233 The Synarch (1/2)

It seemed counter-intuitive, considering he had just been informed about a massive disaster to the north and especially considering his personal vendetta against the weaponry, but, all things considered, a massively powerful demon army about to release an eldritch entity that no doubt was Noctus was going to be a much, much, much more difficult thing to handle than a few missiles.

At the end of the day, missiles were just that: missiles. With his powers, he could intercept them. Send them away. Disable them. And so on and so forth. That was the beauty and power of magic. But an actual Old One?

That was a legitimate threat that had no easy workarounds. He could not banish it, because it by nature had resistance to the warping of space and time. He had to destroy it with raw, brute force, and that was not a battle he wanted to engage in if he could.

One of the reasons why Li could stomp his way through this entire world was because, in gaming terms, this whole world operated on a day 1 patch where content did not exceed vanilla level 100 standards. The introduction of the Old Ones was the first foray into level 100+ content, and Noctus's eldritch form was an established boss in the game that, though one of the easier Old Ones to handle, was something Li could not deal with unless it was strictly in a one versus one situation.

In an one on one situation, the fight would be evenly matched, even favored for the Old One, but Li was confident he could use his experience to clutch out a win, and he knew that sometime, he had to get rid of the entity.

He could not leave the west unattended as a result. He had to be there. He had to personally purge Noctus if the situation ever arose that the Old One was awakened. But preferably, he wanted the Old One to stay asleep until he could truly engage with it in a duel where the risk of collateral damage or interference was minimal.

It spoke many volumes that Li thought of actively avoiding a fight if possible. If any in this room understood the true nature, the sheer height of his power, it would certainly have shook all of them to their core that he would even worry.

”First of all,” said Li. ”Tell me, Meld, about the recording crystal in your pocket. That is what it is, no?”

He did not say this accusingly. He figured Meld had an explanation, and he was right.

Meld smiled lightly as she took out the crystal. She laid its pale white diadem shape on the table. ”I had come here with the belief that you I would have to prove myself to much greater extent. So, I recorded an admission of my defection from the duchess. Insurance against me. Keep it if it will ease your mind.”

”Much appreciated.” Meld straightened out her hand like the blade of a knife and then drew it down onto the crystal, the speed and precision of her movement obscuring her hand not just in motion blur, but in tendrils of shadow as well.

Her hand cut right through the crystal, and its two halves fell apart before breaking into tiny little shards.

”And here I thought you could only hide in shadows,” said Li.

”Oh, this is the result of training. We heroes have naturally higher potential for physical strength than regular humans, after all,” said Meld. ”And the principle is much the same as my normal power. My hand casts a shadow upon the gem before it lands, and then it is a matter of materializing my hand within the shadow, breaking apart whatever is within.”