Sylas’ body seemed to freeze. The pain wasn’t instant, and the arrow was so fast that it had already passed through him and collided against the ground before he could do much of anything.
There was a pulse of a corrosive energy, and when his skin began to rot, it was only then that the pain truly set in for him.
A heart-shuddering sort of ripping pain tore into his body. As though a pair of ghostly hands had taken hold of his brain and started to parse it into pieces, he couldn’t focus on anything other than that horrid pain.
Something within Sylas was on the verge of breaking when a small spark lit within him.
A small green-violet flame hidden deep within his body collided with the corrosion. The flame was so weak and fragile, and yet the moment it was provoked, it morphed, its body becoming the shape of a roaring beast.
All at once, the attack on Sylas’ mind was thwarted, and all that was left behind was the searing pain.
Sylas could barely look down to see the ghastly wound in his chest. It had already begun to fester and spoil as though he was more corpse already than man.
His eyes blurred and a man appeared before him. Or rather, the man’s back.
Alex’s tendrils of darkness looked to have pierced into the ground in a great showing of force. But in reality, they had anchored themselves in his shadow, entering a mysterious sort of world as he was wrapped in a cascade of shadowy figures that made his figure look twice as large as it really was.
The shadowy figure, standing at the same height as the chimera, locked its arms with the beast’s claws.
The two clashed in the skies, a reverberating BANG! echoing as they slammed their heads against one another.
The snake head of the chimera rose up and bit into the shadow figure’s neck. Sparks flew and much of Alex’s projected body cracked. But then it just as quickly reformed, reshaping itself into a tight hold around the snake’s head and neck.
Sylas swayed before he regained his bearings.
He unleashed a roar with what strength he had left to muster and his Rune Mastery bloomed forth. He didn’t even deal with the poison roaring through his body. Now that this part of his plan was completed, there was absolutely no need for him to hold back any longer.
Aki’s smile finally froze.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The golems in the surroundings exploded one after another.
A large amount of Mature Aether rushed for Sylas.
Much like he had noticed on the battle, despite the fact these golems were manufactured goods, they still gave him a Level-up opportunity.
And now it was time to use it.
Sylas stomped on the ground a single time and a large amount of Aether shot around him.
At that moment, Aki’s gaze flashed again, but his expression truly changed this time around.
He failed to cancel Sylas’ Skill this time.
The golems outside of the looping chain had their Aether sucked up by the Basic Barrier Chains under Sylas’ control.
The golems inside the loop had their Mature Aether surge toward Sylas, who had appeared in the skies with one palm facing downward and one fist pulled back as though he was steadying his aim.
Aki’s attempt to control the chimera he had named after himself failed, rebounding against the barrier formed by the chains and the Mature Aether of the golems.
And all the while, Sylas didn’t even look over to him a single time.
A pair of deep golden eyes appeared, hovering to Sylas’ back. Their slit pupils seemed to peer into the depths of the universe’s mystery, and for a moment, even the chimera found itself shaking.
Who knew just how many beasts this chimera’s body had been formed from? Regardless, its Serpentes Genes were far too few for Sylas to even think of suppressing it normally.
But now, with it pinned down by Alex, and facing off against an attack fueled by the eyes of a Vipermancer, it felt it more intimately now than it ever did before.
At that very moment, a weakened Cole reached a bloody finger forward, aiming toward Sylas the best he could.
<Twin Moon Divide>…
Sylas felt his Physical stats increase by another 50%. His muscles bulged, pushing up against his black scales and splitting them apart to reveal a stretched, golden hue beneath.
His gaze sharpened and his fist was enveloped by a green-violet glow.
SHIIIIING!
The Blackened Claws appeared just as Sylas’ momentum reached its greatest peak.
<Psychedelic Punch>
Sylas roared, his telekinesis driving himself down faster as he retracted his palm and exploded downward with his fist.
The Blackened Claw tore right through the deer head on the back of the chimera before driving into its body.
BOOM!
Sylas’ arm exploded in a rain of blood and gore. However, whatever mangled mess it had become was lost in the eruption of the chimera’s body.
Its belly exploded out from the bottom, sending spurts of foul green liquid and what looked like yellowed blood everywhere. Its rotting organs fell out and the odor became absolutely excruciating.
It collapsed so hard toward the ground that the hold Alex had on its snake head forced the two to separate.
Spurts of yellowed red blood flew as the chimera was driven into the ground.
“Aki boy!” Aki screamed out as though he had completely lost his mind.
Sylas stood on the chimera’s back, his mangled arm lodged into its body and his chest spurting with foul blood from the wound he had still yet to heal.
However…
He knew victory was theirs.
Gasping for breath, he had more problems to deal with than the hysterical Aki who couldn’t do much other than scream and throw a tantrum.
He now had a shocking amount of Mature Aether rushing toward him, and no Aether left to cast any Skills to make use of it.
