Chapter 480: Unexpected Changes
Chapter 480: Unexpected Changes
The other high-ranking generals on the airship looked at the young general with bewilderment, wondering about his actions.
Is this the right time for such a question?
Shouldn't they be shocked by the strength of this young man named Ren?
However, he did have a valid point.
Although the ancient beast, the Ice Sea Demon Gazrian, had not been dealt with yet, the scales of victory had already tipped greatly in their favor.
So, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Vice-Speaker Bertrand, holding a bronze telescope, couldn't put it down for a long time.
He stared at Ren as he slowly approached the Sea Kraken's body, his eyes flashing with a sharp gleam.
"No wonder the intelligence department has been strongly recommending that we find a way to recruit this genius boy from the Empire."
"I remember that after Treena's visit, she also mentioned Ren in her report."
"But I never expected his talent to be this extraordinary!"
"However, using ordinary means to recruit such a gifted young man might not be feasible."
Vice-Speaker Bertrand's thoughts wandered.
After all, the attitude of the Empire's Red Queen Menya towards Ren clearly showed that the Empire also valued him highly and had assigned him a very important position.
Additionally, with Ren's origins in the Empire, conventional methods of persuasion might not work quickly or effectively.
Bertrand spoke in a deep voice, "Contact the intelligence department immediately and provide me with the latest information on Lord Ren."
"Such youth and talent! It's a waste in the Empire."
On the ground, after slaying the Sea Kraken, Ren approached its massive corpse and inserted his hand into the still-bleeding wound.
To onlookers, this action seemed like Ren was being cautious and checking if the Sea Kraken was truly dead.
When Ren's hand touched the still-warm wound, the system prompt sounded:
[Ding! Host has come into contact with the Sea Kraken's blood essence, and a portion of absorbable dragon gene fragments have been detected. Absorb?]
(Note: Absorbing these dragon gene fragments can enhance the host's dragon bloodline concentration.)
"As expected, the system uses the word 'portion'," Ren thought to himself.
"For my current stage, there will be an improvement, but it won't be significant."
Ren smiled and immediately chose "Yes."
Instantly, Ren felt a warm current flowing through his hand and quickly spreading throughout his body.
After about a second or two, Ren quickly stood up and left.
The entire process was smooth and seamless, unnoticed by others.
However, Ren could sense subtle changes and improvements deep within his body, though they were not immediately apparent.
For example, on the attribute panel, the mutated dragon bloodline still displayed as 'Pureblood,' indicating no change in bloodline level.
He had anticipated this situation.
Bloodline levels were like steps on a ladder; only after reaching a certain level of enhancement would one smoothly ascend to the next tier.
Additionally, the higher the level, the more challenging it became to improve.
"As I absorb more and more dragon genes, the essence of ordinary dragon bloodlines and hybrid dragon descendants seems to have less and less effect on me."
"It seems that if I want a significant boost, this Ice Sea Demon Gazrian might bring me a pleasant surprise."
Ren's eyes gleamed as he looked up at the massive figure of Gazrian in the distance, thinking to himself.
"However, not reaching the next stage isn't a problem. Even a slight increase in bloodline concentration will proportionally enhance the true damage ratio in 'Dragon Soul Smash'!"
"My strength has indeed improved."
At this moment, during a break in the battle with the Ice Sea Demon Gazrian, Menya, who was on the Red Dragon Tassa, turned to look at Ren's battlefield.
What she saw left her stunned!
Near where Ren was, a large number of sea beasts and Sea God Cult's black-robed members lay dead on the ground. Even the Sea Kraken, which she had fought twice, was nowhere to be seen.
For a moment, Menya was bewildered!
However, being distracted in the midst of battle was extremely dangerous.
"Be careful, Lady Mellanya!" Reginald exclaimed, as a massive cloud of icy mist rushed towards Lady Mellanya and her dragon companion, Tasa, in mid-air. It was the unique breath attack of the Ice Sea Demon Gazar, known as 'Frost Solidification'.
Lady Mellanya, the Red Queen, snapped out of her daze and quickly maneuvered Tasa to dodge the attack.
Although they narrowly avoided it, the series of fire-based defensive spells on Tasa, such as 'Resist Fire Ring' and 'Flame Shield', shattered upon contact with the large ice crystals.
In an instant, the high temperature and cold collided, filling the air with mist! Reginald was astonished by Lady Mellanya's momentary distraction during the battle.
It was well-known that Lady Mellanya, the Red Queen, was an extremely experienced Dawn Wizard, and her recent action was highly unprofessional.
Reginald couldn't help but turn to look back.
But as he did, he was also stunned.
At the same time, he understood why Lady Mellanya, the Red Queen, had made such an unprofessional mistake earlier.
Although he had witnessed Ren's combat prowess in the Ferdinand Forest Battle and believed that Ren, along with the Federal Sword Saint Tairo, was stronger than the Sea Kraken and the Sea God Cult's forces combined, he thought it would still be challenging to achieve victory within a few minutes.
However, to his surprise, in just over ten seconds since he last turned his head, the opponents had been completely defeated!
"Ren didn't even use his Dragon Bloodline Transformation..."
Near the corpse of the Sea Kraken.
Ren quickly approached the nearby Sword Saint Tairo and smiled, "Your Majesty, let's go and support Lady Mellanya immediately."
"Oh, of course! Yes!" Sword Saint Tairo, having regained his composure, nodded in agreement.
His demeanor was friendly, and he seemed to be following Ren's lead, without any trace of arrogance befitting an old Epic-level powerhouse.
At that moment, Ren turned to Rebecca and the other three who were controlling the Ajax Automatons nearby and said, "Miss Rebecca, if you still have the strength, you can come with us. With your remote assistance, we can reduce some of the pressure."
Ren had observed that even though two of the three automatons had their arms damaged, engaging in close combat with an ancient beast like the Ice Sea Demon Gazar was almost suicidal.
Therefore, the condition of the arms was not a significant concern.
What mattered was that the Ajax Colossal Automaton possessed excellent long-range attack capabilities.
In other words, having three more Ajax Automatons was like having three additional high-speed mobile artillery platforms, which could naturally attract and divert some of the Ice Sea Demon Gazar's attention.
"Of course, Your Majesty," Rebecca readily agreed.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Benito also responded immediately.
Aldo, who had been the most talkative earlier, now remained silent, silently controlling his automaton and following behind Rebecca and Benito.
Regarding the Ice Sea Demon Gazar, Ren didn't want to use the Dawn Technique as he did earlier.
It wasn't a lack of confidence in his abilities, but he didn't want to be mistaken for an anomaly! Logically speaking, if the Sea Kraken could withstand two Dawn Strikes of 'Steel Forest' after Ren's Dragon Soul Smash, how many times could the Ice Sea Demon Gazar endure?
Eight times?
Or ten times?
Well, even if Ren could allocate skill points to continuously cast the Dawn Strike multiple times, was that still human?
Or, in the eyes of others, was that still a normal person?
Without further ado, Ren had already killed the Sea Kraken and the Sea God Cult's forces with two Dawn Strikes, which was considered normal among Dawn Wizards and could even be deemed as genius.
However, if he were to continuously cast the Dawn Strike eight or ten times to defeat the Ice Sea Demon Gazar, people would undoubtedly suspect if Ren was an incarnation of a deity or something else, but they wouldn't view him as a human.
Ren didn't want that.
Additionally, Ren had another concern. Could the Ice Sea Demon Gazar possibly possess some kind of ultimate counterattack? In Ren's opinion, it was highly likely.
At least, he didn't need to take that risk.
The two of them, along with the three automatons, quickly headed towards the direction of the Ice Sea Demon Gazar.
Meanwhile, something went unnoticed by everyone. The old man from the Sea God Cult, lying in a pool of blood, suddenly loosened his tightly clenched right hand.
A massive black pearl, as large as a fist, slipped from his palm and slowly rolled onto the ground beside him.
As the black pearl came into contact with the blood-red liquid, a peculiar aura began to permeate the air.
Soon, a shadow of a girl in a black robe appeared from the black pearl and quickly expanded to the size of a normal human.
The girl in the black robe surveyed the scene before her, deep in thought, as if understanding something.
Her deep, dark eyes focused on the distant figure of 'Ice Sea Demon' Gazrian, who was engaged in battle with the 'Red Queen' Maynya, clad in her red wizard's robe. She then glanced at Ren's departing figure, her exquisite features contorting slightly.
It seemed as if she had recalled an extremely unpleasant memory.
Her figure then dissipated like a bubble in mid-air.
At that moment, Ren, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped in his tracks!
He quickly turned to look behind him.
But this turn revealed nothing.
Ren had a vague sense that someone was watching him from behind.
"What's wrong, Lord Ren?" Saint-Tirion, the Federation's veteran Sword Saint, turned to Ren with a puzzled expression, asking, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing," Ren waved his hand dismissively after a moment's thought.
From Saint-Tirion's demeanor, he could tell that the other party had not sensed anything either.
As a veteran Sword Saint of the Federation, Saint-Tirion's perception was exceptionally sharp.
If even he hadn't noticed anything, it was probably just Ren's imagination.
Perhaps the powerful member of the Sea God Cult had glanced at him one last time before dying?
Several kilometers away, on a small hill in the Fadil Mountains.
Over a dozen people in black robes were secretly observing the battle between 'Ice Sea Demon' Gazrian and the Imperial Dragon Knights from a distance, their faces grave.
Behind them was a black magic array with a diameter of over ten meters, clearly the same one used earlier to awaken 'Ice Sea Demon' Gazrian.
It was evident that they were the ones the Deputy Patriarch of the Sea God Cult had contacted earlier.
"Elder Jonas, the Deputy Patriarch is dead. What should we do now?" asked a member of the Sea God Cult, his face filled with shock.
Jonas, a middle-aged man, was evidently the leader of this group.
His face turned ashen as he watched the scene before him, his eyes flashing.
Not only him, but everyone else as well, had not anticipated that a young man would completely turn the tables on what had seemed like a favorable situation.
Whether it was the Sea Kraken with its magical tail or the elite forces led by the Deputy Patriarch, they had all been annihilated by this exceptionally terrifying young man in just over ten seconds!
Damn it!
Where did this monster come from?
Although they could preserve their lives by quietly retreating, the thought of the severe punishment under the cult's strict rules sent shivers down their spines.
The most crucial factor was that the 'Ice Sea Demon' Gazrian, their strongest member, had not suffered any serious injuries.
In Jonas's opinion, they still had a chance to turn the tables.
He just needed to figure out the next step.
As he was deep in thought, a girl in a black robe suddenly appeared a few meters above the magic array behind them, floating in mid-air.
The unique aura emanating from her caused Jonas to pause for a moment, and then he turned to look at her. The next second, he prostrated himself on the ground:
"Great Umbra Sea Goddess, your humble believer Jonas pays his highest respects to you!"
The others quickly reacted and knelt before the girl in black, echoing Jonas's words.
"Believers, I need you to do one thing. Let those mortals below experience the true power of the Lord of the Umbra Sea."
"Yes, Great Umbra Sea Goddess!"
Jonas, filled with excitement, immediately began organizing his men to adjust the magic array.
Some of the cultists held short daggers and stood at crucial nodes of the array, their faces flushed with a fanatical, worshipful expression.
After a while, as the array was finely tuned, the Sea God Cult members began to chant in low voices.
Those standing at the nodes of the array suddenly used their daggers to cut their wrists, and drops of blood began to fall, merging into the array beneath their feet.
After a few seconds, the intricate lines of the array began to flicker with black light.
More importantly, the illusory figure of the girl in the black robe floating above the array started to rapidly solidify!
(End of Chapter)
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