The Innkeeper - Chapter 1244: Major hint
The battle raged in full force as Lex and the other immortals tried to kill each other, right above the floating sea of lava. From afar, those immortals who were watching the fight, full of fear and apprehension, were surprised to see the flow of battle was not what was expected.
Perhaps in lower realms, a person fighting against multiple opponents in the same realm was not inconceivable, yet the immortal realms were not the same just due to how diverse the applications of laws were.
Everyone usually honed a few laws, forming them into extremely potent techniques to deal with various situations. When multiple immortals fought together, even if all of them were bad manipulating laws, their sheer number would make it difficult for a lone immortal to fight against them.
To do that, the lone immortal would have to have such a strong control over laws, just to wade off the various laws targeting him, that he may as well be multiple levels above the whole group within the immortal realm.
Yet the situation they were currently seeing was as far from that as possible. Not only was Lex’s level weaker than the rest, he was actually actively experiencing the tribulation to enter the middle levels of the immortal realm.
Despite his serious disadvantages, instead of Lex fighting off the eleven immortals, it was the other way around. Sword in hand, Lex was altering the landscape of the zone as each of his strikes cut through the lava sea and left deep gorges in the landmass. Golden flames burned in the skies, morphed into mythical beasts as they attacked each of the immortals.
Lightning bolts struck Lex from the sky, but dozens of tornadoes, formed from lava, rocks and devastating winds, crashed into the escaping immortals.
Eleven immortals fought off Lex’s calamitous attacks while trying to distance themselves from him, but it was impossible. The longer Lex fought, and the more he became accustomed to his power, the better he was able to control laws.
Instead of reaching for some ambiguous, unfamiliar laws, the moment he tried manipulating space he realized how easy it was for him. Combined with his natural affinity for creating barriers, Lex began arranging blockades around their battlefield, closing the immortals in. The only reason most of them managed to survive so long without being completely overwhelmed was because they had numerous tools with them that helped them survive.
Some tried to practice the ancient wisdom that offense is the best defense. Unfortunately for them, Lex was a master in the realm of defense.
He kept Domination blasted on full, which was no longer a simple aura technique, though nothing about it was simple to begin with. The laws within the region of Domination became extremely cooperative with Lex, changing on their own to suit his desires.
The problem his enemies were facing was that to reach Lex, their attacks had to first cross Domination. Even if the attack crossed the distance, broke through Lex’s shields and somehow didn’t give him enough time to dodge, they would lose most of their lethality when the laws contained within the attacks were influenced by Domination.
Simple, physical attacks Lex brushed off as if he were facing the wind. He was confident that his physical stats were at par with, if not superior to a peak Earth Immortal. Most likely superior. Which is why, even if an attack did land on him, it hardly hurt him.
A desperate stalemate formed where the eleven immortals were holding on for dear life, resisting all his attacks through teamwork and the use of treasures. But it was evident to all that unless something changed, the outlook for them was extremely poor.
Somewhere far away within the zone, there was a poorly made building from some of the rocks laying around. It was simple and crude, but since it was so simple that it attracted no attention. Something about it also prevented others from wondering why this simple, crude building could survive the devastation wreaking havoc across the zone.
Within that building, Giselle sat within a formation and looked into the distance helplessly. She was here to harvest all the extra, chaotic energy within this place to charge a special treasure she had. But before she could even complete her setup, she noticed one very critical thing.
All the chaotic energy within the zone was diminishing rapidly! She looked up at the dark clouds above Lex, and saw how they were greedily sucking in the energy of this place.
That didn’t make sense. This zone was a zone that even Celestial immortals could not survive, so why was a tribulation for an Earth immortal taking up so much energy? Even if it was 4 tribulations instead of 1, the lightning could never be as lethal as that for higher realms.
So why then were Lex’s tribulations absorbing so much energy?
The answer was quite simple, though there was no reason anyone could guess it. Lex’s body had traces of Dao, not to mention the influence Lotus had on it. To transform even an inch of Lex’s body required vastly more energy than any other human in his realm.
So the energy that the clouds were absorbing from the zone were not going into making the lightning strikes more dangerous, though that inevitably happened, but into making the lightning strike potent enough to transform Lex’s body.
Helplessly she closed her eyes and continued to control the formation, hoping to gain at least some energy before it all gets used up.
Alexander and the rest sat around a campfire, roasting some meat. They had no idea what was happening within the zone because they were hiding in a specially prepared treasure. They had many things to do here, but since they were severely underpowered for this zone, they were just sitting things out for now. After all, Rafael told them that soon enough, this place would become, if not safe, then at least not completely lethal for them.
Outside, the fight which had long reached a stalemate, suddenly changed. The more he fought, the more Lex became familiar with his new abilities, and gained a finer control over his power. Once Lex reached a level of control he was satisfied with, he kicked things up a notch.
He had really only learned one sword technique, Inferno Blade, which consisted of various attacks.
He clicked his teeth and produced a small flicker of golden flame which he coated his sword with and attacked. Inferno Blade: Judgment!
Lex attacked the nearest immortal, some kind of worm that wore an armor containing laws related to misconception. As a result, most of Lex’s attacks would never land on the worm itself, but just narrowly miss it. But with Domination focused solely on the worm, Golden Inferno’s unquenchable hunger to burn, even overcoming other laws, his sword intent and the absolute peak brute force he could muster, Lex managed to overcome the effects of the armor.
He cut through the ten feet long worm as if it was air, cutting its body in two. Lex had cut other immortals before as well, yet this time was different. Even though Inferno Blade: Judgment was not an attack at the immortal level, Lex had learned something important during the fight.
Usually, immortals manipulate laws to produce certain effects. But they could also produce actual or physical changes, and if they were on a significant enough level, they would elicit a change in laws as well.
These immortals, much like Jeffrey, had some way that Lex could not yet detect which would allow them to recreate their bodies if harmed. Yet with the overbearing power of Domination, Golden Inferno, his sword Intent, as well as the massive force produced by Inferno Blade combined with his own physical strength, all laws were rendered ineffective.
Lex saw the change happen with his left eye. For a moment, the worm gave off feelings of consumption, greed and harvest. It was unusual, as Lex could not understand why the worm, in the midst of combat, started radiating these auras.
Then he saw Domination twist them as the Golden flames burned them. He saw his strength cleave through them, and all the rest of his attacks consume them in some way. All of his attacks, together, fought a great battle against those sensations.
It was a battle for the right to exist, but more importantly, in Lex’s eyes, it was a battle for supremacy – one that those feelings lost.
Something in Lex’s mind clicked, as he realized that his tenet had battled the worms, somehow, and Lex emerged victorious.
Something snapped, and the worm, split in half as it was, suddenly lost its energy, falling limp. No new body formed. There was no more resistance. That one, single confrontation resulted in the direct death of the worm, and the stalemate that was held for so long broke.
The number of his enemies reduced, while he himself gained a huge hint about how to kill immortals. Crushing their tenets thoroughly and completely was one way to do it.
He looked up, and caught Jeffrey’s eye. The mood on the battlefield suddenly changed.