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MAZE - Chapter 986 - Legacy Holder
🕑 Added 2024-12-23 12:40:36 +0000 UTC#### Author's Note ####
Just a reminder. We won't have a MAZE chapter on the 25th
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As soon as the Empress called her court, Viper and Crimson lunged to attack. The twins went for a pincer maneuver aimed at Morgan, their daggers striking the sides of the man's stomach. But instead of piercing like they should have, they just bounced off harmlessly.
The CEO of the New Dawn laughed. "Did you really expect that to work?" He then tried to swat away the twins, who quickly retreated back toward the Ophidianite, taking their titled forms.
Hera frowned as she approached. She noticed how the twins had been able to cut through his shirt, but the skin underneath was strange. It wasn’t the fleshy black color of a person but an actual black, the type you’d see in metal or plastic. She wasn’t sure if it was another set of armor or some skill he was using, but that didn’t matter.
Rushing forward, Hera summoned a pair of rare venomous handaxes to attack. At the same time, her jaw unhinged, and a Poison Fang spell flew from her mouth. The spell became more powerful when it came from a place that could naturally create poison.
Between everything that was going on, the sudden appearance of two more snake people, a kangaroo in a leather apron, a giant lizard, a birdman, a heavily armored warrior, and eight flying weapons, Morgan didn’t notice the incoming attack.
The Poison Fang slammed against his chest, causing him to step back, almost losing his balance. Right after, he waved his hand toward the court. Metal flew out to intercept the blades, but nothing happened. The weapons continued their motion and were about to strike him.
With a frown, Morgan reached back and pulled at the air. Countless pipes, wires, and loose pieces of metal came flying out to intercept the court. Unlike the blades, the metal couldn’t maneuver. It was all controlled by Morgan, as if it were part of the same thing, a constant stream of metal following orders to spin, charge, or rotate.
"So your weapons aren’t metal? Not even the armor? Interesting," the CEO said, using the torrent of scraps as cover while he tried to get back onto the stage.
But Hera wasn’t about to let him do what he wanted. She dashed through the swirling metal. Nimbus quickly created barriers around her to stop any harm from coming her way. To follow her lead, the entire court shifted into their weapon forms so they could cut through the metal without much issue.
The Empress jumped onto the stage just as Morgan got back up. With her tail, she swiped at his leg, letting Pyro attempt to cut the man’s ankles. But once again, the skin was too sturdy to be damaged by the attack. Even so, the strength behind the blow was enough to make the man fall to the ground, landing back-first on the wooden floor.
Without hesitation, the Ophidianite brought down the handaxe, aiming directly at Morgan’s head. There was too much at stake for her to hold back in this fight.
Unfortunately, the attack didn’t land. Just before the blade could hit, a blue chain appeared out of nowhere, trapping Hera’s arm and stopping her strike.
Morgan laughed. "I’m still not used to that one. This, on the other hand..." A flash of red came from his forearm as the ruby tattoo glowed.
The human reached out and bit Hera’s venomous handaxe. Instead of anything else happening, the blade of her weapon shattered. Even more strangely, Morgan started to chew before swallowing the magic.
The chains whipped toward the Ophidianite. But she had already pulled back, dismissing the broken weapon and summoning another.
Morgan kicked off the ground, tumbling backward and evading several court members who tried to stab him. When he landed and turned toward Hera again, she saw his eyes flicker red. But it wasn’t the red of the Strength Spirits. It was something different, something more vicious. He opened and closed his hands a few times before they flashed orange, the same color as the Ophidianite’s weapons.
The surrounding blue chains started floating and wrapped themselves around his arms. Morgan grabbed them and cracked them like whips, aiming at the Empress. But Lurize stepped forward and grabbed the chain with his hands.
With a smile, Morgan sent a flash of orange energy toward the Royal Tutor. The moment the magic hit Lurize, he smiled, though no one could see it under his helmet. The CEO had just tried to attack him with Ophidianite poison. Being a half-Venom Spirit was already enough to make him nearly invulnerable to poison or venom. But being hit by the very same venom his Empress used was like receiving a free mana potion.
Lurize pretended to struggle with the attack, pulling Morgan closer. The man fell for it and jumped forward, sending another venom shock. His spell turned into more mana for the Royal Tutor, who used another Poison Fang, or more specifically, a Poison Horn, slamming the tip of his helmet into the human while it was coated in venom.
Morgan felt the air rush out of his lungs from the impact, and before he fell, Livy was already there. The Leviathan grabbed his head and slammed it against the side of her war axe. She dropped him and brought the weapon down, aiming for his neck. Vulcan was right behind her, about to strike Livy’s true form with his hammer to amplify the power of her attack.
Sun, Eira, and Storm dropped from the ceiling at full speed, aiming at Morgan’s body. If one of them missed, the rest would still hit. There was no doubt about that.
Before they could connect, a barrier appeared out of nowhere, growing from Morgan and pushing everyone away.
Even Livy, the strongest member of the court, couldn’t fight back against the pressure and was flung backward, landing in the audience area of the chamber.
Once they steadied their footing again, everybody took a moment to understand what had just happened. In front of them, where Morgan was supposed to be, was a swirling mass of red mist. Hera recognized that red well. It was the same red that emanated from the Soldiers of Strength. But the mass was also strangely familiar.
Nimbus was the first to realize what it was. "Is that… a stormcloud?"
Hera's eyes went wide. It couldn’t be, could it? Blue would never give her legacy to someone else. But at the same time, Nimbus was quite literally made out of the same thing that the Legacy could control.
"So you speak?" Morgan asked as the barrier slowed down and parted to let him see the group.
"Is that the Stormcloud Legacy?" Hera asked.
"I suppose you truly are the same Hera if you even know its name."
"How did you steal it? That’s not supposed to be possible," Hera said, tightening her grip on her weapons.
"Do you take me for a thief? I haven’t stolen a thing. Your friend gave it to me willingly."
"Bullshit!" Nimbus gasped. "Blue would never do that."
Morgan chuckled. "Of course she would, especially when she knew what would happen to her family if she didn’t. People keep saying that money can’t buy everything. That is simply because they are not willing to spend on what they actually need to get what they want. By simply paying the right people, it was easy to find out what it would take to make her give the legacy to me."
"You are giving it back!" Hera snarled.
"I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Her legacy joined with my own. Only a couple of skills still remain. Unfortunately, that happened not too long ago, so I’m still figuring out how to use this new ability properly. It can be quite destructive. Especially if Strength mana is added to it. Then again, that’s exactly what I want from it."
Morgan waved his hands, making the storm return to a sphere as it started to grow. The entire cloud was pulsating red and spinning rapidly, like a hurricane. Hera tried to step back, but the door was locked, and she couldn’t even tell when that had happened. They tried to send in some spells, but to no avail. Even without touching the actual cloud, everyone was already struggling not to be swept away.
Livy slammed her war axe on the ground and used it as a foothold as the rest of the court gathered around. But that wouldn’t last long. The storm was growing with every second and would soon envelop the entire theater. The power being pulled from the Strength Spirits made it too strong for them to deal with, no matter the difference in levels.
Reaching out to anything she could think of, Hera realized that her snake was in the eye of the storm, and she could cast spells through the snake. But nothing came to mind that could solve this, except the cloak pin she had gotten from Yulan's dungeon. She quickly triggered the Sphinx skill [Decipher Me or I Will Devour You], targeting Morgan through the snake.
It was a shot in the dark, since she honestly had no idea if it would work. But luckily, it did. The cloak pin's eyes shone, and a small bead of light fired toward the barrier, ignoring the clouds completely. Hera could tell that Morgan had been trapped by the skill, but that did nothing to stop the storm cloud that continued spinning around him.
'Shit!' Hera grumbled in her own mind. The winds were too strong for her voice to cut through.
'Hera! The talisman!' Twiggy called.
'What talisman?' Hera asked.
'The one from Yulan's dungeon. The one that stopped the storm.'
Hera had a confused expression on her face before realizing what the tiara was talking about. She had gotten another reward from Yulan's dungeon. Something that could either help her complete the dungeon itself or stop a storm. Helena had mentioned that spells were likely not affected by this kind of thing since they were not true storms but just fake creations made by someone. But legacies had different rules, and Blue could create actual storms. Helena and Hera had even talked about how that would be a perfect counter for the controller.
The Empress quickly rummaged through her pouch, hoping she hadn’t taken the talisman out at some point. Luckily, she hadn’t. The simple piece of yellow paper with red markings was still there. Quickly putting some mana into the talisman, she watched as it turned to sand and was swept away by the storm. Instantly, the giant red cloud vanished, and all the wind swirling around stopped.
In the place where Morgan stood was a large box filled with the night sky and stars. The prison created by the cloak pin. But no one expected him to be truly stuck there. The Empress had no doubts that the CEO was also a Soldier of Strength, and considering the sheer power of his skills, he was likely the one connected to all the Strength Spirits at once.
That was the only explanation for his seemingly unbreakable skin and the wild strength he was showing. A Legacy could be strong, but not even Blue could create a storm that powerful. It was clear the man barely understood how to fight, yet he was giving not just the Empress but her entire court a run for their money.
Without saying anything, everyone understood the idea and rushed to surround the barrier. Even if the riddle was too much for him, they expected Morgan to be able to break free from that prison. But they weren’t just waiting around. Instead, Hera activated Shroud of Tartarus with Daskka's help, covering the entire room. In addition, they all triggered every weapon buff and armor spell they had. No matter how much mana it cost, everyone contributed with their cores.
[Blade Graveyard] was activated, and Twiggy was ready to trigger all her buffs. The last piece of the puzzle was Eira, who was standing by Forge, waiting to be awakened. She was the best option they had against someone with so much defense.
The moment Morgan managed to break free from the prison, he would feel the full power of Hera and her court.
Comments
DrDankness
Gross. This guy is the equivalent of some body whaling for power in a gacha game. He is deplorable in so many ways
Pletter
Prediction: Blue will be asked to betray Hera to save her family. She will be told her family was secured by people watching the broadcast.
