136. Asura & Hydra

“So, that’s why he’s in a bad mood,” Allan muttered as he watched Rakna walk ahead of them. They had met up a few minutes earlier and Evelyn went on to explain to them what had happened.

“You can tell?” Nyx asked with her hand on her chin. She squinted her eyes and honestly couldn’t find a difference in his expression or behavior.

“You’ll get used to it,” the blond shrugged. “I can tell for sure that’s he’s pissed right now. I guess you can’t blame him if there’s really some guy nagging him inside his head.”

“{Hahaha, I wonder how much the world has changed ever since my death,}” meanwhile, the man in question was, as expected, invading Rakna’s head. “{How is it, Dusk Lioness?}”

“{Huh? Hm. Yeah. Sure.}”

“{A bit more enthusiasm! This is an exciting adventure, is it not? This will make a delightful tale for my next work.}”

‘Fray,’ Rakna intruded.

“{Hm? What is it?}”

‘Shut your mouth and I might just decide not to rip your soul apart.’

“{…aye, sir. My apologies, sir. I am deeply sorry, sir. Please do not kill me, sir.}”

““{You’re already dead,}”” Rakna and Higure retorted at the same time and the author fell silent.

“By the way…” Allan droned and looked uneasily over his shoulder. “Why the heck is this guy still here? Are you going to keep him summoned forever or what?” He asked whilst gazing at the silent Ganymede walking at the back of their group like he had been ordered to.

“Why not,” the therian shrugged. “If I can keep him manifested without cost, there’s no harm in having him here. Additionally, there’s something I’m curious about,” he added after throwing a quick glance at the emotionless face of the star entity.

“If you say so… Anyway, do you want to go to that Dungeon we were talking about?”

“Sure. How far is it?”

“Well, if we go there at our average speed, I’d say we can get there in about three hours. Though you’re probably way faster if you went all the way to us so quickly.”

“True, but I can’t carry you all at the same time…” Rakna trailed and glanced at his two pets. “But before that; you two,” he called and fished out the gold-rarity pills from his storage. “You’re going to eat these. There’s no point in waiting longer than this.”

“What’s that?” Flavia asked.

“This what they got from the random reward box,” Rakna answered and pointed at somewhere in the distance. “Pronos, Tyran, go over there and I’ll throw them to you from here. Fray warned me that you might have an… explosive reaction to this.”

The two creatures nodded and took their distance from the group. When they were far enough, he tossed the Hydra’s Extract and Asura’s Tear to Pronos and Tyran respectively. The two had more than enough reflexes to perfectly catch them in flight before swallowing them.

Instantly, storms of energy erupted from each of them and Rakna erected a GHB shield in front of everyone to block the rather powerful waves of energy. He observed through the barrier as two pillars, one multicolor and the other red and silver, dug holes in the desert.

After a while, the energies died down and the first thing they heard was a mighty roar that even made Rakna shudder at how powerful it sounded. The origin of that roar was obviously Tyran and as he stepped out of the cloud of sand, Allan whistled.

“As if you weren’t scary enough,” he jested.

Tyran was back at full size, still standing at ten meters in height, but his overall appearance had changed greatly. Firstly, his hind legs were larger and his claws seemed to shine as if they were made of steel.

Secondly, his scaly skin became darker and glossier and was crisscrossed by many red lines. His entire body was also accentuated by silver highlights. Thirdly, a row of small yellow spikes went all the way from the top of his head to the tip of his tail.

And lastly, the most prominent change by far; the normally small limbs that every T. Rex normally possessed were now as big as his rear ones, if not bigger. Tyran seemed to be still working on his balance as he walked on all fours for the first time in his life.

“I’m… not sure how to feel about that,” Flavia said with a complicated expression. “It shatters all that I ever pictured about dinosaurs…”

“I think it looks nice. He’s got a dragon-like theme going on,” Allan commented.

“What about Pronos?” Nyx questioned and everyone turned to look at the other dust cloud as it began to disperse. When they were finally able to see the little snake again, their expression just blanked.

The Eion snake had not changed at all. He was still as small as he was when he ate the pill and no new scale color or any additional heads had appeared. The little snake checked himself a few times and ultimately blinked innocently. He made a gesture akin to a shrug and slithered back to his master before snuggling under Sonata again.

“Well… it was a bloodline pill, after all. Not a transformation pill like Tyran’s,” Rakna voiced as he glanced at the little snake already snoozing away. At the same time, the Dreorin also walked back to him and rubbed his head against him.

“Yes, yes,” he said and started petting the large creature, careful to not touch the spikes. At that moment, when his hand came into contact with Tyran’s scales, his eyes narrowed as he saw and sensed a portion of his aura go away like a snuffed-out candle.

“{That is Magic Immunity at work,}” Higure said. “{While Aura isn’t a spell, the mana inside of it can be disturbed by it, which breaks the balance and nullifies the skill.}”

‘Does this mean he can ignore auras whenever he attacks physically?’

“{Pretty much. But I believe there are limits to such immunity. You should take a look.}”

‘Alexa, can you show me the description of every new element Tyran gained?’ He inquired internally.

[Right away.]

❮ ◈ ❯

Magic Immunity: The holder of this trait will naturally neutralize all sorts of external magic touching their body. However, if the strength of the magic is too high compared to the holder’s level, the immunity can be overcome.

Note: Certain magic elements are not impacted by this trait. Additionally, magics that do not affect the holder directly are not concerned. Illusion magic is one of such exceptions.

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Magic Reflection: The holder can reflect part of incoming magical damage at will. How much can be reflected depends on how strong the magic is compared to the holder.

Note: This trait also applies to mind-type assaults. However, be aware that certain types of elements are harder to reflect than others, and magics that use physical mediums to attack are even more so. It also obviously does not nullify the damage of the parts that have not been reflected.

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Magic Detection: The ability to discern the activation of magic and its structure. The holder of this trait can never be surprised by the nature of magics within their perceivable range. They will be able to determine their output, their element, and their effect.

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Magic Eater

A powerful Nirvana Skill befitting of an Anti-Magic Asura. The user is able to eat magic and recover a proportionate amount of mana and stamina.

Furthermore, the magic/spell that is eaten will be stored within the user’s body and magic canals to be cast again at their leisure; with their strength slightly weakened. The mana expenditure will be equal to the original magic’s cost when it was consumed. The number of spells that can be stored at once grows together with the user’s level.

The recorded spells are all one-time uses.

Current Limit: 0/50

Note: The limit is counted in Tier Points.

T.10 spells will equal 1 point. T.9, 2 points. T.8, 5 points. T.7, 10 points. T.6, 15 points. T.5, 25 points. T.4, 50 points. T.3, 100 points. T.2, 500 points. T.1, 1000 points.

Additional note: There is no restriction to the magics that can be eaten. But keep in mind that exceedingly powerful spells, while recordable within this skill, cannot be fully stopped and still puts the user at risk.

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Anti-God

The bearer of this title is the ultimate nemesis of Celestials and Divinities. When fighting one, the holder will receive a massive boost.

Effect: 100% increase to all attributes. 200% increase to defense and attack.

❮ ◈ ❯

“Well, you certainly became an incredible threat to all mages out there,” Rakna commented and shared the information with everyone else for them to get an idea of what he could do.

“It’s a terrific ability,” Evelyn said, impressed. “Coupled with his overwhelming physical ability, he just became several times more dangerous.”

“Hey, Tyran, can you eat this?” Rakna asked and invoked Star Hearth. “Neptunia,” he intoned and only spent 90 MP, thanks to his piled-up consumption reduction of 40% from his Soul Core and Magic Circuits, to summon a realistic version of the Sea God’s Trident.

The undead blinked at the trident before opening his mouth. He inhaled loudly and Rakna watched as the construct in his hand turned into small pieces before being sucked in by Tyran.

“How is it? Can you cast it now?”

Tyran pondered for a moment before nodding.

“Do you know how much mana you’d need to cast it?” Once again, he nodded. “Is it 150?” He shook his head. “Is it 90 then?” He nodded. “Interesting… so, you can cast Neptunia in the exact same settings that I did.”

“Do you want us to help him stock up spells?” Flavia offered.

“No, it’s fine. He will steadily fill it on his own. It’s better to let him have space so that he can eat a magic that interests him in the future,” Rakna replied and focused back on the little snake. “Alexa, do the same thing with Pronos’ abilities this time.”

[Understood.]

❮ ◈ ❯

Myriad Poison: One of the deadliest and most feared magics along with Plague Magic and Death Magic. Its basic nature is the same as regular Poison Magic but it has the particularity to ignore all organic defenses.

Even people with godly regeneration skills and immune systems will be vulnerable to it. It is also incredibly resistant to all healing arts.

Moreover, Myriad Poison Magic takes its name from the ability to be able to fuse spells into one. This results in spells that are stronger by several folds but retain the best properties of both ‘ingredient spells’.

Finally, Myriad Poison is deeply connected to the caster’s mind, making it a possibility for the caster to control the symptoms in their victims as well as take control of their mind with neuronic-oriented toxins.

Note: Pronos’ Poison Magic was overwritten by Myriad Poison Magic.

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Nine Lives: Based on the legends of the Hydra slain by Hercules, the Hydra wouldn’t die if all his heads were not severed. On top of that, it was capable of regenerating at a very high pace.

Due to the incomplete awakening of Hydra’s Blood, the holder of this skill will receive a conditional regeneration capability. Whenever they are on the brink of death, this trait will heal them back to full health.

This cannot occur more than once a day. The number of lives will eventually be renewed but only once every six months.

Current number of lives: 9/9

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Living Pool of Fatality: The holder of his trait is a living calamity. Their breath, their blood, their saliva, their skin, all of it can become a lethal weapon through poison. This is a trait that can be regulated by the holder when they do not wish to affect their surroundings.

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Poison Immunity: All poisons and toxins will instantly be rendered useless when entering the body of the holder. For a poison to somehow affect the holder, it would need to be at the same grade of concoctions as Elixirs and Panaceas.

❮ ◈ ❯

“It’s not as impressive as Tyran but the true value of this bloodline will probably show itself when it’s time for him to evolve,” Rakna said and cracked his neck. “That’s enough reading,” he grumbled and summoned his hexagonal barrier again.

He made it hover parallelly to the ground and stepped on it. “Let’s get to that Dungeon already. It would be nice if we could use Evelyn’s new skill but there are too many of us. Tyran, change back to your smaller form, we’ll be riding on this.”

The dinosaur nodded and turned back into a small quadrupedal beast with a ‘poof’. He jumped on the GHB’s barrier and everyone else followed. In the blink of an eye, the barrier encapsulated them all and shot off into the sky.

AhraManyu

Ah, damn, I had forgotten of the 10% reduction of the Magic Circuits... I really have to be careful of those changes.

Anyhow, I wanted to say something, before the purists come at me, let me tell you that Tyran's new appearance will be awkward only if you allow it to be. Don't come at me with arguments about how I 'butchered' T.Rex's, please.

As I always say to people who always nag me about details in a novel; imagination is key. How someone or something looks like, unless described to the very last detail, will always be up to your imagination. So, instead of criticizing it, just imagine it in a way that you like. That's what books rely on most of the time. Half of the world building relies on the reader, not me.

Sorry for those who are absolutely not concerned by what I'm saying and are utterly confused but you'd be surprised to know how many people overly care about this. It kinda relates to the stuff that authors hate the most; plot holes. Sometimes, readers point them out, and if I really messed it up, I'm like "sure, I'll try to fix it, thanks for pointing it out". But there are some supposed 'plot holes' that were actually completely overthought because they forgo their imagination to try and fill it up.

I'm not perfect. I cannot explain to you every single intricacy that exists in every damn chapter. That's why I like comments that theorize about stuff that I either haven't mentioned yet or couldn't mention without making it look like a forced info dump.

But that's enough ranting for today. Don't know why I felt like saying this now. I guess you can call it blowing steam off. I had a rough week. Cheers.