Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Hydro Manipulation

Apparently, the Island Lord was a master of water manipulation.

With a wave of his hand, water vapor condensed directly from the air, taking the shape of small, razor-sharp water spears.

Woosh, woosh, swoosh!

They began to rain down on Neo in a relentless torrent, making it incredibly difficult to dodge.

Neo sustained several shallow cuts across his battle suit and on the exposed skin underneath.

The small cuts on Neo’s skin stung with the sharp bite of saltwater, but the pain only served to heightened his focus.

​"Raah!" Grakal let out a guttural roar, his crimson coat billowing as he pushed his water manipulation to the absolute limit.

The ambient humidity in the Council Hall plummeted as every drop of moisture condensed into a floating arsenal.

With a violent thrust of Grakal’s red trident, a localized storm of liquid blades erupted.

​Swoosh! Swoosh! Shatter!

​Neo blurred into motion, his advanced agility and heightened reflexes pushed to their absolute thresholds.

He spun, ducked, and leaped across the fracturing stone floor.

To the remaining elite commanders, he looked like a ghost escaping the rain.

But, Grakal’s control was relentless.

The spears that missed Neo swirled back into the air, reforming mid-flight to strike from his blind spots.

A razor-sharp torrent was formed.

It sliced across Neo’s shoulder, drawing a line of crimson that splattered onto the obsidian floor.

​"Don’t let him breathe! Block his paths!" one of the surviving elite commanders screamed.

​Seeing their Lord gain the upper hand, the remaining eight commanders rushed into the fray to sabotage Neo’s movements.

They didn’t engage him head-on. Instead, they used their water-infused harpoons and halberds to restrict his footing like cowards.

One commander swept a heavy polearm across the floor, forcing Neo to leap upward, while two others thrust their weapons into the air to impale him before he could land.

​Trapped mid-air, with water spears zeroing in from above and rusted iron waiting below, Neo’s eyes flashed with a dangerous, golden light.

​"If you want to be forged into submission," Neo hissed dangerously, "then let the tempering begin."

​Activating his legendary talent, [Godsmith], Neo extended his right hand.

Rumble!

The air ruptured with a blinding, celestial glow as a massive heavy Golden Hammer materialized in his grip.

The weapon radiated an intense, divine heat that caused the surrounding water spears to hiss and turn into harmless steam.

While it was a legendary tool meant for forging legendary weapons, today Neo decided he would use it to mold these arrogant mermen into a completely new shape.

​As his feet touched the ground, Neo swung the heavy golden artifact in a brutal, sweeping arc.

"Begone!"

​BANG!

​The divine hammer collided squarely with the chest of the commander who had tried to trap him.

The impact was sickeningly loud. His bone fractured into dust, and the merman’s armor flattened completely against his torso.

"Gaaahh!"

The commander let out a horrific, gurgling scream of agony as he was sent flying across the hall, his body bent at an unnatural angle before crashing into a stone pillar.

​"Monster!" another commander shrieked, lunging forward, only for Neo to bring the hammer down in a vertical crush.

​CRUNCH!

​The floor shattered as the second commander was literally flattened into the stone, his agonizing scream cut short as his life force evaporated under the divine weight of the forge hammer.

​"No! My commanders!" Grakal bellowed with fury.

"I will drown you in your own blood, human!"

​Unleashing the absolute pinnacle of his Type 7 Superhuman power, Grakal drove his red trident directly into the center of the hall.

BZZZZZ!

The water in the air, the blood on the floor, and the moisture from the surrounding ocean arrays erupted upward in a catastrophic, roaring Water Tornado.

Buzzz!

​The vortex swept through the building, ripping the roof straight off the Council Hall.

"Damn!" Neo was caught dead in the center of the swirling, high-pressure maelstrom before he could even position his footing.

Inside the tornado, the water pressure was high enough to crush iron.

Slice, slice, slice.

Millions of microscopic liquid blades ripped into Neo from every conceivable angle.

"Arghhhh! It hurts damn it!"

​Neo roared in genuine pain as his battle suit was shredded into tattered rags.

The intense pressure also squeezed his lungs, making it impossible to breathe, and the sheer velocity of the vortex tore the skin on his arms and face.

He tried to swing the Golden Hammer to disrupt the flow, but against the force of a raging elemental storm, the crafting tool was completely useless.

His bones groaned under the crushing power, and blood began to spill out from the gashes.

Even undead regeneration couldn’t keep up.

​"Ahahaha! Die you insolent human!" Grakal screamed from outside.

"Die! Die! Die!"

His veins bulged as he poured every ounce of his mana into maintaining the execution chamber.

​Clenching his jaw as the agonizing pressure threatened to black out his consciousness, Neo realized he could no longer hold back.

He let go of the Golden Hammer, letting it dissolve into golden particles, and reached deep into the darkest skill from his arsenal

​[Vellsing Transformation: Activated]

​As oon as he activated the dark skill, an oppressive, suffocating darkness erupted from Neo’s core, combating the roaring water.

His human flesh tore away as his demonic form manifested. His stature expanded, black scales hardening over his bleeding wounds like an impenetrable armor.

His hands elongated into wicked claws that dripped with a terrifying corruptive Nether Force.

​BOOM!

​With a single, catastrophic flex of his demonic claws, Neo shattered the Water Tornado from the inside out.

The storm exploded into a harmless spray of mist, revealing his terrifying, monstrous silhouette to the horrified survivors.

​Grakal stumbled backward, gasping in fear.

"What... what kind of demon are you?!"

​Neo didn’t answer with words. He moved with a speed that transcended the physical limits of a type 7 Beyonder.

He was like a black streak cutting through the mist.

Whoosh!

​Before Grakal could even raise his red trident to defend himself, Neo was already standing in front of him like a ghost.

​SPLAT!

​With a merciless fluid motion, Neo’s obsidian claws pierced straight through Grakal’s heavy coral armor, sinking deep into the center of his chest.

"Blurgh.. Ahhhh!"

Grakal’s eyes bulged, a fountain of thick, dark blood erupting from his mouth as his breath was forcefully stolen away.

​Neo clenched his fist inside the cavity, locking his gaze onto the fading light in the merman’s eyes, and violently ripped Grakal’s chest completely open.

Splash!

​The Island Lord let out one final, choked scream of absolute agony before his body collapsed onto the ruined stone floor, completely lifeless.

Neo stood over the corpse, his demonic claws dripping with the blood of the fallen ruler.

The remaining commanders fell to their knees in absolute terror.

Neo wasn’t done yet.

He extracted the core merman, and synthesized with his chest in hoping to get Grakal’s powers for Himself.

While the commanders wondered what he was doing behind that radiant white light, a notification flahsed before his eyes.

Ding!

[ Synthesis Successful! ]

[ Strength +7, Agility +6, Vitality +6, Endurance +5, Reaction Speed +3, Recovery Rate +3 ]

[ Cosmic Force +50 ]

[ Yoy got a new active skill: Hydro Manipulation (E) ]

[ Description: The user of this active skill can manipulate water in any way possible. Imagination is the limit.

Note: High energy consumption. consumes 5 cosmic force per second. With current reserve it can be used for 5 minutes max.