Chapter 147: Chapter – 147 - Witnessing a Mind Controller at Work!
The group of members following the Challenger slowly spread out till they were encircling the entire mountain where the Ice Mortaris Hounds were moving about restlessly. As the last person came into place, they raised their hands and started chanting something. Unfortunately, the Illusory Screen only portrayed the visuals, and the sounds were not too clear.
Tiny golden spots were rapidly moving all around the mountain. Some even buried themselves beneath the frozen grounds, disappearing from view. As the chanting's continued, more and more tiny dots appeared, crisscrossing over the entire foot of the mountain. Long, thin golden lines followed the path of these dots, weaving a golden web all over the ground.
"Lava Worms! But lava worms cannot possibly create so much fire as to thaw the ice around it."
"No.....but they are not here to thaw the ice. Look at the lines....they are trying to create an array pattern. The lava of the worms is being used to create the fire pattern, which will act as the binding array."
Once the array was in place, lines of fire deepened, the frozen ice around it cracking into small pieces and were instantly devoured by the rising waves of fire. All around the mountain, the ground was breaking up into similar cracks and dissolving into the surging lava which was slowly rising up from below.
"How did they create an array below the mountains?"
"This means that the entire mountain is made only of frozen water. There must be no rocks. The Lava Worms burrowed through the ice and formed the net all the way from one end to the other."
"So the entire ice mountain is currently floating on a pool of lava?! Then the whole mountain will get dissolved soon!"
"Don't be silly! There is too much ice element around and even below the pool of lava. The fire element will not be able to last for long before the ice freezes it back to lava rocks again."
"...So They are biding time? For what?"
"Why are you looking at me like I am the one calling the shots?! Keep watching. The Challenger must have some other card up his sleeves. We'll know soon."
Artreya scratched his nose awkwardly. He had become so used to depending on Rihanna's analysis that he found it to be most natural to ask her to predict the fight. What was wrong with that? Who was the one who had create this bad habit for him?!
As the lava pool cut off the mountain and the beasts on it from the source of ice power below, the Hounds felt the threat deeply and became more crazy in their attacks. Till now the Supreme Grade Beasts had not joined the fight. But now they were being pushed to join the fray. Two of them moved forward, their red eyes glowing viciously as they bared their fangs and breathed out a large amount of mist from within.
The mist spread rapidly. It was a strange mist, with two clearly distinct white and black particles moving simultaneously. The lava was a temporary obstacle and they couldn't use their ice-tentacles, since their tails could not pass through the lava. But the mist could easily spread through the air unhindered.
Some of the cultivators who were unable to react immediately got sprayed by this white-black mist. The mist directly entered through their nose and spread throughout their body. Some of it was even absorbed by their skin.
Within minutes the bodies of these cultivators started convulsing. Dark blackish-red blood trickled down the corners of their mouth. Gradually blood started streaming down from their eyes, ears, nose, mouth.....even the skin on their body started cracking with thick red veins popping up all over. Then these veins burst open, and blood soaked over their skin, dripping on the ground below.
The entire body slowly started turning a blackish-gray color, looking like mutilated, decomposed flesh. The screams echoing over the mountains gradually turned to whimpers and finally faded away as the cultivators lost their consciousness, or probably died, unable to bear the torment of this fatal attack. But even after death, the body kept on decomposing. Till nothing was left except a black stain on the silver-white frozen ice.
Artreya shivered. For some reason he felt a sort of familiarity. Or maybe something was being triggered as he saw this rapid destruction of a live person to becoming non-existent within minutes. Like.....something similar to something he had seen before.....except he couldn't remember what exactly he had seen.
"That mist is very interesting......white and black particles in the mist existing simultaneously.....and not mixing together!"
"Hmmm.....I have read about it. It is called Ice Poison. The white dust is fragmented ice particles, whereas the black dust is fragmented poison particles. These hounds rarely appear during the challenges, so not much is known about how those particles are kept separate yet combined. But they work together. Look.....see how the ice particles are clearing the path for the poison!"
Indeed, as the dust neared one of the cultivators who was unable to move in time, the ice particles suddenly and rapidly started combining together. Instantly a sharp ice wedge appeared, with the poison trapped within it. The wedge struck the cultivator on his shoulder, going in from one side and out through the other. As soon as it came in contact with warm blood, the ice dissolved, and that let the poison flow out unobstructed, swiftly merging into the body of the cultivator. Within moments, the person was nothing more than a large black stain on the sparkling ice!
The spectator's shuddered. There were so many ways of dying.....and some of them were too horrifying!
As more mist spread through the air, the cultivators had already been alerted, and they scurried away, blocking their senses, putting up body defense, even setting up small range arrays to stay protected.
Meanwhile the Challenger himself had moved to the periphery and seemed deep in trance state. The rest of his group had moved back, forming a protective circle around him. Soon, thin strands of whitish-gray energy started moving in the air, directly making way towards the Ice Mortaris Hounds.
"Hmmm.....what kind of elemental power is that?"
"That is....I am not sure , but mental ability users release that shade of energy."
Rihanna was immediately glued to the screen. This was the first time ever she was seeing another mental ability user. She was very curious about the range of methods for using this particular ability. Her talk with Little Purple had made her realize that this ability had a large spectrum of potential, and that made her curious to know the different methods used by other users of this ability. She needed it to expand on the techniques she was currently using.
The light gray energy streams easily went through the white-black mist, moving haphazardly, making their movement and direction unpredictable. Though the Supreme Grade Beasts easily moved out of the way, and even destroyed many of these incoming energy lines with their breath, there were too many of these very fine streams of energy. And the High Grade Beasts were not able to evade them as easily.
For a while the restlessness amongst the Ice Mortaris Hounds ceased, and a glimmer of conflict could be seen amongst the few Supreme Grade Hounds, as they slowly backed away, wary and cautious of the other hounds of their pack. They kept watching, observing these High Grade Hounds, as gradually the red eyes slowly started turning gray.
"Huh!! Mind Control!! His Mental Ability has evolved to the level of Mind Control.....this is fantastic!"
Rihanna glanced at Artreya, wishing she could stuff something in his mouth. Since when had he turned into a sports-commentator?! His little quips and comments seemed endless and unstoppable!
The Challenger had firmly gripped the minds of many of the High-Grade Hounds. And this went unhindered partly because the minds of the hounds were still under the effect of the pink mist of the Ice Flies. Immediately after controlling the minds, the Challenger led these controlled Hounds to attack their own pack. Under the control of both, the Challenger and the hunger-enticing pink mist, the Hounds were vicious even when they snapped at their own members.
The situation changed once again. The hounds which were already being attacked from all sides by the other contractual beasts, now had to face their own kind attacking from within them. The number of casualties in the pack was increasing, causing the remaining beasts who had yet to scale down the mountain to start growling in wariness.
In the entire fight, the leader of the pack had stayed at the back. No one could judge just how powerful the leader might be. But it seemed the pink mist had not been as effective on him as on the others. The red eyes of the Leader Hound swiftly locked on the Challenger as he paused, seemingly calculating the pros and cons. He could probably take down the Challenger. And the pack still had more Supreme-Grade Hounds.
But the number of Hounds who would be injured, or might die was too many. Their pack would suffer irreparably, and a weakened pack was an easy prey to the other beasts living in these mountains of ice.
"Hooowwwwwwll! Awwwoooooooo!!"
A deafening howling filled the air, and more and more hounds still crouching on the mountain slope gradually joined in. The Leader of the pack had given his signal. It was time to move back. The loss was too heavy, and the gains not enough.
The Hounds still fighting at the foot of the mountain rapidly retreated, escaping up the steep mountain wall. The hounds under the control of the Challenger were the only ones left behind. As the others left, these controlled hounds suddenly ceased moving, becoming listless as their head hung low.
The Supreme Leader of the pack glanced at the Challenger and snarled sharply. The Challenger and Leader Hound stared at each other, as if communicating through their eyes. Finally the Challenger released the strings of gray energy tying the hounds to himself, letting go of the mind controlling power.
Just as they had appeared, like a raging blizzard, similarly the entire pack of Ice Mortaris Hounds swept up the mountain path, gradually disappearing behind the peak. Silence returned to the foot of the mountain. A very painful, exhausting silence. Casualties of this battle were too many to even count. Bodies lay strewn around - some wounded by attacks, some eaten away by the Ice Flies, some turned to black stains on the ice. Even amongst the people still alive, too many were wounded, some even on the verge of death.
Observing the current situation, the temporary truce between the two teams continued. Due to the presence of the Challenger from Ye Team, the Rescue target was automatically handed over to his team. After all, without the Challenger, the rest of the cultivators would have met pathetic ends. The wounded and dispirited groups combined their remaining forces together, and trudged back the path towards their own respective Protection Spaces.
"Did you notice.....the Rescue Target?"
"Hmmm.....he was protected by an array. I could see the faint marks of an inscription-pattern on the clothes."
"That inscription-pattern must have been made by a very powerful cultivator.....at least in the Sea of Consciousness Level! Even the attacks of the Supreme-Grade Beasts could not break through that barrier!"
Rihanna nodded in an absent-minded manner, still staring at the disappearing backs of the groups of people on her screen. There were so many types of elemental powers, so many methods and techniques, and so many possibilities she still needed to explore for her own powers. And there was also so much she needed to do to grow stronger and powerful....it made her excited and anxious at the same time.
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