Chapter 276: Let me remind you what you are lacking
The fight lasted for about five hours when finally the beast horde stopped appearing.
Damon stood in the middle of the temple entrance now transformed into a crimson wasteland. Piles of dissolved chitin, steaming venom, and blackened ichor sizzled on the stone floor around him.
The runes beneath his feet pulsed erratically, flickering between venom-green and deep blood-red as if the temple itself was struggling to recognize who truly held dominion now.
He was covered in blood, but not a single wound marred his skin. His shirt was long since torn, his pants barely hanging on, and yet his posture was still upright, composed, even... invigorated.
Five hours.
And he hadn’t used a single mana skill. He hadn’t even touched his core. Just pure, unfiltered blood essence devastation. A part of him was even disappointed that he wasn’t pushed even more, forcing him to test other things.
But there was still time. After all, he was yet to step inside the temple. Damon rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck as he walked forward into the open gates, finally entering the grand temple.
He barely took one step inside when unexpectedly the snake statue at the top of the temple moved.
A deep grrrrrrrunnnnk echoed through the entire structure, like stone grinding against stone, but it wasn’t just the architecture stirring. The massive serpent that had once appeared carved, regal and unmoving, suddenly flexed, scales shimmering with oily emerald light.
Its eyes flared open with a poisonous golden hue, and its colossal head slowly uncoiled, gazing down at Damon like a god inspecting an intruder.
A tongue like a whip flicked from its fanged mouth. Then the entire serpent descended, its body slithering down the side of the temple, coiling around its columns like a living fortress come alive.
Damon stopped. He eyed the snake just as the snake eyed him.
"You bear the scent of ancient blood," a voice hissed, not from the serpent’s mouth, but from everywhere at once. It was layered, distorted, venomous... and old. "But do you bear the will?"
"I will not be here if I did not." Damon answered, ready for whatever came next.
The statue then suddenly disappeared into green mist and slowly a slender figure took shape within the mist, her face covered with a veil. "My master would not approve of this. His legacy is not meant for the ones who walk the path of blood."
Damon was slightly taken aback at the woman’s words. However, he did not give up on things just yet. After all, if he was not allowed here then the gates simply would not have opened for him.
"Whether he approves or not, I am here and I will prove that I am worth of his legacy." He firmly answered, eyes locked onto the veiled woman. "Blood or venom, all power is carved through suffering. I’ve earned my right to stand here."
The mist around her swirled, coalescing tighter into a woman cloaked in emerald robes embroidered with serpent runes. Her veil shimmered like thin toxin, obscuring her features, but her aura was undeniable, ancient, regal, and seething with restrained lethality. Her bare feet hovered inches above the ground, each movement causing the air to ripple like oil across water.
For a moment, she said nothing. Then, she raised a hand. A spectral fang formed above her palm, glowing with a viridian radiance.
"You walk with pride, but pride alone does not conquer the poison," she said. "Let me remind you what you are lacking to earn my master’s legacy."
With a flick of her wrist, the fang shattered and the air exploded into green flames.
The entire temple trembled as thousands of spectral serpents surged from the walls, the floor, even from beneath Damon’s feet.
Every single one of them transformed into a darker green mist all shooting towards Damon at the same time. He was completely surrounded on all sides. There was no way for him to retreat or dodge. He had to face it head-on.
And Damon planned to do just that.
A golden barrier appeared around him as tried to reach his core for the first time. He only barely made a connection to it but the next instant his body surged with mana. There was mana everywhere. Every cell of his body was filled with energy to the brim and all of it was his to command.
All of the poisonous mist slammed into the golden barrier, instantly shattering it. But it did not matter. He summoned another one and another one and yet another one. He activated one divine skill after another and followed it up with one holy skill after another.
And they were also not simple skills. These were the rare skills he had stolen from the elite NPCs, each with amazing synergy with the rest of his skills.
[Sanctified Bulwark], [Luminous Veins], [Radiant Flood], [Radiant Shield], [Divine Cascade]...
The list of the skills was endless and Damon calmly activated one after another in the best order he could somewhat think of. However, even his random stitching together of skills proved fatal for the green mist.
The threateningly powerful green mist which at first seemed like it was capable of swallowing him whole, was slowly and steadily whittled down by the barrage of divine and holy skills.
The spectral serpents shrieked as wave after wave of radiant might tore through them. Damon stood in the middle of the maelstrom, every movement precise, every breath in sync with the torrent of power coursing through his newly awakened core.
Each time his barrier fell, a new one sprang up. [Sanctified Bulwark] crackled into existence only to be shattered, then reborn, again and again, its golden edges burning with divine fury.
Green mist tried to cling to him, to corrupt, dissolve, devour but [Luminous Veins] lit up across his body, turning his blood into a living flame that burned all toxins it touched.
[Radiant Flood] erupted from his core in sudden bursts, drowning the chamber in blinding waves of sanctified energy.
And [Divine Cascade] that magnificent apex skill, rained down from above like a celestial waterfall, each droplet carving through serpents as if heaven itself had turned against venom.
And all of a sudden the green mist no longer seemed like a huge threat.