Chương 189

The courtyard was dead silent. The witches didn't dare make a sound. Most of them have never heard of this distinction between the Saint path and a Legend's path and they were all quite astonished by the content of the talk between the Staff Saint and his Head Mage.

"Mumud," Rudra said, his voice dropping to a serious tone.

"If you want to get revenge on your teacher for turning you into a Lich, the first thing you can do is show that you are better than him, right?" Mumud didn't answer. He was trembling slightly.

"Instead of just relying on magic formulas and old rules," Rudra said, pointing at the teleportation circle drawn on the ground.

"Why don't you use your Will to turn normal magic into legendary phenomena? We have the Demonic Force. I will find the Divine Energy. Let's break all the rules and make our own." Rudra grinned.

"Let's figure out how to make you the first Magic Saint." Mumud's worldview was completely shattered. The concept of transcending the Magic's rules and formulas using pure Will was something he had never even considered in his long yet miserable life. He had spent his entire life trying to improve his magic spells like his Teacher even after he was turned to a Lich. He had never tried to just break the equation. His eyes burned with a sudden, intense fascination. They flickered wildly. Mumud didn't say a word.

He just turned back to the ground. He moved incredibly fast. He no longer just traced the teleportation runes. He forced his mana directly into the stone, completely disregarding the standard casting time and formula limits. The teleportation array flared with a blinding blue light, easily expanding to cover the entire courtyard in a fraction of a second.

"Get in," Rudra told Alex and the witches. Elara blinked, snapping out of her trance. She quickly ushered her coven onto the glowing blue lines. Before she stepped into the circle herself, Rudra raised a hand.

"Wait, Elara. One quick question," Rudra said.

"Do you know if there are any divine beasts in this area? Something with a massive amount of divine energy." Elara paused and thought for a second.

"Due north of this island, you will be able to reach a cluster of 15 islands known as Orca Archipelago. It is said there are a couple of Divine Orcas around habitating those islands. If you want a place with massive Divine Energy then that is the place I would recommend, my Lord." Rudra opened his own map. He looked at the red markers for Asterion's remaining trials. There were exactly fifteen markers clustered together just north of his current location.

"Fifteen islands. Fifteen temples," Rudra smiled to himself. It was a perfect coincidence. Elara bowed her head and stepped onto the teleportation array. She looked back at him in confusion.

"You aren't coming with us, my Lord?" Elara asked.

"Not yet," Rudra said. He rested Extortion on his shoulder and took a step back from the glowing circle.

"I still have some objectives to be completed." Alex looked at Rudra from inside the circle. The half-witch offered a warm, supportive smile.

"Please take care of yourself out there," Alex said gently.

"We will make sure the city is ready for your return."

"I'll be fine," Rudra laughed.

"See you guys soon." Mumud looked at Rudra one last time. The Lich didn't say anything, but his eyes were burning brighter and fiercer than they had in centuries. He tapped his staff on the ground. The circle flashed brilliantly. With a massive rush of displaced air, Alex, Mumud, and hundreds of witches vanished. The bright blue light faded, leaving behind only faint scorch marks on the stone floor. Rudra was left entirely alone in the empty, quiet courtyard.

He walked over to the broken stone wall and looked out toward the grey, churning ocean. The wind whipped at his torn trench coat. Before today, he had just planned to clear out Asterion's remaining temples for the quest and for the Skill Fragments loot, but things had changed. He needed a divine catalyst. He needed an object of divine power to balance the demonic force's catalyst currently sitting in his bag. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

And thanks to Elara, he knew exactly where to find the materials. He was going to raid every single temple Asterion had still left and then find a way to procure or create a catalyst with pure Divine energy Rudra rolled his shoulders, feeling the heavy, comfortable weight of his new boots. He gripped his black staff, turned his back on the empty courtyard, and started walking outside so that he could summon Vritria.

"[Summon: Vritra"] Within moments of summoning Vritra, the clear sky instantly darkened. Heavy, freezing rain started to pour. A massive, pure white serpent dropped from the sudden storm clouds and floated quietly right beside him, electricity sparking off its scales. You seem to have grown stronger, Partner, Vritra spoke directly into his mind.

"I beat up a Great Demon," Rudra shrugged.

"So yeah, you could say I got a little stronger." He paused, looking at the massive serpent. After he had leveled up from killing Kurson and getting his hands to a bunch of new and broken skills, he had started to get a little carried away, so he wanted to compare himself to his partner to see their gap He activated his [Character Observation] skill.

[Name: Vritra] [Species: Mutated Storm Serpent] [Level: 485] [Health: 75, 000, 000] [Mana: 35, 000, 000] [Strength: 4, 500 | Stamina: 5, 100] [Agility: 6, 800 | Intelligence: 5, 600] [Dignity: 3, 200 | Indomitable: 2200] [A rare biological mutation born in the storm serpent race. He has been blessed with lightning and ice manipulation instead of wind and water like his brethren. He aims to become the Storm King, just as his Ancestor was when they fought alongside the Titan Commander. - Currently bound by an Equal Contract with the Player 'Rudra'. Cannot be contracted by other beings.] -Skills Possessed- Calamity of the Sky (SS), White Breath (SS), Domain of the Storm King (SSS), Conductive Frost (SS), White Flash (A), Roar of the Usurper (?) [Domain of the Storm King] Rank: SSS (Passive) Vritra automatically changes the local weather within a 10-kilometer radius into a violent freezing storm.

Inside this zone, Vritra's Ice and Lightning damage increases by 100%, and his stamina recovery rate triples. The storm worsens the longer he fights and is capped at 10 times the effect [Conductive Frost] Rank: SS (Active) The serpent's white scales can generate high-voltage electricity and thick frost as a result of his mutation. Reflects 50% of all physical damage back to the attacker as Lightning damage.

Melee attackers have a very high probability of being immediately 'Stunned' and 'Frostbitten' upon making physical contact. [Skill Cooldown Time: 10 minutes] [White Breath] Rank: SS (Active) Spits a highly concentrated beam of pure white lightning. Deals massive magic damage and permanently freezes the surrounding terrain. If the target is already suffering from frostbite or is frozen, the breath ignores all of the target's defense.

Skill Cooldown Time: 10 minutes [Calamity of the Sky] Rank: SS (Passive) The serpent is capable of flight without wings. Movement speed in the sky is completely unaffected by gravity, weight, or wind resistance. [White Flash] Rank: A (Active) Uses lightning mana to instantly dash up to 100 meters in any direction. Leaves behind a frozen afterimage that explodes into sharp ice shrapnel if attacked. Skill Cooldown Time: 10 minutes [Roar of the Usurper] Rank:?

(Active) An incomplete skill born purely from Vritra's ambition to become the Storm King. Releases a massive shockwave of sound, ice, and electricity in a wide area. Instantly shatters any ongoing magic casting from enemies in a 100-meter radius and drops all elemental resistances of enemies hit to zero for 10 seconds. There is a low probability of triggering a localized natural disaster upon roaring. Skill Cooldown Time: 1 hour. Rudra closed the window.

He was completely satisfied with his decision since Vritra's stats, skills and level alone was enough to give his overconfidence a nice little beating up. Thus Rudra planned to hunt for a couple of days to get a grip on his newly acquired titles, skills and items and hopefully hit level 300 before going all out and completing the 15 temples in one go. The motive to get stronger than Vritra did not play a minor role in this decision.

"Hey, Vritra," Rudra asked.

"Do you know any places nearby packed with strong monsters? I need a massive crowd." Vritra's massive head turned toward the south. There is a deep ocean trench just two miles from here. It is the hunting ground of the Dread-Sharks. How strong are they? Rudra asked. Individually, they are about one tier below that witch who travelled with you, Vritra explained. But they do not fight alone. They travel in frenzied schools of fifty to a hundred. If one smells blood, the entire pack swarms.

"Perfect," Rudra grinned, tapping his staff against the wet stone. He hopped up onto Vritra's wide, freezing back.

"Let's go fishing."