I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 305: Force of a Hundred Thousand Abysses

Rumble…rumble…

Just as Horell had arrived at the place where Herellia was, a loud rumble resounded from the large swath of dark clouds, radiating an intent that did not go unignored by Argentum’s senses. Then again, Argentum could not afford to ignore the rumble that resounded due to the notifications he had received from the system. Putting the notification screen in his mind aside, he went ahead and utilized his enhanced senses to their fullest extent once more, allowing him to obtain the message hidden in the intent.

It did not take long for him to obtain the intent’s hidden message, letting out yet another sigh as he muttered to himself, “This time, the lightning bolts are not gonna stop at anything to make sure that Herellia fails this final trial. Is this the true feelings of the heavens when it comes to Herellia’s plea to become an Animate? Or is it just the feelings of the lightning bolts that have been made to smite Herellia down?”

“Either way, the intent hidden behind the rumble this time around is quite intense,” he continued to mutter to himself as he looked at Horell and Herellia from afar. In less than an instant, his sense of vision noticed that Horell was looking at the dark clouds with an aura of terror surrounding him, presumably from the loud rumble that resounded just now. On the other hand, Herellia continued to be in a nonchalant state when it came to the surroundings around her. Of course, Argentum knew that she was deeply engrossed in familiarizing herself with the skills she had obtained from the evolution she had undergone.

If Argentum knew that all of her skills from the past evolution, as well as the skills even before the first transitional evolution, had been replaced with the skills that came from the current evolution, he would definitely tell Herellia to familiarize herself even more with the skills she had obtained. Alas, he was oblivious to this idea.

“Argentum…” Getting a bad feeling from the loud rumble that resounded just now, Horell hastily went ahead and sent a strand of energy towards Argentum before saying, “Are you really sure that I could be of service in this next trial? I feel like you just made me come here to die.”

“Well, Existence Tribulations are basically trials that go against the heavens, so you’re not wrong in the death aspect,” Argentum replied with a joke to make the conversation light-hearted, but this only resulted in the opposite effect on Horell. With his sense of vision focused on Horell, he then continued to talk, saying, “But what if I tell you that you’ll be able to offer more help than me when it comes to direct interference?”

“Eh?” While listening to Argentum’s words, Horell could not help but utter that sound as an aura of confusion emanated from him. Seeing that he was listening attentively to his words, Argentum continued, “You might not have noticed just now, but after the loud rumble resounded from the dark clouds, Herellia sent me a message about the next trial. After hearing it, my decision to let you head to where Herellia was seems to be the best decision I’ve ever made.”

“What kind of trial am I and Herellia up against?” Since their conversation was now on the topic of the next trial, Horell went ahead and assumed his calm and composed state as he asked this question. In response, Argentum took in a deep breath before responding, “The next trial consists of dark blue lightning bolts, just like what Herellia had gone through.”

In that instant, the calm and composed aura surrounding Horell had been instantly replaced with fear as he felt the destructive power of those bolts even from where Argentum was. He knew that, even in his current Pseudo-Animate form, he would be turned into ashes once he was hit by one of those dark blue lightning bolts. Nevertheless, he took a look at Herellia beside her, prompting him to take in a few deep breaths as he steeled himself for the trial that was about to come.

Letting out a sigh that had a hint of defeat, Horell continued to inquire about the specifics of the next trial, asking Argentum, “How many dark blue lightning bolts are we up against?”

“Err…” Argentum hemmed and hawed for a bit, making it look like he was conversing with Herellia through energy strands to obtain this information. After a few seconds, he then sent an energy strand towards Horell before saying, “A hundred thousand.”

Whoosh!

If the aura of fear surrounding Horell before covered the area of a small house, then the fear that he was currently feeling could easily cover the size of a football field…around ten of them possibly. Not wanting to make it seem that he was fearing for his life, Horell went ahead and asked Argentum one more question, though the trembling fear hidden beneath his words was still apparent.

“W-what should I do to help her out?” Horell asked, eliciting Argentum to ponder over their next moves for a bit as he thought about the ideal course of action when facing against a hundred thousand lightning bolts. It did not take long for him to conclude that the first thing he should do was to guarantee Horell’s safety when it came to helping Herellia defend from the incessant barrage of lightning bolts.

“First off, activate all of the buffs you have in your arsenal,” Argentum responded around twenty or so seconds later, to which Horell replied by activating all of his buffs without delay. After doing so, he continued to ask Argentum, saying, “What next?”

“Next, I’ll cast most of the buffs I have in my arsenal on you,” Argentum replied, to which Horell could not help but radiate an aura of confusion as he looked at Herellia. Looking at Herellia and Argentum back and forth for a bit, the fear he was feeling slightly subsided as he asked, “Shouldn’t all of your buffs be cast on Herellia first before me?”

“Horell, trust me when I say that…even if I cast most of my buffs on you, Herellia would still exert a level of combat power that isn’t inferior to it,” Argentum said in a slightly grave tone before continuing, “Although I don’t know how powerful Herellia truly is, from what she told me while giving me the information about the next trial, I can say with certainty that she would be able to clear the previous trials with ease with her current power.”

Of course, Argentum was basing his words on what he obtained from the system notifications. Noticing that Herellia’s current species had the rarity of Legendary+ once he read through it, he already knew that her power was now far beyond what he and Horell could muster in their base form. Thus, Argentum felt that the statement that her power would still be equivalent to a boosted Horell was not a lie in some aspects.

Then again, he also thought that she would be somewhat infuriated if the first usage of her skills from the get-go were boosted, even if it meant that her chances of succeeding in the next trial would become lower if she refused.

Listening to Argentum’s statement, Horell could not help but refute that statement, only to go silent as he sensed the serious aura Argentum was emanating. It was then another loud rumble resounded out from the dark clouds once more, transforming the aura around Horell to fear once more as he said, “Alright, alright! Cast your buffs on me! Hurry!”

“Well that was a quick change of attitude,” Argentum muttered to himself as he inwardly let out a light chuckle. Soon after, he then went ahead and cast all of the spells he had from the Wind and Fire element that boosted a certain stat. Naturally, the True Water spells he prepared for this Existence Tribulation was also cast on Horell, which meant that he was the first recipient of his newly made spells instead of Herellia.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In a matter of few seconds, a great number of energy balls in the colors of either red, blue, or green hastily made their way to where Horell was, only to be absorbed by his body not long after as the aura surrounding him had intensified to a greater level in less than an instant. Sensing that his combat power had undergone an incredible amount of change in what seemed to be a flash, Horell could not help but be stuck in a daze for a bit as he felt like he was dreaming.

Fortunately, it did not take long for him to come back to reality as his sense of vision was focused on Argentum before asking him, “Have you cast all of the spells you cast on me onto Herellia yet?”

“I’ve cast most of it on Herellia, but not all of it,” Argentum replied succinctly after choosing his words carefully. Surprisingly, Horell continued to ask, “Question, how long does it take you to cast all of these spells after their effects have worn out?”

“At the very instant they’re dispelled, why?” Argentum said, taking into consideration the amount of mana he had, as well as his MP regeneration rate. In response, Horell imitated the sound of one sucking air between their teeth as he replied, “What kind of journey did you go to obtain such fraudulent power, Argentum?”

“Well, even if you trekked the same paths as me, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to obtain most of what I’ve obtained,’ Argentum answered his question with a light chuckle, only for their conversation to be stopped as another loud rumble resounded from the dark clouds.

At that instant, both Horell and Argentum focused their senses of vision on the movements of the dark blue lightning bolts, noticing that these lightning bolts were already bunching up in certain areas. Not long after, the dark clouds started to emanate dark blue light from multiple areas, giving the two an idea that it would not take long for the 100,000 lightning bolts to finally come crashing down.

“Horell, cast your strongest barrier on Herellia. It might take a while for her to finish adjusting to her current power,” Not wanting to be on the passive for this trial, Argentum hastily sent a command to Horell, to which Horell acted upon as the earliest moment possible.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Without delay, Horell went ahead and conjured a cyan magic circle at the front of his extended palms as he aimed this magic circle towards Herellia. Not long after, this magic circle was shot at Herellia, soon forming a barrier of energy that exquisite carvings on its surface.

“[Mana Barrier: Titan Shield],” Horell muttered after casting the spell before focusing his vision back onto Argentum. Unfortunately for him, just as he was about to ask Argentum what he should do next…

The trial had finally begun.

Bzzt…crash!

Swish! Swish!

Bang!

Accompanied by a cacophony of loud sounds that leaned more towards the explosion type, a hundred thousand Abyss-level lightning bolts simultaneously came down from the dark clouds in order to hinder Herellia from proceeding with her Existence Tribulation. At first, these lightning bolts came down from the skies in a manner that leaned more towards chaotic rather than ordered. But not long after, these bolts stopped in their tracks and, as if they had a mind of their own, decided to bunch up and transform into large lightning pillars. How many?

A thousand of them.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

And so, rather than 100,000 individual Abyss-level lightning bolts, Herellia and Horell were instead up against a thousand lightning pillars, made up of 100 Abyss-level lightning bolts each. At that moment, Horell felt like he could not move his body from the immense fear he was feeling. It was as if that the only choice he had right now was to submit to the overbearing power of the lightning bolt pillars and be swallowed up by them.

Of course, that thought did not truly happen as a voice boomed inside his mind, prompting him to remove the fear that he was feeling as he knew that his and Herellia’s lives were at stake here.

“Horell! Use your strongest offensive skill to blast away the lightning pillars nearest to the two of you!” Argentum shouted in Horell’s mind through an energy strand, to which Horell responded with, “Here goes nothing!”

Whoosh!

Without delay, Horell went ahead and extended both of his arms towards the lightning pillars that were getting closer and closer to where they were. Although he was seriously fearing for his life right now, he knew that he could not shirk away at this very moment, steeling himself as an aura of determination soon suffused from the aura of fear he was radiating all this time.

Swoosh!

In less than an instant, a magic circle multiple times larger than the one he cast on Herellia a while ago soon appeared in front of his extended arms as a gate made out of energy was soon created from the magic circle. Soon after, Horell went ahead and infused a great portion of his energy as he shouted, “[Gate of Myriad Armaments]…”

“[Part Two]!”

Swish! Whoosh! Fwoosh!

And just like that, a near incessant amount of weapons made out of Horell’s energy soon flung out of the gate as its doors opened, targeting all of the lightning pillars that were near them. Unsurprisingly, thanks to the large number of buffs that was cast on him by Argentum, the firepower of a single weapon was enough to slightly weaken one of the lightning bolt pillars. With that in mind, it went without saying that once a large swath of weapons went ahead and collided with the lightning bolt pillars, then these lightning bolt pillars disappeared without a trace. These then transformed into dark blue strands that headed to where Herellia was, making Horell slightly disappointed that these strands did not head to where he was.

Nevertheless, he continued to fight against the lightning bolt pillars with the skill.

3…7…11…15…

As time passed, more and more lightning bolt pillars were dispelled thanks to Horell’s ultimate skill, which allowed him to form a large array of weapons that he could control like an extension of his limb. Unfortunately, with every pillar he dispelled, a decently sized portion of the weapons he created would be destroyed in the process. At first, he would be able to replenish it thanks to the energy he had left over in his body, but as time passed, it became more and more impossible.

By the time the 37th or so lightning bolt pillar was near where they were, all of the weapons that were formed from the spell Horell used had now been destroyed, dispelling the large gate that acted as a controller of the weapons in the process.

Although he knew that it was inevitable for him to be beaten back by the lightning pillars, he could not help but let out a sigh as he muttered to himself, “Well, what do you know. All of the fear I had a while ago disappeared. That’s great.”

“Just so you know, Herellia, I tried my best to dispel a lot of lightning pillars before you had to make a move, but it seems that I’ve already reached my limit,” Horell continued to mutter as he looked at the lightning pillars coming closer and closer at them. Just as he was about to sit on the ground and closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable to come, a familiar voice resounded behind him, prompting him to turn around and radiate an aura of immense shock.

“You’ve done well, Horell. Thank you for helping me out.”

“Herellia…”

“Save your questions for later. For now…”

“Don’t you think it’s time for me to do my part?”

——–

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