Chapter 284: A Stronger Ally

"Decadence of the Five Hyacinths," Argentum could not help but repeat the name of the trial in a whisper, wondering what kind of trial Horell was about to face. Although the name of the trial gave off the feeling that it was easy, there were multiple meanings and interpretations when it came to names, hence the reason why Argentum was pondering over how the trial would go.

'With the word 'Five' in the name of the trial, we could at least expect five bolts of lightning,' he thought to himself as he pondered over it. As an aura of enlightenment surrounded him with that thought currently in his mind, this aura instantly changed to that of uncertainty as he thought, 'But then, 'Five' could also be interpreted as five rounds of lightning bolts instead of five individual bolts.'

'As for 'Decadence', how would that affect the trial?' he continued to interpret the name of the trial as more and more thoughts surfaced in his mind. 'Does the word 'Hyacinth' refer to the color of lightning that Horell is about to face? Or does it refer to the type of lightning that's going to hit him, just like how the word 'Blossoming' affected the type of lightning that struck me in mine?'

Eventually, Argentum formulated a plausible hypothesis in his mind that dictated how Horell's Power Baptism would go. Of course, he only formulated that thought as a reference since Power Baptisms were known for their unpredictability. With that in mind, he could not help but remember how he was hit by a dark blue lightning bolt at the end of his Power Baptism, only for it to turn into a hundred purple lightning bolts.

"Should I go ahead and buff him up right now?" After finishing up with his speculations on the specifics of the trial, his train of thought then changed to that of helping Horell out in the terms of buffs. Although he muttered to himself a while ago that he was going to buff Horell up to reduce the relative difficulty of his trial, he had a feeling that buffing Horell up would instead become detrimental to him once the end of the trial comes.

Then again, he was not sure if that truly was the case, only referring what happened to him in his Power Baptism with a ton of buffs enabled. In the end, he decided that the pros outweighed the cons, making a note in his mind that he would buff Horell up before the first round of lightning bolts came.

Rumble…rumble…

At this point, the dark clouds had now congregated, spanning a couple of kilometers in both length and width. A few seconds later, red lightning bolts started to manifest within the dark clouds before darting around the clouds. Concurrently, a red light emanated from the dark clouds as well. To Argentum, this was now his preparation period before the bolts of lightning came crashing down on the trial candidate.

Noticing the red lightning bolts manifesting inside the dark clouds, Horell could not help but look at Argentum and ask, "What are those red lightning bolts doing in those clouds?"

"That's more or less your trial," Argentum responded without delay. He then continued, "Once the amount of energy contained within them has reached their peak, they will eventually come down from the clouds to smite you. At that point, you must do your best to defend against the lightning bolt, or dispel the lightning bolt, whichever works best for you."

"Oh? Is that the case?" Horell replied as an aura of understanding radiated from him, which was soon replaced with that of ease and slight elation as he soon muttered to himself, "In other words, I could just treat this Power Baptism like my Existence Tribulation, then. Good to know."

"Hm?" With the help of his enhanced senses, Argentum picked up Horell's whispers, giving him a new perspective on what Existence Tribulations were. In his mind, he thought, 'So Existence Tribulations are just harder Power Baptisms? Wait a second…I did explain a while ago that Power Baptisms are weaker Existence Tribulations...why am I so surprised?'

'I guess I just feel more at ease thinking that Existence Tribulations are going to be familiar to me,' he soon thought not long after as he let out a light chuckle. Just as he was about to engross himself in his thoughts once more, Herellia, who was beside him, prompted Argentum to look at the dark clouds as she said, "Hey, Argentum. The lightning in the clouds changed color."

"Oh?" Argentum uttered in response to Herellia's reminder before taking a look at the dark clouds. Instead of the red lightning bolts from before, the lightning bolts darting through the clouds this time were of a purple hue, which Argentum could not help but think of it as weird. Wondering as to why purple lightning had manifested instead of stopping at the red lightning bolts, Argentum unceremoniously commanded the system in his mind to identify Horell, bringing up a small holographic screen in his mind not long after that detailed his stats.

Ding!

As a notification sound resounded in his mind, Argentum hastily glossed over the screen. A few seconds later, a brief aura of confusion surrounded him as he questioned himself in a mutter, "His current stats are around the same level as mine when I first attempted my Power Baptism, so that means the lightning he has to face should be red at most?"

"Why is it purp-" Just as he was about to ponder even more on the topic, a thought related to the question surfaced in his mind, eliciting him to radiate an aura of understanding as Horell's current case was the same as his in his second attempt. With a slight sigh of relief, he muttered to himself, "It's got to be his skills. I wonder how powerful his skills are?"

Rumble…

As the sound of thunder resounded throughout the area, the trio could not help but look at the clouds, with each of them having different thoughts racing through their mind. For Horell, the sound of thunder meant that the first bolt of lightning was going to strike down soon, prompting him to use his usual buffs when it came to fighting. As for Herellia, hearing the sound of thunder prompted her to be more vigilant over the course of the trial, activating a few buffs of her own just in case she needed to make a move. And for Argentum…

"[Higher Zephyr Magic: Zephyr Burst]."

"…"

"…"

"[Higher Zephyr Magic: Zephyr Magna Acceliaris]."

"[Higher Ignis Magic: Ignis Burst]."

"…"

"…"

"[Higher Ignis Magic: Ignis Fervor Maxima]."

Hearing the sound of thunder resound throughout the area, Argentum went ahead and cast all of the spells that boosted one's attributes without hesitation, aiming all of the spells towards Horell. In less than an instant, multiple balls of red and green hue, that were of various sizes, soon arrived near Horell before being absorbed by his body.

Not long after, the aura he was radiating, which was already boosted with his usual buffs, was enhanced even further, making Horell give off the feeling that his combat power was no less than that of Chonk's. Sensing this aura, Herellia could not help but become shocked as she focused her vision on Argentum. Surprisingly, the reason why she was shocked was not because of Argentum's spells, but rather…

"You can actually help those who are taking Power Baptisms before it starts?" Herellia could not help but ask as this question surfaced in her mind. In response, Argentum looked at her and responded matter-of-factly, "You can. In fact, you can even help them out while they're undergoing a trial. I don't know if the same thing applies for Existence Tribulations though."

"Hoh…" Herellia uttered as a response to Argentum's words, radiating an aura that gave off the feeling that she had become enlightened. Soon after, Herellia then went ahead and muttered a few incantations as multiple red tendrils manifested on the surface of her body. A few seconds later, these red tendrils were then fired towards Horell, which was absorbed by his body at the very instant it collided. In less than an instant, the aura radiating from him had taken on a light crimson red tinge, increasing his combat power a bit more.

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Bzzt…crash!

Unfortunately for Herellia, just as she was about to say Horell that the red tendrils she sent contained the only buff she could give, the first bolt of lightning had finally struck down as the bolts had finally acc.u.mulated enough energy. In response, Horell looked up at the clouds and focused his vision on the purple lightning bolt that was heading his way.

Not waiting for the lightning bolt to strike him, he extended one of his hands towards the bolts as he soon muttered an incantation. As a decently large magic circle soon manifested a few centimeters in front of his extended palm, a beam of light blue energy was soon fired at the purple lightning bolt, dispersing it in less than an instant. Unsurprisingly, thanks to the multiple buffs on his body, the amount of energy used from the beam to disperse the bolt was minuscule, allowing the beam to traverse even further than expected.

Seeing the beam continue in its path, Horell could not help but feel invincible from the number of buffs currently on him. Not long after, an intangible form of energy soon spread out through his body, increasing the amount of power he felt coursing throughout his body in an instant. At first, he was not sure where the boost in power came from. Fortunately, it did not take long for him to realize that it came from the bolt of lightning that tried to strike him down.

At this moment, his confidence was at an all-time high, allowing him to disperse the next two lightning bolts without a problem as more power coursed throughout his body with every lightning bolt he dispersed. On the other hand, Argentum looked at Horell's approach of dispersing the bolts with great interest, prompting him to mutter to himself in a slightly elated manner, "Taking on an offensive approach instead of defensive one to disperse the bolts. I really like Horell's style."

"Though I can't help but wonder where the 'Hyacinth' part of the trial would pop up," he said not long after, waiting for the fourth bolt of lightning to strike Horell down after finding out that 'Five' meant five individual bolts. As for Herellia, she looked at Horell's current display of power with great awe, giving her the feeling that the current Horell in front of him truly gave off the vibe of the Supreme Guardian of the alliance.

Eventually, after a minute or so, the fourth bolt of lightning went down to strike Horell down. Unexpectedly, instead of going with the usual move of forming a beam to disperse the bolt, Horell could not help but ponder as to what would happen if he let the bolt come close to his body. And so, he waited for the bolt to come down, eventually finding out that he was lucky that he dispersed the lightning bolt at the very start.

At the moment the fourth purple lightning bolt was around halfway to reaching Horell, the purple lightning bolt soon split up into multiple red lightning bolts that took on a spiraling trajectory. Although these bolts were spiraling, if one were to take their time and look at the trajectory of each bolt, they would find out that all of them would still congregate to where Horell was. Being greeted with the sight of multiple red lightning bolts spiraling towards him, he then raised his right hand before slashing out with it horizontally as a blade of mana was conjured from that movement, dispersing the red lightning bolts in less than an instant.

Looking at the current scene, Argentum was finally enlightened as to why there was the word 'Hyacinth' in the name of the trial. Just like how there was the word 'Blossoming' in his trial, the lightning bolt that was about to strike Horell down had bloomed like a flower. With that in mind, he could not help but mutter to himself, "Why do our Power Baptisms have the names of flowers in them? Is there a reason for it or something?"

Rumble…rumble…

Unfortunately for Argentum, just as he was about to ponder over the reason for the weird naming scheme of Power Baptisms, a sound of thunder far louder than before resounded throughout the area, prompting him to look at the dark clouds. At the very instant he did, a brief aura of shock radiated from him, which was soon replaced with understanding as he let out a sigh and muttered, "I guess my hunch was correct. Increasing one's power through the use of skills, as long as there's a qualitative change to it, would definitely make the trial relatively harder."

In less than an instant, the purple lightning darting through the clouds had changed color, taking on a light blue hue as the intent of destruction emanating from them had undergone a qualitative change. Naturally, the light in the center had taken on a light blue hue as well.

Noticing the change in color and aura, Horell could not help but look at Argentum, non-verbally asking him as to what was going on. In response, Argentum told him that with his current power, it would be easy for him to disperse the lightning bolt as long as he used a strong move.

With Argentum's advice in mind, Horell then looked at the clouds with an aura of determination surrounding him as he inwardly psyched himself up for the bolt that was about to come. Eventually, a light blue lightning bolt went down from the clouds to strike Horell down. But just as he was about to prepare his strongest spell, the light blue bolt instantly split into tens of purple lightning bolts, slightly distracting Horell from preparing.

Fortunately, Horell was able to bring himself back to what was important, focusing all of his attention on the spell he was preparing as he extended both of his arms towards the oncoming purple bolts. Just as a few purple lightning bolts were about to hit Horell's body, the spell he was preparing was now finished, allowing him to conjure an orb that attracted the purple lightning bolts towards it.

In less than an instant, the tens of lightning bolts were absorbed by the orb Horell conjured, prompting him to raise the orb at a height that he and the others wouldn't be affected by the aftermath. After making sure that the orb was at an ideal height, he then snapped his fingers as he softly muttered in an imposing tone, "Disperse."

Fwoosh!

And just like that, the orb which contained the purple lightning bolts instantly shrunk in size before expanding to a great degree not long after. This process was repeated a few times until the orb seemed to be unable to withstanding the repeated shrinking and expanding, exploding into multiple particles of energy as the purple lightning bolts were dispelled in one fell swoop.

Whoosh!

A few seconds later, an intangible energy soon enveloped Horell's energy, allowing the power inside his body, which had gradually increased throughout the trial, to undergo a qualitative change as the aura radiating from him had become more imposing. Concurrently, the dark clouds a few thousand meters over his head had now begun to disperse, prompting Argentum to head towards Horell without hesitation while radiating an aura of happiness.

"Congratulations, Horell!" Argentum said at the very instant he had arrived in front of him. In response, Horell let out a light chuckle as he responded, "Thanks. I think I wouldn't have successfully cleared that if it wasn't for your buffs."

"No worries, no worries," Argentum said in response to Horell's words of gratitude as he lightly giggled. He then pondered over something for a bit before telling it to Horell, saying, "Anyways, since your power has increased quite a lot…"

"Don't you think it's time for you to undergo your second Power Baptism?"

"…"

"…"

"Are you serious?"

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