Chapter 525: Sigil (1/2)

Zac finally understood why the cultists had acted so weirdly until now. A few of them had simply been sacrificial pawns for Zac to kill in hopes that it would make him lower his guard. The cultists utilized the fact that everyone thought of them as insane zealots with no regard for their lives. They were ruthless against others, but perhaps even more-so against themselves.

But the real method to deal with him was obviously not the meager defense in front of the main temple, and the inscription in the mountain wall was probably just a red herring as well. The real threat was brooding inside the lava itself, its presence obscured by the huge rune and the natural fire-attuned energies of the volcano itself.

That only left the issue of the nine flame crystals. Zac had immediately remembered the invasion of Port Atwood the other week when he saw them setting up their “array”. The invaders had set up a very similar constellation back then to summon the set of meteors. Nine clergymen set themselves ablaze in a circle around him, just like these ones planted the crystals in a circle around the incursion pillar.

Were the actions back on the island all a sacrifice to trick him into destroying those crystals?

The utter lack of powerful arrays had also made him lower his guard somewhat after he had destroyed everything that looked like a threat. But the golden insignia in the sky radiated a terrifying pressure, even eclipsing the force of Adriel’s blast that was powered by four array towers.

Figuring out how they had actually managed to create the massive avatar in the sky obviously wasn’t as important as getting the hell out of here though. He activated [Cosmic Gaze] to get a hint of how the burning fetters worked, and it was mostly fire-attuned as expected. However, there was also that other odd energy mixed withing; the energy of conviction.

The golden fetter seemed to be held together by the faith of these zealots, and Zac long knew their conviction was as strong as it could get. Zac growled with frustration as he tried cutting the bindings apart, but [Verun’s Bite] just flew straight through the flames without affecting it at all. Infusing the blade with his Dao Fragments didn’t make a lick of difference either, it was even more intangible than the ghosts he had fought until now.

He tried ignoring the pain and keep running away next, and he was soon screaming on top of his lungs as he stretched the flames to their limits. He was hoping to snap the fetter with brute force, but the pain quickly became too much to bear even for him, forcing him to move back toward the incursion pillar once more.

A bell suddenly echoed across the basin, a clear gong that seemed to reach the depths of his soul. It obviously came from the rune in the sky, like it was announcing the descent of the divine. A few cracks echoed out from his body and he coughed out another mouthful of blood, just in time to see a waterfall of fire fall out from the sky.

The flames came out of the insignia itself, and it felt like time itself slowed down as it slowly made its way toward the ground. Zac’s danger sense was once again screaming at him to get away, and one glance was enough to realize that the fire that was currently moving toward him was far more dangerous than normal flames.

It was once more that power of conviction that made the flames almost seem holy, and Zac started to understand what was going on.

The Zealots had probably prayed toward the rune on the volcano since they arrived, constantly reinforcing it with the power of their conviction. The rune in turn had taken that energy and infused the golden insignia that now hung in the sky. Who knew what the end-goal was of this thing was, if Zac had not shown up to ruin their plans.

Set the whole world on fire?

Knowing the cultists it wasn’t such a far-fetched idea. The body snatchers would capture the high-value corpses of Earth, after which the fanatics torched the whole planet, leaving no evidence or lingering threats behind.

Zac’s mind churned as he tried to figure out a way out of the situation, and he could eventually only come up with one solution. Space split apart above him as he ran toward the incursion, once more jumping on top of the roof closest to the pillar itself.

The wooden hand of [Nature’s Punishment] rose toward the sky, but Zac frowned when he felt the hand being rebuffed as it tried to ascend after a certain height. The three lines hummed as it released a radiant light, and Zac found himself unable to place the skill above the insignia, like it was some sacrilege that went against the order of the heavens themselves.

It immediately dashed his idea of drowning the burning sigil in a deluge of water.

With his first plan ruined he could only move to his backup plan, and he instead activated the hand where it was. The enormous emerald fractal lit up in the sky, and a torrent of water started pouring out. However, the water didn’t target the insignia itself, but rather the golden flames it spewed out. He could at least deal with the flames even if he couldn't take out the root cause just yet.

A massive explosion threw Zac off the roof again as the water of [Nature’s Punishment] was instantly turned into steam the moment it came in contact with the holy flames. The same happened to the streams that missed the flames and instead fell on the lava below, but the reaction at least managed to slow the lava's advance toward his location.

Pain racked Zac’s body, but he made sure to keep the skill going as he scrambled back on his feet, pushing [Nature’s Punishment] to its limits as he infused it with the Fragment of the Bodhi.There was thankfully no lack of water with such an enormous lake nearby, and enough liquid to submerge a city block burst out of the fractal.

Zac breathed out in relief as he could quickly make out that the descending sea of golden flames had been stopped in its tracks, whittled down by the incessant outpouring of water. However, that didn't mean that he had won, but rather that he had entered a competition of endurance of which skill would run out of steam first.

If it was just a cultivator on the other side, then Zac would have been confident in outlasting them without breaking a sweat, but he quickly came to realize that he was dealing with something else entirely as the seconds passed. Sweat started streaming down his whole body from the heat and exertion, and he felt that he wouldn't be able to keep the skill going for much longer.

It wasn't an issue of Cosmic Energy, but simply that there was a limit to how long the skill could function. However, he could sense that the energy that the golden lines radiated had been expended by more than half, meaning it wasn't some infallible item that drew power from the heavens or something.

Only five seconds remained on [Nature's Punishment], and he immediately made his choice as he pushed the golden hand to readjust itself somewhat. The emerald fractal that came with the skill was pretty much fixed after having been activated, but he could tilt it a little bit, which allowed him to change the direction of the stream of water.