On the Endless Bay.
The undead priest was hard-pressed, exhausting every trick in his book to shake off the blue-gold giant that was relentlessly pursuing him.
Yet, no matter how desperately he fled or commanded the Corpse Dragon to spew its acid mist at the blue-gold giant, he could ultimately only destroy one of them.
Taking advantage of the moment the Corpse Dragon turned to exhale its breath, the remaining blue-gold giants rapidly closed in on the undead priest, swinging their hidden hammers laden with frost and lightning.
“Damn it!”
This sight made the undead priest let out a frustrated curse.
He once again commanded his Corpse Dragon mount to flee, shouting sharply as he ran:
“Alec, group up with me! Help me shatter these Divine Art Colossi chasing us first—”
The undead priest's voice cut off abruptly.
This was because, just as he was shouting, his companion, the undead rogue, had just been instantly killed by Leon's combo of slowing, petrifaction, Wind-Whisper Heavy Cannon bombardment, and spear impalement!
He hadn't even had the slightest chance to resist, just like Chester!
“These divine arts...”
Having two of the three undead generals killed in such a short time, leaving only himself alive, sent a sudden chill through the heartless chest of the undead priest.
He stared at the divine arts Leon unleashed, his eye sockets burning with soul fire filled with utter bewilderment.
He did not understand—how could Leon have mastered so many divine arts?
Not only were they numerous, but their ranks and power were not weak either. They were all Gold Rank!
Under normal circumstances, a standard transcendent's advancement from the Bronze Rank to the Gold Rank was a gradual process, and the techniques they mastered progressed accordingly.
For instance, as an undead priest, Bronze Rank divine arts made up the majority of his arsenal, followed by Silver Rank ones, and Gold Rank ones were the fewest.
As for Diamond Rank divine arts that exceeded his current rank, he had only mastered a single super-tier divine art: summoning the Corpse Dragon!
The reason was simply that researching and mastering divine arts was far too difficult.
With the strength and perspective of a Bronze Rank, even the most exceptionally gifted would find it difficult to master a Silver Rank divine art.
Once they advanced to the Silver Rank, the difficulty of studying Silver Rank divine arts decreased.
However, due to talent and the compatibility of different divine arts, even a Silver priest would not dare claim they had mastered most of the Silver Rank divine arts.
Because of this, even as a Gold Rank undead priest, the number of Gold Rank divine arts he mastered was limited. At the very least, it could not compare to the number of Bronze and Silver Rank divine arts he knew.
But... for Leon, it was completely different!
Although the longbow held by the blue-gold giant had undergone some strange transformations, the undead priest could still clearly identify it—this was fucking Radiance Longbow!
But... what kind of Radiance Longbow shoots hammers?!
And what kind of fucking Radiance Longbow shoots hammers that come with stealth, freezing, and lightning paralysis capabilities?!
This goddamn Silver Rank divine art had directly unleashed power exceeding the Gold Rank in Leon's hands. It was simply unheard of!
Even when he accepted the appointment from Burns V and set off from the court, the undead priest had already prepared himself mentally.
He had long heard of Leon's fame across the Dusk Sea and learned that the Holy See referred to him as a once-in-a-century Divine Art genius.
That was why he and the undead rogue had hidden within the undead army, never showing their faces, solely to lure Leon out.
They wanted to gather three undead generals and simultaneously unleash thunderous methods to take Leon down!
But... looking at it now, even with their thorough preparations, they had still vastly underestimated Leon's strength and combat capability!
As a result, they were now paying a painful price for their lack of preparation and their contempt for the enemy!
But...
“This price is worth it!”
The undead priest ordered the fleeing Corpse Dragon to stop, his eyes burning with soul fire as he stared at Leon.
“To possess such combat power at less than seventeen years of age... Your talent will surely become the greatest obstacle to the revival of our Burns Court in the future!”
“What a pity... my strength is meager, and I cannot slay you here today!”
There was no trace of fear on the undead priest's face, nor was there any anger or sorrow over the deaths of his two undead companions.
At this moment, all he possessed was absolute resolve!
He raised his priest's scepter, and the Corpse Dragon along with the remaining undead and specters surged around him like a tide, surrounding him in the center.
They blocked the pursuing blue-gold giants, buying time for the undead priest.
Within this defensive circle, the undead priest violently waved his priest's scepter, channeling the power from his Sea of Mental Power into the scepter like a bursting dam.
Boom!
In the next instant, a grayish-black beam of light shot straight into the sky, visible to every living creature within hundreds of kilometers of the sea!
Leon frowned instantly upon seeing the grayish-black beam of light shooting into the sky.
He did not know what kind of divine art this was.
But with such a massive disturbance, its power would certainly not be weak!
“I can't let him cast it.”
With this thought, Leon shook the Light Spear in his hand, casting off the bones of the undead rogue that were impaled upon it.
Then, Leon took a swift step forward, his figure instantly vanishing from the spot.
In the next second, he broke through the defensive circle formed by the Corpse Dragon and the necrotic army, charging straight in front of the undead priest and thrusting his Light Spear forward violently—
“Hmm?”
Leon let out a soft grunt of surprise as he felt the Light Spear pierce straight into the undead priest's body.
There was not a single ounce of resistance, nor the slightest hindrance.
This was not because the power of the Light Spear was too sharp, but because before the Light Spear even struck him, the undead priest... was already dead!
Thud. Thud. Thud.
With the fall of the undead priest, the Corpse Dragon and the horde of undead surrounding him instantly lost their support. Like alchemical golems with their power cut off, they plummeted from the sky one after another.
The summoned creatures crashed into the ground, smashing craters into the earth as pale bones and rotten flesh shattered and scattered in all directions upon impact.
Immediately after, as the power maintaining their forms dissipated, the remains rapidly decayed and softened, ultimately turning into pools of foul muck that filled the craters.
“He committed suicide...”
Leon flung aside the bones of the undead priest, his brow furrowing even deeper.
He had thought the undead priest's action just now was to unleash some world-ending divine art.
But as it turned out... he had actually just committed suicide?
Or rather, had he used his suicide to cast some kind of necromantic divine art?
However, even with his perception field active, Leon failed to detect any traces of this divine art.
No curse had descended upon Leon, nor had anything unusual occurred.
He even focused his perception on the bones of the undead rogue and the ashes of the necromancer, but detected no signs of any impending resurrection.
“It wasn't an ultimate move, nor was it a 'rise, my champion' kind of resurrection...”
Leon pondered for a couple of seconds. Unable to make heads or tails of it, he quickly put the matter out of his mind.
Whether the undead priest had wanted to use his death to cast a divine art, or had simply intended to shout some dramatic parting words to annoy his enemy before dying, Leon had no intention of wasting too much time on a self-terminated undead priest.
A dead undead priest was of no consequence.
What was important... was opening his panel to settle his experience points and harvest new traits!
The panel displayed:
Divine Art Casting Grade: Excellent
Wind-Whisper Heavy Cannon Experience +28
Wind-Whisper Heavy Cannon Lv1 (78/100) → Wind-Whisper Heavy Cannon Lv2 (6/300)
Close-Range Enhancement Experience +28
Close-Range Enhancement Lv1 (84/100) → Close-Range Enhancement Lv2 (12/300)
After this battle, both the Wind-Whisper Heavy Cannon and Close-Range Enhancement divine arts had upgraded to Lv2!
“The Divine Art Scripture is indeed powerful. The Close-Range Enhancement that I mastered much later actually upgraded at the same time as the Wind-Whisper Heavy Cannon, which I learned long ago...”
A smile appeared on Leon's face.
Slaying three undead generals on this trip, upgrading two divine arts, and testing the upper limits and shortcomings of his current combat power... This was truly winning so hard he was practically numb!
Rate on N.U.
