Chapter 719: A Battle Against Oblivion

Each of them was covered with symbols that disappeared before they could be read.

[ Rain of Forgotten Edicts ]

The white tablets slowly cracked.

Their semi-transparent pieces fell around the battlefield like snow, but unlike real snow, they left no trace when they reached the ground.

Lian raised his head for a moment.

’What’s this one?’ He frowned slightly, because it seemed that White Oblivion had realized he had encountered another Calamity before.

So the battle might become a little more difficult from this moment onward, even so, he was not particularly worried and had confidence in himself.

At that moment, White Oblivion moved.

Roderick’s body passed across the frozen stone ground at high speed, and he sent his right fist toward Lian.

Young Vorhelm intended to use Thunder Ashen Step to move out of the way, but at the exact moment of activation, the familiar sequence of controlling his mana disappeared from his mind.

The energy flow in his legs became unstable.

What?

He immediately stopped the skill.

Roderick’s fist passed in front of his face, and he avoided the strike with only a short turn.

But before he had a chance to examine the situation, a second fist moved toward his side from below.

He lowered his forearm, and the strike hit his armor, sending a pressure wave from the point of impact into the stone ground.

New cracks formed in the ice beneath their feet.

Lian took several steps back.

’So he wants to disrupt the activation of my skills.’

The white rain continued, but its effect was different from Dawn of the Nameless, he still remembered his name and identity, and he even knew how to use his skills.

Even so, during activation, part of his practical memory related to mana control became unavailable for a few moments.

This short disturbance could be deadly for a fighter whose reaction speed was extremely important.

White Oblivion had also understood this, he no longer simply tried to face Lian’s speed directly as he had at the beginning of the battle.

Instead, he used the very short opportunities created by his third skill to deliver physical strikes.

Another fist moved toward Lian’s face, and this time, he did not even try to activate a skill.

He moved his head a few centimeters to the side, and the fist passed beside his ear, and at that moment, he grabbed Roderick’s wrist and changed the direction of the incoming force with a short turn.

The man’s body lost its balance for a moment.

Lian raised his right knee, and the strike hit Roderick’s stomach and lifted him off the ground.

But White Oblivion turned his body in the air and tried to stop Lian from continuing his attack with a strike from the right.

Young Vorhelm blocked it with his forearm and then, without retreating, sent a short punch toward the enemy’s chest.

Roderick moved several meters backward, but Lian immediately followed him, the first strike hit his shoulder, and the second reached his damaged ribs from a lower angle.

And just as White Oblivion tried to change his defense, a new message appeared before Lian’s eyes.

[ Skill Overdrive Activated! ]

[ Level: 1/10 ]

[ Skill Power Increased by 10% for 10 Seconds. ]

Good.

He immediately used the opportunity.

This short enhancement increased the power of his active skills and only lasted ten seconds.

Therefore, he did not intend to waste even a single moment of it.

White Oblivion tried to create some distance, but young Vorhelm recognized his retreat path and moved to the right with a short step, blocking Roderick’s path around one of the ice pillars.

Then he activated Disaster Suppression Fist, and this time, the force of the strike increased with the skill enhancement.

His fist struck the damaged part of the chest, and a loud cracking sound was heard.

Roderick’s body was thrown backward at high speed and crashed into a frozen cliff, a long crack spread across the wall from the point of impact.

The upper part of the cliff broke, and huge masses of ice fell around it, and the rain of white tablets became unstable for a moment.

Lian stopped a short distance away, he could see Roderick’s injured face through the cloud of dust.

"Not bad, but if you can’t block a punch, all your tricks are useless, and it’s mostly your own fault for choosing such a worthless piece of trash as your Vessel."

He remained silent for a moment and then continued.

"You know, now that I think about it, you’re actually even more stupid than the other Calamity I encountered, you chose the trash I threw away."

This time, White Oblivion did not immediately come out of the ruins.

There was silence for several seconds.

Then the sound of breaking ice came from inside the cliff, and Roderick’s body slowly emerged from among the broken stones.

A large part of his clothes was torn, several bones in his chest and shoulder were damaged, and blood flowed down from the corner of his mouth.

Even so, the creature was still standing.

The Calamity looked at his right hand for a moment and then raised his head.

The anger and rage he had previously tried to hide and suppress had appeared in his eyes again.

His anger had become so intense that even the space around him seemed to be trembling.

It was clear that he was not happy at all with what he had heard, especially being compared to his brothers and sisters.

"You are strong."

"That’s been pretty clear so far." Lian shrugged.

The man did not answer, but his gaze changed.

He was no longer trying to wear down Lian’s consciousness only through large-scale skills or forced memories.

He now wanted something much more specific, he wanted Lian’s body, perhaps with that body and the power inside it, he could destroy Hollow Sun even without any tricks.

And to achieve that goal, he had to break Lian’s spiritual resistance.

White Oblivion slowly lowered his right hand and then looked at young Vorhelm.

"You could have been a very valuable Anchor."

Lian opened and closed the fingers of his right hand.

"I know, but apparently you still haven’t understood that I’m not interested in serving anyone."

"That’s right, which is why you’re going to become both my new Vessel and my new Anchor." White Oblivion smiled even wider.

Above the plateau, a white and colorless ring appeared.

At first, it was thin.

But within a short time, more arcs were added to it, and a huge structure formed in the sky.

A crown made of broken rings.

Inside it, thousands of faint faces could be seen disappearing one after another.

[ Crown of the Unremembered World ]

Before Lian had a chance to move, heavy pressure struck his soul.

For a moment, he felt the connection between his consciousness and body become weaker.

Not like forgetting the name of a place, and not like having foreign memories forced into his mind, this time, something was trying to break apart the very foundation of his understanding of himself.

For a fraction of a second, young Vorhelm felt as if his hands did not belong to him, and then a strange feeling appeared deep within his soul.

This one...

The pressure became stronger, and deep within his consciousness, the golden forms of the Nine Dragons appeared.

Their huge bodies moved around the center of his soul and resisted the invasion of the white crown.

The Calamity Devourer title also increased Lian’s resistance against possession, corruption, and identity erasure, but neither of these two powers provided complete immunity.

White Oblivion also increased the pressure of the skill.

For a moment, Lian’s right knee bent, he placed one hand on the frozen stone ground, and several drops of blood flowed down from his nose.

Damn it.

He felt something trying to separate his identity from his existence.

If this process continued, White Oblivion might be able to establish the connection needed to turn him into a being without identity or free will.

"Your body is valuable, human, be happy that you are going to belong to me."

Lian slowly raised his head.

Deep within his soul, the golden forms of the Nine Dragons were moving intensely and resisting the pressure to maintain his identity.

But thin cracks had appeared on the bodies of several dragons.

Damn it.

If this pressure continued for a few more seconds, the Golden Nine Dragons Soul would completely collapse.

He had no more time.

He directed his mana flow straight into the Mana Reserve Seal.

CRACK!

Several cracks appeared across the Seal’s structure, and a moment later, all the energy stored inside it was released at once.

BOOOOM!

The Seal completely shattered, and a huge flow of mana began moving through Lian’s body.

He directed all the released energy toward his soul, the golden forms of the Nine Dragons glowed for a moment, and the crown’s pressure was pushed back slightly.

But this only bought him a few seconds.

He clenched his teeth, lifted his hand from the ground, and stood up from his knee with all his remaining strength.

He had a few more seconds, and if he did not do something before then, the Golden Nine Dragons Soul would be destroyed.

His gaze remained fixed directly on Roderick.

"Now it’s my turn."

White Oblivion immediately noticed, but before he could focus the crown’s pressure on Lian’s next movement, Lian advanced toward him.

The first strike hit Roderick’s stomach, and the man’s body bent slightly.

The second strike came from the left and hit his damaged ribs.

White Oblivion tried to answer with his right fist, but Lian redirected the strike with his forearm and took another step forward.

This time, a short punch struck the enemy’s chest.

Roderick was pushed several meters backward, but Lian followed him, and his next strikes were fast and carefully planned.

Instead of attacking the same point without stopping, he attacked from different angles and did not allow the enemy to regain enough concentration to fully activate the crown again.

The Calamity also tried to defend himself with Roderick’s body, and twice, he managed to recognize the paths of the attacks.

Once, he managed to redirect Lian’s fist and land a strike on his side, but young Vorhelm continued fighting despite the pain caused by the spiritual pressure.

And right after one of his successful strikes,

[ Lifesteal Activated! ]

[ Level: 1/10 ]

[ Health Restored: 2% of Damage Inflicted ]

A small flow of healing power formed inside Lian’s body, and part of the physical damage he had suffered during the battle was repaired.

But his mana did not increase, and the spiritual pressure still remained.

He used the opportunity and took one final step toward Roderick, sending Disaster Suppression Fist toward the center of his chest.

The force of the strike was concentrated at the point of impact.

Then the man’s body was thrown backward at high speed and crashed into a tall wall of ice.

A huge cracking sound echoed across the battlefield, and a large part of the wall collapsed, and at that moment, the huge white crown in the sky began to crack.