel." Nathan muttered the trigger for the contract activation. This was the last time he was going to use this much ena. After all, he wanted to use this ena to test his future element.
[Party A will pay 4,000 ena in exchange for the world granting Party A the ability to change the speed of Party A's body in this world for 30 minutes.]
When Anubis heard that trigger, he couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows.
…
A few days ago.
Nathan gathered all four divine beasts to announce something big. He stood there with a calm and collected face.
"I have decided to not make you any of my lifebound familiar."
"Hmm?" Fenrir raised his eyebrows. "Are you saying that because we are not worthy enough to be your lifebound familiar?"
"No. With the Soul Contract, I have an alternative to a lifebound familiar. In addition, it will be best to let you grow independently instead of depending on me, who is just a normal human."
"You're not just a normal human." Jinwu frowned. "If you're a normal human, you won't be able to stop this dog."
Nathan chuckled. "I'm glad you think that way, but I have made a decision. This is not anybody's fault, but I have been thinking about it for a while.
"If I make one of you my lifebound familiar, it will be unfair not only for the rest but also for future familiars. In addition, the lifebound familiar is a meticulous process from what I've heard, so it will take a lot of time to do it.
"To simplify that process, I will use the Soul Contract. Of course, the benefit of the lifebound familiar, which is the element, will be gone. On the other hand, it will allow me to freely choose the element that suits me."
Anubis noticed Nathan's intention. "So, you have an element in mind?"
"Yeah." Nathan nodded. "I have been wondering what kind of elements I want to possess. There are a lot of good elements, like absolute fire or ice, heavenly lightning, life and death, or even gravity.
"Among them, I have realized that there is one element that might be beneficial for me and this world. I have made this decision after seeing that dream."
"The one you told us about? The one that predicted the volcanic ash?"
"Yeah." Nathan clenched his fist. "I wonder what will happen if I combine this element with my Soul Contract. Will it change the way the contract works?"
"And that element is…" Fenrir squinted his eyes.
"Time." Nathan smiled. "Well, I have been pondering over several elements like Devouring or even Emotions. However, none of them seem to suit me. Devouring might also devour one's memory, which Anubis doesn't want me to do.
"Emotions are not something that one can control easily. If it's something easy, there will be a god of all emotions. Even among all mythologies on Earth, there's none. Gods who have emotions in their title are just several emotions, not all.
"On the other hand, time is beneficial for me and this world. If I don't have the time element, I might not be able to escape from the downside of the soul contract."
"Such as?"
Nathan showed the contract that he wanted to test.
[Party A will pay 4,000 ena in exchange for the world granting Party A the ability to change the speed of Party A's body in this world for 30 minutes.]
"Accelerating your body's speed?" Anubis gasped.
"Yeah. This is what I want to request from you, Anubis. I want you to check my body to see the downside of using the time element without having one."