Chapter 204 - 198 : The Secret Of The Statue

The 7 metres tall statue had an imposing look when up close. It was like a breath-taking view, being the centre of attention in the entire encampment and floor. This was not only because of the statue's height but also because of the craftsmanship involved and the aura it radiated. 

When talking about the craftsmanship, the pure-blood kobold statue wasn't such an exquisite art work but a god level one. One could even say the statue was the masterpiece of a once-in-a-100 years art genius. It was awfully too realistic to the point that it could be aid to be scary. If not for the fact that the dull-brown colour that the statue possessed, signifying the fact that it was made from extremely common and low rank materials, one might even mistake it as a giant type monster. 

Ignoring the looks, the aura the statue radiated gave a chilling feeling yet sacred feeling. It was like a work of art that was to be revered and not desecrated. One look at it and one would feel as if they were in the presence of a higher being. Losing the ability and will to resist was just one of the effects of the aura on living beings. If not for the fact that the statue remained at the same position all day, Sato and the others would have thought that it was a living being. Funny enough, their absurd claim was quite close.

*Creak* *Crack* *Crack*

*Rumbles*

With the first wriggly crack forming on the statue's skull and running across it, a few more came to be, running in various directions and moving in multiple patterns all through the statue. This lead to the bonding force[1] acting on the statue to weaken a lot resulting in a rock debris falling off from the statue. 

As more rubble fell off the statue, a shocking scene was revealed. The original statue wasn't simply just a statue. A part of the skull had already cracked down and within it was unveiled a hidden compartment; a void to be exact. As more rubble fell off of the statue, a majority of the facial area[2] was open to the air, revealing a dark space that seemed devoid of any life or material. 

A second after the 'dark zone' was unveiled, a pair of emerald green chilly eyes gleamed from the other side, breeding terror and fear to all who glanced at it. Following the glistening eyes was a cold, somber and deathly aura that suffused from the depths of the statue; a total contrast of the aura the statue had radiated before it was damaged. 

With the release of this gloomy aura, the cracks on the statue began to widen and grow even further, increasing the rate of destruction and decreasing the time it would take to achieve that. In just two seconds, the cracks had covered a majority of the 7 metres tall statue. At the moment this was done, with the bonding force around the statue having been brought to its lowest, a grand outburst of aura burst forth with a vigorous momentum, destroying the statue to pieces and sending the pieces flying. The kobolds that were closest to the statue experienced this sudden 'attack' first-handed with a majority of them getting injured, either severely or lightly, and a very few dying to the attacks. With just a single outburst of aura and broken statue pieces, at least 30 kobolds were injured with 6 dead. As this was the case, one could only imagine how strong the entity within the statue was.

As the dust cloud from the statue's explosion was blown away, the aftermath of the demolition could clearly be made out. The altar that was beside the statue was also wrecked to pieces with only a pile of wreckage left behind of the original structure. At the position where the original statue stood, a blurry silhouette could be made out. Like the statue, it was 7 metres in height. What was quite interesting to note was that it had a pair of emerald green eyes, reminiscent of the ones previously seen before. Without a doubt, the owner of those eyes was this silhouette.

As the dust cloud finally settled, down completely, the shadowy silhouette was finally made visible. It was a 7 metres tall kobold and the most interesting part was that it looked almost exactly like the statue that stood before. A much longer horn than the other kobolds, a lighter skin tone, and a greater height than the regular kobolds. The only differing feature of this kobold and the statue was the lack of a pair of wings.

As kobolds were descendants of dragons, by purifying their bloodline, they can approach their ancestors in both looks and strength, becoming much stronger than the average of their kind. As their bloodline purity approaches their ancestors, they gain similarities with them. Basically, a kobold's Draconic bloodline purity is usually around 0.00009%. For a Draconic descendant to possess wings, they usually need a bloodline purity of at least 15%, unless the descendant is a hybrid of a dragon and a winged creature. For kobolds, this was technically impossible but legends once told of one that had reached a bloodline purity of 17%. That kobold ended up becoming a grand level figure, capable of rivalling some of the top generals of an empire before ascending into sainthood. With such mighty strength and amazing background, the Kobold legendary figure became venerated as a god by a majority of kobold tribes scattered round the world. This kobold was the exact one that was crafted as a statue.

As for the current Kobold, it was one with a high bloodline purity, surpassing the kobold chief had its guards but being far below the Kobold legendary figure, at around 0.01%. This number was by far, much larger than the Kobold chief's 0.001% purity, leading to a very large discrepancy in strength. Even though it had lesser purity than the Kobold legendary figure, the new arrival still had a massive potential and because of that, was revered as the tribe's true leader.

When a kobold tribe manages to raise such a similar figure, there's a practice that they undergo. And that is encasing the pure blood within a statue of the Kobold legendary figure.

Even though it wasn't a god, the kobold legendary figure approached godhood and so, could somewhat answer prayers as gods do. Most kobold tribes always create a statue of the legendary figure and venerate it, offering it sacrifices and prayers. In exchange for this, the legendary figure bestows abilities and helps purify the bloodline of one of them who has the best potential among them. The new figure who just appeared was the one selected for this ritual a few years back.

From young, its great potential was noticed and it had been raised and trained to be a top figure. Having come of age just last year, it was finally encased in a new statue of the legendary figure. As prayers and offerings were made to the legendary figure through the statue, the legendary figure would, in turn, help purify the bloodline of the one encased within the statue for a certain period of time; usually a year or so. Once the time frame was over, the statue would self-destruct as the selected candidate would reawaken anew and as a reborn figure with even more power than it had or would ever gain on its own.

While the bloodline purifying ritual sounded easy and simple, it was anything but that. The sacrifices needed and the preparations made, all had to be done with extra care and focus.

The previous ritual Sato and the others had witnessed, was actually a monthly basis prayer session that helped facilitate the bloodline purifying ritual. Here, the entire kobold community offers sacrifices and prayers to the statue, replenishing the faith energy stacked on it, thereby strengthening the connection of the statue with the legendary figure to help facilitate the bloodline purifying process. The rabbit-like creature [3] used as a sacrifice was a creature with a very high mana affinity and was one of the best sacrificial offering because of this.

While the bloodline purifying ritual sounded OP for the kobolds, it had its limits. Otherwise, the kobolds could just keep doing this and within 30 years, raise a squad of 30 mighty pure bloods. Because the rate and degree of purification was mostly dependent on the potential of the chosen one, it was quite difficult to raise a high-level kobold figure through this process. However, making one with a purity of 0.1% wasn't such a difficult task. But in the grand scale of things, a purity of 0.1% was still negligible and wouldn't catch the attention of the high human figures. Another limitation was that because the bloodline purifying ritual required the legendary figure to spend some time and energy into it, it only allocated a certain number of slots to each tribe.

This kobold tribe was quite small in size, in comparison to the others, so it received only 2 quotas. One had been spent a while back and because of that figure from back then, the kobolds were able to take the entire 10th floor as their home base without any rival monster species existing here. The second was now spent on this one with the hope that upon completion, the pure-blooded kobold would possess enough strength to lead the kobold tribe out of the 10th floor and onto the surface.

Now however, because of the death of the kobold chief, the pure-blooded kobold had to stop its transformation. This was because the kobold chief was its father.

Having its once-in-a-lifetime training and development process cut short before the duration was over, the 7 metres kobold was undoubtedly annoyed and didn't even bother about the weaker kobolds, only giving them a glance before looking over at the direction Sato and the others were at. Despite more than hundreds of metres between them, it was actually able to sense the group's location by picking up on the remnant mana signature of its father. This was a skill very common among players of the most mana-sensitive class in IR as of now, the [Druid]. Without a doubt, this kobold wasn't like the others of its kind, who were typically all fighters.. Rather than a fighter, it was a mage.