Chapter 1046: On the Edge
Chapter 1046: On the Edge
Chapter 1046: On the Edge
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Whoosh!
Though both Valyr and Mystia weren't prepared to be teleported to the edge of the Mystic Plane, the two were still able to prepare themselves beforehand, allowing them to start moving about after a bit of rest.
Then again, with them being at the edge of the Mystic Plane, it went without saying that their attention was wholly focused on the sight in front of them.
After all, what appeared before them was the pure vastness of space, the void that covered the majority of the universe.
While still in awe after being able to directly look at space for the first time, the young man briefly turned around to look at the Mystic Plane, immediately being greeted by an iridescent sight filled to the brim with various flora and fauna.
Looking back at the void that existed before them, Valyr could not help but let out a chuckle, reminding himself that he was standing on the boundary between two drastically different places.
"It's been a long while since I've last stepped foot on the edge of the Mystic Plane," muttered Mystia after some time, her gaze having never left the sight before her at all. "Even though there's not much to look at, it still fills me with a sense of wonder."
"It is space, after all." Valyr nodded at her words. "Though it may not seem like it, there are a vast number of places out there, all of them just waiting to be explored."
Hearing those words, Mystia briefly looked back at the young man, raising her eyebrow as she did not expect Valyr to give her such information.
Wondering where the young man got the information, it did not take long for her to dismiss the thought, recalling that the young man was part of the Zeihardt clan.
With that, she nodded as she shrugged her shoulders in response before returning his attention back to the darkness before them.
Chuckling at Mystia's reaction to his words, Valyr soon returned his gaze towards the vastness of space as well.
However, unlike Mystia, who was admiring it for its beauty, he was keeping an eye for the entity that Marcus mentioned before they teleported to the edge of the Mystic Plane.
Fulfilling his role as the Mystic Plane's Guardian, Valyr spread his senses out as far as possible whilst asking Marcus for more information. "Did you teleport us to where the entity is?"
"Somewhat." Marcus nodded in response. "I'm still adjusting to the strength you gave me after you became the plane's Guardian, so I could only roughly teleport in the direction of the entity. Sorry."
"That's fine," replied Valyr, eventually deciding to spread a bit of Prime Azure Energy throughout the surroundings as a sensor of sorts. "You have a general idea of where the intruder is, right?"
"Yeah." Nodding once more, Marcus closed his eyes for a bit before pointing towards a certain direction. "I can sense the entity's energy around that area."
Continuing to focus his senses on that general area he pointed that, the man soon began to frown as he continued speaking. "Huh. It seems they've shrouded and camouflaged their energies to the limit."
"I guess they planned on taking advantage of my weak strength to the fullest and land an ambush on me."
As those words left his mouth, Marcus began to sneer. "Unfortunately for them, they won't even have the chance to do so."
Whoosh!
Taking on a serious expression, the man took in a deep breath before releasing a great amount of Mystic Energy into the surroundings.
Then, infusing his will into it, Marcus then sent all of it in the direction he was previously pointing at.
Swoosh!
"Graaaaaagh!"
"Urg...raaah!!!"
"Mngrooogghhh!!!"
Within a matter of seconds, a cacophony of voices soon erupted from the spot Marcus was pointing at, prompting a smile to adorn Marcus' face as he felt glee for being able to retaliate against his foes for once.
Infusing both Mystia and Valyr with a bit of Mystic Energy, the three soon made their way to where the entity was, only to be left at a slight loss for words when the entity that appeared before them was not the entity they were expecting.
"...Huh." Recalling the words that echoed throughout where they were before, Valyr thought to himself that they would be up against beings that were probably similar to orcs.
If he were to extend his train of thought, then it was possible for the entity to also be a group of goblins, a group of hobgoblins, or a group of ogres.
However, in reality, the entity that appeared before them did not even look anywhere near to the beings that were in Valyr's mind, instead being an amalgamation of flesh that elicited immediate disgust when one looked at it.
Suppressing the feeling of disgust that threatened to come up his throat every passing moment, Valyr noticed that the entity was pinned to the ground with what looked like chains made up of pure Mystic Energy, prompting him to recall what Marcus had done earlier.
Inwardly thanking Marcus for making his job as a Guardian easier, the young man went ahead and used his identification skill on the entity as he took a better look of the entity's
appearance.
"Eugh..." Of course, with how the entity's appearance elicited disgust whenever one looked at it, Valyr eventually couldn't stop suppressing the feeling of disgust he was getting, only barely stopping himself from retching in front of both Mystia and Marcus.
Then again, even Mystia and Marcus were finding it difficult not to retch while looking at the entity.
Aside from looking like a massive amalgamation of flesh, having multiple folds all over what appeared to be a massive, blob-like body, it also radiated a putrid odor that made the three wonder where it originally came from.
Other than that, it had various openings and bead-like protrusions all over its body, prompting the two to assume that the openings were its mouths, while the beads were its
eyes.
Adding on the fact that it had multiple tentacle-like appendages propping up its massive body, the entity basically looked like an eldritch horror brought to reality.
"Ah." While Valyr was in the midst of looking at the entity's abilities through his identification skill, Marcus had a look of realization on his face as he began to look at the entity with a grim expression. "You're from the Extreme Toxic Plane."
Surprisingly, the entity responded to Marcus' words.
"Grgh... raagh. Uogh... rogh... mngraahhh!!!"
Though Valyr could not understand what the entity was saying, he still had a rough idea of
what it was conveying from the tone it was speaking.
"Is it angry at you or something?" The young man looked at Marcus as he took out the arquebus from his spatial bracelet.
Watching the young man prepare the weapon for firing, a brief look of confusion appeared on Marcus' face before nodding in response to the young man's question. "It is."
"To sum it up, it told me that I was deceiving it for not showing off all of my strength in the
first place," said the man. "It's more or less calling me a wolf in sheep's clothing, baring my fangs only when the time's right."
"Does this possibly have to do with the sudden increase in the plane's strength?" Activating [Extended Charge] on the arquebus with the help of Prime Azure Energy, Valyr continued talking with Marcus, feeling like he had a rough idea of what was going on.
In response, Marcus looked back at the entity before talking with it for a bit more.
"Yeah," said the man after he was done. "According to it, it decided to target the Mystic Plane since it was a plane far weaker than the Extreme Toxic Plane. It would've gained a lot of strength if it were successful in weakening me even by a bit."
"Yet, it turned out that the Mystic Plane was far stronger than it initially thought?" asked Valyr in response, receiving a nod from Marcus soon after as a reply. "How strong is the Extreme Toxic Plane in comparison to the current Mystic Plane?"
Feeling a hint of terror at the energy building up within the weapon Valyr was wielding,
Marcus pondered over the question for a bit before replying, "I'd say it's now a bit below the
Mystic Plane."
"Last time I checked, the Overseer of the Extreme Toxic Plane was at the peak of Rank 7."
"And you?"
"Thanks to you becoming the Guardian, I'm now at the peak of Rank 9." Marcus looked at
Valyr with gratitude.
"Glad to hear." Grinning in response to the man's words, Valyr soon felt the arquebus reach its limit, prompting him to go through some of the status buffs in his arsenal.
"[Limit Break: Second Verse]."
"[First Encore]."
"[Refined Offense Aura]."
Whoosh!
With his strength undergoing a dramatic increase, he went ahead and activated the Truth Weaver Scripture, empowering the Intent of Shadow Energy before pulling on the trigger.
"[Grand Burst]!"
Bang!
With the effects of [Guardian of the Mystic Plane] taking effect, it went without saying that the entity succumbed to the shot Valyr fired.
Witnessing the entity in front of them turn into an explosion of gore before their very eyes, both Marcus and Mystia hastily stepped back as they looked at Valyr in disbelief, only to then wonder if what happened just now was the young man's full extent of power.
Oblivious to the gazes he was receiving, the young man had a faint smile on his face as he took a look at his notifications, raising his eyebrows as the system classified the entity as 25 separate foes he'd killed.
'Hmm... a creature with backup bodies? A hive mind of some sort?'
'Either way, I've recovered a considerable portion of the XP I spent to reach the peak of Rank
4, which is pretty neat.'
Taking delight in the fact that he had gained a massive amount of XP in one go, the young
man continued to go through his notifications, only for a confused look to appear on his face
the moment he came across a few notifications.
Ding!
[You have defeated an intruder of the Mystic Plane.]
[You have absorbed the strength of the intruder.] [Your Mystic Energy has improved by 269 points.]