Chapter 28 #2
“Lini!” Alex screamed.
And it didn’t matter that Alex was already racing forward, the forest roaring with fiery fury that became an eruption of Earth and Spirit, the roar of thunder, howling Winds, and Lightning…
so much steam sending a whirling disk of impossibly sharp Dark Qi–covered Steel teeth, so like his ancient and long lost sharktooth dao, screaming with speed and momentum around the outer rim of his shield.
A shield that Alex feared would do very little to counter a God’s Fire spell. Especially when the Gold-tier monster spun around shockingly fast for a wujen. As fast as any speed cultivator in the depths of Silver.
With speed matching Alex’s own as the dark gloom was suddenly BLAZING with shockingly brilliant light.
A rainbow’s worth of glory as the entire caldera hummed, a massive prismatic field worthy of the gods above springing to life around the entire caldera, powered by a core of Gold.
Light so bright that there was no hiding the Lini-shaped shadow of calcified stone upon a brilliantly sparkling alcove that was otherwise scrubbed free of all the grit and detritus of countless decades under the desert’s sands.
“LINI!”
Alex screamed his fury as the sneering Gold-tier monster lashed out with a massive bolt of God’s Fire that tore through every mystical tree that had grown to such heights in less than an hour’s time, countless trunks bursting into flame.
Flame from which Alex felt not the slightest flicker of heat, having already Spring Leaped behind his prey.
“Die, abomination!” roared the monstrous Gold now crackling with a dozen humming wards of deepest Silver as he spun around with a fanatic snarl.
His right hand glowing with Death’s promise whipped about so fast that there was no escaping its killing rays this time, before the limb went cartwheeling away as a dozen wards, curses, and barriers were ruptured in the blink of an eye.
The deadliest foe Alex had ever faced upon the desert sands had time only to gaze with sheer stupefaction at the three-foot-diameter shield of furiously spinning elements ringed by a row of obsidian-hued teeth tearing through the air nearly as fast as a super cable that even the gods feared.
So fast that Greater Wind Affinity and a growing ability to bend space itself were all that kept the very air from igniting with such horrific friction generated by near impossible speeds.
A synergized weapon of such shocking potential that the greatest Silver-tier wards had ruptured like dew before the blazing hot desert sun.
A feat that at any other time would have had Alex crowing for joy.
Not screaming with primal fury as his arm grew just as dark as the rim of his shield, and he POUNDED THE FUCK OUT of the shocked face of the sadistic monster before him.
BLACK SWAN!
BLACK SWAN!
You have ruptured 7 additional Silver-tier wards!
You have suffered 4 Serious Wounds from Backlash!
Prismatic Bones and Prismatic Fox absorb the potency of 27 curses!
Li snarled and lashed out with his left hand, crackling with ebony-hued lightning that Alex recognized so very well.
“You will pay for your crimes, abominatio—NO!”
A single jerk and twist and Alex’s shield cleaved the left hand free as easily as it had the right, Li gazing at him with shocked disbelief, and there was NO WAY Alex would let this FUCKING MONSTER embrace any hidden technique to affect any teleport or escape Alex’s wrath.
And those teeth… THE HELL he’d let that fucker keep them!
Li, with his crackling curse-collar making it clear just how perilous a risk Alex was taking, screamed and howled and revealed yet more monstrous Vitality and Strength than any Gold wujen had a right to claim.
And to his horrified fury, Alex sensed that Rank 4 Silver Strength wasn’t enough to force a lock on the slippery bastard who had just killed—DON’T THINK IT!
So he’d make it Rank 5 as the horrific crucible of combat, being forced to witness a young teenage girl make the bitterest of sacrifices THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HIS OWN, THAT WAS ALWAYS HIS OWN!
He catalyzed his degenerate matter super cable to whip about the singularity that would one day be his core at speeds that were now far beyond what they had ever been before.
Great enough to infuse his physical body with another quantized level of shockingly sweet potency as every last physical attribute went up one rank, and he now had eight bonus points to empower himself with his next level-up.
Congratulations! You have achieved Rank 4 Divine Silver Cultivation!
Finesse is now Rank 4 Silver!
Strength, Vitality, and Quickness are now Rank 5 Silver!
Your super cable continues to gain transversal velocity!
Strength check made!
YOU HAVE TORN OUT ALL YOUR FOE’S TEETH!
Alex’s wild eyes locked with the Gold’s own.
He could sense the man’s fury turn into terror, mentally squeezing tight some hideous warping treasure that Alex simultaneously knew was utterly anathema to himself and his ultimate mentor.
“DIE, WORM!” Li mentally screamed, unleashing a final tainted curse, striking at Alex with his mind alone.
You have saved versus killing aura! Prismatic Skull wards against Gold-tier Soul Blade!
You have chosen to share with your newest friend exactly what it means to cross The Eternal Fox!
Alex’s eyes were wild with furious hate. He had no words for the monster struggling desperately to break his grip, so he answered the bastard the only way he could.
He rammed his fist down the fucker’s throat and unleashed a storm of black lightning with his right hand, even as he embraced a completely different skill with his left.
You have successfully coated Gold-tier Doom Collar with your essence-infused blood.
Skill check made! You have SUCCESSFULLY picked Gold-tier Collar Lock!
Lock Picking is now Rank 6!
In the blink of an eye, one of the deadliest artifacts imaginable, one that would have no doubt obliviated him and all his friends if unleashed, was gone.
For no one with the pride, ego, and accomplishments of a Gold would allow himself to be bound to such a deadly tool that was not both stable and easy to remove such that even a Gold tyrant would allow its placement during a campaign, knowing it could be effortlessly popped open during times of peace or emergency. And that it had.
And just in time, as Li’s eyes exploded while flash-fried brains spurted from every orifice of his superheated skull. His shriveling body jerked and thrashed as his enchanted robes and glossy black hair burst into flames.
Doom Strike has CRITICALLY STRUCK Gold-tier Wujen!
ALL Dark Qi currents have been absorbed by your foe!
Your foe has suffered CATASTROPHIC damage to heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and brain!
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SLAIN RANK 3 GOLD WUJEN!
Storm Swan Kung Fu is now Rank 8!
Doom Strike is now Rank 6!
Doom Strike has EVOLVED! Free Perk!
You have successfully learned the Forbidden Art Doom Blast, which you may now chain to Doom Strike! Note. This art can chain off any other art using Dark Lightning of ultimate destruction as a key element and strike three times skill rank +1–5 additional targets per blast.
All targets below Silver are instantly obliterated!
Those of Silver suffer multiple Serious Wounds, the effects of Thrice Stunning Blow, and must save versus cardiac arrest and brain hemorrhage at significant penalty or perish!
Dark Lightning automatically pierces through all protective wards below Gold-tier and has significant bonuses to piercing even Gold-tier wards!
Summoned creatures below Jade-tier WILL be instantly banished!
NOTE! You yourself will suffer 1 additional Medium Wound (and must save versus stunning blow) when you link Doom Blast to Doom Strike!
Doom Blast is now Rank 1!
Do you wish to claim Rank 5 Gold Core?
In that moment Alex froze as his super cable began spinning so fast that the entire caldera resonated with the hum ringing through his body and soul. Realizing that his hand, so filled with furious darkness, was somehow right over where his doomed foe’s Gold core would be.
A shaken part of him realized how EASY it would be to part the ephemeral barrier between the physical and spiritual worlds, to see and sense the River of Souls that was, on some level, roaring about them at that very moment.
Knowing that if he dared look, truly look into the smoking eye sockets of the Gold who had JUST KILLED HIS FRIEND, he would see a spirit pleading with the desperate eyes of a child.
Who had lived lives as a sage counselor, revered instructor, honorable companion to heroes, and loving father.
Only one time in four had he played the ruthless monster so filled with hate that he would destroy anyone who dared to interfere with his desperate struggle to ascend.
“He killed Lini! He needs to PAY!”
Alex screamed aloud, crashing to his knees.
He howled at the unfairly beautiful night sky.
Sobbing bitter tears as he gazed upon the brilliant prismatic masterwork filling him with such terrible, beautiful, bittersweet epiphanies flooding his soul before he tore his gaze free and FORCED himself to gaze at the carbonized shadow that just minutes ago had been his sweet, bubbly, cheerful friend.
A young hero who had saved her city.
A teenage girl who had died before the machinations of a tyrannical Gold.
Alex choked back a sob as he sensed a wide-eyed Ya Ling and a shaking Rachel slowly approaching him as he kneeled before the altar, not even surprised when the remains of the Gold-tier monster disappeared in a blink, the minute Alex pulled his Dark Qi–covered fist free of his foe’s charred, gaping mouth.