Genetic Ascension

Chapter 513: Horrifying

Sylas hadn't had the chance to use this skill since the battle started. The distance between himself and the spider queen was too large, and he also didn't dare to stay near it for too long.

But this time, he needed it. Not for the continuous poison damage, but rather for an effect of the skill that he had mostly ignored just now.

His Ice-Poison Skills were weaker now because the climate wasn't conducive to its strength. Or more accurately, the Ice aspects of his affinity were in very limited supply. By comparison, the amount of Poison Runes in the surroundings couldn't be any higher.

However, if he used <Arctic King's Domain>, he would be able to strengthen the ice aspects in the air to the point where he could force his skills beyond the usual tier.

When this activated, a blizzard surrounded his body, and his Ice-Poison Skills were boosted by several dozen percentage points.

Winter's Edge.

Blades of snow fluttered around Sylas, and his body froze in the air for but a moment before he drew a finger across the air.

<Chilling Scythe>.

The blade light, swirling the sharp protrusions of Winter's Edges, shot right into the open wound of the spider queen.

Sylas descended after it, landing on the queen's head and pushing an arm into her open flesh wound.

The spike of pain woke the spider queen up, and Sylas vaguely heard Nosphaleen coughing up a mouthful of blood in all the chaos. If not for the fact he knew she was there, he would have very likely missed her completely.

He didn't have the time to mind it.

He held onto the spider queen's body with fierce determination.

When it tried to cast its defensive skill again, he cast <Arctic Howl Mutant> at the same time. Amplified by his <Arctic King's Domain>, it was several fold stronger than it should have been, clashing against the forceful push of the spider queen, keeping him in place, and strengthening the spread of the poison even further.

It was only now Sylas truly understood the power of <Arctic King's Domain>. It was one thing when he was already stuck in a land of ice, but where it truly displayed its power was in worlds lost in a thick desert-like mess...

Exactly like this one.

SSSKKKREEEEEEEEE!!!

The spider queen bucked and writhed, but Sylas refused to let go. He stuck his entire arm into the hole in its eye, grabbing onto whatever slimy mess he could.

His gaze was sharp and cold, the determination in his eyes not fading for even a moment. BANG!!

The spider queen slammed into the side of its nest, pinning Sylas' body along with it. Sylas felt practically his whole rib cage shatter at the same time. His bones punctured into his inner organs, and his body felt like it wanted to shut down.

He had ended up far more injured than he wanted, but he knew that he didn't have the luxury to rest on his laurels. The next time the spider queen flung him away, it wouldn't be so foolish as to let him fall.

The lack of attack options was really driving him into a wall as his vision swam and his arm threatened to loosen its grip. His other arm was still useless from the earlier <Psychedelic Punch>, but that was the least of his worries when he had holes in his lung and liver now. The pain was absolutely excruciating. If the spider queen's eye was large enough to crawl into, he would have. Unfortunately, while it was a large reaction, it wasn't quite that large. With a grit of his teeth, he pressed his foot into the back of its abdomen and pushed himself forward.

Using the leverage, he pushed his arm deeper into its eye. Then he coated his finger with a sheen of telekinesis and Aether skin, pulling up the dregs of what he had left and piercing down and into the soft flesh.

He had given it everything he had.

The Arctic Emperor Cobra's pouch, his own attacks, Nosphaleen's interference, and now it looked like he would be willing to give up even his own arm for a chance.

However, in his focus, he didn't notice the abdomen of the spider queen suddenly light up again. But this time, it didn't form a new elite spider.

A root pierced down from above.

Sylas barely had the time to register the fact that his Luck sent him blaring warning signs when it appeared above his back.

He only moved the slightest bit when the root, full of poison, shot through his chest.

Sylas' gritted teeth gave way to a spurt of blood.

The root tried ripping him back, its barbs sticking into his body and trying to rip him apart from the inside out.

But with a roar, Sylas froze it all, pumping all of his Aether out without a thought to conserve it. This was a matter of his life and death, and there was no time to hesitate.

He forcefully twisted his body, and the root that pierced through him snapped.

Sylas' arm went loose, and he was sent flying off the body of the spider queen. Blood came from his mouth, so thick and dark that it looked as though it had had all its vitality sucked dry from it.

An entire half of Sylas' chest was covered by a sheen of ice, the blue veins pumping wildly beneath as it froze his blood over.

His vision swam, and he couldn't quite see clearly. He tried to interpret the signals his visualization was sending him, but all he saw was the vague outline of the spider queen rushing toward him.

At the same time, he saw something even more horrifying.

The spider queen pierced its leg through one of its elite children, and it turned into green motes of light that looked like twisting vines. These twisting vines surged into the spider queen and started to heal it.