The sky stretched out endlessly above Lassim as he soared high above the thunder clouds, his body effortlessly cutting through the air with the ease that came with his newfound power.
As he went beyond the desert’s borders in less than 10 hours, the landscape of the southern territories of the Southern Continent unfurled beneath him.
He saw the abrupt change from dunes to a tapestry of lush forests, meandering rivers, and jagged mountain ranges that looked almost tranquil from his lofty vantage point.
The wind whipped through his hair, carrying with it the scent of pine and fresh earth, but Lassim’s mind was focused solely on the mission ahead.
It had been just over a day since he’d left the sect, and now, the Thornbush Outpost—an essential advance point for the Endless Sun Sect’s war—was rapidly approaching.
It was nestled within a dense, pine forest that had been cleared just enough to accommodate the outpost’s hastily made wooden and stone structures.
From above, it appeared as a small fortress encampment designed for both defense and control of the surrounding area. Lassim could feel the outpost’s barrier array in effect when his spirit sense neared its walls.
The outpost itself was fortified by thick walls intertwined with thorny vines, pulsing faintly with a golden light that signaled the infusion of day-elemental energy that composed the barrier he sensed.
All in all, it was an imposing sight at first glance, and Lassim could sense the presence of the Sun Sect’s disciples moving supplies and setting up tents within its confines.
Lassim could sense that the leader of the outpost—a Spirit Ascension stage, level 9 cultivator—was at least within the confines of the camp, but the barrier blocked his senses from figuring out any more than that.
Lassim hovered high above the outpost for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the fortifications as he assessed his options.
The elemental barrier surrounding the outpost was clearly designed to deter or outright repel invaders, its energy radiating with an oppressive heat that distorted the air around it.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is frёeωebɳovel.com.
Also, it seemed that most of the unoccupied disciples below were alert, with a large guard presence scanning every direction into the forest.
He was hoping that the outpost leader didn’t focus on scanning the skies with his spirit sense or else he’d be found out. At least the behavior below indicated that they weren’t aware of his presence with how calmly they still observed the ground level surroundings instead of looking up.
Lassim weighed his approach carefully. The outpost was clearly fortified, but he hadn’t expected it to be so well-guarded. No matter where he approached from, he’d be spotted fairly quickly.
His only real option was to just commit a swift assault and strike them before they could react.
The only unknown was that he was facing a veteran cultivator with years, in the hundreds, of experience. Even if he most likely overpowered them with a slight increase of power, he still wasn’t sure at all how much stronger he was. His opponent might have planned for this exact kind of scenario ahead of time too, and might be able to put up a tough fight.
"[But I didn’t come here to hesitate,]" Lassim thought, he summoned his halberd and tightly gripped the newly rune embellished pole handle. "[I came here to test my limits and destroy this outpost for the merits. Let’s give it a go.]"
With a deep breath, Lassim gathered his mana, feeling it flow through his body like a rushing river.
The gaseous state of his energy filled his pathways and transferred readily to his halberd as he began charging a [Hydroburst] with the altered divine mana.
Above him, the stunningly realistic Leviathan constellation, with its unique and one-of-a-kind azure tinge, blossomed into existence. The representation of his arrival at the Spirit Ascension stage on full display.
He then began to descend, a controlled flight downwards, his halberd swinging back as it gathered power. The runes along its polearm glowing with a soft azure light and pulsed with a rhythm of waves crashing on the shoreline.
As Lassim closed in on the outpost, the leader below seemed to sense his presence.
The Spirit Ascension stage, level 9 cultivator, who had been meditating within the central structure, abruptly rose to his feet, his aura flaring as he prepared for battle.
"FULL POWER TO THE SHIELD! ENEMY ATTACK!" The leader shouted.
The golden energy surrounding the outpost intensified and the thorny barrier filled with day elemental energy grew thicker and more menacing. Then the leader held up a token that seemed connected to the barrier as he channeled his power to aid its defense with one hand and then created a miniature sun that expanded rapidly with his other hand, like some sort of additional barrier.
Lassim smirked, unfazed by his hasty defense. "[It’s time to see what this new stage can really do!]"
He then tensed all of his muscles as his already primed and raised halberd was high above his head, channeling his mana into the weapon with practiced ease.
The air around him crackled with energy as the azure light of the runes across the halberd flared brighter, casting an eerie azure and violet glow over the landscape below.
Then, with a single, decisive motion, Lassim unleashed the full force of his [Hydroburst] technique, meeting the barrier head on.
The burst of super electrified and plasmafied water mana shot forth from his halberd. An explosive torrent of power crashed into the thorny and white barrier with unstoppable momentum.
The impact was immediate and catastrophic.
The [Hydroburst] collided with the barrier in a deafening explosion, the force of the attack sending shockwaves rippling through the air. The thorny vines, once infused with powerful day-elemental energy, were brittle under the assault, splintering into countless fragments that were hurled away like debris caught in a hurricane.
The destruction didn’t stop there. The force of the [Hydroburst] continued its rampage, crashing through the remaining structures of the outpost with a series of deafening explosions as the charged water droplets made contact with objects further away from the impact zone.
The wooden and stone buildings, once sturdy and fortified, were reduced to rubble in seconds, their fragments scattered like dust in the wind.
Lassim descended slowly, with his initiate ranked robes still in pristine condition, his feet touching down on the ground that had once been the center of the outpost.
The area around him was unrecognizable from what it was before—a smoking crater filled with debris and what was left of the bodies of Sun Sect disciples. The air was thick with the scent of scorched-muddy earth, lightning burnt ozone and the faint metallic tang of blood.
He stood in the center of the devastation, his halberd still glowing with residual energy, as he surveyed the aftermath. The outpost, which had been a place of strategic importance of the Endless Sun Sect’s power, was now nothing more than a ruin, its defenders utterly annihilated.
"[Did I... do all this?]" Lassim thought, a mixture of awe and unease settling in his chest.
He had known that advancing to the Spirit Ascension stage would bring a significant increase in power, but the scale of the destruction he had just unleashed was staggering.
He walked through the ruins, his footsteps crunching on the charred earth as he took in the full extent of the devastation.
The bodies of the Endless Sun Sect disciples lay scattered around him, lifeless and broken, their expressions frozen in fear and shock.
The leader, who had stood as the last line of defense, was gone—his body crushed into paste by the sheer force of the [Hydroburst] as he was right in the very center of the impact radius.
Lassim’s mind raced as he tried to process what had just happened.
He had expected a fierce battle, a test of his new abilities against a powerful opponent with lots of experience over him, but instead, he had obliterated the entire outpost with a single, overwhelming attack.
The power he had unleashed was unlike anything he had ever experienced before, and it left him both exhilarated and slightly disturbed.
"[How much stronger have I actually become?]" Lassim wondered, his gaze drifting to the halberd in his hand.
The weapon had already felt different before this, but now the aura of lethality seemed so much more real—more murderous, more potent, as if it had absorbed some of the destructive and chaotic lifeforce energy from the deaths in the explosion.
The runes along its polearm, pulsed with a faint, ominous red light for a second, and the shark-scaly skin on his fingertips reacted to it, as if eager to unleash their power once more.
But, what was truly terrifying was the power he had unknowingly tapped into. Lassim could feel it coursing through his veins and mana pathways, eventually reaching his inner heart world and dumping it into space. It then turned into smaller gaseous clouds that joined the others across the sky.
The temptation he felt was a raw, untamed force of hunger for more destruction that wanted to consume, if he gave in to it.
The Leviathan’s curse had granted him an aspect of the Leviathan’s own power. The secret ability that gave her such immense strength. It was her innate ability as a being born from chaos to absorb the tiniest bits of life force and transform it into her own power. The curse had truly altered his very being in ways he was only beginning to truly understand with this one sided attack.
"[This isn’t what I expected,]" Lassim thought, his gaze sweeping over the ruined landscape. "[I knew I’d grow stronger with the advancement, but this…]"
The sheer magnitude of his own strength left him with an odd feeling of isolation. He dispersed the Leviathan constellation above his head as he glanced between his halberd and the destruction.
He had reached a level of power that set him apart from others, a force of nature unto himself, but it also meant that he was walking a path that no others could follow. He had gotten a taste of this sensation of being powerful during Ava’s trial, but this was not some potential future, it was his real life.
He felt like the role the Gods and Goddesses wanted him to play was coming sooner than expected.
But there was no turning back.
He would need to control this power and use it for good to prevent losing those he cared about; to alter that future he saw.
At least he could practice more to see how strong he was. The Endless Sun Sect had chosen this path of conflict, and Lassim would use this situation to his advantage to grow even more quickly.