Realm of Myths and Legends (WN)

The artifact Niflheim attached to his shield was a circular golden medallion with an aqua-colored crystal embedded into its center. Around its edges were ancient texts inscribed onto the medallion that gave off mystical energy.

Crrraaaack! Shiiiiing!

The next moment, the artifact opened and split into five separate pieces on the surface of Niflheim's shield. The crystal from the medallion acted as the centerpiece and the object's golden exterior which was split into four even parts, rapidly rotated around the crystal.

As it did so, numerous cracks formed throughout Niflheim's shield and created fractures of glowing light blue energy.

Woooooosh!

A heavy aura washed over the shadahi inside the chamber that caused the creatures to instinctively set their gazes on Niflheim. Although it was difficult to tell due to the vicious nature of their physical appearance if one looked closely in their eyes, they would be able to see it—the natural sense of caution that crept into them.

But that was not the only thing that changed with the sudden emergence of the mystical energy released by the artifact.

Roooooragh!

Demonic flames coated the shadahi's hand as they lashed out at Guan Yu.

Guan Yu skillfully sidestepped the blow at the very last moment. Then, without missing a step in timing, launched a ferocious counterattack as he swung his guandao upward with great momentum.

ROOOOOAR! BOOM!

Guan Yu's guandao crashed into shadahi with the ancient blue aura wrapped around the blade of his weapon exploded forth.

Phhhhhtk! Roooooragh!

The guandao in Guan Yu's hand cleaved the shadahi in two. But he was taken aback at what happened next.

Countless black strands emerged from the shadahi's body—it was preparing to regenerate. However, right when the black strands attempted to connect and pull the creature's body back together in one piece, they withered and crumbled.

"What is this..?" Guan Yu said to himself as he looked down at his arms and saw that his entire body was being covered by a thin layer of light blue aura.

Guan Yu looked over at Halls, who was positioned just a few meters away from him, and noticed that the same thing was happening to him as well.

Halls pushed the shield in his hand forward as he blocked the incoming attack of a shadahi.

BANG! Swoosh!

When the shadahi struck Halls' shield with its claw-like hands, the creature's entire arm was repelled by a relentless force. The force was so powerful that it instantly broke the shadahi's arm and caused it to bend in three parts.

"Huh? Why did its attack just now feel so light?" Halls commented as his brows rose in surprise.

Halls had not used his Rebound skill since it was still on cooldown for a few more seconds. And, none of his previous blocks had felt so effortless as the one he had just experienced against that creature.

"Is it the work of this weird aura?" Halls muttered as he glanced down at the light blue aura that encompassed his body.

Guan Yu and Halls were not the only two who felt empowered by the strange aura put out by the artifact in Niflheim's possession.

The members of the 9th Division and 5th Unit also found it much easier to confront the shadahis that they were up against.

As the tides of battle rapidly shifted in favor of the allied forces inside the chamber, Niflheim gritted his teeth as he remained still with his hand pressed to his shield. He appeared to be under a great deal of physical stress as several veins could be seen protruding from his neck and hands.

"How is he moving so freely with this kind of pain? Is he seriously using something like this to fight? What a terrible feeling...! Now I know why he told me not to use it without his approval..!" Niflheim thought to himself as he winced from the pain.

After he used the artifact, Niflheim felt as though his entire body was being pulled apart one muscle fiber at a time. It was not something most people would be willing to bear; however, it was the price that had to be paid if one wanted to use it.

Resseki's Flawless Armament and Kiren's Perfect Guardna—these were the two items Izroth and Niflheim received, respectively, after completing the Unique* quest Resseki & Kiren's Challenge: Sword & Shield.

The Resseki's Flawless Armament that Izroth used allowed him to utilize a Seed of Celestial Energy. Just as its name implied, the Seed of Celestial Energy was a still budding power that required time to grow and unleash its full potential. Still, even if it was just a seed of its true form, its goal was purely offensive and had, undoubtedly, been created for the sole purpose of dominating its enemies.

However, Kiren's Perfect Guardna that Niflheim acquired was different. It focused wholly on defense and providing support.

He who wields the sword can only attack, never defend and he who holds the shield can only defend, never attack—these were the first two lines mentioned in the quest objective of Resseki & Kiren's Challenge: Sword & Shield. But, this extended to more than just the quest objective itself.

Just like during their time with the golden puppets, as long as Izroth was using Resseki's Flawless Armament, he could never defend. And, so long as Kiren's Perfect Guardna was in use, Niflheim could not attack.

Additionally, utilizing the Seed of Celestial Energy placed a heavy burden on its users.

For Izroth, the burden was largely canceled out by his Heavenly Golden Body and Might stat. Unfortunately, Niflheim did not have that same luxury and became forced to endure the Seed of Celestial Energy through his own willpower.

Izroth observed Niflheim and witnessed the great amount of pressure that he was placed under by his artifact.

'I knew that we would have to use it to our advantage sooner or later; however, for it to be this soon is earlier than I anticipated.'

After experiencing the harsh side effects of the Seed of Celestial Energy firsthand, Izroth knew that even a player with decent pain tolerance would find it challenging to handle it. That's precisely why Izroth instructed Niflheim not to use Kiren's Perfect Guardna under any circumstances unless he instructed him to do so.

'It certainly has its downsides. Since it's impossible to rush the growth process behind the Seed of Celestial Energy, we have no choice but to let it happen naturally over time. Unfortunately, if we want to ensure that the shadahi cannot regenerate and return stronger than before, we have no choice but to employ this method. So, he will have to endure for a bit. That being said, it looks like it's having a good effect and tilting the battle in our favor. As long as he can hold out for a while, we should be able to tie up the loose ends here.'

Unlike Resseki's Flawless Armament which only benefited Izroth and his ability to attack, Kiren's Perfect Guardna was capable of influencing everything in its surroundings.

For its enemies, especially the shadahi, the aura from Kiren's Perfect Guardna was akin to poison. As for those it deemed allies, it shielded them from harm and did so exceedingly well against the shadahi.

Rmmmmmmble!

As the 9th Division and 5th Unit started to gain a huge upper hand over the shadahis, out of nowhere, the space around the spatial rift started to visibly tremble as multiple rings like a stone being dropped into still water appeared around the area.

Crack! Crack!

Izroth narrowed his eyes as he observed the fracturing spatial rift. The following moment, a swirling vortex appeared right above the damaged coffin.

The vortex was separate from the spatial rift; however, it seemed to be directly linked to it in some manner.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the coffin disappeared as it was sucked into the vortex.

WOOOOOOOSH!

Without warning, the vortex released a powerful pulling force that started to draw in everything within the chamber. Even space itself was not sparred from this vortex as the fracturing spatial rift was being slowly pulled into the vortex itself.

The members of the 9th Division and 5th Unit were caught off guard by the vortex and found themselves struggling to hold their ground and stop themselves from being pulled inward.

'The space... Is it beginning to collapse?'

Izroth never witnessed space collapsing before in this manner inside RML. It was almost as if a singularity had abruptly formed at the chamber's center!