…
Izroth consumed a Medium-Grade Mana Potion to replenish his lost MP as the towering inferno began to recede.
'I didn't expect the stacking effect to be this powerful.'
Izroth took well over one hundred steps as he circled Tigran to build up Inferno Prints on the ground within three meters of his position.
Since targets could be affected and damaged by multiple Inferno Prints, it created a stacking effect.
In other words, the more Izroth moved, the greater the effects of the Scorched Inferno's Fang's Eruption!
Izroth also infused 100 points of his Essence into the skill, which doubled the Eruption's destructive power.
This meant that if Izroth produced a minimum of 100 Inferno Prints with his current attack stat of 3,807, each capable of inflicting 475% of his attack as mixed damage, the result was practically balance breaking!
There was a good reason why weapon class restrictions existed for certain weapons in RML. It helped to maintain a level of balance among the classes.
For example, a warrior-type class could possess high attack power and good defense, but their mobility and the time between their attacks would be on the lower end of the spectrum.
Meanwhile, rogue-type classes were quick, agile, and could attack multiple times in a matter of seconds. But, their defenses were incredibly fragile, and more often than not, their general attack power was low—this offset their high attack speed and allowed for consistent damage. Of course, there were burst focus rogue-type classes that could eliminate an enemy in the blink of an eye. However, they typically had high cooldown times, which made it hard to deal with more than one target at a time.
In the end, these strengths and weaknesses were directly reflected in weapons and equipment geared towards their respective classes.
But, what would happen if a rogue with high attack speed was suddenly allowed to wield a two-handed sword? Their attack power would at least quadruple while their attack speed and mobility mainly remained unaffected. Needless to say, this would cause a considerable imbalance.
It was also the reason why the Battle Fundamental Mastery skill Izroth acquired was of priceless value.
The Scorched Inferno's Fang was never meant to fall into the hands of someone with Izroth's level of mobility. Therefore, while its Eruption active seemed extremely powerful, it was only made to be equivalent to an A-ranked skill just shy of reaching S-rank.
However, this changed with the addition of Izroth's Flickering Steps and other movement skills. Instead of being an A-ranked skill on the cusp of reaching S-rank, it immediately jumped multiple ranks!
Izroth used his Energy Vision Sense to gaze through the receding inferno; however, there were no signs of Tigran.
'His presence has vanished, but…'
Due to the effect range of stacking Inferno Prints, there was a flood of alerts from the system regarding those affected or even eliminated by the burn effect generated by the intense heatwave.
Izroth could not confirm Tigran's fate, which was why he wasted no time consuming a mana potion.
'Even if he's in the legendary realm, I doubt he is unscathed after a blast of that magnitude. Still, I can't be too careless.'
To Izroth, it would not be strange if a legendary being like Tigran had some kind of life-saving skill similar to how the Skounae Night Lord Zarolas possessed a Spirix capable of reviving him after death.
Though Izroth considered himself somewhat fortunate. The pressure he felt from Tigran did not match up to Zarolas.
In all likelihood, Tigran was probably in the Initial stages of the legendary realm, unlike Zarolas, who, even without his Spirix, had reached the Primary stage.
'The gap between the two stages is larger than I anticipated.'
Tigran was by no means weak, but compared to Zarolas, it was clear which of the two were stronger.
Swoosh!
Out of nowhere, Izroth felt something wrap tightly around his left wrist.
'?!'
There was no warning from his Soul Sense and nothing registered on his Energy Vision Sense.
It even managed to completely hide its presence and conceal any noise.
Izroth glanced down at the object around his wrist and immediately recognized it—it was the metal tail at the back of Tigran's armor!
However, it currently extended tens of meters from Tigran's original position.
'It won't budge.'
Izroth's arm was restrained, and no matter how much strength he put into pulling away, it wouldn't move.
At the same time, the towering inferno finally disappeared as the smoke cleared away. However, when Izroth saw what emerged from the smoke, he was somewhat taken aback.
'What's going on?'
The helmet Tigran wore had been knocked off. But, the shocking thing was that Tigran's head was nowhere to be found!
What revealed itself was a headless suit of armor seemingly standing on its own!
The most glaring change to the armor was that the coating turned from maroon to pitch-black, with hints of purple running throughout its surface.
"Inconceivable! Audacious human! Do you realize how much trouble this lord has gone through to secure a fitting vessel?!" A deep and resonating voice sounded inside Izroth's head.
'Telepathy? No, more importantly, this aura… There's no mistaking it. It belongs to a member of the dragon race.'
Izroth could no longer see Tigran's flames with his Energy Vision Sense.
After the armor revealed its presence, there was just a singular overbearing flame that originated from the armor itself.
Compared to Tigran, or even Zarolas, it was on an entirely different level. In fact, the quality of the flame from the armor was on par with the Death Emperor Nekrosatoras, who signed a Soul Contract with Izroth in the Netherly Swathe Minor Realm.
'So this is the uneasy feeling I had. I thought it was strange that a Centurion possessed such a high level of strength.'
Whatever the case, Izroth understood that there was no longer anything for him to gain by sticking around.
Seeing as he could not escape from the armor's bind through normal method, Izroth used his Primed Ability: Space Defying Tread. This skill enabled him to travel through solid objects and even strong magic barriers. It also shared a separate cooldown time and charges from the primary effect of his Primed Instantaneous Movement.
Zeeeut!
Izroth's figure disappeared and reappeared. However, he found that instead of teleporting thirty meters away as planned, he had not moved a single step. Somehow, the armor was able to obstruct his teleportation skill!
''Hmph, trying to escape from this lord? How bold, but ultimately futile. You have damaged the vessel this lord has spent a vast amount of resources preparing. Your life alone is not enough to repay a fraction of what this lord has spent! Useless fool, I warned him to wait until he fully developed…!" The threatening yet annoyed voice echoed in Izroth's mind.
Resources? Vessel? From those words and the armor's furious tone, Izroth swiftly pieced things together.
'I see… That explains why there were two unique flames present the first time I examined him. This thing—it's a living armor.'
During all his time in RML, this was only the second living armor with high intelligence capable of choosing its host that Izroth's ever seen. The first, of course, being his Apparel of Insatiable Transcendence.
Though given how unimaginably difficult it was to craft living armor, let alone one with a will of its own, Izroth was not surprised by its scarcity. However, this was the last place he expected to run into a living armor!
'It's clearly infuriated, but it has not made a move to kill me, only restrain. It must be after something. But, what?'
If the armor and Tigran were two separate entities, then it was not necessarily his enemy. So, there was the possibility of having an actual conversation with it.
"You haven't tried to kill me yet, so how about we don't waste each other's time? What is it you want from me? I'm sure you're already aware, but I can not bring back your host from the dead." Izroth said calmly.
The voice from the armor fell silent for several seconds in response to Izroth's inquiry.
Moments later, it finally spoke and said, "You have some guts, human. Most of your kind cowers in fear when faced with this lord's presence."
It then continued, "You asked this lord what it is that I d.e.s.i.r.e? It is a new host that can live up to this lord's standards."
"This lord would have never paired with a weakling like that if not for certain circ.u.mstances. But, now that this lord's host is no more, I will take you as my new host!"
"Impossible," Izroth replied without delay.
"It's not for you to decide, human."
"You are correct in that sense. That's why I'm telling you—it's not possible."
"Arrogant! Impossible? This lord wants to see how you stop me!" The armor roared angrily in Izroth's mind as it rushed at unfathomable speeds towards him!
