I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 177: Striking Fear

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Not long after Herellia told all of the alliance members that Aurus’s words were her words as well, all of them made their way towards their portal, still holding a bit of fear as to where it led them. Noticing this, Herellia let out a sigh inwardly as she started talking about how the portal was safe. Unfortunately for her, no one took the initiative to enter the portal. In the end, she decided to go and enter the portal first instead. She did not mind as she thought that this would allow her to initiate Code 1 faster anyway.

Whoosh!

With the accompaniment of a soft sound of wind, Herellia jumped into the portal on her own accord, disappearing from the vision of all of the alliance members. Soon after, the alliance members that were around the periphery of this portal could not help but look at each other, deciding to jump into the portal together.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Eventually, everyone realized that they had no reason to be scared of jumping into the portal, entering it like the waves of a tsunami as Aurus watched them enter from the side. Before this, he commanded Fenrir and Charisa to stay inside the system until he summoned them out, to which the two had no qualms about. While looking at them from the side, he could not help but think about the next part of his plans, deciding to add Herellia’s plan of using Code 1 into the mix. After pondering over it for a while, Aurus realized that he was the only left in the alliance hall, making him lightly chuckle as he jumped into the portal like everyone else.

Whoosh!

It did not take long for Aurus to appear at the other side, with him appearing in front of what seemed to be the alliance members arranged in a semicircular formation. Aurus looked behind him and noticed that the portal was on the face of a stone wall, giving him a few ideas as to what to do next in his plan. Nevertheless, he dispersed this portal soon after and turned around to look at Herellia, who flew towards him at the very instant he appeared.

“I’ve never been to this part of the alliance base before,” Aurus could not help but mutter to himself as Herellia landed beside her before adding, “It’s quite a beautiful sight.”

Behind the semicircular formation of alliance members were trees that looked like they came out of paintings done by great artists, complemented by the hazy mountain view far away and the fluffy clouds in the sky. It made him want to yearn a faster end to this war, which would allow him to enjoy more picturesque sights like these.

“What’s the next part of your plan?” Noticing that Aurus was getting a bit offtrack, Herellia asked him this question to snap him back to his original train of thought, to which Aurus thanked him not long after.

“As I’ve said before, I’m going to use a hidden trump card of mine to break through the barrier,” Aurus replied to her question after recollecting his thoughts. In response to this, Herellia radiated an aura of curiosity around her as she asked, “I’m still curious as to what kind of trump card it is. Can’t you tell me about it?”

“I’m sorry, it’s not the right time yet,” Aurus let out a sigh before replying. He then pondered for a few seconds before replying, “But if we win this war, I’ll show you a glimpse of this trump card.”

In response, Herellia answered, “Okay then. Make sure you keep that promise.” She then focused her field of vision towards the semicircular formation, saying, “Go and do what you have to do. I still have a ton to do to prepare Code 1. Plus, wouldn’t it have better effect if both are used at the same time?”

“That’s true,” Aurus lightly chuckled as he responded. Not long after, he emanated an aura of seriousness as he said, “Once my preparations are done, I’ll send a strand of energy to let you know that you should make a move.”

“Mm,” Herellia let out a grunt as a response. She then said, “Let’s hope everything goes well. For the survival of the alliance.”

“For the survival of the alliance,” Aurus muttered not long after before disappearing from the sight of all of the alliance members, including Herellia. A few seconds later, Herellia let out a sigh before radiating an aura of seriousness as well, shouting at the alliance members, “Everyone! Get into the arrow formation! Make sure to use your strongest skills for this one!”

“We’re going to blow Chonk’s mind away!”

…

On the other hand, oblivious to what had happened inside the Tempest Branch Alliance’s base, Chonk looked at the members of his army, noticing the increase in the aura they radiated, being twice as strong than before. He then looked at Horell, noticing that there was only a slight increase to the aura he radiated, while he noticed that the increase in aura for him and Chungus was barely noticeable at all.

With all of these things laid out in front of him, he hypothesized that they would need to reach Fivefold Power if Horell’s aura was going to become twice as strong, while for him and Chungus, he hypothesized that they would need to reach the highest level possible for [Imperium Orbis], Tenfold Power.

Seeing as how everyone had adjusted to their newfound strength, Chonk looked at them and asked, “Is everyone ready for the next level?”

“Yeah!” Unsurprisingly, the members of the army were addicted to the feeling of their newfound strength, giving them the feeling that they would be unhindered amongst the Inanimate existences in the world. Not long after, they charged up their ultimate skills yet again, shooting them out as they converged into one point before Horell and Chungus shot out two large beams that transformed it into a double-helix yet again.

After that, Chonk went through the process one more time, slashing at the double-helix before spreading his energy throughout the area, instantly increasing the intensity of the aura of the members of his army by one more level.

“[Imperium Orbis: Twofold Power]!”

Whoosh!

While this was happening, Horell was thinking about another thing, looking at the entrance of the Tempest Branch Alliance’s base from time to time, slightly anxious as to what had happened inside as he muttered to himself, “I hope they didn’t give up on this war.”

Not long after, he felt the slight increase in his aura, hastily giving him a bit of inspiration as the anxiousness inside him had been washed away with slight confidence and hope.

“But if they did…”

“Then I shall rekindle their will to fight for survival!”

…

Whoosh!

With [Zenith Nihility Dash] not being deactivated, Aurus was able to teleport to the location he wanted to appear at in just one move. At the moment he appeared, Aurus looked around his surroundings and muttered to himself, “As expected. This is truly an ideal spot for me to look at Chonk’s army from afar.”

The location that Aurus chose was in fact, the top of the alliance base. With trees and shrubs on the top of the alliance base, this allowed him to blend in with the surroundings so he could not be seen by Chonk’s army. Of course, he also activated his morphing skill, transforming him into a mundane-looking stick that would not stand out against the surroundings…just to be sure.

Rolling a bit forward to get a better view of what Chonk’s army was doing, he then said, “Alright, Phase 1 of the plan is complete. Time for Phase 2.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Unbeknownst to the opposing army, eight soul balls, which surveyed over their territory a while ago, had now started to move closer to where they currently were. Naturally, these eight soul balls were the soul balls Aurus deployed a while ago, which he discarded after seeing the need to fluently control six beings at once, only to return it after obtaining the current [Pentatasking] skill.

He made sure to not attract the attention of the opposing army as he moved these soul balls. Fortunately, it did not take him too long to realize the soul balls were too high up for the opposing army to even see, prompting him to move these soul balls at the fastest speed possible. After using up a few minutes to move these soul balls, Aurus radiated an aura of slight excitement as he muttered, “Phase 2 complete. Time for Phase—”

Whoosh!

Just as he was about to start Phase 3 of his plan, from the two perspectives he had of the opposing army, he could not help but notice that the aura radiated by each member of the army had intensified by a considerable level. Not only that, he noticed that it increased after a certain amount of time. With that in mind, he could not help but recall what Horell told him.

“Make sure to break the barrier before he shouts the phrase ‘Tenfold Power’!”

“Is this what Horell meant? The intensification of aura?” Aurus surmised that this was possibly the case. It was in line with what Horell explained to him about the three phases of Code Omega as well. With that in mind, he decided to keep a close eye on what level of increase they were at, manipulating the soul balls to move to a lower altitude, which would possibly allow him to hear what Chonk says through [Unified Soul Control].

After that, he then asked himself, “What phase was I on again?”

“Ah, right. Phase 3.” Recalling what phase he was currently at, Aurus then hastily transferred his control to his clone, Argentum.

Whoosh!

…

“It’ll take a while for me to get used to this.” At the very instant control was transferred over Argentum’s body, Argentum could not help but shudder a bit as he muttered to himself. Not long after, he stood up and commanded the system regarding his progress on completing the Tempering skill.

Ding!

“Hoh? An increase of 0.4 percent? That’s quite nice,” Argentum could not help but say to himself in slight joy.

After finding out that Chonk and his army were getting closer to the alliance base, Aurus hastily decided to transfer his control back to his original body while he commanded the system to let his clone increase his progress on the Tempering skill. Although the speed at which one cycle was completed was slower when compared to when he did it, Aurus…or rather, Argentum, was satisfied with this bit of progress.

After standing up, he started to do some light stretching as it had been a while since he was in this body. Not long after, he then went to the main matter at hand, which was to break the barrier. Indeed, Argentum was his trump card to break through the barrier, which would inflict high psychological pressure to Chonk’s army. Not only that, he thought that with Chonk and his army not knowing who or what broke the barrier, this would increase the psychological pressure they felt to incredulously high levels.

He then spread the fingers of his right hand as he muttered the incantation for [Nature’s Wind Bolt], a Level 0 Spell that dealt insanely high damage thanks to the difference in existence level. It did not take long for his right hand to glow white as he had gotten a taste of using the spell.

“Let’s see if the damage is still the same,” Argentum muttered to himself as he extended his right hand towards the trunk of a tree before shouting, “[Nature’s Wind Bolt]!”

Whoosh! Puu! Puu! Puu!

And just like before, a bolt of white shot out of right hand, piercing through ten tree trunks before dissipating. Looking at it for the second time, Argentum let out a light chuckle of disbelief before saying, “Even though I know it’s a Level 0 Spell, I still can’t believe the level of destruction it can inflict.”

Soon after, he rubbed his chin with his forefinger and thumb while thinking about the possibility of him breaking through the barrier with the stats of his current body. While he was thinking, he could not help but think out loud as he started to mutter.

“The energy of a Pseudo-Animate, a Rank 0 Animate, and a Rank 1 Animate combining together to create a barrier that is nigh impossible for Inanimates to break through. With the difference in existence level between the three, wouldn’t the limit of the barrier be equivalent to the average existence level of the three?” Argentum muttered to himself.

“In other words, the limit of the barrier is around the strength of a high-ranked Pseudo-Animate, or a Rank 0 Animate. And that means…”

“I can break through the barrier easily with my current strength.” Argentum let out a sigh of relief after calculating that he had more than enough power to break through the barrier. Nonetheless, he wasn’t finished thinking as he said, “Although [Nature’s Wind Bolt] packs a lot of punch for a simple Level 0 Spell, the shock value of it is not high. It’s not flashy enough.”

“I’m still far away from unlocking a new spell, seeing as I need to reach a progress level of 15 percent.” Argentum let out a sigh. Not long after, he started to look back through the memories of his past life, wondering if there was something he could use to make his spells flashy.

“Ah! That could work!” Fortunately, it only took him a couple of minutes of recalling to obtain what he needed from the memories, recalling a memory wherein a player casted two of the same spells one after the other, making the two spells fuse with one another. With that in mind, he extended his right hand once more towards the trunk of a tree as he muttered the incantations of [Nature’s Wind Bolt] again.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Not long after, he shouted the name of the spell, with a white wind bolt shooting out of his palm an instant after. But then, while the white wind bolt was traveling towards the trunk of the tree, he then extended his left hand and hastily chanted the incantation of the spell one more time, shooting out another white wind bolt towards the trunk of tree.

Whoosh!

Surprisingly, as the second white wind bolt followed behind the first one, it seemed as if the second white wind bolt had a strong suctioning force behind it as it absorbed the first white wind bolt in front of it, increasing the bolt’s power, size, and most importantly, flashiness.

Fwoosh!

With the fused white wind bolt now looking more like a white spear with wind swirling around its tip, it then pierced through the trunk of the tree without a problem…then ten…twenty…thirty-five. The energy behind the fused white wind bolt had been used up after it had pierced through the thirty fifth tree trunk, leaving Argentum at a loss for words at the power increase.

“One plus one doesn’t equal to two in this case…” Argentum muttered as he wondered as to how much wind bolts he could fuse, and how much damage it would deal.

Ding!

Just as he was about to experiment with that in mind, he had obtained a notification from the system, prompting him to open up the notification screen. After reading through the notification screen, the aura he had radiated had done a 180 degree turn as he hastily sent his control back to his original body on the top of the alliance base.

“Well, well, well! To think the heavens haven’t abandoned me!”

Ding!

‘The user has conjured the [Nature’s Wind Spear] spell without relying on the mastery of the Tempering skill. Due to the conjured spell being close to the strength of a Level 1 spell, the system has increased the progress of the user’s Tempering skill by 10 percent.’

‘The user has achieved 15% progress on [Divine Wind Spirit]. The user now has access to the [Nature’s Wind Vortex] spell.’