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Chapter 708 - Leviathan's Power
🕑 Added 2023-08-09 13:00:10 +0000 UTCLivy slammed the war axe on the ground. Her target was a sheep, but the blow cut the monster like butter. Thankfully, they were inside a dungeon. Otherwise, the sight would be very gruesome. The ground now had a giant crater caused by the impact. Livy turned around, seeing the other Plains Sheep incoming. She opened her mouth and let a torrent of high-pressure water rip apart the one sheep that didn't try to dodge. Her next attack was intentionally weaker. With two blows using the side of the axe, the other monsters struggled to move as the air became like water, pulling them all toward the Leviathan. On the side, a Woolly Ram started its charge, aimed directly at this attacker. But Livy still wanted to test one more thing. She waited until this larger sheep got closer and did an uppercut, decapitating one of the Plains Sheep and sending a circular wave out of her body. All the sheep in a 5-meter radius were dragged for a few meters until the wave crashed on top of them. Killing most of them and damaging the surviving ones severely. The Woolly Ram, on the other hand, was able to offset some of the damage with its charge, but the impact was too much, and it couldn't move for now. Seeing that, Livy just approached it and punched the monster's head, breaking its horns and skull in a single blow.
The Leviathan smiled and looked around, confirming that this part of her was already gone. Pulling her war axe to her shoulder, she started running towards the next group that wasn't currently engaged with anyone else. On the way, she passed by Chris and DJ, who were facing off against a group of three of the Plains Sheep. Unlike Livy, they were less aggressive and would signal Hera that they wanted to use a skill before doing so. This process was very quick since the Empress was already used to it, but it did impose a slight delay to their attacks. In the future, when Hera became more comfortable with the new blades, she let them use mana at their discretion while she was still above a certain amount. Still, both of them were doing very well by themselves. Chris and DJ were glowing softly with the moonlight, even if the Kopesh wasn't as bright as the skill owner. Another very interesting thing was that everyone was being affected by the increased damage made by the moonlight, even if only slightly. Each blade was also able to maintain or dismiss the glow effect at will, which was a much better option than the effect of the Chris as a weapon by itself.
This removed any issues that could arise from the weapons glowing in a situation where they had to hide. Something else quickly became clear and that was that Chris and DJ, being a dagger and a short sword, worked well together. DJ would slash and hook the eyes of the sheep while Chris came to a blow to the neck, killing them without any problems. Hera approached the two when they finished the third Plains Sheep; she noticed how looking at the blades now made it seem like her eyes were out of focus. They were already using the Illusory strikes from Chris, which turned them into a mirage of sorts. However, DJ's illusion was minor compared with the one from the moonlight blade. While the Khopesh was like a blurry picture, the skill owner had already grown to 50% of her size, making it very hard to see where the real blade was, especially since Chris was already somewhat translucent.
When the two cleared out the group of sheep, the Empress approached them, "The glow effects seem to work well. What do you think?"
'It's great, dawg. Just a shame I have hit something to make it work. If not, I could be my own light show.'
'We could probably set up a dummy. I don't think you have to hit a monster for it to activate,' Chris struck the floor now that the light was starting to vanish, but nothing happened with the glow, 'Or maybe not.'
"We can test that out in the workshop later," Hera suggested, then turned to DJ, "There is one thing I need to test with you. Can you move as far as you can until you feel like you can't be farther away from me and use the Boomerang skill?"
'Sure thing, ma'am,' DJ flew off to the edge of the Empress' range. Even without the magnets, he could be around 65 meters away right now. Daskka had said before that the range would increase with time, but it was a very slow thing.
DJ reached the point where he was unable to move forward and prepared the Sonic Boomerang skill. Either it would work, and he would move beyond the range and return, or he would smack against an invisible wall created by the legacy. He prepared himself and activated the skill, being flung out and spinning into the distance. He went past the range limit, but the farther he went, the more he felt a force pulling him back. Soon, as if he was just ammo in a slingshot, he flew backward, still spinning due to the skill, and covered about 40 meters before he could regain control of his body.
'Wow… that was wild,' DJ said while wobbling, still dizzy.
"Are you ok?" Hera got closer.
'Yeah. I'm golden, and it didn't even hurt,' he waited for a moment before continuing, 'But one thing is messing me up. Dusa, can you holla real quick?'
'Y-Yes! I'm here,' the diadem spoke and rushed over. So far, she didn't do much, only warned of a few sheep that might be getting too close or too far.
'Can you tell how far I got yeeted?'
'From where?'
'The edge to here.'
'Oh… hums. You moved 8 meters forward and then 40 back. So 48? I think. I might be wrong. Miss Armory was much better at this than I am.'
"She had more practice; that is the only difference," Hera smiled at the diadem.
'Don't worry, girl. This is the part that matters. I'm going to use that skill again. Tell me how far I get,' DJ prepared the Sonic Boomerang one more time, but now from the position he already was, just 20 meters away from Hera. When he activated it, he moved in a large arc and then returned to the same position he was in when he triggered the skill, and unlike before, he wasn't dizzy.
'That one felt a lot shorter. I think you only covered about 20 meters. Maybe a bit less,' Dusa said.
'Yeah. I didn't get that same rush as I did before, too,' DJ nodded.
"Did you feel weaker? Is using that skill to force you out of the range and back something that could be a big move?" Hera was looking around, noticing that there was a Woolly Ram getting ready to charge at her, 'Nimbus, Lurize, we have incoming. Get ready to dodge,' she said only for them. Even if she was testing things out, she wanted to know how the new blades would react.
'A little. That move doesn't feel like a good beat drop, you know. It's more like a curveball that gives a song some spice.'
Hera nodded, but she focused on the incoming ram that was staring at them angrily; the Empress glanced at Dusa to see what the diadem would be doing. She didn't seem to notice the monster, but Hera couldn't tell where she was looking at exactly. The logical assumption was that it would be that her eyes were the snake eyes that formed the top of her body. Then again, Armory always seemed like she had eyes on the back of her head, and Hera wasn't even going to think about Scythe. Maybe, the reality was that her blades saw the world differently from her.
The sound of hooves scraping against the ground snapped the Empress out of her thoughts, 'When I say. We jump back,' Hera said to Lurize and Nimbus only. She trusted that none of her blades would get seriously damaged by the Woolly Ram, but it would be enough to push them away and spook them. The Empress focused on the monster, ensuring not to give the signal too late. There was a good 10 seconds before the creature reached them when she said, 'Now.'
Nimbus, Hera, and Lurize jumped back, getting away from the path of the Woolly Ram, who was a monster that couldn't turn during its charges. However, she wasn't completely safe. Because of her focus on DJ and Dusa, the Empress failed to notice Livy approaching and leaping into the air before opening her mouth just a bit and concentrating her Leviathan's Torrent skill as if it was a pressurized water jet. The water slammed against the ram, breaking one of its horns, knocking it out cold, and making the creature faceplant in the grassy plains. By itself, that would be a great move, but the Leviathan was not expecting Hera and the other titled blades to move back, and she was on course to fall directly on top of them.
"Hera!" Livy yelled, trying to figure out a way to stop. She was worried about changing back to her weapon form and attacking the Empress by accident.
"What the?!" Nimbus looked up, unsure of what that was.
Lurize instantly turned to his beetle form and moved away while Hera tumbled forward, evading the incoming 'projectile.' Before the Sentinel could get away, the 3-meter tall humanoid dragon came crashing down, sending them both to the ground.
"Are you two ok?" Hera got up and moved closer to her two titled blades.
"Yeah. Shit, that hurts," Livy groaned.
"Imagine being between you and the floor. Now, please. Get off me," Nimbus pushed the Leviathan away with surprising ease, making Hera remember that all of her titled blades had strength as one of their stronger attributes.
"I need to fix that," she mumbled to herself and Helped Livy get up, "What happened?"
'Livy just came out of nowhere,' Lurize flew closer to Hera and returned to his armored form, "Did you notice the Ram from that far?" he turned to the Leviathan.
"Nah, Dusa told me there was one incoming," Livy dusted herself off and helped Nimbus get up.
"Oh? Are you already giving personal commands? That's nice, but why didn't you warn us too?" Hera turned to the diadem.
'Oh… I-I-I thought it was part of the test. And Miss Armory told me not to overwhelm everyone with all the information all the time. So I only asked Miss Livy to help.'
"You are not wrong. We noticed that one incoming, and it was part of the test, but you should've warned us too," Hera said, turning back to the ram, which was still unconscious, but she quickly noticed some apprehension and even shame coming from Dusa, "Hey, hey. I'm not saying you made a mistake. It was just an incomplete answer. You did great by asking someone else for help, but even if it was a test, you should've also warned us so we knew what to expect in case Livy didn't get here in time."
"Like I wasn't going to get here in time," Livy huffed.
"Your agility is ridiculously low. Don't overestimate it. And why didn't you turn into your weapon form?" Nimbus huffed while keeping one hand on his back.
"I didn't want to risk turning into a giant axe that was falling towards the Empress! And I got here in time."
"Your skill got here, not you. Also, do me a favor. Jump as high as you can and turn into the axe," Nimbus continued.
"Why?"
"Just do it."
"Fine," Livy rolled her eyes and jumped, turning into her battle axe form when she started falling back down, only to stop in her tracks.
'Wait… This is awesome! I'm flying!'
"You already could fly! Stop being a child!" Nimbus huffed, making Hera giggle.
The Sentinel turned to her with a confused expression, "Sorry, Nimbus, but you are a perfect grumpy old man right now. You are even holding your back."
Nimbus stood up straight, "I'm perfectly fine."
"Don't worry. It is completely natural for your bonez to be weaker than they once were," Lurize smiled.
"And you don't have to worry about stairs here, old man," Daskka teased.
"You are older than me!" Nimbus gasped.
"Ok, ok. Let's stop messing with him. I still want to see how Amber, Viper, and Crimson are doing," Hera started walking but stopped beside Nimbus. "Do you need me to help you cross the plains? I know that people your age can struggle to cross the roads."
"I'M NOT OLD!" Nimbus huffed and flew off, trying to prove that he was young by doing tricks in the air.
Hera continued walking to check on the rest of the blades, and they were all doing pretty well. Their attacks were connecting, and despite the bickering between Viper and Crimson, their teamwork was on point especially with Amber by their side. Their skills also worked as one would expect and didn't have any hidden features. This was something that Hera liked a lot. If every skill had some weird, counterintuitive addition, there was no chance she could remember it all. The group, or more specifically, Hera herself, continued running the dungeon through the course of the rest of the day. Doing both this version and the hard mode a few times to get everyone up to speed, only when night came, and her dad sent her a text asking if she would be home for dinner that the Empress left, she still wanted to introduce Livy to everyone and show how now, they had a dragon on their side.
