Chapter 980 New Form
The Dragon bloodline prodigy, Zach Talon's bloodline had been stuck in the Rank 5 ever since he entered the Magus Academy. And, ever since his duel with the young resilient wolf, his body and subsequently his bloodline had been unsettled.
Before the mid-test began, the Chief Commander Raynor, extended an olive branch and offered to join on the actual mission assigned by the Magus Alliance, to enter an area marked as Sacred Mountain and fight the strongest creature on the planet.
The offer certainly tempted him in the hope to finally unleash his power and reach a breakthrough.
Thinking about the squad and platoon that will be assigned to him, Zach thought about turning it down. However, a little mention of his father's legacy by the other party changed his mind.
"Help me out and I will tell you what I know about your father" the commander said
Zach then gave the command of Platoon 2 to the bird of prey, Vida Themary, and went with the man.
He had been helping the commander's since day one of the mid-test, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Abyss creatures for the other party. As such, when he realized that the commander actually had his own personal agenda, he was completely enraged.
Not only by the fact the man had deceived and used him for his own convenience, but also because many lives that should have been his responsibility were lost because of his one-sided decision.
Later on, he also failed to stop the stage 7 Abyss creature from destroying the Platoon 2 transport vessel. Hence when all the other acolytes decided to depart from the planet, he and Vida –who was still furious with Rufus Tigerson's death decided to chase after the creature across the continent all the way to the Platoon 1 base.
The untold amount of rage, from multiple failures and deep regrets, unexpectedly helped Zach break through the bottleneck and evolve his bloodline to Rank 6.
[Neo Bahamut Bloodline evolved to rank 6]
[Rank 6 - Nova Bahamut]
[Battle power increase exponentially]
[Battle power: 305 (345)]
[New innate Ability - Third Draconic Transformation]
[Battle power increases 100 points]
"DIE!!"
With the newfound strength coursing through his physique, jet black armor covering his body, and unbridled fury towards the Royal Centipede, Zach plunged his sword deep into the creature's golden centipede and dashed forth, cleaving the creature from top to bottom.
Shrriieeekkk—
The 100 meter long body of the centipede once again writhed violently on the ground, as it let out a shriek of pain that slightly shook the air around it. A long, deep wound that was bleeding profusely was visible on its back.
However, what should have been a critical hit sufficient to send the creature into the depths of hell was only able to bring it to a halt for a few seconds before a golden glow once again enveloped its body. The gaping wound that stretched from one end to the other on its back slowly closed as if it had never happened in the first place.
Seeing the same thing happening again, standing on the deck of the golden ship, Jinkan shouted loudly at the Dragon bloodline.
"Slice the magus corpse to kill it! And don't let it get anywhere near the transport!"
Zach glanced at the Nephilim girl for a moment but didn't say anything to refute her. He then once again gripped the hilt of his huge sword tightly, and prepared for the second round against the Abyss creature.
[Draconic Flame]
The temperature in the air began to rapidly rise as Zach's entire body was engulfed in smoldering flames. His strength rose to another level the moment the spell applied to him. Immediately, his figure disappeared and streaked across the ground towards the revived stage 7 Abyss creature at breakneck speed, leaving a trail of blazing flames behind him.
Clank! Splat! Shriekkkk–!
Loud noises and shrieks began to sound in the air as Zach ferociously attacked at Royal Centipede. The sword in his hand danced wildly, each strike it performed would inflict deep, searing wounds on the creature's body. Under the Dragon bloodline's relentless and merciless onslaught, the Abyss creature was getting overwhelmed bit by bit.
At the same time, from the sky above the Royal Centipede, Eeshoo joined the fray by sending out his Soaring Shuttles and attacking it from various directions. Already overwhelmed by Zach's ferocious attack, the Abyss creature could only helplessly take the beating it was given. Its body swayed everywhere as it was pushed around, and it eventually crashed into the surrounding buildings.
The Abyss creature was caught in a two against one fight and couldn't extricate itself out of it, as Zach and Eeshoo worked together to make sure it couldn't do so. It was completely stopped from advancing to the transport vessel, and it was even slowly being pushed back towards the north wall.
Apart from stopping the creature from advancing further into the base, Zach and Eeshoo also tried their best to end its life by targeting Commander Raynor's corpse on its body. Unfortunately, the Royal Centipede left no gap from them to exploit and continued to tightly protect the spot below its jaw with its scythe-like arms.
Thus, the fight turned into a protracted one, in which the two powerful acolytes continued to inflict severe injuries while the creature continued to heal itself over and over again.
Dozens of eyes could only watch the intense battle from afar. They were baffled and astonished by the fact that this fight was not something they were capable of following. Even the only magus of the group, Magus Bellaine, was stunned and couldn't fathom the power of the two young prodigies.
One person, however; Jinkan was watching the ongoing battle in rapt attention while keeping track of the remaining time.
[0 hours 9 minutes]
Any minute now, she could command the transport vessel to initiate and depart from the planet, ensuring that she and her platoon would get the points they deserved. Even though not all of the survivors made it in, she was more than ready to abandon them all if the situation forced her to. But ideally, she hoped that with the help of the dragon prodigy, Eeshoo would be able to kill the creature. That will be the ideal result that gives the best conclusion to bring back to the faction.
A figure suddenly flew up to the female Nephilim. It was Vida, who was still in her bloodline form.
"That self reviving skill is a bitch! But Zach will slice apart that creature 100 times if he has to!, Huh! See how long it can continue to heal itself!"
Hearing this, Jinkan snorted. "You know nothing, so don't speak nonsense. That golden orb, the wisp, contains an ancient primordial power. I reckon it could revive that stage 7 creature ten thousand times before it finally exhausted itself."
Vida was a little taken back by the words and said "If that orb is the problem, Then why aim at the corpse, just aim at the orb instead!"
Jinkan couldn't help but snort again when she heard such naive words. "No! there are still three souls inside that thing and hurting the wisp could lead to the unexpected, no.. I would rather not"
Vida knew there was some other reason hidden by the Nephilim, but as long as the end goal was the death of that creature she would play along.
Suddenly a loud shriek caught the attention of both of them. The two quickly turned their gazes to the ongoing battle to see what was happening.
Apparently, the stage 7 Abyss creature unleashes another psyche attack on the two figures that attacked it. Unfortunately, such an attack could not affect, much less injure the two of them. Instead, it simply created an opening that the two of them quickly took.
[Mega Flare]
[Sun Beam]
Two destructive fire-based spells combined with one another, creating combustion capable of melting the Royal Centipede's study carapace into a repulsive mass of liquid. The Abyss creature didn't even have a chance to shriek, as its death throe was subdued by the spells' explosion.
However, within a few seconds, a familiar golden light enveloped its body once again,
Vida frowned as she seemed to notice something strange. In her contemplation, she blurted out her thoughts. "Strange. The interval between each revival seems to be faster…is it not?"
Hearing this, a realization seemed to hit Jinkan. Her calm expression finally broke as all the color drained from her face. "T-this is bad!"
Meanwhile, the huge smoke resulting from the explosion of the two spells slowly dissipated. Like before, the Royal Centipede rose to the air once again; however this time, it tilted its head upwards and showed the body of the magus, who currently had a wicked smile on his face.
"Must.. survive… need.. better.. stronger"
All of a sudden, the golden orb above the body emitted a dazzling light, and the entire body of the creature quickly followed, engulfed in light. Powerful energy waves rapidly gushed out from within the creature.
"That Cosmic power again!" Jinkan said "The wisp is leaking out its power!!"
What Jinkan feared the most happened right in front of her eyes.
"Eeshoo, Retreat!!" Jinkan shouted
Unfortunately for her, the Nephilim prodigy was stunned by what was happening in front of him and couldn't hear her scream.
The golden orb and the figure of Magus Raynor were pulled inside the centipede body before the 100 meter long body of the Abyss creature gradually cracked and split apart.
A three meter tall humanoid figure came out from the split body
It was a gigantic male human with the face of Magus Raynor. The golden orb was visible on its naked chest, and multiple golden bug parts were attached to its back and some throughout its body. Standing before Zach and Eeshoo was a monstrous form of half human and half bug.
What surprised the two of them the most was the fact that they could perceive an ounce of cosmic power from the other party, which meant that it was an existence at the level of a Grand Magus.
The figure opened its eyes, and spoke, "This is… real power"