novelraw Chapter 245: The Intense, Endless Battles For Evolution
Chapter 245: The Intense, Endless Battles For Evolution
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[You have consumed the corpses.]
[Evolution Threshold]: 45% → 75%
[The Skill: [Inverse Pandora: Level 3] has Leveled Up to Level 4!]
[The Skill: [Celestial Box: Level 1] has Leveled Up to Level 2!]
[The Skill: [White Breath: Level 4] has Leveled Up to Level 5!]
[You learned the Skill: [Soul Sealing: Level 1]: The Unique Power of the White Pandora. Seals or imprisons souls, spirits, fragments of essence, or even pieces of an enemy's will or consciousness inside a metaphysical "box" or container. Prevents resurrection, soul escape, or regeneration; it may slowly drain or corrupt the sealed target over time. A high-control utility skill for capturing powerful foes or containing dangerous essences.]
"Soul Sealing! This one seems interesting," Louis rubbed his chin. "Are there souls available? My Spiral of Desecrated Soul seems too weakened for me to notice before. Oh?"
Louis was shocked that he could now see them. The souls left behind by the monsters floated around, still waiting to die. Something strange was happening at the peak of the mountain; a bright golden energy drew these souls toward it.
"Come here."
Louis extended his hand and then…
"Soul Sealing."
FLUOSH!
The souls screamed as they were siphoned into his hand. A spiritual treasure box of golden and white light emerged, absorbing every soul before it closed with a decisive snap.
"Wow, you absorb the souls?!" Mirai gasped.
"Yeah, well, not absorbed. It is called Soul Sealing," Louis said.
"What can you do besides sealing them?" she asked.
"That is what I am trying to find out," he replied. "According to the skill, it will slowly drain their soul energy if I keep them there, supplying my soul with their power over time. This will be useful, since every monster that turns golden attacks the soul."
"Oh yeah!" she nodded.
"But…"
Louis knew there was more to this skill, and the key to discovering it lay in Inverse Pandora.
"Inverse Pandora: Soul Sealing."
FLUOSH!
Suddenly, the power of Soul Sealing reversed. The box in his hands gleamed with mysterious light.
"Wait, is this…?!"
[You have used [Inverse Pandora] on [Soul Sealing]!]
[Soul Sealing] has been inversed, becoming [Soul Liberation]!]
[Soul Liberation: Level 1]: Liberates or forcibly releases sealed souls, bound spirits, trapped essences, curses, or suppressed fragments from any container (including enemy seals, artifacts, curses, mind control, or even the user's own seals). Freed souls become temporary allies—wraiths, echoes, or empowered spirits that fight for you. It can shatter enemy bindings, break mind control, remove soul-based curses or debuffs, or forcibly eject possessing entities. Higher levels may allow "over-liberation," ripping souls out of living beings and causing massive damage or instant death to weakened targets.]
"Ooohh?!"
Louis gasped as he read the description. He realized the true power of Soul Sealing through its inversed form, Soul Liberation. These two effects complemented each other perfectly, granting him an incredible new mechanic that could change everything.
"Sealing souls is one thing, but this… Soul Liberation is truly amazing," Louis hummed.
"Is it?" Mirai tilted her head. "What can you use it on?"
"On something I saw earlier. Come with me."
Louis and Mirai resumed their journey, walking until they reached another barrier that blocked their path. This time, several Rank 3 monsters and one Rank 4 Boss guarded each pillar.
Yet Louis and Mirai had leveled up significantly. They cleared all five pillars with ease. Once the fighting ended, Louis used Soul Liberation on the pillars themselves.
"This!"
FLAAASH!
The pillars gleamed brightly and trembled. The energy inside shattered and burst free. The pillars collapsed into liquid gold, and the souls of hundreds of beasts poured out, combining into a few dozen golden beast spirits that floated beside Louis and Mirai.
"Wooow!" Mirai gasped. "You freed the souls inside?!"
"The pillars were likely using them to fuel their power," Louis explained. "Freed souls can also become temporary companions, like this."
Louis then used Soul Sealing on the souls of the fresh monster corpses and devoured them with Mirai through their Spirals.
Once they finished, they pressed deeper into the mountain. Based on the distance between barriers and the mountain's size, Louis calculated there were five layers total. They had just broken into the third layer, heading for the fourth, and finally the fifth at the peak.
Each barrier and pillar formed a hidden formation array, powering a powerful ritual right under everyone's noses. Hidden beneath the veil of this Spiritual Realm Dungeon, Louis would never have noticed it without hunting as a dragon.
Their journey through the third layer proved eventful. They encountered Giant Mountain Ants led by a Giant Mountain Ant Queen. Hundreds of ants swarmed them from every angle the moment they entered the territory.
"Eeek! There are too many!" Mirai panicked, firing beams, fireballs, and conjuring tentacles everywhere to hold them back.
"They die easily though. Do not falter!" Louis switched between Dragon Claw and Void Maws constantly while unleashing burning and freezing shockwaves by alternating Cinderheart Pulse and Frostheart Pulse.
The golden ants that remained after the normal ones died suffered agonizing deaths—burning, freezing, burning, and freezing again—until Louis smashed them with his tail and shattered them into pieces.
The Ant Queen rushed forward, dividing herself into a dozen copies. She possessed a special Shadow Clone martial technique. But she was not the only one with such power.
Both Louis and Mirai could do the same.
"Divided Shadows!"
"Wyrm Soul Division."
They split into a dozen copies and fought several foes at once, covering far more ground even if each copy was weaker. It did not matter.
The Ant Soldiers were Rank 2, the Warriors Rank 3. The Queen, at Rank 4, hissed and fired beams from her maws to immortalize her foes.
Louis called forth his Liberated Soul Spirits. They rushed ahead, took the blow without harm—having once been enslaved by such power—and attacked the queen with soul-piercing bites and claws.
"GRYYYYYYY!"
The queen agonized. Louis and Mirai charged forward, punching, kicking, and bombarding her with explosive beams and spells.
Eventually her body shed away to reveal her golden form!
FLAAASH!
Three times as large and…
RUMBLE!
An immense pressure!
"Rank 5?!"
Both Mirai and Louis panicked. The Queen's rank had surged to 5 upon transformation. She had also become somewhat humanoid, gleaming gold.
She leaped forward, hissing furiously as she swung her six claws at Mirai.
"GRYEEEEHH!"
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
"Uuugh?!"
Her clones died one after another until her true body stood exposed, slashed wounds covering her in gold.
"Agh!"
"Mirai!"
Louis rushed to her, tearing the gold from her skin and using his healing skills to protect her. But the queen gave him no time. His spirits died one after another beneath her vicious claws. Then she reached him, leaped onto his back, and bit his neck, trying to behead him.
"Nnnggh?! Damn…! Bug!!!"
Louis roared, activating Void Maw and biting the ant queen's head with all his might, crushing her skull apart.
CRAAASH!
The ant dropped to the floor but then…
It stood up again!
"I knew it…"
Louis knew golden corrupt forms worked like golems. Even beheaded, they could keep going. They had to be crushed and torn apart to truly perish.
But Louis had another option.
"Soul Liberation Fists!"
As the giant monster attacked, he swung his fist forward and combined Dragon Fist with Soul Liberation, punching the Ant Queen with everything he had while bleeding and clenching his teeth.
"ORA! ORA! ORA! ORAAAAA!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The headless body trembled and splattered liquid gold everywhere, crashing through dozens of trees before exploding as Louis infused Cinderheart and Frostheart Pulses into her with every punch.
BOOOMMM!!!
A massive explosion blew away the rest of the ants, killing most of them. The survivors fell quickly to Louis' Wyrm Souls.
"It worked, it seems…"
Louis gasped for air, relieved.
He had combined Soul Liberation with his Dragon Fist to unleash attacks that constantly pulled the souls of his foes outside their bodies, further damaging them and warping their perception. In the end, the ant queen's entire soul shattered into pieces, and she died.
"Mirai! Use your Spiral to eat, quickly…"
"A-Ah…"
Mirai nodded silently, looking as if she might pass out. She absorbed as many corpses as she could while her body slowly revitalized.
Louis did the same, using his Spiral to devour the corpses and Soul Sealing to claim all the souls for himself, denying whatever controlled this dungeon its prize.
"Phew…" Mirai sighed in relief. "Sorry… I was useless…"
"No, you helped plenty. Thank you," Louis said. "Have you hit max level yet?"
"I did! I can evolve again; I can finally reach Rank 4!" she exclaimed, excitement lighting her voice.
"Then do so as soon as possible. I will guard you, so do not worry."
"Ok!"
As Mirai reviewed her evolution options, Louis checked his own system notifications.
Ding!
[Congratulations, you and your ally have slain a large group of Giant Mountain Ants and their Queen.]
[You earned EXP. Your EXP has increased by 150%.]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Your [Young Adult Dragon – Level 86/100] has increased to Level 90/100!]
[An available corpse is in front of you.]
[Do you wish to devour the corpses?]
[Yes] [No]
[You have consumed the corpses.]
[Evolution Threshold]: 75% → 85%
[The Skill: [Soul Wyrm Division: Level 3] has Leveled Up to Level 4!]
[The Skill: [Dragon Claw: Level 5] has Leveled Up to Level 6!]
[The Skill: [Soul Sealing: Level 1] has Leveled Up to Level 2!]
"Ten more levels…" Louis mused.
"Alright," Mirai said. "Can you help me as always?"
"Fine. What options are there?" Louis asked.
"Ummm…" Mirai read them. "The three unique options are… Uh, wait a second. The demon and the chaos spirit sides also got weird names. Lilith… and also… Eris? Wow, those are very short names for a demon and a chaos spirit."
"Yeah, at this stage all evolution options will be special," said Louis. "What is the rest?"
"Ummm… Typhon, Kali, and… Apophis," she said with a blank face. "W-What do these even mean to represent?"
"Huh…" Louis' eyebrows twitched. "I-I have heard of them all and I am still surprised… it is incredible. Typhon was the beast of calamity of Greek mythology. Kali is the Hindu Goddess of Chaos and Slaughter. Apophis is the sun-swallowing serpent of chaos of Egyptian mythology."
"W-What?!"
"Of course, you are not turning into them literally. They are just the names given to the species you are evolving, which are a hybrid between demon and chaos spirit," said Louis. "Interesting… which one do you prefer?"
"Hmm…"
Mirai spent a good minute thinking and reading the descriptions.
"I want the one with the best future evolutions… so they would be either Kali or Apophis," she said.
"So Typhon is like my Hecatoncheires. Is it Rank 5 then?" Louis asked.
"Rank 6!" she said.
"What?!" Louis was shaken. "I guess… that is the power of an ultimate chaos demon. It surpasses a dragon."
"It does not mean we are better than dragons… I hope your dragon pride is not hurt," Mirai sighed. "Anyway, Kali seems to give me the flexibility I want, but Apophis… brings forth a giant body that I can use to eat everything… it is a big serpent kind of chaos demon. Wouldn't it be nice to be paired up with you like that?"
"Purely out of visual aesthetics? You should not choose something just for that," Louis shook his head. "Be wiser in the way you choose, Mirai."
"Hm…" she sighed. "Well it has amazing abilities… Kali specializes in fighting and weapon summoning, all-out offense without much defense. Apophis is more balanced and the Sun Swallowing attack is… appealing. It might help us."
"Hm…" Louis nodded. "Choose by yourself. I cannot keep choosing for you, Mirai."
"Uh, okay…" Mirai said.
She sat down and thought about it for two more hours until she nearly lost her mind.
"Uuuggh, fine! Apophis then!!!"
She chose Apophis, surprisingly, forgoing the more humanoid form in favor of a more all-rounder evolution!
FLAAASH!
Mirai quickly turned into a giant black and red egg and disappeared inside. Louis could feel her falling into a deep slumber as her body began to restructure.
"It will take her some time…"
Louis sat down and created Divided Wyrm Souls, sending them out to hunt small monsters and continue collecting corrupted gold fragments.
Thus, two days passed.
…
Crack, crack…!
CRASH!
Louis' eyes turned toward Mirai's egg. After two whole days of fending off swarms of Mountain Flies and Martial Mantises, Mirai finally hatched.
She had taken far longer than his own evolutions; her transformation was clearly substantial.
"Mirai?"
As the eggshell cracked and fell apart, Mirai emerged amid black and dark purple mist. Her long, scaled body revealed itself to him.
A pair of sharp golden-red eyes stared at him with reptilian precision. Her giant body rose, almost as big as his own—slim, slender, and exactly as he had imagined.
She had gone from her humanoid Abyssal Demon form to a giant black and purple snake crowned with long black horns and a third large eye on her forehead. She did not look like any ordinary serpent but like a beautiful cobra, with eye patterns on her neck and sharp spikes growing across her body.
"M-Mirai?"
Louis stepped back as Mirai suddenly towered over him, staring down with her sharp eyes and revealing her venomous fangs.
"…"
"…"
As both stared at each other for a moment…
"SHAAAAH!"
"What?!"
Louis quickly stepped back, imagining the worst. Mirai might have been taken over by her own evolution!
"Heh…"
However.
"Hahah!"
That was far from the truth.
"Hehehe, did I scare you? Hahah!"
Her cute laughter came from her large snake head, showing Louis she had only been playing with him.
"Mirai…! You are fine?"
"Yeah! I was just messing with you! Hahaha!"
"Ugh…"
After Louis let out a loud sigh, Mirai quickly coiled around his body.
"Do you like my evolution?! I am as big as you are now! And… I am a snake! Wow, having no arms sure feels weird!" she said. "But it is not as weird as when I was a slime."
"I can see that you are indeed a large snake," said Louis. "Still hard to believe you are not a dragon but a chaos demon… I guess they can take just any form."
"Yep!" she nodded. "Oh! Oh! Look! Look at this!"
She suddenly spread out a giant pair of wings from her back, burning with black flames.
"Awesome right?!" she asked enthusiastically.
"I suppose it is," Louis nodded. "Well done evolving. Are you feeling tired or hungry? I have prepared some food for you."
"Oh thankies—Woah, did you fight a lot?!" Mirai asked.
"Yes I did," Louis said. "But do not worry about it. Just eat in peace."
Mirai nodded, using her Spiral to devour everything and immediately feeling relieved and refreshed. She had spent all her energy evolving.
After that, she rested for another day with him by her side, both cuddling inside a burrow in the ground, coiled together.
And the next day, both woke to the same attack from various monsters—just what they wanted.
"Let me take care of them! I will show you how strong I am now!"
"Oh? Well, alright. Be my guest."
Louis nodded and sat down, watching as Mirai roared and fought against the monsters.
This time they were termites.
"Black Sun's Demise!"
TRUUUM!
A gigantic beam of black sunlight struck all the monsters at once, coming from Mirai's third eye. The giant mountain termites were exterminated instantly, their golden forms unable to keep up and dying as well.
The queens emerged—three of them—and Mirai smiled upon seeing them.
She fought them bravely, tanking their blows as if they did not hurt. She slammed her long, thick tail against their bodies with ease, crushing them beneath immense weight and strength.
Lastly, she used her fangs to inject deadly venom, making them literally melt and die. Their golden forms protected them from the venom, but Mirai summoned swarms of snakes made of black sunlight that consumed her foes regardless.
"And done!"
She finished in less than thirty minutes, leaving Louis almost speechless.
He clapped with his large dragon hands.
"Incredible! Well done. That was… amazing. You have truly grown! I am proud of you."
"Hehehehe! Really?"
Mirai was happy and flattered at the same time. She licked Louis and he licked her back. The two large reptiles looked like a cute yet very different-looking couple.
If any ordinary cultivator walked by right now, they would see a beautiful white dragon and his goth snake girlfriend—an utterly ridiculous yet heartwarming sight.
After eating the corpses, the duo advanced to the next barrier. Louis used Soul Liberation to destroy it completely, then Soul Sealing to claim everything he had freed, keeping it as reserves for his soul.
Once inside the fourth layer, the duo—now stronger than ever—steamrolled through Rank 4 monsters from left and right. They devastated the mountain's ecosystem and killed every single monster they found, making sure none survived so the gold fragments would have nowhere to hide.
Eventually, as they reached the last barrier leading to the fifth layer—the summit of the mountain—a boss awaited them.
A Rank 5 Five Elements Bear with four enormous, muscular arms, each wielding a different elemental qi, and fiery golden eyes surging with power.
They knew this was their last challenge before confronting the final boss. It was now or never.
"Let's go."
"Yeah!"
Both roared together and charged toward the Five Elements Bear as it stood still. The two reptiles fired beams and magic at it.
"ROOOAARR!"
The bear let out a roar, channeling the Five Elements and unleashing a barrage of claws and punches. It stopped them cold, breaking fangs and bones before sending them crashing away.
CRAAASH!
BOOOM!
"Unbelievable, that thing is strong!" Mirai said.
"Yeah, it is," Louis nodded. "It is a Rank 5 after all… But let us see how it reacts to this."
Louis unleashed Cursed Box consecutively, attacking the bear with curses and deadly strikes, then used Soul Liberation to drag its soul out of its body.
He knew it would not work fully, but the act alone weakened the beast severely.
"GROOOHHH?!"
The bear reacted exactly as expected. Louis followed with Nightmarish Roar while Mirai bombarded it with her magic.
"GRRRR…! GRAAAHHHH!"
Furious at not being attacked directly, the bear charged them, grabbing their faces, smashing them into the ground, and hurling them down the mountain.
"Nnnggh!"
"Aaaggh!"
As they screamed and bled, the bear followed, its arms blazing with cultivated elemental qi. It came for the finishing move. Naturally, Louis and Mirai refused to go down easily.
"RAAAHHHH!"
They roared together. Louis unleashed all his nasty debuffs and a Black Breath while using Telekinesis to launch Mirai into the skies. Her eye gleamed as she fired a deadly beam from behind the bear. Both beams struck its chest from front and back! The monster agonized and screamed before it finally exploded.
BOOOMMM!!!
As the flesh was discarded, a golden bear manifested—not Rank 6 as Louis had feared, but close. Rank 5 Peak Stage!
"GRUUUOOOHHHH!"
With a mighty roar, the golden bear made the forest tremble under its almighty strength. Having grown a new pair of arms, it charged Louis, smashing his body into the ground with dozens of blows.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Nnnggh…! I can barely defend…! Even with Super-Hard Shell!"
He had already activated every buff he could, yet they felt pointless against the monster's devastating attacks.
And yet…
"Inverse Pandora: Dust of Purification!"
The white dust made of light turned into black dust made of darkness and curses…
"Dust of Corruption!"
The dust fell onto the bear constantly. Louis activated its deadly effect as it melded into the creature's gold, corrupting it from within.
"G-GRAAAHHH?!"
In agony, the creature felt as if it were melting. Its soul was being eaten and warped while the rest of its body struggled to move.
Dust of Corruption was incredibly strong and far more effective than random Cursed Box attacks. What is more, they could all stack!
So he used Nightmarish Roar and Cursed Box as well, further weakening his foe before pummeling it toward Mirai with dozens of Dragon Fists, Dragon Claws, and Void Maw attacks.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
"Catch, Mirai!"
BAAAM!
Mirai caught the creature with her long tail and crushed it beneath her weight before bombarding it with explosions.
The bear roared, standing back up and fighting with all its might, slashing Mirai's body and making her bleed. When Louis arrived, he too was slashed several times, losing one arm, his wings, and half his face!
"LOUIS!"
Mirai panicked, but the dragon roared relentlessly anyway, smashing the bear's face into the ground.
However, the bear pierced his chest, killing him.
POOF!
Or so it thought.
"…?!"
Louis had turned into a decoy made of ashes. The moment it appeared, the ashes exploded, blowing up the bear's body even more.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
Yet as the smoke dissipated, the creature emerged anyway, roaring furiously—though barely alive.
The same way Mirai and Louis were right now…
"Louis, your body! Y-You are bleeding too much!"
"I can restore… myself later… once I eat this motherfucker…"
"But…!"
"Mirai! Concentrate! Assist me! I… have not used all my trump cards yet."
Louis smiled as he activated Inversed Pandora once more.
And targeted a skill whose cooldown had just refreshed…
"Inversed Pandora: Fragile Illusion!"
Suddenly…
FLAAASH!
His body and the surroundings changed in an instant. Everything turned into bright light within and around him.
Louis' appearance transformed into a grandiose heaven dragon covered by an armor of heavenly holy light.
"W-Woah?!"
Mirai could not believe what she saw.
This was the "reverse" of Fragile Illusion…
"Indestructible Mirage!"
[Indestructible Mirage: Level 5]: Become a temporarily near-unkillable radiant form. Illusions become solid and deal real damage. It can only be used once per day.
Instead of using a fragile illusion to survive, he created mirages incapable of being destroyed—becoming a living mirage, an illusion of what he desired to be.
"RAAAHHHH!"
With a furious roar, Louis charged, crashing against the bear in an intense battle. Explosions of blinding heaven light and immortalizing beams echoed and erupted everywhere.
And yet…
The bear could not stand against Louis at all!
In mere seconds, Louis had torn it to shreds. With his last remaining seconds in this form, he unleashed a mighty White Breath, destroying the final barrier.
BOOOMMM!!!
After three minutes of transformation, Louis returned to normal and collapsed to the ground.
"Louis!"
His wounds remained, but not for long. With Mirai's help, he ate the entire bear. She said she did not want it anyway.
And after that… his level maxed out and his evolution threshold finally reached 100%!
"I can finally evolve once more…!"
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