Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1304: 713th Scorpion Warlord

The Scorpion Emperor’s Tail began to writhe with more wild abandon, as though it sensed what Sylas was trying to do. The poison spread even faster, and Gralith almost pulled his hand back as he sensed a great amount of danger.

But the 713th Scorpion Warlord quickly realized that it was nothing more than an illusion, as though something was being projected onto him and his mind.

This poison, as powerful as it seemed, was only F-Grade. It was excellent, but it would be crushed before it could even penetrate his skin. But…

‘What powerful Will…’

His breathing became slightly heavy. He had come to realize from the reaction of the Scorpion’s tail and the oozing black blood falling from Sylas’ body that Sylas hadn’t passed out at all. He was trying something.

It was quite typical of Sylas. There was no way that he would just stand and wait here hoping that Gralith would protect him.

Sylas had probably never once referred to Gralith as his master in his mind. At best, Gralith bet he got his first name. In terms of true master-disciple relationships—what should have been akin to a parent and child—they had none of that, and Gralith doubted they ever would.

Sylas was a person who seemed to have very limited bandwidth for those he loved, and he had probably not added a new person into that itinerary since the moment he matured enough to stop playing with Legos.

However… as similar as they seemed to be on the surface, it didn’t mean that Gralith was the same.

“Alright, then.”

He took a breath and exhaled.

BOOM!

A Warlord Armor manifested onto Gralith’s body and the planet shook. As though he carried the heft of a world on his shoulders, shingles of black, red, and violet pieced together with sounds akin to meteors crashing against one another.

His hair danced in the wind, his own Scorpion Tail rising into the air and then piercing forward.

It grew out like a whipping chain, its segments disconnecting.

One of the prerequisites for becoming a Warlord was to change your Armor in some way. It was something only the best of Rune Masters of the Sanctum could do, tweaking an armor that had existed for countless years.

One of the 713th Scorpion Warlord’s most famous additions was the chain tail. It extended the scope and range of the Scorpion Tail by several magnitudes, not to mention adding a shocking amount of flexibility.

But if one looked closely, not only was Gralith’s Warlord Armor of a far different stock than the others, but his skin was actually beginning to corrode beneath its own might.

He coughed out a misty breath of blood, veins of red pooling down from the corners of his eyes, but his power skyrocketed nonetheless.

All at once, senses from all across the Sanctum seemed to gather toward the location. It seemed that it was only now they realized what was happening.

However, Gralith hadn’t called them for help for a reason.

His mind pulsed and his Will steeled, gathering as if forming shingles of its own. And then…

He took a step forward.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

His foot landed on the first step, the sounds akin to crashing meteors and moons slamming into one another reverberating not from the stairs themselves, but from the inside of Gralith’s body.

He unleashed a roar, one shingle of scorpion armor after another combusting before quickly reforming.

The veins of red flowed even further down the length of his face and down his neck as he raised up a second step.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

His bones fired like rockets, their fracturing cadence sending out radiant pulses. The amount of power they held was so strong that even these minor fissures released an energy that could have toppled a mountain on Earth.

If not for the sturdiness of the Sanctum… mountains would have collapsed here too.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A third step, and then a fourth.

Gralith was moving slowly, withstanding the pressure weighing down on both himself and Sylas.

“What are you doing?”

The voice seemed to come from nowhere and yet everywhere at once. It didn’t sound angry, or even all that questioning for that matter, but Gralith wasn’t in a position to answer—and maybe that truth alone was enough to prove the real purpose of the voice.

It didn’t want anyone but those already chosen to climb these steps.

However, Gralith wasn’t one to sit idly by and listen. With a roar, he took his fifth step.

“You struggle so much on just the fifth, and yet there are 661 left to go. Do you really think you’ll make it to the top? What are you trying to do, exactly?”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Gralith’s leg shattered as he took the sixth step. All of the shingles protecting it caved, wisps of black, red, and violet spiraling out in all directions and taking his flesh with it.

A bone barely attached to a foot appeared, radiating a black that didn’t seem healthy in the slightest.

Gralith’s eyes flashed as he looked down at his leg, but his expression didn’t seem to be one of pain, though maybe it was hard to tell with the veins running across his face.

The answer became clear a moment later, though…

When a wild grin spread across his lips.

It looked almost as though he had lost his mind, his lips spreading out much further than the supposed human he was. His canines grew, his violet eyes reflecting one complex Rune after another as though to suppress his violent tendencies. And yet, they snapped like chains, one after another.

He howled, taking another step.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

His other leg shattered, a bone of black and obsidian being all that remained.

“A waste.”

The voice said indifferently.

But at that moment, Sylas suddenly opened his eyes, a violent rush coming out of him before his hair descended to the small of his back in a calm descent.

“Thank you.” Sylas said.

Clearly… he wasn’t speaking to the voice.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!