I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Chapter 1192: The Devilish Slag Wyrm

Northern’s smile didn’t waver as the Slag Wyrm bore down on him, jaws unhinging to reveal rows of molten teeth and a furnace-bright throat.

[You’re using Eclipse Step]

He vanished.

The Slag Wyrm’s jaws snapped shut into the ground, its momentum and force causing the heated ground to explode with flames and massive projectiles of stone. Northern materialized on the creature’s back, hands still in his pockets, standing casually on the undulating scales as the monster writhed beneath him.

”Comfortable up here. Nice view too.”

The Slag Wyrm screeched, thrashing violently. Its body coiled and twisted, trying to throw him off. Northern moved with the monster’s movements like he was on a leisurely stroll, his balance perfect despite the chaotic motion.

[You’re using Thread Flow]

Alystren’s ability used to be weaker than this. Northern remembered being able to sense the threads connecting actions, souls, and relationships after certain requirements were met, but after becoming the Daemon of Form, the ability from Soul Thread had grown exponentially stronger.

Now, he simply could see them through Shingan. He could see the invisible threads of causality connecting the creature’s movements, the flow of heat through its body, the rhythm of its essence circulation.

”Found your heart...”

The Slag Wyrm’s body suddenly erupted with spikes of superheated stone, each one aimed to impale Northern from below.

[You’re using Eclipse Step]

He shadow-stepped to the creature’s head, materializing directly between its eyes. The Slag Wyrm’s pupils—now visible as dark cores within the molten glow—contracted in shock.

”Hello.”

[You’re using One Strike]

Northern’s right hand emerged from his pocket. Lightning condensed around his fist—he infused three percent of his soul essence into generating the lightning, causing the ability to blaze with ferocious intensity, sparking and flying into the distance, tearing into the dark rocks.

The Slag Wyrm sensed death.

It tried to pull back, tried to terraform the stone beneath them into a shield, tried to summon more heat. Too late.

Northern’s fist connected with the space between its eyes.

CRACK.

The sound wasn’t just physical impact—it was the sound of something fundamental breaking. A spiderweb of cracks spread across the Slag Wyrm’s skull, glowing with residual lightning. The creature’s massive body went rigid.

Then Northern was falling.

[You’re using Wind Embrace]

The wind caught him gently, lowering him to the ground as the Slag Wyrm’s body crashed behind him with earth-shaking force. Its head slammed into the stone, sending tremors through the entire canyon level.

But it wasn’t dead.

The cracks across its skull began to seal, molten energy flowing like blood to repair the damage. Its vestigial limbs dug into the stone as it raised its head, eyes blazing with primal fury.

Northern turned to face it, head tilted slightly. ”Impressive regeneration. Let’s see how many times you can do that.”

The Slag Wyrm opened its maw and unleashed a torrent of superheated magma—not a simple fireball, but a continuous stream hot enough to vaporize stone on contact.

[You’re using Reversal]

Northern raised one hand. The magma stream hit an invisible wall a meter in front of him, then reversed direction. The entire attack flowed backward, slamming into the Slag Wyrm’s own face. The creature recoiled, coating its own head in its own magma.

”Your turn’s over. Let’s see how you hold up with something you’re used to.”

[You’re using Ignis Dominus]

Northern’s eyes flashed. Ignis Dominus granted Northern sovereignty over all flames—the magma covering the Slag Wyrm’s head didn’t just stop burning—it turned against its creator. The flames intensified, shifting from orange-red to white-hot, then to an unnatural black-edged crimson. The Slag Wyrm shrieked as its own fire consumed it.

But Northern wasn’t finished.

[You’re using Absolute Zero]

His left hand emerged from his pocket. The temperature around the Slag Wyrm’s burning head plummeted. Fire and ice—contradictory forces that should cancel each other out—instead created a catastrophic reaction. The creature’s skull expanded and contracted simultaneously, thermal shock ripping through its biology.

The Slag Wyrm went berserk. Its entire body began to glow from within, heat building to explosive levels. The stone beneath it liquefied. The air shimmered with murderous intent.

[Essence Manifestation: Magma Heart - Detected]

[The Slag Wyrm is converting its entire body into a living volcano]

”Desperate already? We’re just getting started.”

The creature’s body began to swell, preparing for a catastrophic eruption that would level this entire section of the canyon.

[You’re using Soul String]

An invisible thread shot from Northern’s finger, piercing through the air and sinking into the Slag Wyrm’s chest—right where its heart pulsed with accumulated power.

Northern clenched his fist.

The thread pulled tight.

The Slag Wyrm’s entire body seized. Its swelling stopped. The building eruption froze mid-formation, all that devastating power trapped inside its own body with nowhere to go.

”Not yet. I’m not done with you.”

Northern walked toward the paralyzed creature, each step deliberate. Around him, dozens of smaller Slag Serpents emerged from the walls—reinforcements drawn by their patriarch’s distress.

[Multiple Hazardous Maelstroms detected]

[Multiple Calamitous Maelstroms detected]

[Multiple Catastrophic Maelstrom detected]

Northern didn’t even glance in their direction.

[You’re using Heart of Winter]

The blizzard that had retreated surged back with renewed fury, but this time Northern refined its focus. Instead of a wide area effect, he compressed it into a concentrated zone around the approaching serpents.

They froze mid-lunge. All of them. Dozens of serpentine bodies locked in various attacking poses, transformed into ice sculptures.

[You have slain a Hazardous Maelstrom, Slag Serpent]

[You have slain a Hazardous Maelstrom, Slag Serpent]

[You have slain a Calamitous Maelstrom, Slag Viper]

[You have slain a Calamitous Maelstrom, Slag Viper]

[You have slain a Calamitous Maelstrom, Slag Viper]

[You have slain a Hazardous Maelstrom, Slag Serpent]

[You have slain a Catastrophic Maelstrom, Magma Serpent]

[You have slain a Catastrophic Maelstrom, Magma Serpent]

[You have slain a Catastrophic Maelstrom, Magma Serpent]

[...]

[You have gained a total of 350 talent fragments]

Northern ignored the rush of notifications and walked forward. He stopped three meters from the Slag Wyrm’s frozen face. Through Soul String, he could feel the creature’s panic, its fury, its desperate will to survive. The thread connecting them pulsed with these emotions.

”You’re strong. Adaptable. Resilient. I don’t have a lot of devils in my arsenal.”

[You’re using Lightning Chains]

Northern pointed at the Slag Wyrm. A single bolt of lightning struck its head—then jumped. The electricity arced through the Soul String connection, spreading through the creature’s entire nervous system. He used Infinite Iteration to multiply that single bolt, fracturing it into dozens of massive chains that coursed through every inch of its body.

The Slag Wyrm convulsed, its paralysis broken by the shock, but now trapped by a different force—the lightning systematically shutting down its functions one by one.

[You’re using Erasure Touch]

Northern placed his palm against the Slag Wyrm’s scales. A black mark spread from the point of contact, sprawling across the creature’s hide like creeping death. The mark didn’t kill it immediately. Wherever it spread, the Slag Wyrm’s abilities weakened, its essence dulled, its very existence began to fade.

The creature’s molten eyes dimmed. Its struggles slowed.

Northern’s voice dropped.

”This is the difference between devil-level and everything else.”

He watched the mark spread.

”You adapt. You resist. You refuse to die easily. But in the end...”

[You’re using Phase Strike]

His hand, still resting on the creature’s scales, phased through the armor, through the flesh, through everything physical—until his fingers wrapped around something vital and pulsing.

The Slag Wyrm’s soul cores.

”...everyone has a weakness.”

Northern began to pull them out one after the other.

The cores came free—each one an orb of condensed magma, glowing bright enough to illuminate his face, large enough to fill his palm. The moment the last core left the creature’s body, the Slag Wyrm’s eyes went dark. Its massive form shuddered once.

Then collapsed.

[You have slain a Devilish Behemoth: Slag Wyrm]

[You have gained 147 talent fragments]

Northern held the last core, its power radiating through his fingers—the concentrated essence of a creature that had terrorized this canyon for years. Then it vanished from his hand into the Soul Forge.

”Not bad for a warm-up.”