The arrow's flight speed was not as fast as the one Izroth used during the Great Sea Palace raid. In fact, it was many times slower compared to that time. However, the arrow's current force was leagues above what it was in his fight against Ooudamu in the Sprite Dwellings.
Wooosh! Diiiiiiiing!
As soon as the arrow made contact with the mysterious chains, a loud ringing sound filled the room. Then, less than a breath of time after that occurred, an ear-piercing screech flooded the entire Mystical Realm Palace!
The impact generated powerful shockwaves that violently shook the room as fissures started to form throughout various nearby areas. The space between the arrow and the mysterious chains became distorted as if it were forcibly torn asunder.
'To think that even with my Heavenly Golden Body and other defenses, the shockwaves alone are making me lose 5% of my HP every second just from standing close by.'
Without hesitation, Izroth activated the Rapid Regeneration skill attached to his Apparel of Insatiable Transcendence. This improved his HP regeneration by 200% and would last for one minute. Although Izroth still suffered some damage, for now, it allowed him to prioritize dealing with the mysterious chains.
Izroth inwardly furrowed his brows when he noticed that multiple cracks started to emerge on the arrow. As for the mysterious chains—they remained without a scratch.
'If only I had a way to restore and increase the energy output of the Twin Lasting Epoch Sentinels, then I could have included Pierce along with Power and Seal. However, I'm not sure its durability would have held up long enough to succeed.'
The shot performed by the ancient bow-wielding warrior that combined Power and Seal reduced the durability of the Twin Lasting Epoch Sentinels by 2,000 points! That was ten times that amount of when Izroth used the true word Seal alone.
'It's a shame that there is no way to repair it at this time; otherwise, these chains may have not provided as much trouble. Though it seems I won't be able to use the Twin Lasting Epoch Sentinels for some time.'
Name: Twin Lasting Epoch Sentinels(Magical Item)
Rank: A (Severely Damaged)
Durability: 198/500,000 (Severely Damaged)
Energy: 0%
Usage: After channeling for 15 seconds, summons two ancient warriors, the «Millenial Grand Archer» wielding the «True Word Bow» and the «Champion of the North Shield» brandishing the «Six Gates Northern Shield». The energy of this item can be restored using a minimum of «Advanced Magic Core».
«True Word Bow» – Enables the «Millenial Grand Archer» to empower his arrow using one of six «True Word»'s. Each basic arrow deals a fixed 6,250 energy damage and every «True Word» drains 30% energy from the «Twin Lasting Epoch Sentinels».
«True Word: Power» – Enhances the destruction capability of the arrow, causing its overall power and damage to increase by 300%. This reduces the arrow's flight speed by 50%.
«True Word: Seal» – Permanently traps a target in a «Sphere of Absolute Chains». The user can disable this skill at any time. This skill can be forcibly broken by its target. This reduces the arrow's damage by 80%.
«True Word: Speed» – Enhances the speed of the arrow, causing its flight speed to triple. However, this reduces the arrow's damage by 50%.
«True Word: Seek» – Causes the arrow to follow its intended target indefinitely and has a 100% chance to hit its target. This reduces the arrow's damage by 1% per second in flight(MAX Damage Reduction: 30%).
«True Word: Pierce» – Empowers the arrow with the ability to ignore and pierce through all forms of defenses, barriers, and shields. This requires a charge time of 3 seconds.
«True Word: Spread» – Causes the arrow the split into 10 pieces, forming a fan-like shape. Striking the same target with more than one arrow decreases the arrow's damage by 8% per previous arrow(MAX Damage Reduction: 72%). This drains 45% energy instead of 30% energy.
«Command: Compound» – Drains 5% energy for each «True Word». Combines a minimum of two «True Word»'s into the same arrow.
«Six Gates Northern Shield»…
…
Special Note: This timeless treasure is a memento of two particular individuals' participation in an ancient war.
Acquiring an Advanced Magic Core or something greater was a headache in and of itself. However, the true issue came with repairing the severely damaged magic item.
Magic items were not like regular equipment. They could not be taken to a Blacksmith and repaired with a few coins or materials. According to the information Izroth obtained from the Amaharpe Palace Library, restoring a magic item to its peak state required a unique kind of craftsman. As for how to locate such a craftsman—Izroth was still unclear.
All of a sudden, just as the arrow looked as though it were ready to shatter, a series of powerful chains erupted from its body and quickly encompassed the mysterious chains. In the blink of an eye, the mysterious chains had been trapped within a sphere with the word "Seal" above it in grand characters!
Compared to the sphere used to seal Luna's voice magic, this sphere had a much sturdier and reinforced appearance. This was, of course, due to the word Power being infused into it. Since it was infused with the word Power, the sphere's sealing strength was enhanced by 300%!
Unfortunately, it was far from over. While Izroth had successfully separated the mysterious chains from the Eternal Devouring Crystalized Leech, not even half a breath of time passed when the sphere began to crumble and decay. Trying to contain something well beyond its own might was unsustainable. At its current rate of decay, Izroth estimated that the Sphere of Absolute Chains would break in less than three seconds! Naturally, this left him with no room for error.
'I expected that it would not be able to contain the chains for long, but to think that it would be this little.'
Izroth understood that he could not afford to waste any time. So, without delay, he crushed the Thirty-Two Localities Isolation Talisman in his hand. The instant he did so, a distortion in space appeared above the Sphere of Absolute Chains.
Then, at the next moment, a vortex with thirty-two ancient symbols encircled it formed at the distorted space's location.
Crrrrrck…!
Just before the Sphere of Absolute Chains was almost entirely decayed, and the mysterious chains were about to break free, the vortex doubled in size. Then, the vortex forcibly pulled in the Sphere of Absolute Chains, along with the mysterious chains it had ensnared.
Oooooom!
The vortex closed immediately after it accomplished its task. What appeared in its place was a thin veil made from unfamiliar glass-like material. Behind this "veil" were the mysterious chains wildly thrashing about as it tried to break free. The Sphere of Absolute Chains had already been disintegrated under the domineering energy emitted by the mysterious chains.
'These chains are too persistent.'
Izroth observed the thin veil and witnessed small tears accumulating on its surface. Even in an isolated pocket of space with its strength being drained every second, the mysterious chains refused to stay contained!
This caused Izroth to inwardly sigh as he looked down at his hand. Surprisingly, the talisman he used was still there.
'It seems my luck is both good and bad.'
One had to know that despite their usefulness, talismans in RML were a one time use object. However, the graded talisman in Izroth's hand was a bit special.
Name: Thirty-Two Localities Isolation Talisman(Epic)
Grade: Four
Usage: This talisman pulls its target into a separate dimensional pocket of «Isolated Space» for 30 minutes. While within «Isolated Space», all power is reduced by 0.25% per second (MAX Stat Reduction: 80%). This stat reduction remains until the affected is destroyed or dies.
«Grade Bonus [1]» – Drains an additional 0.75% power per second and increases Max Stat Reduction to 99%.
«Grade Bonus [2]» – Increases the duration of «Isolated Space» by 30 minutes.
«Grade Bonus [3]» – «Isolated Space» becomes «Reinforced Isolated Space», making it increasingly difficult to break free.
«Grade Bonus [4]» – Upon use, this talisman has a 16% to negate its own destruction. If this effect successfully resolves, within the next 15 seconds, this talisman can immediately be used again, ignoring any cooldown restrictions. After 15 seconds, the talisman enters a dormant state and cannot be used again for 24 hours.
Cooldown: 24 hours
Izroth's luck was quite good. He managed to activate the 16% chance for the Thirty-Two Localities Isolation Talisman to negate its own destruction. This was one of the main reasons Izroth chose this talisman from the Netherworld Exchange. But, his luck was short-lived as he could not risk the mysterious chains breaking free as the price he paid was already sufficient to make most players in RML shudder.
A true world item, mythical ranked material, an A-ranked magical item, and now an epic ranked grade four talisman. Any single one of those items was enough to shake the market in RML. Not to mention the countless hours he spent nurturing the Soul Avatar, this loss this time would be huge! However, for Izroth, from the beginning, failure was never an option.
Izroth crushed the talisman in his hand once again, except this time, the talisman disintegrated upon use. Simultaneously, a second vortex appeared and dragged in the already isolated pocket of space along with the mysterious chains.
Every second, the mysterious chains became weaker and weaker as the Thirty-Two Localities Isolation Talisman effects stacked with one another, causing the power drain to double. While the mysterious chains had not given up on escaping, one could see that its struggle was slowly fading.
'It may be weakened when it leaves the isolated space, but its material is still too tough to destroy. Its origins are also unknown, so I should not let my guard down just yet. Though it should no longer have the strength to suppress the Soul Avatar upon its exit.'
As Izroth pondered how he would deal with the mysterious chains once they left the isolated space, he suddenly received an alert from the system.
〈System Alert: External influence has been cleared. Soul Avatar's creation has been resumed.〉
Right after Izroth received the system alert, the Eternal Devouring Crystalized Leech released a blinding white light. This lasted for a full minute before the light receded.
As the light faded, the first thing that emerged was a resplendent pair of silver wings. Shortly after, a male that could only be described as breathtaking appeared. He wore a basic set of white robes and was slightly taller than Izroth. The male had flawless fair skin and silky silver hair that stretched down to the middle of his back.
As he slowly opened his eyes, one could see that the male possessed no pupils. But, the iris' of his eyes were the color of the morning sky. The silver wings were attached to the male's back expanded as he kneeled before Izroth without a word.
〈System Alert: Your Soul Avatar has been successfully formed! Please choose a name.〉
'A name? I suppose it should be something fitting.'
"You shall be called, Empyrean," Izroth stated. Immediately after Izroth named the Soul Avatar, several system alerts went off.
〈System Alert: Empyrean has been granted the Unique Race «Skybreaker»!〉
〈System Alert: Empyrean has been granted the Unique Class «Paragon Skybreaker»!〉
〈System Alert: Empyrean stat and skill generation complete!〉
'Skybreaker?'
Izroth was unfamiliar with the race and class that had been chosen for his Soul Avatar. However, given that both were unique, it should not be weak by any means.
A few seconds after the system alerts, a status window regarding Empyrean popped up in front of Izroth. But, when Izroth saw what was displayed on the status window, he could not help but give a small helpless sigh. No wonder the mysterious chains wanted to obstruct this thing!
If Izroth had to describe it, one word, in particular, came to his mind—monstrosity!
