Chapter 1023 Reign Of The Shattering Void, Let There Be Light!
...
A few moments later, Izroth, Lances, and Zel'Kan were joined by the rest of the 9th Division and 5th Unit.
By the time Zel'Kan and Lances reached Izroth's location, Marquis Varokin had long vanished without a trace. And, after seeing that Izroth was unharmed, the three wasted no time returning to where their allies awaited.
But just as the three of them started to make their way back to assist the others with the Undead Night Marchers, their forces, led by Niflheim and Noir, had already made their way over to them.
Apparently, just seconds after Lances and Zel'kan departed, the Undead Night Marchers abruptly turned to a cloud of dust and disappeared.
Based on their account of events, Izroth determined that the sudden disappearance of Marquis Varokin coincided too closely with that of the Undead Night Marchers for it to be a mere coincidence.
There was also the fact that the Tranquil Night Hysteria broke right around the time Izroth shattered a part of Varokin's Veil of Darkness.
However, there was something that bothered Izroth that he could not put his finger on.
'It doesn't match. The skounae are bound to the wills of those above them. If a Marquis like Varokin was tasked with guarding this area, it's impossible that he would have retreated of his own free will. It's more likely that he'd fight to the death. Then, that leaves one of two possibilities. The first is that the system made an error, or—someone interfered without me noticing.'
Izroth did not entertain the first possibility too much. After all, the system was not the type to make such simple mistakes.
As for Izroth's latter belief, for someone to make a move right under his watchful gaze and go entirely undetected in all aspects—it had to be someone who had already stepped into the legendary realm.
What troubled Izroth was the fact that whoever that person was decided to leave them alone and not retaliate.
'There's only one reason they'd choose to ignore intruders right before their eyes at a time like this. The revival—it must be much closer than we thought.'
If the Antumbra of Decay, Night Lord Zarolas' were successfully revived, Amaharpe and its allied forces would suffer a huge loss. It was to the point that it could tilt the war in Malentansium and Tempest's favor.
'It would have been helpful if the quest gave me a bit more information to go on.'
Due to the time limit for the quest Hidden Guardian of the Mortal Realm, Izroth knew that, at most, they had one day to prevent Zarolas' revival. However, he understood from experience that S-ranked or higher quests were often unpredictable. Just because the time limit was set to one day did not mean that Zarolas could not be revived before then.
Izroth set those thoughts aside for the time being as he opened up his system interface.
'It's a shame that he left so soon. I wanted to see how far I could take this skill after it evolved. I suppose I'll just have to wait until the next opportunity presents itself.'
Skill Name: Reign of Oblivion -> Reign of the Shattering Void
Skill Mastery: 1/4 -> 2/4
Skill Rank: S -> Unique SS
Requirements: Spear Equipped
Toggle On/Off: For every successful attack against a target, the user gains 1 Stack of «Madness». In addition, after this skill's activation, the user will begin to lose 4% -> 2% of their maximum HP per second. The effect of the HP drain will increase by 1% -> 0.5% for every additional second this skill is active. The cooldown timer for this skill does not start until it is deactivated.
*New -> «Shattering Void» - While this skill is active, the user's attack speed when wielding a spear-type weapon is increased by 100%. Spear-type attacks can momentarily disrupt all forms of shieldings and barriers. Additionally, the user's spear-type attacks have a chance of gaining 99% Armor Piercing.
*New -> «Controlled Madness» - The user gains the following based on their total stacks of «Madness»:
1+: Increases the damage of the user's next spear-type attack by 8%. This effect can stack any number of times.
10+: Increases the attack speed of the user's next spear-type attack by 10%. This effect can stack up to 20 times. (MAX: 200%)
20+: The effects of «Madness» will rise exponentially, and the user spear-type attacks gain 60% Armor Piercing.
40+: Increases the attack speed of the user's next spear-type attack by 10%. This effect can stack up to 20 times. (MAX: 200%)
60+: After every spear-type attack, the user has a 25% chance to instantly attack [6] time(s), ignoring all attack speed restrictions. The number of attacks increases by +1 for every additional 10 stacks of «Madness». Cannot be activated by attacks from this effect.
120+: The user can unleash a devastating blow with their spear, dealing 600% + [20% per «Madness» stack] of the user's attack as energy damage. This skill gains 100% Armor Piercing and cannot be defended against. After this effect is used, all stacks of «Madness» will be consumed and this skill will automatically enter a cooldown phase of 1 hour.
Cooldown: 1 minute
In the middle of his battle against Varokin, Izroth's Reign of Oblivion skill evolved into the Reign of the Shattering Void and the two were like night and day when compared to one another.
'I thought the system would just grant me another fusion-type skill, but it's gone above my expectations. Does it have something to do with my Time Dilation or Battle Fundamental Mastery?'
Even for a combat master in the midst of battle, Izroth believed that his skill evolved several times faster than it did under normal circumstances.
'I'll have to look into it later. For now, I'll simply focus on what lies in front of me.'
"Commander Lances, it's ready on your command!" One of the 5th Unit members suddenly called out from the distance.
"What are those guys up to? We've been standing here for a while. Won't we be ambushed again at this rate?" Guan Yu frowned.
"Who knows? Whatever it is, I'm sure there's a good reason for the delay." Halls commented as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Relax, we won't have to worry about being ambushed again after this." A voice sounded from behind Halls and Guan Yu as they suddenly found a hand placed on their shoulders.
Halls and Guan Yu immediately recognized the voice of the one who approached them as they turned their heads simultaneously to the side.
"Commander? When did you get over here?" Guan Yu said as his brows rose slightly in surprise.
"No, more importantly, what do you mean we won't have to worry about being ambushed again? Aren't we pretty much dead in the water here?" Halls inquired.
Lances removed his hands from Halls' and Guan Yu's shoulders as a light grin appeared on his face.
"Haven't the two of you learned by now? I never go anywhere unprepared. Since we ran into some unexpected trouble right after we arrived, there was no time to set things in place. But, trust me, this will be well worth a small delay." Lances stated.
He then held his hand out and continued, "Watch closely as I even the playing field. Do it!"
Hssssst...! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
When Lances gave the order, a faint hissing sound like pressure being released could be heard. At the same time, several glowing flames that cracked like a campfire appeared in different areas and spread throughout the surroundings.
Ooooooom!
The next moment, the ground rumbled as the flames erupted and formed numerous pillars that curved into the air and converged at a single point overhead.
Woooooosh!
When the last of the flames finished gathering, it formed a large sphere that mirrored a miniature sun.
Thoom..!
The miniature sun rapidly expanded before imploding and collapsing in on itself. However, instead of causing a wave of destruction to emerge, countless particles of light started to drift throughout the atmosphere.
At first, these particles of light did not make much of a difference within the darkness of the Night Lord's Crypt. However, after a few seconds passed, the light being emitted by each particle grew in intensity.
Before long, the particles of light seemed to multiply and replenish themselves wherever they traveled and dispersed without end throughout the darkness.
In less than a few breaths of time, the Night Lord's Crypt became moderately well-lit as those within the 9th Division and 5th Unit could finally see out in front of them without the continuous use of light magic.