by KSY
All of them had a sudden urge to strangle Victor, but he was still calm as always. He was not at all bothered about the way a situation turned out. It seemed as if he wanted it to develop in that manner. The Legacy Land would now have to be shared by all the factions that helped in taking control of Luminous Lake and the area surrounding it.
“Sir Nero, I hope that your Family Clan’s Divine Trident can kill that abominable Dragon serpent. We have lost too many of our people to it,” a man said in an aggrieved manner. This person was from the Martial Arts Alliance, and his name was Jonson. He was feeling elated deep down just at the thought that his brothers and sisters could be avenged.
He had heard about the Divine Trident’s might long ago, and today he could actually witness it. It could only be used once in a battle, but no one in the Immortal Realm was capable of surviving its attack.
He was sure that the hateful Dragon serpent would die a dog’s death, if it was hit by the Divine Trident’s attack. Its followers wouldn’t be able to fight in such an organized manner following its death, and would be in such a state of disarray that they could easily slaughter them.
The way the followers of the Dragon serpent fought was similar to that of seasoned army personnel. They were certain that this was all due to the Dragon serpent’s exceptional control over its followers, so if the Dragon serpent died, then the problem was as good as solved. They could then easily take control of Luminous Lake and the area surrounding it.
“We will try our best to avenge them,” Nero said in a consoling manner to Jonson.
“Hahahahaha!” demonic laughter suddenly broke the tranquil atmosphere. Nero and the others from Heaven Sundering Family Clan and Eternity Family Clan looked towards the source of this laughter with hate, as they were unable to understand why he would try to pick a fight with them in such a situation.
The laughter belonged to the Second-in-command of the Grandura branch of Calamity Sect, Grand Elder Wayne, who looked like a walking corpse. Calamity Sect is a Demonic Sect and most of its members practice Demonic Martial Skills. He looked like a walking corpse because of the side effects of the Martial Skills he practiced.
The members of the Grandura branch of Calamity Sect were shaken up after the deaths of Asco and his two companions, but their Main branch had been quick to send replacements. The ones that had come now were way stronger than Asco and his two companions too, which made them fearless of Sheldon and his four companions, and, in general, of the Heaven Sundering Family and Eternity Family Clans.
They wanted to get even with both those Clans for the deaths of Asco and his two companions, and they also wanted to get hold of Shana. Nero and company didn’t know that Sheldon and his four companions had killed three members of the Main branch of the Calamity Sect, so they didn’t know why Wayne was picking a fight with them in a situation where they were supposed to join hands.
“Jonson, don’t have high hopes. I agree that the Divine Trident is a powerful Artifact but it has one serious limitation: it can only be used once.
“If that Dragon serpent is able to avoid that one strike, then you can imagine the consequences,” Wayne mocked Nero and company. Nero wanted to retort but lacked words as what Wayne had stated was true.
“A person who has come here with the intention of being a side-character shouldn’t command others,” Victor said in his signature style which easily pissed people off.
“Don’t worry. We also have something up our sleeves too. We will make our move right after seeing you guys fail,” Wayne said with a hideous smile as he had a sudden urge to bash Victor. He was certain that Nero and company would fail.
The Calamity Sect had paid a very big price to get information regarding the Dragon serpent from All-Seer, which was the nickname given to Grandura’s most powerful Divination master. No one knew his real name, but he, like other Divination masters, sold information.
Divination masters are able to connect with the Heavens and gain information regarding anything a client wishes to know about. The amount of information that they can gain from the Heavens depends on numerous factors like the strength of their soul, their acceptance by the Heavens, the reason for which the information will be used and so on.
All-Seer was well known for being able to gain information about even the biggest secrets on Grandura. In the case of the Dragon serpent living in Luminous Lake, he just told them to stay away from it, as it was a Marked Elemental Beast. No other words were required to tell Calamity Sect about the formidability of the Dragon serpent and its terrifying backers.
Initially, the members of the Main branch of Calamity Sect were thinking of personally eradicating the Dragon serpent, but they lost their resolve after hearing All-Seer’s words. So, they’d personally come to verify his words and found them to be true. The Dragon serpent of Luminous Lake really was a Marked Elemental Beast which made them completely lose their desire to mess with it.
The powerful Divine Elemental Beasts and Ancient Elemental Beasts living in Divine Universe have a powerful way of protecting their descendants with Original-grade bloodline purity, as it is not every day a descendant with Original-grade bloodline is born. As it is such a very rare occurrence which occurs only every few million years or so, they place a Mark on those particular descendants. This is what is called Marking, and the Mark can only be perceived by beings with a Cultivation Level above that of the Marked Elemental Beast by an entire Realm.
This Mark sticks to the soul of the killer of a Marked Elemental Beast, and if the killer has a Cultivation Level above the Marked Elemental Beast by an entire Realm, then the killer and anyone that shares his or her blood become the Mortal enemy of all the members of that Marked Elemental Beast’s species.
The dangers associated with killing a Marked Elemental Beast are enough to make even an existence like Solomon stop from killing it. So, it was natural that the members of Calamity Sect’s Main branch had no intention of messing with the Dragon serpent.
As a result, the Dragon serpent could only be killed by Grandura’s Martial Artists, however, one of the members of Calamity Sect’s Main branch helped their Grandura branch to refine a powerful weapon that could kill it.
He just gave them oral instructions and the weapon was refined entirely by the members of their Grandura branch. He’d thus exploited a loop-hole in Marking. This weapon was completely capable of wiping out not just the Dragon serpent and its followers, but the entire area around Luminous Lake.
“Let us not fight amongst each other. We have to fight a big battle shortly,” a fat person said with a smile on his face. He was the Head of the Grandura branch of Vulcan Sect, which also had its Main branch in Divine Universe, and was regarded as an A Grade faction there.
Everyone just nodded their heads as they turned into streaks of light and shot towards Luminous Lake at top speed. Soon they entered the territory of the Dragon serpent, but they suddenly stopped in their tracks when they saw a pitch-black Dragon serpent that was a few kilometers in length and as thick as a big river flying towards them at very high speed. It had two horns on its head that were burning with a black-colored sinister flame. Its powerful aura made the Soul beings of the Immortal Realm Martial Artists lose their will to fight.
The Dragon serpent was none other than Thorn. He hadn’t come alone to face the army of Immortals, but had tens of millions of followers by his side which scared the shit out of everyone present in the army of Immortals. Thorn’s followers were mainly composed of Draconic and Serpentine Elemental Beasts, and this many powerful Elemental Beasts could kill them all without even breaking a sweat.
Many were already thinking of abandoning the mission and fleeing in the opposite direction. It was clear that at least a full force of ten or eleven factions on the same level as Heaven Sundering Family Clan was required to deal with this beast horde.
“Jero, can you take control of the Draconic followers of the Dragon serpent?” Nero asked his Soul being who was hovering by his side.
&nbs
p; Nero’s Soul being was a Divine Dragon, a higher species of Dragon, and of Light attribute. Since Jero’s Cultivation Level was Late Immortal Beast Saint Realm, that meant he could fight other powerful dragons for the leadership of their hordes. If Jero could do that, then half the problem would be solved, and they would only have to deal with the Serpentine Elemental Beasts.
Jero himself was shaken after seeing Thorn with his own eyes. He could tell that Thorn was way stronger than he was, so he would be unable to take control of his followers, as Elemental Beasts tend to follow the strong. In normal times, these draconic followers of Thorn’s would be respectful to Jero as he was a Divine dragon with Original-grade bloodline purity, but in the current scenario, they would try their best to kill him if Thorn commanded them to do so.
“I can’t, Nero. He is stronger than I am,” Jero sent a Mental-message transmission to Nero. Jero had already learned human speech, which most Immortal Realm Elemental Beasts can do if they try. Nero’s heart sank on hearing this from Jero, so he took out the Divine Trident from his Spatial pouch.
“Everyone get ready to engage the followers of the Dragon serpent while I deal with it,” Nero roared at the top of his voice. Nero’s words immediately brought everyone back to their senses, and they quickly got into formations to deal with the incoming horde of Elemental Beasts. They just hoped that Nero could deal with the Dragon serpent otherwise they were doomed.
The Divine Trident looked no different from a regular Trident except that its entire body was covered in a large number of powerful runes, and was shining with Divine light. Nero pointed the trident at Thorn and his followers when they were just a kilometer away from the Immortal army.
Thorn looked at Nero and Jero viciously, but he didn’t dare to kill them as he’d noticed a familiar insignia on Nero’s clothes. Ryan had specifically instructed him to avoid killing anyone from his Family Clans. He had already ordered his followers not to kill anyone amongst the Immortal army that had the insignia of Heaven Sundering Family Clan or Eternity Family Clan on their clothes, though they were allowed to injure them.
He readied himself for the attack that Nero was about to launch at him, as he could feel a terrifying power from the Trident. He even asked his followers to move away from him as he didn’t want them to get hurt unnecessarily.
The Divine Trident started to shine brightly as it shot a powerful rainbow-colored beam, fifty meters in thickness, at Thorn. Thorn had a mocking expression on seeing that rainbow-colored beam coming at him, and decided to take the attack head-on. He could have dodged it with his speed but the arrogance that was ingrained in his DNA wouldn’t allow him to do that. It wasn’t just Thorn who thought in this manner: all descendants of Ancient Elemental Beasts and Divine Elemental Beasts. But it’s not that they’re really arrogant: it is part of their nature.
“Roar!” Thorn issued a powerful roar as he opened his mouth wide, and a powerful suction force soon emerged from it. The expressions of everyone changed as they felt themselves being pulled towards Thorn’s mouth, as they had never felt such a strong suction force from any other Devouring beast on Grandura. Everything that was within a radius of ten kilometers of Thorn got affected by it, and anything that lacked the power resist it flew straight towards Thorn’s mouth and disappeared into it. The trajectory of the rainbow-colored beam was also altered by this suction force, so it now headed straight towards Thorn’s mouth too.
On seeing this, the entire army of Immortals and their Soul beings quickly joined their powers to resist the strong suction force even though many of them belonged to factions that were hostile to each other. They knew that if they ended up in Thorn’s mouth, then they were as good as dead.
Death is the only thing that is capable of making even sworn enemies work together with great efficiency. After stabilizing themselves, they immediately moved out of the area affected by the suction force originating from Thorn’s mouth.
Thorn had used his Heaven Devouring Innate Ability, a trademark Innate Ability of all Devouring-type Elemental Beasts. They all produce varying degrees of suction power when they use it, and Heaven Devouring Serpents produce one of the most powerful suction forces of all.
“Are you not too full of yourself? There is a limit to how much you can devour. That rainbow-beam is condensed out of the attacks of around one hundred thousand Ancestor Level Martial Artists. You will die a death worse than that of a dog. HAHA HAHA HAHA!” Victor laughed like a manic, when he saw the rainbow-colored beam heading straight towards Thorn’s mouth.
The entire army of Immortals was already out of the range of Thorn’s suction force. Others too had come to the same conclusion as they looked at the scene in front of their eyes with big smiles. Every Devouring beast has a certain capacity, beyond which it is unable to devour anymore. This is a fatal shortcoming of Heaven Devouring Innate Ability, as those beasts are unable to use it the moment they reached their capacity.
The rainbow-colored beam was actually a large mass of unstable energy. They were certain that Thorn wouldn’t be able to devour it in its entirety, and the surviving mass of unstable energy would be sufficient to kill him. But soon their faces turned ugly, when they saw the entire rainbow-colored beam disappear into Thorn’s mouth.
Thorn then closed his mouth and the suction force also disappeared along with it. He had a mocking look on his face as he looked at the army of Immortals, especially Nero and Jero. Everyone looked at Thorn with bewildered expressions. They were unable to understand how he was able to devour such a large mass of unstable energy: they’d never heard of a Devouring beast with such a large capacity.
Unknown to them, the only reason Thorn was still alive even after pulling off such a dangerous stunt was due to his body being many times stronger than that of any other Devouring beast on the same level as himself, because he possessed Asura Physique. If it had been some other Devouring beast, then its body would have exploded from devouring beyond its capacity.
Thorn, on the other hand, was able to forcefully compress that excess amount of unstable energy by using sheer force, and store it inside his body for slow and steadly digestion.
“Roar!”
“Roar!”
A large number of Thorn’s followers issued powerful roars as they looked at the Martial Artists and their Soul beings with vicious expressions. This also brought the entire army of Immortals back to their senses and they looked at Thorn and his followers with fearful expressions.
“Wayne! Use your trump-card quickly!” a lot of people sent frantic Mental-messages transmissions to Wayne. They could tell that Thorn’s followers were waiting for his command to attack them, so they were currently at Thorn’s mercy.
They didn’t like that at all, as they were certain that it was only a matter of time before Thorn ordered his followers to finish them off. Actually, Thorn had no such intention. He was just waiting for them to flee, but the Martial Artists and their Soul beings were rooted in their spots in fear.
Wayne soon took out a jar from his Spatial pouch. It lacked any sort of special aura, but its body had numerous runes, and immediately attracted the attention of everyone.
Wayne activated the runes on the jar and threw it at Thorn before fleeing in the opposite direction at his top speed. The jar turned into a streak of black light as it traveled straight towards Thorn. Its speed was so fast that it was almost impossible for Thorn to dodge, even if he’d wished to.
Everyone seeing Wayne escape, followed suit. It was not just them, though. Even Thorn’s followers were moving away from Thorn at high speed, but they were doing so because of his command otherwise they would not have minded dying along with him.
Thorn could feel a very ominous and sinister mass of energy inside the jar. It belonged to an Evil attribute to which he was immune, but it was strong enough to wipe out all his followers, which was something Thorn didn’t wish to see. He was least bothered about the jar hitting him, as he knew that it would useless against him since he possessed Asura Physi
que. So, he didn’t even mind getting hit by it.
The jar struck Thorn’s body and instantly shattered into multiple small pieces and a powerful torrent of black fog erupted which completely engulfed Thorn within seconds and then started spreading in all directions at lightning speed. The black fog was extremely dangerous and sinister. Any living thing that came into contact with it would die instantly and its corpse would wither away within seconds. The black fog was really Miasma, which everyone felt was an embodiment of death, as it reaped life from anything that came into contact with it.
Some Martial Artists, Soul beings of certain Martial Artists and followers of Thorn were not able to escape in time and ended up becoming decaying corpses which sent chills down the spines of everyone else as they further increased their speed.
All the Martial Artists looked at the people from Calamity Sect with caution. If the Calamity Sect had more of these jars, then the power balance of Grandura would dramatically tilt in its favor. That was something no one wished.
The Miasma covered at least one-third of Desolate Forest and everything was dead in that area except for Thorn, but no one amongst the army of Immortals knew that. If Calamity Sect threw a similar jar on any of the factions of Grandura, then they were as good as gone. That fact scared everyone.
The other thing that bothered them was the fact that Calamity Sect was thinking of hogging the entire Legacy Land for themselves, so after escaping the range of the Miasma, the first thing they did was to encircle Wayne and the other people from Calamity Sect.
Wayne could but naturally guess what was going on in everyone’s minds, and he knew that if he didn’t make things clear about the jar and the Legacy Land, then other factions would joins hands and attack Calamity Sect’s Grandura branch and might even destroy it as a precautionary measure.
