The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1292  Environmental Advantage

Karl grabbed the Epic Guard, and let the Haint Claw teleport them both to an open space, where Rae and her team were finishing with a group of Fallen Seraphim.

That gave him a clear line of sight to the next two groups, and Karl shifted [Frozen Apocalypse] to get their attention and move the monsters their direction so that Rae and Carnage could keep fighting.

The spider and the wrath demon had a friendly rivalry going on, and Carnage was actually laughing as Rae used Blood Destruction to cause a particularly wounded attacker to explode before it could reach them. They were both here purely for the enjoyment of making things die in new and innovative ways, and that had forged an instant bond of friendship between them.

While Karl was focused on the fight, Hawk was busy understanding the world. He was so close that he could feel it. However, there was something holding him back, and he couldnʼt seem to break past the limitation.

That was it. He was still a Windspeed Hawk, in some ways. But as much as he had grown, there was no room left in his development path for the baby bird that he had once been. He needed to purge it from himself, and come back as the Hawk that he knew he could be.

The question was how?

No, he knew how. Sister Rae did it all the time. A long gout of fire lit one of the blood pools into a raging inferno of unholy energy and life essence, just as Hawk dove headfirst into the raging inferno.

There was no hesitation, no reason for Karl to be alarmed, until suddenly, he felt Hawkʼs energy being violently ripped apart, as if his body was being immolated by an impossible fire.

It shouldnʼt be happening. Even if it was a Mythic Rank flame, Hawk had been incorporeal when he entered, and his immunity to fire was nearly complete even when he wasnʼt. Plus, this was a fire that Hawk had set himself. His own flames wouldnʼt hurt him, even if the secondary fires from something he burnt theoretically could. Hawkʼs joyful cry echoed through the dungeon as the inferno of vital energy he had ignited seared away his body, leaving only condensed soul energy and Ghostfire.

Then, he found himself back in his Ghostfire Tree, in his space. Everything was blurry for some reason, but when he sucked in the vital essence and other energies from the Dungeon, he could feel his body reforming, so he had not failed.

The power imbalance was enough to alert everyone, including the Dungeon Bosses, that something was seriously wrong in this place. The four winged Fallen Seraphim Secret Keeper nearest them left the designated boss platform and flew over, desperate to stop whatever was happening. But Hawk was in his space, inaccessible to anyone else as he completed his reformation process.

Karl didnʼt miss that Hawkʼs space was shifting. The bird hadnʼt just drawn in the vital essence of the blood lake that he had set on fire, he had drawn in everything. The soul energy, the unholy nature of the Fallen Seraphim whose blood had formed the lake, and the innately unholy flames of the dungeon setting itself.

He was currently a ghostly blue egg in his favourite tree, surrounded in black miasma that swirled as the egg continued to pull in as much mana as it could get.

Then, the egg cracked, and with a screeching keen, Hawk emerged, soaring into the sky of his space, trailing a cloud of energy behind his ghostly black flaming body like a comet.

{Evolution 3 Activation Complete} Ghostfire Thunderbird ⇒ Dark Flame Phoenix

{New Skills Gained} [Dark Flame] [Rebirth] [Unholy Corrosion]

[Dark Flame] Unholy elemental fire. Deals fire and soul damage, deals extra damage to Holy targets.

[Rebirth] When the Dark Flame Phoenix is destroyed, it is reborn from the core feather left at its nest

[Unholy Corrosion] Passive Skill. Fire attacks cause lingering damage immune to holy element healing. {Hawk} Fundamental Rule Comprehension: Fire ⇒ 80%

Hawk burst free of his space, and began to absorb as much energy from the Dungeon as possible, using the dying Fallen Seraphim as fuel to finish his evolution and advancement.

He was at the Mythic Rank now, but it was still settling into him, as his body was still unstable in its new form, freshly hatched and reborn.

Sister Raeʼs method had been right all along, Hawk realized. He just needed to burn the water out of the blood so he could get at the trapped energy.

The Fallen Seraphim boss took to the air, intent on destroying this profane monster that was attempting to drain their home of its essence. But Hawk was fast, and he wasnʼt the only one that could fly.

Cara and Karl both leapt into the air to meet the boss, giving Hawk a few more precious seconds to adapt to his new body before he had to help them deal with the boss.

Sparks flew as the Sword of Champions met with the Unholy Blade of the Fallen Seraphim boss, and Hawk became a low-priority target.

First, the Secret Keeper needed to deal with the Monster Man who had challenged him.

Flames surrounded the boss, and Eternal Lightning crackled around Karl as the two clashed in an explosion of conflicting elements. Holy and Unholy couldnʼt exist in the same space, and the backlash of the two attacks meeting was destroying the buildings beneath their fight, to the point that the Haint Claw voluntarily chose to merge with Karl, just so she didnʼt have to deal with flying bricks anymore.

The extra damage and attack speed from the Haint Claw merger was enough to give Karl the advantage in physical skills, and the boss found that it could no longer escape to go hunt that damnable bird.

But that was fine. It would deal with this man first, and then it would go find the bird. It had no idea what had happened to attract this menace to its home, but it was not going to allow this insult to stand.