Chapter 412: Mother of War

Chapter 412: Mother of War

"Pronos," Rakna called and the little Hydra cried out cutely before jumping off his shoulder. And as he fell toward the water, his body expanded rapidly and his hisses turned into deep growls due to the size of his vocal cords alone.

The Throne of Glory members only saw his full form for a brief moment, taking a glimpse of his pupils in the shape of a lemniscate, before he completely dived into the ocean. To their surprise, they immediately lost track of him; the large beast camouflaging itself perfectly.

"How about we start whenever the first attack is made?" Rakna suggested as he quietly ascended, his wings releasing a silver mist. His eyes were fixed on the dragon and Lilia standing atop its head.

Ensis glanced at where Pronos went off to and grunted. "Let's do so," he declared. "Scatter."

At his command, every guild member except the leader himself vanished and then reappeared in different places. They had all chosen a different direction and that included skyward. Additionally, the distance between them was as big as they could systematically arrange themselves.

"I see, you're not going to make this any easier for me," Rakna snorted and promptly transformed into a werewolf, the size of his weapon increasing alongside him. His eyes became golden purple as he activated Crystal Sight.

He took a peek into Lilia's status and snickered. There wasn't even a point in strategizing about it. 'Three Nirvana Skills... capable of instantly buffing a target in a different way each.'

He couldn't find a workaround.

'Not to mention her Magic and Path... Considering the old guy's rules, she should only be allowed to support and command the Boss, not attack me directly. I can ignore certain skills... she'll probably use her debuffs, huh?'

"For now... let's do this," he narrowed his eyes. "[Wolfen Lord,]" he uttered and a pack of thirty Obsidian Star wolves with six tails appeared around him. Without verbally receiving the order, they immediately spread out to protect each of the guild members in pairs of two.

"Decent idea," Gray commented with a smile as he eyed the ebony summons standing guard. They were quite big up close; almost as tall as himself.

"[Ghost of Rupture,]" Rakna followed up and his body momentarily blurred from view, signaling the activation of his Internal Art. "And... [Voyaging Star,]" he intoned and a completely new skill was unveiled.

Everyone blinked in surprise when they felt a surge of star energy. The werewolf's entire body turned ablaze with purple flames and if one looked closely, they would also notice that his flesh was undulating as if not truly physical.

This was a Max Excelled Skill Rakna had synthesized just the day before. He had used no less than five components to create it, but the most interesting part of this synthesis was that it had actually required him to use a Skill Point to finalize.

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Voyaging Star

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A transcendental skill born from the combination of Flight, Grand Reinforcement, Star Flare, Stealth, and Artzpul, and stabilized through the intervention of the System.

This skill embodies the legend of the Voyaging Star; a myth recounting the existence of a wandering star traveling the cosmos unseen and undetected. It could not be stopped, could not be followed, could not be detected, and could not die. Only a handful of lucky ones were ever able to ever witness this 'True Shooting Star'.

It could accelerate beyond the limits of space and fly wherever it wished to go. And despite its great power, it seldom was noticed due to its furtiveness and sheer speed.

Those that tried to stop the Voyaging Star would find themselves swallowed, their material existence broken down, or destroyed by the flares erupting on its surface.

When triggering this skill, the user's body will transform into the Voyaging Star itself, becoming partially intangible and having all Statistics increased by up to 50%. All incoming damage will be reduced by 1 to 100% depending on how severe it is. Making contact with any physical matter will allow the user to convert it into star energy.

All forms of spatial or temporal bindings will be ignored, and all forms of scrying spells or sensing skills attempting to find the user's location will fail. The user will become impervious to wounds for as long as the skill is active unless the opponent possesses the ability to bypass its healing or have a much greater life force level.

In this state, the Sub-Skills 'Comet' and 'Flare' can be used. The former will grant the user a burst of speed in the form of a step and increase their base attack statistic by 25% for a second afterward. The latter grants the ability to launch devastating flares of star energy capable of mass destruction.

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Transformation Cost: None. Sustain Cost: Variable Mana & Stamina.

Comet Cost: 10 MP per Meter. Cooldown: None.

Flare Cost: 500 MP per Flare. Cooldown: None.

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Note: Mana will be consumed to heal damage or convert physical matter into raw energy. The Voyaging Star skill will automatically be disengaged when the user runs out of mana or stamina.

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The Debuff, Weight of War, has been cast on you!

The Debuff, Nature's Rejection, has been cast on you!

The Debuff, Mother's Grief, has been cast on you!

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Tenth Tail of The Sage Nephilim is resisting the Debuffs!

Authority of The Law-Breaker is resisting the Debuffs!

Battle Continuation has been nullified!

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Debuffs cannot be fully resisted due to Level disparity.

Effects have been weakened by 75%.

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Statistics will fall by 10% for the next three minutes, your mana and stamina consumption will increase by 25% for the next five minutes, your skills have a small chance to fail or go into cooldown for twice as long, and all forms of regeneration will be stunted.

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Rakna gasped when he felt the sudden 'shackles' put on him. 'Three in an instant!? And even with a 75% reduction, it's still that powerful?!'

On the other hand, Lilia received the results of her skills and widened her eyes, not expecting her debuffs, even basic ones, to be resisted that much.

Following her intervention, the World Boss whipped its tail at the werewolf, who barely managed to trigger a Comet backward. The giant magma sword was then swung at him.

"[Blade of Rupture,]" Rakna struck back, optimizing his attributes toward strength. Sonata grew in size as well and when the blades clashed, it was an uncannily equal match. The shockwave alone caused even more damage to his runic barriers.

The dragon roared and the magma sword began to heat up dangerously. Droplets of lava ran down its length and its hilt started glowing.

The werewolf shuddered and hurriedly twisted his grip, allowing his Guandao to slide against the flat side of the giant weapon before he dashed away, in time to avoid the explosion of magma that followed. It was as if a volcano had suddenly awakened.

"{Self-destruct,}" Rakna quickly ordered through telepathy and one of each pair of wolves he had summoned earlier jumped out of the rune shield and exploded into clouds of Obsidian Star energy, their transmuting nature completely nullifying both the shockwave and heat.

The World Boss didn't stop there. With its sword gone, it twisted its body around with speed that didn't match its stature and swung the ax instead.

Rakna's instinct flared up as he saw the approaching weapon but he couldn't dodge it since Vegas was right on its course. With a groan, he conjured a gauntlet of obsidian and teleported to the side of the weapon.

"[Fist of Rupture,]" he intoned and punched it. The hit shattered dimensions open and condensed all of his energies into blunt power. The ax's blade cracked and veered off toward a different angle, upturning the ocean once again with the momentum behind it.

"Fuck, what is that thing made of?" The werewolf flew back as his broken arm healed. The rebound of forces had completely shattered his gauntlet and the star energy constituting his limb.

"{Aqerite,}" Fray mused. "{A naturally formed mineral found in the depths of the ocean. It absorbs water, and the more it takes in, the tougher and heavier it becomes.}"

'His second magic element, huh?' Rakna added as he remembered the name of the magic stated on the dragon's status. 'Still, this is annoying... I've never felt more suffocated in a fight. Being mindful of multiple liabilities and unable to use attacks with wide ranges... my choices are limited.'

"Ready?" Lilia's soft voice resounded and the werewolf raised an eyebrow.

"...ready for what?"

She smiled thinly. "Fight."

A few of her guild members snickered at that and Rakna chuckled. "Is that your way of saying that it hasn't even started?" He shook his head in amusement. "Don't worry... I'm never unready."

At his words, nine pairs of slitted green eyes stealthy opened below the water.