Chapter 769: Unbending, A Third Party!

Hssst!

The verdant snake released a vicious hiss. The next moment, its body coiled as it charged towards Izroth with its mouth wide open. The creature wanted to devour him outright!

〈Battle Alert: You have been targeted by the skill «Deadly Adoration».〉

〈Battle Alert: You have partially resisted the effects of Guardian of the Ambrosia Tree, Thanasia's «Deadly Adoration».〉

〈Battle Alert: You have resisted Guardian of the Ambrosia Tree, Thanasia's «Fear».〉

〈Battle Alert: You have resisted Guardian of the Ambrosia Tree, Thanasia's «Frenzy».〉

The moment Thanasia's attack erupted, Izroth was bombarded by a small stream of alerts from the system.

While he was able to resist the fear and frenzy effects, Izroth was still partially affected by one of Thanasia's skills. Despite this, he did not feel any different. Nor did Izroth detect any abrupt changes in his body.

As the verdant snake barely made it halfway to Izroth, the sound of crackling thunder echoed throughout the Ancient Wilderness.

Crrrrckle!

Suddenly, silence emerged as a flash of blinding light flooded the atmosphere. The next moment, a bolt of lightning fell from above and struck the verdant snake conjured by Thanasia. 

The lightning made no sound when it struck; however, after the blinding light receded, a deafening thunderclap roared as the snake was instantly vaporized!

'So this is his power… Interesting. It's still lacking when compared to the Heavenly Lightning of Extinction I used against the Siren Head Master; however, in terms of speed, even the Heavenly Lightning of Extinction cannot compare.'

Even with all of his enhanced senses and ability to now detect Ethos, Izroth was barely able to see the shadow of Astratis' lightning strike. And, while its raw destructive power was not at the level of the Heavenly Lightning of Extinction, it was not too far off.

'According to Deep Insight, his general strength should be weakened. That means he should only be capable of displaying a portion of his true power, but, as I thought—his true strength should be at the peak of the legendary realm. Though the matter with the levels and this realm's energy source are somewhat misleading.'

At first, Izroth believed that Astratis was merely hiding his level to prevent others from discovering his strength. However, Thanasia's level also showed up as zero.

Unless it was common for the residents of this realm to intentionally cloak their level, it was unlikely that someone like Thanasia, who was not injured, would hide their power.

As Izroth stood unmoved by Thanasia's, her deathly gaze found its way to Astratis.

"You dare obstruct my attack to defend this mortal?! Do you still want me to believe you're here to discuss?!" Thanasia scowled.

Thanasia inwardly frowned at Astratis' actions. To the celestials like Astratis and ancient races like herself, the lives are mortals were worth next to nothing. Why would he risk offending her to defend a mortal?

Astratis stood tall and said firmly, "I am still willing to discuss; however… Do you think just because I am in this state that my words mean nothing? If I want to protect this mortal, even if your eldest sister were here, no harm would befall him."

Thanasia narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists in anger as she grit her teeth.

"Must you go so far, Son of Thunder?" Thanasia's cold voice sounded.

Astratis did not respond to Thanasia. He had already made his stance clear and his silence served to further solidify his decision.

This lingering silence between the two parties caused the atmosphere to intensify. It appeared that Thanasia's rage had not yet been fully quelled. And, Astratis had no intention of taking a step back.

As the atmosphere became heavy, Izroth stood by and calmly observed. Without a doubt, Thanasia was someone who had stepped into the legendary realm. More importantly, unlike the Siren Head Master, Smiling Demon, she did not appear to specialize in assassinations or setting up ambushes. This meant that her confronting her head-on would not be a simple undertaking.

But, what surprised Izroth the most was Astratis' willingness to protect him despite the Son of Thunder's earlier forewarning that he would be unable to do so.

The two had not known each other that long and in Astratis' eyes, Izroth, who was just a "mortal", should hold no value whatsoever to him. Then, why did they go out of their way to offend Thanasia instead of just handing him over?

After all, from what Izroth overheard not too long ago, Astratis seemed to need a Wing of the Ambrosia Tree to help with his current condition.

Even though Izroth had taken all the fruit from the tree, that was not to say that more would not grow in the future. It was even possible that Thanasia had a private stash of some sorts that could benefit Astratis.

So, what was it that made him ignore those opportunities just to protect a "powerless" stranger?

'Hm?'

Out of nowhere, Izroth felt an unusual presence descend from out of thin air.

At the same time, the sunlight abruptly vanished as night fell upon the Ancient Wilderness. However, the bizarre thing was that the sun had yet to set!

Upon further inspection with his Energy Vision Sense, Izroth noticed that in an area a bit larger than one hundred meters, there were multiple auras of death infused with Ethos.

As for the state of the Ancient Wilderness beyond that—it appeared to have just fallen out of existence.

Of course, Izroth did not think a vast portion of the Ancient Wilderness just disappeared. A more reasonable explanation was that something, or rather someone, within this artificially induced atmosphere forcibly restricted the range of his Energy Vision Sense.

When the atmosphere changed, a slight frown appeared on Astratis' face as he furrowed his brows.

"They were sent out faster than I anticipated. To arrive this quickly… they must have been tracking me from the moment I entered the Ancient Wilderness…" Astratis muttered to himself.

Although Astratis spoke under his breath, it was not low enough to escape Izroth's ears with his heightened senses.

'I see… That explains why he was so on guard back near the river and during our initial journey towards the village.'

Originally, Izroth thought that Astratis was on high alert back then due to his injured state. But, while that certainly played a part, the fact that he was being actively hunted must have been what had him on edge the entire time.

Suddenly, a cloud of dark gray smoke formed in between Izroth, Astratis, and Thanasia. Then, a few seconds later, four figures emerged.

All four of the unknown individuals were men with bodies that could only have been sculpted by undergoing countless struggles of life and death.

Upon their arrival, it was clear that these four were not human with their ashen gray skin, and snow-white hair. The sclera of their eyes matched a lightless night and was paired with crimson irises that gave off an intimidating aura.

"Dogs of Ourami…! You dare to interfere in my business?!" Thanasia scowled.

"Silence, beast! We are under direct orders from our master to deliver the Rebellious Son of Thunder to them!" One of the four men stated as he stepped forward with his gaze locked onto Astratis.

From his demeanor alone, it was obvious that this man was the leader of the group.

'Oh? This is the first time in RML that I have encountered warriors of their caliber.'

In regards to caliber, Izroth was not talking about their strength. Of course, of them were weak. In fact, going strictly by his Energy Vision Sense, Izroth realized that the one who stepped forward was not that much weaker than the current Astratis.

What Izroth was referring to was the will of a battle-hardened soldier. This was something impossible to gain unless one had survived numerous life or death conflicts. Though Izroth did not expect to see a will this firm in a place like RML, let alone a Secret Realm.

"You want to deliver me? How bold!" Astratis' said as his gaze turned cold and lightning flowed throughout his eyes. At the same time, the crackling sound of thunder brewed above the Ancient Wilderness.

He then continued, "Let's see whether or not you have the ability to do so."

〈System Alert: A new quest has been received! Would you like to accept?〉

'This is… Well, I suppose this way is also fine. I wanted to see how things progressed a bit longer, but—it seems I won't be able to sit still after all.'

Quest Name: The Rebel & The Liberator(1)

Quest Difficulty: SSS

Recommended Level: N/A

Recommended Party Size: N/A

Objective: Help the «Rebellious Son of Thunder, Astratis» recover from their injuries and fend off the Anzeyta.

Time Limit: 10 minutes

1/1 Obtain a «Mature Wing of the Ambrosia Tree».

0/1 Give x1 «Mature Wing of the Ambrosia Tree» to «Rebellious Son of Thunder, Astratis».

0/1 Fend off the Anzeyta until «Rebellious Son of Thunder, Astratis» recovers enough strength.

Reward:

-x1 Vial of Immortal Nectar

-x1 Teraidi Claw Shard

-Max favor with «Rebellious Son of Thunder, Astratis».

Failure:

-«The Rebellious Son of Thunder, Astratis» is captured by the Anzeyta.

-Lose 5 levels.

-Automatically ejected from «Secret Realm: Era of Titans».

Special Note: This quest cannot be shared.