novelraw Chapter 160: Noxious Shrine
Chapter 160: Noxious Shrine
Zyrus was unable to see the full map of the plains of Ilios with his current clearance level. Nonetheless, he got an idea of what he’d be facing when he observed the terrain of dungeon K49.
He thought for a while and finally clicked on the hologram. In the next moment, he was teleported to the destination.
‘I can’t be lax this time around.’
Sector B should be somewhere between the fourth and fifth ring in terms of level of existence. He had to go all out in order to clear a zone like this.
[Sector B – Dungeon K49 (Plains of Ilios)]
[Threat Level: Unknown]
[Enter]
Zyrus clicked ‘Enter’ and without wasting even a second, he started summoning his troops.
*Shraraaa*
‘Looks like I’ve made the right decision.’
He was blasted by torrents of sand the moment he entered the area. More importantly, there were dozens of sandworm-like creatures waiting for him to fall. Entrance of the dungeons were full of mana, so it made sense to receive such a welcome.
Fortunately, he was prepared for it.
[Summon]
*ROOOOOAR*
“At your command, my liege.”
Hundreds of drakes jumped down on the sandworms. The intruder of this dungeon was now standing on a wyvern that shrouded the clear sky of the desert.
“Zirnitra, Elsid, secure the area.”
Both nodded at his words and executed his command. Zirnitra flapped his wings that stretched across 50 meters and created a sandstorm that nullified the sandworms’ camouflage.
*Skrrere*
[Arcane Lance]
Right on time, Zyrus rained down blue spears from the sky and Elsid led the abyssal warriors to deal with the sandworms on the ground. The fallen knight was akin to Zyrus’s own shadow. He evolved during this time as well.
Elsid’s green scales and black armor were the same as usual. What changed was a pair of shining cyan horns that now adorned his head. And they weren’t just for show.
[Vorpal Hurricane]
As if to complement Zyrus’s blue spears raining from above, green halberds rose from the ground and pierced the struggling sandworms.
‘Looks like my troops are just as eager to show off their strength.’
Zyrus chuckled as the wind became ‘visible’ and weaved around the green halberds. The green halberds contained the laws of sharpness whereas the wind was Elsid’s mana attribute.
‘Great for an assassin.’
Elsid had shadow and abyssal characteristics from the start. Now, he had comprehended the laws of sharpness from the glemorax king and awakened his mana attribute with Zyrus’s evolution. It was no wonder the sandworms didn’t last more than a few seconds under his attacks.
“Scout the area.”
Zyrus ordered Zirnitra and jumped off from his back. The numbers he could summon were once again decreased to less than 400. Thus, it was time to awaken new troops from the sandworms.
He told the drakes to drag the sandworms' corpses and took out the twilight crusher.
‘Since I’m no longer in the sanctuary, I should be able to use them as sacrifice…’
At long last it was time to awaken a new abyssal race. However, he didn’t plan to use his skill just yet.
Plague’s Embrace:
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Spread the plague via your blood to embrace the fallen. The dead will infect the living, and the living will birth more dead.
Once a month, you can perform the Ghoul reanimation.
Ghoul reanimation: By sacrificing the corpses of those who have died from plagues, you can create ghouls with a 3% success rate.
Note: Ghouls’ powers will depend on the dead.
Note: Ghouls are not considered summons.
This was the third authority of his title. The words ‘Embrace the fallen’ and ‘Ghouls are not considered summons’ were the key here.
Balaur summoner allowed him to sacrifice the ones killed by him to awaken his summons. Under the effects of the last apostle, his summons’s kills were considered his own when he was on earth.
On the other hand, the ghouls were tied to him by his title. The same was true for the plague he’d create with his blood. In this way, the ones killed by the plague or the ghouls could be considered to have 'fallen' at his hands.
‘And this is not the end of it...’
Zyrus slit his palm and dropped his blood on the pile of sandworm’s corpses. An eerie miasma comprised of dark green and blue colors enveloped the entire area.
Even without the system’s assistance, he could use his title with ease as long as he controlled the mana in the surroundings. This should’ve been impossible due to his lacking level of existence, but his talent Devour and his abyssal mana negated the restrictions.
The sandworms' gigantic corpses decomposed at a visible rate. A wriggling reddish-purple mass was forming in the middle of the pile.
From afar, it looked like a heart beating within a cage of bones. This was the result achieved by utilizing his different abilities.
‘I need opportunities like these to consolidate my powers,’
Just how many synergies and combinations were possible with his talents, traits, and title? He didn’t lack the theoretical knowledge on that. All that remained was practical application and optimization.
“Guuuoooooooo,”
“Calm down,”
“Guoooo,”
A ten-meter ghoul was all that remained from the pile of corpses. The white muscular giant with a green skull and red eyes was the result of his ‘Ghoul reanimation’. Zyrus was eager to analyze its combat prowess, and just in time, Zirnitra returned from scouting.
“The enemies have noticed our presence.”
“Go on,” Zyrus calmed down the ghoul and urged Zirnitra to continue.
“There are about a thousand sandworms like these coming from all sides, and a legion of scorpions from the far east.”
“Scorpions huh,” Zyrus grinned as he heard the report. Even if the scorpions were gigantified like these brown worms, ‘Poison’ was the last thing he was worried about.
But even so, their numbers were nothing to scoff at. He could already see the horizon rising from all sides. The worms were dozens of meters tall, and there were nearly a thousand of them.
‘And the environment is in their favor…’
“Create a ring formation with drakes as the main guards. The rest will support them when needed. Zirnitra, keep an eye on the scorpions.”
“As you command, My liege.”
“As you command, My liege.”
Zirnitra and Elsid went out right after. As he had done so far, Zyrus decided to secure the environmental advantage before starting the real battle.
He could use Avatar, create a formation using his abyssal mana and summons, or simply use his mana to terraform the area around him.
But since there was a simpler way to do this, why use the complicated moves?
Noxious Shrine:
Project a shrine to affect the radius of 1km around you. It improves the effect of poison-related abilities and applies random debuffs on hostile targets.
-Sacrilege: There is a 30% probability that the poisoned targets will perceive the poison as a blessing.
-Anathema: There is a 12.5% probability that the poisoned targets will act opposite to their thoughts.
-Desecration: There is a 20% probability that the poisoned targets will abandon their weapons.
-Heresy: There is a 15% probability that the poisoned targets will blabber nonsense.
-Apostacy: There is a 10% probability that the poisoned targets will abandon their faith.
CD: 1 day, Duration: 6 hours
Zyrus waited and waited until the worms surrounded them from all sides. Rather than defeat, he was worried that the worms might escape while he activated the noxious shrine.
The fights might look easy right now, but only he knew that this was just a façade. These monsters were similar to literal bugs on the food chain. He could guess that much from the way they behaved.
How can those living in Sector B be unable to speak? Sentience wasn’t that rare among the high-level creatures. Only the lowest of the low would act on their instinct.
From the fact that he had to use his trump cards to deal with riffraff at this level, it was apparent that he wasn’t yet ready to take on the real challenge of this mission.
*Kuuurur*
One particular sandworm stood out from the rest. It was a fifty-meter-long monster that moved like a maglev train. It growled after seeing the remains of the fallen sandworms and led the charge against Zyrus.
“So there was someone with brains afterall.”
[Noxious Shrine]
*Kuuurur*
Both of them attacked at the same time. The sandworm tried to clash head-on against Zyrus, but it was interrupted by Elsid.
On the other side; nearly all of the drakes were pushed back dozens of meters after colliding with the sandworms. They weren’t their match one on one, much less when they were outnumbered by more than two to one.
‘Ugh…fifty died just like that…’
Even while under the piercing pain Zyrus was grinning from ear to ear. All had entered his domain.
*Clang*
An old shrine appeared in the center of the battlefield. Its white pillars were decayed with green moss while its red roof was tattered.
*Clang*
And at the center of the shrine floated a golden bell shrouded with green light. The Noxious Shrine looked like it would crumple after one swing of the sandworm. How would its roof that failed to block sunlight fare against these gigantic monsters?
*Clang*
The shrine was completely projected after the third bell rang. In just this second, 27 of his summons were killed.
*Clang*
The fourth bell rang, and hundreds of worms started biting their own kind.
Anathema, the poisoned targets will act opposite to their thoughts. The first debuff of the Noxious shrine turned the tides of battle.
‘And there’s a lot more where that came from.’