Chapter 678: Tyrant (1/2)
Zac didn’t mind the announcer’s tone since he understood that the man was just playing things up to elicit more bets. He was more interested in the results of the last battles. The effect of his two Dao Fragments on his new skill was pretty interesting. The Fragment of the Bodhi increased the number of leaves, and Zac felt that they also contained more energy, which would make them harder to destroy.
Meanwhile, adding the Fragment of the Axe actually decreased the number of leaves compared to no Dao-infusion at all, but it did instead drastically increase the lethality of the individual leaves. That left the Fragment of the Coffin, but Zac wasn’t too certain he would be able to infuse that skill with his third Dao Fragment.
Besides, Zac wanted to avoid using that Dao in his human form if possible. It was something Zac had decided upon over the past years as he had arduously worked on incorporating his Path into the way he fought. He initially tried to incorporate everything he had envisioned, the trinity of life, death, and conflict, but it quickly became apparent that it was simply too huge a task.
So Zac came up with a plan. His first step would be to better mix Bodhi and Axe, Life and War, in his human form, while focusing on Coffin and Axe in his undead form. It was based on the creation of his Bronze- and pink flashes, or rather his Annihilation Sphere and Origin Mark. One half of him would delve into the depths of life through conflict, while the other into death and conflict.
That was why he had focused on only creating skills that followed these fusions. Both [Nature's Edge] and [Arcadia's Judgement] followed this rule, as did his two new skills for his Fetters of Desolation-class.
The second step would then be trying to somehow fuse these two battle styles into one coherent system that could fit across both his classes, using his Dao of the Axe as the bridge. It would be the equivalent of creating the Chaos pattern in the Tower of Eternity. Of course, that was a long road ahead, and it might not even turn out as he envisioned right now.
The first step was simply shoring up his understanding and his foundations, but he still hadn’t reached the point of how Adcarkas somehow merged with his Dao. Zac had made some inroads, but cultivation was an endless path of self-discovery. Three years simply wasn’t enough, at least not when cultivating in absolute safety as he had.
Zac was soon dragged out of his thoughts as a golden light appeared in front of him. This time there were just five beasts. They looked like huge creepy alien kangaroos with two sturdy legs keeping them upright and one ten-meter-long tail. They had no sharp claws though, and neither did they have any large fangs.
It made Zac a bit leery, as it made them seem like magical beasts, which often meant they were more powerful than common beasts.
“Oh! [Twinruin Battlecaller] quintuplets! These mentally linked beasts are quite a handful, and the larger the pack the greater the danger. Meeting quintuplets is both a blessing and a curse! A blessing because you’ve got to see a rare marvel of nature, a curse because it means you’ll probably die! A real terror of a challenge this time, and the last hurdle for membership! Place your bets!”
There were still three battles to be had, but that was just for the best version of the title. Zac could bow out after this fight and still become an outer member of the Big Axe Coliseum. Keep going, and you might get a better title along with a reputation. Fail, and you’d die since the battles were to the death. Zac was obviously aiming for a perfect run since he still hadn't been pushed very hard.
He also tried to understand what kind of beast a Battlecaller was, but neither their appearance nor the announcer’s description made it very clear. Then again, Zac guessed that it didn’t really matter, and he immediately shot forward. He wanted to end this quickly, so a splendid halo appeared behind his back. A simple yet powerful axe hovered in its center, and [Verun’s Bite] was imbued with a huge force.
“Oh my god! Our contestant has borrowed the image of the Heavenfall Autarch's cleaver! Is this a testament to his ambition? To follow in the path of the father of axes?” the announcer screamed, his voice an octave shriller compared to before.
Zac only snorted. He had already learned that the axe-man in his vision was a real person; the Heavenfall Autarch. He wasn’t from the Zecia sector, and he died tens of millions of years ago. Yet he still held fame all across the multiverse thanks to one of his fights being used to impart the Dao. That was something quite a few aimed for.
After all, true immortality was just a myth from what Zac had gathered, but being accepted by the System was a way to live on forever in the hearts of cultivators. There were even rumors of some sort of rewards to the descendants of Dao Teachers like the Heavenfall Autarch, as though the System were paying them licensing fees.
The distance between himself and the beasts was quickly shrinking, but the air suddenly started to vibrate before Zac found himself on a massive battlefield, frenzied cultists all around him. The fury of battle coursed through his veins, and his heart beat in sync with the drums of war. The war against the Church of Everlasting Dao had reached a fever pitch, but Zac only snorted as he flashed forward and swung at empty air.
It turned out the battlecallers were illusionists. They used the unusual attunement of the planet itself to deliver insidious and almost unnoticeable mental attacks. But how could Zac completely fall into confusion after evolving his soul? He still couldn’t completely block out the illusion even with his defenses, but he could still somewhat discern the truth like a superimposed reality.
The empty air was actually the closest battlecaller, whose sharp tail was already piercing toward Zac’s heart. Zac had sidestepped the attack and flashed forward with the help of his movement skill, and he was aiming to destroy the heart of the beast in return. However, found his axe impeded by a powerful barrier that didn’t even crack when attacked by [Conformation of Supremacy].
That was saying something, considering that he had already reached Middle Mastery for the skill, which had kicked its offensive power up a notch. Add to that the increased power of his axe, and the barrier had to be something else to not even crack.
“Oh! What powerful mental defenses! The contestant can even withstand a five-layered mental attack!” the announcer screamed, though his voice sounded muted and far in the distance. “But will it be enough?! The Battlecallers are not dreaded just for their mental attacks!”
Zac soon found that the announcer wasn’t speaking out of turn as the five battlecallers encircled him. They were an extremely tricky enemy. They combined powerful illusions, sturdy arrays, and powerful tails into a full combat system. Furthermore, their cooperation was so perfect that Zac suspected they were rather one entity than just mentally linked.
Another wave of dizziness hit him, but it was like his mind held multiple layers. Only the surface layer of his mind was steeped in the madness of the battlecaller’s abilities, whereas the core of his soul maintained perfect clarity. [Verun’s Bite] cut through the air in a ruthless arc, aiming straight at an incoming tail.
Their bodies might be guarded by a fierce shield, but would they really be able to maintain such strong defenses around their long tails? The battlecaller desperately retracted its tail by pivoting with almost impossible speed, but it still got a deep gash as Zac’s swing left a huge scar in the arena.
A pang of danger cut through the illusions assailing Zac's mind as a second, then a third tail short forward, taking advantage of the extremely minute opening. Zac was barely able to dodge the second stab by pivoting his torso, but he simply wasn’t quick enough to avoid the third one. A huge force slammed into his back, and Zac was lunged forward as the wind was knocked out of his lungs.
Only a shallow wound was left on his back even if the stab contained enough power to easily pierce through his body. It was all thanks to his new skill, [Innate Ward]. Just like the other skills from Brazla’s depository, it was a simple skill but with a strong direct effect. It formed a second layer of protection right beneath the skin, its power based on one’s Endurance.
It was simple and unadorned, but that also meant that the skill fractal fit with most classes. It was the same with Zac, who had no problem using the skill to over 85% of its full potential even when his human side was a Strength-Vitality class.
Another wave of illusion hit him as he righted his body, but Zac didn’t even try to push it away as he resumed his battle. In fact, he welcomed the illusion. Between his evolved soul, the unique attunement in the atmosphere, and the illusion, he felt himself making tremendous progress on his efforts to integrate War into his combat style.