Chapter 123 Staking a Vampire Snake (2)
Seeing his Symbiotic body armor level up, Karsha became even more naughty "Did you really think you could beat me with just a few slaps?" Karsha taunted. "I've had massages more painful than your hits!"
The snake hissed in anger, launching another attack. Karsha took it head-on like a champ, smirking. "What's the matter, snake? Losing your touch?"
He blinked behind the snake, landing a powerful blow to its side. "Did that hurt? Good. Because I can't feel anything from your touches"
The snake whipped around, but Karsha was already gone, his laughter echoing through the arena. "Come on, you oversized worm! I thought you wanted to kill me!"
The snake's rage was palpable, but Karsha was in control now. His body has already adapted to the pain coming from the strikes from the snake "Is that all you've got? No wonder you're stuck here in this canyon. You're nothing but a big, scaly loser!"
With every taunt, Karsha's confidence grew, and the snake's attacks became more frantic and less effective. "Face it, snake. You never stood a chance against me. You're just a stepping stone on my path to greatness. I will be sure to tell your tales to my descendants down to the tenth generation" Karsha smiled and his face shifted from friendly to serious.
"My turn, bitch," Karsha muttered. At once, the temperature of the whole arena began to rise.
"Call of the Agni: Flame Sea"
After his two-tier upgrade, Karsha hadn't checked out the enhancements to his [Agni Flame Sea] skill. If he had, he would have noticed some amazing changes. The [Rapid Attack] form of the [Fire Beam] skill, for example, had become significantly stronger, almost reaching the power of Tier 8 fire beam attacks.
One of the perks of having a system is the easy upgrade of skills. These upgrades not only boost damage output but also evolve the skill and add new forms. Thanks to the two-tier upgrade he received after defeating Old Man Teye, the old Rune Master on the red planet, the [Agni Flame Sea] skill has evolved.
The skill now has a new name: [Agni Inferno Dominion]. When activated, a 40-meter-tall Avatar of the King of Fire appears, similar to the Ice Queen Wrath. Karsha couldn't help but wonder if the fire skill was competing with the ice skill. However, since this new skill didn't come with the downside of making him a foot soldier in an unknown legion, he had no complaints.
Besides the name change and the Avatar, two new abilities have been added to the skill. These are even more powerful than [Inferno Sea] and [Flame Serpent Summon]. However, they still couldn't compare to the third ability, [Agni Sword], which now allows him to use 4% of Agni, the Fire Deity's total attack power.
The two new abilities added after the upgrade are;
[Blazing Cataclysm]; Channeling the wrath of the King of Fire, unleash a catastrophic explosion of flames over a 1000-meter radius, dealing 150% damage instantly to all enemies within the area. Requires 50,000 MP every second.
[Phoenix Rebirth]: Sacrifice 200,000MP and 50% of your total fire essence to invoke the avatar of a colossal phoenix. The phoenix will dive into the battlefield, causing an inferno that deals 300% damage to all enemies within a 2000-meter radius and heals the host by 25% of their maximum health.
Additionally, if more Mana and fire essence is poured into the skill, the phoenix will be able to unleash even more terrifying detonation.
Note: The phoenix's flames are purifying and can also remove negative status effects from the host.
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Karsha grinned as he looked at the lifelike Avatar of the Fire King towering behind him, holding a lance. Unsheathing his swords, he tapped into his millions of MP and activated the [Blazing Cataclysm] ability. A series of huge explosions began detonating all over the arena.
"Hahahaha!" Karsha's evil laughter echoed across the battle arena. Activating one of his eight movement variations, [Static Surge Glide], he became one with the wind, weaving a net of electricity while simultaneously sending countless rapid-fire arc attacks at the monster snake.
The Static Surge Glide allowed him to harness the electricity in the air and the wind itself to move silently, creating an electric trap around his target. He moved swiftly, surrounding the snake and trapping it in the center of the electric net.
All around the snake, powerful fire arcs flew towards it, forcing the creature to vibrate its body and send blood arcs in defense. While many blood arcs managed to destroy the fire arcs, some still found their way through, inflicting damage on its scales.
With the arena exploding around them, the snake had no breathing space. Karsha wanted to test the limits of his new powers, so he decided to go all out. Bloodfang, despite its fearsome reputation, found itself helpless. And Karsha hadn't even started showing the full extent of his abilities.
"Let's take it up a notch," Karsha declared, his gold aura enveloping his sword like sword qi, further strengthening his rapid attacks. His speed increased dramatically, and within seconds, he unleashed hundreds of fire arc attacks, swarming the helpless Overlord like a hive of bees.
The snake's body vibrated violently, sending countless blood arcs in a desperate attempt to counter the fire attacks, but they were no match. Hundreds of fire arcs landed on its scales, creating powerful shockwaves all around.
The snake roared in agony as more and more wounds began to appear. Seeing the blood dripping, Karsha smiled. He wanted to see just how powerful the snake was and, knowing it required blood to show its might, he decided to give it just that.
"Again," Karsha commanded, unleashing another round of fire arcs. The snake's body vibrated again, but this time, the blood arcs were more powerful and numerous than before. Karsha smiled, watching the mighty Overlord struggle at his mercy.
He never gave the snake a chance to use its fangs. The only time the fangs showed was when it roared in pain. Subconsciously, Karsha began leaking a dense killing intent. As more attacks escaped from his sword, this intent started fusing with the attacks, making them even more lethal.
Karsha was completely absorbed in the thrill of the battle. Watching the snake bleed profusely made him even more exhilarated, and he pressed on with his relentless assault. However, he began to notice something strange: his attacks were becoming increasingly abnormal. Despite the snake's impressive regeneration abilities, the wounds were not healing as quickly as they should.
But Karsha was too caught up in the fight to be concerned. With no harm coming to him and the snake still unable to retaliate, he reveled in the chaos. Forty minutes had passed since he began his counterattack, and the snake had not managed to strike back even once.
"I ran from you the last time," Karsha declared with a grin. "Not anymore." His sword aura flared, coating his already golden blades with an intensified glow. With a sudden, instantaneous move, Karsha vanished from sight.
What followed was a barrage of thousands of fire arcs raining down on the snake. Karsha unleashed his most powerful movement variation, [The Sonic Bolt Dash]. He moved like a streak of lightning, almost invisible to the eye. As he zipped around the arena, countless rapid slashes of fire arcs erupted from his swords.
Within moments, the entire arena was engulfed in a storm of fire arcs. The ground shook violently, and jagged stones began to shatter under the immense pressure. The snake vibrated even more intensely, its body desperately sending out blood arcs in a futile attempt to fend off the relentless assault.
"Again, again, again!" Karsha chanted with an evil grin as more and more fire arcs pelted the snake. Each arc was infused with a golden aura and coated with sword qi, overwhelming the snake's defenses. The scales of the beast stood no chance against the relentless barrage.
BOOM! A particularly powerful attack struck the snake, sending a massive cloud of dust billowing into the air. The snake's roar, filled with agony, echoed across the landscape for kilometers.
Dhaka and the other shadow guards, who were recuperating in the outer areas of the Crimson Canyon, felt a chill run down their spines as they heard the sound.
"What is going on there?" Kilian asked, looking a bit startled.
"I really hope he's okay," Alida said, her voice tinged with sadness. All three snake ladies shared the same worried expression.
"Tsk, I wouldn't be worried about him," Dhaka chuckled, glancing at the others with a smug look. "It's the snake we should be praying for."
"And what makes you think that?" Ayarr asked, her tone laced with curiosity as she tried to gauge Dhaka's confidence.
"It's a swordsman thing. You wouldn't understand," Dhaka replied with a laugh, earning a dangerous look from Ayarr.
"Okay, relax, Ayarr," Dhaka said, sensing the danger in her eyes and caving in quickly. "I hope you all know why my sword attacks are more powerful than most swordsmen around."
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"It's because of that gold thing that appears around your sword," Alida answered.
"Yes, exactly. It's called Sword Aura, and its function is to make sword attacks more deadly. However, there are levels to it, and each level varies based on the user. My sword aura is powerful, even as powerful as Master's, but Karsha's aura is several times stronger than mine." Dhaka explained. The four snakes around him were shocked by his words.
They understood the power behind Dhaka's sword attacks, so hearing that Karsha's aura was many times more powerful left them in awe. Just how devastating could Karsha's sword attacks be?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"To be frank, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Karsha is having fun right now. Do you remember the last time we were here when the snake chased after him? He must be getting his revenge right now," Dhaka added with a knowing smile.
And Dhaka was right—Karsha was indeed having the time of his life. After the snake's roar, it seemed to have reached its last limp. Karsha smiled, looking at the snake lying with blood oozing out of a huge wound on its neck.
"Thanks for the sparring session, but it seems you don't have any more juice to continue, so I'll be sending you on your way," Karsha said. His glaive flashed through the air, attacking the snake's neck almost 50 times in a split second.
Blood flew everywhere, painting the ground an even deeper red. Karsha watched with a wide smile on his face. He had hoped to fully assimilate his strength with this snake, but unfortunately, it couldn't keep up. He was only able to make about 35% progress before the snake couldn't hold on anymore. Still, he had become even more powerful. Thanks to the system, his strength increased after every fight.
At this point, his aura alone was powerful enough to overwhelm a Saint.
After one last strike from the glaive, the system message appeared, marking the death of the fourth Overlord. Karsha smiled, retrieving his favorite water bottle and drinking gallons of water.
He climbed onto the body of the snake, pressing his hand on its back. An ice layer appeared, coating it hard enough for Karsha to sit without the blood staining his clothes. He then summoned the Shadow Guards. By now, they were used to seeing the dead bodies of Overlords, but the sight of the bloody body of the Vampire Snake lying on the floor still made them shudder.
"Four down, six more to go..." Karsha said with a determined smile.