Chapter 284 - A Stronger Ally (2/2)
Bzzt…crash!
Unfortunately for Herellia, just as she was about to say Horell that the red tendrils she sent contained the only buff she could give, the first bolt of lightning had finally struck down as the bolts had finally acc.u.mulated enough energy. In response, Horell looked up at the clouds and focused his vision on the purple lightning bolt that was heading his way.
Not waiting for the lightning bolt to strike him, he extended one of his hands towards the bolts as he soon muttered an incantation. As a decently large magic circle soon manifested a few centimeters in front of his extended palm, a beam of light blue energy was soon fired at the purple lightning bolt, dispersing it in less than an instant. Unsurprisingly, thanks to the multiple buffs on his body, the amount of energy used from the beam to disperse the bolt was minuscule, allowing the beam to traverse even further than expected.
Seeing the beam continue in its path, Horell could not help but feel invincible from the number of buffs currently on him. Not long after, an intangible form of energy soon spread out through his body, increasing the amount of power he felt coursing throughout his body in an instant. At first, he was not sure where the boost in power came from. Fortunately, it did not take long for him to realize that it came from the bolt of lightning that tried to strike him down.
At this moment, his confidence was at an all-time high, allowing him to disperse the next two lightning bolts without a problem as more power coursed throughout his body with every lightning bolt he dispersed. On the other hand, Argentum looked at Horell's approach of dispersing the bolts with great interest, prompting him to mutter to himself in a slightly elated manner, ”Taking on an offensive approach instead of defensive one to disperse the bolts. I really like Horell's style.”
”Though I can't help but wonder where the 'Hyacinth' part of the trial would pop up,” he said not long after, waiting for the fourth bolt of lightning to strike Horell down after finding out that 'Five' meant five individual bolts. As for Herellia, she looked at Horell's current display of power with great awe, giving her the feeling that the current Horell in front of him truly gave off the vibe of the Supreme Guardian of the alliance.
Eventually, after a minute or so, the fourth bolt of lightning went down to strike Horell down. Unexpectedly, instead of going with the usual move of forming a beam to disperse the bolt, Horell could not help but ponder as to what would happen if he let the bolt come close to his body. And so, he waited for the bolt to come down, eventually finding out that he was lucky that he dispersed the lightning bolt at the very start.
At the moment the fourth purple lightning bolt was around halfway to reaching Horell, the purple lightning bolt soon split up into multiple red lightning bolts that took on a spiraling trajectory. Although these bolts were spiraling, if one were to take their time and look at the trajectory of each bolt, they would find out that all of them would still congregate to where Horell was. Being greeted with the sight of multiple red lightning bolts spiraling towards him, he then raised his right hand before slashing out with it horizontally as a blade of mana was conjured from that movement, dispersing the red lightning bolts in less than an instant.
Looking at the current scene, Argentum was finally enlightened as to why there was the word 'Hyacinth' in the name of the trial. Just like how there was the word 'Blossoming' in his trial, the lightning bolt that was about to strike Horell down had bloomed like a flower. With that in mind, he could not help but mutter to himself, ”Why do our Power Baptisms have the names of flowers in them? Is there a reason for it or something?”
Rumble…rumble…
Unfortunately for Argentum, just as he was about to ponder over the reason for the weird naming scheme of Power Baptisms, a sound of thunder far louder than before resounded throughout the area, prompting him to look at the dark clouds. At the very instant he did, a brief aura of shock radiated from him, which was soon replaced with understanding as he let out a sigh and muttered, ”I guess my hunch was correct. Increasing one's power through the use of skills, as long as there's a qualitative change to it, would definitely make the trial relatively harder.”
In less than an instant, the purple lightning darting through the clouds had changed color, taking on a light blue hue as the intent of destruction emanating from them had undergone a qualitative change. Naturally, the light in the center had taken on a light blue hue as well.
Noticing the change in color and aura, Horell could not help but look at Argentum, non-verbally asking him as to what was going on. In response, Argentum told him that with his current power, it would be easy for him to disperse the lightning bolt as long as he used a strong move.
With Argentum's advice in mind, Horell then looked at the clouds with an aura of determination surrounding him as he inwardly psyched himself up for the bolt that was about to come. Eventually, a light blue lightning bolt went down from the clouds to strike Horell down. But just as he was about to prepare his strongest spell, the light blue bolt instantly split into tens of purple lightning bolts, slightly distracting Horell from preparing.
Fortunately, Horell was able to bring himself back to what was important, focusing all of his attention on the spell he was preparing as he extended both of his arms towards the oncoming purple bolts. Just as a few purple lightning bolts were about to hit Horell's body, the spell he was preparing was now finished, allowing him to conjure an orb that attracted the purple lightning bolts towards it.
In less than an instant, the tens of lightning bolts were absorbed by the orb Horell conjured, prompting him to raise the orb at a height that he and the others wouldn't be affected by the aftermath. After making sure that the orb was at an ideal height, he then snapped his fingers as he softly muttered in an imposing tone, ”Disperse.”
Fwoosh!
And just like that, the orb which contained the purple lightning bolts instantly shrunk in size before expanding to a great degree not long after. This process was repeated a few times until the orb seemed to be unable to withstanding the repeated shrinking and expanding, exploding into multiple particles of energy as the purple lightning bolts were dispelled in one fell swoop.
Whoosh!
A few seconds later, an intangible energy soon enveloped Horell's energy, allowing the power inside his body, which had gradually increased throughout the trial, to undergo a qualitative change as the aura radiating from him had become more imposing. Concurrently, the dark clouds a few thousand meters over his head had now begun to disperse, prompting Argentum to head towards Horell without hesitation while radiating an aura of happiness.
”Congratulations, Horell!” Argentum said at the very instant he had arrived in front of him. In response, Horell let out a light chuckle as he responded, ”Thanks. I think I wouldn't have successfully cleared that if it wasn't for your buffs.”
”No worries, no worries,” Argentum said in response to Horell's words of gratitude as he lightly giggled. He then pondered over something for a bit before telling it to Horell, saying, ”Anyways, since your power has increased quite a lot…”
”Don't you think it's time for you to undergo your second Power Baptism?”
”…”
”…”
”Are you serious?”
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