Chapter 161: Primordial Ascencion

The Primordial raised both hands, and the water around it began to glow.

Gray felt the energy building, a pressure so immense it made his carapace groan. A dome of light expanding outward from the Primordial’s body, a sphere of divine judgment that would consume everything in its radius.

He couldn’t dodge it. He couldn’t outrun it. Cindy was behind him, wounded, unable to move.

’Don’t worry, Cindy! I’ll hold it off!’

Cindy’s silver glow flickered weakly, her body trembling from the pain. Yet despite that, her frills slowly splayed wide.

"Gray... you’ve protected me all this time," she whispered. "Now it’s my turn."

The Primordial’s dome expanded.

Gray activated Current Dash and dissolved, reforming directly in front of Cindy. He spread his blade-tentacles wide, his carapace crackling with every ounce of electricity he had left.

’Cindy, no!’

But she was already raising her remaining hand.

"[Frozen Domain]!"

The water around them crystallized. A dome of ice and frost erupted from Cindy’s body, wrapping around both her and Gray, thick and layered. It was a fortress, dense and cold, the strongest barrier she had ever cast.

She poured everything she had into it. Every drop of mana, every ounce of will, every fiber of her being. She wasn’t going to let the Primordial touch him.

The Primordial’s dome of light slammed into the Frozen Domain, and the ice shattered on contact.

Cindy screamed as the backlash tore through her mana channels.

"AHHGG!!"

But the Frozen Domain had bought them a single second. The light was slowed, fractionally, enough for Gray to act.

He activated Arcane Burst.

The pulse of disruptive mana erupted from his body and slammed into the Primordial’s dome. It didn’t destroy it. It didn’t even crack it. But it disrupted its flow, destabilizing the mana that held it together.

The dome flickered.

Gray fired Void Reaper’s Lance into the disruption, the void-edged spear punching through the weakened dome and striking the Primordial’s chest.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 228 DAMAGE]

[????? PRIMORDIAL ???? — HP: ????? / ?????]

[BLEED — 10 DAMAGE PER SECOND]

The Primordial screamed, its concentration breaking. The dome collapsed, the light dissipating into harmless motes.

Gray didn’t let up. He activated Needle Storm, the paralytic needles shooting toward the Primordial’s exposed chest.

[NEEDLE STORM — 168 DAMAGE]

[PARALYZE — RESISTED]

The Primordial’s light flared, burning through the paralytic toxin. But Gray was already circled wide, firing Void Reaper’s Lance again, and again, each strike finding a new crack in the divine armor.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 224 DAMAGE]

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 226 DAMAGE]

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 218 DAMAGE]

The Primordial staggered, its light dimming with each hit. It tried to raise another barrier, but Gray’s Arcane Burst disrupted it before it could form.

"You... you insect!" the Primordial roared. "How are you still standing?!"

The Primordial raised its hand for one final attack.

But Gray quickly activated Current Dash, dissolving and reforming directly above the Primordial. All eight blade-tentacles spread wide, aimed at the cracked armor over its heart.

’This is for Cindy!’

He drove Void Reaper’s Lance straight down.

[VOID REAPER’S LANCE — 236 DAMAGE]

[CRITICAL HIT — DIVINE CORE FRACTURED]

The Primordial’s light exploded outward in a desperate, dying flare, then collapsed inward, guttering like a candle drowned in water. Its body convulsed, limbs twitching, divine armor splitting apart along the cracks Gray had carved. The white radiance that had once seemed eternal now flickered weakly, bleeding into the dark water in thin, fading threads.

The Primordial crashed into the seafloor, its broken body sprawled across the shattered rock. Its hands clawed weakly at the sediment, its legs refusing to obey. Its chest heaved with shallow, ragged breaths, each one accompanied by a thin pulse of light that faded a little more than the last.

Its voice, when it finally came, was cracked and trembling, barely a whisper of the god that had descended from the heavens.

"Do you not understand!? This is my task to restore the balance of the world. We searched for it for so long, and finally, I found it. The Seed of Destruction. If it is left alone, it will bring ruin again. This world will be destroyed."

It tried to rise, its arms trembling, its light guttering. It turned its gaze toward the jellyfish hovering before it, its eyes burning with fury.

"Think with that primitive brain of yours. And do not interfere with me, you lowly creature!"

Gray stared at the wounded god, and he could no longer tell what was right or what was wrong. More than anything, he was sick of listening to it, this creature that spoke as if it stood above everything, that wrapped itself in holiness while breaking the one who had only reached out to help. That was something he could not forgive.

’That’s not my concern,’ Gray said. ’You hurt someone I care about. I will never forgive you for that. I don’t care if you’re the messiah or a god or anything else. So die.’

The Primordial’s eyes widened. It didn’t understand what the creature before it was saying but it felt something it had long forgotten: the fear of death.

It opened its mouth to speak, to protest, to declare its divine authority one final time.

But Gray didn’t give it the chance.

He lashed out with a blade-tentacle.

The crystalline scythe swept through the water in a single, precise arc, and sliced clean through the Primordial’s throat. The god’s words died in its mouth, replaced by a wet, choking gurgle. Light poured from the wound in a brilliant, desperate spray, spilling into the dark water like liquid starlight.

The Primordial’s hands flew to its neck, clawing at the fatal wound, trying to hold itself together. Its light flared wildly, desperately, but it was already fading. Its body convulsed once, twice, and then collapsed onto the seafloor.

Its final thought, as its consciousness faded, was one of pure, absolute disbelief.

’I can’t believe... my life ends... at the hands of a jellyfish...’

[????? PRIMORDIAL ???? — DEFEATED]

[EXP GAINED — ??????????]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[You are now Level 50.]

[EVOLUTION AVAILABLE]

[140 Stat Points available for distribution.]

[14 Skill Points available.]

[TRAIT FRAGMENT ACQUIRED: "Primordial Ascension" (1/1)]

[New Trait Discovered!]

[PRIMORDIAL ASCENSION — Preview]

« Analysis »

A legendary trait that represents the pinnacle of evolutionary potential. The user has transcended the limitations of their species and become something greater, a primordial being capable of adapting, evolving, and dominating any environment.