404-417-425
Chapter 411 - 404: The Ultimate Guardian 1
Alex stepped into the next floor, and unlike the previous ones, this one was totally different; it was a vast hall with tall pillars. Atop those pillars were flames that illuminated the room.
Rumble!
The moment Alex entered, there was a rumbling sound followed by the flames atop the pillars flickering for a moment before a terrifying roar resonated through the whole, shaking it, then it's appeared.
From a extremely large magic circle, over thirty meters, a monster appeared. No calling abomination would be more correct.
A monster over 30m in length, seven heads with long snake-like necks, sharp fangs, and dark red eyes. Comparable to the Hydra of the myths.
''Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!"
The hydra roared; its roar sent shockwaves through the air; Alex glided across the floor, doing his best not to be sent flying; he protected his eardrums as he felt like they would have ruptured if he did nothing.
.Suddenly, there was seven pair of eyes that stared at Alex as it gave off a strange roar. It seemed to want to bring judgment upon the intruders who didn't know his place and dared to intrude upon this sacred ground. Then a fierce thirst for blood that would have stopped an ordinary man's heart was flung at Alex. One of the heads, Red in color, opened its mouth as flames emitted from it. The flames were already massive and acted like a flame thrower that came in Alex's direction.
Alex accel-ed left and right to dodge the dangerous attack, just as he left the hard floor was scorched so badly that it started to show sign of melting, one should know that dungeon's wall, floor were made of highly durable materials, so for it to be almost melted, those flames mustn't be ordinary.
''What the hell?" Alex said as he dodged another flame thrown at him; never in his wildest dreams thought he would encounter such a monster; this could be considered an apex predator.
Staring at the seven different heads, Alex unconsciously gulped.
〖Master be careful. This monster is nothing like anything you have ever faced. Whatever is behind this door is worth the trouble for this kind of monster to guard it.〗Silveria warned her master, unlike Alex, she had immediately understood how dangerous this monster was after seeing the seven different heads; it took Alex some time to understand.
''Roarrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
The hydra opened its seven heads and roared.
Rumble!
Alex quickly crossed his arms as he was sent flying by the terrible shockwaves produced by the seven heads. Landing on the other side, Alex immediately skat down to dodge the attack fired by the green head, few strands of Alex's hair got cut off by the sharp green blades; if he were waiting by a millisecond, his head would have separated from his body, this gave Alex goosebumps all over his body.
Alex accel-ed to reappear on the monster, armed with his two guns which shined silver; he kicked off the ground to do a backflip to dodge another attack, this time, it was water whip coming from the dark blue head. Still, in the motion of descending, Alex fired a Phantom bullet with a standard piercing bullet at the red head.
Fwoosh! Boom!
These two bullets combined and reached an extremely shocking speed; before the hydra could move its head, the red one it got blown away, it exploded beautifully.
Normally, successfully blowing apart one of the seven heads should have brought Alex joy; however, unexpectedly, it was the contrary, under his astonished face, the white head shinned and the red head that just got blown away was restored to how it was like nothing had just happened a few seconds ago.
''You gotta be kidding me! What is this?" Alex cursed his bad luck; when he saw the seven different heads and witnessed three different heads fire different attacks, he knew this thing was beyond the scope of a regular monster. Seven different heads: Red, Dark Blue, Blue, Green, Deep Yellow, Black, and White.
To further confirm his doubt, Alex used the Eye of Truth on the monster; then, he got the shock of his life.
[The Ultimate Guardian
Rank 13
Level 125
Race: Hydra
Gender: Male
Age: ??????
Magic Power: 12000/11200
Magic: Seven Attributes
Attack: 7000
Defense: 6000
Agility: 2200
Intelligence: 2500
Luck: 1400 ]
''A fucking Rank 13 with seven attributes and totally broken stats. I concur that those seven attributes are: Fire, Water, Ice, Wind, Earth, Dark, and Light element.''
〖You almost got it perfectly right. However, you missed one, deep yellow its Lightning!〗Silveria hadn't finished speaking when the deep yellow head opened its head, and an enormous blue lightning bolt was sent in Alex's direction. Alex's eyes widened, he focused all his attention on the incoming attack, sweat dripped from his forehead as the concentration was at his max, just millisecond from his body, Alex's lips curved into a sinister smile.
''Shadow Shift!"
The hydra soon found its body shifted, passing through the fabric of space to reappear exactly where its prey should be, then the blue lightning struck.
Si~ Si~ Kaboom!
"Kuruuaan!""""""
The Hydra emitted inhumane sounds that made the pillars shake violently, Alex who just switched places with the monster, was forced to Accel to a safe distance as the ground kept shaking like a type 5 earthquake was taking place.
The Hydra didn't like the fact that its own attack struck him back, the level of threat Alex represented skyrocketed, if previously he was at Level 2, an insignificant ant, then this time it increased to Level 5 due to the unusual abilities this human possessed, being an intelligent monster born out of the dungeon with a specific purpose, the Hydra knew better than anybody what would happen if he ever fails, so he must not fail, he must quickly eliminate this intruder to go back to his eternal rest until the next time, the dungeon next apparition.
While the monster raised Alex's priority, the latter was thinking about finally using his unused BP; facing this abomination, not making use of his saved-up SP would be a foolish thing to do.
Chapter 412 - 405: The Ultimate Guardian 2
Alex quickly used his saved-up SP; he used them on his skills, the one he needed the most at the moment.
Skills: [Item box Level 4] [Swift Fingers Max] [Divine Sense Level 4 + (1 SP) ➤ Level 5] [Throwing knife Level 5] [Dark Vision Level 2] [Dual Wielding Level 2] [Accel Level 5] [Knife Art Level 4] [Link Level 4] [Gun Art Level Level 10] [High Regeneration Level 7] [Mana Recovery Level 7 + (6 SP) ➤ Level 10 Max ➤ Mana Synchronisation Level 1 + (3 SP) ➤ Level 4(New) ] [Crimson's Bullet] [Shadow Shift Level 5] [Blade Dance Level 4]
Alex didn't wait to read the description of the new skill after its upgrade because he knew it was something extraordinary. The reason as to why he increased his Divine Sense was simply because he knew he was bound to rely on it as the monster possessed extreme speed, not every time he would be able to rely on his eyes, and what was better than his Divine Sense? Therefore, he increased his Divine Sense to the Master level.
[Mana Synchronisation: Ability to blend and borrow mana from the universe, higher is the level higher amount of mana borrowed.
Level: 4
700 MP per minute.
Borrow 500 MP for ten seconds. Usable once.]
〖Aim for that white head! Or it will be endless! 〗
.Silveria's voice echoed inside Alex's mind.
"Okay!"
Alex aimed for the white head while avoiding the shot, the ice shard from the blue head.
[Phantom bullet]
Bang!
Like a blazing spear, the invisible shot towards the white head. However, the moment when it was about to hit, the deep yellow head quickly went into the line of fire and bloated. The head shone yellow, and took both of the attack's head-ons, a yellow lightning shield appeared. After the attack settled, there was an unscathed deep yellow head glaring at Alex, eyes full of hatred.
''Tch! I knew it was not going to be easy. The white head is the essential part of the monster; eliminating it would mean gaining an advantage over the monster.''
Alex lamented as he dodged wind blades fired at him; the only good thing was that the monster seemed incapable of simultaneously firing two elements, meaning he couldn't use two heads at the same time, there was a delay between each attack, and if he could grab it, Alex believes that it was the key to his victory.
While dodging attacks fired at him from the different heads, Alex jumped back while continuously firing a Phantom bullet. Because he just got the Mana Synchronisation skill, his MP was recovering at frightening speed, almost as if he didn't spend them, to begin with.
BANG! BANG!
Alex fired two Phantom bullets with his left gun, while with the gun inside his right hand, he sent a piercing bullet.
Boom!
''Guraaaaaaaa!"
Even though the Hydra quickly deployed a lightning shield with the deep yellow head, it almost couldn't completely block the incoming bullets as he received a light injury that made him roared of pain.
A huge fireball was shot out of the red head; with this fireball, the Hydra intended to burn Alex to a cinder, at least try and finish him with his killer mouth. However, just as the fireball was shot, the crimson bullet tore through the air, twisted through space, cracks appeared on it before crimson bullet unexpectedly pierced through the huge fireball and was about to strike the white, only one outcome awaits the white head if the crimson bullet struck it, total destruction and the Hydra knew it.
''Roaaaaar!"
The Hydra roared, the seven heads produced shockwaves that tried stopping the crimson; however, they didn't even last a second before being destroyed like a fragile piece of glass; the crimson bullet continued its course destroyed everything on its passage, numerous pillars had been destroyed, at the last moment, the Hydra took a drastic decision, that was of sacrificing one of his heads.
Dark yellow head come forward with its lightning shield while the blue and green heads entwined themselves as the last defensive line behind the dark yellow head, and finally, the crimson bullet struck, judgment day arrived.
Kabooooom!
An explosion like none other occurred, like someone had struck the heads with a bat, their heads got knocked back, the lightning shield broke apart, crimson light enveloped, the dark yellow, blue and green heads.
BOOOOM!
These three heads were obliterated, making the monster wail.
''Kuriahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Half of the white head was gone, the Hydra became enraged and started violently thrashing. Since the beginning, Alex had never seen the black head execute an attack; however, just as this thought entered Alex's mind, the black finally made a move, the black head opened wide and emitted a sharp cry.
Alex felt momentarily dizzy as if someone hammered his head; something was trying to infiltrate his head; however, it was stopped right before it could ever succeed; crimson and blue eyes shined and stopped any intrusion; the Hydra mental attack had fallen.
Unaware of this, the Hydra executed his next attack. The blue head opened its big mouth and stretched its head towards Alex to swallow him. The temperature chilled instantly; Alex stood still until the blue head was about to swallow him. Alex pointed the silver gun at the head's upper jaw and pulled the trigger.
BANG! BANG!
[Time Acceleration] [Crimson Bullet]
Alex didn't hesitate to spend his newly regenerated MP.
The blue head momentarily froze before the crimson bullet tore through the monster's head until the base of its neck in a split second; Alex had Accel-ed by then. Crimson light poured out of neck before,
BOOOOM!
The blue head erupted from the crimson blast, and bits of its brain flew off mixed with a chunk of flesh before it was disintegrated.
''!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Intense pain assaulted the Hydra, so intense that he lost his voice, only emitting a sharp screech; another head was destroyed, only leaving two and a half heads.
Alex quickly took out a Mana recovery potion and drunk it; he immediately Accel-ed to reappear fifteen meters away from the monster.
[Time Manipulation: Time Stop]
Click! Kan!
A small clock appeared inside Alex's right eye before abruptly stopping; outside time stopped. Looking at his last special bullets, Alex saw only one Ice Bullet, two water bullets, and three flame bullets.
[Chaos Bullet !]
BANG! BANG!
Ice and flame bullets were shot toward the frozen Hydra before combining into a terrible gray bullet that seemed to twist space; time resumed at that moment; the Hydra was shocked to see the gray bullet before him, then it took a drastic decision.
BOOOOM!
Alex was sent flying; he rolled on the ground before he stood; he wobbled on his feet; he hoped to have killed the monster with his last attack; however, the monster wasn't called the ultimate guardian for nothing.
''For a young High Human that has not awaken, you are quite strong.''
The voice of the grim reaper echoed in Alex's ears, making him freeze on the spot.
Chapter 413 - 406: The Hydra Human Form
''For a young High Human, you are quite strong.''
The voice of the grim reaper reached Alex's ears, making him freeze on the spot. He felt a chill as if the hair on his back stood on end; without hesitation, Alex accel-ed to reappear fifty meters away; he aimed his guns left and right, ready to shoot at any; his Divine Sense was fully spread out. Then he saw it, there was a small mist in front of Alex and behind this mist stood a man, over two meters, two pairs of broken horns, a half scorched face, deep purple eyes, the moment Alex and the tall man looked at each other, the chills Alex was feeling got intensified.
''To think you can switch to human form!" Alex whispered, doing his best not to show how scared he was, and he really was.
With the swept of his hand, the mist vanished, the Hydra now transformed into a human chuckled.
''I admire you courage Young High Human. Even you are scared; you don't let it show on your face. Well, that may affect your performance.'' The Hydra, now human said, it was as if he was giving a junior a lesson.
.'You gotta be kidding me. What's up with this thing? And how the hell he knows which race I'm from?' Alex secretly questioned Silveria; he didn't really understand how the Hydra could survive his chaos bullet. Although incomplete, it still remains deadly, more than the crimson bullet. What happened was not complicated; at the last minute, the Hydra sprouted a ninth head, a purple-colored one, this purple head opened its enormous jaws and swallowed the chaos bullet before exploded, at the same time the half-white head exploded as well, however, instead of vanishing, a white light covered the Hydra body making it shine then a mist appeared around the monster.
Silveria and her sister saw everything; Alex didn't really see what happened. Sighing, Silveria decided to answer her master's question.
〖He has a special eye like you. Master, better take the initiative; this monster in front of you is better than before〗She warned.
Alex immediately reacted after hearing Silveria's warning. Aiming the two guns at the Hydra in human form, Alex continuously shoots bullets at him.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Surprisingly, the tall man slightly moved his body to dodge the dangerous bullets, and as to normal ones, he swatted aside with a water-covered hand.
Alex had already moved on to his next attack; he Accel-ed to reappear behind the tall man and directly shoot a Phantom bullet; up this close, it would have done a lot a dodge. However, something entirely out of Alex's expectations happened; the Hydra made a sudden U-turn and punched the air in front of him.
Screech! Boom!
There was a small explosion that occurred, which sent both Alex and the man flying. Alex felt some impact on his chest as if an invisible hand had struck his chest; he vomited blood before quickly stabilizing his body to land on the other side safely.
Meanwhile, the hydra, which had taken human form, felt his arm stung, numbness spread through the whole arm, making him understand that the invisible bullet was really powerful. Even his enhanced arm couldn't negate all the force behind the bullet. The Hydra decided to get serious. He pointed his finger at Alex, who was about to execute his next attack and said.
BANG! Boom! Boom!
The Hydra was shooting innumerable balls of light, 10cm in diameter. Its intensity could be comparable to a Gatling gun. Alex dodged left and right before shooting at the one he couldn't avoid in time; magic bullets and balls of light clashed, creating a small explosion.
[Homing Bullets !!!]
BANG BANG BANG!
Using the original silver gun, it was to say, Silveria, Alex fired twenty reinforced homing bullets at the monster.
The Hydra's eyes widened when he saw the bullet curve in the air, dodging his balls of light before surrounding him and struck.
Kaboom!
At the last moment, the hydra struck the ground with all his strength to produce a terrible explosion; shockwaves rippled forward, crashing against the homing bullets. They were extinguished.
During this time, Alex secretly used the Eye of Truth again on the monster, and as he feared, after taking human form, some of the monster's stats increased.
The Ultimate Guardian
Rank 13
Level 127
Race: Hydra
Gender: Male
Age: ??????
Magic Power: 9000/12000
Magic: Seven Attributes
Attack: 8000
Defense: 4000
Agility: 2800
Intelligence: 2500
Luck: 1400 ]
Alex gulped; he immediately decided not to get hit. If not even with Loki on, he would be seriously injured. 8000 ATK stat was not a joking matter. If this monster were categorized following Rank, it would be without doubt above Rank S, maybe SS Rank monster.
Feeling an immense feeling of danger, Alex accel-ed to dodge numerous balls of light fired at him. Those balls of light, having missed their target, were shot one after another at the pillars and caused the pillars to be shaved down. Each of the light balls was loaded with terrifying energy.
Suddenly, the Hydra vanished.
[Time Acceleration]
Alex activated this skill and tried to slow down the hydra that appeared behind him; he was able to slow down the monster's fist; however, at the same time the Hydra had opened his mouth, a white light came out that enveloped Alex's body because he was under Alex's Time Acceleration, the white light was slow; however, it was faster enough to reach Alex who was close by.
〖Master, immediately jump back!〗Silveria shouted; however, it was already late when Alex realized how dangerous this white light was.
Si~ Si~ BANG! Boom!
The white light penetrated Alex's body through his armor before some of his cells exploded from inside out, sending Alex spiraling into the air before falling into the ground with a thud sound; Alex was wretched; he kept puking blood.
''Cough!..... Cough!....."
''To think you will survive from Aurora Shot! Well, you are going to die anyway.'' The Hydra mumbled with his half-scorched face; he began walking toward Alex lying on the ground; he was about to finish him.
Chapter 414 - 407: First Encounter
Alex lay convulsing on the ground. Blood gradually began to puddle under his stomach. The attack had penetrated Loki and did a lot of damage. If he had not used a water bullet at the last moment as a shield, he most likely would have died. His condition indeed was severe. His fingers, shoulder, and flank were burned and festering. Some of the parts even had bone exposed. The right side of his face was slightly burned, and his left eye was bleeding. There wasn't much damage to his legs. Thanks to his High regenerative ability, the wounds had begun closing; however, something seemed to slow them down. Usually, it would have recovered faster than it was doing.
Looking at the moving Alex, the Hydra feels no joy; although he was born out of the dungeon and almost know nothing about the current world, High Humans are scarce, so he didn't want to kill this young High Human; however, he was compelled to do so, as he wasn't strong enough to go against the will of the dungeon.
Finally arrived above Alex; the Hydra's right hand was transformed into a terrifying purple sharp claw, he raised this purple hand and mumbled..
''Forgive me, young High Human, and farewell.''
''Farewell as well, The end!"
Alex said with a bloody smile on his face; he aimed Nyx from under his armpit at the Hydra with trembling hand; he had waited for this moment, so he was not going to miss the opportunity.
Swoosh! BANG!
Faster than the claw, the black gun fired, the black bullet left the gun chamber, the Hydra felt an immense sense of danger the moment he saw that bullet, he wished to jumped back but unfortunately, he proven to be impossible, the black bullet pierced the Hydra chest as the same time, the purple claw was about to touch Alex's back, time stopped not for Alex but for the man, his existence started getting erased from the world, it was extremely slow yet painful, suddenly, on his last breath, the Hydra heard another gunshot followed by an icy voice reminiscent of that thing.
BANG!
''Snatch!"
The Hydra felt his body getting robbed of something precious before he completely vanished from this world.
''W-what happened?" Alex tried to stand up, but he couldn't; not only was he severely injured, but he was also out of MP as well, using the black gun coupled with Nyx momentarily borrowing his arm to fire snatch because Alex was losing consciousness at that time had depleted his MP.
''Wahhhh!"
Alex was startled because in the next moment, the floor under him vanished, and he found himself free falling toward a white floor.
Fwoosh! Bang!
''Guh! Cough!"
Alex slammed against a stone table, coughed blood before falling, and lay powerlessly on the white floor; his consciousness began to turn blurry as he had lost too much blood; his regenerative ability was doing its utmost to repair the damaged muscle and tissues rapidly. Still, the negative energy contained in the Aurora Shot was making it hard to recover immediately.
If Alex were fine, he would have noticed that it wasn't the stone table he fell on but instead a stone coffin, a crystal stone coffin, and sealed inside this coffin was a woman, an extremely beautiful woman. The fair skin of the beautiful woman was tinged with a faint tinge of red. It was as if a layer of rouge had been applied to the white jade, making her already stunning appearance even more alluring.
She was dressed in a black dress. It was a perfect blend of angelic and demonic aura as if she was a fairy who had fallen from grace.
Her dress wasn't too revealing, but it was well-designed. The vague and indistinct feeling made one fantasize even more.
Her graceful figure, beautiful neck, slender waist, and fair skin made her look even more charming.
Her eyes were closed as if she was in eternal sleep. Not a single hint of emotion could be seen on her face, but she still exuded a seductive charm. There was a bit of destructive aura mixed in this charm as if when she was sleeping, she was a fairy, and the moment she woke up, she would destroy everything.
Ba-dump!
Both Silveria's and Nyx's hearts skipped the moment they sensed the sleeping woman's presence.
〖I felt like we have been guided here; we are dancing on someone's else tune.〗Silveria said unpleasantly.
Somehow Silveria and Nyx felt like trouble was about to come. It was woman's instinct, and indeed trouble did come.
Drip! Drip! Drip!
Somehow, Alex's blood, which was left behind after the first collided against the crystal coffin, began dripping into the coffin, and strangely it happened to land on the sleeping beauty; it landed between the woman's eyebrows.
Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!
''Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Suddenly, Alex clutched his right chest so hard that it started bleeding; no, he was trying to claw out his chest, trying to dig something out of it. The moment Alex's blood landed between the woman's eyebrows, a crimson magic circle appeared.
Crack!
Somewhere, a world cracked, breaking apart like a fragile piece of glass, a small crimson magic circle appeared and simultaneously entered both Alex and the woman's body; in Alex's case, it was inside his chest, the pain was so intense that he started clawing his chest wanting to remove the thing engraved deep inside his chest, on his heart. The pain was so intense that blood ruptured from Alex's seven orifices; his body was continuously spasming.
''Master!"
Immediately, Silveria manifested in the real world; she tried to approach Alex.
Boom!
However, Silveria soon froze in place; the beautiful woman had opened her eyes after breaking apart the crystal coffin. Her eyes were as beautiful as the starry night sky before suddenly turning crimson; the world turned crimson, Silveria found it hard to breathe.
Ignoring Silveria, the woman floated next to Alex; she stared at him before flicking her fingers, and a drop of blood landed between Alex's eyebrows.
''How dare you!" Silveria became furious, an intense aura burst out from her body that shook the whole floor, she began able to walk, she appeared before the woman her hand raised.
Suddenly, the woman said, ''So, it was you! I'll be back.''
Flash!
There was a flash of light, and Silveria and the woman disappeared. Shortly after their disappearance, Alex woke up. Somehow, all his injuries had disappeared as if he never gotten injured in the first place. Alex looked around him, confused.
''What the hell just happened?" Alex questioned; all he could remember was the blurry face of a woman with crimson eyes.
Chapter 415 - 408: Silveria Vs The Mysterious Lady
The mysterious woman and Silveria appeared in a mysterious forest. The trees looked truly enormous and ancient.
''Who are you?" Silveria asked the moment they appeared.
The woman with crimson hair and crimson eyes stared at Silveria for a moment as if to scrutinize her.
Silveria snorted, feeling uncomfortable under those crimson eyes; her patience was reaching its limit. The woman's presence irritated her to no end; it was like when a child felt uncomfortable when another child came to snatch her toy.
Finally, the mysterious woman spoke.
''From your body, I could feel the remnants of that accursed race. How many years has it been? Too long, you are from a new race; they must have created after us.''
.Just from these few words, Silveria has learned a lot, the fact that this mysterious woman knew about that crazy race, the origin of this race goes far back into the past, and most importantly, this woman was from an ancient race; she must have a lot of answers, answers were what they want, even so, there was something more important than that, firstly they must know the woman's true identity, to determine whether or not she was an enemy.
''You haven't answered my question. I will like one last time, who are you and what you want?" Silveria asked while releasing half of her power; space twisted, the gigantic trees started violently swaying.
There was a silence, facing that terrible energy capable of twisting space; the mysterious lady didn't react; her face didn't show any emotions before suddenly she burst into laughter.
''Hahahahaha! Sorry, I slept for so long that people seemed to have forgotten about me; if not, you won't be trying to intimidate me, junior. To answer your question, I'm what you want to be; I'll be taking your place.''
Silveria's face twisted; from the woman's words, she seemed to have understood something; the more realization hit her, the more angrier she became, how dare she ever think that? She must be tired of living, thought Silveria as more power exploded from her body, making the whole forest tremble.
''Time to teach you a lesson, it seems.'' The mysterious woman said before raising one of her hands, immediately following her action, the sky turned crimson, an extremely heavy killing intent manifested in the form of a gigantic being with six arms, each arm seemed to hold different weapons: spear, bow, sword, halberd, beads and a half-disc.
Suddenly, one of the weapons disappeared from one of the six arms to manifest into the mysterious woman's hand, the spear, she simply thrust the black spear forward, space broke apart, crimson storm was sent toward Silveria, this storm was so destructive that half of the forest was destroyed after its passage.
Looking at the incoming crimson storm that destroyed everything in its wake, Silveria simply snorted before a silver spear materialized in her hand, and she also thrust it forward; a simple silver beam was shot out of the silver spear and rushed toward the crimson storm. Normally, such a weak attack should have been swallowed by the terrible storm; however, it was not what happened. The silver beam the moment it clashed against the crimson storm, something unexpected happened, the crimson storm simply vanished as it had never existed in the first place.
Since its awakening, it was the first time the mysterious lady with crimson hair showed a surprised expression; she had never encountered this kind of ability even during the origin war. However, surprised was one thing while getting beaten up was another one, she calmly dodged the incoming beam, but to her dismay, this beam curved to strike her at the back.
''Humph!"
The mysterious lady snorted, immediately, she switched weapon, the black spear vanished to be replaced by seven beads, the gigantic shadow behind the woman adopted a prayer stance, the one you often see in Buddhist scripture, oke of seven beads detached from the others and emitted a bright light that blocks the silver beam.
A short stalemate happened between the bead and the silver bead for a moment before they simply offset each other.
Silveria had already arrived before the mysterious lady. This time she switched to another weapon, a silver sword; using this sword, she slashed at the mysterious lady; the latter blocked the strike with its sword without even turning back.
Clangs! Boom! Crack! Clangs! Boom! Crack !!!!!
Every time they clashed, a part of the forest would be destroyed, cracks would appear in the surrounding space; the two moved at breakneck speed and exchanged hundred of swords moved with no one gaining the upper hand.
''You are not bad, but time to get a little bit serious.'' The mysterious lady said, before raising her hand again, the sky turned crimson, the crimson moon appeared in the sky, a terrific killing intent manifested, ghosts wailed, space cried, the reality seemed to have lost its meaning, in this lonely world where the only thing alive was, the mysterious lady and Silveria, the former announced, it was an absolute order.
''Devour!"
Countless skeletons appeared to form a gigantic skeleton that stretched its hands to catch Silveria toward an eternal embrace; Silveria snorted and released all her strength.
Silver energy poured out of her body like an eternal spring; the silver energy formed a gigantic half illusionary Silveria that punched the skeleton.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Not twice but several times, the Illusionary Silveria punched the giant skeleton; the more punch the latter received, the more its body crumbled; people would have thought that Silveria was invincible with her ability to cancel magic; however, that wasn't totally right.
The mysterious lady never relied on this method to win; she was testing a theory to see whether or not Silveria's previous exploit was really real and seemed to be the real deal; she could really cancel any magic while it was really an exceptional ability it wasn't without flaw. And this flaw, the mysterious lady seemed to be aware of it.
The mysterious lady walked forward, yet she was already behind Silveria; it was even faster than Silveria's Accel ability.
''You know, although I'm surprised by your unusual ability, even if I can't use magic against you, my physical strength is enough to deal with you.''
Chapter 416 - 409: Nyx's Intervention
''You know, although I'm surprised by your unusual ability, even if I can't use magic against you, my physical strength is enough to deal with you.''
The instant that voice reached Silveria's ears, her body turned tense; she didn't even notice the woman's presence until it was already late.
Slap! Boom!
It was just a casual slap, and yet Silveria was sent spiraling into the air; she broke the few remaining giant trees until she stopped after flying for about two kilometers.
''Cough! Cough!"
Silveria vomited blood after blood; she was kneeled trying to catch her breath. Although she often received terrible beating under Nyx, the latter physical strength wasn't so terrifying; the thing that made Silveria shudder the most was that she knew that the mysterious lady was not going all out, which was truly terrific; Silveria wondered how strong was the latter physical strength was, it must have reached an astonishing level, even the daemons and Dragon race back in the Original World didn't possess such terrible physical strength. Who the hell is this terrible lady?
However, Silveria didn't have time to waste knowing the answer, like the last time, the mysterious lady simply walked forward, space seemed to shrink almost as if afraid of her, she appeared before Silveria, as she guessed, Silveria's weakness always had and will always be her weak physical strength.
The mysterious lady punched Silveria's head; Silveria leaned backward, letting her body fall to the ground to dodge the punch.
.Swoosh!
Just the wind behind the punch destroyed the remaining part of the forest. Silveria and the mysterious woman appeared in a chaotic space; Silveria Accel-ed to reappear one kilometer away from the mysterious lady, she getting exhausted, Alex was not nearby to act as a source of energy, her body started flicking as if to tell her it was time to head back. Wiping away the blood around her mouth, Silveria was extremely unwilling to escape like this; she had the feeling that she would always escape every in front of this woman, something she would never allow.
Just as Silveria was thinking about how to deal with the situation, the mysterious lady said something entirely out of Silveria's expectation; no, Silveria had forgotten how terrific this woman was.
''Sigh! How long are you planning to stay hidden for? Won't you defend your sister? I will kill her if this goes on.''
Silveria's eyes widened because following the mysterious lady taunt, Nyx unexpectedly appeared by ripping space apart; the moment she appeared, the chaotic space became strangely calm all of a sudden.
''Big sister, you-"
''Shut up!"
Nyx's voice was cold, more emotionless than usual; blue eyes clashed against crimson eyes; the mysterious lady was the first one to look elsewhere as she couldn't endure those terrific blue eyes.
''You are powerful.'' The mysterious lady gave honest praise.
''So are you," Nyx replied in an emotionless tone.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Without any signal, the two moved and exchanged dozen of moves only using their physical strength, the result was a draw, well, the mysterious lady didn't use her full strength, no she couldn't, she might have awakened but that doesn't mean she still has her full strength, she became restricted first by one of the supreme beings seal and secondly because of the recently established contract.
''Let's end this!"
The mysterious lady declared before the half-disc in one of six arms' hand disappeared to transform into half crimson moon that brought endless terror into the chaotic space, the chaotic space that had calmed under Nyx's pressure turned more chaotic, a gigantic ancient crimson door appeared.
Instinctively both Nyx and Silveria knew they mustn't let this door open because whoever was behind this door must never be allowed to step out.
Pouting her finger at the mysterious lady in the form of a handgun, Nyx fired a black bullet at the lady.
The mysterious lady's eyes immediately widened; she knew she likely die if this thing reached her; she immediately canceled the half-moon to switch to another form; seven beads appeared to form a golden shield that tried to stop the black bullet. Unfortunately, it failed.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The first bead was broken, so was the second and third, the mysterious lady was surprised seeing what happened, her eyes became ruthless she knew she must eliminate this bblack-haired lady now or never, she was really dangerous, she possessed a truly terrific ability, something she had never seen, this ability went beyond the scope of transcendental being and had stepped into the supreme tier.
''A-"
Just as the mysterious lady tried to unleash her ultimate ability, the one that everybody feared, even herself, a voice echoed in the chaotic space followed by the appearance of a gigantic hand.
''That's enough!"
Whether it was Silveria, Nyx, or the mysterious lady, both froze, two hands appeared, one caught the mysterious lady, the latter struggled to no avail; she simply couldn't break free from it.
''I'll be taking her back for now.''
The owner of these mysterious hands declared, there was nothing Nyx and Silveria could do nor that they would have done anything to begin with. However, the feeling of being unable to move one body to be at the mercy of some unknown entity didn't sit well with the girls, especially Nyx, who glared at the incoming second hand.
Sweat poured out of her forehead as she tried desperately to move her body; Silveria also tried using her ability but failed miserably.
Suddenly, Nyx's blue eyes shined blue; she tried stopping the incoming hand, she succeeded but for a millisecond, but the price she paid was enormous, she became momentarily blind. However, this didn't stop Nyx from executing her next attack.
When she momentarily stopped the giant incoming hand, Nyx opened her mouth and fired a black bullet toward that hand.
Even though only hands appeared, those hands showed signs of panic, the hand going to catch Nyx's, and Silveria tried to retreat. However, space fragments coiled around it, forcing it to stop momentarily. Nyx and Silveria's eyes widened due to the mysterious lady's intervention; the black bullet struck that hand which trembled for a moment before vanishing alongside the mysterious lady that looked at the siblings wanting to say something but couldn't.
Kabooooom!
The chaotic space was destroyed as if suffering under someone's wrath; both Silveria and Nyx went flung far away; they vomited blood, black chains appeared and manifested around Nyx's body. These chains dragged her bloody figure away.
''Big sister!"
Silveria, although gravely injured, tried to reach her big sister. Unfortunately, she couldn't before she disappeared as well; silence returned to the chaotic space, worlds flashed shortly after, followed by a sigh.
Chapter 417 - 410: Saint
At the same time that the mysterious lady got caught, Nyx and Silveria disappeared; outside, Alex coughed blood while his body violently shook.
''Ahhhhhhhh!"
Alex clutched his chest hard; his breathing quickened for a short period before returning to normal. The dungeon started shaking before Alex was violently thrown out and before his body disappeared, a crimson light entered his body.
A few hours later, Alex woke up in the middle of a forest; he sat up and checked his body.
''Nothing wrong, I'm perfectly fine.''
.Alex heaved a sigh of relief before suddenly remembering about Silveria; he immediately called her out.
''Sil, Sil, Silveria!!"
No matter how many times he called her name, Silveria didn't answer. He then called Nyx, and the same thing happened, none of them answered his calls which was odd; knowing that he could only wait for them as there was nothing he could do, Alex decided to move, to leave the forest and search for his companions, but before that, there was something he must do, check his status as he was feeling mighty at the moment as if he had stepped closer the highest level in this world.
''Status!" Alex called out, and following his call, his status window appeared right before his eyes.
[Alexander Kael Touch]
Class: Magic Gunslinger
Age: 17
Male
Race: High Human
「 Rank 12]
Level 113
Experience Value (XP): 4000/199900
Magic Power: 6000/6000
Magic: None
Attack: 2300 (+ 60) ➤ 2360
Defense: 1870 (+60) ➤ 1930
Agility: 2010 (+60) ➤ 2070 (+200)
Intelligence: 2030 (+60) ➤2090
Luck: 1650 (+60) ➤1710
BP: 180
SP: 10
Gift: Death Guns [???????]
Skills: [Item box Level 4] [Swift Fingers Max] [Divine Sense Level 5] [Throwing knife Level 5] [Dark Vision Level 2] [Dual Wielding Level 2] [Accel Level 5] [Knife Art Level 4] [Link Level 4] [Gun Art Level Level 10] [High Regeneration Level 7] [Mana Synchronisation Level 4) ] [Crimson's Bullet] [Shadow Shift Level 5] [Blade Dance Level 4] [Aurora Bullet Level 1] (New)
Special Abilities: [Language Comprehension][Danger Sense] [Overdrive] [Death's Eye] [Envisage] {Erase} {Magic Bullet} {Snatch} [Hellsing] [Xerox] {Death Bullet (???)} [Time Stop] [Time Acceleration] [Eye of Truth Level 1] [Asura Form] (New)
Titles: [Otherworlder] [The one whose fingers are faster than Flash] [Goblin Slayer] [The Reborn] [Shadow Nemesis] [The Slaughterer] [The Destroyer] [Death Master] [The Irregular] (New)』
''I'm Saint, huh?!" Alex mumbled; his face showed neither joy nor surprise; he could now be counted in the rank of the strongest. While it's true that he had stepped into the Saint Realm at the age of 17, Alex knew well that he must become arrogant; there is still lot of people out there stronger than him, the road is still long.
''Hah! I wonder what the question mark is? Is it somehow related to that crimson-eyed lady? I feel something in my chest, some kind of connection; it is faint, almost as if it could disappear at any moment. Well, let's forget about it for now. I should check that new special ability; somehow, I got the feeling that I would love it.''
[Asura For-]
''Alex!!!!"
Before Alex could test his new ability, Alex heard someone calling his name; Sakuya ran toward him with Lilith on her back.
''Sakuya, Lilith, you guys are fine. It's good to see you again!" Alex was forced to cancel his plan for later; he welcomed Sakuya, who immediately put the weakened Lilith down.
''What? Alex, what happened to you?"
Sakuya suddenly froze in her steps; she couldn't approach Alex; his body exuded a terrible amount of strength that made her knees almost give up; it was like Alex had become an insurmountable wall.
''Sigh! Congratulations on becoming a Saint, Alexander.'' Lilith said with a weakened sigh.
Lilith's words were like a clap of thunder in Sakuya's ears; she staggered back and fell on her butt.
''No way!" She mumbled feebly; she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
''Hahahaha! It's not a big deal.'' Alex scratched his head while he did his best not to smile like a fool; it was a pretty good feeling to be praised for your hard work; the road hadn't been smooth sailing, only he knows what he went through, how many hardships he faced for him to arrive here, well, it's just the beginning.
''Congratulations! Alex, I'm happy for you.''
Finally, Sakuya regained her composure and congratulated Alex; however, if one pays close attention to her, you should see she was trembling, her voice was shaking, she clutched her hands so hard that they had become white.
Lilith shook her head; it was understandable if you think about it; from what she recalled, they started at the same time; no, the other seven had stronger status, better environment, they were surrounded by people that made it easy for them to get stronger quickly, at the start they were ahead but now none of them could hold a candle to the boy that was once deemed as failure due to his sealed Gift, how ironic, truly ironic.
Sakuya thought that she would catch up soon as she had almost reached Rank 10, and yet Alex widened the gap by becoming Saint; it shocked her; the shock was too much, she almost lost confidence in herself. And as if he could see through her like an open book, Alex taunted the S queen.
''Thank you, Sakuya, but what with that face? Don't tell me that you are scared of chasing after me? I will be disappointed with it was the case; I thought I would have a good fight against you one day; I guess it was my wishful thinking.''
''Fufufufufu! Hahaha!'''
Sakuya burst into laughter; she laughed hard, so hard that her laughter echoed in the forest.
''Fufufu! Bring it; I will catch up to you and soon surpass you. I shall then step on you like your queen. Fufufu! Just wait.'' Sakuya made a bold declaration.
Although Alex wished to ignite Sakuya's fighting spirit, he wished he had not done that as he believes that he just gave birth to something terrible.
Looking at Sakuya, who had regained her confidence, Lilith sighed, feeling happy for her; she was not far from the Saint Realm as well, it would have been good if Sebastian was here with her to celebrate with her on the day she succeeded, however, this wish of her would never come true simply because Sebastian was no more.
''Don't worry, I will be there, everyone will be there you're not alone.''
Unexpectedly, Alex's voice reached Lilith's ears and brought a bit of warmth into her heart.
''Thank you!" She said.
Chapter 418 - 411: Before The Departure
Three days later.
The bright, full moon enveloping half the night sky splashed on the pitch-black ground with its illumination. The outlines of the leaves in the Forest of Monsters were clearly visible, but suddenly, a series of monsters' howls broke out throughout the tranquil forest. Countless, startled birds woke up from their slumber, flapped their wings, and soared into the sky fearfully to escape the close-approaching death, as well as the holder of the death aura.
Swoosh! Swoosh!!! Thud !!
Two gigantic silver wolves fell into the ground, sliced in two. Moonlight shined on the death goddess responsible for the death of this couple of Silver wolves; currently, the strongest monster, Rank 7, approaching Rank 8, and yet they couldn't fight at all, even when they ran for their lives, they couldn't outrun the girl.
.Sakuya sighed; she was tired yet happy; finally, she had done it, secretly sneaking out every night to hunt down monsters proven not to be fruitless; she had finally achieved her goal, a step closer to her goal.
''Rank 10!"
Sakuya said and pumped her fist into the air.
''Let's check how much stronger I have become.'' Sakuya declared before checking her status.
[Sakuya Hishimiya]
Class: Magic Samurai
Age: 17
Female
Race: High Human
[Rank 10]
Level 93
Experience Value: 300/38600
Magic Power: 3120 (+80) ➤ 3200/3200
Magic: Wind, Dark
Attack: 1440 (+80) ➤ 1520
Defense: 940 (+ 80) ➤ 1020
Agility: 1500
Intelligence: 1140 (+ 80) ➤ 1220
Luck: 1110 (+80) ➤ 1190
BP: 160
SP: 10
Gift: Katana Kaze no Yoroichï
Skills: [Advanced Appraisal Level 8] [Language Comprehension] [Item box Level 6] [Kendo Level Max] [Swordsmanship Level Max] [Wind Slash] [Iaido Level 8] [Wind tornado Level 5] [Gale Slash Level 8] [Flying Slash Level 5] [Presence Detection Level 3] (New)
Special Abilities: [Dimensional Slash] [Shukuchi Level 2] (New) [Sword Intent Level 1] (New)
Titles: [Otherworlder] [Kendo Master] [ Yamato Nadeshiko ] [Kendo Fanatic] [S Queen] [Slayer] [Swordmaster] (New)
''Not bad but compared to those monsters, I still have a long to go.'' Sakuya sighed; although she had achieved considerable progress in those three days, she still felt like she was lacking; it wasn't enough. In reality, Sakuya knew pretty well that no matter what she did, she would not catch up to Alex as he kept on getting stronger and stronger. She knew she couldn't catch up. However, she was not discouraged, not hurts by this truth, she wished for one thing, to be able to stand together with him with them; although she would be unable to surpass him, she could at least watch his back with her abilities.
''Let's raise my skills.''
Sakuya added a hundred points on her ATK stat while the remaining points had been put on her INT stat. As for her SP, she spent them on her Shukuchi, Sword Intent, and presence detection skills.
Suddenly, after raising her presence detection skill to level 4, Sakuya detected an unusual presence coming from behind her; without turning back, she aimed her finger in that direction and fired.
''Who is there?"
Swoosh! Boom!
Small green sword energy fled out of Sakuya's finger and pierced through a tree behind her; a hole of the size of a tennis ball appeared on the tree; however, there was nobody there. Just as Sakuya felt chills down her spine and wanted to unsheath Yoroichï, a cold voice entered her ears.
''Don't move.''
Sakuya froze in place; she felt a cold hand against her neck, she gulped, she couldn't even detect this person until he got close to her, just as she was about to ask Alex what she was doing here, the man in question burst into laughter before giving Sakuya a slap over her toned butt and disappeared.
''You!"
''Hahaha! Sorry I couldn't help myself. Congratulations, by the way.'' Alex said as he sat on a tree branch overlooking Sakuya's figure from the higher point of view.
''Hmph! Thanks. What are you doing here?" Sakuya asked and jumped to sat next to Alex because the tree's branch was sturdy enough; it didn't break.
Staring at the moon in the sky, Alex answered.
''I have been following you since the beginning of your nocturnal adventure. Usually, I will only watch, not interfere but seeing what you have achieved today; I decided to come to cheer you. By the way, although I understand that you want to get stronger, not to fall behind, you must rest, rest is important, and we have decided to rest for few days before departing.''
There was nothing Sakuya could say as she knew she was guilty. That day, after they joined him and noticed that he had become a Saint, after the little episode, the three checked out the forest to see if there were any survivors; fortunately they found nine people, strangely those people had lost memory, even that boy Alex rescued was the same. This couldn't be more convenient as it would be too much hassle explaining everything that happened inside the dungeon, the three decided to lie.
After successfully bringing the survivors back and explained what happened, Alex and the girls decided to take few days of rest. They took this decision especially for Lilith, who told them that she lost the last most important person in her; Alex immediately thought of the old man's figure with butler clothes, Sebastian. So, to accompany Lilith until she calmed down, the group decided to rest, not do anything.
''Sorry, I know it's pretty insensible, but I must get stronger to be able to prevent that kind of tragedy from happening,'' Sakuya said after a long moment of silence.
Flick!
''Ouch! What is that for?" Sakuya glared at Alex, who had just flicked her forehead.
''I understand how you feel, I also don't want to lose anybody ever again, but you should know when to farm like crazy and when not. What would Lilith think if she saw you now? You train until you overdo it. I saw how you managed to acquire that skill, Shukuchi it's called, you tried and failed several times, you almost broke your legs. Please don't overdo it.'' Alex said and flicked Sakuya's forehead once more.
''Ouch! You are enjoying this, aren't you?" Sakuya glared at Alex and held her forehead.
''Hahaha, pretty much. Let's leave tomorrow. We will leave.'' Alex said as he tried to leave; however, Sakuya caught his arm and said.
''Let's stay a bit. I want to watch the moon and daydream.''
Looking at those beautiful dark eyes that could suck one in, Alex gave in and sat back.
''Let's daydream together!"
Chapter 419 - 412: People Have Hings They Are Not Good At 1
Into the black heavens, upon this clear night, comes the grace of white-gold moon that shined upon the two silhouettes gazing at its round shape in awe. Silence hung in the air; it was how one admires the beauty of something, silently without saying a word watch, it was what Alex and Sakuya were doing, they watched the moon in the sky while daydreaming.
One wished to be a bird, free to travel the sky, exploring unexplored sky and lands, while the other wished for a simple and quiet life.
''Alex, I'm not attractive enough?"
Suddenly, after a long moment of silence, Sakuya, who had her head nestled on Alex's shoulder, lifted her head and stared at Alex in the eyes.
Alex didn't immediately answer; he first locked eyes with the Japanese girl, staring into those beautiful eyes as the starry night sky, vast and normally calm, yet not right now, some incertitudes made her normally calm eyes appear troubled, and Alex knew the reason for this.
''Of course, you are beautiful; you're a beautiful woman not losing to anybody, I can assure you that. Why is the sudden question?"
It was Sakuya's turn to stay silent.
''You asked why the sudden question is? Well, it's simply because I waited, waited so long, yet you didn't even make a move on me, almost as if I'm not attractive; I have started losing confidence in myself, wondering if I have a problem, well I do have one..''
The last part was said rather inaudibly. Alex sighed; although he had expected such a response, hearing it still hurts a bit, it was as if your wife complained about you not paying any attention to her.
''How come! You know pretty well what is going on, we don't have time, I have thought of making a move, but circumstances didn't permit it, it's why to forgive me, you are beautiful I want you as my woman there's no doubt about it, just that I didn't get the chance to demonstrate it. I thought maybe after the mission; we would have plenty of time on our way back.'' Alex quickly explained why he stayed passive until now; he didn't forget to encircle his arm around Sakuya's slender waist as he said those words.
''I see, that is good. I'm glad you are thinking about me. When you said I would be the one to follow you, I was so happy that I had almost cried; I knew you'd make a move; it was why you especially asked me to accompany you two. I'm glad it's the case.'' Sakuya said as she leaned against Alex's sturdy chest.
If at the beginning it started only as interest and also because of some promise to always stick together in this life, now, these two things had evolved into a feeling of wanting to never separate from this man, he only thinks of becoming stronger, unromantic. However, with all these flaws, she still doesn't want to be apart from him.
Usually, when a woman complaint as Sakuya just did, the man would try to reassure the girl with some sweet words and even a kiss; however, Alex did none of that; he explained why he stayed passive, no romantic words, no kiss. It was why Sakuya thought he was unromantic. Well, people have things they are not good at; being romantic isn't one of them when it comes to Mr. Touch, I guess. Sakuya thought and chuckled.
''What is so funny? What are you thinking about?" Alex asked after hearing Sakuya chuckled.
''Nothing, tell me what is love?"
Instead of answering his question, Sakuya raised another one.
''What's Love, huh? That's some tricky question.'' Alex said before looking at the moon in contemplation.
Finally, Alex opened his mouth and said, ''Love is when you feel comfortable with the other, love is when desire the other, you desire to protect them, to spend the rest of your life with this person, Love is when you accept the other with all their flaws without running away, Love is one you accept everything from the other. Well, it's all I can think of at the moment. I will also add that a love that isn't considerate and kind is not loved at all. It is merely an emotional attachment. Bonds can be made for selfish reasons or fail to mature into real love. Each partner puts the other first; each treasures the other above themselves. In love, we don't hold one another back; we aspire one other to new heights while always being there to catch after falls, pick the other up, set them back on the road to success and happiness.''
''Bravo!"
Clap! Clap!
Sakuya clapped before with her hands. She made Alex face her as she declared.
"Just now, you sound like a philosopher. Well, I have generally understood what you mean. You know, there is nothing more important in life than love. Love binds us to one another and to every good deed we do. It is love that keeps us healthy and positively focused. But love, like any other element of life, needs attention to stay strong. We don't attain it and put it aside like money in a bank account.
We shower our children, our close ones, with love and positive reinforcement; we hold our lovers dear and remind them in our special way how deeply loved and appreciated they are. We love our friends, our homes, and our communities.
There is nothing else that needs our attention more. None of us will come to the end of our earthly time and wish we spent more days in an office or lost in anger; we'll wish for more time with those we love; we'll cherish our good memories. Love is the most precious commodity in this universe; it's free, and the more we give, the more it multiplies. It is truly the superpower we carry inside. Love starts from simple interest, a simple desire, and I'm in love with you; I want you to love me back, I want to stay by your side forever, to support you in every moment of your life, will you let me, will you accept me?"
Chapter 420 - 413: Silveria's Return
Saying that Alex wasn't surprised by the sudden declaration would be an understatement. He should have known, since the beginning Sakuya lay everything for this exact moment, playing the abandoned, making Alex says he still thinks of her before asking what love is to declare this finally, women are indeed frightening creatures, Sakuya might appear simple with extreme sadistic tendencies, but by no mean, she was brainless, if she was indeed one she wouldn't be such a good sister with Maria and Luna, the three complement each other.
While Alex became lost in thoughts, someone unexpected spoke; it was a voice he wished to hear since a few days ago, so severely that even himself was surprised.
〖As expected of my Master, always let the woman do all the work.〗
'Sil, welcome back. I missed you so much. Where have you been?' Alex immediately asked Silveria where she had gone.. Of course, he asked telepathically.
〖Something happened, I will explain later. First, please answer the girl's question. It takes a lot of courage to declare what she said even though the way she does it is pretty interesting.〗
'So you heard everything from the beginning.' Alex chuckled inwardly before turning to face Sakuya, who was waiting for his answer.
Putting on his most dazzling smile, Alex answered.
''Of course, I will gladly accept you. I may not love you as you love me, but I do have feelings for you; I will never hand you to anyone; you're mine in this life, and in the next one, please take care of me; I will do the same Sakuya Hishimiya.'' At the end of his speech, Alex caught Sakuya's hands in his own.
From those heterochromia eyes, Sakuya could see sincerity, although it hurt a bit when he said he didn't love her as she does, better be sincere than hypocrite as this way you are sure to hurt the other people less.
Leaning forward, Sakuya whispered something into Alex's ears ''I will Danan-Sama!" ; She then blew a bit of air into Alex's ear, making him shudder.
''Hahahaha, good,'' Alex said, embarrassed.
''By the way, I'm S.'' Sakuya suddenly declared.
''I know.''
''I'm a super S. An extreme sadist,'' Sakuya added; Alex flinched; he had expected this, but hearing it still left him surprised.
''I know.''
''Then let me step on you.'' Sakuya declared with her sweetest smile.
Goosebumps rose all over Alex's body when he thought about letting himself step over. No way in hell he would tolerate that.
Blink!
''Sorry, I'm not an M.''
Alex's voice echoed far away. Unexpectedly he had Accel-ed, running from the dangerous woman.
''Lex waits; I thought you said you would accept my everything. If so, then let me step on you, dominate you.'' Sakuya said as she gave chase using Shukuchi.
''No way,'' Alex answered and disappeared; the silent forest became lively, the moon brighter as if happy her children were enjoying themselves.
''Tch! One day I will succeed.'' Sakuya secretly decided as she left the forest in chase of Alex.
On the other side, Alex was floating in the sky after escaping from Sakuya; he sat cross-legged in the air.
〖Why are you running away? Isn't it just letting her steps on you?〗
'Screw you, Sil. There no way I'mma let her step on me; I'm not into that kind of play. If I do, the next thing would be what? Letting her put a leash on me? Running around barking like a dog? Serving as human chair? Extreme sadist has scary mind; there is no way I'm going to let her have her way with one; I would be screwed if I ever do.'
Silveria could imagine Sakuya doing that kind of thing; the girl had a few screw looses. Well, imagining her master in one of these circumstances would be entertaining at last. Silveria thought.
If Alex knew what his partner was thinking at the moment, he would summon and give her some good old spanking. Unfortunately, he was clueless about Silveria's dark desire.
'Where were you and your sister? What happened?' Alex decided to switch to a more important subject. He must know what happened in that dungeon, what type of connection he had with that crimson-eyed lady, why he felt something linked to him through his heart, and what with that faint red tattoo on his chest. So many questions, Alex hopes to get some answers, if not all of them.
〖Sigh! I was nursing my sister.〗
'What?' Alex stood up; the shock of this news was so hard that he couldn't stay still.
〖Calm down, she was injured during that fight with the mysterious lady with crimson hair.〗
Alex got another shock; never he would have imagined Silveria and Nyx fighting against the mysterious lady. Silveria continued.
〖When you fall from that floor after killing the ultimate guardian, some of your blood enters the crystal coffin to lend between the crimson-haired woman eyebrows. We believe that some contract was formed.〗
'Contract?' Alex was surprised; now everything makes sense, that question marks beside his Gift and that title that nicknamed him as an Irregular, probably due to this second contract.
'Is this possible for someone to have two contracts? For starters, is that lady a spirit weapon like you guys? Is she from the Divine Race?' Alex bombarded Silveria with questions.
〖I don't think so; she is not from our race. I believe her origin is more old than uours〗
'What? Weren't you the first races of the original world?' Alex questioned.
〖It's what we thought, but I guess we don't know all the truth. Anyway, after the contract, the woman woke up and turned hostile; we fought but couldn't win; no, an extremely powerful entity interrupted the fight and snatched the mysterious lady away before injuring us. In summary, it's what happened. As for the real identity of this girl, I don't know; we can only find out in the future after we see her. Although we fought, it was more like a test, a show of dominance, Fufufu! We must have our revenge.〗
Alex swallowed hard; Silveria had shown the image of the fight; it was blurry, but he could see a bit of it; the moment Alex saw those gigantic hands, his body shuddered, he felt fear like never before, only hands, and he was this scared he wondered what would happen if he were to face the person possessing this hands? How stronger is this person?
He was still weak.
'I must train harder; I'm still weak.' Alex declared, the corners of his mouth perked up. He was filled with anticipation to one face and beat such a strong opponent and stand at the summit.
Chapter 421 - 414: People Have Hings They Are Not Good At 2
The following morning, Alex and the girls had already boarded the ship to traverse the endless sea; it was a medium-sized ship especially prepared for Alex and his crew. The number of people onboard numbered only ten, Alex's group and the ship crew members. The ship was the fast type; it was loaded with goods to the Far East Empire.
The ship passed between Drexia Empire and the Holy Crux empire; the sea was calm and beautiful.
But there's one person who is currently relentlessly shaking on the ship.
"If you already shaking this much on such a calm sea, you won't be able to survive if we arrive at where it's the most chaotic, you know?"
"I, I don't even want to go there in the first place...….."
.That person was Sakuya, who was covering herself in a blanket on top of her bed.
Lilith was reading a book; she was so focused that she wasn't paying attention to the shaking Sakuya.
''Hahahaha! To think that the S queen has something she was afraid of, how unexpected. Come on, let's go out and watch the beautiful sea.'' Alex said and closed the report he was reading; this report was about his private force's recent activity and their next mission; Sera also suggested that he must come with a name, a codename for the group, it what Alex was thinking about.
''I will skin you if you approach Lex,'' Sakuya said threateningly; however, because she was under the blanket trembling, her threat didn't sound like a threat at all.
''Curse them the gods that created the sea...! I won't forget this grudge…..! I will never forgive them; one day, I will change it…..!"
"You don't sound convincing when you are shaking so much, though," Alex said as he rubbed his forehead; Lilith acted like she did not hear anything, but from the way her shoulders were shaking, she was doing her utmost not to laugh.
Sakuya was afraid of the sea. She was okay with baths, but she's the type that turned useless in rivers and the ocean. It's something called Aquaphobia if Alex remembers correctly. To the almost perfect Sakuya, one could say that this was her only weakness. Even though Sakuya herself hates losing, this was the one weakness that she couldn't overcome.
Looking at the sea, she will start feeling nausea and dizziness due to anxiety, and when she gets on a ship, her body can't stop shaking due to her unexplainable fear. If she went to the deck right now, she would probably faint from shock. Alex truly wished to see why he was teasing her, suggesting they visit the deck to enjoy the sea breeze.
''To think that you would be so afraid of the sea. Is there a story behind your Aquaphobia ?" Alex said as he closed the report he was reading.
''Uhh! I slipped and fell into a small river once in Japan when I was little; I thought I would drown to death; fortunately, the part where I fell into wasn't profound, so somehow I got out, but since then, I have had an inexplicable fear of river and ocean, it as if they would swallow me and never let go.'' Sakuya explained, eyes full of shame.
''I see; no wonder when we were about to take the cruise to Italy, you and the girls went missing. Well, I understand your fear, but why you didn't say anything until we are now on the sea? You could have told us, and we would have found another alternative instead of letting you suffer like this.''
''What Alex said is right. You should have told us.'' Lilith agreed with Alex.
''Well, ugh! I didn't want to be the one to slow us down. Taking this route will save us a lot of time. People have things they are not good at; this is one of mine. Also, I want to use this opportunity to cure my Aquaphobia; I could not continue dragging the same problem even after my reincarnation; it would be too pathetic. We are bound to travel on the sea again in the future, fight on sea. So tell me, will I not die if I still have this same problem?"
Alex and Lilith exchanged looks. Putting like that they could understand, she ought to cure her Aquaphobia soon as it may one day cause her a serious problem. What if she was fighting and suddenly sent flying in the ocean? Wouldn't the enemy successfully deal her a fatal blow after seeing she had Aquaphobia? She can lose her life because of this Aquaphobia.
While Alex and Lilith were thinking about how they should help Sakuya overcome this phobia of her, the ship shook a little.
It wasn't shaking a lot, but it seemed Sakuya was taking it as a huge impact.
"KYAAAAA!!?? Ouch!?"
She rolled around her small bed, struck her head, and now crouching in pain.
This scene was impossible to witness on land, so it felt rather refreshing seeing her like this now. Alex thought.
"You are useless on water, huh. If pirates attacked us, then it would be over for us, right?"
"D, don't look down on me...! If push comes to shove, I…..! KYAAAAA!!?? That was a big one, wasn't it!? Did it make a hole in the ship!?
"If push comes to shove, then you will be useless, right. I guess that it won't come to that, but it would be a different story if a Sea Dragon showed up, though."
The scariest thing on the sea was the Sea Dragon, the king of the sea. A gigantic monster classified between A to S, depends on its age, the Endless sea is known to be a house of such terrible monsters, it was why people didn't like taking ship, especially during this period of the year where Mana was abundant and was likely to cause a monster wave. Sea monster waves are terrific as every sea monster would attack any nearby coastal city.
''Please don't say such a dreadful thing. N-nothing will happen I- guess.'' Sakuya said, trying to comfort herself; Alex chuckled while Lilith returned to her reading; the group's first day passed peacefully.
Chapter 422 - 415: Apparition Of The Sea Dragon
Four days later, halfway through their destination, Alex's ship was about to arrive near the Wolfang Empire. Yesterday night Alex had a chat with his friends; Leon was still stuck in his hometown, accompanying his sister while Ferris and Eris were taking some trial. Kuina was busy as well.
Sakuya had learned to fight against her phobia, it wasn't perfect yet, but some progress had been made; she could not sit on her bed and not tremble as she used to on their first days, however, going on the deck to enjoy the sea was still not possible.
''I think you have made pretty good progress; you should keep up,'' Alex said he was alone with Sakuya; Lilith has gone out for some fresh air.
Suddenly, Lilith entered without knocking.
''What is happening?" Sakuya was the first to raise this question; due to her oversensitivity in the sea, she knew something was happening, and indeed she was right.
''A storm is coming.'' Lilith's response was short, and yet colors drained from Sakuya's face, she started shaking.
Alex stood up and went outside on the deck in a hurry. On the deck, strong gales and high waves are assaulting the ships.
No matter how you look at it, it was strange, the weather was fine a moment ago, and suddenly, it became cloudy all of a sudden? Alex's face sank; there was only one explanation for their current situation; someone or something was behind this sudden change.
''This is not a natural storm! It suddenly appeared without any signs! This must be a work of some sea monster, Mr. Sam; we might not be able to make it. I don't understand why this is happening.''
The captain said the moment he spotted Alex.
Suddenly, a violent wave came crashing against the ship shaking, people on the deck were forced to grab the rails not to fall into the sea. However, it wasn't the end; more and more waves crashed against the ship making accumulate more damage.
''Captain! Get us out of this storm!" Alex roared.
"I'm doing it right now!" The captain answered as he did his best to bring the ship out of the storm.
''Use the canon as propulsive to send us out of this storm.'' Suddenly, Alex got an idea; thus he suggested.
''We-"
Roaaarrrrrrrrrrrr!
A sudden roar interrupted the captain, and the ship was sent flying backward.
Boom! Crack!
Cracks appeared all over the ship, and it was about to sink.
〖Quickly evacuate the Sea monster that is about to attack.〗Silveria warned Alex cursed his bad luck. He immediately instructed via telepathy.
''Lilith, please help the captain and others use the rescue boats. Sakuya will help you out. Quickly, I will take care of the monster; however, I don't want to reveal my strength in front of others.''
''Understood, don't worry, I have my way of dealing with the problem. They would remember anything.'' Lilith responded; Alex didn't bother asking her what she meant by saying that; he was busy looking for the monster's location amidst the storm.
Si~ Si~ Boom!
Lightning struck the almost sunken ship, Lilith and Sakuya were helping the others board the small boats, Alex stood on the front levitating slightly above the water, because of mist, ordinary people couldn't see him.
Then it came.
"The Sea Dragon...!?"
A Dragon with a long body wrapped up in beautiful blue scales that looked like they were formed with clear water.
It has a pair of wings and arms. Its feet are probably submerged underwater. A dragon that adapted to the sea. Its appearance was close to a snake but too big to be one.
Just the part that emerges from the water is already over 20 meters long. Everyone was shaken by its figure that was much larger and more terrifying than the average sea dragon; this one is at least two hundred years old, an S class monster.
Uninterested in those people's reactions, the sea monster slowly opens its mouth.
And shoots out a giant water bullet.
It was incomparable to what one can create using normal water magic.
Immediately aware of the danger, Lilith gave her an order.
"Evasive maneuver!"
Immediately, Sakuya summoned wind around the small boats and made them change direction at the last moment.
Kaboom!
Thanks to Lilith and Sakuya timely maneuver, the two boats were able to escape the terrible fate of getting crushed by the giant water ball that had the strength of a small meteorite.
"Roaaarrrrrrrrrrrr!"
The sea dragon roared, seeing its target escape from its attack; it opened its mouth again to prepare another terrible attack, and how is Alex going to let him do that?
Without hesitation, he released all of his strength and appeared in front of the monster.
At first, the sea dragon was surprised as the monster hadn't felt Alex's presence; however, seeing it was a puny human that dared to stand against such a noble being, the sea dragon opened its move and fired.
Boom! BANG!
Following the shot, Alex immediately used a crimson bullet, the sea dragon's eyes widened, and something unexpected happened, the monster retreated before the giant water ball, and the crimson bullet clashed.
Kabooooom!
Both Alex and the retreating monster got pushed because of his small frame, Alex suffered more.
Meanwhile, when Alex and the sea dragon were exchanging their first blow, on the other side, two small boats were putting distance between them and the terrible monster; naturally, it was the group composed of Lilith, Sakuya, and other ship members.
''Where is Mr. Sam?"
The captain couldn't help but raise this question as he did not see Alex anywhere after they successfully put a distance between them and the monster.
''D-don't worry, he will join us soon. He is fighting against the monster to buy us some time. Don't worry; he is strong.''
Unexpectedly, it was Sakuya who responded, she did her best not to show her Aquaphobia in front of others.
''I wonder if he can survive. It's a Rank S monster we are talking about, maybe you have-"
Before the captain could finish what he was saying, his eyes turned white; he was not the only one; his other crew members had the same symptoms.
''Mind manipulation.''
Lilithcoldlyy muttered before flicking her fingers; the captain and his crew members were immediately put to sleep; when they awoke, they would remember only what Lilith wished them to remember.
''Done.''
''Great!"
Alex could now fight to his heart content.
Chapter 423 - 416: Vs The Sea Dragon
After receiving Lilith's message, Alex smiled.
''Ops! Sometimes it dawned over me that I didn't have any defensive skills; I must think of something.'' Alex said while dodging another water bullet.
[Kuh! Your humans are always trying to disturb my sleep.]
Unexpectedly, the Sea Dragon was intelligent enough to speak human language. This greatly startled Alex.
.''So can talk, huh?! Doesn't change anything.'' Alex spat out while firing a phantom bullet at the monster; as expected, it did nothing to the monster.
[Today, none of you shall live here alive, I will slaughter you and destroy few humans cities.] The sea dragon said threateningly, but the only response he received from Alex was a simple chuckle; the monster became surprised; normally, when he faced such a threat, he should have rushed forward in rage to defend his peers, like that the monster could catch him off guard, unfortunately, the monster plan failed miserably.
As far the monster could remember, he was born in the sea, grew up in the sea in peace, but recently, this peace was broken, but some unknown people dressed in robes catching his brethren, and those caught never came back. The sea dragon knew that something was being done to those captured; humans and other creatures are vicious after all. Since those kidnapping, the sea dragon had been on edge, living a life of fear; for his safety, he often created ocean storms for people not to pass its territory; it was a temporary solution, he knew, but it was the only thing he could do until he ranks up to the Saint Realm to have a human form to escape this nightmare, escape the fate of being captured.
Few months passed since no ship took this route; the sea dragon was thrilled, he focused on his Rank up; however, at a critical juncture, some humans appeared and interrupted him; at first, he thought it was the same group responsible for those kidnapping, but it wasn't them, furious and ashamed to have almost fled due to fear, the sea dragon decided to eliminate those humans and feed on them to perfect his Rank up.
[Die, you human!] The sea dragon bellowed, and numerous giant water bullets got created and were shot toward Alex.
Alex was about to dodge, but suddenly, his right eye twitched; he had experienced this phenomenon many times, so he knew what would happen. He saw a vision in this future; the three water balls exploded just before reaching him to form a water net around him before; from behind, water tentacles tried to pierce through his body. As he was busy dealing with those attacks, the sea dragon unexpectedly appeared above him and swallowed him; the vision ended there.
A smile appeared on Alex's face; it was a vicious smile.
'You want to play me to death? Watch how I play with you instead.' Alex sneered.
Following the future Alex saw, he did nothing; he acted as he did in that future until the sea dragon appeared above him and opened its enormous jaws to swallow him, then he smiled.
Immediately, the sea dragon's eyes widened; he knew he had screwed up; he tried to fall back, but how could Alex allow that?
[Time Stop] [Crimson Bullet]
It was a deadly combo that should have been the end of the sea dragon; however, unexpectedly, at the last moment, a water bubble appeared inside the mouth of the sea dragon, which swallowed the crimson bullet to kill some of the impacts before the bullet exploded.
Boom!
The enormous body of the sea dragon got lifted into the sky before slamming into the sea, creating a terrible storm.
Alex was thrown back; he hastily crossed his arms.
''Roarrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
The sea dragon roared in pain before jumping out of the water; its speed was so fast that one should be in awe compared to the size of its body. The bloody figure of the sea dragon with some of its scale falling off arrived before Alex and opened its mouth, a five meters long water spear was shot at Alex; he dodged; however, he felt chill down his body, somehow, the monster tail appeared behind him and was about to strike him.
Everything happened too fast; Alex didn't have the time to put forth a perfect defense; without hesitation, he aimed the two silver guns behind him and shot two bullets that combined into one; this bullet clashed against the sea dragon tail and created an explosion. Borrowing this explosion, Alex successfully escaped from the attack.
Just as he appeared in the sky, the sky rumbled, and a gigantic water spear appeared above him. This attack seemed to contain space property as Alex found himself unable to maneuver his body as he wished perfectly.
''Damn it.'' Alex cursed aloud.
[Dieeee human!!!!!] The sea dragon bellowed, and the water spear descended from the sky and reached Alex's in an instant; everything was perfect, that damned human was about to get skewed by his perfect attack, unlike its peers, the reason this sea dragon survived for so long and was crowded the sea dragon king was because of its intelligence and exceptional talent when it comes to battle. Just with those few exchanges he had with Alex, he knew he had exceptional combat sense almost at the same level as him; facing this kind of opponent, you better think twice, no three moves ahead to win, it was what the sea dragon did. He firmly believed that with his moves, he could win; getting caught was unexpected; however, forcing Alex to escape was a deliberate move for its final attack to strike.
Alex watched the fifteen meters long water spear close in; it was already before him, ready to pierce his body when he opened his mouth and said.
[Shadow Shift!]
The sea dragon about to savor his victory unexpectedly found his body shift through space and take Alex's place.
[What???] The sea dragon's eyes almost fell out of their sockets.
And the fifteen meters long water spear struck its owner, drilling through its body to slam him against the water surface.
Kabooooom!
The sea almost parted in two; even Sakuya's group sensed the sea tremble before it regained its calm again.
Chapter 424 - 417: Asura Form
''What was that?" Sakuya asked. She wished she could be there to assist the fight. From here, they couldn't see how the fight was going on, only some flash in the sky when Alex and the sea dragon clashed and the consequences of their clashes.
''Well, probably the sea dragon getting slammed by that water spear,'' Lilith responded.
Although they couldn't perfectly see the fight, some details could still be seen; such as the water spear that suddenly appeared in the sky and knowing Alex, what he was capable of doing, he must have used that dreadful ability of his that let him switch place with anything at the last moment to let the sea dragon taste its attack.
''Tch! He was having fun on his own without calling us." Sakuya said she had momentarily forgotten about her Aquaphobia; she wanted to join such an exciting fight.
''Pfft! Said the girl who can last ten minutes above the sea. Eh! A storm is coming.''
Lilith's words almost made Sakuya jump on her feet; she started trembling..
''Storm? Where? Where?"
''See, it is what I'm talking about. Don't worry, they will be some exciting fights, especially when we enter the demon continent. You will fight to your heart content.'' Lilith said to calm down Sakuya, who was about to blow up.
Suddenly, their expressions turned grave because even from here, they two could feel the sea violently shook as if the god of the sea was angry.
''No good, the fight is about to reach its climax.''
The two thought they could only wish for Alex to eliminate the monster without getting too much injured quickly.
•••••
After the sea dragon was sent into the depth of the sea, the latter became calm; however, Alex knew it was not the end; checking his remaining MP, he had about half of it. Thanks to his Mana Synchronisation skill, he was recovering at fast speed, suddenly Alex accel-ed to reappear fifty meters away, the sea under him rumbled and the sea dragon shot out from the water, its figure couldn't be more sorry, broken scales, blood leaking from them.
''Roarrrrrrrrrrrr!" The sea dragon roared, blue light surrounded the monster's body, its body appeared to be shrinking; from its initial 25 meters long body, it shrunk to fifteen meters. All of the injuries on the monster's body disappeared like a lie.
''No way,'' Alex said as his vigilance increased, somehow the monster had become stronger. Alex immediately used the Eye of Truth on the shrunken sea dragon.
[Leviathan
Rank 11
Level 111
Race: Lesser dragon
Gender: Male
Age: ??????
Magic Power: 8000/8000
Magic: Water element
Attack: 6000
Defense: 5000
Agility: 2300
Intelligence: 2400
Luck: 1000
Skills: [Water ball Level 10]; [Water Spear Level 9] [Water Net Level 7]
Abilities: {Water Breath}; {Absolute Control} ]
''Almost a Saint. This monster is powerful. Better watch out.'' Alex said and immediately attacked.
Twelve knives were launched simultaneously; using Link, Alex was able to direct these knives to surround the sea dragon and tried to strike between the scales where the monster's defense was at the lowest.
[[You damn human!]]
Countless water bullets appeared from the monster's body and collided against the twelve white Bettie's in the sky above the sea.
Boom!
The twelve knives were flung far away, Alex Accel-ed to appear above the monster his right leg raised high, green light covered he leg to form a small wind tornado that descended into the monster's back like a rocket.
Everything happened in seconds; normally, Leviathan shouldn't react in time; however, it wasn't what happened; somehow, Leviathan could move its tail. He sent it to intercept Alex's tornado-splitting kick.
''How naive!" Alex snorted before using his Time Acceleration ability, the tail slowed, and Alex's kick struck the monster in the back.
Swoosh! Boom!
Leviathan's body was almost turned into a V shape as it was sent flying toward the sea once again. Alex tried to follow in dealing the finishing blow, but his body became momentarily frozen.
[[Kuh! Don't get cocky!]]
Leviathan roared and opened its mouth wide.
The water bullets so far were only something created using its power; they are not the special attack of the dragons, the [Dragon Breath].
So it finally decided to use its trump card.
〖Master, you better not take that attack head on〗Silveria warned.
'I know, but these small water threads are annoying.' Alex said and looked at the extremely thin water threads coiled around his body to obstruct his movement temporally. Somehow, Leviathan had used the water in the air to create the thin water that currently restrained Alex. He must have used Absolute Control to do this, Alex thought while trying to free himself out of these thin water threads.
Meanwhile, more and more water is being compressed inside Leviathan's mouth. It was compressed into a small ball, and from there, a water breath fired out like a beam.
Alex was forced to use Time Stop to first stop the water breath from clashing against his body before using Shadow shift immediately after time resumed.
Even so, Leviathan had anticipated this; he immediately used Absolute Control to redirect its breath at Alex, who had never expected this.
[Phantom Bullet]
At the last moment, Alex, whose instinct had been sharpened during countless battles, reacted and fired a Phantom bullet at the incoming beam.
Kabooooom!
This time it was Alex's turn to be slapped against the water surface.
''Kah!"
Alex felt like he was being slammed against a hard concrete; his bones creaked, blood surged to his mouth; Alex immediately swallowed it down as his body fell deeper into the sea.
[Absolute Control]
Leviathan roared; he would not let Alex rest; he immediately controlled the sea. Alex got slammed to the sky by a water tentacle.
''Guh! Cough! Time Acceleration.'' Alex said and wiped away the blood around his mouth and stopped gliding across the sea's surface after fifty meters.
''Damn, he got me good.' Alex said and looked ahead, and to his horror, more than a hundred water tentacles surrounded Leviathan; he was like the God of the Sea, these hundreds of water tentacles combined to form a gigantic trident over thirty meters. Even Sakuya and Lilith saw it; their faces turned instantly pale.
Alex could see that water wall appeared behind him to cut off his escape route.
[Die human!] Leviathan roared and was about to send the trident in Alex's direction.
Quickly, Alex's mind went overdrive, thinking about some possible solution. Then he got an idea; he immediately drowned a Mana recovery potion to replenish his MP and then shouted.
"Asura Form!"
Then the sky above the ocean resonated; crimson light descended from the sky and covered Alex. An avatar with a height of twelve meters of Alex appeared behind him; he wore a long crimson robe, dark pants blacker than the night itself. A wheel was behind his head, and in the avatar hand was an oversized Silveria, almost tall as the avatar him. There was a certain savageness deep in the avatar's eyes.
Leviathan opened its eyes widened until they fell off their sockets. Sakuya and Lilith's mouths were opened in an O shape.
Finally, Leviathan regained his calm and roared.
[Die!]
BANG!
Alex's avatar moved at the same time the trident was shot and fired.
An eight meters long crimson bullet tore through the air, broke space apart, and clashed against the trident; the latter didn't even last a millisecond before the crimson bullet destroyed Leviathan; the sea was parted in two, and the crimson bullet disappeared to God knows where.
Immediately following this, Alex fell from the sky and plummeted into the sea; he had lost consciousness.
Chapter 425 - Side Story: A Certain Saintess 1
After Alex, followed by Sakuya and Lilith, left because of the mission on the Demon's continent, the girls who stayed behind each went on their own to accomplish their goal. Maria went with Freya into the sealed realm while Gracier went with Artemia.
Meanwhile, Luna met for the first time her instructor in one of the academy private realms also dungeon, the Holy paladin Armstrong; he was over two meters tall, a long pants with a short-sleeved shirt on top that tightly clung onto his body to display his bulging muscles that threatened to explode.
''Not bad little Luna. What is the most important thing when it comes to Light Element? I meant Healing magic?"
This was the first question Armstrong asked Luna.
Luna's first thought after seeing her master was the man was weird, but she had to answer her master's question.
''Master, I believe the most important thing is treating others.''
Luna thought she had perfectly answered her master's question; unfortunately, she got it wrong.
.''Tsk! Tsk! Wrong little Luna. The most important thing about Light Element is about manliness, yeah, manliness.'' Armstrong flashed his bulging muscles, making them dance as he wished.
Luna almost fell face first.
'This man is indeed weird.' She thought.
''Follow me, little Luna,'' Armstrong said and started walking deeper into the giant forest. Luna quietly followed.
''You know people believe that light element is one of the weakest, that healers are weak, they need a permanent protection?''
Armstrong's voice reached Luna's ears, she nodded. Indeed, the general opinion was that Light element Mages are weak, a flawed thought.
''This thinking is wrong. They think like this because nobody innovated, nobody created new techniques, only sticking onto the old beliefs.''
Armstrong continued to advance deeper in the forest; he seemed to have a special location in mind. Strangely, the duo never encountered monsters; they seemed afraid of showing up; it was instinctual.
''To me, Light Element is the strongest of the elements. As for why I shall tell, he can heal injuries; even severed limbs can be regrown if you have sufficient level. Facing undead-type monsters, we are the strongest, the quickness to finish them. Let's say that you can reverse the healing process; instead of healing, you can make the cells age faster? How dreadful will this ability be? And we Light Element mage can do it with a bit of training and a bit of potential. I know you have started already. Light Element mages have a better understanding of the human body. What I want to teach during our training is how to make proper use of your body, how to increase your physical strength to fight temporarily. As previously said, Light Element is about manliness. If you wish for it, you can have such nice muscles as your teacher.''
''Thank you, teacher, but I'm fine with my current body.'' Luna immediately refused Armstrong's suggestion. Hell no, she wouldn't want Alex fleeing from her just because she turned into a gorilla woman; it would be the end if he did that.
Finally, the two arrived before a small crater of twelve meters deep. Peering into this crater, Luna saw an earth-colored salamander, an oversized lizard.
Tap! Bang!
Just a slight tap on the ground and the ground cracked; the earth salamander woke up and roared.
''Roarrr!"
After roaring, the monster searched for the culprit that disturbed its slumber, and the Earth salamander found them. Opened its mouth wide enough, small earth were formed inside its mouth, ready to be shot at Armstrong and Luna.
''Little Luna watches closely,'' Armstrong said and stepped forward.
[Instant Strengthening]
White light covered Armstrong's body before he disappeared; the next moment, he was already above the Earth salamander; the latter widened its eyes and tried to redirect its attack on Armstrong; however, before the monster could, Armstrong struck.
Dong! Boom!
When Armstrong's fist collided against the salamander's thick skin, its defense instantly lowered, and it got slammed into the crater; scales cracked, blood flowed out of them, dying the monster into crimson color.
Dong! Boom! Dong! Boom!
Armstrong was toying as he pleases with the helpless Earth Salamander, striking its head, its arms, and its feet, and soon the monster couldn't move anymore; normally, monsters, especially lizard type have a strong regenerative ability, this Earth salamander wasn't an exception, but somehow, its regenerate ability seemed to have dysfunctioned all of a sudden, turning its body into its current state.
[Reverse Healing]
Armstrong said before striking the salamander's head; a white light left his hand and traversed the monster's body. Then it started to convulse, lightly at the start before it turned violent; under Luna's eyes, the monster's body shrunk, no it's turned old before its skin dried up, turning into a powder while its bones soon followed.
Luna's eyes widened to think that it was possible to use the power of her domain this way. Used like this could decrease the cost of MP needed; no wonder Armstrong showed her this technique. It was to teach how, to tell her that instead of using her reverse healing in the form of a domain, slowly chipping away the opponent's strength before finally dealing the finishing blow using reverse healing.
Armstrong landed softly in front of Luna; he didn't forget to flash his muscles as if it was some ritual.
''Have you carefully see how I did it?" He asked, and Luna nodded.
''I do, master. If I succeed, I can save up a lot of mana.''
"You will, little Luna. You have a big Mana capacity. There is still some room for improvement. Don't worry; I will teach you perfectly all I know, make your body remember every technique.'' Armstrong declared with a smile, but somehow, this smile sent chills down to Luna's spine. She almost stepped back, but thinking about why she came here in the first, what she wished to accomplish, Luna's eyes turned resolute, and she announced.
''Teacher, I'm ready.''
''Good, then let train you into the most powerful, the most dreadful Saintess the world ever had.'' Armstrong declared, happy to have such an understanding student.