Chapter 2312: Oda Nobunaga’s Endless Castle [30]
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"I didn’t move. I just made new space..." Drakda said, his tail regenerating with Benladra’s Anti-Mold, which also protected her mother.
"That’s right!" Andromeda gasped. "Although we cannot access pre-existing spaces or move through them easily, we can create new ones within this dimension! Why didn’t I think of it?! Drakda, you’re a genius!"
"Am I?" Drakda smiled. "I guess I am! Heheh!"
"Then we have to find a way to—" As Kate spoke, the ground suddenly trembled.
BOOOM!
The floor collapsed, and everyone fell. Below them stood the Venerable, his body radiating intense light, now even brighter and more god-like than before.
His long blonde hair shimmered with particles of light, resembling strands of glowing, flowing gold. His white skin gleamed with a metallic golden sheen.
His Ascendancy Law glowed behind him with immense power, overflowing with light in all directions...
"He’s coming!"
Benladra screamed as the Venerable surged upward, gripping his heavy blade tightly. His movements were so swift and powerful that he seemed to be made of light.
"I’ll finish you first."
FLASH!
He appeared in a split second before Benladann, swinging his sword vertically and horizontally in a flurry of rapid strikes.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
"Nnnggh!"
Benladann felt searing pain as her wings, tail, elbows, and fingers were sliced off, though she used Tiamat’s Shield to protect the rest of her body.
"Damned shield!"
In anger, Fortune channeled all his light into his sword, striking the shield with tremendous force, causing cracks to form in its scales.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Crack, crack...!
"What?!"
Benladann and Miranda were shocked. The shield, derived from a Primordial like Tiamat, was deemed indestructible, yet this man was on the verge of shattering it.
"And now...!"
As he grinned viciously, poised to destroy the shield and Benladann behind it, the shield glowed brightly. Rainbow light surged everywhere, transforming into the shape of a massive dragon.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
"Huh?!"
Fortune’s eyes widened as the shield unleashed all the energy and damage it had absorbed, not as a protective barrier, but as a destructive beam.
This was the shield’s second ability, {Seven Colored Tiamat’s Breath}!
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Once the shield sustains sufficient damage, it can unleash a counterattack through the {Seven Colored Tiamat’s Breath}, releasing beams of Rainbow Flames that combine all Seven Elements to deal 2000% Physical, Soul, and Magical Damage to any foe struck, ignoring 80% of their Defenses. Cooldown: 30 Minutes.
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TRUUUMMM!
The seven-colored beam struck the Venerable, who struggled to hold it back with all his power, roaring in fury as his body burned and his skin began to melt.
The beam pierced through his chest. He vomited blood and was hurled backward. The shield in Benladann’s hands lost all color and shattered into tiny fragments.
BOOOMMM!
A massive explosion erupted in the distance, obliterating hundreds of rooms in the infinite castle. Benladann, Miranda, the children, and Andromeda stared at the scene in disbelief.
"The shield broke apart, but what was that?!" Benladann asked.
"It seems the shield reached its limit!" Andromeda said. "The power of a Venerable is truly immense. Even the shield shattered, its lifeforce from Tiamat long extinguished."
"So you’re saying the sheer power it absorbed and released destroyed the shield?" Miranda asked. "Well, damn... at least it finally pierced his skin?"
"Indeed, the Shield of Tiamat can absorb a foe’s power when it tanks damage and release it amplified by Tiamat’s powers imbued in her scale," Andromeda explained further. "It also pierced his soul and ignored 80% of all defenses. It has a long cooldown for battles that may last only minutes, but it came through just in time..."
"We have to take him down now while he’s weakened! We can’t let him recover, Mom!" Benladra said, her power surging as her Archetype manifested behind her. "He’s been too quick for us to do much, but maybe now we can act!"
"Yes, let’s go. We can’t let him rest!" Benladann nodded.
She flew upward with the three dragon children by her side, arriving at a vast expanse of wooden rubble with a crater at its center. There, the Venerable struggled to stand.
His face twisted in disbelief and rage. A hole in his chest bled shimmering red and gold blood, his energy and aura fluctuating and growing weaker.
"That damned dragon...! Tiamat! Even after death, you obstruct us?!" Fortune groaned, trying to stem the bleeding from his wound while healing himself. "Ugh! It’s not healing?! What in this wound inhibits my regeneration?!"
He noticed small ice particles blocking his recovery, shimmering in various colors. It was rainbow ice; the same ice Drake had wielded against him and his master before they were sent here.
But how was that possible?
"That shield was imbued with his powers..." the man muttered, glaring at Benladann and the children rushing toward him. "Hah! You think this wound makes me weaker?!"
Furious at their approach, his Aura surged, manifesting a giant of bright, semi-transparent golden energy, adorned with a crown of glowing gold and golden armor embedded with blue diamonds.
"{Radiant King of Providence Aura Spirit}!"
FLUOSH!
The titan grew to an enormous size, towering over Benladann and the dragon children. It swung massive fists toward them, splitting the sky and unleashing shockwaves of lightning with each blow.
Benladann countered with her axe, clashing against the giant’s ethereal fists. Explosions of chaotic energy destabilized the light to some extent.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Meanwhile, the three dragon children attacked from the other side, unleashing their Archetypes’ power, temporarily transforming into them.
As they relentlessly pushed back his Aura Spirit, its armor crumbling, the Venerable grew more frustrated. He had primarily honed his swordsmanship throughout his life, with other abilities developed secondarily.
This made his other techniques and abilities less potent than his sword. Fortune, a former mercenary whose village was burned by invading forces from a nearby Ice and Fire Giants Kingdom, had never been adept at magic conjuration or complex techniques.
"I’ll simply have to slice them all, and this time I won’t miss!"
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