Breaking Through The Defense
Spiritual force was fundamental to a Magus.
In the beginning, as acolytes, all Magi would start with meditation. They would begin to meditate in a willpower rune of their own, and construct a core spirit body, together with a sea of consciousness.
After advancing to the realm of official Magi, they would have a conversion of elemental essence amounting to 80% or more, in order to advance into rank 2.
After materialising spiritual force in rank 2, and then passing through the three stages of Vapour, Hydro, and Crystal in rank 3, the point mass would finally be formed.
The point mass was fundamental to Morning Star Magi. It was the path for everyone, even spirits! Once they broke past this bottleneck, the spiritual force in a Magus’ sea of consciousness would sublimate to form soul force.
This was a threshold in ancient times, used to mark the difference in strengths between Magi. Only those who were capable of using soul force would be considered to have stepped foot into the world of ancient Magi!
As soul force had a horrifying suppressive power, low ranking Magi would lose their ability to communicate with the elements, and would end up disconnected from the elemental particles. Those who were suppressed would be unable to resist or escape. Many Morning Star Magi liked using this trick in their domains. Hence, over time, they successfully enhanced the prestige of a Morning Star Magus.
Since his normal powers had been suppressed, Leylin had no choice but to use another system of power instead. Luckily, he indeed had such a thing on hand, a terrifying secret from another world— Multilimb Strength!
Leylin had relied on the dark green membrane to avoid injury and death when drowned in the sea of light blades.
A booming sound rang out, as if a tall mountain had collapsed to crashing waves. The phantom stood behind Leylin, performing the same moves as him.
Formless streams of air started developing a pressure as even the ground behind the Azure Mountain King started caving in. The wind continuously rolled in, coagulating to form a substance that was stronger than granite.
*Po!* The defensive layer on the Azure Mountain King deformed completely as a look of disbelief took over his face.
“Even for a Morning Star, you’re merely just that!” the blood-soaked Leylin burst our laughing. He then threw his fist forward, aiming for the Azure Mountain King’s face.
*Boom!* The Azure Mountain King slid across the floor like a train hurtling through, leaving long tracks on the ground.
“The skin of a Morning Star is thick indeed!” Leylin flung his clenched fist without any traces of excitement on his face.
He’d definitely felt it when his punch landed, A barrier with a starry radiance appeared on the Azure Mountain King’s face, blocking his attack. Hence, he was only shaken up slightly by the attack and did not sustain any major injuries.
“Soul force defence?” Leylin scrutinised the dull-faced Azure Mountain King as he stood up, secretly conversing with his A.I. Chip, ‘How much data has been collected on the target?’
[Data collection at 12.1%. Further interaction with target needed, it is suggested to break through the soul force defences!] the A.I. Chip responded.
‘You still want me to try breaking through soul force?’ Leylin smiled bitterly and shook his head. If it weren’t for the purpose of gathering intelligence, he would not be so silly as to clash with a Morning Star Magus in the first place, ‘Begin simulations, calculate a path of retreat!’
Seeing how things had turned out to his disadvantage, he immediately made plans to retreat. But at the current moment, it was no longer up to him to decide if he could leave. Leylin saw that the Azure Mountain King wasn’t seriously injured. A huge amount of the blaze continued to surround him, burning wildly.
Traces of black smoke streamed from his nostrils, eyes and ears. He was really fuming mad. Morning Star Magi had always been placed on top of a pedestal, much like kings. At the current moment, he felt like a king who’d been bitten by an ant as he was walking down the street.
In the Azure Mountain King’s eyes, as long as one had not reached the rank of Morning Star, their existence was similar to that of an ant. To be bitten by an ant, and even be humiliated by it, how could anyone bear it?
“You... How. Dare. You. Insult. Me...” The Azure Mountain King’s face scrunched up, his rage-filled words staggered apart.
“Such plaintive whines of defeat, I’ve heard them too often...” Leylin did not give the opposite party a chance to rebuke him, dashing forward.
Even in a simple match of speed, Leylin would be lacking compared to the opponent. Therefore, the only way for him to escape successfully would be to slow him down by inflicting some degree of injury.
“I want to incinerate your soul for a hundred centuries!” The Azure Mountain King bellowed loudly, the imposing aura emanating from his body. Even the sky started to darken, revealing the sparkling of stars.
Only a Morning Star Magus could thoroughly grasp the power of a domain. In any case, the current Leylin had reached his rank 3 limits, infinitely nearing to a rank 4. Hence, he was able to portray a portion of the power of his domain.
Being enveloped in the Morning Star domain, Leylin felt like he had fallen into a swamp. Every single move was tedious.
“Soul Armour!” A layer of translucent, full-bodied armour appeared on the Azure Mountain King. Judging from his attitude, it looked like he was ready to take on Leylin with pure strength to erase the humiliation.
[Multilimb Strength operating, estimated remaining time: 3 minutes 57 seconds!] Noting the hint of the A.I. Chip, an unrestrained Leylin amplified his power to the maximum. He struck the Azure Mountain King head on.
The earth shook as a silhouette of dark green and another of translucent blue collided with each other continuously. Their every punch and kick seemed to rip the sky apart, creating countless tremors on the ground.
Sharp, ear-piercing explosions boomed continuously from where they struck. Once the dust was dispelled, an entire huge region would’ve been knocked off the map.
*Bang!* A translucent fist from the armoured body smashed Leylin’s chest viciously. Multiple scales cracked and flew with explosive lights of dark green radiances.
Leylin’s face turned red, and some black rays of light appeared on his hand, “Fatality’s Tip!”
As if the reaper himself had descended to the earth, a terrifying explosive light sprang forth. With how close they were, even the Azure Mountain King did not even have the chance to dodge.
Although the other party had suppressed his elemental connections, he was merely a clone after all, and his main body was not on site. Thus, Leylin could still break through the opponent’s soul force, forcefully converging elemental essence. All it required was a huge spiritual force consumption.
Leylin had held back on his trump card until now. Firstly, there had been no real opportunity to use it, and secondly, he was biding his time, waiting for the Azure Mountain King to take the bait.
As for the data on his opponent, he’d constantly kept that in mind.
“You did not abide by the rules!” The expression on the Azure Mountain King’s face said it all. Leylin clearly understood what he meant, yet he didn’t care. There hadn’t been any agreements on the usage of spells in battle. Furthermore, the opponent was a Morning Star Magus who had made the first move. In a matter of life and death, who would abide by rules?
Leylin’s pretence of having supreme bodily strength had successfully tricked the Azure Mountain King.
The most terrifying thing about a Morning Star Magus, and also the fundamental of their power, was soul force spells!
Watching the flustered and exasperated Azure Mountain King getting ready to retaliate, Leylin almost couldn’t hold back his laughter.
The rays of death reached the Azure Mountain King in a flash, clashing with the translucent armour.
“AAAHH.....” The Azure Mountain King yelled, the void and stars behind him shook as a huge amount of blue light converged on his armour.
Explosions sounded as the A.I. Chip reported to him, [Multilimb Strength at full power!]
How could Leylin miss this golden opportunity? He immediately yelled, releasing all the power remaining in him. Feeling the steady flow of energy seeping into his body, Leylin charged wildly towards the defence of the Azure Mountain King.
An enormous iron fist landed on the armour mercilessly, and the translucent layer shook.
The Azure Mountain King couldn’t believe his eyes as his armour cracked, blasting apart in a loud explosion. The black rays of death arrived at his chest, and pierced through him like arrows.
[Target’s soul force defence breached, data being collected!] The A.I. Chip took the opportunity to collect massive amounts of data while it was available. Leylin too, had unknowingly absorbed some residual form of data from the Azure Mountain King.
“Shadow Prison! Dense Fog Frontier!” Watching the Azure Mountain King cut a sorry figure while retreating, Leylin continued to launch his spells.
A menacing black fog spread continuously, swallowing the Azure Mountain King up. The ground split apart as countless yellow bars extended upwards, forming a gigantic dungeon that sealed the fog inside.
“The doubled spell of dense fog formations with the addition of a secret composition makeup should be enough to delay the opposite party by at least three minutes!” Not in the least bit zealous to continue with the fight, Leylin turned around to leave.
Fatality’s Tip did not cause any major injuries to the Azure Mountain King. Adding the fact that he was a Morning Star Magus, he definitely had some trump cards hidden away. After multiple provocations, he could become hysterical, and if that happened Leylin didn’t want to face him head-on.
As such, his silhouette immediately morphed into a black shadow, and faded out rapidly in the midst of battle.
*Rumble!* About two minutes later, a huge blue sword streaked across the width of the dungeon, and it collapsed like a mountain that had its summit shaved off.
Dust flew and rocks flew everywhere. When the dust cloud dispersed, two bloodshot eyes appeared out of the darkness.
“Leylin! Leylin! LEYLIN! I’m going to KILL YOU!” he yelled at the top of his voice. When he couldn’t locate signs of Leylin, he started to roar furiously.
Following his hiss, massive blue energy waves swept forth, wreaking havoc on the region. Soil rumbled and stones rolled as the very earth split apart. It looked like armageddon had arrived.
Everything that had happened had nothing to do with Leylin anymore. After escaping to a safe distance, he’d immediately changed course, ordering the A.I. Chip to clean all traces and marks on his body.
After multiple rounds of purification, Leylin came upon a newly established cave.
“My Lord!” A ray of light shone in the middle of the cave. A beautiful woman with a slender, proportionate body curtsied, behind her standing Parker and the other men.
“Hmm! Looks like you have successfully saved them all. Well done!”