Aberrant

“An Aberrant’s strength cannot be judged simply by its aura; everyone must be careful!” Lian warned solemnly.

“Hey! Little sister, I’m not bragging, but as long as that thing can be dealt with by a sword, it’s definitely not a major problem!”

Po Kong seemed somewhat dismissive of Lian’s warning. In his view, as long as the opponent had a physical form that could be attacked, there was no issue at all.

“Since it’s not attacking on its own, I’ll still lead the charge! Little Shadow, focus on helping me get that thing out! I’ll leave the cover to you, Little Star!”

Po Kong grinned at Xia Duo beside him, lifted his longsword, and charged again. Xia Duo immediately understood, silently retreating to the edge of the battlefield and running toward the other side of the area.

Seeing that the newly arrived Starlight and Lian were still a bit confused, Moen quickly explained to them.

“After leaving the underwater undercurrent, we could have headed directly to the southern coast of Night Lotus Valley, but Po Kong discovered an attraction originating from deep within his bloodline. Guided by that power, Po Kong brought us here, but we didn’t expect to run into this fellow near the destination.”

Starlight understood their motive with just a bit of thought. As a direct descendant of the War God family, if something could directly influence Po Kong’s bloodline, its origin would definitely not be small.

Perhaps it was a divine artifact left behind from the primordial era; their impromptu decision to investigate was not wrong.

While the two were talking, Po Kong clashed with the Aberrant once more.

After its transformation, the Aberrant had discarded its original flexible skin. All of its attacks had become direct and powerful, which happened to match Po Kong’s broad and open fighting style.

At first, relying on his extensive combat experience, Po Kong was able to firmly suppress the Aberrant. However, he soon noticed something was wrong.

The Aberrant gradually grew accustomed to its new body during the battle. Not only did its speed increase, but its movements also became increasingly efficient and ruthless.

Several times, its scimitar-like claws nearly grazed Po Kong’s face and neck, only blocked by his protective battle qi by the narrowest of margins.

Seeing that Po Kong’s situation was turning sour, Starlight immediately began providing support.

He instantly condensed fire elements in his palm. To avoid accidentally hitting Po Kong, he didn’t use a wide-range attack like before. Instead, he compressed the energy as much as possible, aiming for a precision strike on the Aberrant.

After studying at the Spiritual Arts Academy, his signature Fireball Spell had also undergone a brand-new evolution.

The fire elements no longer simply gathered into a sphere as they used to; instead, they swirled in mid-air, transforming into a flame spear.

Under Starlight’s precise guidance, the flame spear pierced toward the Aberrant engaged with Po Kong like a meteor.

Coincidentally, the Aberrant’s arms were swept aside by Po Kong’s sword, exposing its defenseless chest. It could only watch helplessly as the bright red sparks exploded against its chest.

As the Aberrant was engulfed by the explosive flames, Po Kong also leaped back two steps, deftly avoiding the scorching blast.

“It hit that easily? Why didn’t it dodge?”

Although Starlight believed his accuracy with this move at short to medium range was no worse than Xia Duo’s arrows, he had already prepared a backup plan in case of a miss.

But to his surprise, the agile Aberrant had no intention of dodging at all, allowing the fire elements to strike its body.

Sure enough, after the aftermath of the explosion cleared, the Aberrant’s unharmed body appeared before them once more.

Aside from a faint red glow and white smoke where its chest had been hit directly, the magic didn’t even seem to have pierced its scales.

“Don’t waste your mana. This Aberrant gained extremely high fire resistance after evolving. Now, even if a true fire-element Saint Archmage were to act, they might not be able to defeat it in one hit.”

Lian’s voice rang out in Starlight’s mind. Although she possessed many miraculous abilities, she was essentially still a fourteen-year-old girl, and her direct combat power was almost negligible. She had already consciously retreated to the side, choosing to analyze the battle from the rear.

“Is that really the case? Moen, can you use summoning magic here? We need to find a way to restrict its movements first.” After hearing Lian’s analysis, Starlight immediately communicated with Moen.

“I can. Before, its body was too flexible for ordinary restraints to work, but now, I should be able to trap it for a second or two.” After a moment’s thought, Moen gave a definitive answer.

Having received the confirmation, Starlight silently made up his mind.

They didn’t yet know how many times the opponent could evolve. If other types of magic were also resisted, they would only become more passive.

The best and most effective way was still to let Po Kong deliver a fatal blow using physical means, but the prerequisite for that was to buy him enough time.

While they were communicating silently, the Aberrant’s body had completely recovered, and it emitted a strange sound from its mouth that was neither a cry nor a scream.

“Little Star, this guy couldn’t have been beaten into crying by us, could it? That’s way too fragile.” Seeing the Aberrant standing still without pursuing, Po Kong wasn’t sure what the situation was for a moment, so he maintained a relatively safe distance and confronted it.

“That shouldn’t be the case, right? Does a monster like this really have emotions...” Starlight was also somewhat puzzled.

“It... isn’t crying! That’s an ancient language that has been lost to time! It... it’s about to attack!” Just as the two were deciding to strike while it was off-guard, Moen’s shocked voice came through.

At the same time she warned them, the eerie notes in the Aberrant’s mouth abruptly stopped. Fissures suddenly appeared in the seabed beneath their feet, followed by a massive eruption of flames and bright red lava.

At the critical moment, a green light protected the soles of their feet, barely managing to withstand the erosion of the lava.

“This guy... actually learned magic!?”

Starlight used wind elements to support their bodies in mid-air, looking at the lava still flowing below as he spoke in disbelief.

Perhaps because the Aberrant’s control over mana was not yet proficient, or perhaps the effect was altered by that crying-like chant, the intensity of the flames erupting beneath them wasn’t very high. However, the magic it used was clearly identical to the wall of fire Starlight had used against it earlier.

Did the opponent learn the move just by looking at it once? How were they supposed to fight this?

At this thought, a drop of cold sweat immediately ran down Starlight’s forehead. But before they could catch their breath in mid-air, the Aberrant’s head suddenly tilted at a bizarre angle, looking at them with hollow eyes.

Its body bent into an exaggerated posture on the ground, and like a giant grey spring, it suddenly lunged toward them.

During its leap, Starlight seemed to see a red light flash at the Aberrant’s chest, and its two front claws turned a brilliant crimson, like branding irons heated to a high temperature.

“Clang!”

Seeing the Aberrant’s figure arrive in an instant, Po Kong quickly transformed his twin swords into a tower shield, blocking its path.

With a loud crash, the Aberrant’s charged strike was forcibly interrupted, but Po Kong was also sent flying over a dozen meters by the massive impact.

After landing, Po Kong looked at the white-smoke-trailing scratch on his tower shield with some heartache. He lamented that his newly repaired weapon had already suffered wear and tear, but this only proved that the Aberrant’s strength had reached a terrifying level.

Meanwhile, Starlight and Moen had managed to pull Lian away from the lava-covered area. In that flash of action, Starlight had already formed a hypothesis regarding the Aberrant’s attack patterns.

Before the Aberrant could even turn around, Starlight’s premeditated magic was aimed at it once more. However, this time he did not use fire magic; instead, he unleashed a massive volley of Light Arrows.

The shining arrows descending from the sky were like a white downpour, quickly engulfing the Aberrant’s greyish-white figure and pinning it firmly in place.

But this suppression lasted for only two breaths. As the caster, Starlight immediately sensed a change occurring within his magic.

Sure enough, the light elements were being absorbed by the Aberrant once again, and its body began to slowly break free from the magic’s restraint.

The second he felt the elements being drained, Starlight cut off his magic.

The Rain of Light came to an abrupt halt. Even the Aberrant failed to react in time, looking up at the sky as if wondering why the attack had suddenly stopped.

While it was momentarily hesitant, Po Kong seized the opening and charged, his blade pointing directly at the neck exposed by its upward gaze.

The longsword in Po Kong’s hand hit its mark with precision, but the blade only pierced the scales by a few millimeters before being repelled by a burst of light.

“Skreeee! Roar!”

Accompanied by the Aberrant’s long howl, brilliant light elements erupted from its body, once again forcing Po Kong back more than ten meters.

Watching the Aberrant cover the thin wound on its neck with its hand, Po Kong seemed very dissatisfied with the result of his attack.

“Tsk! This guy really can learn magic instantly. Doesn’t that mean we’re going to be completely countered? Little Shadow, aren’t you done on your end yet?”

He clicked his tongue impatiently, taking several steps back to neutralize the Aberrant’s momentum, though the force of this attack was much lighter than he had expected.

“I can’t... I can’t move this broken thing at all! Po Kong, are you sure it’s actually useful?!”

Xia Duo’s voice, sounding like she was speaking through gritted teeth, echoed in their minds. It seemed she was also facing considerable trouble on her end.

Starlight looked toward the direction where Xia Duo had gone. From his vantage point, there was a large sunken pit, and Xia Duo was inside, pulling with all her might at something.

However, he had no time to worry about that right now. Through the recent exchange, he had seen through the Aberrant’s methods.

The Aberrant wasn't learning his magic in a short time; rather, it was swallowing the elements, storing them in its body, and then mimicking the spells with none of the underlying technique.

This was why its attacks were completely aimless and why their power dropped significantly when there weren't enough light elements to fuel them.

The problem now was that even if he understood the attack pattern, he couldn't deal effective damage. Blindly using magic would only make the Aberrant more difficult to deal with.

After hearing Starlight’s explanation, Po Kong looked helplessly at the nearby Aberrant. In his current state, there was truly nothing he could do to the opponent.

It wasn't that he didn't want to use his ultimate weapon, the War God Battle Qi, but rather that the moment he entered this space, the battle qi in his body had been suppressed tightly.

Thus, Po Kong suspected that the thing guiding his bloodline was the source of it all, which was why he had sent Xia Duo to leave the battle.

“Little Star, it seems I’ll have to go over there myself. Can you guys hold this thing off? Half a minute... no, twenty seconds will do!”

Po Kong glanced back at the large pit in the distance and asked solemnly.

“Who do you think you’re talking to? Half a minute is half a minute! Just because magic damage is ineffective doesn't mean we can't trap it!”

Starlight rolled his eyes at him, feeling that Po Kong was underestimating him, and then nodded to Moen beside him.

“Go and help Big Sister. I’ve been ready for a while now~” Moen also gave a light chuckle, waving her hand at Po Kong to tell him to hurry.

Just then, the Aberrant in the distance released the hand covering its neck. The wound Po Kong had left had completely healed, without even a scar remaining.

The Aberrant let out an angry roar and leapt toward the direction of Po Kong’s retreat, looking very much like it intended to have its revenge.

But the moment its body left the ground, several massive vines erupted from the seabed, binding its legs tightly.

“Your opponents are us now!”

Moen shouted softly, a rare look of determination appearing on her delicate face. The vines on the ground danced like spirit snakes under the command of her slender hands.

In this isolated space, there were naturally no plants to utilize, but Moen had scattered a handful of seeds on the seabed the moment they entered combat.

After being accelerated by Moen’s power over a long period, those seeds had quietly taken root beneath the sand of the seabed.

The Aberrant was completely oblivious to such non-targeted spells. By the time it reacted, the thick vines had already wrapped around it securely.

It struggled incessantly, trying to escape the vine's binding, but just as Po Kong’s physical attacks were largely ineffective against it, its hardened body could do nothing against these flexible branches.

Seeing its movements completely sealed, the Aberrant’s body underwent another mutation.

With a series of tremors, its originally slender frame bulked up as if it were being inflated. Countless finger-thick spikes grew from beneath its scales, easily piercing through the flexible vines.

If not stopped, Moen’s vines would certainly not be able to hold it for much longer.

Starlight, naturally, would not stand by and watch it escape. He pressed both hands against the ground, and the sand and stones on the seabed immediately rose like giant hands, clutching the Aberrant’s body within.

The shattered branches were then covered by gravel and clay, making the cage even more solid.

“See? If it’s just to trap it, nothing could be simpler.” Looking at the Aberrant now completely enclosed in a stone sphere, a relaxed expression appeared on Starlight’s face.

As long as he and Moen maintained their mana, trapping the Aberrant for a short while was not difficult at all.

Moen also showed a look of relief and then looked toward her sister. By now, Po Kong had run to the center of the pit and was busy with something.

When Starlight approached, he finally realized that Po Kong, his face flushed red, was dragging a pitch-black stone, while Xia Duo stood aside, panting heavily.

“Is this the thing you were talking about?”

Starlight curiously examined the black stone, which was shaped like a door panel. It was stuck upright in the sand of the seabed, and no matter how much force Po Kong applied, it remained motionless.

“Yes! This is it! Not only did it stir my bloodline, but it also suppressed my War God Battle Qi. Otherwise, I would have ended the fight long ago! Phew... let me rest for a bit.”

With that, Po Kong released his grip and sat down on the ground.

Starlight had initially thought a large part of this black stone slab was buried under the seabed, but when he extended his mana beneath the surface, he was surprised to find that the object was simply resting on the ground.