Chapter 797: The fifth day of the development trial (part 9)
Chapter 797: The fifth day of the development trial (part 9)
Seeing that the power he was granted by the beings in the sky didn’t seem to affect Vivian the dead lynx king finally understood why they were told to prioritize killing her.
Also, while he didn’t understand what the white-haired girl said, he could tell that Vivian was targeting him which made him gaze at the two animal races that suddenly appeared to assist the white-haired creature, to then coldly snort to his insides.
’So, what if this power doesn’t work on her, I still have my fangs and my claws unlike her subordinates’, naturally he was referring to the king cobras.
"Focus on killing the horses, those snakes are nothing without their venom, leave that white-haired creature to me!", shouted the dead lynx king.
In his mind, without their venom the king cobras weren’t that much of a threat, of course this is because they are dead animals, otherwise even if they were immune to venom, the powerful biting force of the cobras combined with their fast speed could make them bleed to death in minutes, but now they didn’t have to worry about that, unless their heads were destroyed, they won’t die.
"Did you hear that, with the help of the training we underwent under our queen let’s show these enemies that we are more than just our venom!", said the old king cobra.
"Hissss!", the other king cobras were fired up, how could they not, Espi helped them take revenge on their mortal enemy, they were taken in by the human king’s group and Vivian played with and fed their children until their stomachs were full for the first time in years.
They only had one way to repay such gratitude and that was with the thing the king cobra race does the best, fight, so they swore upon their fangs that so long as they lived, they wouldn’t allow any harm fall onto their benefactors.
And here an interesting thing that happened, the little wyrm told them that in order to get stronger, they shouldn’t limit themselves to what they are good at to begin with, they must challenge and overcome their limits, this was especially important for the old king cobra who wished to become a king level animal.
It was a "lesson" that Espi gave them based on her own experience as probably the first ever spirit beast to learn craftmanship, before obtaining a human form, the little wyrm’s perspective changed a lot thanks to that, of course she didn’t directly give the answer to the old king cobra and the others, as that would go against the purpose of the whole thing, they had to realize it themselves.
Of course this was Espi cutely imitating the way Aster helps Kana and the girls of the sect, the companion manual surely was up to the little wyrm’s liking.
Still, the old king cobra was quite a wise old man, and he immediately asked the little wyrm to teach them how to "fight" like her, without relying on poison nor their prized fangs, this is amusing considering that the old king cobra’s profession manual is "Poison Master".
Espi simply told them to use their whole "bodies" to fight, and that resulted in the current interesting sight of twenty king cobras raising half of their bodies into the air, achieving quite a menacing stance.
"Hissss!", the dead animals who were about to charge at the horses to swarm them, saw the king cobras move at an incredibly fast speed towards them and they protected their necks and faces which in their minds were the areas that the cobras would likely target with their fangs, though they weren’t afraid of poison nor non-lethal wounds, their bites would still hurt.
"Crack!", imagine their surprises when the cobras used their fast speed combined with their large and actually strong bodies, despite being venomous snakes, to clash against the legs of the dead animals and... break them.
Though they obviously lacked the insanely high constriction force of the anaconda or python races, the cobras were quite fast so they used their charging speed alongside their bodies to tackle the enemy’s legs.
Before the dead animals could register what was happening, twenty of them fell to the ground, unable to remain standing since the bones of their legs were crushed.
"What!", the dead lynx king was at a loss for a second, he had never heard of a king cobra fighting in such a way, unfortunately he didn’t have the time to think about it, because he saw the old king cobra gaze at Mule to then say.
"We’ll immobilize them, you take care of finishing them off", naturally with just a day of learning to use their bodies to fight, they were unable to directly kill animals that are bigger than them in a 1v1 situation, here three king cobras were needed to break a single leg, they were able to immobilize twenty enemies in a single go because they didn’t expect something like this to happen and because of their high speed which allowed them to attack multiple times.
Though breaking necks sounds easier than breaking legs, that’s not the case for the king cobras because they are unable to transfer the impulse they gain through their bodies and their strength greatly reduces if they lose contact from the ground so they can’t jump high into the air like Espi to attack enemies.
This is because they don’t have the monstrous muscles of the little wyrm who basically contracts them to then use her whole body as a spring while focusing all that momentum on her tail, so even if they were to master her explosive way to fight, they’ll of course won’t be able to break trees in half like Espi, well, who knows how will they develop if they become king level animals not to mention spirit beasts.
In the future breaking necks with a single impact is still within their possibilities, of course this but a secondary way of fighting for them, since their main skill is their venom as the old king cobra proved by obtaining the "Poison Master" profession manual, while his attack type one focuses in increasing his overall strength.
"Neeigh!", with a loud sound Mule guided the black horses and they trampled the immobilized dead animals to death with their hooves.
"Don’t stay there like fools, attack the...", just as the dead lynx king was ordering the seconds in command and his other subordinates to react, he was forced to dodge by a spear that was thrusted his way.
"Clang!", the spear landed on the ground and only then did the dead lynx king realize that he had been separated from his subordinates by the king cobras, because the horses charged right through the area where the seconds in command were stationed forcing them to move and now, they were being blocked by said horses.
"I suggest you to focus on the enemy in front of you, if you don’t want to die right away that is", said Vivian as she rolled the spear she was wielding a couple of times to then point it at the dead lynx king.
"Grrrr!", the lynx growled at Vivian to then pounce at her with his claws pointed at her chest.
"Clang!", the lynx’s claws clashed against Vivian’s spear, a few drops of the corpse poison that covered the enemy’s body flew due to the clash and landed on Vivian’s arms which were exposed.
It’s worth mentioning that the white-haired girl wasn’t using the dress which Aster made for her, it was one of her most beloved possessions and she didn’t want it to be damaged, prior to this there was no need to worry since she could prevent enemies from even approaching her with her blood so there was no need for her to directly clash with anyone, therefore she could wear her favorite clothes even in the battlefield.
But she knew things weren’t going to be so easy this time, so she changed to the standard set up for the girls of the sect during their daily activities, shorts with a skirt and a sleeveless shirt as well as tennis shoes.
Of course, if the opponent of the dead animals wasn’t Vivian, they would probably use pants and a long-sleeved shirt instead, trying to cover as much skin as possible since even with inoculation due to the anti-toxin created by Mylene, letting the corpse poison touch them directly wasn’t a good idea.
But just as the enemies didn’t have to worry about Vivian’s poison, she didn’t have to worry about theirs in the slightest, the thing didn’t even "dare" to stain Vivian’s pretty pale skin after all.
"Hsss!", the dead lynx king gritted his teeth upon the sight of his corpse poison turning into nothing upon reaching the enemy’s body, still after deflecting Vivian’s spear he aimed to bite the white-haired girl’s neck with his fangs.
"Grrrr!", half angered and half pained the lynx was forced to retreat as a small fist landed on his face.
"Could you back off a bit please, the only "man" that is allowed to get so close to me is Aster", casually said Vivian, the dead lynx king is a male animal and though he didn’t understand the exact words spoken by Vivian, her intention was properly communicated, he was being looked down upon by her.
"Grrrr!", the dead lynx king directly released his lineage suppression in response to such an insult, an invisible wave of pressure advanced towards Vivian who casually jumped into it while thrusting her spear at the dead lynx king, ignoring his pressure like it was nothing.
"Clang!", the lynx barely managed to react in time to use his claws in order to not be stabbed by the spear, but the lack of preparation made his stance not firm enough, so Vivian pushed him back and then slashed her spear, leaving a cutting wound on the lynx’s left thigh.
"Heh, sorry but my mind and body are used to be under way more "pressure" than this, not to mention that five of you couldn’t even win against Espi", said Vivian as she once again entered the core area of the dead lynx king’s lineage suppression which didn’t make her let alone freeze, but even slow down.
Just like body cultivators and those with innately strong physical bodies had some advantage over others in terms of performance in this place, those with strong souls like main path soul cultivators as Vivian also had their own advantages, after all the blue flaming board is fair to everyone.
Normally a strong soul, would reflect in aspects of the mind like learning and comprehension which is nothing to look down upon, not only when it comes to adapting to mortal activities, but also because it helps with how fast one can advance in the manuals they chose.
The only ones whose advantages had yet to be seen are main energy path cultivators and those with talents related to that area, probably because there is no spirit energy in this place, however there is not a single member of the sect whose talents are limited to a single path.
Even those with main energy path who haven’t trained in a secondary path or have low secondary path realms, like Sarina, Kana or Angela, shine in other things, like alchemy, battle, horsemanship or using their brains, they are a bunch of talented girls.
In Vivian’s case her strong soul is reflected in a different aspect, it’s not like she isn’t smart or anything of the like, but Vivian’s mind aspect is "resilience", after all she endured all those years with reduced mobility in a lightless world, but instead of despairing, she learned how to use her soul to interact with the world.
Long story short, she is a really strong-minded girl and thus, she has a really high resistance against shock as a mortal, so things like lineage suppression or killing intent that are based in "intimidation" are practically useless against her, unless there is a really big gap between herself and the other party and even then, the effect is greatly reduced.
With Guardian’s help, Aster has confirmed that even with the lynx and Espi working together, it’s not enough to make Vivian freeze, at most her body slows down a bit, which is understandable since her body is her "weak" point.
Of course, this dead lynx king whose lineage suppression wasn’t even obtained through his own merits, has no way to affect the white-haired girl, even his subordinates are busy fighting the king cobras and the black horses, so the only thing he can rely on to fight against Vivian are his own claws and fangs.
And here let’s take a momentary peek at the main battlefield where Guardian had just pounced at the bear slashing her claws at him, only for the bear to use his own to block the incoming attack.
"Clang!" sparks flew as those two clashed head on, before both were forced to retreat, that being said Guardian retreated around five meters while the bear only retreated three meters.
This is of course because the bear’s focus used to be brute strength, while Guardian had a much more balanced build that actually leaned towards wisdom, while still enhancing her physical capacities way past the limits of a mortal lynx.
’Why is the golden eyed creature not fighting, he is just standing there watching the fights happen, is he... that much of a coward?’, wondered the bear as he saw Aster remain standing with a relaxed stance, while everyone else in the battlefield was engaging in combat.
Knowing that he would be entangled with Guardian for quite some time, given that the lynx seemed to have gotten stronger since the last time he saw her up-close, the bear smirked to his insides as he decided to use one of the "blessings" he was granted by the beings in the sky, the capacity to use his brain.
"Hey, golden eyed creature, you can understand me to a certain extent, right?", said the bear which made Aster raise an eyebrow at him, still he decided to follow whatever the bear was trying to do to see where it led to.
"Yes, however I don’t think we are close enough to have a casual conversation and more importantly, do you really have the guts to get distracted when fighting against her", casually said Aster as he pointed at Guardian.
"Grrrr!", the lynx might have quite a reasonable and calm personality, but that doesn’t mean she is a pushover in the slightest, in fact she is quite fierce and decisive given that she couldn’t show any signs of weakness to be a deterrent for anyone that tried to cause unbalance to the forest she watched over, otherwise she wouldn’t be feared and respected to the point that she is a living legend for the older animals that learned about her from their ancestors.
"Now, protector of the forest, didn’t you try to talk with me many times in the past, now that you have the chance are you not willing to wait a few seconds", said the bear to Guardian whose fangs were in full view as she softly growled at him a second ago.
"Humph!", still the lynx coldly snorted and actually stopped the fight for a moment, in any case the result of the fight won’t change.
"I simply wanted to know how can you be so at ease after sending that white-haired female to her death...", the bear hadn’t finished his sentence when he was interrupted by Aster’s laugh.
"Pfft, so you have learned to "sow discord", those bastards really gave you the capacity to use your brain, but did you know that in eight out of ten cases people who believe themselves to be "cunning" are just idiots who think that they are smarter than others", said Aster which made the bear grit his teeth.
"I wonder what face will you put after seeing the corpse of that white-haired female ripped to shreds by the claws and fangs of my subordinates, after all they were brought back by the beings of the sky specifically to deal with her", said the bear.
’You people are underestimating us too much’, thought Aster as he stopped paying attention to the bear.
....
At the secondary battlefield, two figures rushed through the nearby area clashing with each other, one with a spear and one with his claws while trying to find an opening to bite the neck of the white-haired girl wielding the spear, only to be occasionally punched every few exchanges.
"Crack!" the lynx who believed himself to be the absolute counter of the white-haired female creature because the bear told him that as animals they have a stronger body than those two-legged creatures and as a dead one, not only is he immune to poison, but he won’t get tired as much as the living ones, this is in exchange for losing the capacity to grow stronger by themselves anymore and also a slower movement speed and reaction time when compared to living animals, due to weakened senses as they are dead.
Or at least that’s supposed to be the case, but after a few dozens of clashes the dead lynx king noticed that the tip of his claws had started to show signs of splintering.
’Are you kidding me, after I received the power of the being in the sky, my claws became stronger, I could leave scratches on solid rocks and what is up with this white-haired creature, why the hell is she not getting tired in the slightest!’, inwardly cursed the dead lynx king.
Of course, among the two-legged "creatures", there were some that the animals could tell had really strong bodies, there was one with blue nails and silvery-white hair that felt dangerous and one with red eyes that just by gazing their way made anyone below king level feel afraid, of course those were Mira and Alice.
But certainly, the slender and obviously not physically strong white-haired female creature in front of him, wasn’t like that, sure she could explode with some strength and block his claw slashes with that weird stick that she used to attack and defend herself, but that should be her going all out and since that’s the case she should be getting tired early into the fight, but she wasn’t showing any sings of getting tired in the slightest.
"Hssss!", the drops of corpse poison that had sprinkled all over Vivian’s body due to the continuous clashes between herself and the dead lynx king, turned into nothing the next second.
"I guess I should be thankful for it, but you are really underestimating Aster’s preparations, from the moment you decided to use any kind of toxin with me present, you had already lost", said Vivian as she stretched her body, it seemed as if all he fatigue that should have accumulated due to all the close-range fighting she had partaken with the lynx, disappeared on the spot.
Because that is actually the case, this is the first technique of Vivian’s profession manual, like Mylene, she has an alchemist-related manual, however hers differ from probably any other alchemist girl of the sect, because it doesn’t focus in making alchemic products in the usual sense.
Of course, she had the option of being a "Poison Master" similar to the old king cobra, but the alchemist one was much more of her interest, it was a profession called "Miracle Alchemist" and her manual was called "Healing the World", it is a bit weird of a name, but when you come to know about the first technique she obtained from it, it makes sense.
It’s called "Heavenly Benevolence" and it gives her the ability of taking any kind of toxin and changing it into a medicine, there are a few rules, but basically it inverses a toxin’s negative effect into something positive instead.
For example, corpse poison is supposed to wither and corrode the living, but when in contact with Vivian, it becomes a revitalizer, which is why she hadn’t gotten tired in the slightest, in fact she might feel even more rested and energized than before the fight started.
And here you might wonder, how come she was using the first technique of her manual when Aster used the two daily chances he has, for Blair and Mylene and the answer is actually quite simple, the white-haired girl triggered and completed a unique mission today around midday after testing a few new toxins developed by Mylene and munching on some venomous herbs collected by coincidence when she was helping Guardian and the others drive away the animals towards the eastern side of the forest.
This was in part because she has been helping the alchemists every day and also thanks to the rewards they obtained, which lowered the requirements to trigger the unique missions, otherwise she might have needed another couple of days to eat enough new refined toxins and herbs before achieving it.