The Calamities were powerful beings that had limitless potential to grow, he would be sure to strengthen them as time goes as he knew he couldn't do everything by himself.
This tedious process of communications across humans, beasts, and the inhabitants of Atlantis would continue for the foreseeable future as the powerful figures at the top continued to move forward the plans.
Noah found himself with a tremendous amount of cores, skill books, and Law Crystals that the Emperor penguin and other beasts from his Spiritual Land had collected when they fought against the forces of Mountain Sea Sect. This wasn't to even mention the loot he had obtained himself.
After finding some time a few days after their escape from the dying Lost World, he was finally able to take a look at everything he collected from his journey.
First off was the loot he didn't finish checking from the Phantasmal ranked Paimon, two skill books were leftover besides the Ultimate Skill he already obtained from her. The first was a unique skill that seemed fairly simple, but would have its own amazing uses, with the second being a Phantasmal ranked skill.
{Lie Detection} :: The veil of truth and lies becomes visible, giving the user the ability to distinguish between them.
[Persuasion] :: Your words carry an undeniable truth, making it easier to influence the beings around you.
Simple and direct. A smile was on Noah's face as he learned these skills and moved on to the skills dropped from the next Ruler he killed, Baal himself. He began with the grandiosely shining Ultimate Skill first.
{Seven Deadly Sins- Gluttony} :: One of the seven deadly sins unique to the Demon World. Abilities include Devouring, Large Stomach, and Library.
[Devouring] :: Filled with endless hunger and thirst, the user can devour their enemies and other entities fully. Devoured entities can be broken down and used to permanently increase the attributes of the user or as fuel for healing and a momentary boost in power. The mana requirement varies depending on what the target is.
[Large Stomach] :: An enormous amount of space is made available through the use of this ability, allowing the user to store anything they can devour.
[Library] :: Devoured entities are analyzed and stored, their life history and skills laid bare for the user to pick and choose. A maximum of two skills can be extracted from devoured entities.
The Ultimate Skill that the strongest Ruler held was no joke, and it was the reason why he grew so powerful in the first place. Noah's eyes shined as he looked forward to utilizing the skill to the fullest. His only regret was that Baal's body was completely destroyed with nothing left.
He let bygones be bygones as he looked at the next three skill books, these ones being two PHANTASMAL skills and a unique skill.
[Sundering Hellfire] :: Hellish flames blaze out to cover anything your eyes can see. The flames do not extinguish until you give the command.
[Space Destruction] :: Your strikes gain the capability to affect space. The effect varies depending on what realm you are in.
{Parallel Thought} :: The mind is an enigma, but it can still be controlled and enhanced. Two diverging thought processes can occur at the same time.
Skills that he had observed the Oppressive Tyrant use to fight against multiple Phantasmal beings were now in his hands as he felt a feeling of accomplishment to have come so far.
There was a new feeling in his heart after all the recent negative experiences and emotions. With his strength growing like this, there was a large possibility for him to grow to the same level as those he had to run away from. His beliefs were reinforced as he looked at his stat panel with shining eyes. He could do it!
[Noah Osmont][Occupation: Hunter]
[Vitality: Phantasmal]
[Focus: - ]
[Strength: Phantasmal]
[Skill(s) :: [F][E][D][C][B][A][S][EPIC]
[LEGENDARY :: Memory Plunderer, Hydrothermokinesis, Devastation, Summon Death Reaper]
[LEGENDARY+ :: Whirling Frozen Death, Healing Wings, Demon King's Banner]
[MYTHICAL :: Hydrokinesis, An Undead's Stamina, Defiance, Resplendent Speed, Phasing ]
[MYTHICAL+ :: Titanium Body]
[PHANTASMAL :: The Dictatorial Kaiju- Hydra, Summon Titans of the Abyss, Radiation Queen's Sword, Persuasion, Sundering Hellfire, Space Destruction]
[UNIQUE :: Spiritual Land Management, Primal Conjurer, Spatial Travel, Shapeshift, Witch Slaves, Lie Detection, Parallel Thought]
[ULTIMATE :: Bone Master, Seven Deadly Sins- Gluttony]
[Equipment: (3x B-Ring of Storage)(A-Ring of Storage)(S-Storage Pouch)(Mythical- Pearl of the Sea)]
[Laws :: Law of Water- 5%]
Chapter 204 - Preparations
Beings from Noah's homeworld and the Beast World were rapidly moving around as preparations were underway for them to do something grandiose.
The Rulers of the Demon World were heavily weakened at this moment in time with more than half of all their forces meeting True Death in the Lost World of Atlantis. There was fear and uncertainty in all of their hearts, and Noah chose this time to strike and take out those involved in causing the deaths of many beings across the two worlds.
He did not want to consider himself a senseless killer, but there had to be reckoning for those who caused senseless harm to many weaker beings based on their own motives.
For the preparations, he had a tremendous amount of cores at the Legendary and Mythical rank, as well as many skill books and items that he and the beasts from the Spiritual Land had collected from their journey in the Lost World. Much of this loot was distributed to Kazuhiko and Steel Mikhail, allowing for these powerful individuals to be power leveled to the Mythical rank in a few days.
The remainder of the loot was handed to the remaining three Mythical Beasts that might soon lose their titles as they neared breaking through to the Phantasmal rank. The Imperial Phoenix that had helped Noah when he was still at EPIC rank not too long ago only looked in shock at Noah's appearance after she had looked for him all this time.
The being she had looked at as having a lot of promise had actually overtaken her in strength, and in such a major way at that. When she found out that the Spiritual Land that was extremely hard to upgrade and take care of was also a rank higher than her own, she blanked out.
As much as Noah enjoyed looking at the reactions of this fiery Imperial Phoenix, he continued to move fast as he spent some time with the Queen of the Frozen Kingdom in the Beast World.
It didn't take long for him to travel across worlds with [Spatial Travel], and he routinely came back to spend some quality time with the Icy Queen while boosting her strength and the strength of the people in the Kingdom through the continued use of [Budding Farmer].
He did the same for the agricultural sector in his homeworld as both the United Federation and the Blessed Empire experienced a boom that allowed for no mouth to go unfed these past weeks.
Days passed like this as many things occurred, with the core destination being the same. A sense of apprehension and excitement was in the air for the powerful humans and beasts that held strong emotions against the Demons that invaded them.
Noah continued to look over all of these things as he moved behind the scenes to upgrade his own strength as he used the Time Space to boost up his skill proficiencies as well as take a look at the treasure that Sect Master Inuit had left behind.
[Lawful Nourishment] :: A Necklace that has a chain made of Adamantium infused with the law of air and water. It holds a circular pendant that is nearly empty. Abilities include Soul Finder, Soul Absorption, Law Nourisher, and Essence Amplification.
[Soul Finder] :: The pendant acts as a compass to point to the nearest Soul Jade of a type it does not have yet. If the pendant has every type of Soul Jade, it will point towards the type it had least of.
[Soul Absorption] :: The pendant can absorb every type of Soul Jade and improve its effectiveness
[Law Nourisher] :: The Soul Jades contained in the pendant will allow for the incr
ease of speed of mastery and the power of laws.
[Essence Amplification] :: A convergence of essence will occur with the Lawful Nourishment at the center. The amount of essence amplification will depend on the number of Soul Jades in the pendant.
It was truly a unique treasure of the World of Cultivation as it showed spectacular possibilities. Inside of the circular pendant of the necklace called Lawful Nourishment, a glistening blue piece of what seemed to be the thing called Soul Jade was lying peacefully.
It was an extremely small piece that you barely noticed it in a corner of the pendant, and this was the only thing that was present in it. Yet, the effect it had was something wondrous to observe.
Noah looked around him as he equipped Lawful Nourishment and watched the essence around him tremble as it began swirling around the area. He observed the changes for a few minutes and found it to be more than twice as concentrated as it was before, allowing him to feel like his body was floating through the clouds.
He spent some time manipulating the necklace and found that he could expand this area of essence convergence as well as reduce it, its effects becoming less and less the further out it was spread. The biggest boon was the fact that when he brought out the [Law Crystals] to absorb, he found that he was receiving a larger percentage than usual, making him look forward to finding more Soul Jades of different elements to add into this necklace and watch its effects become even more ridiculous.
Besides the spectacular unique treasure from the mysterious Karmic Sect Master, Noah observed the newest skills from the result of [Skill Combination] as he prepared for the grandiose invasion of the Demon World. The rising of proficiency was made even faster in the Time Space because of the unique skill, [Parallel Thought], as Noah found himself focusing on multiple skills to raise at once.
He had an unlimited amount of energy to use, and now it felt like he had two different minds to use it. His efficiency shot through the roof as his rate of combining skills that was already crazy enough before became even more ridiculous. Lower ranked skills that he just combined were combined yet again just a day or two later in the Time Space as he continued to break common norms.
The skills combined these past few days were,
Devastation + Summon Death Reaper :: LEGENDARY+ [Summon Devastating Reaper]
Summon Devastating Reaper + Whirling Frozen Death :: MYTHICAL Summon Death Lord
Healing Wings + Demon King's Banner :: MYTHICAL [Ruler's Might]
Defiance + Phasing :: MYTHICAL+ [Emperor's Defensive Maneuvers]
His strength continued to rise exponentially as preparations for their advance into the Demon World were nearly complete. There wasn't a shred of worry as he had multiple PHANTASMAL ranked beings by his side, as well as himself, who was a different monster altogether. What was left in the Demon World were a few Rulers that were not present in the Lost World, what could they do against him after he had taken down their most powerful Ruler?
Chapter 205 - The Tactician
In a dark and gloomy castle at the center of the Demon World.
Light steps were ringing out across the large hall of the castle where a single figure walked. The figure had reddish-black wings erupting from his back as his body was wrapped in a sleek black suit. Large glasses covered his piercing blood red eyes as he looked forward emotionlessly.
He was the current highest ranked Ruler of the Demon World, the Tactician, Agares. His power was not the strongest amongst the top ten Rulers, but he still took the second position after Baal because of his Ultimate Skill, Tactician.
Many beings feared the power he carried with it, and they feared more so when he was paired up with Baal on any ventures, as the combination of the two was deadly. But, in the most recent catastrophic venture, Baal had gone and taken many other Rulers on a hunt for a Supreme Treasure while the Tactician had stayed behind to manage things in the Demon World.
Now, this same Tactician was faced with a tumultuous situation where a large number of Rulers had suddenly faced True Death, and worst of all, their strongest ranked Ruler was among them.
Terror was in the hearts of many Demons as they wondered, exactly what enemy had they come across that completely wiped out Baal and so many others? The most terrifying of all was the fact that there was no news from any of the Rulers before their deaths. There were too many unknowns, which caused many of the remaining Rulers to panic.
These past days, many of them were cooped up in the regions they ruled in the Demon Capital as they surrounded themselves with their Legions. They hid in their tightly defended castles as hundreds of thousands of demonkin surrounded them from all sides, hiding until they received some answers from those with the most power at the top.
The Tactician, Agares, had used his authority as the second-ranked Ruler to keep things to a level of calm in the Demon World as he reminded everyone of their power. Even with Baal gone, they still had beings in the top ten who held PHANTASMAL rank power. They still had Rulers with spectacular Unique and Ultimate Skills that they could use best in their home turf.
The other Rulers were calmed and tamed, but Agares himself was thinking completely different thoughts. He knew that something monumental was coming, and he knew that the destruction that Baal had faced would follow them. He walked along the large hall of the castle at the center of the Demon World as he thought of all of this.
He could hear the commanding voice of the Will of the World that told him to rally their forces and prepare, but he knew it was all for naught. His power laid in thinking and planning, while Baal was the brute force that attacked. This brute force almost always never listened to him, the example of the trip to the Lost World where he commanded many Rulers to go being one of them. It was this same trip that resulted in all of their deaths.
Agares sighed as he entered into a veranda that overlooked the gloriously shining Demon Capital that was normally boisterous, but currently quiet as many had closed their doors fearfully. He knew something was coming, and his Ultimate Skill had already shown that he had a possibility of living through it.
This was something that brought slight fear in his heart. His Ultimate SKill showed that he had the possibility of getting through whatever calamity was coming alive, but it showed that many more would be dying.
'Have Baal's aggressive methods of expansions finally caused the destruction I foresaw?'
Many thoughts and what ifs passed through the Ruler's head, but the past was the past, and time continued to move. What mattered was what would happen now. His eyes suddenly turned up as his skills informed him of something, and he looked into the skies of the Demon World to find a shining silver light erupting out. The light reduced and the figure of a golden-haired man with a suit of armor appeared in the clear skies.
A gloriously shining golden trident was floating in his hands as his face swept around the Demon Capital. An expression that seemed to show familiarity was apparent as his gaze traveled around, ultimately landing on the powerful aura of Agares who was looking up from the grandiose castle at the center of the capital.
Another light shined out as beside the golden-haired man, an enormous beast with tremendously long tentacles appeared, creating a large shadow that caused a commotion in the recently quiet capital. This wasn't the end though, as four more PHANTASMAL ranked beings with fearsome power just like it appeared above the skies, their pressure descending down and causing panic to those below.
The figures of more than 20-meter tall Goldfish, Sting Ray, Cassiterite Shark, and the Lava Kaiju appeared in the skies as their eyes looked below them menacingly.
The Demon Capital was large, with the Rulers spread out in many directions, but this appearance of powerful unknown anemones brought them to full attention.
Yet another figure appeared on the already maddeningly powerful stage, but this figure was one that was the most familiar with the Demon World among the recent group of arrivals. It was a voluptuous figure of someone that was barely twenty, wrapped up in a tight bl
ack gothic dress as she carried what looked to be an umbrella above her to block the rays of light.
Agares finally had a huge change in expression at the appearance of Barbatos amidst beings that were most definitely their enemies.
The Necromancer of Chaos located Agares the moment she arrived as a sweet smile appeared on her face.
"Big Brother Agares, it has been a while."
The words were light and playful, completely not matching the heavy atmosphere as the Legions around the Demon Capital were actively moving, with the remaining Rulers congregated in the Demon World taking the charge as they prepared for a glorious battle.
"You- Wha-?"
Agares was tongue stricken at the appearance of Barbatos amongst enemy lines as even he couldn't have predicted this. She had always been slightly crazy, but had she gone off the deep end completely? His thoughts were interrupted as the being at hand floated away from the group she came with, leaving behind a few words as she completely ignored the atmosphere and went at her own pace.
"I'm gonna go back to my region for a bit to collect my pets, I lost too many of them in that Lost World. Make sure to finish up your things fast, I'm more curious about the next trip after all this is over."
With these words, her figure flashed away and made a beeline towards a distant area far from the Demon Capital, leaving behind an irritated expression on Noah's face, a dumbfounded expression on Agares's face, and leaving behind a weird atmosphere as some of the forces the Demons had invaded made their way to their World for the first time.
Chapter 206 - Unruly!
Agares worked hard to reign in his mind as he carefully looked at the appearance of the powerful figures of the same level as him without making any moves. Just the six of them at the PHANTASMAL level meant they held more power than those at the same level in the Demon World at this point in time.
If they were brutal enemies with the mindset to kill, not many of them would be escaping death today. Agares began tasting the waters carefully while sending messages to all the Rulers in the Demon World to not make the first move as the results would be catastrophic for them. He was sending even more messages to Barbatos as she would have the most answers, but he was getting nothing in return. Frustration was in his heart as he began carefully.
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