Chapter 359 The Main Battle (4)
Basil and the human army he led were in a situation where they were bound to be devoured by the sea. The unstoppable, massive whirlpool that Charybdis made was gradually pulling them to its eye.
As they were in Scylla's domain, luckily, they only needed to defeat her to get out of the situation; by then, Charybdis' whirlpool wouldn't be able to do anything to them as it had lost its effect. Of course, this wasn't an easy thing to do.
Scylla was the embodiment of the consciousness of a killing machine that was made by Poseidon. She was a creature that deserved to be called Monster: she was an entirely different creature from Demons and Magic Beasts.
She used Demonic Mana, but she could utilise it as good as any Demon Prince, which added to her level of danger. Basil needed to face this kind of abomination while racing against time; he had to kill her before the whirlpool devoured them.
Was it possible? One might ask. Although the chance of winning was exactly fifty-fifty; yes, it was possible for Basil to defeat Scylla before they entered the eye of the whirlpool. He just needed to overwhelm his body with Energy once again, and risk crippling it.
'Will it be worth it?' Basil found himself asking. 'No, it won't,' he answered inwardly. 'However, I need to live. There will be no way for Scylla to let Iliana, Ione, and me go.'
It was too much—the things he had done for the people of Braxtein Kingdom—he believed. He was reluctant to risk his future again for the people, but he couldn't just die together with them.
If he decided not to risk his life there, he and the others would definitely die since none of them would have the expertise to kill Scylla. It was unsavoury, however, he still needed to gulp the reality presented before his eyes down.
'Ye shall thank your luck today... Ye will live today, but expect not to see this Lord in a battle protecting your insignificant existence in the future.'
Clicking his tongue as he finally took Caliburn and Durendal out, Basil crossed them and fully activated [Synchronization].
He, however, needed to break his connection with Durendal's Sword Soul. Being synchronized with three Sword Souls at once burdened his body too much; besides, two were already enough.
Boom!
As this time Basil was powered by the Qi and Mana of the people that were a part of the Formation, the moment he was fully synchronized, the shockwave his sudden Qi and Mana Fluctuation produced managed to disrupt the whirlpool for a moment.
Scylla, who was 6 kilometres away, could even still feel the impact of the shockwave. She was equally astonished and baffled by how much Energy Basil could force his body to control.
After the blue veins of Mana covered Basil's body for the second time that day, the True Light Magic Armour covered his body instantly. Since they were connected by [One Heart]; Deacon, too, had what he had.
Together, they looked like a mighty warlord and his mount, thirsting for their enemy's blood. The destructive aura they were giving off were terrifying enough to even scare the Sirens away from them.
"That lad reminds me of the humans who managed to ascend to Godhood: just as extraordinary while being young. He may bring chaos to either Gods or us in the future, but regardless, he is an omen that shall be vanquished now!"
Extending her left hand to the side, a 14 metres tall Bident was materialized in her hand. Coloured in dark blue, the intricate patterns on the shaft and the thalassophobia inducing aura made it as unique as it was frightening.
Bam!
Slamming the butt of her Bident to the ground, responding to the gesture, the water crashed into the rock she was standing on, and shaped itself into three Bidents of the same size as her Bident.
Basil also didn't stay idle as he sent [Path Of Glory] towards Scylla at the same time she threw her Bidents. Both Arts were heading towards their target at an insane speed, splitting the air, creating a vacuum in it for a split second.
Boom!
"Curse that lad!"
When both Arts clashed, it was much to Scylla's annoyance that her Demonic Art couldn't do anything to Basil's, and ended up being destroyed upon contact. Basil's Art kept advancing towards her, and she was forced to send another Art to disperse it.
Boom!
"Bloody human!"
... Unfortunately for her, her next Art still couldn't do anything to stop Basil's [Path of Glory]. It kept advancing until she was forced to block it with her Demonic Mana Barrier that could even barely hold it off.
Bewildered, she immediately stopped using Demonic Mana and used the advanced form of it, which was Miasma. She had decided to not resort to Demonic Arts anymore, and used Curses instead.
"[Cast shadow upon the light thou perceivest: Stare of Doom]!"
As soon as the Curse was cast, in the eye of the Whirlpool that Charybdis created; a massive, literal eye that was gazing at the sky appeared. Its slitted pupil and deep blue iris cast an indescribable horror to those who gazed upon it.
Basil, who knew what it would do the moment it turned its gaze to them, was quick to take action. Taking out ten swords he had taken from Goap's treasure room, he overfilled them with Mana, and sent them to the eye.
Each sword contained the most destructive nature of the Mana of more than seventy thousand people thanks to the work of [Synchronization] and the Formation. Each of them was a nightmare that was more than enough to obliterate a small mountain.
BOOM!
Just a moment before the eye turned its gaze towards them, it was immediately mercilessly obliterated by the swords Basil had sent it. The whirlpool was disrupted, and even Charybdis let out a rare scream.
"Kyaaak!"
"Tsk! What a stubborn bug," Scylla muttered in annoyance.
Just as she was about to cast another Curse, Scylla found herself captivated by the scene of Basil holding Durendal in a vice grip. Her body stopped moving, but her mind was racing, thinking about what was happening.
[Derailing Charm]!
It was one of Vagus' Hidden Abilities that Basil had rarely used in his past life simply because of what it did to his enemies: overly amplifying his charm to drive them crazy by simply looking at him.
He had rarely faced a female opponent that he could use it on; while it could also be used on men, he didn't find himself comfortable with the idea. His opponents, at that time, had always been stronger than him, so it wouldn't work most of the time.
This time, thanks to the fact that the Formation was enhancing his power, he could overwhelm Scylla with [Derailing Charm]. Although it wasn't to the point of driving her insane, being able to stun her was already enough.
"[The Light That Cuts The Shadow]!"
As Asia was focusing on keeping her restraint on Scylla, Basil utilized the Art of Caliburn—its Hidden Art, which could only be accessed after [Synchronization].
As its name suggested, it could cut through the shadow—the darkness that existed due to the omen obstructing the light. It could cut the omen that cast the shadow, allowing the light to illuminate the place that was once engulfed by the shadow.
Flash!
Simply said, it had enough power to obliterate Scylla, who "cast the shadow" upon Basil.
"KAAAAAAHHHH!"
Unfortunately, when the Art was just a hair's breadth away from Scylla, said Demon broke free from Asia's shackle. She regained her clarity, and in a split second, utilised the authority she had over her Domain to block the Art.
An incredible amount of water rose, creating a spherical wall that covered Scylla and the rock she was standing on. The wall of water was rotating at an unimaginable speed, slowly eating the light that was Caliburn's Art away.
On the other side, the whirlpool that Charybdis created spun even faster, significantly increasing its force to suck the ship Basil and the army on. Not stopping there, it was also quickly draining the Energy of the people.
"This is not a good news," Basil muttered the moment he noticed the disturbance in the Mana Flow. "I need to get us out of this situation." Wasting no time to think, Basil asked his all-knowing, half-sentient partner, "Guide, how can I salvage the situation?"
[Ding!]
[Answering Host's puzzlement...]
[There are many ways for the Host to salvage the situation, but most of them required an intervention of a powerful third party—]
"What is the way that is available to me in the current situation?!" Basil exclaimed, irked by the roundabout way the Guide answered him.
[By removing the cause of the biggest problem, of which the whirlpool was created by, the Host might salvage the situation, and come out alive. It is easy to discern which part is the weakness of the whirlpool, so...]
A stream of information about how to destroy the whirlpool flooded Basil's mind in a split second. Receiving such an overwhelming amount of information in that split second would normally split one's head, but Basil looked undeterred.
Immediately raising his head to gaze at the sky, he raised his hand up and pointed his index finger at it. Preparing [Heaven Piercer], a dense amount of Mana gathered at the tip of his index finger.
A marble sized ball of light was formed by the time his index finger could no longer contain the Mana. The aura surrounding him felt so destructive, it terrified the humans and the creature that dwelled in the sky.
"[Heaven Piercer]!"
Flash!
Brrr!
After the beam was shot from Basil's index finger, it pierced the sky in less than a second. An eerie hole was made in the sky, revealing the creature it had hidden for all the entire time, which was Charybdis.
By this point, Basil's ship was just a mere second from entering the eye of the whirlpool. Basil had intentionally waited for this moment to shoot the beam, because it was the requirement to harm Charybdis.
Luckily, he was on time; his beam entered Charybdis' mouth, and managed to pierce through her body. The whirlpool instantly disappeared, and at the exact same time, Charybdis fell from the sky.
Splash!
Her body became the only thing that disturbed the now calm sea. The people could no longer spot Sirens persuading them to jump into the sea; the only sound they could hear was the calming sound of the water.
"PACIFER!"
... And Scylla's furious shout.