Chapter 416: Chapter 416 – Tars War – Bridge’s Sky (1/2)
Victor didn’t want to simply stop the advance as Julius had asked him.
His proactive-aggressive ntality and ego demanded more than a defensive victory… he wanted to “win” in a way that would make Yino regret forever having tried to take the bridge to invade them.
The very thought of being relegated to a supporting role grated against every instinct that had made him one of the kingdom’s strongest, if not the strongest, aerial fighters.
Defensive victories were for lesser n… Victor Dravenholm was ant to dominate the sky and crush his enemies so thoroughly they would never dare challenge him again.
That’s why he had launched himself directly against the enemy leader, confident in easily dominating Maximilian with the superior power of his Gold 2 Golden Eagle. The rank difference should have been decisive, especially in aerial combat where his beast had every conceivable advantage.
Just as he was above Maximilian and his Spectral Crow, preparing for the blow that would end the battle before it truly began, sothing changed in his opponent’s eyes.
The petrifying gaze of the Basilisk hit him like an invisible wave.
Victor felt his muscles hardening, his eagle montarily losing control of its flight movents. The sensation was like having ice water poured through his veins while his body betrayed him at the worst possible mont.
The Basilisk was Gold 1, and its ability was sufficient to affect the Gold 2 Eagle at just under 50% of its normal effectiveness. But since Victor was a double tar, his beasts’ enhancents fed back on each other, reducing the paralysis to less than 10%.
Or that would have been the case if Maximilian didn’t have five beasts in total, increasing the effect with their combined enhancents to 25%.
Even so, it should have been manageable since almost all the beasts were Silver rank, one full rank below his own.
But those few seconds of vulnerability were enough for Maximilian to reveal why he was the commander of this operation.
“Total Release!” Maximilian roared, and his body transford into a nightmare of abyssal power.
His Fire Polistes Wasp erged with a buzzing that made the air vibrate, its wings leaving trails of purple flas that contrasted sinisterly with the blue of the sky.
His Abyssal Scorpion manifested in plates and pincers that ran along his arms like living armor, the chitinous segnts clicking together as they ford a protective covering that glead with dark power.
anwhile, his Greater Vampiric Man o’ War, (a corrupt evolution of so stolen Shadow Stalkers), created semi-ethereal tentacles that extended to absorb Victor’s energy.
Five beasts. Maximilian was a ‘quintuple’ tar.
The revelation hit Victor. Quintuple tars were supposed to be legends, were supposed to be cool. The dumb cheaters from Yino shouldn’t be able to have so many, even if weak tainted ones.
“Disgusting trash beasts,” Victor muttered, but he could already feel the effects despite the relatively “low level” of the enemy beasts.
‘Had Yino advanced so quickly with abyssal energy research that they already had tars with five and six beasts so abundantly? First Kharzan, now this bastard…’
Victor could’t believe Yino having dozens of tars like those already, when just one year ago they had never used them.
‘But if that were the case, they should have attacked sooner. And if it was a recent increase… What had changed?’
‘What did the crystal or Yino do?’
The paralysis allowed both stingers, from the scorpion and the wasp, to strike his beast. The venom traveled through the eagle’s body like lightning, sending shockwaves of corrupted energy through its system.
The toxic power of the wasp and scorpion began affecting the eagle, creating a debilitating effect that made his bird struggle to maintain altitude.
Worse still, that wasn’t all.
The vitality absorption of the Man o’ War created a constant drain that slowed his reflexes and maneuvering capacity, like trying to fly through thick syrup that grew denser with each passing second.
The initial paralysis of the basilisk had been just the beginning. Now Victor found himself fighting an enemy who had turned his mobility beast into his cage.
And then, as if they had been waiting for the perfect signal… Yino’s flying squadrons, which had seed to flee, appeared from multiple directions. They had circled around before Victor realized what was happening, using the distraction of single combat to position themselves for a devastating trap.
Within those formations weren’t just Silver ranks, there were also significant reinforcents, two other triple tars who had been kept in reserve near the commander for exactly this situation.
Victor recognized them imdiately: the sa ones who had attacked the Academy several months ago. Both rode alongside other Silver-rank tars to avoid drawing attention, but quickly summoned their own Gold 2 beasts that deployed the characteristic power signature among the chaos of weaker marks.
As triples, they also carried two abyssal creatures each, Scorpions and Greater Vampiric Man o’ Wars that pulsed with corrupt energy like malignant hearts beating in sync.
“Prince Victor,” ca the mocking voice of one of them through the wind, carrying easily across the distance with the clarity that only mana strengthening allowed, “what a pleasure to et you again.”
‘Three elite tars against one,’ Victor calculated while dodging a direct attack from Maximilian’s wasp. The nurical reality was stark… even with his superior individual power, the numbers were heavily stacked against him.
‘Did I get ahead of myself and the odds aren’t exactly in my favor?’
But even while thinking this, a fierce smile spread across his face as he felt familiar excitent coursing through his veins. This was what he lived for, the mont when everything was on the line and only skill and power would determine the outco.
He had been waiting for an opportunity to truly test his beasts’ new capabilities against worthy opponents.
“Total attack!” Maximilian shouted, and the air filled with enemy flying beasts converging toward Victor from every angle.
The sky beca a true three-dinsional battlefield as dozens of creatures moved towards him. Each enemy had been positioned to eliminate escape routes, creating a sphere of death with Victor at its center.
Victor felt how the net was closing around him. Six elite tars, dozens of lesser beasts, and he was alone in the center of it all. Any sensible commander would have attempted an imdiate retreat, calling for reinforcents…
But Victor Dravenholm wasn’t exactly known for his right-mindedness or ‘balance’ in combat.
Strategic retreat was for commanders who doubted their own power. Victor had never faced an enemy he couldn’t eventually overco through sheer dominance and superior skill.
At least not any human…That was reserved only for his father, yet he may as well not be human nor was he here.
“This ti,” Victor murmured, his voice carrying the promise of violence, “there are no children to protect. No academy to defend.”
When they were all above him in a coordinated attack that would have shredded any other tar, Victor summoned his other beast.
The restrictions that had held him back during the Academy battle, the need to minimize collateral damage, to protect students, to avoid destroying the very institution he was defending… those limitations no longer existed.
“Qilin!” he roared, and the air itself seed to purify instantly.
The creature that manifested was magnificent, a being of pure earth power with scales that glead like liquid gold and horns that seed to have been forged from pure light. Its presence commanded respect.
But there was sothing different about its energy, sothing more refined and powerful than it had been before.
Its energy was purer and purer each day since Ren had made contact with him.
The mory of that strange encounter still puzzled Victor. The boy’s mushroom had done sothing to his beast, not enhanced it, but purified them in a way that went beyond simple power increases.
The effect was imdiate and devastating for his attackers. All the effects that the abyssal beasts had placed on his eagle, the poison, the vitality absorption, the paralysis residue… vanished like mist before the sun.
The purification wasn’t gradual, it was instant and absolute, as if the very concept of corruption couldn’t exist in the Qilin’s presence.
“Impossible!” scread one of the triple tars, watching as his Man o’ War writhed in agony at the proximity of such pure energy.
The creature’s tentacles, which had been draining Victor’s strength monts before, now recoiled as if burned by invisible fire. The corruption that gave it power beca a liability in the face of energy so fundantally opposed to its nature.
But Victor hadn’t finished.
His eagle, now free from all corruption and negative influence, spread its wings with renewed vigor. The Qilin’s energy extended toward it as well, making its golden feathers shine with intensity that eclipsed the sunlight itself.
The transformation was breathtaking. What had been a powerful beast beca sothing approaching the divine, its every movent creating ripples of pure energy that made the air shimr like heated tal.
The tables had turned in an instant.
Victor’s laughter rang out across the sky, wild and fierce, the sound of a predator who had his prey just at arm’s reach.
Like it ? Give it a power stone！
┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻ – It’s free and you help a lot
Have so idea about my story? Comnt it and let know.
Thank you so much for reading!
(∿°○°)∿ ︵ ︵ ︵ ︵ ︵ ǝʌol
User Comments
0 comments from readers