NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1044 Escape
Chapter 1044 Escape
Vicente's eyes widened in shock as the sea serpent launched its attack without warning, leaving them barely enough time to raise their defenses. In a heartbeat, his ship blazed to life, its maximum defensive systems engaged. Simultaneously, a sphere of intermingled darkness and golden light enveloped the entire vessel, cloaking it in the power of Vicente's domains.
The air crackled with energy as Vicente's 14 pentagrams materialized, their forms solidifying against the backdrop of his protective sphere. In a flash, robots emerged from his spatial ring, transforming into defensive figures that surrounded their creator.
Vicente felt his body structure shifting, enhanced by the positive influence of his magnetic abilities. This transformation elevated him to a superior version of himself, ready to face the impending threat.
As the attack bore down upon them, Vicente's spatial manipulation and dimensional control skills sprang into action. Multiple wormholes tore into existence before him, a last-ditch effort to redirect the incoming assault.
Vicente's soul burned as he channeled an immense amount of mana, rapidly depleting his reserves in this desperate bid for survival. He could feel his power waning, but he pushed on, knowing that every fraction of a second counted.
The enemy's attack struck with terrifying force, its corrosive powers capable of annihilating beings far stronger than Vicente. The very seawater around them disintegrated, vaporized by the sheer destructive potential of the assault.
The great serpent watched with widening eyes as its attack tore through Vicente's defenses. The wormholes collapsed, the sphere of darkness and light dissolved, and the layers of armor and shields were eaten away by the relentless corrosive force.
However, as the attack neared the ship's final defenses and Vicente himself, the sea serpent's expression shifted from triumph to confusion. The power of its assault was weakening rapidly, its potency diminishing as it breached each successive layer of protection.
The ship's formations absorbed the brunt of the remaining damage, breaking one after another in a cascade of failing energy fields. Finally, the corrosive green essence reached the metal and glass components of the vessel, leaving sizzling scorch marks in its wake.
A portion of the enemy's essence enveloped Vicente's body, disintegrating his clothes but failing to inflict more than second-degree burns on his resilient skin. As the attack's fury subsided, Vicente stood firm, his defenses battered but not broken.
Despite his resilience, Vicente could no longer contain his agony. A long, harrowing scream tore from his throat as every inch of his skin seared with pain. He desperately clawed at his face, struggling to remove the corrosive essence from his eyes.
His vision blurred, the world around him becoming a hazy, indistinct mess. Through the fog of pain, he managed to discern the enemy's gaping maw, not far from where he stood. Behind him, the ship's exterior, though battered, remained impenetrable, its compromised defenses belying the safety of the crew within.
"Oh? Impressive!" The serpent's voice resonated not in the air, but directly in Vicente's mind, a clear provocation that cut through his impaired hearing. Blood trickled from his ears, a testament to the devastating attack he had endured.
"You survived my ultimate assault! Take pride, for you're the first in millennia to force me into a second attack!"
As these words echoed in Vicente's mind, the serpent surged forward. This time, it eschewed its previous tactic, opting instead for a more physical approach—its powerful jaws aimed to crush Vicente's battered body.
Despite his injuries, Vicente's survival instincts kicked in. With lightning speed, he scattered ritual items around himself, simultaneously downing a mana recovery potion. His mind raced as he initiated the Cursing Ritual, a familiar and proven technique he favored over the riskier Banishing Ritual.
Vicente seated himself upon a hastily conjured metal throne, fashioned from the scant resources available in the surrounding seawater. His transparent pentagrams materialized around him, while a cloak of darkness and a crown of light manifested, embodying his formidable powers.
Extending his hands, Vicente fought to ignore the all-consuming, burning agony that wracked his body from head to toe. He forced his blistered lips apart, his voice a raspy, hate-filled whisper interspersed with droplets of blood.
"Three Calamities: First, Magic Shrinkage!"
"Three Calamities: Second, Breath of Death!"
Vicente poured every ounce of his remaining strength into these curses, even as the spiritual toll pushed him closer to the brink of death. He knew it was a desperate gambit, but against this 8th stage peak serpent, anything less would mean certain doom.
Black and silver symbols materialized around the attacking creature, momentarily halting its charge. The serpent hung suspended in mid-air, a look of confusion and growing helplessness etched across its fearsome countenance.
Meanwhile, supernatural winds arose, appearing to be the start of a powerful sea storm. They passed through the scales of the creature's body, making it hesitate in front of the enemy it was attacking.
The serpent's vitality dropped by 30% in an instant, not enough to knock it down, but enough to shock it!
The enemy was just a newly promoted Grand Magus. How could he inflict so much damage on it after suffering so much to deal with the previous attack?
Mustering his last reserves of strength, Vicente completed his ritual, his voice barely a whisper as the creature struggled against the mounting curses.
"Three Calamities: Third, Dead of the Underworld!"
In response to his final incantation, small black portals materialized around Nan's ship. From these otherworldly gateways emerged skeletal fish, their obsidian bones glistening with an unholy light as they launched a coordinated attack against the serpent.
Most notably, a colossal skeleton serpent, wreathed in shadows, emerged and coiled itself around the enemy's tail. This unexpected assault forced the creature to look back, its relentless charge finally halted by indecision and the need to fend off these diabolical summons.
Vicente felt like he was going to pass out before he had a chance to see the outcome of the battle, when he wobbled to the side and fell. But before he sank into the water, Rex appeared and rescued him, taking him back to the ship.
The ship's Grand Magus emerged on deck, channeling defensive powers to bolster their protection. Meanwhile, the captain's voice rang out, urging his crew to push forward with all haste.
From the cockpit, Larissa's voice carried a note of hope. "We just need to maintain our course while it suffers under Vicente's curse. If we can manage that, we'll soon enter Amae's territorial waters!"
As they distanced themselves from the chaos, the once-mighty serpent thrashed against Vicente's summoned creatures. Its power, now diminished to that of a mere 5-Star Grand Magus, was a far cry from its former glory. The curse had leveled the playing field, giving Vicente's group a fighting chance at survival!