Chapter 773: A Seed of Fear (1/2)
Two powerful auras clashed inside the enormous chamber, but Zac’s murderous intent and Dao were undeniably surpassed by Uona’s might. It was no surprise, considering she far surpassed him both on Dao and levels. She was a true Heaven’s Chosen, and she was even able to avoid part of the Twilight Energy’s restriction thanks to her heritage.
The blood mistress looked a bit different from the last time the two met. Her face was still as beautiful and ever, but two of her limbs were dark red and veiny, and Zac could feel how they lacked the spirituality of the rest of her body. It was no doubt a result of getting blasted with annihilation and having regrown the limbs using some sort of technique or healing pill.
Those limbs didn’t seem nearly as complete as his own regrown limbs, but the loss didn’t seem to have had much of an effect on her aura. Zac’s heart hammered as he looked around for a way to come out ahead, but he was instead coming up woefully short. No matter how he looked at it, his odds weren’t great.
He had expended more than half his Miasma already, and his biggest skill had been used up. The Shard of Creation was still churning out tremendous amounts of power, but he only had a quarter left of his Longevity Gem. Soon enough, he would have to pay with his life to keep using that cursed power.
Besides, he had already lost the element of surprise. He had been hoping to blast Uona with a surge of Creation, corrupting her blood in one go to seize an opening. But now, there was little chance of that happening. She clearly knew what the remnants were, and she would most likely figure out a way to minimize her exposure.
A seed of fear had taken root in his heart as he looked into the sanguine eyes of the vampire. This was one of the deadliest enemies he had ever faced. It almost felt like he was standing in front of that terrifying cyborg again, but there was little chance of Uona running out of life-span mid-fight.
But Zac pushed down the fear as he tightened the grip of his axe. He had managed to come up with a couple of gambits, but there was no telling if they would work. He would have to find the answer in the heat of the battle. The air exploded as Zac shot forward, a cascading wave of killing intent filling the air.
The domains of [Fields of Despair] and [Deathmark] were once more released, and the three pygmies had reformed behind his back. Zac noticed with some surprise that their auras had risen, while their bones had gained a dark shimmer. It wasn’t something related to Creation, but rather that the skill had actually evolved after the previous battle.
It wasn’t too surprising. He had used the skill quite a bit since entering the ocean. If anything, the upgrade was long overdue, even if E-grade skills took a lot longer time to evolve. It didn’t look like the evolution had added any new functions to the skill, but rather made it all-around stronger at the cost of slightly higher energy expenditure.
The evolution came at the right time as ten massive orbs of blood appeared in the chamber, forming a circle almost as big as the cage of [Pillar of Desolation]. They looked like sanguine suns, drowning out the darkness of [Deathmark] with a profane light. A stench of blood filled the air, and Zac suddenly found himself in a world of blood.
It was an illusory technique, yet it wasn't. It was a mix of real and fake, drowning out his senses while his domains were being dismantled. Oceans of blood had appeared all around him as thousands of streams filled his vision, but Zac ignored the confusion blur as he looked around to pinpoint Uona’s true location.
She had disappeared from her spot the moment the surroundings changed, proving that she didn’t want to fight him head-on. Unfortunately for her, Zac had a unique advantage in this case. No matter how strong her ability to restrain her aura, it didn’t affect the Splinter of Oblivion. It was like a lighthouse beacon in the world of blood, leading him in the right direction.
As he saw it, there were only two outcomes. Either Uona kept the remnant close to her, allowing him to locate her at any time. If she tried to hide it somewhere, like in a pocket of space, he would be able to snatch it, and hopefully manage to use its power to end the fight in one go.
Zac only managed to take a couple of steps toward the remnants before his mind screamed of danger, but the shield pygmy’s timing was impeccable. A shield rose the moment his Danger Sense warned him, blocking out a lance of blood. However, the spear was just the first of many, and Zac found himself bogged down as deadly attacks came from all around him.
It was the orbs of blood that were the source. They kept launching extremely powerful attacks while he was disoriented by the blood world. It was a highly effective cage, and it was pretty reminiscent of Zac’s own fighting style in this class. Still, with Zac’s extreme Luck, he had an early warning system, and it lasted him long enough to activate [Abyssal Phase] without using his hidden Void Power.
His bloodline was his most important hidden card, and he would have to use his Void Emperor talents where it counted.
The world of blood was still there as his surroundings shifted, but it had at least slowed down remarkably, allowing Zac to freely flitter between the incoming spears as he closed in on the splinter. The chamber was just over five hundred meters wide, and it would take him less than a second to reach the seemingly unassuming pool of blood.
However, just as Zac was about to reach it, a shockingly poignant scream of mortal peril stopped him in his tracks. He hurriedly regained his corporeal form, just in time to turn [Love’s Bond] into its shield form while also conjuring another coffin-shaped barrier above his head. It was just in time as well as a pillar of red light slammed into the pond with the remnant. Zac was right at the edge of the attack thanks to stopping in time, yet he found himself pushed to his knees by the pressure.
It felt like a Heavenly Punishment had descended from above, and the barrier of [Profane Exponents] only managed to weaken the attack before cracking, letting the light spill down on Zac who held up his shield to protect himself. His whole body groaned as he strained under the pressure, but he didn’t even have time to figure out a way to move away before another pang of danger came screaming. He desperately tilted his body, but it wasn’t enough as his left lung was completely punched through by a dark-red spear.
It was better than getting a hole punched in his neck, which was where the skill was originally aimed. With the force contained in that stab, he might have been decapitated altogether, which was probably something that not even the Shard of Creation could fix.
This time, the attack wasn’t a skill, but it was rather Uona herself who had appeared. She had completely transformed, donning an exquisite plate mail of dark-red metal which covered her from head to toe. Even her fingers were protected by fine interlocking scales that would have no problem bending, and the only thing visible from her face was two dark-red lights shining through a slit in her helmet.
Zac could immediately tell that this wasn’t a skill like his own [Vanguard of Undeath], but rather extremely high-quality equipment. It was covered in dense sets of fractals, and Uona was clearly infusing it with a steady stream of Miasma and blood power. The armor had in turn pushed her aura to the next level, and Zac guessed that its defenses were no doubt were excellent as well, possibly even surpassing [Love's Bond].
Normally, people in the lower grades wouldn’t use such gear because of the massive energy requirements to keep it powered. One’s pathways simply couldn’t supply enough and still maintain combat effectiveness, turning skill summoning and energy circulation sluggish. That would do more harm than good, making it much more practical to use defensive talismans or barrier conjuring treasures like necklaces and rings.
Only at the D-grade would one’s pathways be widened and energy supply so great that you could equip proper war gear to boost both power and defenses, but it looked like there were some exceptions. Uona was somehow able to withstand the downsides of such demanding gear, which put Zac at even more of a disadvantage.
The pain of getting a hole punched straight through his lung was excruciating, but he found his opportunity to finally counter the blood mistress. A surge of Creation entered the vampire's spear, overwhelming and corrupting the innate ability of the weapon to block foreign Dao. The spear immediately started to distort, but Zac’s heart sunk when he only heard a snort from within the helmet.
The next moment, the spear simply exploded as Uona disappeared in a burst of blood, perfectly avoiding the fallout. Zac wasn’t as lucky, and deep scars covered his whole body as small spatial fractures lacerated him all over. Only then did he finally manage to get out from the restrictive light.
He realized he had mistaken Uona’s class. He already knew that most Eternal Clan members were Vitality-based cultivators, no matter if they leaned toward physical fighting as he did, or rather classical magic classes. Higher Vitality nurtured their blood, which in turn powered their class. Zac had figured she was a blood mage after their last battle, focusing on Vitality and Intelligence, but he was wrong.