Chapter 264 Before and After
Sylas' Runes danced around him, keeping the Domain at bay. But what they didn't do was stop the coming cobras; they had no ability to do this. They were perfect counter to the Ice-Poison, not the beasts themselves.
He had completely come to comprehend the Ice-Poison Rune thanks to over a day of study, but he had never come across something that would work against physical beings. Or rather, he could form the Ice-Poison Rune with some effort, but what use would it have against creatures that were immune to it? Sylas didn't even want to use poison in general against them because he knew that they were likely to be highly resistant.
However, it didn't matter. The moment they stepped into his small little Domain, they lost the support of the Arctic King Cobra's Domain and their power plummeted once again.
[Arctic King Cobra (FFF-)]
[Level: 10]
[Physical: 273]
[Mental: 345]
[Will: 301]
They were truly monstrous creatures. However, before Sylas' Beast Totem…
[Arctic King Cobra (FFF-)]
[Level: 10]
[Physical: 55]
[Mental: 69]
[Will: 60]
And in such a situation, they might as well have been putty in his hands.
BANG! BANG!
Sylas sent out two fists, and a rain of blood fell as the Arctic King Cobras were suppressed.
Sylas had long come to realize that the suppression wasn't perfect. His fists, against a beast with these suppressed stats, would have directly killed them. But it felt like the Beast Totem was decreasing the Effectiveness of their stats rather than their overall stats. Otherwise, they should have been a mound of flesh by now.
However, that didn't change anything. The fact of the matter was that after just three punches, and six punches total, two elites had already fallen.
<Chilling Scythe>'s came from the outside world, but they were directly countered by two casts of <Solidify>.
Unfortunately, his Runes couldn't weaken <Chilling Scythe>'s sent from outside of his small little Domain, but they were still only 100 Damage. His shields could easily tank two of them on their own.
As he had realized in the first fight, Arctic King Cobras were mostly control and defensive types, their raw attack ability was limited.
At that moment, the Arctic Emperor Cobra unleashed an infuriated howl. It had thought that Sylas would be dead after it first took action, but things hadn't worked out as it wanted, leaving it furious.
A surge of chilling wind spread, and Sylas felt his hair stand on end.
[Arctic Howl (FFF-) (Skill)]
[Defense: 2000]
[Attribute: Ice-Poison]
Sylas stumbled back, falling out of the range of his own Domain. The Arctic Emperor Cobra couldn't attack, but it had just used a Defensive Skill to blow him back.
He couldn't help but cough up a mouthful of blood, his body rolling back. He barely managed to catch the faint edges of an attack assaulting him from all sides.
That wall of wind was far more than he could handle. His bones rattled, and his blood ran cold. At the same time, he fell into the range of the Arctic Emperor Cobra's Domain once again, leaving him suffering a series of harsh Damage against his Constitution again.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Sylas made use of his improved Madness Control, throwing out a punch as he rolled. One of the scythes coming toward him shattered, while another he barely managed to dodge still left a chilling cut in his shoulder.
He rolled out of the way of the last assault as it cut across the ground, slicing a thin line through it.
Popping to his feet, Sylas stamped a foot on a tree and soared up. He pulled on his Gluttony Seed and slowed his downward arc just enough to land back inside of his small Domain. But by this point, it was teeming with cobras.
He cast <Stunning Spike> on one. In its confusion, it couldn't even react as Sylas' foot stamped down on its head, turning it into a blood mist.
The others bit at him, but they seemed to have forgotten that he wasn't just a close-range master. After securing his landing spot, he summoned several ballista bolts. With a BANG!, their heads exploded.
Sylas looked up with bloodshot eyes. His focus seemed to have reached an unprecedented level. His body often moved without his thought, but when it did move with his intentions, it followed it with movement as fluid as water and as formless as the wind.
He could emit 110% of his power, no matter the angle, no matter the circumstance. It was a state of complete and absolute oneness with oneself.
This time, when Sylas visualized all those skilled fighters, he could mimic their movements one for one. When he felt that his body aligned with their movements, he would keep them. When he felt that they weren't just right for him, he would discard them.
One enemy came, so he killed one.
If two came, he killed two.
He stood like a towering mountain, ready to face anything.
The Arctic Emperor Cobra's <Arctic Howl> had blown apart the forefront of his own small Domain. That was because the Skill was built on a foundation of Ice-Poison, so when it took action, it was countered by Sylas' own Runes.
Thanks to that, Sylas had managed to survive after just a small loss of blood and aches.
But also thanks to that, his Domain had all but crumbled and he had to expend another large amount of Aether stamping down Runes to build it up again. Thanks to that, the cobras continued to swarm him, tying him down and each one wanting to take a bite out of him.
That was when he felt it.
Ten seconds were up.
Fusion.
Sylas felt a roaring heat rampage through his body and two seconds later, a swarm of black scales took shape on his. His muscles bulged, and he howled.
Tail Whip.
His black tail lashed out, and the head of an Arctic King Cobra was blasted apart.
The last cobra elite had fallen, and suddenly, the Arctic Emperor Cobra moved as well, the last of its shackles being undone.