Lilia could boast about her awareness and judgment on the battlefield. It was a necessary aptitude to possess when directing war and granting its participants the correct buffs at the right time.
That's why, she was certain something was about to happen when she saw Rakna's smile. On instinct, she looked down from where she stood on top of Draggy's head and immediately spotted the emerald eyes of the Hydra. Unfortunately, it was too late.
In the next instant, countless stone 'spears' shot out from under water. Their number was such that she couldn't even imagine being able to count them. Not to mention, all of them were wrapped in the effect of an unknown magic; making them incredibly fast.
Before she knew it, hundreds of those spears actually pierced into her tamed beast's tough scales and caused it to roar in pain and anger. The dragon's eyes turned downward in fury and, without her input, was about to summon a new magma sword. But before long, something else happened.
The Wilden's movements slowed to a halt and Lilia immediately noticed why. Each wound caused by the spears was spreading stone itself, petrifying the flesh around it and applying something she was very much attuned to; a speed debuff.
"Let's start properly then," Rakna spoke up with a grin and Pronos promptly emerged, lunging at the World Boss with great momentum.
Lilia furrowed her eyebrows, tapping the head of her tamed beast with her staff. "[Cleanse,]" she intoned an almost boringly simple keyword, but the effect was nothing such. In the blink of an eye, the dragon was freed from the petrification.
The World Boss snarled and completed the invocation of a new magma sword, while also ejecting the spears out of its body. The sword was swung at Pronos and the Hydra riposted by making one of his own; solid poison turned into a weapon.
He held the equally giant weapon in between his fangs and clashed with his opponent. At the moment of collision, Pronos' eyes flashed and his Infinity Magic nullified the momentum between the two of them.
Without a second wasted, he took advantage of the opening and slipped past the dragon's defense. He conjured eight other swords, wielded by each of his heads, and stabbed them into the half-Wyrm's body.
The dragon cried out in pain and retreated using its superior flight ability. Lilia narrowed her eyes at the swords injecting their element into her tamed beast. She whirled her staff, standing straight despite the sudden movements, and cast another spell.
"[Grace of The Toximancer,]" she chanted calmly and halted the advance of Pronos' poison in the blink of an eye. She could have just as easily cleansed the poison, but preventing future toxins as a whole was a much more prudent alternative.
"Would you look at that?" Gray chuckled as he watched from a distance. "So, that's what the little snake was doing down there," he said as countless statues slowly surfaced one after another.
They had humanoid shapes, but the head and lower body of a snake. All of them wore armor like warriors and held bows taller than themselves. The water turned to stone at the tiniest of contacts with them and their eyes glowed an eerie green.
The truth was that Pronos had received one very specific gift from Arimane. His petrification had gone from being solely a Nirvana Skill to a combination with an Ultimate Skill.
Now, not only himself, but anything touched by his mana itself, and thus his magic, would also be petrified. And to top it off, whether it be the summoned statues or himself, anyone who stared too long would also start to turn to stone.
"How frightening," Tira smiled as the sea was quickly swarmed by an army of serpent warriors. Now he knew where those thousands of 'spears' had come from. Those bows were just big enough to make their arrows look like spears, especially due to their material.
Incidentally, soon after they came out, the statues collectively tore out a chunk of the water they had petrified themselves and shaped them into arrows with mana. They nocked it onto their bows and pulled, crisp sounds accompanying it due to the strings being stone.
Soon enough, they shot again but not before their eyes flashed with an infinity sign synchronized with Pronos' own. The arrows rocketed toward their target at speeds far above the speed of sound.
"[Protection From Arrows,]" Lilia spoke coldly and her skill activated instantly. About two-thirds of the spear-like arrows somehow deviated from their path, missing their target. But the rest had enough power behind them to overcome her ability and pierce into the World Boss.
She clicked her tongue whilst casting Cleanse again. She hadn't learned any skill or spell capable of preventing petrification permanently. At least, not without resorting to high-tier measures. She also quickly realized that the Hydra's magic was tricky. Not only did it accelerate and increase the power of projectiles, but it also accelerated the spread of petrification.
"Getting annoyed?" Rakna's chuckle echoed from a distance and she looked at the source. Atop the middle head of Pronos, he sat half-crouched like a prowling wolf with Sonata shouldered. "I can't target you and I have to protect several positions; even from myself. It's a creative way of limiting my options. But, in the end, if I harass your little pet enough… I'll get a chance eventually."
"…" Lilia's stoic expression didn't change much. But, after a few seconds, the corner of her lips rose slightly in an enchanting smile. "No chance," she said almost softly and a colossal amount of mana poured out of her body. The sheer density of it made it manifest physically.
Rakna smiled wryly, not surprised in the slightest. 'I provoked her into using it quite fast...' There was one Ultimate Skill she possessed that he had immediately labeled as dangerous. It had a high cost and could only be used on 'bound' or 'tamed' creatures.
"[Unspoiled Rebirth – Yin,]" Lilia chanted and her mana flowed into the dragon. It painted itself black and white and then separated into two. The half-Wyrm roared as the darker half fused with its soul and was then expelled through its mouth.
Over the next few seconds, the cloud of conceptual force shaped itself into an identical dragon with inverted colors. Its scales were white instead of black, and its dark blue and red features were all swapped.
A quick check confirmed what Rakna already knew; the two creatures had the same strength. They were both the same being, not clones, and yet as strong as one another.
The Yin's Unspoiled Rebirth was a process involving the extraction of a conceptual existence; an untapped possibility, a forsaken parallel life, or a contradictory nature. Both dragons were one and the same, not sharing power, but wielding the same source.
The newly summoned dragon promptly manipulated its scales and summoned weapons similar to its counterpart. The difference was that the ax had become one made of ice, and the sword was now made of Aqerite stone.
Subjected to the glares of both draconic beasts, Rakna grinned lightly, and Pronos responded with the same amount of aggressiveness. "Look at you; reminds me of myself," the werewolf chuckled as he saw the opposition of magma and ice.
Lilia silently waved her staff at her second dragon and reapplied the Nirvana Skill she had used on her first one earlier, doubling its attributes as well.
Rakna clicked his tongue. "That's broken. For that skill not to have a cost or cooldown, but a target cap is just crazy," he grumbled and she smiled again.
"Chance?" She asked succinctly and the werewolf snickered.
"Yes, yes…" He shook his head. "Very impressive. But… it's still not enough," he narrowed his eyes and everyone from Throne of Glory shivered, sensing an impending force. It was raw, pure, and all too powerful.
Rakna grew a seventh tail in an instant and he set free the power contained inside. In the blink of an eye, his strength had more than doubled and Lilia's expression became a bit more serious. This was something she had no knowledge of; an ability Rakna learned after his fight with his uncle.
"You should know by now, right?" The werewolf suddenly spoke up with a grin.
"…?"
"I can reassign my attributes at will," he said and contracted his muscles. "In my current state… the unrestrained, highest value I can have, is probably around 4 000."
Lilia genuinely shuddered at the figure. She herself didn't have a single attribute above a thousand and while she was confident in being able to raise her highest value above 4 000 with her buffs, it was slightly terrifying to hear Rakna could do it. For two reasons; he was still below level 300, and he had been forbidden from using a much stronger transformation…
"And as you guessed, with the Full Moon, I could crank that up to 12 000," Rakna added as if it was a casual statement. "Well… a punch of that level would annihilate my body, but it still counts."
The tamer squinted her eyes with a hint of a pout on her lips. "Bragging?"
The werewolf grinned. "Me? Never," he said and snapped his fingers, revealing a constellation hovering behind him. "I was just buying time to draw this," he snorted. "[Aquarius.]"
At his call, the full constellation, drawn to its utmost detail, rippled and swirled into the shape of a young man carrying an amphora in his arms. Unlike his first summon at Rakna's hands, his form was complete this time, and his appearance was the perfect description of fair and handsome. His blue hair, reaching his shoulders, and his bright turquoise eyes gave him that much more charm.
"It's been a while, Ganymede," Rakna greeted. "But for now, do what you do best. This is your home turf. You are in charge of protecting everyone here who still has the remnants of my rune magic on them, got it? You can use as much mana as you want."
"Understood, Lord Monarch," the constellation entity bowed respectfully and transformed briefly into a stream of water, landing on the surface of the ocean with a small smile. He promptly twirled the container he held and on cue, the water of Atlantis stirred to his command.
In a place like this, Aquarius reigned supreme. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of tons of water were laced with magic power. Pillars were raised and cyclones formed protectively around each of the guild members without even touching their clothes.
"This water…" Merlina inspected her new 'protection'. "It feels as if it was the product of a high-tier spell despite having been sourced naturally…"
"Hey, hey, isn't this a bit too scary?" Varq ran a hand through his hair. He raised an eyebrow at the back of Ganymede through the curtain of water. "That guy over there… Am I tripping or is he close to an Earthen God's level of power?"
"4000 Attribute Points," Tira chuckled in response. "If he concentrated it all on Intelligence while casting, obviously the result would be much more potent. And he doesn't even need to maintain that distribution once the summoning is over…"
"That's unfair as fuck!"
"Hahahaha! Looks like we're pretty much out of the test now," Tairen laughed.
"Hm, I wouldn't say that yet," Geisman retorted calmly. "If Lilia starts focusing on us for good…"
As the guild discussed the outcome of the battle, they were interrupted by Rakna firing a Cataract at the inverted dragon. The latter riposted by cleaving the spell in two, letting the halves explode behind it in a spectacle of obsidian shards.
At the same time, Pronos fired an Eion Fission Stone, using his magic to turn it into a laser instead of a downright nuclear blast, which the World Boss was forced to parry with his ax.
Of course, both of those actions were followed by a volley of petrification arrows. Lilia frowned at that, casting a new layer of Projectile Protection and preparing a new Cleanse as well. At this stage, they were pretty much in a stalemate until either side decided to be more aggressive.
"…Draggy 1, Draggy 2," she uttered, making everyone who heard her smile wryly. Regardless, at her beckoning, both dragons immediately grouped and she began floating upward. She let go of her staff and let it hover behind her on its own.
She spread her arms, each palm facing one of her tamed beasts. "[Ô Master of Nobles, Ancient One From Yonder, Bless Thy Kin,]" she chanted and golden auras shrouded both Bosses.
"[Grace of The Dragon Lord.]"
A surge of power exploded from the two creatures and they promptly opened their mouths whilst pointing their swords forward as well. Energy began to gather inside their maws and at the tip of their blades.
'Their Breaths,' Rakna groaned and raised his hand, his palm ready to fire a full-power Slātta Raja with his highest Intelligence possible, but abruptly stopped when Lilia advanced, placing herself in front of the dragons with a small smile. 'That little…' The werewolf's expression twitched. 'This would count as me attacking her. Isn't that a bit too shameless?'
He lowered his arm and smiled helplessly. "Well then… little guy," he glanced downward and one of Pronos' heads looked back. The werewolf grinned. "Ready?"
The Hydra cried out loudly and both of them flared their respective auras. Then, as they got closer to each other, said auras began to encroach into each other, homogenizing their colors into one. All of the people present realized what it was.
Lilia's eyes widened and waved her hand, prompting the dragons to roar. The two Dragon Breaths made the Plateau quake as they were fired and merged into one. This was an attack Rakna wouldn't be able to endure unscathed even if he put every point into Endurance.
However, even as it approached, he smirked fearlessly and spoke only one word.
"[Resonance.]"
A black aura outlined by purple, and a green one outlined by gold, immediately fused. The bodies and silhouettes that they originated from broke down into a swirl of energy.
Ganymede calmly raised a giant circular wall of water, delineating the area where the Breaths were about to hit, and not even a second after he did that, they struck. For a short moment, every sound became muffled. Then in the next, a burst of ice and magma exploded in opposite directions, and lastly, the very atmosphere shook as an explosion blew up the walls of water.
Hundreds of the archer statues turned into rubble from the shockwave alone, and Ganymede flew back as his fortifications were breached. But he created a tidal wave instead, launching it toward the epicenter of the blast to buffer the rest of the blast.
Of course, he also strengthened the defensive cyclones around the Throne of Glory members and turned them into opaque bubbles capable of extreme shock absorption.
Similarly, Lilia retreated atop the World Boss and watched the pillar of draconic energy rise into the sky. She narrowed her eyes and as she suspected; a new color quickly emerged. An eerie black adorned with wavy patterns of emerald and purple. It grew in size and swallowed the explosion before snuffing it out.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
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Resonance with Contracted Soul Beast, Pronos, Initiated!
Compatibility Level: 92%.
Type: …Error!
Soul Resonance… Full Resonance… Error!
Resonance Type Unknown!
⠀
---
⠀
The Soul Beast's Base Attributes will be added to the Host's!
Infinity Magic has been temporarily learned!
Myriad Poison Magic has been temporarily learned!
Statue Magic has been temporarily learned!
Mystic Magic has been strengthened!
Poison Immunity has been temporarily gained!
…
Nine-Fold Kaleidoscope has been temporarily learned!
Eion Fission Blast has been temporarily learned!
Infinity of Stone has been temporarily learned!
…
Superior Regeneration has been temporarily gained!
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
A suffocating presence filled the air and a pair of slitted golden eyes opened, crossing with Crystal Sight and forming a six-pointed star. The shadows of seven large tails slithered behind the steam caused by the evaporation of the water.
When the natural cover finally went down, a creature more than ten meters tall was unveiled. Its tails, incredibly large compared to the rest of its body, moved about on their own, each ending into the head of a hissing snake; the fur seemingly alive and with fangs tinted gold.
The creature's claws were scaled azure and purple, ending at the elbows and knees where it once again reverted to being pure fur. Over its torso and shoulders, golden lines formed a symmetrical pattern and joined into a single point above the heart. Its head remained largely lupine, with longer fangs, akin to a vampire, and a dark green highlight around the eyes.
"Well, well…" A voice, growly and breathy at the same time, echoed clearly. A grin split the serpent werewolf's face, his fangs glinting ominously. "Up for Round 2?"