Chapter 291: The Weapons of a Disaster

Kai stood on the massive stone bridge, the three pieces of equipment slowly rotating in the air in front of him, the waterfall behind him crashing endlessly into the valley below.

"Which one first?" he asked.

"The spear," Tiamat answered immediately.

"Why?"

"Because you keep trying to solve everything with a sword."

Kai paused. "...That’s fair."

He reached forward, and the Stormforged Spear flew into his hand. The instant his fingers closed around it—

BOOOOOOM!

A burst of wind exploded outward, crimson lightning racing along the spearhead. The waterfall behind him bent sideways under the sudden pressure.

Kai’s eyes widened. "...This feels completely different."

"It was made to carry Storm Authority."

He looked down at the weapon. "So it’s basically an extension of your Authority."

"Exactly."

Movement broke through the mist ahead, three Ruins Beasts emerging from the ruins at once.

[Ruins Beast — Level: 63.]

[Ruins Beast — Level: 63.]

[Ruins Beast — Level: 64.]

Kai didn’t rush. He raised the spear, and a small storm formed above the spearhead.

"Let’s see."

He thrust forward.

CRACK!

A spear of lightning shot out, and the first monster went flying backward, crashing straight through a stone wall.

Kai blinked. "...That was fast."

The second monster leaped at him, and he twisted the spear, wind erupting from the weapon and shifting the monster’s trajectory mid-air. He stepped under it and drove the spear upward.

BOOM!

The monster launched into the ceiling.

Kai landed, grinning. "I like this."

"I noticed."

He kept experimenting instead of finishing everything immediately, discovering the spear wasn’t purely offensive. Storm Thrust compressed wind around the point for savage penetration. Thunder Step launched him forward with every strike. Tempest Sweep released a curved blade of compressed wind on a wide swing. And when he channeled his own Storm Authority through it, the lightning stabilized entirely, no longer dispersing chaotically.

"So I don’t have to create the storm first," Kai said, testing the flow.

"Correct. The spear can create the structure."

"And I supply the Authority."

"Yes."

"That’s even better."

Another group of monsters closed in, and this time Kai used the spear like a battlefield-control weapon instead of a simple point-and-thrust tool. One thrust sent wind curling behind an enemy, pushing it into another. He spun the spear, a circular storm forming around him, lightning striking through the gathered wind, then launched forward.

BOOM!

He passed clean through three monsters in a straight line, the storm trailing behind him. The rest tried to surround him, and he planted the spear into the stone.

"Storm."

CRACK—BOOM!

The whole area erupted, monsters thrown apart in every direction.

Kai pulled the spear free. "...This thing lets me control the battlefield."

"That is what you should have realized first."

He laughed. "You’re enjoying watching me figure this out."

"Perhaps."

He swapped weapons next, the Stormforged Spear dissolving as the Tidal Edge took its place, and the change was immediate. The violent lightning vanished entirely, replaced by something quiet.

He swung once. A distant stone pillar split cleanly in half.

CRACK.

Kai looked toward it. "...That was water?"

"Compressed water."

"How sharp is this thing?"

"Sharp enough."

"That’s not an answer."

"You already know the answer."

He smiled. "You’re really going to be like this."

More Ruins Beasts emerged, and he used small, precise amounts of water this time, thin cutting edges, high-pressure needles, water threads, rotating defensive layers, compressed bullets, everything requiring far less manual shaping than the raw Authority alone had demanded.

A monster swung at him. Kai blocked with a thin water barrier.

BOOM!

The barrier didn’t break. It simply redirected the strike sideways, and Kai pivoted through the opening.

SHING!

The Tidal Edge cut clean through the monster’s armor.

"This is basically turning my Authority into a weapon," Kai said, studying the blade.

"Exactly."

He turned to the third reward last. "Now the armor."

The Tempest Sovereign Armor formed around him, dark plates locking into place across his chest, arms, shoulders, legs, and back, a faint current of wind circulating continuously around his frame.

[Tempest Sovereign Armor Equipped.]

[Defense +200.]

[Agility +200.]

[Mana Resistance.]

[Wind-Assisted Movement.]

[Water Resistance.]

[Lightning Resistance.]

He shifted his weight onto one foot.

WHOOSH!

He vanished, reappearing nearly twenty meters away a second later.

Kai blinked. "...Okay."

"You like it."

"Very much."

"You look ridiculous when you’re excited."

He looked down at the armor. "You’re jealous."

"Of armor?"

"Exactly."

Tiamat actually laughed.

He tested the armor’s mobility next, jumping and letting wind carry him higher, twisting mid-air with the armor adjusting his trajectory automatically, landing on a narrow stone pillar before immediately launching again. It gave him true three-dimensional movement, changing direction mid-air, accelerating suddenly, slowing his fall, riding wind currents, keeping his balance at speeds his body shouldn’t have handled.

"I don’t need to stay on the ground anymore," he said.

"You finally noticed."

He brought the Stormforged Spear back out and activated Storm Authority alongside it, and the difference was immediate. The weapon’s lightning stopped fighting his Authority and started synchronizing with it, a dense layer of crimson current wrapping around the spear entirely.

He thrust.

BOOM!

A distant cliff face exploded outward.

Kai stared. "...That’s stronger."

"Because the weapon isn’t replacing your Authority. It’s amplifying it."

The bridge beneath him started collapsing without warning.

CRACK!

He fell, and instead of panicking, activated the armor. Wind erupted beneath his feet, stopping him mid-air.

"...Useful," he said, looking down.

A massive wave erupted from below a second later. He raised a hand, water bending around him, riding the wave upward before the current reversed and threw him sideways. He used the armor to redirect himself and landed cleanly on a ruined tower.

"Better."

"I’m getting used to it," Kai said, smiling.

The dungeon kept escalating. A waterfall reversed direction entirely, water flowing upward, and he used Tidal Dominion to redirect the current before it swept him off the ledge. A narrow tunnel blasted pressurized water through it fast enough to strip skin, and he combined wind to slow himself with the Tidal Edge to carve a path through the pressure. Ancient structures collapsed into an underground lake beneath him, and he leaped between the falling pieces using Storm-assisted movement. Lightning began generating from the dungeon itself, and instead of dodging it, he absorbed some of the charge through the Stormforged Spear.

His eyes widened. "...I can use the dungeon’s own storm."

"Now you’re thinking like an Authority holder."

After several more fights, he reached the massive structure he’d spotted earlier, the architecture growing older, the monsters growing stronger, the water deeper underfoot.

[Ruins Beast — Level: 64.]

He cleared it with a single combination, wind acceleration feeding straight into a lightning thrust, and the monster collapsed instantly.

"This is about halfway," he said, looking back at how far he’d already come. Ahead of him, the ruins only grew larger.

He entered a massive underground complex a while later, the environment shifting into something closer to the remains of an entire civilization built around water. Enormous stone bridges. Flooded plazas. Submerged towers. Ancient statues half-swallowed by water. Channels running beneath collapsed buildings. Waterfalls cutting straight through the ruins.

No people anywhere. Only monsters. Kai kept moving.

A massive group of Level 63 and 64 monsters emerged in the largest plaza yet, and this time Kai didn’t fight them one at a time. He combined everything at once. Storm Authority spun wind through the whole chamber. The Stormforged Spear discharged lightning. Tidal Dominion pulled water up from the ruins. The Tidal Edge cut through it in tight, precise arcs. The armor let him move between enemies faster than any of them could track.

BOOM! CRACK! SHING!

Water blades. Lightning. Wind. High-speed repositioning, all of it converging at once. The monsters barely had time to react before it was over.

Kai landed at the center of the ruined plaza, silence settling over the whole chamber.

He lowered the spear slowly. "...That felt good."

"Much better than your first attempt."

"I’ll take that."

He reached a gigantic underground chamber eventually and stopped dead. Water surrounded everything, a massive lake ringing the surrounding ruins, multiple waterfalls pouring from the ceiling far overhead. Wind circulated constantly through the open space. Storm clouds gathered above the distant structures, lightning flashing through them intermittently.

He looked around slowly, and something clicked into place.

"...Wait."

He looked at the water. Then the wind. Then the storm gathering overhead. Then down at his own weapons and armor.

"This entire place—" his smile grew slowly, "—is basically the perfect battlefield for me."

Tiamat stayed quiet for a moment. "Now you’re thinking correctly."

Kai looked toward the ruins ahead. "With this much water—" he raised a hand, water beginning to move at his gesture, "—and this much wind—" the air started rotating around him, lightning gathering overhead, "—how terrifying can I actually become?"

"You will find out."

"When?"

A pause.

"After clearing those monsters rushing toward you."

Kai’s smile disappeared. He turned.

The entire lake behind him began churning.

BOOM.

One monster surfaced. Then five. Then twenty. Then dozens more, levels flickering into view one after another.

[Ruins Beast — Level: 64.]

[Ruins Beast — Level: 64.]

[Ruins Beast — Level: 63.]

The water boiled with their movement.

Then something enormous shifted behind them, deep beneath the ruins.

BOOOOOOM.

Kai raised the Stormforged Spear slowly, the Tidal Edge forming in his other hand, wind wrapping tight around his frame, the Tempest Sovereign Armor glowing faintly across every plate.

He grinned. "And I’m guessing that’s the boss?"

"Nearby."

His eyes sharpened. "Then let’s finish this."

The horde charged. Kai dropped into a low stance, and the entire battlefield began filling with wind, water, and lightning all at once.