Chương 207

The fourth temple wasn't a room. It was a massive, underwater chasm located at the edge of a deep-sea drop-off. Rudra stood on the edge of a slippery rock cliff. Below him, the dark ocean spun in a terrifying, colossal vortex. It looked like a giant washing machine. The water roared as it churned.

"The first trial tested your endurance against the crushing weight of the sea," Neria's serene voice echoed over the crashing waves.

"This trial is very different, Challenger. The vortex will try to pull you into the abyss. The beasts here are not mindless, endless swarms like the murlocs. They are elite predators. They use the high-speed currents to strike and quickly retreat. You must maintain your center against the tide and survive until the vortex retreats."

"Got it," Rudra said. He looked at Kratos.

"You hate water. Stay up here on the cliff."

"Gladly," the lion huffed. He immediately sat down on a dry, flat rock and closed his eyes. Rudra jumped off the cliff. [You have entered the Fourth Trial of the Orca Archipelago!] He splashed into the churning water. The current immediately tried to suck him down into the dark abyss. The physical pull was insane. He felt like he was being dragged by a speeding truck. He needed to keep his resources up if he was going to fight in this mess. He activated [Mumud's Spell Drain].

A 50-meter vacuum field formed around him in the water. It sucked in the ambient mana and health from the environment, pulling it directly into his body. It kept his mana and stamina bars perfectly topped off. The vortex flared brightly. Elite oceanic predators spawned from the center of the whirlpool. Massive armored sharks with thick steel-like plating and jagged, poison-fanged sea-serpents rushed him from all sides. Rudra didn't try to swim against the current.

He let the water spin him around, adjusting his footing as the monsters closed in. He also activated [Legendary Sage's Eyes]. If he was going to be stuck in here fighting elite monsters, he might as well scan them to see if he could steal any good skills or blueprints. He started his swing. [Avalanche]. He hit a shark in the snout. The heavy dark metal of Extortion cracked its jaw. Because of the skill, Rudra's swing speed and attack weight instantly increased by 60%.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. He hit a serpent. It increased again. He kept the combo going, refusing to break his stance. He bounced the staff from target to target. His [Saint's Momentum] triggered. Because he was constantly swinging, his physical damage multiplier infinitely scaled up by 10% per strike. His damage reduction also scaled toward 99. 9%.

With his [Boots of Kurson] equipped, every consecutive hit, his Agility and movement speed increased by 10%, up to a maximum of 100%. He was getting faster. He was hitting harder. The staff became a total blur of dark metal and blue lightning. [Echo Strike] triggered constantly. Phantom aftershocks rippled through the water, shattering monsters before he even properly looked at them.

The [Rhythm of Agony] and [Extreme Energy Transfusion] skills acted as a massive lifesteal engine, keeping his health bar completely full no matter how many times a shark managed to scrape him. He activated [Influence] every hour. The defense of all enemies within 50 meters dropped by 50%. The heavily armored sharks suddenly felt like they were made of wet paper. A massive sea-serpent tried to crash down on his head. [Troll's Spite]. His trench coat hardened into iron.

He took the hit, cutting the incoming damage in half, and just kept swinging. He infused [Sacred Force] into his staff. Splash damage erupted with every hit, dealing 50% extra damage to all demonic-aligned predators in a 10-meter radius. He turned his brain off. He just fought, keeping his [Legendary Sage's Eyes] wide open to absorb data. The endless loop of violence became a steady, thumping rhythm. But after the first day, Rudra realized something incredibly annoying. This wasn't a good farming spot.

Unlike the mindless murlocs from the first trial, these elite predators were smart. If he hit an armored shark and it survived his initial combo, it wouldn't stay to fight. It would just catch the high-speed current of the vortex and rapidly escape into the deep abyss where Rudra couldn't follow. He was missing out on a ton of experience points because half his targets kept running away. He stayed in the whirlpool for three full days anyway, stubbornly crushing whatever stayed in his range.

Up on the cliff, Kratos slept for most of the time. The lion occasionally woke up, yawned, and looked down at the flashing blue lightning deep in the water before going back to sleep. Outside the temple, Thalassa paced back and forth on the beach.

"It has been three suns," Thalassa muttered, looking at the ocean.

"No man has that kind of stamina. The vortex must have consumed him." Neria just smiled softly.

"He has not been consumed, Chief. He seems quite comfortable." On the third day, the vortex finally slowed down. The spawn rate of the temple couldn't keep up with the absurd, infinitely scaling damage output of the Staff Saint. But more importantly, the physical momentum of Rudra's swings was literally pushing the heavy water back. He was swinging so fast and so hard that he was displacing massive amounts of the ocean. He completely broke the physical current holding the whirlpool together.

The vortex finally collapsed and the remaining monsters instantly despawned. Rudra floated up to the surface. He swam to the edge and climbed onto the rocky cliff. He was covered in grey monster bits and sticky sea salt. His black coat was torn in a few places. His muscles ached deeply from the nonstop, three-day grind. He let out a long, heavy breath and rested his staff on his shoulder.