A Sorcerer's Journey 464 The Maze of the Sea Serpent XVI

There was still some time before the advent of the Eye of Destruction so Grimm patrolled the area around the sorcerer's cave where the footprints of the foreign world creature were discovered.
Once, this was a shared responsibility between himself, Johann and Grandalph.
Grimm touched a pool of half-coagulated blood on the ground, a mark left by an injured fledgling. Perhaps, this was just another bloodstain when viewed through another's vision. In Grimm's eyes however, they were patches of charred reddish fur that dotted the surface of Mount Serpentine.
This was the result of the race's special trait, a highly-flammable bodily mucus.
Within the sticky pool, Grimm found a small piece of bone splinter that survived the heat of the flames. From Grimm's observation, it was something like a human's fingernail and must have been left behind by the intruder creature.
Even though its shape had been burnt beyond recognition, Grimm could still feel something emanating from it.
"What's this?"
Despite searching through his memory, Grimm could not deduce which creature this splinter originated from, nor was he able to roughly reconstruct its attributes. Eliminating all other possibilities, it should be a new species which Grimm had yet encountered on Mount Serpentine.
Raising his head, he looked at the spinning whirlpool hanging high up in the grey-colored sky which gradually slowed down to an eventual halt. Grimm took deep breath and marched forward with bravery, in search for the creature to which this bone splinter belonged to.
He must put a stop to this creature's attacks on his fledglings.
For every fledgling this bastard killed, Grimm would lose yet another source of obtaining the Blood of the Tainted Eye. That would make this creature Grimm's ultimate enemy for now.
Pressing on, Grimm looked around cautiously to maintain his situational awareness, just like how the leader of a lion's pride would when it came to protecting their territory.
Such patrols in search of intruding foreign world creatures were nothing out of the ordinary, though in most cases, the intruder was just another passerby creature, or an apex predator who hunted and killed opportunistically. Very rarely were there creatures like the one from Grimm's previous encounter who had a preconceived intention to fight on till the bitter end.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the phantom of a creature charged towards Grimm.
Grimm concluded from the fact that this creature was only able to inflict heavy wounds on a fledgling and not kill it meant that it was not a particularly strong predator to begin with.
Thump!
Raising the Sabbatic Goat Staff high in the air, a layer of black scales covered Grimm's body in an instant.
Making use of his opponent's momentum, Grimm instinctively bounced back a distance. The eyes underneath the Mask of Truth scanned this foreign world creature whose size was noticeably smaller than himself. Suddenly, his recognition of the creature standing before him almost made him gasp out in surprise.

To his disbelief, it was an Acraepoid. Its outstretched arms held a severed mantis-like arm as a slicing weapon.
Did this Acraepoid lose its Infernal Swordsmanship ability too?
While losing such powers was not as detrimental to an Acraepoid as what losing the perception of the Balanced Law would do to a sorcerer's fighting capabilities, the situation was still surprising to Grimm.
This Acraepoid, who Grimm deemed to be a Level-2 creature had abilities which were laughable as it could only rely on a tiny sliver of the power of Serpentine.
"Level 1 Wild Instinct, activate!"
Grimm's ravenous body resisted all forms of attacks by this Acraepoid. Losing the high-density shockwave ability of the Sabbatic Goat Staff, as well as his control over the attractive and repulsive forces, Grimm's capabilities had also been cut down drastically.
Taking into account the other creatures of the endless world, the Grimm in the present was just another Level-1 creature.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The sudden confrontation boiled into an intense battle. Though, Grimm was not planning on unleashing his powers by activating Level 2 of his Wild Instinct ability.
Grimm's face was calm and collected despite his opponent's ferocity. It seemed that victory was close at hand after all.
It was undeniable that the empowering feeling of being a true Elemental Sorcerer was much more enjoyable to Grimm rather than having to go through the phase of extreme weakness after activating the Level-2 Wild Instinct.
From time to time, Grimm would glance at the whirlpool in the sky as he slugged it out with the Acraepoid.
As he had expected, two thick red beams of light shot right down on the Phagocytic Shells, which had once again opened up the entrance to the maze of the sea serpent. The Awakening Ray of the lord of the sea serpent's pearls brought light to the space which existed between the boundaries of reality and illusion.
The countless sea serpent's pearls in the Phagocytic Shells had been rustled from their slumber and were now chasing each other playfully across the sky.
Faintly, Grimm could feel the Balanced Law restoring itself. A single blow by his fist threw the Acraepoid back by meters. His lips curled into a cruel grin before conjuring the Nature Force which propelled him into the sky, out of Mount Serpentine, a territory ruled by the power of the Serpentine.
The Acraepoid was dumbfounded at Grimm's actions, its eyes blinking in disbelief.
Grimm was now surrounded by a cluster of sea serpent's pearls which were previously playing a game of tag in the sky. The Awakening Ray shone brightly on him like God's light on his prophet. In that claustrophobic area that existed between reality and illusion, two beams of Elemental Energy, one ice and one flame, were launched from Grimm's Sabbatic Goat Staff which then merged seamlessly together, forming a dark-red energy ball.
"He he he he, have a taste of my Fire Blast Spell!"
Boom!
A dark-red beam of light descended from the heavens, breaking through the power of Serpentine's protective barrier onto the surface of Mount Serpentine. The poor Acraepoid, having nowhere to run for cover, was completely vaporized by Grimm's attack. The aftermath showed a fifty meter tall mushroom cloud rising from the ground and the earth was burnt black from the scorching flames.
The rolling flames were so hot that the Acraepoid was carbonized in an instant, without so much as a whimper. Not even an inch of that Acraepoid's body remained after Grimm's attack.
Grimm's attack had an offense power of up to six thousand points. Most Level-3 creatures would find themselves lucky should they live through such an attack, what more to say of a mere Acraepoid.
And yet, this degree of power which Grimm possessed was still lacking in comparison to the great monster who had summoned over ten thousand points of the power of Serpentine and murdered Grandalph in cold blood. Grimm barely made it into the class of creatures that roamed the top of Mount Serpentine's food chain.
As to the effects of his attack on Mount Serpentine itself, it was completely nulled as the rocks beneath the red fur remain unscathed.
Suppressing his joy, Grimm quickly awakened his perception.
Although the power of his previous attack was tremendous, it did not belong to him and it was no more than a mere illusion. He had to remind himself not to get too intoxicated with these false images.
Now that Grimm had slaughtered the intruder, there was no reason for him to stay there. Thus, he flew towards the sorcerer's cave, still prioritizing his research on the Awakening Ray.
If his theory were true, the value of possessing the Awakening Ray was on par with that of the Eternal Spring Greatsword once summoned by the First Acraepoid King. Maybe Grimm was overstating it, but it was something that a World Lord would have great interest in.
For now, it was impossible for Grimm to utilize such high levels of power as he willed. Bringing it along with him would inevitably drag him down with burden. What he could do, was use its value to his advantage by way of a trade deal!
If only he could get his hands on a beam of Awakening Ray. At this point, it mattered little to Grimm whether or not he could obtain the Infernal Spirit Scripture. What was most important to him now, was to get back to the Infernal Spirit World.
If he could do that, then the tables would turn in Grimm's favor and he would be the one deciding the game's outcome!
In the eyes of those Stigmata Sorcerers, the value of a captured beam of Awakening Ray from an Eternal Dominator would be multitudes higher than the Infernal Spirit Scripture.
Perhaps, if Grimm were to give up on obtaining the Infernal Spirit Scripture, there would come a day when he becomes a Stigmata Sorcerer himself, that this Awakening Ray would become the key to his trump card.
***
Unconsciously, yet another thousand or more days of the Eye of Destruction's descent flew by.
The sorcerer's cave was still standing strong.
Grimm was the ruler of this cave, with dozens of underlings who busied themselves with collecting the sea serpent's pearls for him. This was the truth which the foreign world creatures had observed with their own eyes.
Weaker creatures were powerless against Grimm's strength or more specifically, Grimm's strength during the descent of the lord of the sea serpent's pearls. The other stronger creatures need not bother themselves with a potentially fatal skirmish with Grimm as they all had their own permanent sources for obtaining the sea serpent's pearls.
Grimm's life right now could be perfectly described as cozy.
During the descent of the lord of the sea serpent's pearls, Grimm would utilize the chance and conduct research on uncovering the secrets to the Eye of Destruction's methods for absorbing the Awakening Ray. After its descent, Grimm would fly beyond the power of the Serpentine's boundaries to restore his damaged perception under the shimmering light of the Awakening Ray.
It was more than two hundred days of the Eye of Destruction's arrival ago that Grimm had fully restored his perception. He was now brimming with confidence that somehow, he could escape this place to some other unknown world through the whirlpool gate which would appear and disappear from time to time.
The moment Grimm left this world, he was confident that he could find his way back to Myna's side by way of instinct.
Grimm wondered where Little Myna was at right now. Was he still in the Infernal Spirit World, or had he gone back to the Sorcerers World after the end of the Demon-Hunting expedition.
"Hmm!?"
Grimm was positive he felt something.
He then flew swiftly out of the cave and peered at the massive shadow in the sky above… that, and the high-altitude whirlpool which had stopped the lord of the sea serpent's pearls descent. Just then, a wide smile cracked open underneath the Mask of Truth.
"It's time to go back."
Grimm shot up into the sky. Perhaps this giant creature looked down on the sorcerers as pathetic beings and thus largely ignored Grimm, dismissing him as just another speck of dust.
"It's that giant monster that killed Grandalph!"
"Sorcerer Grimm, it's time for us to avenge sorcerer Grandalph!"
Although the fledglings had matured by a long stretch, they still could not help but yell out in frustration and pain.
So many days spent slaving away, collecting sea serpent's pearls and with so many of their comrades falling to their death, was it not all just for the glory of revenge for their dead mother?
Grimm looked at the creature's beating fleshy wings and the power of Serpentine which fuelled its every movement.
"Such levels of the power of Serpentine, activating a beam of Awakening Ray should be much easier than the hundred thousand points of the power of Serpentine Sorcerer Shyann had."
Grimm muttered under his breath in satisfaction.

Chapter end