99 Chapter 99: The Heavenly Tribulation 2 (1/2)
”Hmph, I'm stronger than you think, Dylan. Like you said, we need to pass it each. So, I'll distance myself. We'll meet after our tribulations. Don't you dare die!” Rian harrumphed. He sprinted away and went to another secluded location within the Great Pine Forest while the tribulation clouds followed him.
”You are quite fascinating, indeed.” Dylan smirked but his expression suddenly turned serious when he sensed another incoming lightning. It had not even passed several breaths but it has already sent another one!
*Tzzzzk* *Tzzzzk*
Dylan decided not to get careless as he used his Heavenly Eyes. Being an extension of him, he only needed a thought to activate it on his whim. Under the Heavenly Eyes, he was able to see that there was another follow-up lightning from behind the first one!
”You trying to sneak up an attack on me? Hmph, take this, Energy Slash!” Dylan raised his Waning Moon Sword and injected his spirit energy into it. The sword did its magic and created an amplified layer on the Energy Slash as it was released! It even seemed more like a Crescent Moon Slash than an Energy Slash.
*Zooom* *Boom!*
The slash soared to the skies and met the lightning! However, the lightning was stronger than Dylan imagined. It broke through the amplified layer in just one breath but it was not as successful when it met the true Energy Slash within.
The other thunder eventually met the energy slash and easily overpowered it but still, at the cost of losing some of it's strength. The lightning still maintained its speed and dives down to Dylan.
But, Dylan was already prepared for it as he raised his Shield of Dusk to guard against the weakened lightning. At the moment of impact, Dylan directly used the energy reduction ability of the shield which burned about half ofits strength and guarded the attack. Despite its weakened state, it was still able to push Dylan's feet to the ground by half an inch!
”I guess I somewhat underestimated it's strength.” Dylan recalculated when he saw that he miscalculated the strength of the second wave.
He based his calculations on the strength of the first wave which was comparable to an attack of an Pinnacle 8th level Spirit Veins which was already equal to his strength. He thought that it would at least increase by one stage or maybe two at most. He never expected that it would directly jump four stages and step into Peak 9th level Spirit Veins, already stronger than Dylan's current strength and it was only the second wave.
In spite of this, Dylan did not feel down because he was at least able to get a point of reference by degree of which the strength of the lightnings that the vortex will send.
”The third wave is here.” Dylan looked at the sky as the dark grey clouds vortex released three visible lightning serpents which aimed to destroy Dylan. Each one had the strength of Pinnacle 10th level Spirit Veins! However, the hidden lightning behind the middle one did not escape his Heavenly Eyes as he was using it to detect even the slightest bits of fluctuations of energy.
*Trzzzk* *Trzzzzk* *Trzzzzk*
In this third wave, he was able to confirm his speculations that this world's trend of Heavenly Tribulation was increasing strength and number of lightnings that would be sent down by the multiplicative of two.
Dylan still did not know as to how many waves his going to receive so he needed to conserve his strength for each wave. But with this knowledge he gained from his observations, he would be able to utilize his strength in an efficient and appropriate manner for the waves to come.
Dylan used a Crescent Moon Slash which was sent to deal with the middle lightning and the hidden lightning and used two energy slashes to deal with the other two lightning.
*Boom* *Boom*
Two explosions was heard right after. The two Energy Slash and the two lightnings were just par with each other which resulted to an explosion. The Crescent Moon Slash, however, easily destroyed the two lightnings with its inner layer still surviving after the clash!
Keep in mind that the Crescent Moon Slash is a special skill that Dylan made either by stacking two Energy Slashes or inputting energy equivalent to Energy slashes. Thus, when it receives the power of Superimposition, it's end result would be something equivalent to 4 energy slashes!
'It seems like I can overcome the next two waves easily.' Dylan thought to himself. But despite being confident with his calculations, he was still on guard.
After 20 seconds, the vortex sent the next wave! This time there were no hidden lightnings because the 8 lightning serpents were all visible and directly dived down. It was due to this that Dylan's eyes turned more serious because the strength increase was unlike the past two amplifications, it was now five stages, an entire level! Each singles of those lightning serpents had the strength of a Intermediate 12th level Awakened Spirit!
Dylan did not become careless as he decisively gripped the Waning Moon Sword and shouted, ” Half Moon Slash!”
When it was released by Dylan, it truly resembles the bright half-moons in the sky, a celestial body ascending in the starry night!
A Half Moon Slash was a skill that Dylan made with inspiration of the Crescent Moon Slash. He thought that if he could infuse 2 Energy Slashes into one Crescent Moon Slash, why not fuse two Crescent Moon Slash into one slash! Thus, the theory of the Half Moon Slash!
But, the process of realizing a theory was not easy. During their journey to the Thundercloud, he experimented on the skill in order to perfect it but he was still unable to find the right amount of energy to equalize the output of energy.
After several failed attempts, Dylan finally pinpointed that the problem was due to the low quality of his energy. He suspected that he would first need to transmute his refined natural energy into spirit energy before becoming qualified to execute the skill. Thus, he only left this thought untouched and thought he would only continue after he reached the Awakened Spirit Realm.
However, due to the, Instant conversion ability of the Supreme Core, Dylan was finally able to successfully execute it.
The Half Moon Slash was far different than the Crescent Moon Slash due to the amount of energy exerted to create it. The Half Moon Slash was a wide slash of about 12 meters long!With its superimposed layer, it extended to 14 meters long!
When the eight lightnings clashed with the long Half Moon Slash, an attack which was equivalent to 8 compressed Energy Slashes, a grand explosion was heard which reverberated to the entire forest!
*KABOOOM*
”A success! I never thought I would successfully execute it during a Heavenly Tribulation.'' Dylan smiled with a hint of pride. He was impressed by how strong the Half Moon Slash was! It could withstand the power of heavenly lightnings!