Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat - Chapter 686

Chapter 686: The School of Thunder Whales

The skeleton within Ethan, which had once shimmered with a faint five-colored light, was now transforming into a pure, milky-white hue. All across his body, his muscles writhed and shifted. The silver specks of light that had appeared within them from his practice of the Force Resonance technique burned brighter than ever before.

The strangest change, however, was happening on the tattoo on his arm.

This mark, left by the Infernal Hound had always been a patch of pure black. Through it, Ethan could summon the creature, though Dragon Child had warned him that what answered the call might not be the true entity. He’d mostly forgotten about it since.

Even now, as it underwent its own transformation, Ethan was too preoccupied to notice.

During the downpour of lightning, the mark had been frantically absorbing the rampant energy. Now, it seemed to have come alive, the pattern glowing with an intense, vivid light.

Suddenly, the world shook.

Nine fissures tore open within the thunderclouds, and from them emerged nine… fish.

Each was over three meters long, yet they could only be described as small. Their shape was unmistakably that of whales. A three-meter-long whale was, after all, merely a juvenile.

These nine juvenile whales swam out of the tempest, radiating an immense, soul-crushing pressure that seemed to freeze the very air.

“Oooooom…”

A deep, resonant hum echoed from the nine creatures, a sound that should not exist here. They weren’t just constructs of energy; they felt disconcertingly alive.

Then, they dove. All nine descended from the heavens, their target clear: Ethan.

Their tails swept through the air, and with each movement, the sky itself groaned and shuddered. In that instant, every hair on Ethan’s body stood on end. The aura they exuded was utterly terrifying.

*BZZZT—*

“Luna!” Ethan yelled.

The Twilight Warspear materialized in his grasp. He kicked off the air, shooting directly toward one of the Thunder Whales. He knew better than to stand his ground and wait for their combined assault. If all nine hit him at once, a hundred lives wouldn’t be enough.

He swung the Warspear like a staff.

*BOOM!*

The impact against the whale’s head was colossal. A storm of violet-blue lightning erupted, illuminating the sky. A massive shockwave traveled up the spear, hurling Ethan backward through the air.

The Thunder Whale he’d struck was halted in its tracks, stunned. The other eight, however, pivoted in the void with powerful flicks of their tails, reorienting themselves and charging toward his tumbling form.

His plan to shatter one instantly had failed. Now, he was on the defensive and surrounded. It was the first time in a long time a single blow of his hadn’t ended a fight.

“Panther Form… Activate!”

His Divine Bloodline was now at the sixth rank. He remembered the special properties clearly; he now had five. The first allowed him to use partial Druid form skills in his human form, albeit at 50% effectiveness. Activating a full form now meant he retained all his own abilities while layering on half the power of an Ethereal Druid’s skills.

As the Panther Form took hold, his movement speed skyrocketed. Raw agility was exactly what he needed for this kind of swarm fight.

His body became a blur, weaving and darting to avoid being encircled. The whales’ attacks were simple: brutal charges and devastating tail sweeps. But their simplicity was their strength; Ethan wanted no part of either. The power behind them was far beyond what he could afford to take head-on.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

With Panther Form active, he channeled the essence of Shred, Rake, and Savage Bite into the Twilight Warspear. His own techniques were fundamental—slash, sweep, thrust, uppercut—but each was amplified, each collision with the leviathans producing a deafening crack of thunder and a spray of lightning that fanned out like tidal waves. The air roared with a continuous, world-ending cacophony.

The longer he fought, the more formidable his own aura became. It was as if the battle itself was tempering him. In a climactic moment, he found an opening and executed a Cleave the Mountain strike, cleanly severing the tail of one of the Thunder Whales. The aura radiating from him in that instant felt capable of making eternity itself tremble.

The maimed whale instantly dissolved, not into gore, but into a churning cloud of raw lightning. This energy then fractured into countless tiny, shimmering particles. Looking closer, Ethan saw they weren’t just energy; they were intricate, glowing runes. The runes flickered, beginning to fade as if returning to the universe.

‘What are those things?’ Ethan’s mind raced. ‘They look… powerful.’

He didn’t hesitate. “Devour… Activate!”

A vortex of absolute blackness swirled to life in his palm. With a sweeping gesture, he drew the vast majority of the fading runes into it, pulling them into himself.

***

“Good gods, the boy has a death wish! He’s stealing the Path’s Law Runes!” the Order Keeper exclaimed from their pocket dimension, its form shimmering with alarm.

Morzan, who had been staring slack-jawed, slowly schooled his features into a mask of weary resignation.

“What’s the big surprise?” he said, his voice a study in forced calm. “The kid’s entire life is either spent dying or on his way to do something that’ll get him killed. Relax. Breathe.”

His outward demeanor was a lie. Internally, he was just as panicked as the entity beside him. But what could he do? The little bastard was wired this way. See something valuable? Take it first. Worry about the apocalyptic consequences later. It was his standard operating procedure.

***

Ethan, of course, was not worrying. He felt the runes settle deep within his Energy Core, but he had no time to investigate the changes. Eight Thunder Whales were still doing their best to turn him into paste.

Their raw physical power was staggering; a single tail flick could pulverize a mountain. His only advantage was their simplistic attack patterns and his superior speed in Panther Form. He’d been holding them off, barely. Taking one out had already eased the pressure considerably.

Now, with the Twilight Warspear a blur in his hands, he danced through the chaotic school of eight. He parried, dodged, and struck, searching for any opening to take down another. But clean shots were rare. More often, he was forced into direct, concussive clashes that rattled his bones.

***

From their vantage point far away, Regis and the others could only watch the thunderous, terrifying spectacle.

Uncle Jed could only sigh, a profound sense of inadequacy washing over him. “How can the gap between people be so vast?” he muttered. “Just what rank has that boy reached?”

Forget whether it was the Annihilation Tribulation or not; he had never even heard of lightning taking a living, animal form. When he’d forcibly pushed through to the Saint-rank, his tribulation had been nothing but ordinary, mindless bolts of lightning.

***

CRACK!

Back in the fray, Ethan finally found his chance. A perfectly timed strike landed on the back of another whale. The creature shattered, exploding into another cloud of shimmering runes.

But his victory was costly. In that same fraction of a second, the tail of another whale caught him squarely in the side.

A searing line of fire erupted across his body. Blood welled instantly, tracing a hot, slick path down his skin.

Gritting his teeth against the white-hot pain, he forced his hand up, the black vortex swirling once more.

“Devour…!”

He swept the newly freed cluster of Law Runes into his grasp, absorbing them before they could fade away.