[
You have received the Minor Blessing of A Worthy Advance.
A Worthy Advance:
Determination will see you through. As long as your heart remains focused, your steps will not falter. All attributes receive a comprehensive boost. Willpower is empowered significantly.
The Blessing will last until the end of combat.
]
Some part of his mind absently read the notification. Even as the slowed second… or few seconds became even longer due to the increased Perception, Lev needed some time to adjust.
The Blessing was nothing short of extraordinary. A boost to all attributes and willpower, almost precisely what he needed. And yet, it was merely a Minor Blessing.
He would’ve been unbearably curious about higher Blessings if his mind wasn’t occupied. How could it not be? Lev had just glimpsed a god and arrived at a singular conclusion.
… My patron divinity is a dragon?
Nothing else made sense. Many of the creatures from Earth’s media existed on Monarch, so it wasn’t really surprising, either. What about other mythical creatures, then?
Fairies? Elves? Phoenixes? Kirins? Wendigos?
Still, his mind remained on the one he had seen with his own eyes. An honest-to-Monarch dragon. A divine dragon. A dragon that dwarfed mountain ranges and-
Horrid feedback jerked him back to his senses. Chaos almost made him double over and retch. It screamed such wrongness into his brain that Lev doubted he was supposed to be able to withstand the mental assault. What was a mere Master compared to such a force?
All of that was due to simply perceiving Chaos in his manipulation range. His mind kicked into overdrive. One objective overtook them all. Allowing the corruptive force anywhere near him meant instant death or worse. He had to prevent that at any cost.
The key was right in front of him, locked in an invisible battle. Disruption and Chaos collided against the Fracturing Wave just as Lev threw all of his rapidly growing and stronger willpower at the slash.
Alongside the willpower, pure mana rushed into the attack. Lightning and fire devoured a significant portion of the infusion, allowed by the caster. The remaining fuel empowered the skill’s structure. His entire reserve of mana was gradually used up for that.
For a brief moment, the Blessing overtook his senses. Lev almost lost his grip on the Fracturing Wave from panic, barely holding on once realization dawned on him.
A message? He wondered, equal parts mesmerized, awed, scared, and concerned.
The Blessing empowered Arcane Intuition and Superior Senses. As if a layer of a veil fell away, suddenly, he could perceive more.
Ambient mana rushed towards the Goliath in amounts Lev struggled to process. There was so much of it, and yet, he couldn’t have seen it without the Blessing. Why? He had all the skills necessary to.
Another thing stood out. The Goliath was suddenly way closer, its teeth shining with mana, Chaos, and willpower.
Oh no, you don’t.
Moments away from being chomped in two, the Fracturing Wave shone much brighter. Chaos almost drilled into its structure and overpowered it. The sudden appearance of two things put that to a halt.
Aimed directly at the Goliath’s bald head, Stargazer descended with the might of an asteroid. Her weight was increased to an utterly ridiculous height, and with Lightning Surge, the glaive moved far faster than Lev could track.
Chaos still reacted in time.
A vacuum formed above the Goliath. All of Stagazer’s momentum slammed into that defense. The glaive paused mid-air, suspended and slowly losing steam. Above her, the sky turned brighter and brighter.
Lev’s attention was split multiple ways. He stopped powering his armor and held himself aloft with a rope, freeing up more brainpower. Any moment now, the second phase of his plan-
Stargazer pulsed once.
Distractions fell away. The stream of mana rushing into the Fracturing Wave was used at once. With all his mental might, Lev heaved, throwing the attack forward.
Caught flat-footed, the Goliath had no choice but to keep diverting its attention. Stargazer posed a bigger threat. And the twin slashes coming into existence above? Much more lethal than Lev’s whole plan.
Lev couldn’t resist a smile. Drakys and the mysterious helper were doing him a great favor. With one last struggle, he sent the Fracturing Wave into a frenzy, overloading it. The slash tore through the opposition right as a second pulse originated from his glaive.
All the mana and willpower stored inside Stargazer acted at once. Formations came alive, empowering Lightning Surge far beyond mere overload. Similar to the Fracturing Wave, it ripped the vacuum to shreds and burrowed into the monster’s head with a loud boom.
By luck, patience, and meticulous planning, the impact made the Goliath’s bite miss the Fracturing Wave by less than a meter. Its mouth snapped shut… right after the mana slash went past the rows of teeth.
Even better, the force of Stargazer’s descent was enough to make the monster’s legs strain, pushing it closer to the ground. Given the angle of the head peering down onto Lev, that allowed the Fracturing Wave to go even deeper into the throat.
For a blink, everything seemed to hold its breath. The calamity taking form above paused too, giving Drakys and the mysterious third party a moment of respite and planning.
Then the Goliath’s legs shivered. Hair stood on end as a few of them buckled, the monster tilting backwards. Lev’s celebration died early when unnervingly hateful eyes remained locked onto him.
Its head moved slightly, and that was when the slowed moment ended. Even the Blessing couldn’t stretch it any longer.
Fuck-
A deluge of lightning and flames rushed out of its slightly opened mouth. The bubble swallowed up Lev, rushing away with Lightning Surge just in time to prevent total disintegration.
The beam followed him even through the potent invisibility formations. Twice, it passed by close enough to drain his vitality somehow. No longer were the elements the ones he had fired with the Fracturing Wave. Chaos had warped them into something unholy, evolving them in ways they weren’t meant to be.
In half a second, the beam went from bright blue to a sickly red, almost brown. Wherever it passed, ambient mana was forcefully used as fuel, extending its range and power.
Still, his improved Perception and Intelligence pulled through. Whatever mana Lev regenerated was tossed into the bubble’s formations, letting him stay ahead of the attack while moving in confusing patterns. The Goliath wasn’t nearly smart enough to predict successfully.
That small relief left him with a startling realization. Earlier, he had assumed that the Blessing wanted to show him how Chaos interacted with ambient mana.
Oh, how wrong he was.
The further away he went from the Goliath, the more his throat constricted. An aura dwarfed the battlefield, so vast and endless that his mind folded on itself, forcing him to look away.
Coughing up blood, he realized his face was on the bubble’s floor. The Goliath’s gaze was locked onto him, its hate morphing into rage when the final bits of mana inside Stargazer were utilized. She tore herself out of its head in a jerky movement, then hurled herself at the bubble.
Lev almost caught her. Lingering traces of Chaos nearly latched onto his willpower. He didn’t know what it would’ve done, but the shivers going down his spine were answer enough.
The Blessing’s message still wasn’t done. It brought his attention to another being, one Lev noticed with a start, was him. His aura had transformed into something ridiculous, reminding him of a person half a step into the Exalted rank, not a mere Master.
It was inconsequential. Even a god’s blessing simply allowed him to continue existing. It ensured that his very being wasn’t disintegrated in the presence of something unfathomably greater.
Face growing more and more grim, Lev also realized that all the benefits were merely a positive side effect. Had his patron not blessed him, he would’ve just died.
The warning was clear as day. Here he was, taking his sweet time as a Master, whereas the enemies arrayed against him boggled imagination. It wasn’t fair, nor was anything ever going to be. He had to do his best and start doing so now.
Further musings were cut short when another warning reached him. That one was blissfully clear, merely urging him to run away as fast as possible.
Lev didn’t need to be told a second time. The corrupted beam lasted for a whole three seconds, failing to find him throughout. The moment it ceased, he powered up Lightning Surge and shot away. A few seconds later, he was far enough to spectate without being in danger.
The first thing he noted was fire. So much fire. Kilometers away, yet his brain struggled to comprehend his vision. And they weren’t even normal flames. No, Drakys and his helper had materialized exponentially more mana than the earlier Fracturing Wave had packed and evolved all of it into blue flames.
What the fuck? Lev thought to himself, thoroughly entranced. Wait, how the hell are the two of them working so smoothly on one attack?
Right below the ocean of flames, two mana slashes constantly expanded. He tried to grasp their structure, especially the middle section where the two of them met. None of it made sense, so he gave up.
Lev’s gaze instead drifted downwards. Two streams of dark blue flowed out of the Goliath’s mouth. Blood, he realized after a moment.
I actually made it bleed, and not just a little bit.
If the throat was that badly injured, then the internal organs were probably… never mind. The monster had quite literally overtook his Fracturing Wave and fired it back at him.
So it was pretty much all for nothing, he huffed, oddly still in combat. The Blessing persisted. Was he not far enough away to be safe?
Just in case, he moved even further away. The Blessing still didn’t leave him. Alarmed and confused, he thanked Kassavin once again for the help and brought forth his willpower.
It was still in pristine shape. Lev would’ve gawked if he could, though there was no time. Faster than he could blink, all of the flames in the skies rushed into the twin mana slashes. The Goliath had also mostly returned to its senses, turning it into a contest of willpower again.
Two Exalteds versus a Goliath. A human and another being standing against a force of nature, ready to take it down with the same magic it was designed to counter.
Lev didn’t even realize when the bubble started moving closer rapidly. So absorbed was he in the sky’s descent that, when the twin slash clashed with something invisible, the bubble just exploded.
A shockwave bathed in mana hit him, a portion of it bypassing the armor and jolting his body. His consciousness flickered, then it fled entirely.
****
Lev came to when a crash rocked through his body. His armor shouldered the worst of it, saving his limbs or neck from twisting and breaking.
It didn’t do much about the physical impact, though. Pain wracked every joint, requiring an immediate stream of healing mana to even think straight. Thankfully, there was still a sizable batch of it stored in his armor, bypassing the need for Stargazer's converters.
I see why… he paused, hauling himself up into a sitting position. Why the Blessing refused to leave… me…
Thoughts evaporated. Lev blinked once. Twice. Then tried to rub his eyes. Just to be certain, he also healed his brain, in case there was any lingering damage.
A gigantic mushroom cloud dominated the horizon. It was so incredibly massive that, before he could even start to estimate its size, a small drill formed underneath him.
Not a second too soon, he buried himself a few meters underground and covered his armor in cooling enchantments. A deafeningly loud wave of fire passed over him, telling him that only a few seconds had passed since he passed out.
Despite the hasty preparations, the ground still heated up immensely. Healing counteracted the constant burns, every breath burning his lungs and nerves.
Another push of mana into the enchantments nearly fried them. The temperature dropped rapidly, bringing with it another unique pain that vanished after a few seconds. Lev nearly turned himself into an ice cube while the unbearable heat persisted.
Why is there no notification?
Panic reared its head. Drakys had just unleashed an attack capable of destroying a whole city. Why was the Goliath still alive?
Urgency flooded into his limbs. Unable to find Stargazer, he prepared his armor with the best temperature runes he had. When the last burn was healed, and most of the discomfort from his body vanished, he tore through the ground and emerged in a wall of blessedly normal flames.
His armor easily resisted them. Uncaring, he ascended for hundreds of meters and looked in the direction of the Goliath.
A curtain of fire rose from the ground to heights beyond what he could reasonably measure. There was so much mana in the air, it made him nauseous. Just looking in that direction was like staring into a diffused sun, one that actively attacked his senses.
Something was still happening. Amidst the wall of flames, Arcane Intuition picked up traces of danger. Something invisible nearly caused him to run away in fear, only for notifications to freeze him in place.
Before checking them, though, Lev realized he had missed some during the battle.
[
// WARNING.
// YOU ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF A CREATURE OF CHAOS.
// NOTIFY CAPABLE PEOPLE OF YOUR RACE IMMEDIATELY.
// MAXIMUM ESSENCE GAINS APPLIED FOR THE VANQUISHERS.
]
… The same as the Chaoswalker.
Back then, though, he had received a title. And that title repeatedly failed to save him.
Shaking his head, he read further, his jaw dropping all the while.
[
Your Group has slain [Corrupted Wandering Goliath - Level 1000]
Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 316
Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 317
…
Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 338
]