Chapter 136: Stacking Buffs

Chen’s eyes narrowed, fixed on the battle ahead.

Ms. Welt’s gravity field slammed down once again, pinning the head of the Bountiful deep Deer just as it tried to rise. Caelus’s bat crashed against its front leg joint with a sickening, dull thud. A constant stream of ice arrows from March 7th peppered its antlers, desperately trying to freeze the golden light coalescing there.

But it was a losing battle. Anyone could see that the damage they were inflicting couldn’t possibly keep up with the creature’s terrifying regenerative abilities. Wounds sealed over in moments, and broken parts regrew with vibrant, unnatural life.

“I’ve got it!” Chen’s voice suddenly cut through the din of combat. “Aunt Yang! Caelus! March! Help me hold it down! Give me… thirty seconds! No, twenty seconds is all I need!”

Ms. Welt’s brow furrowed in concern, but she didn’t turn to look at him. The structural light cannon in her hand roared, the concussive force driving the deep Deer back half a step. “What are you planning to do?” she asked, her voice a low, steady rumble.

“Stack some buffs!” Chen replied, his words clipped and urgent. He was already in motion.

A flash of light, and Chen’s form dissolved and reformed in an instant. Where he had stood, a new figure appeared: the tall, upright Supreme Guardian of Belobog, Bronya, clad in a crisp, grey military uniform.

She raised her right hand, as if sounding the horn for a grand advance. “We’ve entered the storm! For the eternal glory of the Architects!”

The stirring, phantom melody of “The Belobog March” washed over the battlefield, not as sound, but as a tangible wave of empowering energy. An enhancement aura enveloped her allies. Ms. Welt felt the power condensed within her cane grow sharper, more focused. Caelus felt his bat slice through the air with a keener, more piercing whistle.

This was the formidable buff of Bronya’s Ultimate: a significant increase to the entire team’s Attack and Critical Damage.

The display had barely faded when the light shifted again, melting into an elegant, pale gold.

In Bronya’s place now stood the graceful Foxian, Tingyun. She held a delicate fan, a faint smile playing on her lips as her fluffy tail swayed gently behind her. Auspicious bolts of lightning crackled around her. “Amidst the Rejoicing Clouds, a gift from the heavens!”

A soft, golden light detached from her and linked directly to the space she occupied, a pre-emptive blessing for the form that was about to take the lead. It was a surge of abundant energy and a potent damage bonus—the effects of Tingyun’s Ultimate, “Amidst the Rejoicing Clouds,” designed to restore a massive amount of energy to a target while dramatically increasing the damage they dealt.

The moment the dual support auras finished layering, the temperature in the area plummeted. A biting frost moved without wind, condensing from the very air itself.

Chen’s final form descended.

This was no longer the petite, almost childish form of Fu Xuan he had tried before. This was a tall, imposing woman with long, white hair that cascaded down her back. A black veil covered her eyes, lending her an air of deep mystery. Her entire being radiated an extreme, soul-deep chill and a lonely sword intent that teetered on the very edge of becoming Mara-Struck.

Just by standing there, the sheer weight of her presence made the Bountiful deep Deer feel a primal, instinctive fear. It let out an uneasy, low growl, its confidence faltering for the first time.

Jingliu—or rather, Chen wearing her form—slowly lifted her head.

Her veiled gaze fell upon the deep Deer.

She didn’t unleash her Ultimate directly. Instead, she followed the most terrifying combat logic of this former Sword Champion of the Luofu: first, she would enter the state of Spectral Transmigration, a trance where all else was cast aside for the sake of a single, perfect strike.

“The moon is full…” she chanted in a low, ethereal voice.

In that instant, her entire aura underwent a drastic transformation. An ice-blue sword intent soared into the sky, so powerful it sent her hair and sleeves dancing wildly. A tragic, beautiful aura of sacrificing everything for one ultimate attack saturated the air.

[Spectral Transmigration state activated: CRIT Rate increased by 50%. Action Advanced. Skill Enhanced.]

“Illuminating all rivers…”

The ice sword coalescing in her hand began to hum, a low thrumming that seemed to thirst for blood. The energy for her Ultimate, “Floreat Ephemera, Dreamflux,” had been pushed to its absolute peak.

At this singular moment, Chen, as Jingliu, had the following buffs stacked upon himself:

Bronya’s team-wide high Attack and Critical Damage bonus.

Tingyun’s targeted energy replenishment and massive damage boost.

And her own colossal Critical Rate and Attack enhancement from the Spectral Transmigration state.

The Bountiful deep Deer seemed to sense its doom. It frantically recalled all the gnarled roots of the Ambrosial Arbor, weaving them together in front of its body. They formed a brilliant, heavy wooden shield of pure life, vitality surging through it in a wild, desperate attempt at a final resistance.

But in the face of absolute, overwhelming power, no amount of recovery mattered.

Jingliu moved.

A single, calm yet lethal whisper brought the battle to its conclusion.

“Let this round of moonlight… illuminate all rivers!”

The sword slashed down.

An impossibly thin, thread-like line of ice-blue sword light sliced cleanly through space. It passed through the deep Deer. It passed through the countless tangled roots of the Ambrosial Arbor behind it, yet, with impossible precision, it perfectly avoided the massive furnace at the heart of the workshop.

For a fraction of a second, time seemed to stand still.

And then—

Crack… crrrackle…

Everything in the path of that sword light—whether it was the deep Deer’s body of glass and jade or those hideous, life-choked roots—in that exact same instant, was completely disintegrated and annihilated from the inside out by the absolute-zero sword intent.

There was not even a hint of recovery, not a flicker of regeneration. The creature and its defenses turned directly into the finest, most microscopic dust of ice crystals and scattered into nothingness.

The deep Deer’s hollow eyes dimmed instantly, its massive body silently collapsing and dissipating before it could even hit the ground. The power of Abundance it relied upon for survival and rebirth had been utterly and completely deleted by Jingliu’s limit-breaking strike, a blow that combined the peak power of three different Paths.

The core area of the Department of Craftsmanship fell into a dead, ringing silence.

Only the furnace, brushed by the aftershocks of that sword strike, let out a low energy hum.

“Is it… over?” March 7th’s bow nearly slipped from his grasp. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. “Such a huge deer… it’s just gone? There’s not even any ash left!”

Ms. Welt slowly lowered her cane, her movements deliberate as she adjusted her glasses. From behind the lenses, her gaze was fixed, sharp and deep, on the white-haired woman ahead, who was now slowly sheathing her sword, the black veil still hiding her eyes from the world.

[Elysian’s Note:

Having a good time with the story?

Every single bit helps immensely:

Thanks a ton for making this journey possible!]