NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 1028
<1028 – Master of Darkness (6)>
As Zhuang reached out to take out Oknodie, the atmosphere turned so tense that it felt like energy was prickling at my skin.
Zhuang stopped mid-motion and looked around cautiously.
It seems like pulling it out will cost me my life.
Could I do it in one breath?
What if Oknodie and I both end up getting torn apart?
– Senior.
– I got it.
The instructor had personalized the talisman techniques learned under Professor Red Mountain in his own way.
Activating the runes imprinted on his body in a specific order would transmit a wave through his fists or feet to be released into the surroundings!
With a single stomp on the ground, the combined technique of martial arts and talisman magic struck Oknodie lying beneath the dimensional tent.
“It’s an evocation. Hit it!”
In priestly garb, the Celestial Observer shook the ritual tool vigorously.
Face-masked royal guards rushed in like a swarm of bees, launching a barrage of sword strikes.
Facing sword energies comparable to Sing’s sword dance, Zhuang steeled himself.
I can’t catch all of them.
I might die.
No, I’m pretty much guaranteed to die.
Dodging is easy enough.
But then Oknodie would get badly hurt or killed.
‘My mentor was right.’
Ryungnosa said it long ago.
Emotions are the assassin’s weakness.
An assassin who can’t shake off their emotions will eventually be killed by them.
Zhuang felt his feet caught by friendship.
But why, for some reason, does that not feel so bad?
Perhaps it’s because he realized something.
He considered the time spent with friends who acknowledged and understood each other to be more valuable than the entirety of his life, less than two years.
“Live well, Oknodie. Even for my sake.”
As Zhuang prepared for a tearful sacrifice, something touched his back.
It was something very slippery, big, and heavy.
Zhuang’s eyes widened.
What on earth is this?
An enemy attack?
But it didn’t seem lethal or menacing at all.
It wasn’t even something an assassin would do.
In reality, it wasn’t an enemy attack at all.
To be more precise, it was an enormous neck.
“Shaaa!”
“Cough.”
The neck smoothly coiled around Zhuang and then flung him away.
It was so quick that he was barely able to regain his balance before smashing into the wall surrounding the garden.
Feeling the shock on his leg with his hand, Zhuang observed what had thrown him.
“Hydra…?”
There was the Mini Hydra.
Though not as large as the adult Hydra, it had grown enough to be called a child Hydra.
━━━
<Wave Technique of Growth>
<Target – Mini Hydra>
━━━
The secret was simple.
The mentor of Professor Red Mountain had noticed the presence of the Mini Hydra and succeeded in striking with his wave technique.
True to being a legendary raid boss monster, the Hydra absorbed the sword energies with its body and some of its heads snarled at the incoming strikes.
“Can it do that…?”
“A monster. An out-of-spec monster!”
“Don’t panic. We have the Celestial Observer’s power!”
The valiant charge of the masked royal guards bore little fruit.
The Mini Hydra had already latched onto Oknodie, soaking up a plenty of pure Dark Mana.
With its stunted growth now supplemented by the art of growth, its weaknesses were all but filled in.
“Shaaa!”
“Shssss!”
“Tsutsutsu!”
Amidst the rampant actions of the Hydra, which absorbed mana below a certain level without harm, the Boss Monsters fiercely charged.
-I don’t know where it came from, but thanks to it, I survived!
-That Hydra… not bad for a snake-head!
-Hah! We won’t lose either.
Suddenly, the fierce Boss Monsters were acting friendly!
The Hydra’s morale dropped drastically.
It was terrifying enough that the adults with scary faces were acting familiar.
Titosodra inherited none of Oknodie’s guts and all of Titosoga’s weakness!
But kids are supposed to be scared anyway.
Being young means being weak, both in body and spirit.
Just growing bigger doesn’t mean you become an adult overnight.
“Ugh, these pesky ones! How dare you torment Uwudra! I can’t forgive you!”
Fueled by rage, Oknodie, tangled in the dimensional tent, quickly rewrote the coordinates of the dimension and sprang to her feet.
‘Huh? I feel like I saw a brush-like thing through the dimensional tear Oknodie just opened.’
Zhuang recalled a bragging statement from Titosoga long ago.
– So, if you draw on the soul canvas with a brush, it can change the instinctual soul stages of other dimensional creatures?
– But Oknodie says not to enter when she’s not around. The Soul Sculptor might repaint our souls!
Back then, he thought that the two were enjoying such sweet, private fun without him. But looking back now, it had a chilling aspect.
Learning and acquiring Domain Expansion means imprinting one’s existence onto the surrounding space, the local area, the world, and tampering with those souls is akin to erosion.
This is an erosion-type Domain Expansion.
Moreover, it’s a very sharp and precise domain made into the form of a brush.
It signifies that the brushes of Soul Sculptors possess a concentration as terrifying as that of a swordsman’s sword.
They say that crossing dimensions means gradually being chased by the Soul Sculptors, and could it really be that every time Oknodie opened a dimension, those pursuing her came so close?
Despite being caught in a situation akin to sealing one of Oknodie’s key techniques, she remained unfazed and undeterred.
━━━
<Wave Technique of Growth>
<Target – Boss Monster>
━━━
Rather, she had borrowed the instructor’s magic formula to spur the growth of the Boss Monsters sent by Professor Red Mountain once again.
Upon witnessing the scene, the Celestial Observer nodded and sent a spirit toward the instructor.
“Why only me?!”
The instructor, wasting no time with excuses, executed a strategy reminiscent of the rapid growth meta of the Plant Club, living up to his status as a graduate.
He hurled dolls left and right while casting the Wave Technique of Growth, causing the souls trapped inside the dolls to roar with joy, breaking free from barriers.
As the souls from wooden dolls and the goblins from paper dolls engaged in a fierce battle, the Celestial Observer’s additional attacks continued.
━━━
<Day and Night Alteration>
<Moon Shadow Locking Soul>
━━━
A massive energy entity burst forth from the Celestial Observer’s sleeve, casting darkness across the pristine sky, with a yellow moon rising to the apex of the night sky.
The shadows cast by the moon ensnared the legs of the Boss Monsters.
“If I can impose my logic upon the world, then why cannot I change day and night and expose the suicidal impulses in the hearts of others? Your fears will bring you to your knees.”
Under the ruthless technique of the Celestial Observer, all corporeal Boss Monsters found their movements seriously hindered.
Compared to the bizarre powers of the shadows and the terrors of the other-worldly creatures that aligned with it, the monsters from the western region found themselves immediately cornered.
“Shaaa!!”
The young Hydra was getting hammered with concentrated attacks from the bound Boss Monsters.
Still young, the willpower to face the crisis of the child Hydra was weak, so its fear was the strongest, and thus the binding power of the shadows was also the most intense.
In response, Oknodie once again unleashed the Wave Technique of Growth from the instructor.
However, this time, the target struck by the technique was different.
━━━
<Wave Technique of Growth>
<Target – Strange Creatures in the Masks of Royal Guards>
━━━
This was a tactic conceived on the spot by Oknodie after seeing how many dolls had grown to break their barriers.
If an entity trapped inside a well-crafted barrier grows wildly, it will break, so what happens when the strange creatures trapped in masks grow uncontrollably?
The result unfolded right before their eyes in real time.
“Goooaah!”
“They’re out… finally, from the masks.”
“Regained freedom…!”
The odd-looking creatures rejoiced as they broke free from their mask constraints and savored the taste of freedom.
Thanks to that, the Boss Monsters who had been weighed down by the shadows lost their strength, and the confused royal guards were instantly overwhelmed, turning several into blood cakes in no time.
As the previously tense battle quickly tilted, the balance was turned upside down.
“Truly troublesome. That needs to be eliminated.”
The Celestial Observer slammed the ritual tool into the ground with all his might, triggering an instant barrier.
A gargantuan mask rose from the ground to prevent the freed creatures from expressing their malice toward the Celestial Observer and his underlings.
━━━
<Celestial Observer – Mask Domain>
<Effect: Those trapped in the mask are deprived of freedom.>
<Effect: Those wearing a mask utilize the power of the beings within.>
━━━
As the mouth of the mask that had risen from the ground tried to engulf him, the instructor jumped in indignation.
“Why am I being attacked when Oknodie is the one causing all the dangerous stuff?!”
“Isn’t it more likely that you create a distraction and unleash your spells discreetly than believe in blatantly mimicking allies’ spells?”
From the Celestial Observer’s perspective, Oknodie’s actions seemed like lip-syncing or bluffing as he was unaware of her talents.
Just as the senior, feeling wronged, shouted “Argh!” and flailed his arms in the air, Oknodie slyly released the <Wave Technique of Growth>, turning the wind into a storm that engulfed the Celestial Observer.
“Looks like you were hiding your skills. I will now use my full power. You will become part of my mask collection.”
“Uwaaaa! Oknodie, you trash!!”
Zhuang, watching from the side, thought that this was a bit too harsh on the senior instructor.