Chapter 756 Shrinkage and Torture?
The mountain may seem alive this time, but this did not stop Alex from attacking the mountain itself.
He continued twisting the mountain inside out, and he did not stop on splurging the unknown fluid everywhere.
\u003c\u003cDistortion distortion distortion~\u003e\u003e
Alex did not even show any remorse from what he was doing, and his face only held a relishing expression in it, as if he was enjoying this deed.
"Roar!"
And even when the mountain has surprisingly attacked by its own, with large globs of life-severing light beams and poison clouds shot from its peak towards Alex, the man only scoffed.
\u003c\u003cOh, so when we did nothing but watch you, you also did nothing. But now that I am about to do some damage on you, you actually had the initiative to attack?\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cThis is just a basic instinctual move that only stupid things like you can do.\u003e\u003e
Wearing a smile that can be compared to an amused lion, Alex deftly slapped the mountain's attacks away from his body, redirecting the weakest of them back to the attacker.
"Boom boom boom!"
As for the attacks that were at the level that can kill Professor Frances, Alex also flung them back effortlessly, and he sent them at speeds greater than their initial ones.
"Boom boom boom!"
The end result was a cacophony of colors and destruction, with all the physical laws being rudely shaped under Alex's will alone, and the mountain left unable to fend for itself.
Any defenses that the mountain used against Alex's distortions were also affected, while the attacks that it had sent has now returned, which brought even greater injuries on the mountain's body.
"Boom boom boom!"
This set of moves might make Alex look as if he's worried about the impending fight, but in actuality, he did not even give these attacks a serious look.
He just treated them as only mere interruptions on his conversation, which he resumed now that the mountain was forced to stop attacking.
\u003c\u003cYour attacks look powerful and it slightly irritates me, to be honest\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cBut although I am irritated at you, I am also happy that you moved!\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cBecause your initiative to attack me means that you are sentient, which further means that you are a powerful artifact! A True God Artifact even!\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cTsk, tsk, tsk, I was unsure about it earlier, but your movements now just made me sure!\u003e\u003e
"Roar!" The mountain might seem imposing at this point, but under the effects of Alex's domineering abilities, it was plainly obvious which one is the clear winner.(In case you don't know, Alex is the clear winner.)
And the fight between the two entities was not yet done, so the fact that Alex was the dominant side was enough to show the difference between him and the poor mountain.
\u003c\u003cHahaha! Look at your sorry self, you stupid mountain! Did you really think that I will spare you just because you pretended to be a mountain?\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cIdiot! I know for a fact that you are a True God Artifact wielded by the True God of Life and Creation EARC! Just the life force that you are exuding at this point proves that!\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cOh, and don't try denying it, as I don't have any need for you to be alive…\u003e\u003e
"Roar!" And obviously, the mountain itself knew that Alex was winning, although it found to its chagrin that it was already too late for it to change everything.
\u003c\u003cOh, are you trying to say something now, mountain? Because I can't hear what you are trying to tell me.\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cOh well, I don't need to listen to you at all. Didn't I just said it to you? I have no need for you to be alive.\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cSo farewell my friend, and I hope your next life will not be that of an abandoned treasure…"
"Roar!"
Alex just laughed as he continued distorting the mountain's body, which at this point, was close to having its middle portion completely pressed inwards.
Just a little more press by Alex, and the mountain will undoubtedly be split into two, and no ability of the mountain including its life-force can stop this from happening.
"Roar!"
This grisly fate evidently distressed the mountain, although it had no way of changing its fate.
It can only cry out with its high-pitched 'Roar' voice, which did not have any effect on Alex at all.
"Roar!"
\u003c\u003cHey, hey, hey, mountain. What the f**k are you crying for?\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cYou might be a sentient being because you can think, but don't assume that you deserve to live.\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cWeren't you used by your master to drain the lives of countless innocent people?\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cAnd you were too happy to do that, even though those people were pleading for lives….\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cWith such malicious actions, there is no way that you will be left alive here!\u003e\u003e
"Roar!"
To those who could listen to the conversation between Alex and the mountain, they will surely start running away, as the sheer destructive potential of his new ability was through the roof.
Nobody will even be interested on staying near Alex while he did all these frightening deeds, and the sight of him destroying a powerful treasure won't persuade anyone to stay.
"…" Professor Frances shares the same line of thought, and she even felt some pity for the enemy mountain.
Speaking of Professor Frances…
"What the hell…. So is this how powerful Alex really is? How could this have happened?"
The professor was still standing on the sidelines, unable to move her body because of the sheer shock of what she was witnessing. She visibly appeared as if she wanted to move, but she just can't.
Of course the soul magic that she had been channeling since earlier also had a role in her inability to move, but mostly, she was just too surprised and scared to even twitch her finger right now.
"N-no! This should not be possible!"
"There is no way that Alex could be this overbearing after all the corruption that the Abyss did on him!"
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Earlier, Professor Frances was still confident that she can do something about Alex, especially against his semi-corrupted condition.
After all, it is almost impossible for someone like Alex to be powerful enough to dominate his enemies.
Being dominant inside the Ancestral Tomb is just improbable, as there are too many of the enemies and they have so much variety, that Professor Frances was sure that one of them can make Alex feel some suffering.
But now that she saw the full extent of Alex's power, Professor Frances knew that she was greatly mistaken.
"Alex's power boost is just too much! In fact, I can even say that this is already bullying!"
Alex's abilities were already way beyond the levels that Professor Frances had imagined him to be.
He was even way beyond the power of the other Travelers present on this place, and the only beings that could stop him now were those like the Pope of the Church of Wisdom.
"Argh!!! Why do I have to be this unlucky!"
"All I wanted to was to beat Alex up and make him revert back to his original state! That's all that I f**king wanted!"
"I did not ask to be flying alongside a dangerous monster who can end my anytime that he liked it!"
"Argh!!!"
The fact that someone like the Pope was needed to stop Alex right now was evidently not a good news for Professor Frances, and it made her realize that staying with Alex for longer will just be a death sentence for her.
It even made her want to run away from Alex now, as the feeling of staying longer with him did not sit right for her anymore.
"…"
Running away however proved to be impossible this time, as the scope of Alex's distortion has also affected the space around the professor, leaving her trapped inside a looping area that she, Alex, and the mountain were all in.
"…"
Now, no leaving attempts by anyone in this region will work, as the distortions will always bring them back to where they are.
This effect naturally included the professor, who only took a few steps to realize what was happening.
"Oh, so even if Alex 'trusted' me on staying on the sidelines, he still distorted the space just to stop me from leaving?"
"He clearly knew that I could try escaping, so he did not hesitate to trap me this way huh…"
"Tsk, I am clearly unhappy about this, but what can I do about it?"
"I associated myself with a monster now, so I guess I have to suffer the consequences now…"
With her escape route blocked and her path forward filled with Alex's power, the petrified Professor Frances found herself stuck between two hard choices.
Should she try escaping through the use of her forbidden trump cards, which can actually break the distortion that was trapping her, but will bring her some injuries that could get her bedridden for days?
Or should she stay along with Alex, and just assist him with what she was doing?
"Sigh… so the glorious Professor Frances has been reduced to this huh. A powerless scientist who is now forced to make a choice between two extremes."
"On one side, there is freedom in expense of my overall health."
"On the other side, there is the chance to live longer and with better body, but in return, I could get affected by the dirtiness of the Abyss…"
The professor was unsure on what to do, as both of these choices were leading her to possible dead ends.
"Sigh, any of these choices are bad for me, and I can only choose one from them!"
"Tsk, why do I have to put up with this all? Is there any way for me to turn all of this around?"
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Professor Frances might be scared of Alex, but this did not mean that she was willing to be fully under this control.
She was after all, a woman who only wanted to control her life by herself, and she only allows others to affect her if there is no way for her to avoid them.
As such, she did not accept the notion that she only has two choices left in regards to how she should deal with Alex.
There might be some obscure, hidden 'solution' that the professor can use in order to deal with Alex safely, and she had just not detected it.
"Hmph! I might not be as intelligent as Alex, but surely I might not be that stupid to miss everything, right?"
"Of course I am not stupid! I am Professor Frances after all, the woman who conquered her own planet!"
"Surely I will see something that I can use to my advantage here!"
"All that I had to do was to just look!"
"Yes, just look and observe!"
With this newfound hope in her mind, the professor observed Alex for one more time, and she used all of her remaining might in order to make this work.
"Just look and observe!!!"
"Just look and observe!!!"
"Just look and observe!!!"
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The pain brought by her injuries and the focus required for her soul magic has made it hard for the professor to observe Alex, but she persisted, in hopes of discovering something that could be of use.
"…."
At the start, this naturally proved to be difficult, as Alex had clearly hidden any clues that could be used against him.
"…"
But the longer that the professor stared at Alex, the more that she saw a pattern, one that Alex had no way of hiding from her.
"…."
Well, even if Alex tried to hide this pattern of his, it will be impossible for him, given the fact that it was his own powers that were in this pattern.
"Wait a second… from what I can see here, Alex's body seems to be shrinking every time that he uses his distortion powers…"
"Yes, he's indeed shrinking every time he distorts something."
"And from what I can see, the shrinkage is not a random one."
"He's clearly shrinking in a set value proportional to the extent and power of his distortions…"