Chapter 1088: Detonation! (1)
Chapter 1088: Detonation! (1)
Two minutes passed and Actuass watched as the group of assailants started to part. The bubble they had buried themselves in had shattered and immediately, they seemed to move into different position dictated by an elaborate plan they had made.
Some walked along the sea while other flew up, but not in his direction.
'Hmmm.'
Actuass knew full well that his inactivity might have just given away the fact that he wasn't all too equipped to wipe them all out in one fell swoop like before. It might have also admitted that he wasn't finished processing the potent soul of the Herald, Jerthrax.
That was a massive undertaking after all.
Even the portion of Jerthrax's soul he had stolen was much greater than Rayn's.
However, whatever the enemy gleamed about Actuass didn't matter as far as he was concerned. He had greater problems.
A drop of pale lilac oozed from the necromancer's lips and he wiped it away.
Things weren't looking good for him. He had hoped that by now, he would have been enacting his plan without opposition. He had been on a time crunch ever since absorbing Rayn's soul. From that moment, this disequilibrium between the integrity of his body and the brilliance of his soul had acted as a plague that he couldn't simply cast away. He had attempted to curb the imminent collapse of his body by battling the immense Divine energy he held with a similarly massive amount of Undeath, but that had only bought him so much time.
His body was failing.
Actuass couldn't empower himself to get a body like Rayn's which had been able to host the consciousness of the Deity Quintess in the Second Grand War because his current power would shatter even a vessel that strong. Going beyond that kind of perfection for a mortal body was impossible. It would be akin to reaching Divinity and even a Rule couldn't grant someone that kind of a shortcut.
Actuass couldn't switch vessels because of a similar reason. There was no body on Aigas that could hold a soul as powerful as the one he currently had. Well, there was Jerthrax's corpse, but it was lost to the six-armed anomaly he had to face.
To make matters worse, it was growing harder and harder for Actuass to heal himself because of the continued conflict between his powers. The more he healed, the more his body he resisted. He only did so when absolutely necessary, like when Jerthrax cut him in half and when Benzard beat him up at a crucial moment in his Territory.
Because of this, Actuass was especially ravaged by the mental assault he got hit with minutes ago and the venom injected by the shaggy, maroon beast that had bit him in the shoulder.
He felt the lingering effect of these powers vividly, but he couldn't take a chance and heal from them. His body was already rebelling all the more from how Benzard had sliced through his brain when Yagrina and Bassbion had bound him.
'They are ready for an offense. I should prepare mine too,' he thought.
On the sea's surface, Vohnvolt, Eaniss, Benzard, the Mad Bishop, Yagrina, Yuyui and
Pherdanta moved into the formation they had discussed.
They were all moving apart from each other in order to not give away the gist of their strategy.
Pherdanta had regained her wits and she had begged Vohnvolt not to discard her yet. Vohnvolt had ended up giving her a minor role.
The Unlimited gave a deep, sombre sigh before looking into the skies.
She told herself to swallow the damage her decision had made. Wallowing in the fact that it
had resulted in Allora's death would accomplish nothing, after all.
Glaring at the massive monstrous wave of Undead minions in the skies, Pherdanta pointed three fingers at it, steadied her body and called:
"Aggrante."
At once, a vicious highlight ignited the already bright surroundings and Pherdanta gritted her teeth from the force that bellowed from her Granted Armament.
A Threefold Aggrante was the strongest Aggrante an Unlimited could conjure.
It was much stronger than the Twofold version, which had been able to casually flay an Incandescent Stager!
Pherdanta was sent barrelling through the sea below, but not before a thick beam of power shot from her fingers, travelling extremely fast upwards!
It was a mix of condensed mana and Null Life Essence with explosive penetrative power and a highly potent corrosive effect!
When it approached the mass of Undead, it nearly blinded every single one of them with how radiant it was, and on contact with its first batch of enemies...
BOOOOOM!
A shockwave that seemed to intensify the gravity ensued, bringing about a vicious light while conjuring an unprecedented, violent storm!
In an instant, a half a million Undead were reduced to ash, and the number kept going up as the beam travelled forth greedily.
As it did though, Eaniss, the Bishop and Baddan rushed to stand in a triangular formation around the mass of Undead on the sea and chanted at the same time:
"Majestic Territory...!"
Nitros bellowed out like an animal from three different positions.
Baddan gritted his teeth.
This was his third time using a Territory today.
Thankfully for him, as a beast, the unreasonable requirements that applied to humans for using their Territories didn't apply to him.
Humans had to con their way into learning how to use Majestic Territories, but for beasts, it was natural.
There was no outlandish requirement for mana, and thus, as long as Baddan had enough, he could cast it multiple times.
However, his reserves had been depleted significantly, so when the bulbs of Nitros from the Bishop, Eaniss and himself exploded out, his wasn't even a third of their sizes.
Still, the unformed Territories swelled and expanded towards the deflating numbers of Undead in the sky, rapidly approaching the necromancer's position among them!
At the same time, though, crimson lightning burst through the gap between Eaniss' and Baddan's Nitros.
Benzard raced through as a menacing streak, his powers flourishing the more lightning wrapped around him!
Benzard had received a Hidden Class from Sause months ago in the Labyrinth of the Yoke.
It was a relatively simple class as far as Hidden Classes went. It permanently increased his Strength, Agility, Health, Endurance, Stamina, Skill efficiency, Skill explosiveness, recovery, mana integrity and mana reserves by 3% every day. The increase was individualised to the specific aspects, stacking into a monstrous effect!
In just a few months, the power he received in addition to Sause's guidance had allowed him to reach the Incandescent Stage from the Advancement Stage!
The red tattoos on Benzard's face depicted that the powers of his Class were in effect, but at the moment, they had turned black.
Benzard could temporarily increase the power he received at one time by sacrificing the benefits of the next few days. His power would instantly increase by 15% percent in an instant, and that was demarcated by his black tattoos.
In a flash, Benzard cut down millions of Undead on his way to the necromancer.
Just as Eaniss had said, no amount of Undead hostiles could stand in his way, especially right
now!
Benzard quickly pinpointed Actuass' position.
He was sitting on top of a bundle of Undead creatures in a lotus position with Eobald-Minobu
by his side. Unlike before, Benzard didn't let Eobald's figure distract him.
There was a time when Benzard had looked up to Eobald, when hen being in the Ideal Ark with
Eobald leading it had been his pride and joy.
He had admired the man.
He had been a little jealous too.
However, that time had passed.
There nothing he wanted to say to Eobald and evidently the opposite was true, as Eobald-
Minobu immediately adopted an offensive stance.
This was it!
This was Benzard's chance to cut down his past and embrace the future Sause had given him!
However... Actuass interjected with a mere two words.
"Ignite Undeath."
All of a sudden, ear-splitting booms rocked the world.