A cloak of blue energy extended down along his back as the skill kicked into gear, and his armor was covered in a layer of red light that took the form of thick plate, while not hindering his movement in the slightest. Strength rippled through his muscles, and speed coursed through his sinews. He was ready.
As soon as he started to move, he felt that something was different about this skill. His mind and vision seemed to tunnel in onto the Flood Titan as he raced across the ground, forcing him to become the agent of his own revenge. That was perfectly fine.
His hammer blazed like a shooting star as he rocketed towards his foe, continuing to layer his buffs upon his mortal form, increasing his power to that of a demigod. He was moving many times the speed of sound at this point, and the air echoed with his passing. The Flood Titan seemed loath to use any attacks that utilized its actual body now that its weakness had been found, instead sending beams of concentrated water towards him as he approached. For the first time, this battle would come down mostly to the actions of himself and his captains. All that did was inspire Sam. He was born for this.
One man. One man against a being that should have been far beyond his capabilities. For the entirety of Sam’s time under the System, that had been the core of who he was. Firstly he had resisted Tantalos’ aura. Then came Lena Scarlet. The early stages of the tournament. The Overlord. Hugo Mar. His training with Gordanus. And now, the Titans. The power of his legend echoed throughout the world around him as he charged, heedless of the danger that the E Rank monster in front of him posed.
He screamed in exultation as his Dao roared to a fever pitch, fueled to its utmost by the deaths of his allies. The world around him whited out, subsumed by power that began to warp reality itself. Everyone had this sort of ability, to an extent, but only a Dao Seed could do it solely under its own motive power. For the first time, Sam saw.
The legacy of the Avenger was one that was bathed in blood. Its mere existence promised carnage untold to anyone who stood in its way, and the Dao of the concept was no different. What Sam understood in that brief moment was not a full epiphany, but when it came to Dao Seeds, a simple insight was akin to a full stage of a lower Dao. The light that wreathed his body increased to that of a star, and although there was no stat boost, he hardly needed one.
A few seconds later, Sam crashed into the Flood Titan, heedless of the water bolts cracking his bones and armor. His hammer sucked up all of the energy around him, and the light vanished. Then a pinprick emerged out of the nothingness, a kernel of Dao energy surrounded by purified mana and elemental energy. Sam did not dare to unleash the power with his hammer itself, as that would break the weapon and then himself in short order. Instead, he forced it out of the weapon, and into the Flood Titan.
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A cone of pure energy exploded into being, shooting Sam backwards at hypersonic speeds. The air turned solid around him before bursting into flame as he covered miles in the blink of an eye. A shockwave rippled through the body of the Flood Titan faster than the monster could react, and it was blasted apart in a spray of water. It was still alive even with that level of damage, but it was hard pressed to reconstitute itself with the level of conceptual damage that it had taken from the immense injuries already dealt to it before. Eventually, it gave up the ghost, and succumbed to the rampaging Dao Seed energy burrowing through its form.
Sam was in no position to acknowledge any of this though, as he streaked through the sky. His bones had been turned to dust by the strike, even without him channeling it directly into his weapon. The surface of Mjolnir was melted, the first time that any lasting damage had been left on the weapon. Sam would have been annoyed, had his mind not been whited out with pain.
Eventually, he landed in the middle of the city. A pile of rubble greeted him, and he greedily succumbed to the darkness, a relief from the pain.
A series of sharp cracks brought him back to reality as his bones snapped back together. Sam groaned as the pain rippled through his body and mind, but it vanished within a few minutes, leaving him lying on the ground. Essence hung around him in a thick cloud, waiting to be allocated. With a sigh, Sam got to it, breaking through multiple nodes at once. A notification greeted him, which he opened, as much as a distraction from the pain of the nodes than anything else.
You have killed the Flood Titan!
You have leveled up! (x7)
The essence he had received seemed lower than he deserved, going by his contributions, but it was still immense. Seven levels at this part of F Rank was probably more essence than it took for the entirety of G Rank. From those levels, he had crossed the one thousand point mark in Wisdom, prompting another message.
You have gained a new title!
Humanity’s Wisest: Mythical
You are the first person to cross the one thousand point mark in Wisdom, an incredible feat for a universe so recently initiated. Will your wisdom serve you well, or come back to bite you as you realize that strength of the mind does not equate strength of the body?
Bonuses: This is a prestige title, meant to commemorate an event rather than provide any concrete bonus.
Sam smiled, but then quickly frowned as he realized that the title was completely useless. Grumbling, he closed the notification, and took a look around himself for the first time. He was in the center of the city, which meant that he had traveled dozens of miles from the aftereffects of a single attack. No wonder he had been so damaged.