The Ascender's Legacy [A CHAOTIC STORM LITRPG]

Daruk stumbled onto the rocky ground of Abyssos, golden veins gleaming beneath his feet so brightly they were almost blinding. His shackles fell to the ground in a metallic cascade, releasing their stranglehold on his core, and with a wide smile, Daruk inhaled deeply, savoring the burn of ambient energy as it raced into his lungs and core.

His core pulsed in response, icy energy and willpower surging through his pathways like a flood after nearly two days of restriction. His pathways ached blissfully as they drank up the rush of power, and with a chuckle, he turned to look at Aodhán—only to find himself utterly alone.

A thread of panic curled in his gut as Daruk spun around, his gaze scanning the rocky area for any sign of Aodhán. When he found none, he was forced to accept the truth: he was well and truly alone. He would have to face whatever came next without Aodhán by his side.

And that scared him.

Despite being the smart one—or perhaps because of it—Daruk had very little experience dealing with situations like this. Aodhán, on the other hand, had a wealth of experience. This wouldn't be the first time he'd found himself in a strange new world, after all.

Daruk had really been hoping he would go through this cursed realm with Aodhán by his side, impulsive and reckless as he could be. Aodhán would take the lead as always, while Daruk worked on curbing his chaotic impulses and keeping them both alive.

Now, it seemed, he would have to figure everything out on his own.

Daruk refused to let the situation overwhelm him, though. Instead, he forced himself to think rationally and logically, his gaze sweeping the area for potential food sources and suitable shelter. He had no idea what trials the cultists had in store for them, which meant finding a source of sustenance had to be his priority.

He hadn't eaten in two days, and though hunger hadn't fully set in yet, he needed to find something soon. Sighing, he turned toward the forest of blue and black trees behind him and began jogging toward it.

However, he was barely halfway across the rocky expanse when the earth began to tremble, pebbles scattering from the vibrations. A flock of birds burst from the trees, shrieking as they took to the sky in a panicked flurry.

Roars rose in the distance, malicious cries filling the air as dust billowed up in a towering cloud. The wind carried the acrid smell of smoke and fire, and beneath it all, something far worse—the reek of blood and beast.

The horde appeared on the horizon an instant later—a dozen reptilian creatures at first, then hundreds, their snarls echoing with malice as they rushed toward him like a tide of death.

Daruk's heart stuttered at the sight, and he quickly intensified his pace, his feet slapping hard against the rocky ground as he raced for the tree line. But he didn't need a god to tell him he wouldn't make it in time.

The horde would tear him to pieces before he even reached the trees. He had to stand and fight.

Grimacing, he whirled to face the horde, icy mist curling from his fists as he readied himself for battle.

The creatures snarled at him, their long limbs carrying them across the expanse with frightening speed. Each one stood tall, the smallest nearing four feet, their backs hunched and covered in a ragged arrangement of orange crystals. Their front limbs were short, vestigial things compared to their powerful frames, but tipped with claws so black and sharp they seemed carved from obsidian.

A glance at the words floating above the head of the nearest creature revealed just how dangerous they were.

[Fire-rexes—Tier 27]

Daruk cursed his luck as his aura burst around him, ice spreading across the ground thickly. With a sharp exhale, he pulled a torrent of energy from his core, merged it with willpower, and swept a hand out in a sharp arc, activating both [Freeze] and [Ice Age] at the same time.

Willpower exploded from his core in a rippling wave, and an instant later, the world flashed white as the temperature plummeted, frost crystallizing into delicate patterns that hung suspended in midair before shattering to pieces.

The earth cracked and groaned as ice surged out in a cascade of jagged spears, the coating of ice beneath his feet expanding to cover an area nearly fifty meters in diameter in thick ice. Jagged ice pillars erupted out of the earth as Ice Age activated—dozens at first, and then hundreds, rising around Daruk in a semicircle.

The Fire-rexes at the front of the horde stumbled, skidding against the smooth surface as their claws found no purchase. They crashed into each other, their superheated bodies hissing with steam as they met the ice.

Still, it wasn't enough.

With a silent snarl, Daruk opened up his spirit to the origin plane of ice, savoring the bite of pain and pleasure as chaos rushed into his spirit. Another surge of willpower joined the chaos, roaring through his pathways as he raised a hand to the approaching horde and activated [Frost Beam].

The beam struck out like a lance of pure winter and slammed into the nearest Fire-rex with bone-crushing force, piercing through its hide to freeze its insides. The Fire-rex screeched in pain, the fiery crystals on its back flaring to combat the rush of cold.

It failed, and the beam stabbed out the opposite side, slamming the frozen Fire-rex into its comrades and causing them all to lose their balance.

The Fire-rexes snarled, spitting fire into the frozen earth to create purchase, and before long, they regained their speed once more, rendering his efforts useless.

Daruk's grimace deepened, and he realized he had been fighting against these creatures as if they were the simulated monsters of the tower. But they weren't.

These creatures were advanced-class monsters with an innate resistance to evolved skills. If he was going to defeat them, he had to give it all he had, including seals and a huge amount of willpower, to bridge the gap.

Yet, Daruk hesitated, grimacing when he realized just how many eyes were on him at the moment. The entire Order was watching him, and if he unleashed the true power of his willpower right now, it wouldn't take them a minute to figure out what he was.

Yet, he couldn't win this battle without giving it his all.

He had to find a balance somehow.

Daruk hesitated for a heartbeat longer before deciding to lift the restriction he had placed over himself. Not all the way. Just enough to get him through this battle.

He lifted the mental dam he had constructed in his core and nearly collapsed with pleasure as willpower burst out of his core and into his spirit, filling him with so much more strength that Daruk felt his power nearly double.

The power surged into his pathways and spirit like a roaring tide, invigorating him like a drug. [Cold Vision] activated next, and with eyes blazing with the essence of cold, Daruk looked out at the snarling horde of malformed monsters rushing toward him. They moved swiftly despite their odd structure, but there was still enough distance between them for Daruk to take his next action.

Eyes gleaming, Daruk activated [Ice Age] again and poured all that power roaring through him into the skill. Thunder boomed, and the skies darkened as a deep hum echoed across Abyssos as though the realm itself took a trembling breath.

The horde paused, claws scratching frantically against the icy ground as they sensed the danger of his presence, but it was already too late. They had already entered his range, and now they were prey.

In a burst of movement, Daruk raised his hands skyward, and the world screamed as it tore itself apart. Ice Age detonated beneath the charging horde with the fury of winter—jagged spears of ice erupting upward in a revolving flower beneath them.

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The flower expanded, stabbing and tearing into the softer underbellies of the fire-rexes. It pierced right through bones and tissue to erupt out of their necks, spines, and hides. Blood sputtered out, painting the flower red as the spears rose higher, lifting the writhing monsters into the air in a grotesque display of blood and viscera.

Shrieks filled the air, a symphony of agony that Daruk barely heard over the roar of willpower surging within him. It was much more than he'd allowed himself to feel or utilize in months, and accessing even this little was like a drink of cool water on an extremely parched throat.

[Glacial Paradox—LiquidIce] activated next, and all the spears surged out, bending in ways that should have been impossible as they speared other rexes, stabbing through their hides and throats only to continue forward, stacking the rexes upon each other as they elongated.

Roars and snarls echoed in the air as the fire-rexes fought back, flames erupting from their throats to melt the ice. But Daruk couldn't have that.

Pulling the quintessence of a full seal into his spirit, Daruk lifted his willpower restrictions further, groaning as a literal river of fiery willpower surged into his spirit, clashing violently with a torrent of chaos and quintessence.

All three energies rushed through his pathways as another flower of frozen spears burst from beneath the horde. But this time it was far more visceral.

The spears exploded upward with such violence that they didn't just pierce—they shredded, tearing the rexes apart on a cellular level, their bodies disintegrating into chunks of shredded meat and fiery crystals. Blood erupted like geysers, painting the expanding flower crimson as organs and entrails scattered in every direction.

But the flower wasn't done.

The spears snapped forward like arrow-tipped vines, slithering through the air like an army of snakes so densely packed together that they shredded whichever rex they stabbed to pieces. Dozens died in an instant, their entrails spilling over the slithering ice spears until they froze, forming jagged protrusions on the spears that further cut down more rexes.

Spears became whips that wrapped around necks, crushing windpipes with wet, grinding sounds before morphing back into blades that carved through bone and sinew. However, not all the rexes fell to the power of his liquid ice—too advanced to be beaten by his evolved skills, and with roars of fury, they charged forward, stepping over the frozen corpses of their brethren, orange crystals glowing on their spines as they unleashed torrents of orange flames so hot that ice melted on contact.

But Daruk was unfazed, and with another swift motion, he raised a dozen walls of ice to surround himself—each several inches thick to stall the rexes. They shrieked, spewing flames over the walls in fury, but when one melted, they were met with another, all while Daruk raised both hands to the sky, chaos and willpower rushing through his pathways like a tidal river.

The essence threads in his arms bulged as energy surged through them too, and with a groan of both pleasure and pain, Daruk activated [Hailstorm].

Thunder boomed as the obsidian skies darkened further, and clouds churned, twisting into a cyclone of epic proportions. Blue lightning arced across the sky as the churning storm gained momentum, plunging the already freezing temperatures to unimaginable depths.

The sixth wall shattered, crumbling into a pile of ice, water, and steam, and as the fire-rexes crashed into the fifth wall, Daruk unleashed a torrent of freezing rain onto the earth, dousing the orange flames before they had a chance to spread. The rain turned to sleet in minutes and then into hail, but Daruk wasn't satisfied with just dousing flames.

He was on a high, the amount of willpower coursing through his spirit filling him with ecstasy. And with a savage grin, he activated [Ice Manipulation], arms spinning in the air as he clumped the hailstones together to form a dozen bladed discs, several inches thick and several meters wide.

The discs spun wildly, their serrated edges cutting through the air with a sharp whoosh that set his teeth on edge. But controlling so many skills at the same time was strenuous, and Daruk felt a migraine split against his skull painfully.

Groaning, he lifted the restriction on his willpower for the third time and nearly collapsed in relief as the burden became infinitely easier. Willpower burned through his spirit, so much that it leaked out of his skin and began warping the area around him. His eyes and body blazed white, icy mist billowing around him like a pyre of frost.

His entire body felt like it was floating. All the willpower he had been taming and condensing for so long was now unleashed upon the world. He still had one more restriction left to lift, but with so much power surging through his spirit and pathways, Daruk doubted he would need it at all.

He waited until the last wall fell, and with a sudden downward motion of his arms, he unleashed the bladed discs on the horde below. The discs descended like falling guillotines, their razor edges singing through the air with the song of death.

They carved through the horde like wet parchment, bisecting beast after beast from shoulder to hip in a spray of crimson so large it drenched the entire earth. In only ten seconds, the discs had carved through more than half the horde, their murderous rotations chewing through each beast with the efficiency of a meat grinder.

The serrated edge of a disc caught a rex in the throat, and its head spun away in a fountain of arterial blood while its body was run through by another disc.

For the next few minutes, the discs carved through the horde like blades of crystalline destruction, leaving trails of devastation in their wake, limbs and viscera flying through the air in arcing sprays of gore.

The scent of blood filled the air overwhelmingly, steam rising as rexes collapsed to the frozen ground, fiery crystals hissing in protest before dimming to black. But his reign of terror barely lasted another minute before it was brought to a brutal end as a scorching wave of pure white flames washed over the entire battlefield, so hot it melted all the ice in an instant.

Daruk stumbled from the backlash but quickly rushed to his feet, eyes wide as he searched for the creature that had unleashed such a fearsome wave. He found the creature an instant later, and his high plummeted as he read the floating text above its head.

[Alpha Fire-rex—Tier 30]

The creature was six tiers above him, but more than that, it was five advanced tiers above him, putting it at a level of power he couldn't reach without accessing all of his willpower. He had accessed so much already that the cultists were no doubt suspicious.

Still, Daruk knew if he lifted the restriction for the last time, there would truly be no going back. He would no longer be able to hide. He would be targeted.

Yet, all of that could only happen if he stayed alive, and Daruk most definitely intended to do so.

He turned his gaze back to the Alpha Fire-rex as it roared, gathering the remaining Fire-rexes to itself. They were barely a hundred in number, yet every one of them was powerful, ranging between the 28th and 29th tiers.

They snarled at him, fire essence rippling all around them with murderous fury. The heat spread, thawing out the frozen ground and melting the grotesque flower spears. Dead bodies tumbled to the ground as the ice melted, each dead body seeming to add to the alpha's fury.

Daruk breathed deeply, aware that he was fighting an uphill battle here, but for the first time in his life, he was fighting with his true strength. Not holding back. And that excited him.

Blood boiled in his veins as he locked gazes with the alpha, crystal blue eyes hard with determination.

The alpha roared again, unleashing another wave of white flames, and with murderous intent blazing in its eyes, it rushed forward, orange crystals flaring brightly behind its back. The other fire-rexes charged alongside it, their screams and snarls filling the air with malice and hatred.

But Daruk didn't run. Didn't stagger. Didn't hesitate, as he pulled half the quintessence of his second seal and lifted the last restriction he had placed on his willpower.

What happened next wasn't an explosion. It was a detonation of pure power.

Willpower burst out of him in a violent wave that caused the earth to crack beneath his feet. The air crystallized, frozen solid for a moment before shattering into a thousand pieces as willpower gushed through his pathways, expanding them so thoroughly that it was painful.

Daruk collapsed as willpower gushed into his spirit, his legs unable to bear the weight of the power rushing through him. But the pain only lasted a moment. And then ecstasy. Pure, unadulterated ecstasy.

Strength rushed into his muscles and tissues, padding them to hold up his weight. His eyes blazed so brightly they were like suns, and an overwhelming sense of control came over him, the fabric of space around him warping and bending as his body bent reality to itself.

Daruk felt as light as a feather. He felt all-powerful. As if he could command reality right now and it would obey. He pushed himself to his feet, a smile of absolute ecstasy on his face, and reality bent even further.

This was what he had been denying himself. This intoxicating rush of absolute power, this feeling of being more than human, more than mortal. It sang through his veins like liquid starlight, cold radiating off him in visible waves.

He looked back at the Alpha Fire-rex, which had closed the distance between them to only a few meters, and his smile widened. He didn't move. He didn't even speak.

He simply thought. And a beam of frost detonated from his chest, so large, so all-encompassing that it tore across the battlefield like a tsunami.

The world dimmed in an instant, washed out by the brightness of the beam. Everything else fell into the background as it swept over the Alpha rex and its followers, freezing them instantly as the heat was completely drained from their cores.

Their flames died in their throats, and their scales became coated in ice so thick it looked like glass. The very air around them crystallized, creating a forest of frozen death that spread out before him in a macabre display of statues, the orange crystals on their backs now black.

For nearly a mile in all directions, there was no sign of life. No movement. Nothing.

Daruk stood before the grotesque display of ice, blood, and viscera, his chest heaving from the amount of power he had just unleashed. His core sang within him, and the band of silver around his eyes turned golden, shining with an intensity that refused to dim, permanently marked by the amount of willpower he had just channeled.

For several seconds, Daruk did nothing but breathe, giving himself a chance to descend from the high his power had given him. Multiple notifications blinked at the edge of his vision, and after a final heavy sigh, Daruk opened up the first notification.

Congratulations! You have gained a title: Herald of Winter. [See full details below].

Congratulations! You have gained a title: Treader of Dread—Greater Variant. [See full details below].