Chapter 169 - An Immovable Object
The figure of the large Blue Dragon shining resplendently in the dark waters moved like a blur of light as its sharp claws that were enhanced by the [Water Sword] style glistened dangerously. The target was a large Megalodon that was rushing towards them with spears of darkness around it.
The two Red Dragons summoned from {Primal Conjurer} and the two Anglerfish summoned from [Creatures of the Deep] moved in conjunction with Noah, their thoughts in sync as deadly attacks landed on the humongous undead that was halted for a few seconds.
BOOM!
These were attacks from five Mythical beings, with Noah being boosted by a large number of skills at the same time. The seconds were passing down as the hands of the Saint of Death began trembling with cracks spreading throughout. Even keeping the undead still for a few seconds took a huge toll.
The targeted Megaladon had its remaining bones and muscle torn apart as attacks from multiple Mythical figures landed on it, with Noah finishing it off by blasting another destructive Dragon's Breath.
VOOM
In a few seconds, one of the Mythical Undead Creatures was dead as two skill books appeared in Noah's largest storage item, the [Sea Pearl]. Noah used another skill on the undead figure's corpse as he grasped for straws, it was [Memory Plunderer].
He kept Barbatos's amused glance in his sight as he moved towards the nearest undead creature while learning and absorbing the two skill books that appeared and keeping another portion of his attention for the memories of Barbatos' undead creature..
[Gigantification] :: You can increase the size of your body up to three times. Physical Damage, Defense, and Elemental Resistances are increased by 500%.
[Hydrokinesis] :: You touch upon a high domain of water, bring able to exert a tremendous amount of control over it.
The skills appeared in his stat panel as he activated them right away while heading towards an undead Skeleton Warrior who had already broken out of the momentary control from the Saint of Death. He cast the new skills he gained right away while using [Hydrothermokinesis] and [Hydrocyrokinesis] to rapidly heat up and cool the sea around his target, watching the tough bones break apart by the rapid cooling and heating.
The newly gained [Hydrokinesis] allowed him to exert even more control over the sea around him as he felt the restrictions placed by Barbatos begin loosening the moment it was activated. He was able to breathe easier as [Gigantification] finished casting, a stupendous change occurring to his Blue Dragon form.
The resplendently shining dragon wearing a striking crown was now three times as large as before, the figure approaching more than 30 meters. This was such a ridiculous size that vortexes of water began forming as Noah's figure moved across, eclipsing everything around him.
The figure of the small Barbatos had her mouth spread wide open as she looked forward with surprise. Noah reached the Mythical Skeleton Warrior hoisting a large blade that was now less than half his own size as he used his tremendously sharp claws to grasp the head of the undead...and squeezed down.
SQUELCH
Sounds of bones breaking rang out as the stupendously large Blue Dragon used its claws to rapidly tear apart the Mythical Undead in a few seconds, two more skill books appearing in his Sea Pearl as [Memory Plunderer] was used on this Skeleton Warrior too. His eyes that were always watching Barbatos found this dangerous Ruler clicking her lips and snapping her fingers as yet another one of her pets fell to Noah.
"Now it's no fun if you keep on taking down my little babies. Since you seem so fond of bullying others, lets see how you like it."
Noah began to feel a tremendous force rush out of the figure that was barely 2 meters, the area around them constricting even more as his Mythical Summons began to feel their bodies crack under the pressure. The Saint of Death was long ago ground into dust as the skill Barbatos cast, Death's Domain, remained in effect.
The pressure surrounding Barbatos increased as she pointed her fair hands in the air, and a force erupted out from the space in front of her. Noah watched as a blazing ball of golden mass began forming and expanding rapidly, soon reaching 10 meters as its size continued to increase.
Noah watched in surprise as he saw a sun forming in the sea. The water was bubbling and being evaporated rapidly as the entire sea churned, the golden mass of heat and flames becoming larger and larger until it soon surpassed Noah in size.
"Here's a little something for you to enjoy, little fish."
VOOM
The tremendously hot mass of golden flames began moving towards Noah and his summons locations as the sea around them constricted even more, his [Hydrokinesis] skill barely alleviating the pressure that this peak PHANTASMAL Demon Ruler was letting out.
He found himself unable to move as an encompassing sun went towards his way.
His mind moved at high speeds as he tried to find alternative ways to defend himself, and he made a drastic choice to use something he hadn't tried too many times before as he found a possible avenue to follow. The unique skill, {Spiritual Land Management} , was used as the Frozen Plateau Spiritual Land that was always anchored to his body pushed out the seawater, and grandly appeared beneath his feet.
The Spiritual Land covered him and his summons as they escaped the sea and found themselves in the skies of the Frozen Plateau, the many Legendary beasts residing in the Spiritual Land looking in the air as a tremendous source of energy rushed towards them. An [Emperor Penguin] had crackles of silver light around its body as it itched to go out and fight itself.
Noah didn't even think of letting the Legendary ranked beasts that now neared more than 15 out, as they would be killed the moment the attacks of Barbatos or her minion landed on them. His mind worked fast as he used a feature of the Spiritual Land that hadn't had much usage before, [Frozen Barrier].
Runic sigils quickly erupted around the Spiritual Land as they connected and formed into a huge net, soon wrapping the entire land in its entirety as a blue shield covered the floating landmass that just expanded below the sea.
The Frozen Plateau Spiritual Land stood grandly in the dark waters, the freezing blue shield encompassing it seeming stronger than anything in the world. The attack that was a literal blazing sun neared the protected Spiritual Land, and an impact occurred.
BOOM!
Chapter 170 - Barbatos
The feature of [Frozen Barrier] that came with the Spiritual Land being upgraded to the third tier provided absolute defense for any attacks of the Legendary rank and below. It didn't matter if it was a single Legendary individual or hundreds attacking the Spiritual Land, as long as the one minute of defense did not run out, no attacks would bypass into the Spiritual Land.
This was because the energy the Spiritual Land could provide to keep up this barrier exceeded any damage that Legendary ranked individuals could inflict, thus it could be called an absolute defense. But in the case a being at the Mythical or Phantasmal rank was raining down attacks on the [Frozen Barrier], what would happen?
The energy that the Spiritual Land could provide would not be able to keep up with the damage being dealt, and naturally, not even a minute would need to pass before the [Frozen Barrier] would be broken through.
But then came an anomaly. What if the concept of energy was trivial to the master of the Spiritual Land? What if enough energy could continue to be provided to the [Frozen Barrier] as it continued to defend against the attacks of a Phantasmal ranked monster?
Noah's draconic figure shone resplendently as the blue crown atop its head released airs of majesty. His figure was anchored to the ground of the Spiritual Land as he used his authority as its master to reinforce its energy reserves that it was using to keep the [Frozen Barrier] active.
More than half of the essence that would normally be allocated to casting and maintaining [Frozen Barrier] for the 1 minute was gone the instant the blazing sun landed on the Spiritual Land.
Noah was like an endless spring though, as this energy was so
on filled up again a second later, with the [Frozen Barrier] holding strong.
Yes. This was Noah's biggest gain that he had not needed to explore or use before. A barrier that provided Absolute defense when faced with anything in the Legendary rank, but the energy reserves to keep it active for its full one minute would be drained if attacks from higher-ranked beings came.
With the problem being mana, Noah was the perfect solution. This meant that with the usage of [Frozen Barrier], a feature of the Spiritual Land that could be used once every 24 hours and only lasted 1 minute, it was 1 minute where absolutely no attacks would come through into the Spiritual Land.
The only possibility for it to be broken through was if an insanely powerful attack of multiple higher ranks came which instantly shattered the barrier, unlike Barbatos's attack that drained more than half of the allocated energy.
But this weakness would also be fixed as the Spiritual Land was upgraded into the next tier. If its container continued to increase, it would be able to better handle attacks that drained even more energy.
Noah looked at the blazing ball of fire that had exploded out and formed into snakes of fire that surrounded the Spiritual Land. Mana was leaving from his body and into the Spiritual Land like water flowing down a waterfall, the [Frozen Barrier] continuing to be kept reinforced as the 1 minute was now 50 seconds.
50 seconds, and he had to figure out how to escape this ordeal within this time. He didn't know if Barbatos would get serious and rain down attacks that could break through his defense the moment that the 50 seconds ended.
Even now, he could pick up her playful voice that seemed to have found the most curious thing in the world.
"Woah, you have your own isolated space treasure? Those are rare~"
Her voice was nonchalant, but her attacks weren't, another blazing sun appearing in the quickly boiling and evaporating seawater as it went towards the Spiritual Land once more.
Noah kept the seconds counting down in the back of his mind as he thought of ways to get past this. The memories he had plundered from the Megalodon and the other Mythical undead Skeleton Warrior he took down flowed in his mind rapidly as he focused all his attention on putting [Though Acceleration] on overdrive.
He already knew Barbatos from Orias and Gremory's memories, understanding a little bit about her and her powers. He knew her unique and ultimate skills, which made him even more apprehensive towards her as he tried to keep fear from bursting through.
The blazing suns she was throwing towards the Spiritual Land was just one of her unique skills, this one being called {Hellish Enforcer}. Noah continued to peruse through all the memories from the two Rulers he had killed, as well as the Mythical Undead he had just taken down to see if there was anything he could use to get out of this.
Space continued to be locked down, and he still could not teleport away. 30 seconds remained as another blazing sun exploded and a new one took its place.
"Wow, How much longer can you hide in there little fishy? I'm sure your energy should be close to empty by now. Or will you surprise me some more?"
It was a playful voice that didn't seem to have a care in the world, like it feared nothing and nobody. It feared nothing and nobody…
A blinding light seemed to explode in Noah's brain as this thought came, and he breathed heavily while looking towards the small figure of Barbatos outside. No, that wasn't right. There was somebody that this powerful Ruler feared. Somebody she hated in her bones, and yet she couldn't go against.
Noah went back to his memories as he looked at the interactions of the Rulers of the Demon World and Barbatos. Among the many hundreds of years of memory from the two Demon Kings, the ones involving Barbatos were many. The other Rulers feared her, and there was only one person that she feared.
The Oppressive Tyrant, Baal.
Barbatos was a character that craved destruction and mayhem, earning her the title of World Destroyer. She was unruly and wild, but she was reigned in after a significant battle a few hundred years ago. The one known as the Necromancer of Chaos was beaten down into submission by the most powerful Ruler of the Demon World, Baal.
Ever since then, she could only grit her teeth and follow the commands of Baal like every other Ruler. And from the memories of her Mythical Skeleton Warrior that had been with her for years, Noah knew even more of her thoughts and habits. He knew exactly what this powerful Demon Empress felt about the Ruler standing above her.
He had obtained the memories of the only beings Barbatos surrounded herself with, and putting together these memories as well as the previous ones from the two Demon Kings caused a plan to form in Noah's mind. It was a plan that he would never pursue if it wasn't the last possible way.
He had gone through many things and perused through hundreds of years of memories from multiple beings. The one thing he was confident of was that every single person wanted something. He now possibly had an idea of what Barbatos wanted, and if he could successfully use it to his advantage, this terrible meeting today might not just end with him keeping his life, but with a possibility of something much greater.
10 seconds remained in the activated [Frozen Barrier] as Noah looked at Barbatos who was creating another blazing sun with a surprised expression, as if it was unbelievable that Noah could still keep up his defense against her attacks.
With just a few seconds remaining, Noah spoke towards Barbatos for the first time as he grasped at yet another straw to keep his life after [Frozen Barrier] ended. It was a straw that went directly against his goal of the destruction of demons, while at the same time going towards accomplishing this goal by allowing him to keep his life and even possibly set himself up in a better position.
"Are you still planning to heel under the great Baal's feet, oh Barbatos?"
He spoke in a mystifying manner as his voice resounded out calm and collected, and as it reached Barbatos, he found her smiling expression becoming completely wiped away as her face scrunched up like she had just swallowed the worst food.
Chapter 171 - Scheming using stolen memories!
Her playful tone completely changed as beside the blazing sun already in place, another one began to erupt right after, a deadly cold voice coming out of her fair mouth.
"You just had to go and f.u.c.k.i.n.g ruin my day while I was having fun. I'm gonna rip your limbs and cook them in front of your dying face, little fish."
Her voice was now laced with poison as the blinking green lights around the sea surrounded the Spiritual Land. Her figure carrying two golden suns neared as a terrible aura spread out, the 7th Ruler of the Demon World had now gotten serious.
"I didn't mean any disrespect, and just wondered why you still choose to be under his heel with a power of this level."
Barbatos's figure stopped at these words as the barrier that covered the Spiritual Land began fading away. Noah looked at this as his heart palpitated, and he used [Size Regulation] to return the Spiritual Land to a miniature size while using [Anchor] to attach it on his body yet again.
His large draconic figure appeared in the open waters again as he stared at the now wrathful Barbatos that was carrying two suns. He kept his apprehension inside as he spoke again.
"I can understand your compliance after he thoroughly thrashed you 437 years ago. Yet I don't recall you challenging him ever again after that. The Necromancer of Chaos that I know should have definitely fought for her freedom after all these years. So I was wondering why you would be on his treasure hunt in the Lost World and not relaxing back in the World of the Dead you've been creating."
Noah calmly weaved information that not a single soul besides the Rulers and Barbatos herself should know as he became more and more convinced about the possible success of his plan.
He continued to look through the memories of the Demon Kings as he grasped for any more information he could weave into the bullshit he was spouting out, as well as a way to make the things he said valid.
Barbatos heard his words as her power
erupted out even more powerfully, the two suns she had summoned that were boiling and evaporating all the seawater around them disappearing as her aura became more condensed.
"Who the f.u.c.k are you?"
Noah looked at this as his heart pounded. He observed the violent expression on Barbatos's face as he replied.
"My identity is somewhat special, but it wouldn't matter to the subject at hand. I'll speak more clearly so we can communicate better. What do you think about the idea of taking down the Oppressive Tyrant who has had you underneath his feet for the past 437 years?"
Silence.
The oppressive air that Barbatos released stopped as her face became impassive again.
"You're either batshit crazy or just plain insane to be saying the words you're saying after you've barely survived against my attacks. You think someone like you can even talk to me about that bastard Baal?"
Noah's adrenaline was spiking as it seemed to be going in the direction he wanted. [Thought Acceleration] continued to churn as he grabbed details from more and more memories, especially memories of Barbatos who always spoke to her undead creatures over the years.
They were the only beings that she honestly talked to, and Noah gained the biggest boon from the Mythical Skeleton Warrior that had been with her for years. He hadn't even gotten the chance to look over and learn the two Mythical Skill Books that dropped from the Skeleton Warrior as he rapidly shifted through the many memories.
"I'm sure you've gathered that I am only at the Mythical rank. How do you think it is possible for someone of my level to be standing against you right now?"
"Standing? You will barely be on your feet if I get serious. I'll ask one last time, who the f.u.c.k are you? What world...no, what power do you belong to?"
Barbatos replied quickly as it seemed her patience was running thin, making Noah's mind race as he thought of what bullshit identity he should give out that would give him some standing while using the memories that only her and Rulers of the Demon World were privy to, and put them to his advantage. His mind perused through the many memories as he looked at the larger worlds and powers of the universe, and his eyes shone as he found a perfect one.
Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse c1-705 Page 72