Chapter 126 — Perfect Human
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Vrath had protected himself. He was a shaman after all.
He had sensed the energy expansion and conjured rings of fire around himself — the heat of them pressing outward against the cold that arrived immediately after.
But when he looked around afterward, his heart shook violently.
Everywhere was terrifyingly cold.
The Frost Castle was now living up to its name — thick frost covering every surface, every wall, every exposed stone. His senses spread outward but couldn't find anything. Not even a presence.
He moved.
Then he saw them — a dozen Asura clan members. In motion but standing still, their bodies trapped inside concaves of ice. They couldn't speak. Couldn't move.
'So this could have happened to me too...' The shaman's eyes narrowed as he spread his senses further.
The disciples of the Northern Gladiator guilds.
Also frozen. All of them. Every single one beneath the Master Realm — suspended in place, the frost holding them exactly as they had been when the expansion reached them.
"Who is this expert that just achieved a breakthrough?" Vrath's heart shook violently.
He moved toward the one location he knew was the source of all of this.
The Ancient Frost River.
It was called the Frost River because the river ran very cold, covered by a thin layer of ice at all times. But when the shaman arrived at the location his eyes widened.
The Frost River was no longer a river.
It was a plethora of ice — white and chilling in every direction, the cold radiating off it pressing against his fire rings immediately. No water. Just pure ice that spread across everything as far as his eyes could reach.
"What is this? Someone was cultivating here? They had a breakthrough.... in this crazy deadly Yin energy...." Vrath was stupefied.
"But why can't I sense any presence?" He asked aloud.
At that moment —
Crackle****
A line cracked directly where he stood — and he jumped back in fright, his chanting already starting, fire spreading across his entire body as the rings blazed brighter.
The crack expanded. A loud bang followed, sending a ripple outward through the ice — and then a hand came through.
A human hand.
'A human hand....' Vrath's fear was finally realized.
If it was a human then this person was an enemy. But then — why were the Northern Gladiator guild members frozen too?
With one pull, the human dragged himself out of the ice.
Tattered white robe, soaked and drenched. Messy hair.
White. The hair was so white that the sight of it alone terrified Vrath.
Then the skin — too pure. Perfect and flawless. And then the silhouette looked up.
Blue eyes. Light and lustrous. A face filled with a holy glow.
Perfect. Flawless.
"HEAVENLY RANK PHYSIQUE.... This is the Heavenly Rank Physique.... I've read about this in books.... A physique that evolves beyond the limit of humans.... This stage.... this impossible stage.... not a human.... but a Perfect Human...." Vrath the shaman was beyond shock as he stared at the silhouette before him.
Then it occurred to him.
"You're the one who was cultivating here...." Vrath didn't need an answer to know the reply.
The silhouette just stared at him without saying anything.
'Why does he look familiar but different at the same time?'
His eyes widened. Kept widening. Then the blue eyes registered.
His memory snapped.
"Socrates..." Vrath called — the name of the warrior he had just killed.
"Do I look that different?" Those words came out of Socrates' mouth. No emotion in them. Casual — but they arrived with pressure. A terrifying pressure that almost caused Vrath to stumble backward.
"How did you survive my Seven Colored Rainbow Poison? You were supposed to be dead by now." Vrath was crazily terrified.
"Let's just say I got lucky." Socrates replied as he flexed his muscles.
His body was lean but perfect. His muscles weren't large but condensed — dense and precise, carrying no excess. No scar nor injury anywhere on his body. The Perfect Human. A physique that defied everything.
Did he earn it?
The answer was yes.
He had earned it. But how could anyone here understand that?
'Treasure.... To survive my attack he must have some kind of treasure.... If I could get that treasure for myself..' Vrath's eyes shone with greed.
"Give up your treasure and I'll let you go in peace.... Although you've awakened the Ice element, it won't have any effect on me.... I have a perfect artifact that can counter your element." Vrath stated.
Socrates arched a brow.
"If ice won't work on you.... then water should." Socrates raised his right hand and flicked his middle finger — a stream of white water tore out of his hand and headed toward Vrath, who swatted it away with the back of his hand.
"Haha.... Is that even an attack? Melting frost into liquid.... what exactly is your aim?" Vrath asked.
"Check your hand." Socrates sighed.
At that moment Vrath felt something off. He raised the palm he had used to swat the stream away — and saw that it had turned purple.
He recognized it immediately.
"POISON..." His gaze sharpened.
"You refined the Seven Colored Rainbow Poison?" Vrath was beyond shocked. Simply terrified — watching the poison spread up his arm, the purple creeping steadily past his wrist.
He quickly pulled a bottle from his robe, uncorked it, and drank the contents.
"Is that the antidote for the Seven Colored Rainbow Poison?" Socrates asked.
The shaman nodded. "Although I don't know how you managed to refine it — that poison I've been studying for decades.... Why wouldn't I have the antidote?" Vrath replied with a question.
"The Seven Colored Rainbow Poison is supposed to appear as a seven color stream.... Wondered why your arm turned purple?" Socrates asked.
Vrath looked at his arm. The poison was retreating — but not fully. It was fighting against the antidote, pushing back against it with something the antidote hadn't been prepared for.
Then it occurred to him.
"This isn't just a poison.... This is an element.... It contains traces of energy...."
"Don't tell me.... you...." Vrath looked up —
Socrates was already in front of him. Right hand raised — which he drove into Vrath's face without sound, without warning. It wasn't a strike with noise or impact. It was as if Vrath's entire body went numb — frozen, all at once — as the five fingers landed on every corner of his face.
His face turned purplish. Something unknown began penetrating inside.
Socrates leaned forward and whispered into his ear.
"It took you long enough to find out..."
The moment his mouth closed, Vrath's head blasted into pieces — sizzling, terrifying, hot purplish smoke rising where it had been.
Plop.
His headless body dropped to the ground. Socrates stepped over it without a glance.
He spread his senses.
They locked immediately — five elders, standing at five precise locations, forming a square with Elder Hestruin at its center.
Hestruin's senses found him at the same moment.
The elder turned directly toward his location.
Socrates looked back across the distance between them.
"New debts and old debts shall be settled together." He declared — and vanished, leaving nothing behind but a trail of frost across the ice where he had been standing.