The dragon opened its maw and breathed out blackish-purple flames. Alarms rang in Neo’s mind.
He instantly used mimicked River of Time and mimicked Tyrant to go back in time.
“Huff! Huff! What was that flame? It felt like it would burn me to death even though I’m Immortal.”
Fortunately, he had bought enough time while he talked with the black dragon and used it to generate almost the entirety of his energy.
After using almost 40% to come back, he still had 60% of his total energy left.
Suddenly, a voice appeared inside his head.
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice) +0.02%]
[Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath (Rank: Stage 3, Mastery: Expert) +0.001%]
As Neo focused on the voice, a mirror appeared in his hand. It was small and circular with its back colored black.
He stared at the mirror, and information appeared.
[River of Time (Time Element Manifestation): 100%]
[Tyrant (Water Element Concept): 100%]
[Gap Movement Technique (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Supreme): 100%]
[Truth (Weapon Element Concept): 68%]
[Gravity (Space Element Concept): 100%]
[Black Hole (Rank: Reverberation, Mastery: Apprentice): 100%]
[Shadow Core (Shadow Element Concept): 98%]
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice): 0.43%]
[Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath (Rank: Stage 3, Mastery: Expert): 0.001%]
“This…
“These are the techniques I copied.
“But Truth and Shadow Core, huh. I didn’t realize I copied them too. Though, seeing as how the percentage isn’t 100%, I guess I haven’t copied them completely.”
He focused on Adamant Aegis and Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath.
“Stage 1. First time I’m seeing a Spell rank of that level. It must be the next rank after Tremor rank.”
He noticed he had gained percentage for Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath even though he did not get hit by it.
But the percentage was only 0.001%.
“If I’m right, I can copy everything by seeing it too, but closer interactions like getting hit by a monster whose body is protected by a defensive Spell allows the Abyss Mirror to copy the technique faster.”
Neo confirmed his current goal.
He would try to copy the dragon’s technique while fighting with the help of time loops.
And as soon as he defeated the dragon, he would devour it with True Darkness, which would give him a huge boost in strength.
“Abyss Mirror and True Darkness are quite similar, but I don’t need to defeat my enemies to use Abyss Mirror on them.”
It was ironic how abilities of similar Shadow and Darkness element nature were.
As he was gathering energy, he called out Beelzebub.
Kyuuu
The tiny caterpillar looked at him with worry.
Neo rubbed his forehead.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m perfectly fine.”
Kyuuu
Beelzebub’s head dropped. He was sad at how useless he had been recently.
Since all enemies Neo was fighting were far stronger than him, Beelzebub found it hard to devour their time.
“Why are you sad? Everything is fine.”
Kyuu…
“So what if we are weak? We just need to grow stronger.”
Kyu…”
Beelzebub was almost on the verge of tears.
“It’s fine. It’s fine. Look at the bright side instead,” Neo said. “None of our friends are dead. They will reincarnate, and we got a good opportunity to grow stronger.
“Well, I’m short on time, so can you help me now?” Neo questioned.
Kyu?
“I’ve regressed multiple times, and the Time elementals around me are in chaos. The black dragon will realize I’ve been regressing.
“So can you eat these Time elementals?”
Beelzebub nodded.
He opened his mouth and began to suck the chaotic Time elementals.
After he ate everything, Neo tried to put him back into his pocket.
Kyu Kyu.
“You don’t need to help me right now. I can handle the dragon myself. So rest, and wait until I call for you.”
Beelzebub’s head dropped further. He thought Neo was sending him back as he was useless.
Neo flicked its forehead.
“Stop thinking about idiotic thoughts. You aren’t useless at all.”
Neo’s mental state was bad, but he didn’t want it to affect Beelzebub.
He was starting to realize he had treated Percival badly too. He should’ve controlled his emotions, and instead of lashing out at Percival, he should’ve encouraged him.
‘I’m not the only one who has been hurt.’
‘I shouldn’t take out my anger on them.’
He put Beelzebub back into his pocket as he sorted his thoughts and emotions.
Losing Elizabeth still hurt. But he had to stop his emotions from hindering his thoughts if he wanted to grow strong to defeat Tartarus.
At the exact thirty-second mark, the ceiling caved in.
Neo used Obitus without hesitation and slashed upwards.
He had recovered 80% of his energy, and he could fight now. He only had to save 40% to activate the regression.
Divine Swordsmanship Second Stance: Tsubame Gaeshi
His blade met the dragon head-on, stopping it from speaking.
The dragon became vigilant upon seeing the immediate attack. It punched without holding back.
Neo used All-Shadow to move through the cavern to dodge.
The cavern was part of a large, endless tunnel. No matter how far he went, the tunnel kept branching and growing.
He stopped running as soon as he had recovered 100% of his energy.
Divine Swordsmanship First Stance: Issen
His sword flashed.
Just when he thought he might be able to damage the dragon, the ground beneath him broke, and another dragon came out, trying to eat him.
“Hahaha! Such pure energy! It is my lucky day!”
‘There are two of them—’
Neo’s thoughts were interrupted as the second dragon chewed his body, forcing him to use mimicked River of Time with mimicked Tyrant.
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice): 0.1%]
Neo woke up with a grunt.
“Two black dragons? They looked the same.
“Their Intent was weird. It was the same, but different, almost like seeing a small part of a bigger whole.”
Deep in thought, he called out to Beelzebub.
Since Beelzebub was Neo’s manifestation of time, he retained the memories of previous timelines as long as Neo did.
“Can you devour the chaotic time elements?”
Kyu..
Beelzebub got to work.
At the same time, Neo churned his Will to recover his energy.
‘I need to fight the dragon a lot of times if I want to copy its defensive Spell.’