Chapter 1743 Splitting Everything Apart
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BOOOMMM!!!
At the very moment I swung my blade, it felt as if space itself had split into two halves, our vision was twisted, we saw two versions of everything, and for that very small moment, time itself was also very slow, as if it had been cut, it felt like years, we were watching in silence as everything came undone.
Everything turned white, and then black, and then red, blue, green, and yellow, then white again, and slowly, everything came back to normal, what we all thought was an explosion sound dissipated instantly, it barely lasted a split second.
The blade, as I swung it, disappeared and my weapons and spirits were the only thing left behind, all of them unconscious and weakened. I healed them instantly using my Venerable soul and synthetizing it as an elixir, it worked, and they went back to normal.
Everything was so fast, yet so slow, that when I was healing them, it was already done. The entire labyrinth was collapsed in front of us, a gigantic slash in the middle of the entire territory was done too, the other temple behind this one was also destroyed, I think that's where the shadowy guy went to, I couldn't detect Surtr and his team over there.
Well, better for me.
The twenty Treasures were there, they were able to survive, somehow, the Treasure Map was dinging and telling me to retrieve them, but for a moment I couldn't help but remain still in silence after seeing what happened.
"I-Is everyone okay?" I looked at my friends and family, they were all fine.
"Yeah, I mean… Wow, what the hell was that?!" wondered Benladann.
"It was… bizarre, was that all your powers combined as one?" Miranda asked.
"Not really, I think I could have added a few more, but indeed, it was incredible…" I muttered.
"Nah, incredible doesn't cut it for a word. This was just utterly insane." Miranda laughed. "Anyways, let's gather all the juice treasures! With this we are already qualified!"
"Y-Yeah!" Yuki nodded. "Ahem, that was insane and all but yeah, let's gather the materials… Drake are you ok?"
"I'm fine… I just am having a hard time processing what I managed to unleash," I said. "Even after becoming a Venerable, I always thought that I knew the limits of my strength, and that I had to use ways to circumvent them using a combination of strategies, items, and other things… But this is… For the first time in my life, I've discovered a power that I could have never guessed I had. Not even when I merged my body and soul to grant my soul temporary immortality…"
"Oh…" Ruby muttered at my side. "It was indeed incredible… But I bet it cost a lot of energy. Nonetheless, it's a good trump card against that tomato-skinned bastard, right?"
"Yes… I suppose it is," I laughed. "Though calling him "tomato-skinned" is really not an insult I could have ever guessed myself, haha!"
"It's a good one, Ruby's got a sharp tongue for such a little girl, hahaha!" Hector laughed. "Lord Drake, you must be more confident of yourself! The true strength that lies within you… Only you can know its true depth! If you had no idea of it, then that means… That you have yet to know yourself well."
"Hah… To think our only human would be giving me words of advice, and good ones at that," I laughed. "Thank you Hector. Can you help me collect the treasures?"
"Of course! I'm here to serve and help as much as I can, great Venerable!" said Hector, bowing to me. "Let's go, Sir Larzak and Kraxka, let's help too!"
"Hah, fine Hector, calm down though you're going too fast, boy," sighed Kraxka. "Great Venerable."
"Great Venerable," Larzak also bowed to me before going into the huge pit left behind.
"D-Drake, that was amazing! Are you sure you even need my help?" wondered Emerald, feeling a bit doubtful of himself.
"You're not a Venerable, but you possess immense potential too, Emerald," I smiled. "Have you leveled up enough?"
"I-I am Level sixty now!" he said. "I feel… so much stronger, each level made me stronger and tougher! And also my divine power increased a bit. The power of your Ascendancy Law is incredible, uncle."
"Yeah, it's truly amazing, Great Venerable!" said Amehia by his side. "Dad! Let's go look for the treasures too!"
"Right," the tall Tyrannus stepped in. "Just rest for the moment, Great Venerable. We'll take care of the meager things for you. you've done more than enough."
"T-Thank you…"
I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to being called "Great Venerable" all the time, even those people I am very close to call me like this, and I can't really blame them for not being a bit more casual with me anymore, a Venerable is… a Venerable after all.
"Papa that was aaaaamazing!" said Benladra.
"Yeah that was amazing, yes, yes!" Kate nodded.
"Dadaaa boom boom!" Drakda said cutely.
Well, at least my kids don't call me by weird titles, so that makes me happy. Andromeda, Benladann, and Miranda then walked to my side.
"Are you feeling alright?" Andromeda asked. "You've unleashed a tremendous amount of compressed power. Your soul almost shattered by the sheer pressure…"
"I'm fine… But I think I've somewhat comprehended something, perhaps a higher level of my Law…" I said. "I feel a bit dizzy too, but that's already going away anyways."
"Did you gain some insight in how to use that again?" wondered Benladann.
"I think so… But it also cost a lot of Ascendancy Law Essence, I think I spent almost half of it with that attack. I need to gather more. Luckily monsters are everywhere here, and I just happened to kill a bunch with this," I smiled, as I unleashed a shockwave of pure Gluttony across the lands, absorbing and draining the corpses of thousands of divine monsters into my body.
FLUOSH!
As my Ascendancy Law Essence rapidly regenerated, my allies quickly brought twenty treasure chests for me, all of them glistening with their beautiful golden auras.
"Well done!"
[Congratulations! You have collected a large quantity of Treasure!]
[Necessary Treasures to Pass the Second Trial: 22/20]
[Congratulations! You have obtained all twenty treasure chests necessary to pass the trial.]
[Now you must survive for the next 10 hours, and you will be able to pass the trial.]
[However, be careful, other participants might try to steal them from you!]
Now that the easy part is done, it's the game of protecting what's ours from pesky bastards.
"Store it for now," I told Andromeda, as she opened a portal to my divine realm and put the treasures there.
Of course, they won't be able to steal anything because they'll be inside my divine realm anyways, hah.
But perhaps they could somehow do it?
My opponent is Pandemonium, someone that can break space, so him infiltrating my divine realm… might be a possibility.
Then there's that shadowy bastard, he's a mystery, but his powers seem very powerful, if he's really another soul fragment of Oberon, then that unique skill they're carrying is insanely strong.
But not really as strong as Pandemonium…
Perhaps things will be resolved peacefully, and nobody will steal anybody.
Or so I thought.
RUMBLE!
That shadowy man emerged from the ruins of the labyrinth I had destroyed behind ours, and then immediately flew towards us at lightning speed.
He looked furious.
"{Abyssal Arts}: {Outer Void Domain}"
I prepared for a clash, but everything suddenly turned dark, pitch black.
TRUUUM!
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