Chapter 109: Half-dead
After Priam became a Disciple Mage, when he remembered this technique during his free time while training, the System gave him all the information.
Just like the power of nature coming from the Primordial Pristine Core, he felt this was a power he did not deserve, because the cost of acquiring it had been the lives of that entire innocent tribe.
But... he would not stop using it, even if he did not deserve it. He was not an idiot, after all.
The cost of using this move was only one Power Rune. Priam could activate this rune and fight for some time with it, consuming at most 50% of its capacity, and still manage to unleash an attack with Rumbling Heavens.
Unlike Sky-Rending Wind, which was a concentrated cutting wind strike, Rumbling Heavens was an explosive attack. His blow caused an energy explosion in a small area, and its power level could vary depending on the Power Rune used.
Priam arrived in front of Hahho, and that idiot no longer had enough time to flee or do anything else. He could only attack too.
Hahho realized too late that he had dug his own grave.
If he had remained calm and vigilant when facing Priam, instead of acting undisciplined, mocking, and arrogant, he would have been able to immediately perceive how terrible that attack was and, thus, use all his strength to avoid it.
Even if he could not dodge, he could at least have immediately channeled all his energy to protect his own body. But when he realized the situation, he had already moved everything into attack, and now could only move 20% into defense in time.
**BOOOM!!!!**
When the two fists collided, the sound was not flesh against flesh. It was the deafening roar of thunder striking dry earth.
*Crack!*
With the sharp crack of glass being crushed, the barrier inscription at the center of the hall completely shattered.
The gust of energy that spread was absurdly aggressive. Feeling the imminent danger, the clan leaders acted in unison, activating their strength in the blink of an eye to protect the young spectators from that crushing pressure.
*BANG!!*
In the middle of the whirlwind of dust and energy, a silhouette shot out like a cannonball, crashing violently into the solid stone pillar supporting the center of the hall.
The impact made the entire structure tremble. Deep cracks began to spread like spiderwebs toward the ceiling, making a rain of dust fall over everyone.
The figure that struck the pillar did not bounce back.
The force of that impact was so bizarre that half of his body was literally embedded in the center of the rock.
Only after a few seconds of suffocating silence did that form slowly slide down, falling awkwardly onto the floor.
"!"
The entire hall became catatonic.
No one could make a single sound.
After all, the person lying there... was precisely Hahho!
Grand Elder Ladomi and the middle-aged man accompanying Hahho jumped up from their seats, their faces pale with pure terror. But they could not move.
There on the floor, the clothes covering Hahho’s chest were torn to shreds, revealing a completely opened torso. For any humanoid, that would be a bloody, visceral, and fatal hole. But the Aether-Wood Deer possessed a semi-spiritual nature.
Inside, there was no blood. No flesh, bones, or organs.
Hahho’s false body, created through metamorphosis, was a completely hollow shell — and now it was shattered, full of cracks, like a precious vase freshly smashed by a hammer.
Worse still: inside that empty armor, his true essence, a pale greenish soul, was deeply fragmented.
Saying the damage was terrible would be an understatement. The external shell had been destroyed, and his true being inside... was now half-dead.
The clan leaders watched that scene with wide eyes, blinking repeatedly, trying to discern whether this was a collective hallucination.
The monster of the new generation had been split in half!
"Argh..."
A groan of pain broke the trance dominating the place.
Priam suddenly collapsed, forcefully planting one knee on the floor. Air was missing from his lungs, and his right arm hung at the side of his body, completely unusable after the collision.
A gush of blood rose up his throat, but he clenched his teeth and forcefully swallowed it, refusing to collapse.
In the millisecond after the impact, he was forced to burn even the last remnant of his Ether to heal himself and not lose consciousness. Even so, the price was still high. The damage was still brutally heavy, and he now found himself so weak that he could barely remain standing.
This move was definitely far too terrifying, and with his current level of power, he could end up injuring himself as seriously as the enemy himself. Even if he managed to create more than one Power Rune, he would not be able to use it a second time.
He slowly raised his head and looked in Hahho’s direction. The corners of his mouth silently curved... but right after that, he narrowed his eyes.
’Resilient son of a bitch...’
Priam felt firsthand the main power of the Primordial Chaos Beasts. All races, without exception, possessed frightening resistance in every sense.
He had attacked by surprise, and was certain that two-thirds of the power had struck Hahho directly, while he himself had suffered the rest. Even so, Hahho did not die immediately, only falling into a critical and potentially irreversible state.
"Young... Young Master!!"
An extremely terrifying roar echoed through the hall. The middle-aged man accompanying Hahho ran frantically in his direction.
He and Grand Elder Ladomi reached Hahho.
When they felt his injured state, the middle-aged man’s entire body trembled. He hurriedly stretched out his hand to grab Hahho’s wrist. Immediately, his expression changed drastically.
From the beginning, Priam had shown obvious arrogance and extreme self-confidence, but he had never directly offended someone first nor openly looked down on others.
In everyone’s eyes, being self-centered was natural, given his young age and the extraordinary innate talent he possessed; at the same time, it gave him the image of someone who had grown up without learning when to restrain himself.
His previous consecutive fights and victories also reinforced this impression for everyone.
This made them assume that, although Priam was a genius, he was still very young, since he possessed the arrogance and insolence typical of youth and did not show the slightest trace of cunning or strategy.
Almost everyone believed this, and naturally, Hahho was included.
Therefore, from the beginning of the fight, Hahho had not shown even a trace of caution or fear toward him. Under Priam’s silent guidance, facing his second attack, he simply did not think of dodging or defending himself; on the contrary, he decided to receive it with pride. But he discovered his mistake far too late.
At that instant, the middle-aged man suddenly turned his head.
He looked at Priam with an extremely malevolent expression. His body suddenly pulsed.
The middle-aged man’s body emanated an extremely dense and hostile killing aura as he roared violently.
"You little bastard, I... I’ll kill you!!"
He abruptly charged at Priam, his right hand turning into a hook to grab his neck.
Under the wave of that gigantic energy, the entire hall trembled slightly.
Orlaith and everyone from the Ylisse clan were horrified.
Priam was already completely debilitated at that moment. He did not even have the strength to stand up... Even if he were in his best condition, fundamentally, he would not be able to survive a single blow.