If asked for advice for getting stronger quickly, almost all humans would say getting a treasure, finding an elixir, or making a retreat.
But Varian would have a different answer.
"Fight!"
About fifty peak level 8 Undead were fast approaching Varian in three waves, consisting of ten, fifteen, twenty five undead in each wave respectively. The fourth wave was made of five low level 9. The fifth was made of five mid level 9.
A large pond appeared out of nowhere above the first wave of ten undead and crashed down on them.
These undead instinctively tensed up and were about to dodge when they sensed it was just water and nothing else. Even though it hit them with strong momentum, it didn't deal them any damage.
But the water slowly seeped into their body. The Undead typically had several gaping wounds and the water fully took advantage of these wounds and formed a water layer that extended from the outside to the inside. The Undead noticed this and was about to act when they noticed this water lost its mana.
In other words, it won't be able to do any harm. So, they focused on the 'pure living creature' that appeared. They kicked the ground, raised the dust, and continued running toward Varian.
The dust that rose in the air contaminated the water and impure water had a perk that pure water didn't—it could conduct electricity.
The Undead that were a few hundred meters from Varian felt a flash in the sky and the next thing they knew, dozens of lightning bolts struck them.
Usually, these lightning bolts should've been only damaging and would have caused any fatal injuries.
But now—
"Rumble!"
"Rumble!"
"Rumble!
The Undead twitched violently as the lightning traveled through the water layer and entered their insides. The next moment, a burning smell permeated the air and the Undead crashed to the ground and melted into the soil.
The second wave had fifteen Undead. After the first wave died, they accelerated and quickly closed the distance between them and Varian to a point of just a hundred meters.
And the third wave of twenty-five Undead were all composed of elemental awakeners.
Dozens of fireballs, ice arrows, lightning bolts, and earthen maces shot at Varian without mercy.
Facing the combined might of these two waves, Varian chose not to confront them together.
Instead, he teleported behind the elementals and froze the space around them. At the same time, he attacked their minds and turned them sluggish. And he applied the time power to himself and increased his response speed.
In Varian's eyes, the world slowed down. The second wave just turned around and started running toward him. The elemental Undead were covering themselves with their elemental armor.
The fourth wave of low level 9s and fifth wave of mid level 9s was still a hundred miles away and wouldn't reach him for five more seconds.
"Go!" Varian uttered slowly but to the Undead, it appeared extremely fast.
Before they could even understand why, the elemental undead that just broke the space binding and barely came out of the psychic attack were stuck by lightning bolts, invisible telekinetic daggers, and ice bullets.
All of these attacks were also at peak level 8, so although the Undead were struck by these attacks, only a few died.
But the real banger came in an unexpected form.
Varian's arms turned into branches and the branches bloomed with beautiful flowers. These flowers, made of all colors and forms, left the branches and shot towards the Undead.
These delicate flowers appeared harmless. The Undead only built up a small elemental shield to defend against them.
"Kacha!"
But the moment these flowers touched the shields, the shields broke down on the spot and the flowers hit the Undead.
The flowers entered the gaping wounds of the Undead and the next moment, all the twenty-five Undead exploded into flesh and bones.
Varian sucked a breath of cold air in wonder.
His Plantae path was the only one that reached level 9. And despite his Plantae power being one of the weaker ones among level 9s, twenty-five peak level 8 Undead died without resistance.
This only went on to show the disparity between the two levels. Even the strongest level 8 was significantly weaker than the weakest level 9.
'I should push other paths to level 9 as soon as I can.' Varian's eyes flashed with a determined expression.
[Superhuman L8: 8/8 [On the verge of advancing.]
Space L8: 7/8 [+1]
Lightning L8: 8/8 [On the verge.]
Plantae L9: 2k/50k
Psychic L8: 4/8 [+1]
Macrokinetic L8: 1/8 [+1]
Water L8: 8/8 [On the verge.]
Time L5: 500/2000 [+500] ]
Since coming into direct contact with the Undead flared up the death strand inside him, Varian focused on lightning and water paths.
"Exhausting fight?" He muttered and glanced around.
The fifteen Undead of the second wave were reaching him with bloodshot eyes while the fourth wave and fifth wave Undead were not far off.
Varian initially wanted to finish them off as soon as possible. But the prompts made him change his mind.
A lightning wing and an ice wing appeared behind his back. Varian flapped his wings and shot toward the fifteen level 8 Undead.
The Undead were taken aback at this living creature approaching them. But without much thought, they jumped at him and punched out, causing a small storm.
Varian raised his fists and a giant made up of lightning body and ice fists appeared behind him.
"Die! Varian punched out and the giant followed.
The huge ice fists, enforced by telekinetic power and accelerated by loose space were confronted with the fists of fifteen Undead.
There was a muffled sound before the elemental giant broke into pieces and Varian coughed out blood, suffering a serious injury. But his level 9 Plantae power acted swiftly and healed him to normalcy.
On the other hand, only two Undead died in the exchange for inflicting a severe injury.
If they did it two or three more times, any peak level 8 would've died. Unfortunately for them, Varian had a level 9 Plantae path.
So, he allowed himself to be reckless and summoned the giant again. This time, an ice body and lightning gloves.
Another muffled sound rang in the air and Varian was sent flying for a few miles before he barely stabilized. His new injury was also serious but it quickly healed to the point of a normal injury.
Three Undead died in the exchange.
As the fourth and fifth waves of the Undead approached them with great speed, the elemental giant and the remaining Undead kept exchanging punches.
Every time, the elemental giant would break and one or two Undead would die. Varian would suffer a serious injury which would be healed back to the level of a normal injury.
And then it repeated all over again.
By the time the level 9 Undead reached the range to attack Varian, the Elemental giant punched the last five Undead.
The giant was decimated upon contact and Varian crashed to the ground coughing out blood. The five Undead died on the spot.
The level 9 Undead in the fourth and fifth waves sped up and reached Varian. Such an injured prey made their job easier.
"Kakakaka!"
With a monstrous laugh, the five low level 9 Undead of the fourth wave attacked Varian lying on the ground with serious injuries.
But at that moment, an elemental giant made of lightning and ice appeared in front of them. It was far bigger than the previous giant and gave off a dangerous aura.
Varian slowly got back onto his feet with a smile as the new power surged inside his body.
[Lighting Path Level 9: 0/50k
Water Path level 9: 0/50k]
