Chapter 873 Practical Testing
Listening to Sir Denzel's troubled voice, the Awakened already know that it's bad news.
Compared to the other ninth-rank realm Awakened that are also pillars of humanity, Sir Denzel is the only one that has taken a stance on the Great Barricade and deals with the skirmishes and problems to protect the borders.
He has always been here, watching over the safety of humanity.
Most of the Awakened, Black Hands, and military men that were stationed at the Great Barricade know about this and have developed a profound respect towards him. Instead of having extreme power, he has never taken a rest.
A literal pillar that would do anything to keep humanity safe from the Supernatural's clutches.
Despite his sometimes aloof manner, he has never wavered.
No problems were able to get to him, Sir Denzel was always stoic in regards to any problems.
But right now, it was different. He was affected by the news.
"What's it said, Sir Denzel? Is the report that bad?" the Awakened couldn't help but ask.
Upon hearing this, the usually unwavering pillar didn't respond and only gave the tablet back. He needs a couple of seconds of pause before he could eventually snap out of his trance and shifted his eyes to the Awakened.
"Yes, it's bad. But we'll somehow manage it like we always do" Sir Denzel replied calmly.
Albeit that being the case, he was definitely faking it.
Out of nowhere, his eyes flickered with powerful flames before he pointed northeast of the horizon before he then continues, "The Executor wanted us to get close to a place right around there. I don't know the reason, it was not stated in the report, but It's miles away. We would need to make multiple outposts along the way"
"Hmm...? What's the place?" the Awakened asked again in confusion.
In a dire situation like right now, the only focus should be defending the Great Barricade.
The Great Barricade is under relentless attacks from the older generations of the high-rank Supernatural races. It was an unending and destructive attack, still going strong despite it's been days already from the initial attack.
Splitting the attention would cause catastrophic consequences of the Great Barricade falling.
But the Executor instead wanted them to do something else.
Knowing that in order for this to go smoothly, he would need to be clear in the situation, Sir Denzel then replied, "We are tasked to scout an ancient place. It's said that in the report but I'm quite sure that it was an edited version, the real decree from the Executor must be to occupy that place"
"Is that even possible? Scout a place, through that...?" the Awakened pointed at the swarm.
No matter the angle of how one looks at it, the task is almost impossible.
A swarm of monsters that contains more than a thousand older generations of high-rank Supernatural races is standing in the way, and that didn't take into account the stronger Elders that were present, standing precisely near the mouth of the northeast forest.
Doing something like this is not ideal, that would cost them a lot of casualties.
Sir Denzel knows this very well, but he decided to take a positive approach rather than focusing on the bad side of doing something this reckless. If it could be declined, then he wouldn't have taken an approach like this.
But knowing the Executor's unhinged behavior, he knows that he couldn't say no to this.
Having no option aside from complying, this is the best approach that he would need to adopt, "We could send a couple of experts in stealth to pass through them, but I have a feeling that these older monsters would see through theme easily"
"Making outposts to get nearer to the location will increase the odds for the stealthers"
It was a hunch feeling, but Sir Denzel trusted his guts.
Knowing that the Executor came from ancient times and is very powerful, he also couldn't underestimate these older generations of high-rank Supernatural races. Assuming that they could see through stealth spells is already an understatement.
Passing through the swarm is impossible for the stealthers to do if that's actually true.
Although that is the case, they could increase the odds of passing the swarm through outposts that could be defended and also could get them near the target location. Sending the stealthers from the Great Barricade would be suicide.
"Our ground troops are idle right now, having outposts will allow us to use them"
Due to that swarm clashing against the wall, there was no room for the ground troops to fight in front of the Great Barricade. All of them are stationed behind the wall in case the wall was actually breached instead.
But the Great Barricade is more than a simple wall, it's a symbol of protection for humanity.
Having it broken through is not ideal for humanity's morale.
Thus, it would be best if they could use all forces outside of the Great Barricade and fight.
Now that he has already explained his plans in confronting this task that they needed to complete, Sir Denzel reaches out his hand towards the Awakened beside him while the dense mana inside his body started to swirl, causing his body to slowly be engulfed with bright red fire like the sun itself.
Upon seeing this, the Awakened's expression paled in an instant.
It was clear that Sir Denzel was readying to fight, and that would mean going down.
"Sir, are you sure about this...? Maybe if we wait for a little, the swarm would retreat"
"Do you really think they would retreat?"
Gazing down at the swarm that was hitting the protective barrier like rabid dogs, growling and scratching with pure hatred as they tries to break through, the Awakened could only sigh and shakes his head, there was no way that the swarm will back away.
Fueled with hatred, there's nothing that would make them stop except victory.
Although he hesitated, the Awakened takes out somekind of a thigh-size magnum handgun.
Sighing lightly, he then puts it on Sir Denzel's hand.
Upon being handed the magnum handgun, Sir Denzel fueled it with his fire mana before he also unsheathed his blazing red sword on his waist. Both become fiery weapons, strong enough to melt anything they touch.
Nodding his head, he then jumped to the edge of the wall and takes a deep breath.
"Sir, wait a moment. I'll bring the Awakened you requested here, please don't go down before they were all here" the Awakened said in a worried tone, he reject the idea of Sir Denzel going down there alone.
But this made Sir Denzel smile, "No problem, I'll wait for them down there..."
Swoosh!
"Arcane Fire Magic, Spirit Fire Bomb!"
Chanting a powerful spell despite the restriction of the First Breath, a pair of fiery arms protruded out of Sir Denzel's back. It created a big ball of scarlet fire the size of a tank before he slammed it down to the ground.
Sir Denzel turns into a meteor, descending from the wall in a swift manner.
Most of the older generations of high-rank Supernaturals look up when they feel a hot sensation coming from above. But it was too late to react, the scarlet ball of fire already squished them and creates a massive explosion.
KABOOM!!
It was a destructive explosion, burning the entire area and pushing everything away.
But Sir Denzel frowns when he finds something shocking.
'Even though most of them are in the sixth-rank realm, their durability is insane. I hit the swarm directly, but I can see that only the ones that got hit directly died. Only a couple of dozen died, the others were fine, their armor is too thick'
Aside from the task he needed to complete this is also a great time for him to learn.
Contrary to the people in the higher-ups that used weaker troops to learn more about their enemies, Sir Denzel believes that the way to learn about the enemies would be done better by the stronger troops such as himself.
Not only he could take up information faster, but he's also more aware of his surroundings.
Just like right now, he instantly know that these monsters were able to sustain a spell from a ninth-rank realm Awakened such as himself. Of course, it needed to be taken into account that the First Breath played a big role.
But the First Breath only brought him down to the peak of the seventh-rank realm.
Killing sixth-rank realm Supernaturals should be a piece of cake for him. However, it seems the major difference between the new generation and older generations was in their anatomy which allows them to be more durable.
Must be the harsh living conditions of the past that made them like this.
Roar!!
Graahh!
In a split second, dozens more Supernaturals lunge at him without restraint. Sir Denzel's view was instantly blocked by their grotesque features, but he didn't waver and started to go to work with them.
Gripping his weapons tightly, he started his fearsome assault.
Sir Denzel brandished his sword with enough mana to test the toughness of these Supernaturals' armor. In addition, he also simultaneously fired a couple of shots while turning his body in a rotating manner.
Under his onslaught, more and more Supernaturals fell dead as he made his way to the center.
Killing more of these Supernaturals is a good thing for this battle, but he needs to take on the Elder Vampire at the center to test its skills. But it was then, while he was doing a circular motion with his sword, something stopped it mid-track.
In an instant, he whipped his head to the side and finds a humongous Vampire.
Clearly, this one is the Elder Vampire. It stopped the sword with its wrist.
Without wasting a single second, Sir Denzel's eyes burn even brighter as he entered his Gladiator Form that instantly turns his body black with scarlet fiery linings. Following that, he cast one of the stronger spells in his arsenal to test the limit of armor that this Elder Vampire could take.
"Pneuma Spell, Pyroclasm Sear!"
Gushing with more power, he forces the sword to push through its wrist.
A powerful blast of fire exploded as the sword burns brighter than ever, the muscles in Sir Denzel's arms were also bulging as he attack the Elder Vampire seriously. But in the end, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Despite his attempt, the sword only managed to pierce the Elder Vampire's wrist halfway.
Moreover, it was healed visibly and pushed the sword out again.
"Weak, modern humans... weak. Time has been cruel to you. Unlucky for you, I'm cruel too..."
~
Meanwhile, inside the Banished Realm.
Kaboom!
"Eurgghhkk!!" Rex holds his right arm which is now throbbing with otherworldly pain.
Rex didn't think of anything and focused on training his Brutal Impulse skill and making his cursed core. He didn't know how much time has passed, but he does know that this is the 1011th time he cast the Brutal Impulse Moon Ability and failed.
But he's clearly improving, his arm didn't explode his power output is also increased.
Now he would need to perfect it a little bit more.
"I see your flow of kingly energy, and you're already on the right path. If you can focus on the last stroke of the ability, then you'll master it" t|The Countess nodded her head to the side, she has been acting as a mentor.
Surely, his rapid improvement is also thanks to her guidance.
The Countess has said to him that she has mentored countless Dark Princes. Most of them need more than 5000 tries to grasp the fundamental of the basic indirect moon ability, so Rex's improvement is considered genius-level.
Almost comprehending a direct moon ability in 1011 tries is a fearsome feat.
Despite the Countess being shocked by this discovery, Rex feels like he was still too slow. He already used the Oracle of Moon Ability, and he already felt the course of kingly energy, yet it takes him this long to master it.
Standing up once again, he then cast another Brutal Impulse with pure instincts.
Punching the void in front of him, ancient writings fueled with a destructive amount of kingly energy crawl out to reality, 'Steadily, before then picking up the pace...' Rex thought, giving his full focus at this moment.
In the next second, his eyes flashed with a fierce glint.
KABOOM!!
A powerful red blast shot forward and pierces through the horizon with insane speed, faster than anything that Rex has seen before. It was so destructive that the shallow water was split into two perfectly.
Ripples were spread across the entire realm before the red blast exploded in the distance.
Judging the distance from eyes alone, it should be about a dozen miles away but the scale and the wind of the explosion were magnificent. It was like fireworks, but these fireworks could shred anything to pieces.
Upon seeing this, the Countess and Rex paused for a moment with their eyes opened wide.
It was then a smile crept to Rex's face, "Huh... damn it. It's hard, but I finally did it"