Trope World - Volume 1 Chapter 44 Three Paths

Roots from the blood roses sunk into the hole made by my atomic blast. The roots fed heavily from the dark qi as they sunk deeper searching out the source of the new energy source. Blood feel down from the roses at a faster rate. Out of the the blood roses emerged a black rose its petals were delicate and in the center of the flower was an eye. More of the eldritch plants moved their roots closer to their new source of dark qi.

A roar echoed out through the hole as underworld wasps emerged and flew from their hole. I prepared to beat them down, when roots form the eldritch plants struck. They snatched up the monsters before they left the hole and dragged them into various wet openings. The air smelled of sticky nectar as the underworld wasps were taken care of.

With the wasp issue neutralized, it was time for phase two. The army of the dead. From the darkness that surrounded me, I pulled forth three clones each with one hundredth of my battle power. Each had a BP of 133t they were powerful, but nothing compared to my new power. They sped out from my sanctuary to the battlefield.

Assuming direct control

While I sucked away at the dark qi from the wasp hive, I took over one of the clone bodies I created. The second I was off the plateau arrows rained down on my in the hundreds. Jagged streams of poisons, and even a lance of entropy whizzed passed my body as I dodged out of the way. My body looked like a mirror image of my true self before I reached pillar level.

“We were offered you help but you chose to ally with the beasts. You sicken us. I can smell your black qi. Which one did you lay with or did they force themselves on you?” A unique skeleton asked. I had no treasures only skills and my fists.

“What’s the point of fighting for this land when another age of dark is ahead of us? Shouldn’t we band together to stop it?” I reasoned. The skeleton looked at me with vacant eyes.

“An age of dark won’t come about. We are going to take this land and create a necropolis. We’ll turn the age into one of earth.” The skeleton said and I had enough. The earth crumbled at my step as I moved far beyond the speed of a pillar stage cultivator. My fist shattered the skeletons in line, and I dashed through the whole in their ranks. Just as I was about to cross into another section. I forced myself out of the way of a fist rising from the earth. Attached to that fist was a man whose bones could be seen through his flesh.

“You will go no further, I am Major Amid of the skeletal battalion. Let’s get close and personal.” The man said. I had no stance or technique. Just basic grapples and strikes. Maybe this could be a chance to develop.

“What do you believe in Amid?” I asked him.

“Whatever master Apophis tells me to believe.” Amid said with a smirk. There was no dragon within my body, so a quick-fire attack was out. I dashed forward and ducked under his fist. When I attempted to throw Amid, he flew around to throw me off. A powerful blow caught me from behind driving my head to the dirt. I placed my hands on the ground and kicked backwards with both legs. Amid ducked under and pushed my legs up. The force threw my head forward into a kick. It felt powerful but not devastating.

“You’re powerful I’ll give you that but there isn’t any technique in anything you do. You’re less than a brawler and more a mistake on the battlefield.” My body went flying and my head skidded against the ground. Phantasmal hands rose from my back and pinned Amid down. “That’s right when an enemy crush you in one aspect of combat, flip the board.”

Amid moved at incredible speeds dodging the hands and appearing before me. “You must have recently reached your cultivation base. You aren’t even used to aerial combat. How sad for you.” Amid said before unleashing a flurry of blows. He launched my body in the air and continued to hammer away at it flying with it before his hand glowed brown and a giant golem appeared behind him. “Earthly Immortal’s Fist,” Amid yelled and a mighty blow struck my head sending me hurtling down towards the earth. The ground transformed into the maw of a giant ready to devour me body and soul. “Become fuel for my cultivation base.” I thrust my hands out and stopped midair.

Aerial Recovery lv100; +1000END

I rocketed through the air hell bent on beating this guy to death with my bear fists. At the last second, he turned his head and my fist brushed past him barely touching his face. I launched a knee and he spun around as my knee skidded past his hip. My elbow faired less well. He simple leaned back letting it graze his armor.

The Major froze just as his fist would have slammed into my face. Phantasmal limbs wrapped around his body restraining him. His muscles strained but he couldn’t move. “You’re right, I’m no match for you in hand to hand. Amid you can easily make a fool out of me. Think of this as me flipping the board.”

He couldn’t move. His body was restrained. I copied what I’d seen him do thus far. I kept my movements tight and my blows quick. My first blow caught him in the mouth. Teeth exploded out of his mouth. “I forgot to mention; I’m not only do I flip the board but I’m also petty.” My next blow shattered his armor and snapped his ribs. I continued to punch and added a throw. Each time, I kept my movements tight and quick. Amid’s body smashed into a crater and I floated down to him slowly. I had all the time in the world after all.

I lowered my hand and unleashed a low powered atomic blast. He wheezed as blue and white light overtook him. Where his body laid in the crater was now a charcoal outline. This was what I’d been waiting for. Was this my grand challenge? I snorted and flew through the ranks of skeletons. My aura alone shattered them long before my body made contact.

Assuming direct control

There are times in every cultivator’s life when stealth is the better part of valor. I moved amongst the ghosts covered in a dark shroud. I knew I could kill most of this army. My power was near a nascent soul stage cultivator. I also knew I wasn’t entirely unique. I’ve read of beings before even among humanity with power that makes them much stronger than they should be. A pillar stage killing a nascent soul stage wasn’t unheard of. They were only one stage removed. Though as a shadow clone, I wasn’t quite at that level.

Theses armies weren’t doing much. I’d come to that conclusion after my third time inspecting the ghost squads camped out near the ocean. Ghosts couldn’t cross the ocean due to worldly laws. It was because of the salt apparently. On my third time around, I realized what was happening. The ghosts were moving in patterns. They were one great big summoning spell. What were they summoning? Didn’t the army had enough?

Hours later, I had my answer. The smallest skeleton bodies I’d ever seen plopped out of a portal. From there the bodies were animated and were sent towards the castle. This wasn’t a one-time occurrence. It happened every hour on the hour. I decided to follow the tiny skeletons and see what they were made for. I left one of my many eyes here to ensure nothing happened without my notice.

For the rest of the day, I followed the line of tiny skeletons. They grew in numbers until they reached the castle were a tiny ramp was raised for them. They were going into the castle. I floated up and into the castle with them.

Assuming direct control

Zombies, it had to be zombies. I wasn’t interested in a total brawl. I needed to keep my cloak dry. If I’d taken the ghosts that challenge would have been simple. Instead, I had the worst job of all. It seemed the angel who raised the army had a sick fetish. He crafted hundreds of thousands of Frankenstein’s monsters and they were all rotting but beautiful women.

That wasn’t the problem. My hand was the pimp hand that would beat the heavens. No killing the zombies wasn’t an issue. The real problem was much more physical. They oozed lubricants like slugs and the ground was soaked. The hem of my white robe was stained red from the sand and lube. It often brushed against my ankles covering them in more sand. It was all sorts of horrible.

There was only one cure for this problem. I clapped my hands together and whispered the chant for Fairy. Mana rushed from my body in the hundreds of billions turning green and coalescing into something like an ovum. Suddenly, something spear headed and wiggly latched on to the bubble and the zygote started dividing rapidly as more mana was dumped into it. Eventually, the division of cells started developing organs and then its heart started beating.

An hour passed and I was glad it wasn’t taking the months for this process to complete. Hair began to sprout on my little fairy’s head just before it burst free from its green shell. The baby fairy lunched out wrapping its little arms and legs around my face. It looked around at the zombies terrified. I noticed then that yes, the fairy was a girl. And she was still growing up rapidly. I’d used trillions of mana by this point and my cover was blown. The zombies had us surrounded and they began to ineffectually stab me with their spears and arrows. I flew up to avoid the trouble.

The fairy began to grow until she looked like a toddler, then a preteen, and finally a teenager. More mana pumped into her and she began to sing. Waves made of green qi burst throughout the area sprouting random plants and causing anything living to mutate. Then she finally settled at around sixteen. The mana finally stopped flowing out in trillions.

Dao Skill Discovered: Fairy lv1 +100INT/WIS

I’d have to thank Atlan next time I saw her. That centaur even half knocked out knew how to pick an awesome magic.

“Are you a legacy?” I asked. She looked at me then smiled. In her green eyes, I saw only mischief. Flowers emerged from the barren ground and out of them lily like flower fairies emerged. They looked like a cross between flowers and humans, and they ripped through the zombies. In moments the zombie squads turned all their forces on our location. If we were in an important area, the general would have attacked us by now.

“Lover is that what you asked. Am I your lover? This is so sudden, but with your qi this land could become our love nest.” She said in a teasing tone.

“No,” I said and started unleashing fully powered atomic blasts on the incoming army. They held up barrier shields, but they didn’t hold back my attack. With every kill the flower fairies made, my mana recovered.

The fairy’s red hair flew in the pressurized explosions unleashed by my attack. She frowned at my efforts. “Can’t we make love and let those lesser spirits take care of the rest?” She asked. “If you’re good, I’ll tell you my true name.” She whispered the last part like it was important.

“This is a war and they rejected my last few attempts at peace. My name is Melchior Nimrod.” She looked at me oddly. She flew beside me and whispered her true name in my ear. My back tingled from each syllable.

“I need a name that isn’t my true name.” She said.

“I’ll call you Gwen.” I said.

“Gwen Nimrod.” She asked.

“No.” I said.