I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Northern gleamed coldly as the creature steadied itself. In that instant, another fearsome javelin shrieked through the air and buried itself into the Leviathan's hind limb, causing it to stagger backward.

Northern didn't waste the moment. As the creature reeled backward, he manifested a rod of ice in his grasp. In an instant, the rod turned crisp white, emanating cold, dreadful wisps of smoke.

He launched forward with tremendous force, halted abruptly mid-air, and hurled the spear straight into the exact point where the javelin had struck.

Northern's aim was flawless! It connected with the javelin's edge, drove it fully inside the monster, and plunged itself deep as well, leaving half its length protruding outside.

The cold smoke that emanated from the spear began to spread around the wound—slow but relentless. Northern had, after all, improvised such a thing on the spot.

Since he didn't possess a poison-type talent, he used the ice as something that would immobilize the abomination over time. He could attempt a full-blown demobilization with Absolute Zero or Absolute Heat. In fact, Northern was curious to see how these abilities would perform.

But he wasn't foolish enough to reveal his trump cards before a potential enemy. In fact, he would use the least of his abilities and make them appear to be his best. He was certain that the Chaos Prince was doing the same.

Northern watched as the Leviathan lost its balance further, staggering backward and nearly toppling but managing to stop itself in an abrupt and unnatural manner.

The creature groaned silently to balance itself, sounding like a massive strain from the world itself. Then it continued to march forward.

Northern grimaced at that moment.

'What? It's not even going to retaliate?'

Chaos Prince caught up to him with a small, gentle smile on his face. He touched Northern's shoulder.

"Leviathans usually embody a purpose... the purpose is the driving force of their will, which dictates their patterns and character. Looks like we've got ourselves a marcher here, Northern."

Northern continued to stare ahead. The Chaos Prince was right. Now that he thought about it, the Chaos Dragon's purpose must have driven its will, and that was what made it such a formidable opponent.

And made the Chaos Prince an even more appalling existence. His rotting corpse had become *that*?

Northern tried not to think about it for the third time and instead looked at the Prince's hand, fixing him with a dark glare.

Chaos Prince reluctantly withdrew his hand, chuckling softly.

He shifted his gaze to the Leviathan for a brief moment, then said, bow in one hand:

"Anyway, what do we do? I don't think any form of attack will be able to kill that thing."

Northern's eyes narrowed.

"The only way to kill it would be to make it defy its purpose."

The Chaos Prince looked at Northern and clicked his tongue.

"Ding! As expected of my partner—you catch on quickly. With monsters like this, it's easier to kill them by opposing the nature of their existence. Otherwise, everything else we do is useless."

Come to think of it, that was sort of what he'd done with the Chaos Dragon—he'd battled the creature with a weapon of peace carved from vicious and unforgiving heat. Heat that burned away all chaos.

'Fighting Leviathans just became easier thanks to this fool. I really can't underestimate the value of knowledge.'

Northern looked at the Leviathan with dark intensity.

"So in this case... we have to make it... stop marching?"

The Chaos Prince nodded as he stared at the marching Leviathan.

Northern's voice carried a hint of confusion.

"How do we make a marching mountain stop marching? Can't we just kill it?"

Chaos Prince squinted, observing the Leviathan for a moment, then turned and answered Northern.

"Didn't you see it adapting faster to the break in balance than it did earlier when you shattered its second ridge?"

Northern glanced at the Leviathan.

"That's true..."

"Besides..."

The Chaos Prince pointed to the Leviathan.

"Its ridges are already regenerating."

Northern frowned and stared at the edges of the monster's massive head. They were small protrusions, as if mountains were twisting out from the sides of its skull.

The monstrosity continued to march nonetheless.

Northern thought for a moment.

'I could simply use Willpower to…'

He shook his head.

'Scratch that... this is the time for some character development.'

Northern instantly changed his name.

Even the name change was so flawlessly smooth that he barely noticed any difference.

Another thing was the clarity with which he could feel his new name. It went beyond just the inscription of the name upon his soul.

Perhaps this was how it had always been meant to be—maybe void essence was simply too heavy a force for the significant changes that names made to his soul to be distinguishable.

But the soul essence was very light, vast, and formlessly mixed with the essence of the new name itself. Even though Northern wasn't a Paragon, he felt the pools of his essence stretch endlessly into unreachable dark depths.

That was even if what he felt could be called pools.

It was fortunate that he felt the essence of the name Burning Storm this vividly. It gave him a sliver of hope that perhaps he would be able to accomplish what he intended to do.

Because it was something impossible for a Sage to accomplish. Despite knowing it was impossible, Northern couldn't think of another way out.

The Skyrender was marching closer to the center of the battle ahead. Northern didn't even know how that battle was progressing, but he could still feel Kryos and Ul clashing.

It was astounding that Ul was still holding down the Chaos Origin with a mortal vessel—it just went to show how truly formidable she was. But the more he thought about it, the more uneasy and desperate he felt because of Terence's fragile body.

Which was why, despite not wanting to reveal his trump cards, Northern was willing to go far and compromise some things in order to stop this Leviathan as quickly as possible and save Terence before her body crumbled.

Northern grimaced.

'That reckless girl—I'm sure she just went, 'my body is yours to use as you see fit' to Ul. When will she ever learn?'

Meanwhile, Chaos Prince stole side glances at him. Northern was trying to focus on feeling the completeness of the essence of the name Burning Storm, but he couldn't help noticing the irritating glances the Chaos Prince kept shooting his way.

He glared darkly and turned.

"What?"

Chaos Prince, caught stealing a glance, quickly snapped his face forward.

"Oh! Nothing at all! Don't mind me! You just seem like a totally different person in the blink of an eye, that's all."