The Oracle Paths

Chapter 848 One Drop Would Have Been Enough

Mufasa was a highly underestimated machine of large-scale destruction. The omnidirectional blast of wind that he whipped up with every movement was like the shockwaves of a several-kiloton nuclear bomb, with himself as the epicenter.

No one, absolutely no one, could fight alongside him, not even his allies.

Shere Khan was a different story. The only one whose fighting style came close was Azeus.

When he fought, the giant tiger would generate a very powerful voltage that converted all the energy in his cells into electrical or kinetic energy. Like Azeus, he could transmute his body into lightning, but unlike the probationary god his body was much more tenacious and he could revert to solid form after reaching much greater speeds.

Shere Khanʼs fighting form of choice was therefore a half-solid, half-lightning state that gave him, at the cost of a slower movement speed than pure electricity, an offensive and defensive prowess that very few Players in this Ordeal could emulate.

When Mufasa and Shere Khan fought in close proximity to each other, they would inevitably compete, rampaging and ravaging their battlefields beyond redemption. Several Mirror Vanguard Players had almost died several times fighting too close to them.

Then there was Crunch, the rubber cat who thought he was a giant flail. Once its tail was firmly planted in the ground, the black catʼs body would become a spinner covered in spines and once launched its rotations would become unstoppable crushing anyone unfortunate enough to stand in their way.

With the centrifugal force continually increasing, the catʼs elastic tail would also grow longer and longer, increasing the range of its deadly spins as the fight went on. If Crunchʼs spinning attack was miraculously stopped, the rebound would hurl his thorny body in a random direction increasing the chaos and damage done in unpredictable ways.

Then there was his faithful sidekick, Lord Phenix. Since the orange turkey had realized his dream, he liked to remind everyone that he was no longer a lowly bird, but a spectacular fire phoenix.

In addition to continually launching kamikaze attacks by blowing himself up to rise from the ashes, each of his wingbeats triggered deluges of flame as hot as the sunʼs surface on the battlefield, incinerating everything for kilometers.

If a blast of Mufasaʼs wind inadvertently collided with his flames, a flame tornado with a tenfold diameter would cover the battlefield, multiplying the extent of the damage by an unknown factor.

Their propensity for carnage and the advent of their True Will had only made them more unpredictable.

After these four brutes had wiped out several entire cities in an attempt to help, Vexa had formally forbidden them to participate in any combat without his permission. Unfortunately, he had overestimated the respect these animals paid him and every time they fought he would be forced to clean up their mess.

”Sigh... I donʼt know how Jake keeps these beasts under control.” Vexa lamented wrily. Radur seemed to like them...

”At least they are our allies.” Prysm consoled him with a peck on the cheek. ”Weʼll need them for the final battle.”

Far from relaxing, Vexa darkened when his companion reminded him of the impending final confrontation. In recent days, the planet had finally been completely blanketed by the black clouds and Mana Storm. Leaving the planet was now impossible with the allowed artifacts.

The only alternative they had was to gather enough Codexes of Aurae to gain full control over the planetʼs settings and reduce the density of Mana to weaken the black clouds and the Mana Storm. Easier said than done.

A Codex alone had limited effectiveness and range and could easily be countered by another Codex. If Jake used his Codex right now to reduce the Mana density to zero, it would actually take several years or a decade for the Mana accumulated over the centuries to dissipate. The only way to speed up this process was to merge the Codexes together to increase their performance.

According to their intel, a total of 26 Codexes of Aurae had been found on Quanoth since the beginning of the Ordeal. Because Vhoskaud had arrived first, three of them were in its possession. Mirror Vanguard had 2 more, Lost Divinities had another 2, Demiurges had 4 but they were fighting in space, and Anti-Life had 3. With Jakeʼs, that made fifteen.

So there were 11 Codexes currently owned by Players of unknown factions. The Ordeal was coming to an end and if these Players had managed to hide and survive until now then they were definitely not weak. mented in relief, not giving a damn about what would become of these renegade Schwazens.

Caphriel was finally going to give him the Blood Essence she had promised him and that was all that mattered. The fate of the Corrupted Virtues and Powers was a concern for Mirror Vanguard and the other Players.

His only regret was that as long as they were alive he couldnʼt get a perfect rating on his Side Mission. Nevertheless, he was confident that he would meet them again before the end of this Ordeal.

A few hours later, Jake found himself in a private room in the temple of Aurae with Hade and Caphriel, who was hooked on his arm like a leech. Judging by the Fluid Grandmasterʼs embarrassed expression, their relationship had made some progress over the past few days...

Feeling the cheeky gaze of his leader, the centenarian Player coughed and glowered at him. Caphriel, who hadnʼt noticed, released her crush and pricked her fingertip with one of her golden feathers. A drop of blood that looked like molten gold beaded on its surface and Jake carefully collected it in a vial specially processed with his telekinesis.

The female Virtue did not stop there, however, and two more drops of Blood Essence beaded off her finger and the glowing halo radiating from her dimmed significantly after this deed.

”One drop would have been enough.” Jake chided her gently.

”What does it matter? Iʼm going to die soon.” The young woman smiled sadly as she cast a rueful sideways glance at Hade.

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