Chapter 1597: Every precaution

The Innkeeper

Kaemon had to practically slap his lips to keep himself from gasping. Although he couldn't say that he knew the full extent of Lex's power, he had an idea of it at the very least. It was suffice to say that he was no pushover, and that if he were to join the Reaving Dread he would be a very high ranking member.

The moment Lex stated he wanted to fight this particular locust king, Kaemon realized that the human had noticed something the others had missed, and so prepared himself just in case the situation became messy.

When the human sliced the king in half, Kaemon was dumbstruck. But when the human right-out exploded just a moment later, Kaemon was absolutely horrified. What made it worse was that throughout the entire exchange, Kaemon had sensed nothing amiss, so he had no idea why it had happened at all.

To top it all off, the explosion of the body itself was akin to armageddon. The very ground was vaporized as a large crater formed around the center of the explosion, and the shockwave alone was enough to severely injure them if they hadn't raised their guards.

Kaemon raised his guard to his utmost, on the lookout for any hidden enemies.

The rest of the mercenaries did not react much better than him either.

Yet if the mercenaries were shocked, those from the Inn were absolutely flabbergasted. The mercenaries had only just begun to get to know Lex while they had already known him for much longer. They knew just how incredibly difficult it was to do any harm to Lex at all, let alone blow up his body.

They were not shocked, they were in shock! Their brains froze for they couldn't comprehend the fact that Lex might have died. Z felt the greatest shock, for he had known Lex the longest. He was also the one to recover the quickest, mostly because he simply didn't believe Lex was dead.

Instead, he thought this was a setup. Lex would use this as an excuse to state that he was weakened, forcing Z to feel real pressure as he fought to protect everyone. He'd also learn the lesson to never underestimate the enemy. In truth, Lex was probably sitting somewhere, sipping on a Pina Colada, watching everything unfold. He was kinda obsessed with that drink.

What he didn't know was that Lex's body, soul and spirit were all fused together. That meant that when his body blew up like that, so did his mind and soul!

Lex was caught entirely unprepared for the immense feedback he got from trying to manipulate that things Karma. It literally felt as if he were an ant trying to stop a carriage wheel with his body.

The difference in the weight of their Karma was so immense that it did not even need to really try and fight back. The results spoke for themselves…

But then again, Lex was no longer an amateur. How could he ever take lightly something that even Dao Lords did not master? Blindly trying to probe his way into understanding Karma was like asking for trouble, which is why he had taken many precautions.

The existence of Jack, who was currently under the protection of a Dao Lord ensured that, at the very least, Lex would not die completely. But that was far from enough, for Jack had nothing to do with the System. If something happened to Lex, he would lose the system.

Using a clone would be smart, if one ignored the fact that Lex's clones were pathetically weak. There was also the fact that any repercussion as a result of using Karma would have ignored his clone entirely, and would have focused on the very center of his being.

So, his actual first line of precaution was Naraka. The sword made of Veetavil metal was not so easily destroyed, not to mention all the other incredible ingredients that went into its forging. In fact, the sword barely received a hint of the repercussion, as was proven by the fact that it was still whole.

By using the sword as a conduit, he was only indirectly interacting with Karma, adding a buffer - not that it seemed to have made a difference.

The second, much more effective precaution he took… was the Go board in his mind. The Go board was linked to him in ways that he did not fully understand, so it was safe to say that it was also very intimately linked with his Karma. After all, everything that happened to him affected the board, and things that happened on the board affected him.

Of course, Lex was nowhere near skilled enough to divert the incoming influence of Karma wherever he wished. He simply kept imagining the Go board and his black bead, hoping to use its very existence to divert any possible repercussions from his probe towards them, as much or as little as possible.

Naturally, Lex had not expected that the feedback would be so intense that it literally overwhelmed his very being. Even so, his strategy worked. A significant portion of the feedback force was diverted towards the Go board, filling an entire layer of the board with a red mist.

The mist did not last long, as if filtered by something, but the mere presence of some third, unaffiliated existence within the board spoke of how powerful that force was.

Axios, within the Artica Realm, was suddenly alarmed by the change. He even felt like this might be the best time to possibly launch a counter attack on Lex, yet he dared not. That mist gave him a very dangerous feeling. He was suddenly very cautious of his unknown opponent. What the hell was that guy doing?

That was not the end of his precautions. An abundance of experience in dealing with things above his grade ensured that he went over and beyond, and that very well may have paid off. From keeping his Domination subtly active within his body, to unleashing the full might of his tenet, if only on himself, to dealing with the locust king with the full force he had available, Lex made sure he gave himself every advantage he could.

Thus, it was only as a result of his utmost effort that he was destroyed into a mist of blood. Had he not done so, perhaps not even that mist might have survived.