Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)

Chapter 595: Myth

Poseidon’s palm glowed with a blue light and a long icicle suddenly formed. After that, he aimed the icicle at Xiao Lin who could do nothing due to the distance and his momentum.

Absolute Defense!

At that critical moment, Xiao Lin already had his Absolute Defense prepared. He had always maintained his strength at above 10% so that he could use his Absolute Defense once during a critical stage. As the Heaven’s Eye on his head opened, a faint white shield formed around his body.

Poseidon was noticeably astonished, and the next moment, his icicle clashed against Xiao Lin’s shield.

A huge roar shook the sky, and two figures, one white and one blue, clashed briefly before separating. That cold, arrogant and disdainful smile was still on Poseidon’s face. The icicle in his hand had shattered, but there was still a lot of blood that could be seen on it.

“You actually know Absolute Defense. I’m shocked, but it’s a pity that you’re from an incomplete bloodline. It’s useless against me!”

Behind him, Xiao Lin’s body felt like a kite that had its string cut. The white shield had been shattered by the earlier clash. He did not manage to attack Poseidon, and Incomplete Absolute Defense was useless against attacks that were greater than his own ability. Even though Xiao Lin anticipated that, but actually seeing the difference for himself caused him to nearly lose all hope from the disappointment.

Poseidon’s icicle had completely pierced through his body. Even though he managed to react in time to avoid it piercing his heart, the massive loss of blood was not something his dragon’s blood could recover. Most importantly, he had lost the last of his strength. His Ruin state had been deactivated, and Absolute Defense could not be used again. Even the eye on his forehead had been forced shut.

In front of Xiao Lin’s eyes, Poseidon’s large body had started to move away from himself. It was true, Poseidon could obviously see that Xiao Lin was at the end of his strength and had lost all ability to counterattack, but Poseidon would not let Xiao Lin off that easily. Poseidon wanted to kill Gu Xiaoyue and kill all the other students who were running away in front of Xiao Lin.

The sky was already getting darker and darker; it was already nearing the end of the examination. The rest of them could possibly make it out alive if they hid well enough, but Gu Xiaoyue was the one that Poseidon would definitely not let off.

Gu Xiaoyue only had a few years of her life left. She was the only one who could not afford to die.

The hopeless Xiao Lin was furious and unwilling. He tried to struggle as he fell from the sky, trying to squeeze out just a bit more power from his injury-ridden body.

He frantically thought about what skills he still had.

Dragon’s breath sword aura?

Ruin?

Heaven’s Eye?

Replicate?!

Xiao Lin had actually almost forgotten about his own SS-rank talent. He had not used it during the entire fight because he understood that trying to replicate something from Poseidon might be completely ineffective. After all, the opponent was two ranks above him, so it was very likely he would be unable to replicate anything.

Yet, at that final hopeless moment, it was the only thing he could try after losing all his strength. It was at least better than him staring at Gu Xiaoyue as she died.

Replicate, activate!

Replication target, Poseidon!

After a few seconds of quiet, no information appeared in Xiao Lin’s mind. His entire body started to tremble. He knew that meant that there was no way for him to replicate any skills from his opponent. Even if that had been expected, it still sent him into another wave of helplessness. Xiao Lin understood that he had run out of options.

No, he might still have a chance.

Xiao Lin remembered that blackhole-like existence within the deepest parts of his meditative universe and that strange man that Xiao Lin could barely understand.

Xiao Lin did not know who he was, but from the way the person spoke, he was probably an ancient existence, and Poseidon had unwittingly exposed the fact that the power he showed during his Ruin state was equal to an incomplete bloodline holder.

What was a bloodline holder?

That was not important. Xiao Lin would treat it as some ancient bloodline that was inherited from ancient times. There was coincidentally a mysterious ancient entity in his body.

Xiao Lin refused to believe that the two were not related.

That person said that his goal was to protect Xiao Lin. No, more accurately, his goal was to protect Xiao Lin’s power. As for Xiao Lin himself, he was just a vessel for that power. However, that did not matter; the person would probably not like it if he died.

Of course, Xiao Lin’s lifespan was enough for him to survive the examination, but what about next time?

Xiao Lin refused to imagine the idea that the lonely and somewhat cold woman would no longer appear in his sights. How was he supposed to pass those days? He and Gu Xiaoyue had gone through half a semester, but they had not actually interacted with each other that much. Xiao Lin felt like he had fallen in love at first sight, and no matter what, he would not allow that woman to die, even if he had to give everything that he had!

Xiao Lin seemed to suddenly build up his determination, but he did not know how to communicate with that existence that hid deep in his soul.

At the moment that thought crossed his head, there seemed to be an imperceptible sigh in his mind that sounded like it came from afar.

‘Would you pay any price?

‘Is that what you wish for?’

‘You won’t regret it?’

Xiao Lin was stunned for less than a moment before he felt excited. He remembered the voice of that existence, that vain and emotionless tone, and he immediately shouted, “Yes! That’s what I wish for! I’ll never regret it! Never!”

Xiao Lin did not get a response after he shouted, and Xiao Lin had already fallen into the water at that point, causing ripples to form around him. Poseidon was not in a hurry to kill him, so Poseidon had controlled his strength earlier, preserving Xiao Lin’s life. Xiao Lin sank into the water until he hit the bottom.

“I feel your determination. I’ll make the next judgement. If you fail here, it will affect your mental state in the future. Then, following the ancient agreement, I will help you. As a result, the next time I awaken will be even further away.

“This power is far too dangerous for you at the moment. Even if this is your will, I hope this will be your first and last time. Your existence should not result in you wasting your life here…

“It requires too much of a price. You can only use it with your gift activated…”

He could once again hear a sound in his heart; that strange person seemed to be mumbling to himself, saying some strange words, something about ancient agreements and dangerous powers. Xiao Lin had understood every word, but to link them together caused him to sweat.

After another sigh, Xiao Lin got his answer.

Power — inexhaustible power — seemed to be welling up quickly inside his body. Xiao Lin no longer had the time to think about what that voice meant as he was filled with shock. His last hope actually succeeded. However, he had clearly already lost all his power and strength, so where did so much power come from?

Xiao Lin quickly felt a familiar feeling. The power seemed similar to what he felt during his Ruin state, but how was that possible? He should not have any power to activate Ruin.

No, it was not Ruin!

Xiao Lin was once again shocked. His power had seemingly risen to the peak of Ruin in just a few seconds, but it did not stop. The power erupted like a volcano, and the accumulated power suddenly burst out; it was constantly rising, long since surpassing Ruin’s limits.

Ruin was an explosive skill that Xiao Lin had learnt with Miracle as the foundation. It allowed his strength to drastically increase in a short time, so it was quite a terrifying ability. Xiao Lin had thought that it was already at the limits of increasing. After all, increasing power was fundamentally something very difficult to do. Now, he started to realize that there was an even higher state after Ruin.

If Ruin increased his power by several times, his current power was at least over ten times!

A gift from God? A talent!

Xiao Lin thought of the last words of that existence, that it could only be used when his talent was active. Which meant that if he used both Ruin and his SS-rank talent, he could level Ruin up.

That was the most possible thing. Power would not come from nowhere, and only something like an SS-rank super talent that no one had any detailed knowledge on to this day could possibly bring out an even stronger power. Only, Xiao Lin had never realized his talent had other uses.

That was right, as an SS-rank talent, how could it just be limited to replication and increasing efficiency.

Xiao Lin leaped up from the bottom of the water, lunging out of the surface. He needed to seize the time; if his power was obtained from his SS-rank talent, then it might only last the few minutes that his talent did. On top of the dozen over seconds he had spent underwater, he did not have much time left.

His exhaustion had been wiped clean, as for the wounds on his body, he started to see it rapidly recovering with his naked eye. It was as if his dragon’s blood’s recovery ability had been enhanced by several multiplications.

“Poseidon, I won’t let you harm her!”

When his body reached the apex of his jump, Xiao Lin frantically unleashed all the energy in his body, raising his right fist in a straight direction as an immense flame sword aura shot out.

Sword Aura was not something that could only be used with a blade, but without a weapon, it would drastically decrease in power. Even so, the elemental sword aura was filled with power, and the flames were close to being dark red. Xiao Lin remembered his elemental sword aura classes. Only when an element reaches an almost perfect level would the flames be abnormally dark.

The sword aura burned for over ten minutes long, and the intense heat even distorted the air around him. Even though the distance was far, Poseidon had deftly felt the imminent threat behind him. Poseidon did not see his attacker immediately, but he coldly smiled and said, “Do you not know that I’m the strongest controller of water? You actually used fire in front of me. How incompetent!”

Poseidon’s arrogance led to him not dodging. He raised his hand to summon a wave to shield himself. He then turned around to look at Gu Xiaoyue, who was right in front of him with nowhere else to run. The woman had no trace of fear on her face, but she suddenly had a dazed expression as she covered her mouth in disbelief.

“Are you afraid? What a pitiful life!” Poseidon materialized an icicle and aimed it at Gu Xiaoyue.

The next second, the gigantic wave behind him dispersed into steam. The flame sword aura had actually evaporated Poseidon’s wave in a flash!

“Impossible! That was too quick!”

Poseidon finally felt like something was wrong, but he no longer had the time to react when he turned around. The speed of the sword aura had exceeded his expectations, and it immediately submerged Poseidon’s large body into a sea of flames.

After the explosion, Xiao Lin arrived, standing between Gu Xiaoyue and Poseidon.

“You… Didn’t you…” Gu Xiaoyue’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you stupid! Why did you come back here!” Xiao Lin wanted to scold her some more, but turning around to look at Gu Xiaoyue’s reddened eyes that had tears in them, his heart softened, and his words turned abnormally tender.

“Leave quickly, now! He’s not someone you can face.”

Gu Xiaoyue seemed to have a lot to say, but she was not a woman who hesitated. She nodded and said, “I know, I’ll leave. I won’t burden you. I’ll believe you this time!” After that, Gu Xiaoyue casted a few strengthening spells on Xiao Lin.

Xiao Lin did not know how to react, by ‘believe in you this time’, Gu Xiaoyue clearly meant that she never believed he could defeat Poseidon before, which was why she did not care for her life and rushed over. Even if it made Xiao Lin a little angry, he could not help but be touched as well.

Xiao Lin trusted Gu Xiaoyue’s judgement a lot, and now, Gu Xiaoyue believed that Xiao Lin could defeat Poseidon!

“Does that mean this state gives me the power to rival a Gold rank? This ability is incredible, but didn’t that person say I would pay a very large price? Whatever, I can’t care about that now.” Xiao Lin waited for Gu Xiaoyue’s buffs as he mumbled to himself.

Gu Xiaoyue finished casting her spells and asked, “What did you say just now? Also, the way you are now…”

Xiao Lin was stunned for a moment before he looked at his reflection on the water. He could not stop himself from being shocked. At that moment, other than his muscles dramatically expanding, his entire body was covered in a light blue glow that was reminiscent of a sword aura. Not only that, even his hair had turned into a washed blue.

An existence that exceeded Ruin had granted him a miraculous power.

“Let’s call it Myth.” Xiao Lin suddenly raised his head and looked at Gu Xiaoyue before looking at Poseidon who was rising up. Then, he said, “This state, I’m calling it Myth!”