Chapter 1077: The Logic-Defying Clash Across Null Remnants! (18)
Chapter 1077: The Logic-Defying Clash Across Null Remnants! (18)
Chapter 1077: The Logic-Defying Clash Across Null Remnants! (18)
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Vohnvolt was wary of the mysterious Primary attack function that had cut off the dragon's consciousness subscription - supposedly. In another, more common scenario, the masked would have explained exactly what this attack did, but such an answer never came. As it were, not explaining what were you doing was terrifying for your opponents, especially when you held the advantage.
Beyond that, the amalgam wondered why the masked man wasn't just finishing off the dragon now that he had suddenly lost his ability to resist.
Was it because he really couldn't muster anything else other than his Secondary assault function to do that effectively?
Or was it...
...!
'Is that thing about the powers of the people he goes up against increasing that significant? Is he actually waiting for that?' Vohnvolt couldn't help but think.
He understood that this power from the masked man didn't work on someone like him who didn't have life energy. This went into what the amalgam now knew about the relationship between life energy and Undeath.
'Damn it...'
Sadly, Vohnvolt didn't have the luxury to continue theorizing about this right now. He left that to his phantoms while he focused on the speeding assailant who reached him a second later, his body blazing with ripe energy.
It was going to be difficult to battle against this bastard while also suffering from the weight of Ordained Reverent Machination. It still bore down on the amalgam cruelly, after all.
However...
'Well. For now, I'm going to have apply everything I'm left with...' he thought. And indeed, that was all he could count on... until THAT was ready.
While the masked man was waiting for his Secondary assault to charge, the amalgam was also waiting for something... and hopefully, like the masked man hoped to do now, it would end this whole battle.
'Just about a minute. I have to hold on for a minute...'
Vohnvolt held his ground and put up four arms to guard.
A crushing fist came flying towards him from Eobald-Minobu, bearing a savage amount of raw power.
...!!!
'Oh, flesh this!'
At the last second... the amalgam barely managed to enter the Astral Blizzard Corridor and get out the way!
While he was confident in his [Neutral Maximum], it was taking too much right now, and because of his dwindled mana reserves, he was likely to be overwhelmed, and if that happened, even for a moment, he was done for!
To the Bringer of All's relief, the air within the Territory crackled and exploded where the punch of the Transcendent landed!
The impact was so outrageous that the masked man glanced at his thrall.
That blow could have destabilised his Imaginary GeoScape!
'I was right after all...' the amalgam thought as he appeared a distance behind the Transcendent.
However... in the next fragment of time, the amalgam felt the bastard behind him and before he could react, two arms gripped him so tight that he couldn't budge even an inch.
What was with this immense strength?
It was so outlandish for any humanoid!
No beast or human he had encountered so far had such ridiculous power, and that was even counting some in the Severed Union.
The world of Aigas, since the Second Grand War, had met a decline in the overall quality of combatants. The main factor was, of course, the Ashing of Time which forever tainted the abundance and quality of mana and the flow of time in the inhabitants of the world.
The regression continued in this manner until Incandescent Stagers became the summit of power. Only a handful of Transcendent Stagers existed now and they were rarely seen, usually because they were old hermits who struggled to even reach such a level, which was so daunting, as Transcendents had been abundant four millennia ago.
No one, in the modern Aigas was even capable of reaching the Beyond the Veil Stage anymore, the last and final Stage which the world's strongest from the old times, Rayn and Fulgardt had reached, with the latter even surpassing it!
Vohnvolt grunted as the Transcendent Stager started to attempt to crush him.
It was happening!
While [Neutral Maximum] deleted possibilities for his body to change from the state it was in unless he wanted it to, it was still a skill that needed to be fuelled to work. It also could be overwhelmed, and that was why a consistently high input of energy was required!
The raw might of Eobald-Minobu was comfortably making sure he was losing his advantage. A Transcendent Stager wasn't too different from an Incandescent Stager if the huge difference in raw physical prowess was put aside. In terms of the tools at their disposal, they were mostly the same. After all, the Stages led one to Divinity, and past the Incandescent Stage, all that remained was to refine all the traits and abilities earned before, especially one's Territory. Once that was done successfully, the effects of the Territory began bleeding into the user even if they didn't use it.
One such benefit was explosive strength that scaled to the power they used to form their
Territory!
Vohnvolt's coat of [Neutral Maximum] dwindled.
This wasn't going to fly. He was going to get crushed.
What he needed was... a gamble.
He performed said gamble in the next instant.
Because every part of him, including his storage was coated in [Neutral Maximum] as well, he
was able to expel the long cloth from Red Rage's cape.
Instantly, it too was covered in the tiles of purple and gold to allow it to function inside Deathward Maw. It was, after all, also a storage artefact.
Two things were immediately expelled from it and simultaneously covered with [Neutral Maximum] despite the severe drain Vohnvolt felt afterwards!
Of the two to come flying out, one instantly leaped up, and keenly stared at the amalgam
strangely.
After the creature looked like it finished verifying something, it pointed at the amalgam and the Transcendent and in the next instance... the two swapped positions!
'Heh!'
Vohnvolt grinned.
Without wasting any time, he used [Null Life Demesne] to expand an area of Null Life Essence and then he gathered all the Null Life Essence he could spare around his fist, shaped it into a
drill and then punched Eobald-Minobu right below his armpit!
The Transcendent flew a short distance before landing on his feet. Divine energy and Undeath wrapped his body immediately.
Vohnvolt hissed flames from his mouth in annoyance.
His full strength, which had been enough to decimate millions of high-level Undead couldn't
even injure one Transcendent.
'Well, at least I have allies now... Though they won't last long,' the amalgam thought as he strained under the constant crushing effect of the Territory.
Indeed, he had invited two beasts from Red Rage's excess reserve in the cape to help!
One was a tall, goblin with an aggressively sculpted physique decked in a rough Legendary armour. This was one the goblins from the Cluster Red Rage and Skullius had raided months ago, where the latter eventually ended up killing Hobbu Gobbu and Hobbu Gogo.
The goblin was Tier 9, which was severely underpowered for this fight, but his Advanced Class was useful... to some extent. Switching the positions of things you can see was a powerful ability, but against someone who was on guard using Nitros or Perfect Aura or even Divine
energy, it was useless.
The amalgam sighed.
His other ally was a tiny pale fly whom Red Rage had named Buzz 4. This fly had the ability to predict what would happen two seconds into the future, which was could have been immensely helpful. Red Rage had been able to tap into the vision of the Buzz series creatures
to see these futures.
This would have been useful... if it worked inside the Territory. As it turned out, Buzz 4 wasn't
able to use this ability in Deathward Maw.
Vohnvolt sighed again. These were the best units available. The rest were in the Bryne Estate.
'Alright. I just need to hold on for thirty more seconds...' the amalgam thought. He was going
to have to make do with this.
Vohnvolt glanced at the battle going on to the side.
The masked man was clashing against the Null Devil King.
'Good,' he thought. 'When THAT comes, he won't know what hit him.'
The amalgam was about to launch an offensive against the Transcendent first when...
DUUM! DUUUM!
Thunderous steps rang from the side and...
RAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!
The Herald had awakened!
He roared wrathfully and his large head turned in the direction of the masked man!
'What the...'
Vohnvolt was shocked.
What was happening?
Had the masked man's attack not worked after all?
The dragon's mouth filled with dark flame as he spoke.
"RETREAT FROM MY MASTER!"
Vohnvolt reeled.
"...Master?" he mouthed before realising what was going on.
Once more... dark flame exploded from the dragon as a thin beam which headed not for the
masked man, but for the Null Devil King!