novelraw Chapter 1198 - 1197 - New Normal
Chapter 1198 - 1197 - New Normal
Lind awoke from his cultivation to see the storm still raging but it was weaker. He flew out into it and then up into the endless skies.
When he first arrived, it was almost impossible to find his way around but the endless slaughter had drawn him to the demons. They were in the majority in the 3rd layer.
Anywhere else, the level of slaughter would be considered a wicked power no matter what justification was given, but survival made even the most heinous technique acceptable so long as it worked.
Lind had been highly effective, proof enough of the source of the soulless horde, but he had chosen to focus only on his strength and his enemies.
As he broke through the top of the storm, blinding light flooded his eyes. He did not even blink as his Qi flowed around him to moderate his vision.
His aura locked on to a battle raging far above. Blood was already in the air and he started to hear screams as he finally passed through a cloud into hell.
His body distended and emerald scales covered him as he began to attack. A quick sweep with his flames opened up some breathing room as 3 elemental orbs formed on each foreleg.
His left was condensed into Primordial Fire and his right was Primordial Light Qi. Pain lanced both his body and meridians as he brought them together.
Blinding light was followed by a shockwave that sent both demon and soulless sailing away in all directions. Lind gritted his teeth as his mangled limbs appeared. Still, a smirk crossed his face as they were still there.
Primordial elemental control was his new goal but it was more that he needed more power. His Storm Arts were actually highly compatible with fighting in the Endless Peaks but natural storms could resist him easily.
He was using the current battle as training but also pushing his existence to the very edge! The soulless were innumerable and worse, recovered far too quickly to simply ignore them once they fell.
His tail whipped out and Celestial Qi covered his mane while demonic shot out from his scales. Violet lightning and golden beams slammed into the horde. The demons fell back as they had long since learned his arrival was not to help them intentionally but they enjoyed the break.
Initially, the demons had wanted to incorporate him into their forces but Lind was done with being ordered around. He took by his strength his independence. The demons respected it and even approved in most cases.
Blood thinned as the soulless had no blood. He had studied several corpses he had captured but aside from confirming what they were, he had no idea why they were. His horns lit up as a giant orb of darkness built up before spreading like a wave from him.
All visibility vanished but that was not all! A plethora of soulless fell like meteors down into the storms below.
The ice was very effective against them but it was only a matter of time before they escaped again.
Lind culled the horde until the soulless finally shifted tactics.
It was another thing he was testing. The complex strategies the soulless used were effective but inflexible. When confronted with something unexpected, they continued down the doomed path until almost randomly, they would change and become fearsome all over again.
"Seven moves, just like last time." Lind had been narrowing down the window but neither time nor particular tactic triggered the change. It was the number of attacks from when he started wiping the floor with them to when the change occurred.
The horde would stay stuck for 7 moves before changing.
It was the 5th time and he continued to kill until once more the tactics changed. The other hordes were now coming too. He could feel them.
[Fall back. I will scatter them for now.] His cold voice spread in the mind of all nearby before a massive ball of emerald light formed above his horns. The density and size continued to expand before a near infinite amount of narrow beams shot out like an explosion.
The Harmony Nova was his most effective Art but he had to time it right or the horde would evade it as whatever controlled them was learning.
The energy dispersed and revealed an open sky. The black chunks of the soulless vanished into the storm but all knew they would be back. The reinforcements turned around after some time and fled.
He had proven several times the he could wipe out 4 to 6 hordes at once if pushed to his limits.
The recovery took longer after each attack from him but he was unsure how long that would hold. One day, whatever issued the orders, would just flee from him for easier targets.
The demons floating behind him roared in victory but Lind narrowed his eyes. The fleeing hordes were not just going back to other siege points. They were leaving the area entirely.
"Bastards are moving away." He pushed the change aside as he reviewed his new Arts. He also consolidated his study of the soulless.
It became a habit after 2 centuries.
He had to relocate twice since he ascended but progress was negligible in the grand scheme of things. Unlike the extreme environment of the Icy Path, they could drive the soulless hordes back for a time only for them to return as there were simply not enough Radiant Tiers to go around.
Lind did not care much about that save how it impacted his ability to grow stronger. He was singularly focused but Annabelle's tear streaked plea still reached him. He was not cold enough.
Lind noticed the demons looking at him again but he flew away without saying another word. He returned to his spartan cave and assumed a lotus position once more.
He repeated the cycle of slaughter and slowly moved to the new battlefields before he finally zeroed in on something he had been seeking ever since he dissected his first soulless corpse.
He had narrowed down the window of when the orders changed and finally detected a signal! He was ripping asunder yet another squad of the winged evil things. Limbs were scattered on the side of a mountain covered in streams of lava.
The hellish black and red landscape hid the dead as without defenses, they were turned to ash.
Lind looked like a villain as a smile spread across his face.
[FOUND YOU!] He turned into an emerald streak and left all behind but the demons were shocked as all the soulless followed him! They had never done that before!
Lind had spent the better part of 2 centuries searching for a lead and he finally found one!
He was so happy he could laugh but he found the feeling distant. It was like he had forgotten joy. He pushed it aside as the wavelength of Qi was very delicate. If he lost it, he would have to start over but he noticed something odd.
The signal was moving!
It was moving incredibly fast too! Lind tried to strain his speed but a new problem came into his range. A massive wave of soulless!
It darkened the sky like night had come! He narrowed his emerald eyes to that. It was too fast. There were far too many in one area.
The signal suddenly vanished. He had been lured into a trap!
"So, I was not the only one studying the enemy." He prepared to attack but then the soulless all encircled him just outside his range. They really had studied him but he was not so foolish as to show everything.
His new Arts were not efficient due to streamlining them and his Storm Arts were too weak still as he had not adapted them either.
Still, there was one thing he had full mastery of. His elements!
All 18 orbs appeared around him before he made 3 spheres. He had then concentrated all 3 sets of six to create emerald flames.
He had learned his harmony could be created by each set of elements but the effects were slightly different.
His natural elements were mostly healing or enhancement. The demonic elements had massive destruction and negation. Celestial elements were the strangest.
Rather than damage or repair, it was like the fundamental Laws broke down. He still did not fully grasp it but one thing he did control was the range!
His harmony was his greatest weapon or defense!
Streams of emerald flames shot out from the 3 spheres like the end of the world.
The 3 streams reached nearly 10 kilometers which was wiping out the hordes.
Death reigned in the open skies but there seemed to be no end to the soulless. Lind grew somewhat concerned but kept up his devastating attack.
Those that broke through he fought with his body but blood began to flow from his body. They were trying to overwhelm him?!
Fools!
He was beyond being so weak as to fall to a mindless army! His claws shattered flesh and bone like it was nothing. His eyes were steady as the endless army swarmed him.
He grew tired as his Laws and Qi were draining like crazy. He did not flinch nor backdown until an army of demons appeared.
Lind did not nod or acknowledge them. He simply accepted they were aligned with his need to survive. They simply had a beneficial arrangement.
Days passed before the soulless gave up on trying to kill him. Lind learned a lot but the most important fact was that a living mind was guiding the soulless. It was not just arrays or pre-made formations.
He was missing an arm and the sky was filled with the scent of demonic blood, but he simply left for his cave.
He would not break his routine. He would grow stronger and he would destroy them all!
He resumed his routine from scratch. He had to integrate his gains as well as what he had learned. The enemy was active and aware. He had to anticipate traps going forward but it made him smile.
He tried to analyze the wavelength but it eluded his analysis. He grinned at the challenge. He would find the mind behind the soulless and he would kill them all!