Chapter 467: Decision
Sylas blocked a blow with his forearm, the clash causing his skin to deform and his bones to nearly crack. However, it was all under his control.
His skin almost rippled. With a step back, he dispersed much of the damage and sidestepped, unleashing a fist into the side of one of his sneak attackers.
He found himself having to hold back as the control he had over his body was quickly reaching frightening levels. If he killed these few too easily, then his plan with the Basilisk King might be exposed ahead of time.
However, these five, or rather the three that were attacking him for now, were only helping him.
Because of them, his "retreat" had come to a stop and he was now getting closer and closer to the front line of the Celestial Republic army.
On the surface, this seemed to mean that he was getting closer to a danger that he could no longer escape, and in reality, this was close enough to the truth. After all, the numbers he was facing off against were ridiculous.
However, it was also a calculated risk that he was willing to take.
A sword pierced toward his liver, leaving a streak in the air. Aether flashed, and it seemed to multiply.
Sylas frowned. He was finding that these people were far too unskilled. They should naturally have more fighting experience than he did, but...
'They probably spent most of their lives training with guns.
This is as new to them as it is to me.
That probably means that the government has some stashed elites who would have been training in the proper way long ago.
They might even be working on bringing guns back into the fold.
'.
He let the sword pierce into him, although he could have dodged. But it passed through nothing but flesh, completely missing his vital organs.
By this point, he had retreated to the point where General Song was almost comfortable enough to launch a true all-out assault on him, ending things here.
Even until now, he had yet to send in the two others waiting in the wings, believing that Sylas still hadn't noticed them.
However, it was also at this point that Sylas' connection with the Basilisk King was re- established, and a large amount of information flooded into his mind.
Memories of the Basilisk King's communication with Morgan pooled and solidified. And soon, Sylas knew everything he needed to know.
His first instinct was to frown because, as Morgan had thought, this information wasn't nearly as useful to him as he thought it would be. Had he done all of this just to figure out that they hadn't made much progress either?
'No... I'm missing something.'
Sylas clasped a hand on the sword that had pierced through him. Despite the strength he used, the sword was completely unable to rip through the Scorned Wraps.
Suddenly, he pulled.
BANG!
The head of the soldier shattered.
In the same instant the soldier died, the sword was torn to ashes.
<Arctic King's Domain>.
SHUUUUU!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Sylas' aura completely changed. A frosty energy spiraled around him with wild abandon as he pulled on Winter's Edge with his intention.
The region around him was instantly filled with a large pulse of Ice-Poison and spiraling sharp blades of snow. In that moment, the gentle and easily ignored snowfall above became the most lethal of weapons.
Winter's Edge, his Rune Soul, and <Arctic King's Domain> synergized with spine-tingling effectiveness. Now, it wasn't just blades cutting into skin, but poison leaving its mark behind as well, accelerating their race toward death.
However, he hardly spared it all a glance.
The moment the enemies around him retreated to protect themselves, he had already pulled Nosphaleen out of the Hibernation Realm, pressing a palm against her chest and activating Extricate.
This time, he was even faster than before.
However, the moment he started, he realized that he would still need at least a minute.
Although that was more than 1000% faster than the first time he had pulled the cancerous Gene out of her, in a battlefield situation like this one, it was far too long.
Still, he had his own contingencies.
ROAR!
A heavily injured Arctic Emperor Cobra used its body as a battering ram through the battlefield.
Everything was set and working perfectly.
With this current pace, the Arctic Emperor Cobra would make it to him before they figured out a way to deal with his Domain, and then it wouldn't be more than a few seconds before Nosphaleen was up and going.
What Sylas didn't expect was that his plan would accelerate out of his control.
The moment Nosphaleen appeared, there was a mere breath of pause before the Great Celestial Wall trembled.
Several hidden etchings and wounds shook, and a feeling of danger swelled up in Sylas' heart.
Something big was coming.
Sylas made a split-second decision and scrapped everything. He pulled Nosphaleen back into his Hibernation Realm before he had even made it very far. Then he suddenly found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The Basilisk King was to his back. The Arctic Emperor Cobra was in front of him.
He couldn't pull any one of them back in without touch, but if he moved toward one, the other would get further away.
According to his original plan, he would stay in place, the Arctic Emperor Cobra would manage to make it to him on its last breaths and stall everyone just enough for him to awaken Nosphaleen and have her save the Basilisk King.
He knew that her movement abilities were far beyond his own thanks to her Skills.
But now, the situation was changing too fast. He had been locked onto by something he couldn't even quite understand, and now he had to make a decision between a beast of Legendary potential and a beast strong enough to help him right here and now.
Sylas looked back to the Basilisk King, who was using its intelligence to weave through the ground of beasts and play dead when it had to.
However, by now, news of its existence had made it back to General Song, and now it had more eyes on it than just dumb beasts.
The Basilisk King seemed to sense Sylas' gaze and had already come to understand its master's decision.
Sylas turned away and bolted toward the Arctic Emperor Cobra.
Chapter 468: Overplayed Hand (1)
Sylas' stride lengthened, and the depth of color in his eyes seemed to deepen. However, he was distinctly aware that, other than the beasts on the battlefield, everyone seemed to be focused on something else.
The Great Celestial Wall trembled, and beams of light began to pierce the skies.
Then, all at once, three figures appeared.
They were tall, two of them well over two meters.
Though their bodies were slender, they were packed with power and explosiveness, as though every one of their muscle fibers was worth double that of a human's.
The bluish-grey skin that adorned their bodies and the scales that beaded across their chests and centered on their foreheads seemed particularly reflective even against the will of the clouded skies above.
Clypsians.
Three of them.
And their power was no joke.
[Elyndor Coralspire (FFF+)]
[Level: 9]
[Physical: 1122]
[Mental: 1248]
[Will: 995]
[Sorvanis Coralspire (FFF+)]
[Level: 9]
[Physical: 1092]
[Mental: 1382]
[Will: 996]
[Vorthyx Coralspire (FFF+)]
[Level: 9]
[Physical: 1322]
[Mental: 1277]
[Will: 995]
-
They all stood on the edge of the Great Celestial Wall, and there seemed to be an invisible barrier around them that rebuffed the beasts.
Sylas didn't need to think much to know why they appeared. There was no doubt that it was for Nosphaleen. However, it was outside of his calculations that their reaction would be so fierce and immediate.
For one, Nosphaleen should have never been to Earth before. She should have been born into captivity and slavery. They shouldn't know who she was.
Second, they didn't even share her last name, meaning they weren't part of the same clan of people to begin with. They only shared a Race, and this wasn't typically enough to cause such a fierce reaction.
Of course, there was the possibility that the number of Clypsians that remained was so few that they had grown a different sort of solidarity that humans were yet to share.
Or, it could be that Clypsian society was more close-knit than he knew, but this was still only part of the oddity.
It seemed that this time, trying to be too clever brought him more trouble than not.
If they were watching from the very beginning, they would only be an additional problem for him.
However, just as Sylas cut his way to within a few meters of the Arctic Emperor Cobra, he realized something.
'I overplayed my hand.'
It was rare for him to make mistakes in logical reasoning like this. But when he was gambling with his life, it was hard not to take the path that gave him the highest probability of survival.
But he had obviously neglected something, and that was a pair of words he kept hearing over and over again...
Overlord Race.
The Human Race was the current Overlord Race of Earth. So what did it mean for a former Overlord Race to suddenly appear now?
The three were just standing there, and they didn't seem ready to make a move. Instead, Sorvanis, one of the males well over two meters tall, raised his head to the sky and let out a sound that echoed for hundreds of miles.
It was a resonant, continuous clicking, one that immediately triggered a memory in Sylas' head.
It was said that the clicking of a Sperm Whale was loud and powerful enough at its apex to vibrate a human body to death. He had once seen a video that echoed this very same sound.
All of a sudden, the surge of beasts changed.
They became as arranged as a marching army.
It was still a great mess now, but Sylas could see the movement of the tide and its trends through his visualization.
He realized what they were doing instantly.
'They're arranging the beasts.
They're going to separate me from General Song's army and surround me.
Then, they'll likely try to question me or force me to hand Nosphaleen over.
' Sylas reached this conclusion for one reason.
He realized that the Clypsians were likely limited in what they could do.
He could see the flow of Runes around them, and they were subtly surrounding the invisible forcefield as though waiting for it to wane or collapse. He could also see that the force field originated from the only woman among them, Elyndor.
His mind practically stratified itself between all its different deductions, its thoughts a muddy mess as he came to understand several things.
'If they allow the system to detect them, something they don't want to happen will occur. Which means... they likely can't interfere with all of this directly.'
Sylas' eyes glowed as the beasts continued to arrange themselves. In as little as another half minute, this matter would be sealed and finished. There would be little he could do to change the fact his life would be in the hands of another.
However... this was precisely the opportunity that he was waiting for.
'Now.'
Sylas' Beast Totem suddenly flared.
Sorvanis' eyes widened, but it was too late.
He foolishly tried to control the Arctic Emperor Cobra, only to bump up against Sylas' Vipermancy.
No matter how powerful the Clypsians were, the odds that they had someone with even one Legendary Path Profession was next to zero, let alone three like Sylas.
n/รด/vel/b//in dot c//om.
And even if he did, it was clearly an all-encompassing beast control Profession. How could it match up to Sylas, who had homed in on a single genus?
Trying to strip Sylas' control over his own beast... wasn't that asking to suffer backlash?
Sorvanis coughed up a mouthful of blood and stumbled backward. He fell to a knee as he briefly lost consciousness before catching himself.
Sylas crossed the final distance between himself and the Arctic Emperor Cobra. Thanks to Sorvanis' intervention, this was even somewhat easier, as he had forced the beasts to stop fighting one another.
The Arctic Emperor Cobra vanished with a touch, and Sylas exhaled a long breath, but his pace
didn't stop. He continued rushing toward the Great Celestial Wall, making up a large amount
of ground before Sorvanis could recover.
Right then, Vorthyx frowned.
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