Chapter 155: An Abrupt Flood
--- Chapter 154 ---
In the Jungle Dungeon, Huo Yuhao rubbed his forehead and placed ten 8th Class Devil Warriors into the Nightmare Demon Pot. He waited for a moment and watched the pot releasing white smoke.
He failed.
Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched in disbelief as the succession rate for the higher-stage refining was lower than he expected. He has sacrificed millions of shadow warriors to enhance his three Elite Shadows to the 9th Class Realm.
[Iris(9th Class Shadow/Low)]
[Brunhilde(9th Class Shadow/Low)]
[Khiron(9th Class Shadow/Mid)]
After enhancing these three, Huo Yuhao fell into a failing streak when refining shadow warriors. It's a humbling experience, for sure.
Feeling the gaze, Huo Yuhao glanced down at his shadow and commented, "Do you want to talk? Though, I'm sure you were still shocked."
A feminine shadow with bronze-colored flame eyes slowly crawled from the darkness. The shadow stood silently for a moment before sitting beside Huo Yuhao. Yes, this shadow is Teressa de Kemos, the Crown Princess of the Karuta Empire.
Huo Yuhao extracted Terresa's shadow a week ago in the Great One's trial. "Just speak your mind, Rosa(Her new name)." He spoke while refining shadow warriors with Nightmare Demon Pot.
"It feels surreal." Rosa opened her lips slowly.
"It feels like a nightmare. I have so many regrets in my life, knowing I wouldn't be able to fulfill them because of the Great One's Trial."
She looked at Huo Yuhao and continued, "Theo-! I mean, my liege..."
"I can't thank you enough."
"This second chance, I'll cherish it..."
Huo Yuhao was amused and responded, "Well, you're welcome."
"I only took advantage of you. So, don't glorify it."
"..." Rosa.
"Very well."
Rosa has told Huo Yuhao about the incident she went through 14 months ago when leaving the Black Pearl Castle. She and her followers got ambushed by a mountain-sized rock thrown from far away. It was so sudden, and they couldn't react in time.
Since they don't have many places to run, Hormes Mountain is their only viable option. Big fucking mistake because that place was Monster Race's nest before the wave even started.
She survived the swarm but watched her followers get caught by the monster race and transformed into a gnarly slab of meat to breed monsters.
Entering the altar, Teressa died shortly after in Goblin King's hand.
She escapes one hole and enters another one. How unfortunate can one be?
What makes Huo Yuhao confused is that a mountain-sized attack doesn't create a shockwave that would attract his attention. Such a massive area-on-effect attack should have reached Black Pearl Castle, no? Something isn't right.
"Maybe exploring outside the castle is necessary, after all." Huo Yuhao pulled out a dark-colored bead of 8th Class Shadow.
Rosa stared at the bead and asked, "Can I enter that pot too? If it could make me stronger, I'll do anything."
Huo Yuhao raised his brows and replied, "Technically, you could become strong with Nightmare Demon Pot. However, you need to survive the refining process."
He explained the Nightmare Demon Pot's function to Rosa, and she still wanted to enter, which left him surprised. Huo Yuhao doesn't have much memory about the Crown Princess, but was she this strong-headed in the past? It's not a bad thing.
Huo Yuhao picked Rosa's bead and tossed it with nine other 6th Class Shadow Beads. He watched the newly extracted female shadow fight with her devil force, killing her competitor.
"More! I can still handle it." Rosa's voice comes from the pot. Her realm jumped to 7th Class instantly.
Huo Yuhao threw seven 7th Class Beads into the Nightmare Demon Pot and observed Rosa's survival game. She still possessed her devil force and Kemos's power to control plants.
Rosa created a shadowy wood-reinforced shield and put other shadow warriors in killing formation, stabbing them with sharp thorns. It took her one hour to be the winner inside the Nightmare Demon Pot.
"I-I can continue..." Her voice is shaky.
"Are you sure? The following refining is more dangerous." Huo Yuhao warned Rosa. He kept failing to make another elite shadow for two months. And once shadow died in the Nightmare Demon Pot, they were "permanently." erased from this world.
Huo Yuhao couldn't see it, but Rosa smiled a little.
"Do it."
"I warned you already." Huo Yuhao shrugged and tossed nine 8th Class Shadow Beads. They are low-leveled like Rosa, having an admirable achievement in the last wave of the monster race.
Facing them won't be easy for Rosa.
The refining took six hours, retaining Rosa as the final survivor. Honestly, She surprised Huo Yuhao with her cunningness, baiting the other shadows to fight each other until exhausted.
Even though she wasn't in a healthy condition, as the last shadow injured a chunk of her body, Rosa persisted and became the only shadow left in the Nightmare Demon Pot.
"Congratulations, Rosa. You're my fourth elite shadow." Huo Yuhao praised Rosa, checking her attributes.
[Name: Rosa(Terresa de Kemos/Imprinted]
[Type: Shadow Devil Warrior(Variant)]
[Battle Power: 9th Class(Low)]
[Description: Rosa is a shadow extracted from Terresa de Kemos. She possessed high intelligence, excellent martial arts mastery, and power over plants. After being refined through Nightmare Demon Pot, she becomes a shadow warrior with god-level growth]
Rosa came out of the Nightmare Demon Pot, kneeling before Huo Yuhao calmly. Did she seem to become more adult? The current Rosa is around 180 centimeters tall with clearly more significant assets and a lilac-colored shadow dress. Also, her hair is "neatly." styled in a ponytail.
She is still a shadow, by the way.
Huo Yuhao was speechless, knowing this didn't happen to the three elite shadow warriors. Their appearance adjusted slightly after refining, but not to the point of growing older.
"Uh, you can return to the Shadow Realm now..." He said awkwardly.
Rosa stared at him and responded cheerfully, "Yes, my liege~!"
...
...
Two days passed, and another wave appeared from the open sea.
DING! DING!
The bell warned everyone to enter the protected area, allowing Huo Yuhao to focus more on fighting. Huo Yuhao arrived at the Black Pearl Castle's walls and watched the grassland with a frown.
"What the fuck..."
A massive flood is washing over the land and approaching the Black Pearl Castle with several gigantic oceanic monsters. Mercy and Clara appeared on Huo Yuhao's side and looked at this scenery solemnly.
It's the first time something like this has happened.
Even in the Karuta Empire's History.
"This is not good. One clash from this flood will shake the whole castle apart." Huo Yuhao thought of a plan. With that large body of water, they only have around three or four minutes before everything gets submerged in seawater.
"Khiron! Rosa!"
He summoned two elite shadows, ordering them to create a firm barrier of plants and rock around the castle. He also told Khiron to make several cliffs to flow the water away.
Rosa jumped from the castle wall and stomped the ground with all her might. She scanned the source of vegetation underground, triggering their growth as quickly as possible.
A formation of lush trees with thick roots emerged from the ground and surrounded the 10 kilometers area near Black Pearl Castle. It showed what the 9th Class Shadow Warrior could do in a tight situation.
Khiron followed Rosa's lead, completing a solid rock barrier near the forest. "Core Formation..." The shadow centaur dragged his hand down and created a drain system 20 kilometers away. The incoming seawater will smash their barriers, drain, and flow back to the sea.
"Clara... Your new devil force is related to electricity, right?" Huo Yuhao asked the pink-haired woman.
"Yup~!" Clara rubbed her face on his sleeve.
Huo Yuhao wished today was rainy, but it was only cloudy. "Start gathering thunderclouds if you can."
Clara nodded and used her new devil force, "Celestial Wing of Thunder Roc." to the atmosphere. She gathered the thunderclouds and charged them with her inner energy.
"Iris, prepare your squad. Follow my lead." Huo Yuhao summoned the shadow cat warrior and changed All-Transformation Ink into a bow.
He utilized Universal Breathing Technique to enhance his physical prowess, pulling the bowstrings with all his might. A 3-meter lance made of shadow rested on the string, coated with three different energies.
It might be overkill, but Huo Yuhao's instinct is never wrong.
After applying Haki, Darkness, and Death Energies into the lance. Huo Yuhao waited for the monster wave to be closer to the wall.
"Archer... FIRE!"
SWOOSH!
Huo Yuhao fired the lance and saw the black light travel above the thunderclouds. He clenched his hand, exploding the projective he launched into one million needles.
"Death Rain..." He mumbled to himself.
This technique needed a lot of concentration, but he could pull it off under pressure.
"Clara, now!"
Clara immediately clapped her hands and made lightning claps echo in the area. Thunder crashes ensued shortly after, striking the monster race to a crisp.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Huo Yuhao and Archer Squad's attacks finished the rest of the wave. And only some 8th Class Monsters survived their combination siege formation.
Anything lower than that died.
BOOOOOOOM!
The tsunami crashed onto Khiron's rock barrier, making some cracks here and there. Yet, it is far from enough to destroy it.
And with Rosa's wood formation, everything is under control.
The drainage system sucked the seawater gradually, reducing the height to 30 meters deep.
"That was close..." Huo Yuhao sighed in relief.
Believe it or not, Black Pearl Castle won't be able to survive the flood without these barriers. This place isn't sturdy enough for that.
Clank!
Huo Yuhao turned his bow into a halberd and fended against a bone-like projectile. He moved his gaze to the tsunami and noticed a monster with a shark head.
"9th Class Monster(Low)." He gauged the strength precisely with Observation Haki. The monster grinned, revealing a toothy grin, and called his friends.
Twelve similar monsters resurfaced from the flood.
"There are 13 of them now." Huo Yuhao couldn't help but smile.
"Mercy, kill as much as you can."
"Clara, fry them with your lighting strike."
" Khiron, Rosa, focus on the barrier. Don't let a single monster break into the castle's perimeter."
"Iris, support everyone from the backline with your arrows."
"Brunhilde, follow me to face them." He kicked the ground and soared to the sky, having a valkyrie on his side.
Huo Yuhao covered his halberd in ripple energy and swung down with the idea of splitting the monster wave. "Tremor's Cleave." His attack covered the sky and descended like illusionary dawn.
The area it covered is simply ridiculous.
KABOOOOM!
The seawater splashed everywhere, messing with the monster wave formation. Huo Yuhao's attack created a long crater on the ground, splitting the tsunami into two.
Brunhilde created several throwing weapons and rained everything below her with them.
Huo Yuhao used Extreme Lightning Mirage and hid in the mist, approaching the shark-headed monster swiftly.
Slash!
"One." Huo Yuhao's halberd slashed through the monster's head.
"So what if you are 9th Class, your spatial awareness is worse than a spirit emperor."
Monster Race survived based on instinct, so when Huo Yuhao masked his presence with Extreme Lightning Mirage and Haki, they couldn't find him.
After creating chaos in the enemy line, Huo Yuhao began his massacre spree. He stepped on the water gently and moved through the wave of monsters without showing his presence.
One swipe of his halberd and a portion of land got erased alongside the tsunami.
Huo Yuhao doesn't want to prolong the fight because he has a horrible promotion about this absurd wave. He killed another shark-headed monster and corrupted the water with Death Energy, decaying the monster's life force.
Slowly but surely, the enemy number decreased to a manageable number.
"Master, another flood is coming!" Brunhilde shouted from the sky.
"An octopus-like monster is leading it this time!"
BOOM!
Huo Yuhao frowned and noticed he was "suddenly." surrounded by several 9th-Class Monsters.
"I see... They are trying to bait me into the water." He glanced around.
"What a scheme."
Huo Yuhao released his Conqueror's Haki to the upper limit and caused a swirling storm of mental energy in the area. He lifted the halberd and bent his body, swinging the weapon in a full circle.
"DIE!"
As the word fell into everyone's ear, a turbulent shockwave greeted the monster race and blasted them into nothingness. Huo Yuhao cleaned the area from the mist and saw the incoming wave with a monstrous octopus.
"Gathering of Ten Thousand Waves..."
"2nd Chapter: One Ripple to the End."
Huo Yuhao clenched his grip on the halberd and used 50% of his inner energy on this attack. He slashed the air and created a ripple, causing a chain reaction of shockwaves.
Kacha!
The space around him seemed to crack like glass, sucking the air and generating emptiness. It grew bigger and bigger each second, becoming this massive wave of energy.
SWOOSH!
Huo Yuhao's attack moved forward and clashed with the incoming flood, allowing everyone to see two opposite forces in action. The deep blue ocean and empty black void.
"Prepare yourself for the impact!" Brunhilde shouted at everyone in the castle. She covered herself in shadow and left a small hole to view her master's prowess.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A pillar soared to the sky and released ebony light, changing the atmosphere into a dusky night.
Huo Yuhao coughed blood and looked at the monster wave with a firm gaze. He pushed himself a little bit too far physically, but the answer speaks for itself.
[You have killed 50.431.692 Monsters] Evo notified him.
[Objective: 1.000.909.310/100.000.000.001]
"Phew..." Huo Yuhao breathed out, regulating his energy to a calmer state.
"I finally reached 1% of the objective."
"Just 99% more-!"
Huo Yuhao gasped and fell to the ground, feeling incredible heat all over his body. He turned around and saw Titania in her phantom form.
"What are you doing... Titania..."
Titania smiled and responded, "Nothing. You see, Ancient Ink Devil's bloodline is different from others. It becomes purer alongside its host."
"You, my little rude inheritor, are finally reaching the requirement to wield my power."
"Master it quickly, or your body will go "Kaboom." like in the past." She slowly disappeared into nothingness.
[Ancient Ink Devil Bloodline has reached B+ Grade]
[You have awakened "Tracing." from Ancient Ink Devil's Bloodline]
[Name: Tracing
[Type: Passive]
[Grade: F]
[Description: Tracing is the power to mimic everything with All-Transforming Ink. A lost art used by the Ancient Ink Devil in the past]
Huo Yuhao endured the pain of awakening Titania's ability for a few minutes and groaned back to his feet. He stood up and told everyone he was okay.
"Clean the battlefield!" Huo Yuhao shouted, returning to the Black Pearl Castle.
"Yes, My Liege!" The shadow army responded immediately.
Unknown to Huo Yuhao, his last attack against the monster wave caught several empires' attention, including Karuta Empire.
At Admante Family.
The current family head stood inside her office, prying outside her window.
She's tall, pale-skinned, with eyes of pure black irises and a red "x" in the center of each of them. Her asymmetric medium-length snow-white hair has the occasional black streak and is "neatly." swept to the right side of her head. She wears small black and white snowflake-pattern earrings.
She wore a double-breasted white overcoat with gray lapels and a collar of black fur.
Looking at the black pillar in the east, Alexandra von Admante pursed her lips in confusion. "That place..." She opened her mouth gently.
"Theo..."
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