Back up on the pillar, Lineir was blissfully unaware of the great sects slowly ascending the pillar. Most of them had also followed Patriarch Goldive's examples and given up on bringing the full might of their followers with them. On this pillar... only personal strength mattered, groups would be at a disadvantage!
"Master, is it not odd, there have been no golems or traps for a long while. I almost feel as if I am lost in time, ascending the stairway to the Heavens! Perhaps I really died back there and am now just walking away from the earth?" Lineir mused vaguely as he continued up. His eyes drifted to the sides of the pillar where an awe inspiring view awaited. Clear blue for miles and a light white veil of clouds which seemed like an ocean in the sky, frothing bubbles gently swirling on top.
"Dead your grandmother, take it from one who's come close, you're definitely not." Mei irately said. She was clearly not amused at being reminded of her state.
"Sorry, sorry! I'll keep cultivating for now." Eventually, the fifth tier core ran out and Lineir popped in the sixth tier. It barely fit. He had to cram his jaw open. Moaning, he grumbled,
"My god that was uncomfortable, it felt like my jaw was going to snap!"
Mei had no sympathy at all,
"Please, kiddo, what do you think we have to do to cultivate tenth tier cores, some of the larger ones are as big as watermelons!" Lineir's eyes grew round at the thought of getting one of those in.
"Do you actually dislocate the jaw or something?" he said absentmindedly.
"No you idiot, at that level you just absorb it with your hands... "
A piercing roar growled its way through the skies.
GRAAAAAAAAAWWWRRR!
Lineir shuddered,
"that sounded almost like... wait... no way... it can't be!"
GRAAAAAAAAAWRRRR!!!!
He paled,
"It is her isn't it..." Mei could only agree,
"Yes... that dragon girl, she's definitely around. Now don't you wish it was still quiet?"
Lineir sighed, fate itself was definitely broken, if he was to meet that crazy dragon girl, who was apparently a princess on this mad pillar to the heavens.
"Tell me Mei, if I come across her again, what's my plan?"
Mei mentally shrugged,
"She's only dragonkin I think. Not as powerful as I first thought, definitely not tenth tier, maybe ninth at best. More likely, based on the evidence I'd say she was seventh or eighth tier. Still enough to easily beat you however. In dragonform she's just too large for somebody of your level to take care of. You need to master the art of authority before you can take on large opponents. Your only hope if she comes is to hide quickly, and then run away when she's not looking. Keep ascending, there's no use worrying about something that could come at any time. From the sound of it, she's not as high up as you."
Lineir sighed.
"The art of authority, when will I be strong enough to master that?" The art of authority was what Mei called the ability to distribute force. Essentially, if you cut into something, even if your blade was sharp enough, you can only cause so much damage. Take the False Water Serpent for example. No matter how sharp Lineir's blade might be, he could only deal so much damage because the cuts he caused were but a fraction of its total size! However, a master with authority was different. A single cut from them could project the force of a cut far beyond the length of the actual blade. Where Lineir would leave a scratch, the master might completely cut clean through a large enemy. That was why size was not necessarily a good thing at the higher levels. No matter how much girth you had, a master would simply consider that a larger target.
"Damnit it's been a while, that's a lot of golems. And Heavens... they just keep getting bigger!"
These golems were indeed numerous, a good ten were patrolling randomly in front of Lineir, and there was no clear cut way through without attracting attention. Furthermore, they were enormous, a full half bigger than the already enormous golems before. Additionally... two of them were obsidian instead of silver. Lineir mentally plotted a path around those. They made a shiver run down his spine as something told him to stay away.
"Alright, I think I see a way through!" Weaving side to side, Lineir carefully rushed around the rocky ground. From his experiences so far, as long as he didn't get too close, the golems didn't notice him, but he didn't want to take any chances. While they might not have any visible eyes, that was no guarantee they wouldn't be able to see or hear him. Staying low, he carefully made his way through when a golem suddenly changed route,
"Bloody hells, it blocked off my path!" Turning around in circles, Lineir had only moments to decide where to go. If he stayed too long, one of the golems he had avoided before would wander to him. If he chose the wrong path, he could be cut off and surrounded. Around and around he spun twice, and then burst out running again,
"Shoot, the only way that has any chance of success is near that obsidian golem!" He was running by when to his horror, the obsidian golem triggered on him and began to run, swiftly closing the distance.
"I got too close... Mei what do I do!" Lineir was at a loss, this was not part of the plan at all!
"Kiddo, you only got one choice, you have to beat it. Try to take it out one limb at a time!" Lineir tried his strategy of taking it apart piece by piece. Dodging the massive fist which came, he once again ran his blade along the forearm and let the current come,
"Surge!"
However, a chill ran down his spine as the arm, did not stop, little sparks fizzled around the obsidian skin, and then it came crashing into him.
"Resistance to electricity!"
Lineir, as he was about to be turned into paste, felt his vision turn red for the first time in ages. The power of madness had come!
"I didn't think this power worked unless I was fighting a living enemy... but apparently if my life is in danger it will." The fist seemed to slow down and Lineir quickly jumped forward. When the fist collided, the fact that Lineir was moving away from it lessened the impact somewhat, and he was sent flying towards the path of another golem. In the crimson red haze, Lineir coughed out blood as his squished organs complained, but still had time to think,
"I can't allow another golem to lock onto me!" He swung his sword down, digging into the ground. Immediately the drag slingshotted his body down, and he further dug in with his bone scythes, sliding several meters in the ground. Staring past his bloody reflection in the black blade, he sighed in relief,
"It didn't lock onto me!" But his relief was short lived. The first obsidian golem was quickly charging at him. On its face, sparks danced and a hole formed. Like a mouth, it pointed straight at him, a crackling noise and blinding glow formed.
Mei cried out,
"Disciple, block it!"
BAAAANG!
A jumping arc of electricity shot out from its mouth and was channeled into Mei's blade which seemed to absorb it. Lineir was speechless,
"That was... tribulation lightning?"
Mei was suddenly furious, in Lineir's head she was yelling,
"To dare play with lightning in front of me! You're asking for death construct! Disciple, hold it off a second, this thing is pissing me off!"
In his hands, the black blade which had stayed cool even when struck by tribulation lightning before, and when the golem had hit it with that strange pseudo tribulation lightning now, began to heat up. Lineir leaped up to avoid a fist and found himself standing on top of the golems forearms which had naturally folded on top of itself to protect its head.
"Excellent Kiddo, get me higher any way you can... this golem has dug all their graves! You just need to get me higher!"
The golem flung out both its arms, and Lineir kicked off at the same time, borrowing the force to propel himself up and up into the sky. The light actually dimmed a little as the height of his jump brought him closer to the bottom of the next layer of the pillar, blocking out the sun from the open sides.
"Not high enough, just a little more!" Lineir was basically out of options, and panicked as his flight reached its height. His heart rate spiked and his vision turned red again, looking down he stared right into the mouth of the obsidian golem below.
"GO!"
From his own mouth, the devouring hydra spirit came out, insanely long, and shot into the golem's open mouth below, seizing the core inside and ripping it out. The force as it struck the golem propelled Lineir just a little higher into the air.
"Excellent kiddo, now I got them all!"
A humming noise and tingling came as every hair on Lineir's body stood up. From his black sword, ten lightning bolts surged and smashed down onto the golems below. The lightning was clearly the absorbed tribulation lightning, but it came out far faster than before, seemingly spun into thin strands of dense death. They burned their way through the golems below, even the other untouched obsidian golem, and every single golem slumped down inert.
"Don't ever use lightning against me!"
Mei triumphantly cried out as Lineir came down, absorbing the fall which would have shattered any regular man's bones by merely bending his knees.
"That was awesome master! Now I can collect all their cores!"
However, before he could, a piercing roar came from off the open side of the pillar and out of the clear blue sky,
GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAWRRR !