A Sorcerer's Journey - Chapter 395
Chapter 395: Level Two Wild Instinct
Dira’s Spirit Armor?
The power of the Elemental Body has been temporarily transferred to these mechanical devices!
The reason why modern Elemental Sorcerers’ gradually abandoned the usage of ancient machinist sorcery was due to the conflict between the Elemental Body and the mechanical assistance.
Grimm was stunned but his arms instinctively raised up the Sabbatic Goat Staff, barely fast enough to parry Dira’s metal longsword.
A stream of gray spirit flame slithered off the long sword and wound its way up Grimm’s Sabbatic Goat Staff, but unable to withstand the highly-intense clash of Elemental Energy, it scattered into grey-colored bits and pieces.
Whoosh!
Grimm felt the force acting against him increasing exponentially and couldn’t help but fall back a considerable distance to the skies behind him.
With the help of the mechanical system implants to fully unlock and enhance his own composition as well as the Spirit Flame, he could greatly boost his composition points within a short span of time. Could this mean that a simple Elemental Sorcerer could be turned into a Refinery Sorcerer at any given time using this method?
Zoom! Zoom!
Two beams of light lit up the sky as they blasted from Dira’s Condensed-Pulverizer Cannon.
Grimm could feel his body’s increasing agility as he leaped a few steps sideways, dodging the two cannon beams without breaking a sweat.
This was the art of warfare practiced by Demon-Hunter Sorcerers who walked the razor’s edge between life and death. If it were up to an Arcane Sorcerer, they would inevitably use a spell that would greatly deplete one’s magic power or use the Elemental Teleportation to dodge such attacks.
With a loud puff, the mechanical devices that floated freely in the air started flying over with the addition of the ice crystals.
But this time as Dira was reforming, the longsword that was in his hand had melted into a liquidated state, before solidifying into a spear that burned brightly with the Spirit Flame as Dira sent it hurtling towards Grimm.
The Sabbatic Goat Staff was sent flying out in return. Suddenly, Grimm felt his heart beating against his ribcage and his muscles tightening. He had temporarily unleashed the first level of the Wild Instinct.
“Wild Instinct Level One, activate!”
A dense pattern of black scales covered Grimm’s body, its texture akin to that of cold, hard steel. His body grew thinner and more elongated. His instincts were now wild and violent, while his composition and speed increased by multitudes.
In a flash, he leaned backward, dodging a blue beam of light with unmatched flexibility.
His body could now perform unpredictable and difficult movements with ease. Grimm’s gaze underneath the Mask of Truth slowly shifted to one side.
There was a buzzing sound.
Grimm’s long, golden hair was grazed by the blue beam as he was dodging it. After hearing the buzzing noise coming from behind him, only did he realize that the grazed parts of his hair had been sheared off cleanly by shards of floating ice crystals.
Grimm deduced that Dira’s previous attack was a high-precision slicing attack spell, similar to his own Flowing Water Column or the Thunderclap Coupling spell.
Whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp…
Grimm activated the Explosive Flaming Frost Jellyfish, launching large waves of ice spikes towards Dira. These bursting Ice Spikes were propelled by the energy created by the fusion of Fire and Ice Elemental Energy. With a further boost from the immensely powerful Sabbatic Goat Staff, the attack could easily reach an offense power of over a thousand points!
Clang!
On one side, the Sabbatic Goat Staff had successfully stopped Dira’s spear from advancing further. In the collision, the Spirit Flame that attempted to curl up Grimm’s staff was sent flying in every direction. At the same time, after Grimm unlocked the First Level Wild Instinct, his powers had now surpassed that of Dira’s Spirit Armor. With a single moan, Dira retreated further back for the time being.
Thump, thump, thump, thump…
On the other side, a series of dull explosions could be heard from Grimm’s bursting ice spike counter-attack against Dira. The hundreds of ice spikes created rippling effects to the surrounding air as they detonated against the translucent defensive barrier.
“This defensive barrier…”
Grimm looked at the retreating Dira, as the memory of the Ashen Mask back during his apprenticeship floated into his mind.
This kind of defensive barrier was similar to that of the sorcerer’s barrier. It only provided defensive capabilities towards certain types of attacks, and would not work against energies that have never been registered into the barrier itself.
Of course, one advantage is that it could work effectively against regular attacks by random creatures at any given time. It seemed to belong to the field of cutting-edge research and development by the Dawn Sages and other private Arcane Sorcerers.
“Wild Instinct? It seems you are a Wild Instinct Anatomy Refinery Sorcerer, in addition to being an Elemental Sorcerer?”
Dira was surprised at the sudden change in the situation.
According to the Arcane Sorcerers’ theory, hypothetically speaking, if a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer was already praying to the Sorcerers’ Will to solidify his sorcerer’s barrier, it would be impossible for him to do long term research on Arcane Sorcery. Similarly, the razor’s edge one walks to unlock the Wild Instinct clashes with the intellectual and calm path of an Elemental Sorcerer like oil and water.
And now Grimm had unlocked the Wild Instinct as an Elemental Sorcerer. To a Demon-Hunter Sorcerer, this wasn’t something to write home about, as it would typically be assumed as Grimm’s personal field of research. And yet from the Sorcerer World’s traditional domain of laws’ perspective, from Dira’s perspective at least, this was extremely difficult to accept.
“Grimm…”
Yates had gradually regained his strength. A pure ball of Dark Element had formed into the shape of a monster’s skull at the tip of his magic staff, its jaws wide open, exposing its knife-like fangs.
“I wish you luck! This is the most I can do for you, Sunken Shadow Spell!”
The monster’s skull roared before turning into a myriad of Dark Elements, disappearing into the air around them. Yates then drove away the elemental activation sorcery creatures and rushed towards the flock of giant birds in the distance. Without looking back, he flew towards the direction of the Ivory Castle Sorcerer Academy.
With Yates gone, Grimm now bore the full brunt of Dira’s Force of Nature suppression. He could feel the pressure physically pressing down onto him. His control over the Force of Nature had now been reduced to half of what he had before Yates left. The layers of Force of Nature under Dira’s control were now gradually closing in on him.
“Hm?”
Dira suddenly yelled out in astonishment. As the thousands of mechanical parts that dotted the sky began to recombine, he could not stop himself from sinking downwards.
“This is no gravitational sorcery! Could it be some type of curse spell?”
Dira was bewildered as he kept on thinking, all while the gear in his right eye was spinning near its top speed. Finally, he realized that there was something wrong with his own shadow.
“So it was here all along.”
As Dira stood firmly on the ground, he summoned a wild surge of Elemental Energy and the Force of Nature started converging from the surroundings, down onto himself like water down a funnel. The Force kept pouring into his body, and at the same time, the Dark Elemental mist began to dissipate from the shadow beneath his feet.
Roar!
The Savage Flame Giant had finally completed the reforging process of his Lava Greatsword. It bellowed as it descended from the sky, rolling waves of flame created a streak of yellow above him, like a burning cloud crashing down towards the ground.
As Dira was driving away the Dark Elemental mist from his shadow, he lifted up his left hand and the Ice Elemental energy cannon opened fire immediately.
Bam!
Lava and ice shards shot across the sky in all directions as a massive cloud of steam covered the area. Even so, it was not enough to stop the Savage Flame Giant’s rapid descent. It slammed into the ground next to Dira, the crying face on his chest opened up its mouth before a red-hot ball of fire shot out towards Dira.
The fireball and the wave of heat from the Lava Giant was enough to mess up Dira’s sorcerer’s robe as well as his hair.
“Hmph!”
Dira grunted.
It would be extremely foolish for him to fight hand-to-hand combat with this large fellow. But due to the Dark Element spell cast onto his shadow, Dira had lost a great deal of agility. Under immense stress, he grunted before hesitatingly retrieving a small vial from his sleeves.
“Thunder Purification.”
After an ear-bursting “crash” of thunder, Dira barely dodged the incoming fireball, as it charred a part of his sorcerer’s robe. On the other side, the Savage Flame Giant had now become riddled with holes, sustaining heavy damage.
The thunder purification spell!
It was not the first time Grimm had witnessed someone use this spell.
Sorcerers were flesh-and-blood creatures that were a part of the diverse selection of elemental beings. In their countless demon-hunting expeditions, they had developed a kind of Elemental Purification spell that acted as an extreme restraint on all elemental beings.
As for his own experience, Grimm could remember a sorcerer-apprentice using this spell against his Greedy Flame Giant back when he was still an apprentice.
Though, the cultivation process of such purification spells was too complex and there were too many limitations for its usage therefore not many sorcerers would choose to spend too much time researching it.
To think that Dira had this kind of consumable up his sleeve, and it seemed like a top-of-the-range item too.
The mental strength framework of the hole-riddled Savage Flame Giant had now become disordered from the attack. To continue to fight would only be a waste of magic power. With a wave of his hand, Grimm recalled the Sabbatic Goat Staff before descending onto the ground himself.
Whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp…
Dira’s spear had now turned into a short battle-axe, which was sent tumbling towards Grimm again. Despite waves of attacks from Grimm, it all made naught but a dent on the axe.
“Hah hah hah hah! How much magic power do you have left? Your Wild Instinct transformation can only last for so long. After that, your state will only get weaker and perhaps you might even lose the opportunity to escape. What would you do after that? Become my prisoner?”
On the surface, Dira was laughing and it seemed that he was enjoying it. But the truth was, his heart was bleeding from the inside.
This Grimm was too strong. Stronger than any Level-1 sorcerer. Dira was surprised that he could single-handedly take on a Level-2 sorcerer, something he himself could never hope to do.
Such a talent should have been part of Lilith Sorcery Academy! He should have been a member of the Bright Sorcerers!
And yet… he was now putting up his life on the line in the name of the Dark Sorcerers. Dira’s resentment towards his own negligence had now become irresolvable.
Gasp, gasp…
Grimm stopped his attacks momentarily in a desperate attempt to extract every last bit of Magic Power from the Demon-Hunting Outfit. This was done all while maintaining a protective barrier around him against the suppressive Force of Nature using the repulsive force.
If not for the continuous stream of magic power provided by the Demon-Hunting Outfit, the Grimm of now would have long exhausted his magic power reserves.
“Hah hah, have you finally reached your limit?”
The gear in Dira’s eye spun rapidly. The lens covering his other eye had several cracks across it, a result of countless close shaves he had while battling against Grimm.
The ice and fire glow on Grimm’s separate eyes steadied under the Mask of Truth as he drew in a deep breath.
“It seems that in this condition, battling against a Level-2 sorcerer would be a near-impossible task. If that’s so, then…”
Grimm’s fist tightened!
“Wild Instinct Level Two, activate!”
In Dira’s disbelief, the eye under the cracked lens widened while the gear in his other eye came to a complete halt abruptly.
Wild Instinct Level Two?!
Grimm’s body had started expanding slowly, forming into a three meter-tall pygmy giant. Grey-colored spines gradually sprouted from the black scales that covered his body. Each spine varied in length from twenty to thirty centimeters long. And wrapped around the tip of these spines, was a dark flaming aura.
An atmosphere brimming with madness and violence permeated through the area, like a beast awoken from its slumber.
While Grimm remained stationary, each breath caused the air around him to ripple like a water’s surface. Subtly, it showed minor signs of a lifeform higher than that of a regular human being.
In the moment, Grimm’s body having undergone yet another Wild Instinct transformation although still below the standard of a level-two sorcerer, the difference could already be considered negligible.
But even then, the standard of a Level-2 sorcerer was based purely on the statistics of one’s composition. If they were to take into account Grimm’s powerful auxiliary abilities as well as his real combat capabilities…
Perhaps his own defensive abilities had already become too strong, or perhaps Grimm had already abandoned the use of Elemental Sorcery at this point. Either way, he could no longer drive off the surrounding suppressive Force of Nature.
“Master… Dira!”
Grimm, who had transformed into a spine-covered monster raised his head. In one moment, he was tens of meters away from Dira, in the next moment, Grimm had suddenly appeared right in front of him. The Sabbatic Goat Staff struck down hard.
Boom!
The elemental shockwave stirred up a column of dust that stood a dozen meters tall and the ground rumbled from the impact. The sorcerer-apprentices a thousand meters away all yelled out in fear as they covered their ears, trying to protect themselves from the ear-bursting sound.
After a moment, the dust finally settled.
Grimm now stood steadily in a crater, thirty meters in diameter with the Sabbatic Goat Staff resting against his shoulder like a sledgehammer as he watched the silhouette of the now fleeting Dira in the distant sky.
