Chapter 261 C261. Mind Guidance.
"You both seem confused. Don't worry, I'm no longer a member of the Zorak family and I do not possess their innate ability, hence why I'm here."
"That's impossible! If that's the case, how the hell are you doing this!? That ability belongs to the Zorak family alone, no one should possess it outside of the family."
Hearing the Zorak duo angrily state the obvious in a panic, Z deemed it necessary to enlighten them. He hated the thought of being associated with that family anymore and needed to correct their misconceptions.
"Hmm... this is only a projection from one of the souls trapped inside the Gauntlet of Haze, and even with such a powerful magic crystal powering it, I can only use a fraction of its power, but don't worry. This is more than enough to finish this. Hope you're both prepared to die."
Confusion filled the eyes of the pair as the violent winds that spun around Z suddenly gusted out with a force that sent them flying back a few meters but that was not the end.
The rapidly rotating winds continued to spin around them with increasing intensity as they created a dome in a radius of about a hundred and fifty meters, trapping them within a secluded world of wind inside the dangerously spinning walls of air. It was as though they had been trapped in the eye of a storm.
The gravity increased rapidly, the air became thinner, the mana essence was lesser and not even light could not penetrate through the spiraling wind walls of the dome.
Basically, everything they were used to was rapidly being stripped from them. Effectively lowering their combat abilities unless they could counter the domain ability with another domain of equal strength.
The Tempest Realm was the innate ability of the Zorak family that created an isolated world of wind within the dome and anyone caught within it would be unable to escape, including spiritual or conceptual entities as the user had absolute dominion over that realm.
Within this dome was a world where the laws of reality were only a subjection and could be stripped down as per the user's capabilities. Of course, such a powerful skill required a lot of life and soul energy and depending on the amount of energy used determined how powerful the Tempest realm was.
This was the trump card of the Great Five for a reason after all. It was amongst the five strongest abilities ever recorded in the demon continent. This was not something they— who were already at a disadvantage as their main attack method had been sealed— could handle on their own.
'This is bad! This is bad! We're dead.'
Although the situation was dire, anyone that had crossed the threshold of mortality should've been able to tell that the pressure enforced by this Tempest world was unstable but that was not the case for Levant as he had gone pale in despair.
His was not a thought process an actual demigods should behave even when he was unable to sense the unstable nature of the powerful innate ability that was being used.
However, the fact that it was being used by a weaker opponent should calm him down as demigods were insanely hard to kill even by stronger opponents due to multiple lifesaving skills and items they had awaited.
Yet, his mind was flooded with negative thoughts that could drive lesser men to the brink of madness and he didn't know what to do.
This was because, everything so far had gone as Zomatsu had willed it and as a perfectionist, he allowed no room for error.
The moment he had touched Levant earlier had decided his victory. The crystallization skill he used had only been a bluff as that skill could not even hold a weaker opponent much less a Demigod.
He had only played it off as a dangerous skill while he stealthily used mind manipulation in guiding the thought process of Levant even though that ability also didn't have a high probability of success on a stronger opponent.
This was why he had continuously talked down to them from the start, effectively breaking down their confidence until the possibility was high enough and then, he used probability correction to perfect his chances.
He was not one to rely on luck so everything had to go according to plan and he went out of his way to make sure of it. Slowly putting Levant in the right state of mind to execute the final step to his plan.
•Sub skill - Pressure Press•
In an instant, both parties couldn't move as the air pressure in the dome of wind was suddenly multiplied several folds. It was currently even strong enough to crush a man but it could only restrict them because they had been distracted.
•Sub skill - Corrosive Wind•
•Dark Flames - Dark Meteoric Fall•
The moment he used another sub-skill of the tempest realm domain, the air around Levant and Brethal began to corrode their skin, causing them to be paralyzed for a moment as the tempest realm began to collapse.
This was only a copy of the real ability and thus it could not be used for long and was incredibly unreliable.
However, this was expected as Z immediately used another skill as the dome of spiraling winds disappeared. An absurdly massive ball of black flames suddenly burst through the clouds as it came crashing down on Levant in a devastating explosion that annihilated everything in its wake.
*Boom!
Naturally, Brethal was caught in the blast as well and it swallowed both of them. Even demigods could not defend against the flames of absolute destruction when their defenses had been carefully broken down and also paralyzed by corrosion.
In the end, Z had fought and single-handedly defeated two demigods without taking single damage.
The massive explosion covered a radius of more than a hundred meters and he had to teleport to the edge of his anti teleportation barrier to escape it. Any second later he would've been caught in the blast as well.
Taking a look to the side, he could see Captain Cresil and Tarka wrapping up their scuffle with the remainder of the undead army with Tarka using support magic on the hobgoblins who fought skillfully and as a well-coordinated group.
The Kobolds moved swiftly around the battle setting traps for the beast riders who were the hardest for the hobgoblins to deal with. Cresil was also impressive as he fought on the front line shattering an undead with every swing of his ax.
At the rate they were going they should be done with the battle in a few minutes so Z thought he would bide his time until then. He needed to teleport them back after all.
Teleporting back to the massive crater to confirm his victory, he noticed Brethal, the female demigod— had barely survived his attack. She was completely burned black and the flames were still burning but she was still alive.
Demigods were really hard to kill especially when they were not the direct target of your attack. There were also very few attacks that could even damage them and if it hadn't been for lord Ty's genius, he would not be capable of this.
The plan was to kill both of them while Nessi would attempt to capture Noual but this outcome wasn't bad either. He was confident Nessi wouldn't be defeated by Noual no matter what item he had on him but the same was not the case for defeating him.
He had instructed her that if she could not capture him without killing him, she should at least leave his body intact so resurrection could be used on him as anyone killed by dark flames could not be revived or reincarnated.
This was why he was surprised to see her still alive. It seems she had a regeneration skill that was keeping her alive even against the flames of destruction but that was fine as Nessi no longer needed to hold back.
"Thought Communication."
He quickly activated a communication scroll and contacted her to end her fight with Noual immediately or lure him back here so they could finish him off together but she insisted she was fine.
Z didn't bother with that line of thinking anymore as he returned his attention to the two demigods laying on the ground lifelessly with one of them dead.
He then moved to where Levant's charred corpse was and retrieved the glimmering item stuck on one of his fingers.
Most of his pieces of equipment had been burnt to ash and that was the only item that had survived the dark flames. They were not ordinary items and may prove useful to Lord Ty.
The moment he pried the ring off the corpse, the entire corpse turned to dust as though the ring had been the only thing keeping his body intact.
"How unsightly."
While he had been a scout and would normally investigate things like this, he didn't particularly enjoy it but this time he had no choice but to retrieve the item himself as tasking someone else with this task would be an insult to his pride.
Observing the unremarkable ring in his hand, Z sighed with disappointment as he appraised the item. It was indeed a magic artifact but only a special grade one and did not have any useful effect that could benefit his master.
If anything this was only an item that was specifically made for degenerates like the idiot who previously owned it.
Still, Z decided to show the item to his master just in case. Even if he could not see any value in it, there was a chance his vastly superior master would be able to use it in his numerous plans.
"Y-yo-you... who- who are you. How- can this be..."
Turning his head to the side, Z was surprised to see Brethal's body being restored after the dark flames had been extinguished. Her healing skill was certainly better than he had originally thought. That miscalculation was most likely due to his lack of interest in this situation after defeating them.
"I was formerly known as Zomatsu Zorak, but that was in the past, I am now Z, a vassal of the demon king."
"Demon K-king? Y-you're crazy... Noual... Noual will make you pay for doing this to me, he'll come for me soon, you'll see..."
"I highly doubt that."
*Boom!
As though on cue, two figures crashed into the greater they were in and only one of them stood up as the other lay lifelessly in the ground.
Brethal struggled to turn her head to face the crash as a glimmer of hope shined in her eyes. However, that hope was quickly crushed as the figure that emerged from the dust revealed itself to be the beautiful rogue with an oversized swords and glowing eyes.
"Y-you bitch, what- what did you do my Noual."
Nessi ignored the struggling Brethal as he dragged the male corpse of Noual towards Z.
"Seems everything went well. Were you hurt by any means?"
Z asked bluntly as Nessi tossed the body of Noual towards the screaming Brethal and shook her head at Z's question.
"No, I'm fine. But he did break my bra strap and I can't fix it, I think master will be angry with me."
At this point, even the screaming Brethal had paused as they were both at a loss for words. They just stared blankly at the serious Nessi, not comprehending what she was talking about.
Taking a closer look at her outfit, it seems there was a cut by her left shoulder which had snapped her bra causing her to snap at Noual as she considered her garments a gift from her master as it was created by his energy at her birth and thus damaging it had offended her.
Normally, such an item could not be destroyed as long as she was still alive but the skill Noual had used had prevented her from even restoring it meaning it would be permanently damaged.
Apparently, that had been the loud explosion they had heard earlier and she had just gone berserk and killed Noual before he even knew what was happening.
Hearing that absurd story had been even more of a blow to Brethal who could colon get retain her consciousness as all her mana was finally exhausted.
In the end, Z had ended up relying on luck as she had killed Noah long before his battle ended so it Brethal had not survived, he would've failed his mission.
'I didn't calculate how dangerous damaging a bra could be.'