Dragon Monarch System

Chapter 1194: Chapter 1194:- Heavenly Tribulation [IV]

After equipping his armor, Aditya immediately activated something a defensive passive skill of his. Crimson Lightning erupted from his body and wrapped around him like a protective cloak, constantly flickering across the surface of his armor.

At the same time, Aditya looked down at the black sword in his hand. An idea had come to his mind.

Aditya descended toward the ground and forcefully stabbed his black sword deep into the earth. However, instead of standing beside the sword, he carefully stepped onto its hilt and balanced himself there.

His intention was actually quite simple. The Heavenly Thunder would strike his body first. However, instead of allowing all of that terrifying energy to remain inside his body, Aditya wanted to guide as much of it as possible downward through his legs and into the black sword beneath his feet.

Since the blade was buried deep inside the ground, the sword could act as a conductor, creating a direct path for some of the Heavenly Thunder to travel from his body into the earth.

Of course, Aditya had no idea whether this would actually work. Heavenly Thunder was completely different from ordinary lightning. It contained an unimaginable amount of mana and was far too violent for Aditya to simply control as he wished.

But considering his deep understanding of Crimson Lightning, he believed there was at least a possibility that he could influence its direction for a brief moment. Even redirecting ten per cent of its power into the ground would greatly reduce the burden on his already severely injured body.

Aditya barely had time to finish preparing himself before the heavens responded again. The interval between each Heavenly Thunder strike was only a few seconds, giving him almost no opportunity to properly recover or prepare.

FLASH!!!

The dark heavens were once again consumed by golden light. The fourth Heavenly Thunder descended with even greater fury than the previous three.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!

The golden Heavenly Thunder struck Aditya directly on the head for the fourth time. The terrifying energy immediately surged downward through his entire body. His armor violently trembled while the Crimson Lightning surrounding him desperately resisted part of the Heavenly Thunder’s destructive power.

But this time, Aditya did not simply endure everything. The instant the Heavenly Thunder entered his body, Aditya used his understanding and control over lightning to desperately influence its flow. He could not control the Heavenly Thunder itself, nor could he stop it from damaging his body.

However, he managed to guide a small portion of the enormous electrical energy downward instead of allowing it to continue rampaging throughout his body. The redirected Heavenly Thunder traveled from his upper body, through his legs, and finally reached the soles of his feet.

Since Aditya was standing directly on the hilt of his black sword, that portion of Heavenly Thunder immediately entered the weapon.

ZZZZZZZZTTTT!!!

Golden lightning violently wrapped around the entire black sword. The sword became the bridge between Aditya and the earth.

The redirected energy traveled down the sword’s hilt, through its blade, and finally reached the portion of the blade that had been buried deep underground. The moment it reached the earth, the accumulated Heavenly Thunder violently discharged outward into the surrounding ground.

CRACK!!! BOOOOOOM!!!

The earth beneath Aditya exploded. Golden lightning spread underground in every direction before bursting through the surface at several points. Countless fissures appeared across the farming field as the discharged energy tore through the soil and rocks, creating a massive web of cracks around Aditya.

Instead of his body being forced to absorb the entirety of the fourth Heavenly Thunder strike, the earth had taken a small portion of it for him.

Aditya himself was slightly stunned. He did not know whether this success came from luck, fate, or simply his already deep understanding of Crimson Lightning allowing him to instinctively understand how to guide lightning-element energy.

He certainly had not redirected anywhere close to the full power of the fourth Heavenly Thunder strike. The overwhelming majority had still passed through his body and inflicted tremendous damage.

But that did not matter. The method worked. His black sword had provided a direct conductive path between his body and the earth, allowing Aditya to redirect and discharge a portion of the Heavenly Thunder into the ground instead of enduring all of its destructive power himself.

‘Two more remain.’ At this point, Aditya simply wanted the Heavenly Tribulation to end as soon as possible. He was tired of the pain. He was tired of having his flesh burned and torn apart again and again. He was tired of feeling his bones break while his healing medicines desperately tried to repair the damage before the next strike arrived.

All he felt was endless misery. And strangely enough, the heavens granted his wish of not making him wait.

FLASH!!!

The fifth Heavenly Thunder strike descended.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!

The golden Heavenly Thunder struck Aditya directly once again. The force behind the fifth strike was on a completely different level from the fourth. The instant it collided with Aditya, countless cracks appeared across the surface of his full-body armor.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Aditya could clearly hear the armor breaking apart around him, but he had no time to care about it. He immediately repeated the same method he had used during the fourth strike.

However, unlike before, Aditya now had experience. This time, he already understood what he needed to do. The moment the Heavenly Thunder entered his body, Aditya used his understanding of lightning to influence its flow and desperately guide as much of that terrifying energy downward as possible.

The Heavenly Thunder traveled through his body, down his legs, and into the black sword beneath his feet. From there, the sword acted as a conductive path, carrying the redirected energy through its blade and discharging it deep into the earth.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The ground violently exploded once again as golden lightning spread through the earth. This time, Aditya managed to redirect noticeably more Heavenly Thunder than before. His control was still nowhere near enough to manipulate the Heavenly Thunder freely, but the experience gained from surviving the fourth strike allowed him to guide a greater portion of its power away from his body.

His armor also helped, although considerably less than before. The fifth Heavenly Thunder strike was simply too powerful. The same armor that had managed to reduce around five to ten percent of the previous strike’s power could now block only roughly two and a half to three percent before cracks spread across almost its entire surface.

As for Aditya’s Dragon Scales, they were practically useless against the fifth strike. The moment the Heavenly Thunder touched them, the crimson scales shattered. There was almost no resistance. The Heavenly Thunder tore through the broken scales and penetrated the flesh underneath as though the scales had never existed in the first place.

This was especially terrifying considering just how powerful Aditya’s Dragon Scales normally were. Even while he was still a Fifth Order cultivator, those scales were capable of withstanding attacks from Sixth Order cultivators.

Yet before the fifth Heavenly Thunder strike, that powerful natural defense might as well have been a thin sheet of paper placed in front of a cannonball. It did not matter how durable the paper was. The cannonball simply tore straight through it.

“What is happening? Where is Aditya?” Rin asked in panic.

Unable to control her growing fear any longer, Rin flew into the sky and frantically began looking around. Aditya was already several kilometers away from Axel City, and with the dark clouds, rain, violent winds, flashes of lightning, and the enormous amount of mana disturbing their senses, it was becoming increasingly difficult for everyone to clearly see what was happening to him.

Rin was about to fly farther away and expand her search when several others immediately flew after her. Before she could get too far, they grabbed her and forcefully brought her back toward the ground.

“Calm down, Rin. Panicking like this will not accomplish anything.” Athena calmly stated while holding her back. Although Athena sounded composed, the worry in her eyes made it clear that she was nowhere near as calm as she appeared.

Boris nodded his head before looking toward the distant location where Aditya had been facing the Heavenly Tribulation. “The Heavenly Tribulation is still ongoing. That means Aditya is still alive and continuing to endure the Heavenly Thunder strikes.”

Aditya was currently somewhere around five to eight kilometres away from Axel City. Boris narrowed his eyes while staring in that direction before continuing. “It is already extremely impressive that he managed to endure four Heavenly Thunder strikes without making any preparations beforehand. If I had been placed in his exact situation when I was at Peak Fifth Order, I doubt I would have even made it to the fourth Heavenly Thunder strike.”

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