At the edge of a lush, swampy forest where vibrant flora of all kinds thrived, the sky that was supposed to be bright veiled by clouds, but the cold weather couldn't diminish the serene ambiance nurtured by the warm grace of Mother Nature herself.
Mutated animals ran around, doing nature's bidding.
However, the calmness of nature was destroyed when the ground at the center exploded.
Splash!
A sky-high towering column of swamp water soared skyward suddenly, only to be engulfed by scorching, purplish flames that defied the elemental disadvantage, instantly reducing the watery behemoth to steaming vapor.
In a fit of envy and anger, Adhara decided that it was best to knock some senses into Rex.
Both of them covered vast grounds, playing a game of cat and mouse.
"Errgghh!"
Adhara descended from the sky, her fists clenched into a blazing hammer and swung it down at Rex, who had been dodging her previous attacks and was soaked. However, as he sensed an incoming attack from above, he quickly leaped to the side.
Boom!
Currently, the Sin of Envy engraved on her waist has its demonic eyes opened.
With the swelling of her jealousy, suspecting Rex's desire to be with Calidora has grown, her Sin of Envy reacted and amplified her powers to unprecedented heights. Her attacks turned deadly, causing the ground she hit to crack open.
Raising her blazing eyes, she glared at Rex and blasted forward again.
Positioning himself in front of Caraptaros, he waited for Adhara to come before dodging.
Bam!
Similar to earlier, Caraptaros got sent rolling away once again under Adhara's strengthened might across the ground which sparks a nod from Rex's head. I'm sorry Adhara, but I'm going to use your anger for a bit. I'm exhausted from fighting all day against those Demon Lords.
Taking advantage of Adhara's resentment, he guided her to hit Caraptaros.
Even though he could've propelled Caraptaros all the way to the Dwarven Kingdom by himself, he felt too drained to attempt it. Defying the First Breath exacted its toll, and he found himself targeted by the suppressing energy from the white sphere in the sky.
Based on the System, it wouldn't last long. At least a couple of hours a day.
Using Adhara is a way to make them reach their destination even faster compared to earlier.
It kept on going, and Adhara still didn't realize that she was being used.
"Although I might've accepted if you wanted to add another woman to our pack and have int- intimacy with her, I'll never allow Calidora to be that one! Pick another one, she's only going to bring you, and all of us, endless trouble!" Adhara screamed, her frustration pouring out.
On the other hand, Rex was stupified when he heard this.
"Hold on... Wait a minute... Are you actually okay with me having another one? I thought you were not fine because you were upset when I added Evelyn to the pack" He replied, genuinely surprised by Adhara's response.
Adhara halted for a brief moment, "Not that I'm totally fine, but- Ah! That's beside the point!"
"Stop changing the subject, you lunkhead!" She leaped to strike again.
Clash!
Crossing his arms in front of him, Rex ate Adhara's attack and got sent hurtling away.
Rex grunted as he collided with Caraptaros' hard body, the impact knocking the air from his lungs instantly. Before he could regain composure, Adhara was upon him, her body moving at a blazing fast speed as she transformed into a fiery purple serpent and delivered a forceful punch to his face.
Bam!
In an instant, Rex and Caraptaros blasted out into an open snowy field.
Both of them got sent rolling across the snowy ground.
However, compared to Caraptaros who showed signs of stopping thanks to his extremely heavyweight, Rex did not as his body kept rolling across the ground until he crashed like a bullet into a strong column, creating a big crater.
Crash!
Coughing a couple of times, he climbed out of the crater and heard some noises.
"Go to the wall! We're under attack!!"
"Rastrikan Demons! Bring back the weapons quick, fortify the defenses!"
Upon hearing these voices in the background, Rex frowned as he slowly came out and prostrate on the ground tiredly. Then, a voice greeted him, taking him by surprise, "I've never witnessed Lady Adhara that furious. What did you do, Lord Rex?"
Lifting his gaze, he saw Flunra standing in front of him, looking at the distant Adhara.
Rex then realized that he had arrived at the Dwarven Kingdom.
It was so sudden that the Dwarves, coupled with the Elves panicked and scurried to the wall fearing an attack from the Rastrikan Demons again. But all of them could breathe a sigh of relief when they realized that it was Rex who had come back
"Just Calidora things, and she became like that" Rex replied and stood back up.
Pointing at Caraptaros on the side, Flunra asked, "And why did you bring Caraptaros here?"
"I'm going to turn it into a Werewolf, of course, it'll make us immortal like the Demons. What do you think?" Rex replied back, completely nonchalant in his response as he believed that the System could find a way to gain anything.
On the other hand, Flunra snapped his neck towards Rex and gasped.
Despite Caraptaros possessing such abilities, ones that could make the other races' mouths watery, nobody attempted to manipulate it because it was deemed impossible. Caraptaros was created from a fragment of the Demon Origin himself, rendering it completely impervious to external influence.
However, Rex doesn't seem to think of it as impossible.
But then again, Flunra has already seen Rex do the impossible, so he recovered quickly.
"Obviously, if you can, then that would be an enormous step for us" He nodded firmly, excited by the prospect Rex envisioned. "When you turn it into a Werewolf, it will absorb moonlight energy instead of demonic energy, and that would definitely allow us to use it"
"So then, why haven't you turned it?" Flunra asked.
Rex shrugged his shoulders leisurely before stretching his stiff body, riddled with burn marks, "As you might know, a fragment of the Demon Origin is inside of it. I need to do something about it first before I can turn it into a Werewolf and make its power mine"
"Oh, speaking of which, I now know the method to do that" He added with a grin.
<Materials to weaken Caraptaros>
1. Conduit of Aquaheart - It could be found in the domain of the Water Elemental race. Conduit Aquaheart resides within the Primordial Water Elemental, an item that could generate a powerful enough water element that could even put out 11th-rank Hellfire.
2. Vermithrax's Deep Venom - It can be obtained from the venom glands of Vermithrax, a three-thousand-year-old ninth-rank realm mutated snake. Vermithrax's Deep Venom contains a potent energy that can weaken and soften carapaces and flesh.
Upon seeing the materials, Rex frowned as both seemed to be very hard to obtain.
Both seemed to be very hard to get.
First of all, ninth-rank realm mutated animals are extremely rare.
Rex hasn't even seen one until this day, and Vermithrax must be hiding somewhere very desolate for it to be able to survive and not be hunted down for its body parts, good for materials. On the other hand, the Conduit of Aquaheart seemed to be harder.
Elementals? Is there even an elemental race?
Out of his years of learning about Supernaturals, he doesn't know about elementals.
Perhaps the Elemental race is a recently awakened race that Rex was not aware of, that's the only plausible answer. If they had existed prior to the First Breath, the advanced human technologies should have been able to at the very least catch a glimpse of them.
However, even though it's going to be hard, it's not a problem.
Since the outcome is a god-like upgrade, he already expected to achieve it will be hard.
If overpowering the Demon Origin fragment is easy, then the other races should be vying to steal Caraptaros from the Demon race from way before him. But now that they didn't, it was obvious that it would be very hard.
Does the process remain the same after weakening Caraptaros?
<Yes, the process will be the same. However, bear in mind that weakening Caraptaros must come after the user overpowers and suppresses the fragment of the Demon Origin inside of it. Any attempt to weaken it before that would be useless, please be careful. In addition, to overpower the fragment of Origin, the user would need three King Marks or help from another entity with a King Mark>
Rex looked at this and pondered, he then eventually smiled.
I guess lady luck is fully on your side, Ice and Snow Lunirich. You're going to help me.
Snapping out of his daze, he found Adhara striding over to him with hurried steps. It seems she realized that they already arrived at the Dwarven Kingdom, and is still angry at him for his slip of the tongue.
Grabbing him by the collar, she then pinned him to the wall with a dark expression.
Pausing for a second, tilting her head down, she uttered, "Don't go."
Compared to earlier, she is now very serious, even slightly emotional judging by her tone.
"I understand your concerns. I can promise to maintain my distance from Calidora, putting up a wall between her and me, but not going there is not something I can do. As I said earlier, I require her assistance for a specific matter related to the Executor" Rex explained, trying to be as truthful as he could.
Aside from the safer prospect with Calidora, he still needs her.
Just like what the Witch mentioned, being with her is essential if he wants to expedite the development of his cursed source. Time is not on his side, and any further delays could have dire consequences when facing the Executor.
Failing to reach the ninth epiphany is not an option.
Due to that, he would need to stay with Calidora to hasten his cursed source's progress.
Upon hearing this, Adhara fell silent as she was still reluctant to let him leave and stay with Calidora who was obviously scheming. It felt like if she let go of Rex right now, then this would be the last time she saw him.
But in this silence, Rex sighed as he knew how hard this would be for Adhara and Evelyn.
It was even hard for him to see them like this.
However, there's no other choice, he needs to do this, or else his chance of winning lessen.
I may have other options, but I could do something to help them.
While he wouldn't be able to stay, no matter how much Adhara and Evelyn pleaded for him to stay as defeating the Executor is also for their own safety, and Rex needs to prioritize that, he could ease and convince them that he was not going to be swayed from their bond.
Providing a console for them so that they wouldn't be too worried about him.
Rex smiled as he remembered something, there was a way he could do that. It was supposed to be him and Evelyn only, but Adhara tagging along wouldn't cause any harm to them. The Fated Mountain, he could bring them to the Fated Mountain.
Smiling lightly, he caressed Adhara's head gently, "I have just the thing to help you"
"Hmm...?" Adhara raised her puzzled gaze, exposing her teary eyes.
Just as he was about to share the information about the Fated Mountain, a Dwarf suddenly leaped from the wall and rushed towards Flunra. The Dwarf appeared to be delivering urgent news, and a deep furrow appeared on Flunra's brow as he received it.
Upon seeing this, Rex raised an eyebrow in question.
Then, the Dwarf turned to look at Rex with a troubled gaze before Flunra turned around.
"What is it?" Rex asked, slightly feeling troubled.
Flunra took a moment to collect himself, then in a grave tone, he announced, "We've received news from Dargena City, from Gelmar to be exact. A visitor has arrived... It's Edward." He delivered the unsettling news. "We've been found, our location has been compromised. The Executor is aware of the city's whereabouts"
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