Zac didnt imdiately leave the mansion though, but rather gave so of his best healing pills to Thea. He was about to leave her room to visit Billy as well, and Thea surprisingly jumped down from her bed to join him. The giant was even worse off than Thea from what she said.
He had taken the brunt of the attacks after changing into massive form to sink the ship, and this ti Zac hadnt been there to block out the attacks with [Natures Barrier] like during the hunt. Billy had been badly burned by the flas of the cultists it seed.
It was easy to figure out with room the giant resided in as the whole room shook from the massive snores from within, but they stopped when Zac walked into the room.
Youre back! Billy rumbled as he woke up. Help Billy a bit! A stupid horny guy keeps tricking Billy, making him forget how to leave this place! All horny people seems tricky, could use a good thwonkin'.
Dont let your fans hear that, Thea snorted from the side as she walked inside as well, prompting Zac to look over with confusion.
He has over thirty suitors among the Demons on this island, Thea said with so bemusent. Its a bit surreal.
Of course it is super real. Billy is the most dashing prince, Mama always said so, Billy nodded with a complacent expression. But Billy doesnt like horny girls.
Uh, you should just call them Demons, Zac coughed, the anger in his gut sowhat dispersed by the giants antics.
He couldnt stay for too long though, and he had to leave after making sure Thea and Billy had everything they needed.
Im sorry about how things turned out. I underestimated the Undead Empire and put too much trust in the words of Voids Disciple. I was sure I had a few more weeks, Zac apologized again just as he was about to exit.
Its our fault as well, Thea sighed as she sat down next to Billy. We didnt adapt quickly enough to this new reality, forcing the whole burden onto your shoulders. We played politics and fought for benefits when we should have been fighting for our lives and our futures.
Zac sighed as well, not knowing how to respond, and he left the mansion in silence.
You really are evolving? a voice said from the side, and Zac looked over to see Ogras standing there.
"I am," Zac nodded before he wryly smiled. Did you know that Billy is pretty popular among the female demons?
Well, it makes sense. Hes even bulkier than the Abyssal Demons, and rumors are circulating on the island that he has so powerful bloodline that increased his strength even further, the demon shrugged. Between his constitution and his potential, hes one of the best bachelors on this world, perhaps even better than you since youre a mortal.
Zac only shook his head in bemusent before he got back to the matter at hand.
I need to take down the Undead Incursion quickly. Do you think I can do it without evolving? Zac asked as the two walked toward his private section.
Its hard to say, the demon said after a while. Normally I would have said yes, but were running out of ti. The Lich King seems adept at arrays judging by what we have seen so far, and he has no doubt turned the core zone into a fortress over the past year. He doesnt even need to maintain the shield for that long, just a few days will do and he will have won.
You really think his arrays are that strong? Zac asked skeptically. I even managed to break the arrays in the Base Town.
Thats different, those were mobile arrays powered by F-Grade warriors, Ogras said with a shake of his head. The undead array will have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Unholy Beacons powering it. He might even sacrifice tens of millions of Zombies to give the defenses a boost until the realignnt is complete.
Still, Zac muttered, but he knew the demon had a point.
Sieges can take years, decades even, to slowly grind down the defensive arrays, and thats with proper equipnt we dont have. You need to be a lot stronger to crack them in an instant, the demon said. The normal thod would have been for us to bring millions of fodder to blast attacks on the shield to weaken it before we made our move. But theres no ti for that either."
Zac slowly nodded. He had sowhat hoped for the demon to convince him otherwise, but it truly looked like he needed to get a few power-ups to increase his certainty of success. He wasnt willing to bet Earths future that he was able to break through the defensive periters and destroy the realignnt array within one week without evolving.
Wheres my sister? Zac asked. Has she installed the array?
Shes still trying to figure out the thing, Ogras said. But you need to slow down.
What? You know we're running out of ti, Zac said.
Just a few hours have passed since you exited the tower. You have fought half the Sectors geniuses and then fended off the invasions. You even turned Alea into a heaven-cursed necklace. Youre not stable at the mont, you cant evolve in your current state, the demon said. "Honestly, if you were the scion of so clan you would probably have been forced into silent ditation for at least year to regain a sense of tranquility and balance."
So you just want to sit around? Zac said with disbelief. The planet is dying as we speak.
We are all dying, the demon snorted. Dont ruin everything now by rushing into things. Sit down and heal up and calm your mind at least. A few hours spent now will save you a lot of ti in the long run.
Zac was sowhat unwilling, but he knew that the demon was right. He wasnt in his right mind at the mont, and he needed to cool off. But he still felt like a child who got sent to take his nap as he walked back to his courtyard and sat down.
His thoughts were a whir as he tried to calm down, and his mind kept jumping between the various things that needed his attention, each more urgent than the last. But slowly circulating the Fragnt of the Bodhi helped him relax his tense muscles, and his thoughts slowly followed. Visiting the Tower of Eternity was supposed to give him a breather to decompress, but things had gone increasingly out of hand with the Splinter and then the ti crunch to complete the climb.
He felt more wound up than ever, especially after what he went through with Alea.
His eyes slowly opened and he looked down at the black 5-centiter casket hanging on its chain around his neck. He still didnt know whether he had done the right thing or not. What if he had completely damned Alea by turning her into sothing like the Sword Slave he had snatched from the swordmaster? The voices that had invaded his mind while using the thing had sounded beyond wretched.
The one solace in his mind was that the System had said that the [Divine Investiture Array] was a rectification of regret.
If Alea had died in front of his eyes like that, then he would have regretted it forever. To be just too late to save her not just once, but twice would have been too much to take. The System was essentially omniscient and perhaps it had already known that things would end up like this. It did make him a bit pissed off that the System didn't provide a better solution to save her, but he guessed the System was more interested in making him stronger than it was in saving the poison mistress.
However, his actions had no doubt caused so complications to his plans. A lot of his materials had gone into the [Divine Investiture Array] in his frenzied attempts to save the demoness. It also ant that he no longer had any way to upgrade his axe, except letting it slowly eat various treasures. Of course, most items ant for Verun had gone to Alea, but he at least had the Dragon Core still.
The real question was what sort of item that he had created. He had initially just been focused on saving Alea's soul, but the array was ant to create a perfect Spirit Tool. This beca doubly important as [Everlasting] had been thrown into the mix, leaving him without anything to activate half of his skills.
It might even affect his coming Class choices for all he knew, so he needed to understand what he was dealing with.
He tried sending his mind into the coffin to see if he could glean anything, but it was impossible. Zac suddenly had an idea and released a drop of blood onto the necklace, which was imdiately swallowed.
A stream of information imdiately entered his mind as he felt the sa sort of connection as he did to his robes and [Veruns Bite]. He couldnt help but feel a sense of sourness when he realized that either Alea or the System had nad the chain-covered coffin [Loves Bond].
There was still no active response from the demoness even after having bound the treasure with his blood. The coffin was still in a passive state like his robes, where he could use it but he couldnt sense any Spirit Tool's sapience. This was the norm for an E-Grade Spirit Tool though, with the tool awakening Spirituality usually happened at higher grades, if ever.
However, the stream of information had broadened his insight of what a spirit tool could do, and a ntal command made two chains rush out from the holes on the side of the coffin and latch onto his left arm as the coffin rapidly grew in size.
It took just a fraction of a second before the coffin had beco almost as tall as Zac himself while keeping the width of a normal coffin. But it was a lot thinner compared to what should be expected, with a depth of just 15 centiters. It had actually turned into a shield.
However, that was just one of its functions, and another ntal command prompted the chains to snake around his torso as the coffin moved toward his back. It grew a lot shorter as well, making it almost resemble a coffin for a child or perhaps a gno.
Four more chains reached out from their respective holes, each of them dancing in the air as though Zac was a snake charr. He was already used to this kind of fighting from the chains in [Profane Seal], and commanding them was almost as natural as moving his own limbs. The chains shot out in an instant, and four trees in his courtyard had holes punched through with such force that they barely shuddered before the chains had passed through.
The chains didnt have the life-sucking abilities of the spectral chains, but there seed to be so inherently corrosive effect attached to them, perhaps an addition provided from the mysterious fossilized bug he had thrown into the mix. It wasn't imdiately noticeable, but the holes in the trees started to wither after a few seconds as well like they were being assaulted by so sort of invasive rot.
Furthermore, the chains were actual corporeal links made by top-tier materials like Neprosium, compared to the far more fragile fractal chains that his skill conjured. There was no way that a casual swing of an E-Grade warrior would be able to break them apart as they could do with the spectral copies.
That ant that the chains were essentially a combination or fusion of hardness and rot, which made them a perfect fit for using together with the Fragnt of the Coffin.
However, Zac didn't take the ti to experint with all the possibilities of the chains at the mont, so he retracted them back into the coffin. He was extrely relieved that there was a second form of Aleas new form since he was sowhat leery about using the coffin in its shield-state. What if he encountered so powerhouse that managed to break it? What effect would it have on his chances of restoring her to her demon form?
The chains themselves looked like his Neprosium shield but slightly darker, so they wouldnt break so easily. Besides, Neprosium had excellent healing capabilities even if that happened. The chains would probably just reform if the links broke as long as he retrieved the material.
It still felt weird to consider using Alea as a Spirit Tool, but he also knew that was what she wished for. At least he prayed that was what that wordless spiritual connection ant. She wanted to accompany him in his journey, and leaving her in a corner of his Spatial Ring felt even worse than using the treasure.
He would need so ti to think of the pitch-black coffin as [Loves Bond] rather than Alea, but he would make the best of the situation. Besides, that might be his best shot at actually getting the poison mistress back.
Zac had asked about Spirit Tool upgrades while talking to Catheya since they had broached the subject when discussing the [Divine Investiture Array]. Much of what she said hadnt been anything new, but one thing had stuck out. Using the sa weapon a lot and for a long ti gradually ford a bond that was helpful in all kinds of ways.
It would allow a warrior to squeeze out more potential during a battle, and it would even help with upgrading the Spirit Tool. That was why most elites wanted a powerful weapon that could follow them during their whole Cultivation Path, rather than repeatedly swapping out their weapon for a stronger one. Nurturing this bond was the sa as nurturing the Spirit Tool, so using the coffin in battle might actually be the best thod to heal her soul, odd as it might sound.
A chain snaked around his throat as the coffin shrunk again, and it soon enough had returned to its passive state. Zac finally tried imbuing the Spirit Tool with his three fragnts, but he found that the coffin, unsurprisingly, resisted the Fragnt of the Axe. Imbuing it with the Fragnt of the Bodhi worked, but he couldnt sense any direct effect when doing so.
But when he tried imbuing the skill with the final Fragnt he was shocked. The surprise didnt co from the fact that the defensive fragnt entered the Spirit Tool effortlessly. After all, if the Dao of the Coffin didnt fit this Spirit Tool, then nothing would. The surprise ca from sothing else.
The Fragnt of the Coffin had evolved.
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