While the party watched, everyone managed to grasp one thing. The new title that Onyx had gotten was clearly more influential than they had believed. More so than what onyx had yet to realize too.
The dual hero of light and darkness was an interesting title that focused on those pacific qualities that onyx represented. But it had come at the willingness to sacrifice himself using both of these elemental manas in every aspect. Therefore, when Onyx had been healed and survived, he had felt a deeper connection to both elemental manas but just chalked it up to a title and how he was growing.
The fact that he had been healed so quickly should have been the thing to stand out. But no one had realized that the changes in Onyx had been more than just a title and ability to bond with both elemental manas.
What the party saw was Onyx efficiently and quickly slithering in and out of the dark edges on the riverbed and sandstone shadows. The fluidity was something that Mordant even praised because he had spent a longer time mastering that in his younger years.
While the scales that had been damaged showed back up after healing, no one had noticed that Onyx had not shown a single scar after the healing. That his scales had seemed to gain a slightly darker luster. But his eyes even showed a brighter glint of light mana.
These things were small and hard to grasp but had been making a larger effect on Onyx's body overall. He had gained better control over the mana he fed on and the mana he processed within himself. The control over these manas had pushed him beyond what he had been before.
The trainings that he had done all brought results, but now that he had been able to step on to another level, the results that had been compiled seemed even more evident. Especially the ability to hide himself in the shadows. Especially his try body size.
When the sounds of multiple undead mud mantis fighting got louder, the entire party was ready to jump in and defend Onyx. to fight alongside him. But when Onyx had reached the enemies before him, his tail shot out of a shadow below an undead mud mantis's body. In a single slam, the mud mantis folded like an empty paper bag.
The next thing everyone saw was Onyx lower himself back in to the shadows and leap out. His full size head appearing before his mouth opened and he bit down on another undead mud mantis. For anyone watching this without knowing that Onyx had a truly kind heart, they would believe him to be a vicious and brutal monster.
The attacks were quick and exploited the weaknesses of the mud mantises. Their weakened bodies form being undead for years. From being altered due to eating their own kind many years ago when hunger was all they cared about. These weaknesses made them only able to perish for real when Onyx made a move.
The speed that Onyx had was also better than before. While the manties could still be faster than him, their attacks seemed to be deflected. When Walker focused on his darkness manipulation, he found that each individual scale was wrapped in shadows. It acted as an armor. This was radically more advanced than the dark and light elemental mana armor that Onyx had used before. This was more refined and would be hard for any enemy to grasp.
"Not sharing!" Midnight leaped forward. She was annoyed because Onyx was hogging all the enemies. It went from the entire party looking at the potentially dangerous opponents to wondering just how fast Onyx would handle them all.
The bone scythes on the mantis's arms were weakened by years of sitting unused. They had easily chipped and cracked against Walker's defenses and attacks. Since Midnight knew that was the case, she did not fear that she would be hurt. She had dragon scales. She was a dragon! She was tougher.
That was why no one batted an eye when she leaped in to battle and used her claws to slash apart one of the undead mud mantises. Onyx did hesitate for a moment though. He had apparently been very in the moment attacking and realizing that he had altered his body. That he had started to get stronger without even realizing it.
Not to mention that he now had the same leveling system as the others now. He would be able to get stronger the more that he worked towards heroic goals. One such goal was to get through this dry river bed. They would get closer to completing a quest but also in finding something amazing.
This one minded focus was enough for Onyx to keep battling and moving ahead. This caused Midnight to start running ahead too since she didn't want to be left behind. Naturally, the party had to follow. No one yelled at the pair to stop or slow down. Instead, Walker began to forget the darkness mana and hide the party. He focused on using the wind mana to sense everything ahead. It was like doing scouting but a little less telling since it was just with a feeling of wind. It was the same as seeing.
"There are no more." Midnight slightly growled out. She seemed better at speaking human words every day. But for whatever reason, she still barely spoke. Unless it was to announce her frustration at times.
It left Onyx laughing a little since he had started to have fun racing ahead of Midnight using the shadows. However, he could feel the drain on him. He had used a lot of mana moving from shadow to shadow. Altering his body rarely cost mana but doing so in particular ways was draining away the mana in his body much more. Not to mention using the shadows as a shield from any attacks.
"You look like you are going to adapt well." Walker had a little praise for Onyx who was clearly feeling the tiredness now. "But you might need to do a little more training since you don't know your own strength anymore." Walker chuckled as Onyx took his favorite spot on Walker's shoulders.
"It is easier but harder." Onyx only replied like this. That Was his overall opinion while his mind dwelled on his understandings of light and darkness elemental manas.
"You can train with me." Alice spoke up for the first time a little bit. She had seen how Onyx used darkness but she wanted to see him in a palace where he could show off his usage of light elemental mana more. She wanted Arora to learn from him a little when they were all back outside in the light safely. Especially once they were home safely. That way Alice and Arora could both learn more about light elemental mana in a new way.
"I will." Onyx had already hoped to do so. The idea of training with heavenly serpents and abyssal serpents alike was enough to make him happy at the moment. The future would only show what amazing things they would be able to do.
"Should we keep moving then? The river seems to widen this way." Current began moving ahead again. He didn't want to stop, especially since he saw the changes in the rover bed. "Normally when this happens, there is either an underground pond or pool. The water slows down a lot before it enters the ocean. We have been walking for awesome time but might not be close at all. It is deceiving."
From experience, Current clearly understood how an underground river would flow. This was just the facts that came with learning about water. especially since he understood how water flowed naturally. The flow here was easy to see.
Changes in the sandstone walls of this cavern. Some changes in the pillars that the water had been eroding before the river dried. It all told stories of how this river flowed and how much they had moved. Even going on foot was deceiving. This was a natural flowing path to where more water would be.
Nature had done this without anything or anyone telling it to. It had become an amazing road right to the ocean and i t was better than any pathway carved or created by anything above ground. That was just a fact. Underground there were no hills or mountains to climb. Just the fastest possible path of travel.
"I might need you to start looking for herbs. I can smell something." Remey seemed to have been in a bit of a daze before her eyes brightened and she realized she was smelling plants now. The desert and the mummified city had lacked this smell. Now it stood out greatly.
….
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