Chapter 83_ Awakening
"He's truly splended. To become a legend in such a young age and to be unbeatable at that."
Sticks, an elf who has survived for more than hundreds of years, truly admired how monstrous Lexus is. Looking at the white haired young man, it still felt surreal for him that this young man is already stronger than he was. However there's no bad feelings about it.
Lexus on the other hand...
'I guess I'll have to face my first hardest trial.'
It's only been 8 hours since he started conquering the Behen Archipelago and he has already reached this far. He was proud of how fast he was compared to anyone but he didn't get overexcited about it.
"Yosh, let's go.'
With his red eyes having a determined look, Lexus proceeded to the next island.
[You have entered the 41st island.]
[A mission will be created.]
[41st Island]
[Fight with yourself and win.
First Clear Compensation: You can raise the level of one skill.]
It didn't take long for a person who looked exactly like Lexus appeared. Lexus narrowed his eyes seeing an exact copy of himself in front of him as he found this very interesting. Vertically split eyes and sharp teeth, and an aura that pressed down everything in his surroundings. It was the pressure that made Asmophel, a former powerhouse of the Saharan Empire to feel despair, Dragon Fear.
It also copied Lexus as it reproduced all of his equipped items and skills. Suddenly, 100 swords floated around the clone as it used Control Sword. Without even a second had passed, all swords flew straight towards Lexus.
While 100 swords were trying to pierce him in a flash, there were thirty golden red hands with a single sword each, moving around the clone. Just like what they were used to, the swords flying speed were extremely fast.
Virulent appeared in his hand. He had already prepared himself even before he entered the 41st island so he was pretty calm. Holding the sword, Lexus perfectly parried the swords, making none able to hit him. Seeing the swords fail to deal damage, the clone ran towards him with them and utilized Teleport, instantly appearing in front of Lexus.
Just like Lexus, the clone was equipped with Virulent. Immediately reacting, Lexus immediately blocked the incoming sword with his own red legendary sword. He staggered as he was pushed back during the exchange of their swords. Narrowing his eyes, Lexus thought to himself.
'It's strength is higher than mine.'
He could feel it. Even his very high amount of strength wavered against the pure strength from the clone. It also crossed in his mind that if Virulent didn't have the infinite durability, the sword shattering to pieces would be plausible.
His average stats were so high that there was almost no one among the billions of human beings who had higher stats than him. His strength even exceeds the strength of Sword Saint Biban in pure number. Yet, seeing that the clone possesses higher raw strength than him, he thought in his mind.
'Interesting.'
Lexus found his predicament interesting as at first, he expected that the clone would be an exact copy of himself including the stats. However, it seems that he was mistaken as the clone had exceeded his own.
'It seems like this would be harder than I thought.'
Even if he was oblivious to his strength that he was very strong compared to the other people, he knew more than anyone how hard it was to deal with the clone in front of him who possessed the same skills as him.
As Lexus was feeling entertained, the clone's eyes changed. It was the precursor of activation of the eyes of the dragon species. Suddenly, Lexus was hit by an irrational force. It was the ability of the Dragon's Eye just by seeing.
[You have made eye contact with a dragon species.]
[You have fallen into the 'frozen' state.]
[You have resisted.]
[You have fallen into the 'fear' state.]
[You have resisted.]
[You have fallen into the 'despair' state.]
[You have resisted.]
[Due to the effect of the 'Undefeated King' title, you have counterattacked against the abnormal status.]
Looking at the notifications, Lexus was truly surprised. He didn't expect that Dragon's Eye has this effect. The ability to inflict abnormal statuses just by seeing or just by a glimpse. Letting out a breath, the clone hacked its sword toward his head. It looked like the clone wasn't bothered that Lexus resisted since the clone was aware of his Perfect Status Resistance.
Meanwhile. Lexus and the clone were flinging their swords at each other. The collected magic power exploded and the swords flew around, creating a storm. The sound of air splitting rang in the air. The clone pulled out the swords planted in the ground and continued to swing them around. The storm became bigger and forced Lexus back.
The whirlpool that he made by pulling on the swords in order made everything around him a mess. The wind was filled with sword energy and it ripped up everything in its path.
Avoiding the clone's Virulent by taking a swift sidestep, he then brandished and counterattacked with his own Virulent only to be parried by the clone which sensed his attack through super sensitivity, keen intuition and Dragon's Eye.
Lexus didn't give up but he headed straight down the storm like a shark. Everytime he did that, his swords rotated in order to break the storm. His swords pierced the storm to break it, broke the sword energies in the air, pushed the storm down, and cut through everything in their way. His swords that were flying because of Sword Control followed his orders to make a path for him, and he soon approached the clone.
The clone then casts both Limitless Fireball and Limitless Shock Bolt to Lexus. The same basic spells like Magic Missile but the attack power and performance were amplified and enhanced to the extreme.
While there were magic spells with extreme speed in front of him, the clone arrived behind Lexus in just a matter of seconds. Without turning around and just reacted with his Keen Intuition, Lexus deflected the incoming sword that was precisely targeting his head and heart, fired the same magic spells to neutralize the clone's magic attack.
'Hmm?'
As the magic spells ferociously clashed, Lexus noticed something. Although it happened in just a second, his extreme perception determined what just took place between the confrontation with the magic spells.
'My magic is superior?'
Although it was a clone of himself that copies all of his skills but overwhelms him in stats, he saw that his magic dominates the other spells in terms of pure power. His magic didn't just neutralize the clone's magic but it pierced through and continued rushing towards the clone.
'Why?'
His thinking processing quickly accelerated, wanting to immediately grasp the reason. Like a light bulb has lit up in his mind, he immediately found the reason why his magic is superior. His intelligence stats over 10,000 didn't let him down.
'Could it be that the clone doesn't have my Dragon Heart?'
This organ is the reason why his magic spells were absurdly strong. The heart of a top dragon didn't just grant him a gargantuan amount of mana but also enhances his potential.
Dragons, a transcendent species that even the gods couldn't treat lightly and even feared— were the strongest presence in the world. It would only be natural that an important organ of the dragons couldn't be copied at all. Not to mention that it was a heart of a top dragon, a fire dragon that has high hierarchy even among the dragon race. With this discovery, Lexus smiled.
'Should I summon the God Hands to block and keep the clone's God Hands in check?'
Lexus was thinking of what to do about the clone's God Hands that were constantly attacking him. It was very hard to deal with it since each God Hands perfectly reproduces his abilities which means, it was like dealing with 30 clones of himself.
The clone maximized the benefits of the God Hands. He took full advantage of the ego items that could act on their own. It was the majesty of the legendary class item. The God Hands set Lexus as the target and started to launch Limitless Missiles.
'No, I shouldn't.... My aim shouldn't be a simple victory but something that could improve my specs.'
Lexus decided against it. Although it would make things more efficient, it feels like he wouldn't improve by doing it. This is undeniably a perfect opportunity to learn about himself and to know how great he was.
Wanting to know more about himself in other people's perspective, he gave up evading for a moment and let the clone hit him. Seeing the opportunity, the clone's sword flew against the fierce momentum and penetrated his abdomen.
[You have suffered 1,500 damage!]
[You have fallen into the 'poisoned' state!]
[You will lose 10% health per second.]
[You have resisted.]
[All healing effects will be disabled.]
[You have resisted.]
[Due to the effect of the 'Undefeated King' title, you have counterattacked against the abnormal status.]
Looking at the system messages, Lexus was impressed with himself again.
'In normal cases, the clone's basic attack should have dealt hundred thousands of damage but my defense neutralized that tremendous attack power.'
Lexus smiled. Seeing how tough and durable he was, Lexus became more confident about himself.
'Well, if I'm not special, I would have been doomed in 10 seconds.'
He wryly sighed. It would be a lie that he doesn't feel threatened by Virulent, the strongest legendary sword that he has created.
[You have suffered a lethal blow.]
[You have suffered 3,750 damage!]
[All buffs has been forcibly released!]
[You have resisted.]
Magic power and sword energy exploded with the clone in the center. He linked Blacksmith's Rage and Strength Augmentation, and stabbed the legendary red sword forward. It was so fast that a clicking sound was made.
[You have suffered a lethal blow.]
[You have suffered 3,750 damage!]
[All buffs has been forcibly released!]
[You have resisted.]
The clone immediately used Massacre's Dance as it started to bombard its attacks on Lexus. Witnessing what his swordsmanship looked like when activated, Lexus admitted that it was very dazzling when the clone made a sword dance.
Kwa kwa kwa kwang!
The red afterglow was overlaid with the blue, spreading out in all directions. It was truly overwhelming. The power of each one was lethal. If he just have a normal perception, he wouldn't be able to see the steps and clone's maneuver due to how fast he was, it was as if he was defying the law of physics.
However, as he also had been using the said skill, Lexus knew more than anyone else that one should not admire the sword dance when you were being targeted by it. He opened his Dragon's Eyes and lifted his head. He could see the power and the traces of the clone's movements.
He blocked every attack of the clone but he was being overwhelmed even without suffering a single damage from their exchange of sword dances.
With every exchange, Lexus would stagger due to the difference in strength. However, Lexus would immediately recover as he didn't let it disturb his momentum during the sword dance.
Although he had an unbelieving expression and looked at the clone with trembling eyes.
He definitely had more magic power and his skills were more powerful than ever.
His sword energy wasn't lacking compared to the clone's. Suddenly fire that was pitch black in color appeared in the surroundings as the blazing black flames around him. It was the manifestation of the clone's utility of the title, Ruler of Fire.
Seeing the clone was very proficient in using the sword and skills, Lexus thought that this won't be a walk in a park.
'As expected of me.'
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