Chapter 265: Twins
Sila and Dark Self attacked violently and swiftly. They could feel the combination of their qi and psychic power that was both bizarre and powerful. Even though the numerical value of their special points stayed the same, its quality was sublimated and couldn"t be compared to before.
While G.o.ddess" Resonance was the most mysterious dark art among the four dark arts of the h.e.l.l"s Gate Islands, Flaming Cloud Qi was the most bizarre.
Each Demon G.o.d had mastered Flaming Cloud Qi in a different way. That was the reason why there were no standards that could be used to predict how the successor would change after mastering the art, not to mention how such an abrupt increase in power could easily cause the pract.i.tioner to become drunk with their own power.
Thus, the Demons G.o.ds over the generations have varied; some became G.o.ds, some turned out to be Demons, and some became both a Demon and a G.o.d. Even though the power in each generation originated from the same art, they were hardly similar. It was because of this that a teacher couldn"t directly transmit Flaming Cloud Qi to their disciple.
Although there were four parts to learn—Foundation, Cloud, Flame, and Nirvana—just mastering three of them already meant succeeding the art since the last part was about burning one"s inner force for the sake of obtaining stronger, purer inner force. The Nirvana Part was a dark art that allowed the user to obtain unlimited power, coming with the risk of the user being burnt to death. Still, the so-called "unlimited power" was merely a fantasy invented by people. A human"s body was ultimately a small vessel that couldn"t contain all of the water in an ocean. Thinking that bottomless power can be acquired only leads to a hopeless death.
Profound pract.i.tioners usually built up their inner force after tempering their bodies so that they could handle the increase in power. It was natural that an increase in capacity meant getting stronger. However, the Flame Part was about purifying the user"s inner force by melting it down. With purified inner force, not only was its quality and effectiveness increased, but the user would also have an easier time controlling it. Sila"s one lap of qi circulation right now could generate even more power than if he did ten laps before mastering the Flame Part.
Sila had never learned proper swordsmanship or studied in a sword dojo, so his use of the sword was mainly about a concept, similar to how he relied on Formless Martial G.o.d—it wasn"t about following a certain set of movements. Therefore, his swordplay was acrobatic. Without any patterns, he moved like a cloud in the wind.
Aurora had a hard time keeping up with Sila"s wild movements. She used all her orbs to create seven shields, each with seven layers of protection.
On the other hand, Sila only had the Crystal Divine Sword in his hand, yet his entire body was more lethal than any weapon. Each of his basic movements was replaced by Five-Attributed Cloud Qi"s single attribute. With the Flame Part, he could now freely use Five-Attributed Cloud Qi with much more ease. This made Aurora wary against Sila"s punches and kicks as well as his sword.
Sila"s movements in general had improved greatly. Not only could he roam free in the air, but he could also constantly support his body with qi. His body was as light as a feather. He could rotate to the left, leap to the right, all with only his instincts.
His speed was so fast that Aurora"s illusion-creating speed failed to keep up.
Sila brandished the sword using his right hand while materializing sword waves with his left fingers and precisely hitting Aurora"s seven orbs, sending them flying. Suddenly, Aurora felt like her body was tied to the orbs and was pulled toward them. It was at that moment that Sila drew his sword back and grasped it with both hands, black flames igniting on the blade.
Heaven"s Dismissal — Seventh Sword Style, Unforeseen Dive.
The black flames transformed into a ma.s.sive amount of blade energy covering the Crystal Divine Sword, though its appearance looked thin and weak. Sila swung it downward at Aurora.
Despite its appearance, Aurora didn"t dare to take it lightly. She unleashed more magic power to strengthen the illusory shield. All of the shields combined into one with forty-nine layers, exerting powerful defensive power.
"Seven orbs, one truth! Dragon Shield of Authority!"
Shatter—! Shatter—!! Shatter—!!!
The sound of a shield layer breaking rang out over and over. Sila"s qi blade dived down and exerted even greater pressure. The blade became increasingly bigger, fiercer, and faster with each layer it broke apart.
In just a single breath, the blade had broken through all of the layers and slice down Aurora"s body, splitting it open but not quite reaching the heart. If it weren"t for her st.u.r.dy dragon scales taking the brunt of the attack, her body would have been split in two.
Apparently, Sila"s seventh sword style wasn"t an attack that one should block. It was a move that became stronger by absorbing the opponent"s defense to work against them.
After delivering his strike, Sila swiftly stored his sword and pressed his fingers on Aurora"s wounds, sending his qi inside to stiffen her movements. His qi kept her alive, but it acted like several tiny blades flowing through her veins.
Dual Overwhelming Attributes — Metal splits Wood, Surging Strike.
Originally, Surging Strike was a move that sent his power through an object or an opponent and damaged them from within. This time though, Sila adjusted the ratio of his power, adding more wood element while reducing the metal element. As a result, he had finer control over his power inside Aurora"s body. He could prolong her pain for as long as he wished, as her life now laid in his hands.
Aurora tried to explode her magic power from the inside, but Sila—who had high mastery over his power—could suppress her action by damaging her acupoints. His Yizichan was especially effective at such a close range.
These were Sila"s strong suits: melee combat, yizichan, and arts that subdue his opponents. Aurora couldn"t bring out her power, thus she was no longer his match.
While Sila relied on various techniques to subdue Aurora"s life in his palm, Dark Self"s method was far simpler.
Dark Self slowly approached the Dragon of Darkness with utmost calm while dragging the Crystal Demonic Sword on the ground. Sila released Dark Self while the three pellets were still active, so the power from the pellets was split among the two, allowing them to show their full might with reduced risks.
Tiamat stared at Dark Self while emitting more of her magic power. She hatched twenty dragon eggs in one go. Each of the baby dragons" appearances was strange and unfamiliar. Most of them were clearly rare dragons that both Sila and Dark Self had never encountered.
"Chaos Creation." Tiamat released black mist from her scales to stimulate the growth of the baby dragons. The intensity of magic power emitting from each dragon wasn"t at a level that could be overlooked, yet Dark Self"s steps were as casual as before. He didn"t even attempt to take a battle stance.
"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d..." Tiamat felt like she was being looked down upon. "Kill him!!"
All of the dragons disappeared, including Tiamat. Dark Self speculated that this phenomenon was achieved due to one of the mini dragons" Dragon Domain. Tiamat was indeed a fearsome opponent as she alone could exert several powers from different dragons. Still, it was such a pointless move against Dark Self, who had already come up with a countermeasure.
Dual Overwhelming Attributes — Fire melts Metal, Crushing Sky.
The gravity suddenly intensified as cracking sounds, along with the sounds of objects heavily hitting against the ground, could be heard. Tiamat reappeared again next to Dark Self with her knees on the ground, surrounded by her nearly-dead mini dragons.
"Their attacks are commendable, but their defense is weak. Your magic is like an illusion; a cheap trick that only works on second-rated beings," Dark Self scoffed with an apathetic tone.
Tiamat gritted her teeth as the club in her hand divided into three parts. However, before she could perform any kind of attack, Dark Self kicked her signature weapon with Instant Stomp, sending it flying into the sky. He then simply observed her as if waiting for her to make the next move.
"Chaos Dragon Rebirth Strike!" Tiamat"s body transformed into a cloud of black smoke, flowing toward Dark Self like a wraith. This was her ultimate move that would turn the remainder of her health points and magic power into an illusory attack that couldn"t be blocked or evaded.
"An illusion again? In the end, it"s just an old drink in new packaging. If you have nothing more, just die." Dark Self lifted his hand and rammed her face.
Racial Skill — Moon Reflecting Mirror.
Slime race skills were designed to slay dragons. If used right, no dragon would stand a chance.
Tiamat"s illusory body was. .h.i.t and flew in the direction where Sila was subduing Aurora. Her black smoke form was canceled and she was returned to her human form.
Heaven"s Dismissal — Fifth Sword Style, Nine Ghost Strikes.
Dark Self drew the Crystal Demonic Sword to cut the s.p.a.ce, generating nine short explosions in the blink of an eye. The shockwave from the explosions disturbed both Aurora and Tiamat"s magic power.
Sila and Dark Self seized the moment with their profound connection that was greater than any bond. They inhaled at the exact same time, and exhaled in identical synchronization.
Triple Attributes — Five-Attributed Cloud Qi"s Ultimate Move, Judgement of the Grim Reaper.
Sila"s right hand was dyed black from his fingers to his wrist. The same could be said for Dark Self. They pulled the power of the fire element to supplement the earth element, then used the latter to further strengthen the metal element. The earth element was the one they had the greatest affinity with, while fire and metal were directly next to it. With three elements combined into one move, their right hands possessed unimaginable strength.
The move was simple, because only the simplest form of movement could exert the most power from the three attributes. Sila and Dark Self"s right hands penetrated the dragons" chests and grasped their hearts like picking up oranges from a box. The two slowly beating hearts were revealed on their palms after they pulled back.
The two hearts were crushed at the same time without a millisecond of error. Finally, after a long fight, the two dragons slowly turned to dust, starting from the holes in their chests. Meanwhile, Sila and Dark Self had returned to one ent.i.ty.
"...You will regret your actions," Aurora muttered while Tiamat turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
The two bodies eventually disappeared. The nostalgic system announcement rang out in Sila"s head.
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the quest: Decolonize the Slime Kingdom. From now on, when a member of the dragon race is killed by a member of the slime race, their rank will be demoted by one.
The two dragons were the result of the Dragon Soul skill belonging to the Chaos Emperor Dragon. They don"t give any experience points, money, or items.
All of the Slime Seals have been destroyed. All the slimes on the Island of Beginnings are finally free from their imprisonment.
You are the only player involved in the slaying of the eight dragons. You have received special rewards!
You have acquired the Slime"s Absolute Power. You can summon and command any slime, though their rank cannot be above Marquis Rank.
You have acquired the Slime"s Record.
You have evolved from Orange Slime to Slime Twin, which is the same evolutionary level as the Slime King.
Your racial skill, Way of Slime, has been sealed. Please contact the Slime King for more information.
The remains of the two dragons were two glowing b.a.l.l.s that flew out prior to transforming into two dragon statues standing next to the entrance. They seemed to symbolize the ones who protected this sacred place.
The book with empty pages, the Dragon"s Record, flew from the podium into Sila"s hand. Its cover changed from the ill.u.s.tration of a dragon to two identical slimes, with appearances like steam buns. Their cheeks were touching each other. One of them showed a smile while the other looked angry.
The Slime"s Absolute Power materialized itself in front of Sila. It had the appearance of a small trophy cup that could easily be held with one hand.
Sila stored the Slime"s Absolute Power in his system window and opened the Slime"s Record. He then found that only the first three pages were recorded while the rest were empty. Each of the three pages contained pictures of slimes using Formless Soldier, Orbiting Cosmos, and Moon Reflecting Mirror respectively.
The vision around Sila became hazy as the light in the room gradually grew dimmer. It seemed the two dragons had cast some strong illusion spell on this place and it was losing its effect due to their demise. The room became a vast room with nothing inside. It was quite dark as the only source of light was the one coming through the entrance. The light made him realize there were some letters engraved on one of the walls.
Sila lit a fire on his palm. It shone brightly like a second sun.
Thinking back to the previous fight, Sila couldn"t help but become excited by his success with the Flame Part. Only the Nirvana Part was left for him to learn. It was said to be the part that only the first generation Demon G.o.d could master, so the difficulty must be unfathomable. Still, if he mastered it, his strength would rival those supreme experts. He would become the youngest supreme expert in history.
Sila brought himself to the wall, inspecting the letters and ill.u.s.trations engraved on it. Mystified, these inscriptions seemed to be done by someone"s powerful Yizichan. The content seemed to be about the history of the dragon race and the Dragon Kingdom.
Sila wasn"t interested and was about to exit. However, his eyes stumbled on pictures of slimes. In the end, his curiosity won over and he stayed behind. He sent messages to Burapha and Vata, telling them to withdraw first, and that he would follow soon.
"...In ancient times when there existed only one world, in order to make his ultimate wish into reality, the Creation G.o.d brought a group of selected humans into the realm of monsters. The Creation G.o.d"s objective was to choose a suitable person to hold onto the Gem of Hope. However, his ultimate wish had yet to be completed after thousands of years. Not a single human was worthy."
Sila guessed that Monster Soul"s history was based on an actual timeline of the game. The ill.u.s.tration of humans being brought to the world full of monsters must represent the closed beta when the Creation G.o.d—who Sila easily identified as Joshua—invited several powerhouses to test the game. Honestly speaking, Joshua seemed to play several roles in the game. Other than that, Sila had no idea what Joshua"s ultimate wish was, or what purpose the Gem of Hope served.
"...Some humans befriended monsters, and that completely changed the balance of the world. With humanity"s immeasurable potential, some monster races became stronger while some went extinct. Nevertheless, the most promising humans were none other than a certain pair of twins. One of them chose to become a slime while the other chose to become a dragon. With their combined forces, the slime and dragon races became the two strongest, unequaled races."
Sila tilted his head, wondering. "Slimes and dragons used to be comrades?"
"...The twins came from the same origin. The foundation of their powers was the Marvelous Bible, originating from the Far East. The starting point was the same, but there were more potential endpoints than there were stars in the sky.
"The Tiger G.o.d, Hu Xian, who later became the Chaos Emperor Dragon, possessed unmatched talent and had never lost. He developed his family art into his Chaos Devourer Art, a dark art which consumed his opponent"s inner force as nutrients and strengthened his own.
"The Oceanic Tiger, Hu Hai, who reigned over all slimes as their greatest Slime Emperor, possessed a broad-minded and charming personality. He developed the family art into his Encompa.s.sing Ocean Art, the supreme art that helped him master his opponent"s profound arts as easily as raising his hand. He was the embodiment of world-wide profound arts.
"With the two peerless twin brothers joining forces, it was natural that they would rule over the world. No one ever dared to oppose them."
Reading up to this, Sila stopped to think. If the Slime Emperor in this story was the Slime King of today, that meant his name was Hu Hai. As for the Chaos Emperor Dragon, this was the first time Sila had ever heard of his t.i.tle or his name. Still, he didn"t understand. He was sure that the top position of the dragon race belonged to Infernee, the Dragon Empress.
The ill.u.s.trations and letters after the aforementioned parts were damaged and became unreadable. Sila wasn"t sure if they were deliberately damaged or if they had simply been affected by nearby battles. The last part was the only legible part left.
"...The Chaos Emperor Dragon became stronger with every day that pa.s.sed. He and his dragon army marched to every corner of the world and waged the greatest war in history. Alas, he seemed to be consumed by his own power and his craziness showed no sign of stopping. Even the humans and dragons, his closest comrades, started to fear of him.
"In the meantime, the Slime Emperor rebelled against his older brother. He prepared an army to oppose the dragon army. However, his actions led to even greater doom. In order to stand a chance against the matchless Chaos Emperor Dragon, the Slime Emperor expanded his territory far and wide, stealing profound arts from various powerhouses. His actions eventually led to disdain from all races.
"In the end, it became a three-way war between the slimes, the dragons, and all of the other races."
The story seemed to jump ahead too much for Sila. He didn"t understand why the dragon army was suddenly formed, or why the Slime Emperor had to wage war against dragons despite their long history as allies.
"...Ultimately, the Slime Emperor formed a powerful seal that connected his soul to his brother"s, intending to seal himself along with his brother. However, the Chaos Emperor Dragon possessed strength far greater than what anyone could imagine. In order to seal him alone, the entire Slime Kingdom was sealed together with him. When the seal is broken..." Sila could only read up to this sentence. The remaining letters were destroyed.
"...The Chaos Emperor Dragon shall return."
A familiar voice rang out from below. Sila shuddered as he couldn"t sense at all that there was someone else nearby. He searched for the owner and found a missing stone plate in the middle of the room, revealing a staircase leading underground. He raised his hand to let the fire shine toward the lower floor, yet all he could see was a bottomless abyss.
The voice rang out again. Similar to the previous time, the voice was so close as if the owner was right next to Sila. "You could win against my Dragon Souls. You"re not half bad."
"Your Majesty?" Sila replied to the sound which belonged to the Slime King, though he was bewildered by the king"s sudden appearance.
"Your guess is close... but I"m not Hu Hai. Try again, kid.".
Sila had a hard time swallowing his saliva. He shifted his gaze to the inscriptions.
"Could you be... the Chaos Emperor Dragon... Hu Xian?"
A silent breeze of wind was the only response to Sila"s question. He noticed it too late, but this place was too quiet and too peaceful. The moment the two dragons of light and darkness died, it wouldn"t be weird if all of the other dragons had rushed to gather here. However, they hadn"t done anything of the sort. It was as if, without the two dragons" protection, none of the dragons would dare to step into this sanctum.
"What is your name?"
"Sila, sir."
"Sila? I have never heard of you. Do you belong to a dojo?"
Hu Xian, the Chaos Emperor Dragon, was rather aloof and showed no sign of aggression. It contradicted the description of him written on the wall.
"I"m the Flaming Cloud Dojo"s main disciple, sir."
"Hm? Flaming Cloud Dojo"s main disciple? Isn"t that Mora?"
"Teacher Mora is my master, sir." Sila was surprised to know that Hu Xian knew his teacher.
Hu Xian fell into a short silence. "Is that so? Has it been that long? Excuse me... kid. Can you help me deliver a message to Hu Hai... um, I mean your Slime Emperor? You don"t have to understand it, but you must pa.s.s every word I"m about to say without missing half a character to him. If you want a reward, just ask for it from Hu Hai. Tell him I want to give you my old item."
"The reward is unnecessary, sir. It"s just..." Sila"s words were interrupted by Hu Xian. He didn"t seem to care about what Sila wanted to say.
"Joshua broke a promise he made with me. Someone is practicing my Grand Deity"s Breathing. I can sense it. Even though it seemed peerless, that wasn"t a profound art designed for combat. Stop that person before they reach the last stage, otherwise, the consequences will be irreversible."
Sila memorized the message in its entirety. Even though he didn"t quite understand, he intended to complete the task entrusted to him and pa.s.s the message to the Slime King without forgetting a single letter.
"Tell that to Hu Hai, and he will take care of the rest. You may leave," Hu Xian"s words implied he was driving Sila away.
Although Sila still had some questions he wanted to ask, he decided to leave. He activated his black card and teleported himself to his mansion before exiting and returning to Belacia City. It was upon his return to the city that he heard some unbelievable news.