Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 813: Limitless Harbinger and Transcendent Tribulation I

CH813 Limitless Harbinger and Transcendent Tribulation I

***

Whenever Alex’s tribulation doppelgänger moved, it left behind a trail of violent crimson lightning that carved across the battlefield.

From the very beginning, Alex never once considered blocking or parrying its attacks.

That would have been suicide.

Instead, he pushed his Truth-Seeker Eyes to their absolute limits, drawing upon every enhancement they offered—Enhanced Vision, Spirit Sight, Phantom Sight—to barely evade his lightning incarnation’s attacks with Ghost Step.

He already knew he could never outrun living lightning.

So, rather than engaging in a hopeless race, he abandoned the idea entirely.

Instead, he waited until the precise instant the attack reached him before making the smallest possible movement to evade it.

Alex wasn’t entirely sure whether it was the countless enhancement spells empowering his body, the desperation sharpening his senses, or the mysterious Limitless Concept strengthening his Bloodline Manifestation.

Perhaps it was a combination of all three.

Whatever the reason, his perception of time had slowed dramatically.

To such an extent that he could now barely follow the movements of the tribulation lightning.

He couldn’t truly see the doppelgänger while it was moving. Instead, he could perceive the path it would travel the moment it committed to an attack.

Although it had assumed a humanoid form, the tribulation doppelgänger remained lightning at its core.

Its speed was overwhelming.

Its manoeuvrability, however, was abysmal once it discharged itself along a chosen trajectory.

All Alex needed to do was wait until the instant it committed to that path…

…then evade with the superior agility granted by Ghost Step.

The theory sounded simple. The execution was anything but.

Although Alex was slower than the tribulation doppelgänger, both of them were still moving at incomprehensible speeds.

To anyone watching, every exchange would have appeared to occur in a single instant.

Within that instant, dozens of attacks and evasions unfolded.

Alex wasn’t merely dodging his tribulation incarnation.

He was deliberately positioning himself so that each discharged attack struck the surrounding Berserk Beasts instead.

The frenzied mating beasts paid Alex little attention, while the lightning doppelgänger simply danced through their ranks in relentless pursuit.

Unfortunately for them, both combatants were moving far too quickly for the beasts to react.

Wherever Alex and his lightning doppelganger passed, countless beasts collapsed in neat lines.

Some were reduced to charred corpses.

Others—particularly the stronger ones—convulsed violently before collapsing as the overwhelming current coursed through their bodies.

Every strike unleashed by the tribulation doppelgänger carried power comparable to, at the very least, the full-force attack of a late Class Four combatant.

Against such destructive force, how could the berserk beasts, the vast majority of whom were merely Class Three or below, possibly survive?

Alex had long since abandoned conscious thought.

He surrendered himself entirely to instinct.

He dodged the tribulation incarnation’s attacks while weaving through the endless tide of Berserk Beasts, using them to drain the lightning doppelgänger’s energy as it slaughtered everything occupying the region surrounding the Rotbark River’s main tributary.

The battle between the two left behind far more than mountains of beast carcasses.

It scarred the land itself.

Fissures of varying sizes criss-crossed the battlefield.

The grasslands had been scorched black.

Ancient trees lay uprooted or shattered where they had fallen.

After barely five minutes of combat, the devastation inflicted upon the surrounding flora, fauna, and terrain was already immeasurable.

“Hah… Hah…”

Alex breathed heavily as he stared at the figure before him.

His body was beginning to tear itself apart under the unimaginable strain he had forced upon it.

Even so… A wild grin spread across his face.

Any other Class Three standing in his place would have perished long ago.

Yet here he was, still contending against an opponent whose mana had reached the level of a Class Five existence.

Not only was he surviving, he was successfully using that very opponent as a borrowed knife.

More importantly, the tribulation incarnation’s energy reserves had fallen dramatically.

Its aura had diminished to little more than that of a beginner Class Five.

The change was immediately obvious.

Its speed had dropped noticeably.

However, that wasn’t solely because its energy had been depleted.

The Heavenly Tribulation itself had seemingly recognised that overwhelming speed alone was no longer enough to kill Alex.

‘Even if I die, what other Class Three can claim they’ve earned the recognition of a Heavenly Tribulation—let alone one of this magnitude?’

A trace of madness flickered behind Alex’s grin.

The truth, however, was far less encouraging.

He was forcing his body to wield power it had never been meant to sustain.

The countless bloodlines, treasures, and transformations fused within him were finally exacting their price.

Had his body not been tempered repeatedly throughout his journey, he would never have endured this long.

Deep down, Alex knew he was in a terrible state.

He was remaining conscious through little more than sheer willpower, and the effects of Calm Madness, which dulled both pain and fear.

Those thoughts flashed through his accelerated mind in less than an instant.

The smile had barely finished forming on his lips when the tribulation doppelgänger completed its own silent re-adjustments.

Then… It attacked again.

Only this time, it abandoned overwhelming speed alone. Instead, it fought with deadly precision and refined agility.

[Ghost—

Before Alex could activate his footwork, the tribulation incarnation closed the distance.

Then, just as its punch was about to miss him as it always had… it suddenly changed direction.

The fist curved back onto a direct collision course with Alex’s face.

Acting on pure instinct, Alex raised the indestructible Skywalker Sword in his left hand to intercept the blow while simultaneously counterattacking with the Draconic Baton in his right.

His counter never landed.

Instead, Alex was blasted backwards several steps.

His entire left arm went numb.

In his desperate attempt to defend himself, he had overlooked one simple fact.

Metal conducted electricity.

Trying to block an animate tribulation lightning with a metal sword was an excellent way to electrocute himself.

Fortunately, the lightning resistance provided by his Bloodline Manifestation, combined with the Skywalker Sword’s own elemental protection, reduced the damage to little more than temporary paralysis.

Even so, Alex immediately adjusted his stance.

The Draconic Baton became his primary weapon.

The Skywalker Sword shifted into a supporting role.

To his surprise, his Bloodline Manifestation responded instinctively.

The aura surrounding his body silently extended to envelop both weapons, coating them in shimmering bloodline energy.

More importantly, Alex realised something from that exchange.

‘Its attacks are weaker.’

His eyes sharpened.

‘I can fight it!’

The moment it knocked Alex backwards, the tribulation doppelgänger surged forwards once more, launching a relentless barrage of punches.

Alex met every strike with the Draconic Baton, which he had compressed to roughly the length of a short sword.

[Phantom Sight Lv. 2]!

Although the doppelgänger had slowed, it still retained a slight speed advantage.

Alex therefore relied upon the precognitive capabilities of his Truth-Seeker Eyes, predicting each attack trajectory moments before it unfolded.

He successfully blocked and deflected the entire two-handed barrage using nothing but the Draconic Baton, keeping the Skywalker Sword completely clear of the tribulation lightning.

It wasn’t because he feared conducting the lightning through the blade again.

Rather, he had another purpose.

The instant one of the doppelgänger’s punches was parried aside, a tiny opening appeared.

Alex seized it without hesitation.

The Skywalker Sword flashed.

Its blade carved cleanly across the tribulation incarnation’s midsection, sending the lightning figure staggering backwards as a portion of tribulation lightning mana burst free from its body.

Alex’s eyes widened.

The Skywalker Sword… absorbed the liberated tribulation lightning mana.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, it transferred this energy directly into his Bloodline Manifestation.

***