Rivers of the Night

Chapter 726: Collapse

The Alpha didn’t seem to have changed at all. In fact, its cultivation was just the same. However, even though its Entangled Clone had done nothing at all yet, Theron could feel it.

Somehow, the creature felt... sturdier, stronger in an intangible sort of way, and yet so very tangible at the same time. The power of the Alpha had doubled, its ability to burn its blood had doubled, its ability to cast spells and counter with techniques—it was all doubled.

And yet it was still one creature.

It was so very fascinating in ways that were hard to describe, even for Theron. It was a miraculous technique that surpassed even the wildest thoughts on magic a mortal could have.

With a flash, the Alpha appeared before Theron. It towered over him at over two meters tall, but its tongue hung outside its mouth like a panting dog. It playfully lowered its head and nuzzled at Theron’s chest.

Theron felt the warmth of its body and sighed. He wasn’t sure where the sigh came from, but he stroked its thick mane nonetheless.

Maybe in this world, only a creature as mad as the Alpha could stay by his side.

[Entangling Clone] wasn’t a battle technique. Though the clones could be split, doing so would weaken one’s power by half. It could, at best, be used in the sense of tactics or something of the like. Otherwise, it was just smarter to keep both clones in the same space.

They could work independently, and yet were of one mind.

This could be used for anything from cultivating at twice the speed to casting two techniques at once. This was something even Theron couldn’t do unless he coordinated the timing of his Meridians perfectly, but even then he had never been put into a position where he would be cornered into doing such a thing in battle.

The best part of this, though?

While on paper the Alpha was still an Arcane creature, still a world away from Celestial, let alone Primal, because its body was effectively the fusion of two Arcanes in one, it was no weaker than a Celestial creature now.

And once it became a Celestial, the boost would be likewise exaggerated to much the same extent.

In fact, once it became a Celestial, if it could withstand the pressure and gather enough resources, it would be able to split once again, forming three total clones and one main body, thus allowing it to have the combined might of a Primal at Celestial Resonance.

This was huge.

Theron closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to that of the Alpha’s. He could feel the same relief he had now that he had had when he realized it actually wasn’t dead... that he wasn’t alone.

A part of him almost wanted to say thank you, but the words became a heavy stone in his throat instead, unable to come out.

It was the rumbling of the earth that snapped him back to focus.

His eyes opened and sharpened. He had almost made another fatal mistake.

In the moment, he had nearly forgotten that this place was collapsing.

The Alpha nudged its nostrils forward and flicked up, throwing Theron over its head and onto its back.

Theron’s gaze flickered, not sure what the Alpha was planning. But in a rare moment, he chose not to question it.

The claws of the Alpha lengthened and then glistened in the lack of light. The ground beneath its four paws shattered to pieces, and it shot up.

High in the air, it split into two. Theron frowned, but he still didn’t say anything as the Alpha used [Entangling Clouds] to surge through the air, stepping on currents of wind as though it were solid ground. But it was clear its speed had plummeted considerably after it separated into two.

Then one slowed even further while the other surged ahead.

Heavy rock and stone began to fall from above, and Theron watched as the clone danced between them, leaping from rock to rock to accelerate itself further.

The Alpha Theron rode lagged behind a beat, but not by far. There were at most three stride lengths between them, and the cohesion of their thoughts was as obvious as the sun in the sky on a bright, blue day.

Theron could feel a confidence radiating from the Alpha, so he relaxed in the end. The Alpha’s intelligence wasn’t to be underestimated. Manaborn Beasts already had intelligence rivaling that of humans, and the Alpha had been no normal Manaborn Beast back then, whether that be its scheming, planning, or grit.

Now, it was far beyond that.

Pa.

They suddenly broke through the wave of rocks, and all that lay before them was an expanse of darkness, the very underbelly of the underground they were trapped within.

Seeing it up close, Theron knew why Betrix had despaired. The sheer amount of weight they were under was something even a Quasi King couldn’t overcome. Just how did...

Chi.

The clone shattered to pieces, becoming a stream of violent blood that solidified into a single blade of crimson light.

Theron’s pupils constricted into pinholes.

He knew what that meant. That was little different from experiencing death itself. The Alpha... it had all but sacrificed the clone it had only just created, burning all of its blood in a single instant for an attack as violent as the winds in the skies and as heavy as the falling stones below.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Chi.

Theron’s eyes squinted beneath the brightness as the Alpha surged after its clone-turned-blade.

They cut through the stone like a hot knife through butter, but Theron’s body became taut, ready to act at any moment. If it was so easy to cut through this rock, then the Quasi King would have just done something similar to escape.

Did the Alpha really have the power in its body to match a King Mancer for a single strike? Because that was what it would take, and Theron didn’t believe that was the case.

As though to confirm his thoughts, the tunnel the blade of crimson was cutting became narrower and narrower until the broad shoulders of the Alpha were slamming into it, sending sparks flying.

And then the blade vanished ahead.