Floating Islands: SSS Gacha Lord-Chapter 362 - Terra Pulse Annihilation
[You have successfully triggered: Terra Pulse Annihilation.]
[Skill unlocked: Epic - Terra Pulse Annihilation (Active Skill).]
[Condenses multiple Earth source elements into a compact magnetic charge. The charge erupts on contact, producing a destructive radial wave of geomagnetic force.]
Atlas clenched his teeth and shouted as the Magnetic Earth energy coiling wildly in his hands felt as if it wanted to pull his arms in and slice them apart, forcing them to merge with the sphere itself.
He hurled the magic sphere toward the monster.
The magic sphere moved in a wild path, glowing with a bright golden light, like a miniature sun streaking through the air. The sphere curved slightly near the edge of the monster’s jaw before slamming into its neck.
Atlas floated there, and in that moment where time seemed to halt, he could clearly see the magic sphere drawing closer to the creature’s neck. It was as if its force pulled the surrounding area inward and twisted the monster’s skin.
The magic sphere then surged forward and sank into the monster’s neck, followed by a burst of blinding light.
In that brief instant, Atlas saw the twelve crystal shards detonate and shoot through the monster’s entire body.
A massive explosion erupted!
Atlas could not hold himself and was thrown backward at incredible speed, so fast that he lost all control.
At that moment, someone caught him, and they were both sent flying together afterward.
What followed was a violent tumble as they crashed into the ground again and again until they hit the earth with a final heavy impact.
But there was one thing that brought Atlas a sense of relief. A system message appeared before him.
[You have killed Epic - Ionspire Devourer Lv. 215]
[You received 16,900,961 Exp]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[Level 152]
[Exp: 773,588/3,610,676]
**
The storm and the lightning surprisingly calmed in the area where their intense battle had taken place. It was still raining, but not as wildly as before.
Atlas found himself sprawled on the ground, his entire body soaked and covered in mud. He sat beside a girl with red hair, also coated in dirt.
Serenith looked at Atlas and then burst out laughing.
"My lord, look at your face. It is covered in mud," she said while laughing.
"I should have brought a mirror so you could see your own face too," he replied.
Atlas reached out to fix the strands of hair covering the girl’s face and gently wiped the mud from her cheeks.
"Thanks for catching me in time."
She kept laughing softly. "It was very exciting. My blast was fun to fire, but your new skill was also very satisfying to watch."
Atlas remembered that in that critical moment he had managed to create yet another skill.
Terra Pulse Annihilation.
And although its name suited how it annihilated the enemy, charging the skill and holding it together felt like it was annihilating Atlas as well afterward.
In that moment, Serenith ran her hands over both of Atlas’s arms.
"We need to treat these wounds right away, my lord."
Only then did Atlas realize how heavy his arms felt. The injuries were severe, the muscles torn apart, and the pain should have been intense. But after being struck by so many lightning attacks earlier, much of the pain had been drowned out.
A short while later Edrik landed near them, breathing hard with his hand pressed against his mouth.
Atlas looked at the man, then stood up while also helping Serenith to her feet.
"What about the core?" he asked.
Edrik stepped forward and held out both his hands, showing an object the size of a baseball, glowing with a deep blue light and still crackling with energy.
"We managed to get it, my lord. This is lucky, because even a Monster Core only has a fifty percent chance of staying intact after the creature is killed. And the higher the monster’s grade, the smaller the chance. Consider this a thirty percent win."
Atlas nodded slowly. "Good. Edrik, keep the core. I am sure we still need four more like that."
He said it with an awkward smile. The truth was that they would need to kill at least four more monsters, and that was only the best case. In the worst case, they might need to fight ten more, if possible at all.
"Well, good news. I leveled up thirteen times on this island alone," he added.
They then returned to their hiding area, with Dullorak working as hard as always to protect them from any outside threat.
He brought out one of his heads, the head of a long-haired blonde woman with a youthful face framed by a soft golden aura. The contrast was intense. This strange creature, Dullorak, suddenly looked like an angel descending to earth when using that woman’s face.
"My lord... your wounds are not too severe," he said in an incredibly gentle, soothing woman voice, "yet your muscles need time to recover. The inner strain is deep, so allow your body to rest so the fibers may mend in full harmony." He spoke softly as his hand touched Atlas’s arm.
Edrik watched and rubbed his forehead. "Can you please do that with a male face, Dullorak?" he said.
Dullorak turned to Edrik and replied, "This head alone carries the grace needed for such healing. You need not worry, for this is the form of a Luminous Priest, a priest blessed with Light Affinity by the heavens, and it is through this vessel that divine comfort may be given."
He turned back to Atlas and smiled with radiant warmth. Atlas simply took a long breath and looked away from this woman... or man... or whatever... this undead headless being with thousands of heads!
Atlas felt a strange kind of comfort that was also very uncomfortable as the radiant energy sank into both his arms. The touch of Dullorak’s fingertips made it even worse, because for some foolish reason those fingertips looked like the delicate fingers of a graceful woman, glowing with an angelic aura.
If this continued, Atlas might actually forget that the being in front of him was a headless undead.
After some time, the process finally ended. Dullorak stood up, placing both of his hands before him like an actual angel, behaving the part completely.
"My lord... let us give thanks to the heavens, for the blessing of light has flowed true. The divine glow has guided your torn strength back into harmony, and the threads of your flesh now rest under holy protection."
However, it seemed that no one cared about anything this headless undead was saying, because all of them immediately went back to their own tasks. Atlas did the same, quickly slipping into his tent.
**
Just one night... Only one night of rest was all they had, because the next morning they had to continue again. The hunt was not over.
This time they stood at the edge of a cliff, facing the wide open forest stretching before them, with storms of lightning filling their view.
There was something that caught their attention clearly. Something... a streak of lightning shooting in all directions.
But after watching it more closely, it seemed less like lightning and more like... a flying creature. A bird-like monster soaring through the sky with wings crackling and beating at incredible speed.
Their target this time was a flying bird monster.
Atlas swallowed hard. This would be even more difficult.
