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712. Corrupted Hellking

“My Skills are back.”

Hartia whispered as he slowly flitted up next to me. I was seated on the ground, staring at the space where my rift had closed shut. I narrowed my eyes for a moment as I waited for the notification of Jofis’s death to come.

But it didn’t arrive. And that made me nervous.

Hartia continued.

“Well, not all of them are back just yet. But they’re returning slowly.”

He said as he flexed his hands, looking down at himself. I shook my head as I turned to face him.

“If they’re coming back, does that mean your [Expanding Domain: The Fall Of The Fairies] is returning too?”

I squinted at Hartia. If that was the case, that would explain why Jofis was not dead yet. However, Hartia waved a hand dismissively.

“That’s not possible. I am pretty sure I’ll have to wait for its cooldown to end before I can use it again.”

“I see.”

I placed a hand on my chin as I considered what this could mean. But Hartia had already moved on, muttering to himself.

“I always knew Jofis was strong. But I can’t believe he had such a powerful Grand Skill. We would have died there if you didn’t still have your Skills.”

The Fairy turned to me gratefully, and I shrugged back at him.

“I mean, I don’t even know why all my Skills continued to work, unlike you. That was weird.”

I did have a few theories. However, there was nothing I could confirm now. Not like there was any point in trying to figure it out at the moment. Right now, there were more important things to deal with.

Like figuring out why Jofis wasn’t dying—

And right as the thought crossed my mind, I watched as the rift I had previously opened up began to crack back open. A terrible roar began to echo all around me. The sound was distorted and partially muffled. I took a step back as my eyes narrowed.

Meanwhile, Hartia looked up in alarm.

“Is that…?”

He asked, and I nodded.

“Yep. Jofis survived.”

I replied as my rift was forcefully opened back up. And Jofis’s wild figure stepped through the hole in space. But he was not the same as he was just moments ago. My eyes grew wide as I could barely even discern his figure.

A distortion covered him, flaking with iridescent colors. But it was not just the divinity that was wisping off his body. It was the corruption.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

I said as I stared at him.

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I took a step back as Hartia just gaped at him.

“What happened? How is he doing that? Isn’t that the thing you do? How is he doing it too?”

The Fairy asked in a panic as he glanced over at me. I shook my head as Jofis exited the rift, and it closed shut behind him.

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“I don’t know. But… Hartia… since your Skills are returning, you can use your [Fractal Barrier], right?”

I asked the Fairy hopefully. He pursed his lips.

“Unfortunately, I cannot.”

“Fuck.”

And Jofis let out a distorted roar as he leapt forward, charging straight at Hartia. I clicked my tongue as the Fairy tried to fly back. I knew that he wasn’t able to defend himself right now. Especially with his most powerful offensive and defensive capabilities taken away from him.

So I moved to intercept Jofis as I pointed at him.

“[Invoke Wrath]!”

Immediately, the Winged Horror’s gaze snapped my way as I created a Divine Nebular Scythe and swung out at him. He parried the attack, before letting out a quick counter. But I let the attack glance off my shoulder.

[My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends] was still protecting me. At least, for now. But it would end soon.

I took this opening to swing out with a [Divine Strike], aiming for Jofis’s head. The attack sheared through the small layer of corruption that was covering his body. But he reacted quickly, ducking his head out of the way. Instead, I struck his shoulder, sending a chunk of flesh flying back.

I leapt back as I looked back at Hartia.

“Hartia, get back!”

I exclaimed as I readied myself for Jofis’s followup attacks. He stood there for a moment, before he brought hand up. The piece of flesh that I had chopped off began to fly back towards him, before breaking apart and distorting, revolving around his body.

Behind me, Hartia flew away from Jofis, trying to maintain a good distance away from us as I sighed.

“I really hate the corruption, you know?”

And Jofis let out another terrible screech as he charged straight at me. I backed away, parrying his onslaught of attacks with my [Divine Strike] coated scythe. The only reason the weapon wasn’t shattering from his strikes was because of the divinity countering his corruption.

However, Jofis was still faster than me and stronger than me as he was right now. That was not all. His movements were wild and practically uncaring of his own wellbeing. It was very hard to defend against all his attacks.

Fortunately for me, I had a secret weapon against him, and it wasn’t just my divinity. It was my [Corruption Mastery].

While I couldn’t control all of his movements, I could still manipulate the aura around him slightly.

And while it was only subtle movements, it was just enough to redirect a majority of his attacks which I couldn’t block. The rest that got through were caught by [My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends].

As Jofis and I were locked in this clash of attacks, Hartia sent a barrage of projectiles flying down at the Winged Horror.

But the projectiles all simply bounced off Jofis’s back, barely even serving as a distraction.

I finally landed a [Divine Radiant Slash] on the Winged Horror, straight at his neck. But it wasn’t enough force to decapitate him. I only got a quarter way through before my Divine Nebular Scythe got lodged in his neck.

I tried to pull it back, but Jofis reached out and grabbed the weapon’s hilt as he bared his teeth. A large boulder crashed into his back, sent flying by Hartia. And the Winged Horror didn’t even flinch.

He used my scythe as a pivot and swung me into a nearby mountain. But I caught myself with my [Angelic Wings], before I could crash into anything. Looking down, I watched as Jofis snapped my Divine Nebular Scythe in half, before hurling the bladed side at me.

I reached out to catch the weapon, before my eyes flickered. A strange feeling washed over me, before I realized what had happened. I immediately dodged to the side and avoided the attack.

The blade of my weapon crashed into the mountain, causing a landslide to collapse behind me. But I just floated there as I looked down at myself. The iridescent flames that had previously coated my body with protection was gone.

“[My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends] is no longer active…”

I whispered, before looking up at Hartia in alarm. He was still a great distance away from me, fighting from a safe location. But he realized what had happened to me. He saw the panic on my face.

I pursed my lips as Jofis took a step forward, causing the ground to shake.

Right now, I could use [Worldbreak] again. But I didn’t even know if it would be enough to finish Jofis off, considering he was now corrupted. And to make matters worse, there was no longer any protection for me to rely on.

This battle was going to get incredibly dangerous. If I made one wrong move…

Jofis took another step forward, getting ready to leap into the air as he spread his wings wide.

And then a blast of blue light overcame him, coming from the side. I watched as a powerful explosion erupted where the Winged Horror stood, before blinking a few times. I looked towards Hartia and called out to him.

“Did you do that?”

“Of course not! That was a Grand Skill, and that was evidently not mine!”

Hartia exclaimed back at me. I frowned as I looked back down at the blast that overcame the entire valley. Even the nearby mountains were shaking from the impact of the explosion.

“I feel like I recognize that Grand Skill…”

I whispered to myself, before I glanced in the direction the attack came from. And standing atop a nearby mountain were three familiar figures. When I saw them, I couldn’t help but smile in excitement.

“So you guys finally arrived!”

I exclaimed.

Because Haec, Aliq, and Ultis had arrived.