Naomi used another trait of hers, Truly A Savage.
If Barehanded Sage was a trait that made her a grandmaster in high fantasy super Kung Fu while buffing her best stats, then Truly A Savage was a trait that buffed her most willful abilities when she acted like a primal beast of a woman. This was perfect for another new skill she’d gotten from combining Tranquil Mind 3 and Earth-Sky ditation 3.
Naomi chose the berserk ntal state.
The veins on her head pulsated with tension. Her heart drumd louder than a hell orc drumr. Her vitality dwindled faster along with her aura, but that was a manageable price to pay.
She beca the essence of savagery and violence. She refused to let go as the gorilla reached the end of its arm swing. Then, strictly out of spite, grabbed another finger and snapped it backward.
The gorilla staggered in shock. Rarely had anything hurt it so many tis like this, at least in many years.
Angered, the giant gorilla roared and used its healing ability again while raising the hand that Naomi was holding onto toward its face.
The mad cultivator jumped toward gorilla’s eye for a personal strike, but that depended on if Naomi could get past–
The gorilla triggered its Sonic Dash 3 with its Sonic Chomp 3.
Naomi saw a flash of massive teeth with human bones stuck in the gaps as the gorilla’s big mouth zood up. She reacted too slowly before the inevitable ca down like a horrific and unstoppable guillotine.
She felt a flash of pain cutting down on her chest, her Nascent Soul Robe unable to resist, her high-quality bodysuit getting shredded. Her rib cage burst. Her heart ruptured under the point of the gorilla’s monstrous fang. Her vision turned red, then it went dark.
Her energy dissipated, and her body beca lifeless as her blood sprayed across the monster’s teeth and over its tongue. She beca a twisted chew toy, her blood mixing with the gorilla’s drool, as Naomi beca a future addition to the decorations stuck in the gorilla’s fangs like many before her.
The creature smiled with savage glee and turned its red eyes toward the hovering wizard. It wanted to gloat as its mucky and rotten drool turned pinker with the blood of the dead cultivator.
There were two problems with that. A threatening and disturbing presence made the wizard’s outline hazy, unreadable, and horrific.
The gorilla couldn’t help but look away.
Then the gorilla noticed the chewed-up piece of female at twitch before popping back to life, suddenly becoming whole again. Her other mythical trait – the result of combining Battle Maniac, Vitality Monster, and Death Proof – ca in clutch.
𝘳𝒶ℕꝋ𝔟Еṧ
Death was yet another tool for Naomi’s Dao of Power.
While she had less life energy going into this new round, her vitality and mightiness rose sharply to an extre degree. Because of her Nascent Soul Robe, those benefits from her mythical Undying Tyrant trait beca even greater.
All of that stread into her other activated abilities of a physical, ntal, and psychic nature. Like a hyper-charged feedback loop.
And she still wasn’t using her best abilities just yet.
Was this arrogance?
Or was this insanity?
In the sunshine! Under the rain! Hell, you can even die! It doesn’t matter! It’s training ti! Naomi sang in her head.
Catching the King Kong wannabe off guard, the super Marine kicked up with one foot against the roof of the gorilla’s mouth. Then she kicked down with her other leg and perford an insanely strong and perfect split.
She snapped the monster’s mouth open and popped the jaw out of its joints, leaving it hanging.
Before it could recover, Naomi flipped out from its mouth and landed on its chest. The death-defying smile on her face beca even more arrogant as she struck down with a powerful sage-like punch.
She avoided piercing the chest by spreading the surface area through her Psychokinesis 3. That way, it felt like the gorilla took a punch to the chest from a bigger and badder giant.
She felt the sternum break like a column beneath her. She heard the air rushing out of the gorilla’s open throat and hanging jaw as the monster stumbled backward.
Then Naomi landed another big, chest-hamring punch, and then another big punch, and then another and another, laying on more damage than the gorilla could heal at once.
She turned the chest into a shattered and pulped crater, displaying outright dominance on the part of a gorilla that should be the toughest.
Out of desperation, the gorilla struck with a Sonic Slap 3. The vibrating hand ca down right on top of Naomi, regardless of the potential damage to itself.
The cultivator laughed as she straightened with a girlish twist, her hands flourishing upward, her feet pointing downward. Her psychic power contracted to a fine point at the tip of her toes.
The gorilla’s Sonic Slap 3 smacked down on her, eting her upturned hands.
She speared through the demolished ribcage, through its heart, and out its big back. She pulled with her an explosion of blood and viscera like a powerful cross bolt, jettisoning gore in a thick red torrent, which would’ve hidden her away if it wasn’t for her glowing purple robe.
The gorilla staggered in shock as Naomi hit the watery marsh and bounced for a return trip at its back, flying kick incoming.
She struck the base of the gorilla’s spine as it tried to heal the hole in its chest. Sothing snapped, and the gorilla folded backwards slowly, almost like a leaning tower whose supports finally gave out.
By the ti the gorilla’s head reached a slick courtyard floor behind it, Naomi was already there with her arm cocked back as far as it could go. She let herself feel a little more powerful, just a little more, just for extra effect.
Her Primal Huntress Form 3 blew her up in Strength and size, making her eight feet tall, as her black cat features ca out – claws, fangs, ears, and a tail.
Then, as she swung forward with another hand chop, she felt her third new trait activate fully. This one had co from a combination of Juggernaut Hitter, Little Giant, and Physical Freak, which made a sizable difference.
Being a half titan with the Fatal Finisher trait, the Adventurous Breaker trait, and other overlapping abilities was too much for the gorilla. Her hand split the monster’s head in an explosion of chunky brain matter and flying skull fragnts.
The force of the strike was so great that more of her psychic power leaked through like a dull cleaver. She split the neck and the rib cage before the cut beca more of a hamr. Then the remaining force shattered bone, pulped flesh, and made organs pop like giant viscera-filled balloons.
The gorilla’s mutilated body tumbled and splattered across the marshes away from Naomi before flopping like a pile of lifeless at one last ti.
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Naomi stood still. Her mind was filled with joyful wrath and lustful intensity. Her vitality and aura were draining away, still, but she didn’t care. Her tail snapped from side to side while she delved into her nature, her path, as a berserk and power-hungry huntress.
She wanted more. Her Dao of Power wanted her to seek more challenges.
She knew where she could find the ultimate challenge. The challenge wasn’t far.
She snapped her attention upward, her ears turning toward sothing irresistible.
Him.
The Lion Prince.
The son of ultra gods.
Yes, he was perfect.
Naomi let out a deep growl that resounded far in all directions.
She was tempted to push all of her abilities and grow more powerful. She could grow her size and Strength further. She could use Half Ignition for more power. She could sacrifice her vitality and rely on her overt Strength and Agility even if her body tore apart.
She could die again and co back even stronger. She could beco a walking goddess if she burned herself on the combined stake of power, if she gave everything to Even Further Beyond and Second Ignition.
Naomi’s mind spiralled and spiralled as her path urged her.
Yet, she didn’t act as Zarian bumbled over. He brought along his grimoires, his big black magic sword, his parasite kilt, and all of his ridiculousness.
He moved right up in front of her and patted her on the head, between the cat ears, as he kept doing that thing that made him look like the black god of her dreams while being himself.
She hated how handso he’d beco. He had too much muscle going on for a wizard. She almost missed how much scrawnier and scrappier he was last year.
He wasn’t so distracting back then, so hard to be around. Then he spoke, his voice deep and arresting, making her clench her toes with tension.
“There. There. You’re all riled up. And that’s great. But you have to balance that with recovery, too,” he said smoothly.
She growled at him. Attack. Use him for more power!
He smiled at her. “We’ll have more fun later. I just need you to power down for , please?”
Naomi growled again, but softer. Fun?! Is he talking about that ‘type’ of fun?!
Naomi was lucky she started as a psychic with the Psionic Affinity before becoming a cultivator. Her thoughts remained her own when she wanted them to be, putting her mind spider under her control.
That way, she could have her bastard thoughts without feeling embarrassed.
She wanted to say no to him. He kept petting between her ears. She tried not to lean into it. But she did purr, ignoring the heat creeping up her neck and cheeks.
She wanted to entwine her tail with his. Instead, she said, “Aye, sir.”
Powering down, she shrank back to her base human form, dismissed her Nascent Soul Robe, and flipped her Harmonious ditation of Heaven and Hell from berserk to tranquil. She recovered her vitality and aura at the cost of feeling physically and ntally dimd down.
With a decent flex of psychic power, she rose out of the mucky water and stood on the surface.
Then, with a snort, Naomi asked, “You like the view?”
There was a big hole in the chest portion of her bodysuit. The enchanted leather was repairing itself gradually while feeding on her aura.
He frowned. “No, actually. It’s a little awful watching you die while I waited in the back. Thanks for sharing your abilities with or I wouldn’t have waited.”
He might as well pull the rug from under her.
Heart fluttering, she took a split-second to reply. “It’s different letting sothing else kill , huh?”
She was teasing. It was a risk. She hoped he didn’t take it badly. She felt a little worried when he took his ti. Then her worries faded when he smiled.
“Don’t let anyone kill you more than , okay? That’s our thing.”
Order received. Zarian’s kill count of is at three so far. Let none succeed past that.
“Whatever you say, sir.” She felt tempted to use her Primal Huntress Form 3 just for the tail wag.
She glanced at his big lion tail and the large magic sword it held before turning her gaze elsewhere. “What now?”
“Monster wave.” The way he said that with a toothy grin on his square-cut and heartthrob face, while under the shade cast by his wide-brim wizard hat, did unfair things to Naomi – very unfair things.
She tried to pay attention to his words. “There’s a definite big bad boss in this entire area that’s in control of the monsters. The spectral spiders are setting down so trap spells for us, too, while the monsters gathered into ranks. I say in three to five minutes, things are going to get froggy.”
Naomi nodded. She checked her notifications.
YES! She turned to tell Zarian about the results – but a strident and ghoulish scream interrupted her.
She saw shadowy and huge shapes moving in the blocky mist further in the distance. She heard ancient and waterlogged structures fall to devastation against an incoming tide of horrendous monstrosities. She felt heavy waves of killing intent from the latent instincts and primal thoughts that pulsated through the harrowing atmosphere.
“The curses have dialed up in power,” Para said, speaking as a serpent wrapped around the waist, her head serving as Zarian’s buckle. She seed to really like having serpent features. “Sothing, a Master Ranker, no doubt, is acting even harder against us. This area is extensive, too, a region of its own. What could control all of this?”
“Maybe a Region Boss. I’m picking up enough secrets and stories along with details from the spectral spiders that might suggest sothing bigger than a Lair Boss and Dungeon Boss,” Zarian said. “However, I’m running into stronger info blocks now. Heavier obscuring magic in the mist. At least from a distance. Up close, I’m devouring all the profiles and details I can get as the monster wave gets closer.”
Naomi thought about putting aside the Dao of Power stuff. Then she felt a quiver in her heart and pushed forward. It was selfish, but she wanted him to hear about it.
“I got 1 Strength from Dao of Power,” she said.
His void-like eyes, with the faintest glimr of starlight, opened wide. A genuine, happy, and warm smile spread wide across his face.
That smile, the way he saw her for her, his genuine joy for her success were part of why she and the others loved and/or followed Zarian. He didn’t make everything only about himself even though he should. Hell, he made it his mission to spotlight others as much as possible.
I would die for you again and again and again. And she would rise in power as fast and as best as she could to exceed his expectations.
And maybe overpower him entirely.
She could tell he was going to say sothing that would make her heart do back flips. But so motherfucking ass-brain bastard of a monster interrupted him with a tree-trunk size barb of hardened flesh.
It flew far faster than expected, too, catching even Naomi off guard, which pissed her off further.
“Don’t interrupt us,” Zarian growled deeply, mirroring Naomi’s anger while thrusting out his right palm.
She felt sothing leave her, making her a little less than before – the Lion Prince. Then Zarian beca even grander and more magnanimous.
He beca the oga and the alpha to a ridiculous degree.
The giant flying barb t his palm and ricocheted away as if it was a re toothpick flicked at a steel wall.
Naomi was a little shaken up from seeing that because Zarian wouldn’t normally handle big hard stuff straight on. The wraith was one thing, but that barb had more power in it.
That power showed when the barb’s landing blasted up a bunch of temples and trees off in the distance after the deflection.
“What did you do?” she asked, concerned. Please don’t tell he went overboard.
“The Lion Prince plus the 250% skill boost from Overpowered Tis Two,” Zarian said with a grin. “I asserted that this conversation was more important. And it was. So everything’s all–”
The sa arm Zarian had used to deflect the giant barb erupted with a large splatter of blood. The right arm flopped to the side, useless, at least until his vitality and parasite fixed it up. That didn’t go as quickly as it should, though.
The Gator grimoire let out an angry growl while bobbing over the pulverized arm. Morph screeched and made unhappy sounds as it scrambled from side to side behind Zarian’s shoulders.
Naomi looked at the mushed limb before eting Zarian’s eyes. She put on her tough mom/big sister/Staff Sergeant/Lady Instructor face.
“What did we learn?” she asked.
A spark of that old and reckless young man she knew – and also loved – ca to the surface of the handso man-god. “Don’t abuse the Lion Prince or the odds will not be in my favor.”
He ducked his head lower and rubbed his hand behind his neck. “It’s a cheat skill that cos at a heavy price if I fuck up. Also, putting the 250% skill boost from Overpowered Tis Two with the Lion Prince is a bad idea. Even that 250% cos with consequences if overused.”
“Thankfully, it’s not too terrible,” Para said. “I’m able to help fix up so of the damage with vitality’s help. But it’s slow for now, so the consequence factor might last until we rest properly, which we must account for going forward just like Overwhelming Darkness.”
“Oh joy,” Naomi said dryly.
She wanted to hamr the point ho, since they all knew Zarian could be headstrong. She also wanted his opinion on what Dao of Power would do for her in the next one hundred levels to Champion Rank.
But then the monster wave arrived fully as an onrush of tumbling, slithering, roaring horrors in the mist. And a new side quest appeared in gold above their heads.
And just like that, things beca as Naomi wanted, danger hot.
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