Chapter 422: Unshakable Pillar

Priam quickly absorbed everything, then turned toward the Holy Sages specialized in healing and the Arcanist Sages from his faction, who naturally had weaker physical defenses.

"I’m not going to save you from everything. You need to go through this while pushing your bodies to their limits, so you can refine them faster and adapt to the essence of creation. Next time, I’ll let one-third of it through. Then I’ll gradually increase it."

Everyone took a deep breath and nodded.

Priam turned toward the others. "All of you are more than capable of withstanding a lot. Everyone must push yourselves to your absolute limits. If I feel that you’re actually going to die and have no strength left, only then will I call you over and protect you a little."

Everyone heard that and clenched their fists. However, deep down, they were genuinely excited.

In the minds of absolutely everyone there, Priam was already an untouchable divine entity, a lifeline that no other Sage in the entire world had at their disposal.

They didn’t need to worry about anything: all they had to do was give 200% without looking back. If they were truly about to die, he was right behind them to save them.

At that exact moment, another rain of lightning swords descended upon everyone. The people’s excitement evaporated just as quickly as it had appeared. The power was increasing at a frightening rate, and everyone felt the space around them freeze, leaving them with no way to dodge.

"Stop being so passive! Attack! Are you afraid of the damn world’s laws?! The Boss is here!" Dandara suddenly roared thunderously.

*BOOM!*

As the heavens came crashing down, everyone immediately reacted and struck upward with their weapons. As a result, their arms became bloody and mangled. Their bones were almost shattered.

The weaker ones felt like their entire bodies were about to split in half. However, Priam truly absorbed two-thirds of everything, leaving them right at their limit.

"DON’T HOLD ANYTHING BACK! Focus on blocking and absorbing the gentler energy into your bodies!" Dandara shouted.

She knew very well what Priam had managed to do in the past to level up so quickly, using the thunder of life. Those people didn’t even have 1% of what Priam possessed to survive until the end; therefore, they had to use everything right from the beginning of this Heavenly Tribulation and absorb as much as possible. ℯℯ𝑙.

Any Sage in this situation wouldn’t even dare think about doing this, because they would run out of energy very quickly and die. But Priam was there to save them and take care of the rest.

*BOOOOOOM!!*

Another wave of lightning descended. The people’s hands hadn’t even recovered yet, but everyone tightened their grip on their weapons without hesitation and attacked the lightning bolts crashing down on them.

Staffs, swords, spears—they all roared and attacked the lightning bolts coming toward them once again.

The result was blood everywhere, but no one actually died. Most of them groaned in pain and fell to the ground; that was because, besides enduring the killing power, they had sealed most of the energy inside their bodies, causing them an indescribable, visceral pain.

Even so, everyone gritted their teeth with grim expressions. They bitterly endured the pain and rose to their feet once again.

Priam nodded. After going through so many brutal battles, their determination was truly at an extremely high level. Their bodies began emitting a subtle, pure aura filled with vitality.

When the sky roared again, Priam sent mental messages to several hundred people, telling them to retreat to the center.

*BOOOOOOM!!!*

Everyone’s bodies trembled; these lightning bolts were like a wild beast. The first step toward victory was having an unshakable will. Absorbing them into their bodies was extremely taxing for these people.

The next wave was always stronger than the previous ones. However, everyone’s determination was ignited like a demonic flame.

Priam began rotating the people on the front line, giving those who had retreated earlier time to swallow pills and allowing the healers to help them recover some of their strength.

The weaker ones eventually became accustomed to the pressure, and Priam continued pushing them even harder until he felt they had reached their physical limits. Unfortunately, the limitation of their classes was absolute: the physical bodies of Arcanist and Holy Sages were only slightly stronger than those of an ordinary person.

Another wave of lightning swords descended, several times more powerful than the previous one. The weapons of several soldiers shattered, but they endured, walking on a thin line between life and death.

An absurd amount of energy had already been absorbed into their bodies.

At that moment, a terrifying boom echoed above them. The tribulation clouds instantly condensed into a gigantic sword.

"Everyone, retreat!" Priam exclaimed curtly.

Everyone had reached their limits. The Tribulation, meanwhile, had reached its absolute peak. That final attack contained the equivalent of 60% of the power of everything that had fallen before, all concentrated into a single strike.

The people hurriedly gathered in the center, and then Priam floated a few meters above them, positioning himself like a lightning rod.

When they looked up, everyone went pale. The world’s laws really did demand their lives.

But... when they saw Priam standing above their heads, everyone smiled faintly, sharing the same thought: fuck the world’s laws. If none of that could even shake him, then why should they be afraid?

Priam coldly stared at the firmament.

An absurdly concentrated lightning spear, pulsing with multiple colors, emerged from within the clouds. It looked like a divine pillar rather than a mere spear.

*KBOOOOOM!*

Priam looked like an ant before that colossal attack. As the lightning spear approached the ground, the surrounding mountains instantly collapsed with an overwhelming sound of destruction.

That lightning spear descended with the clear intention of erasing heaven and earth.

Amid the dust and chaos, the people on the ground held their breath.

A moment later, everyone let out a sigh of relief. Nothing had hit them.

Looking up, they saw that figure standing there calmly. Everything fell into a deadly silence.

In the eyes of the disciples on the ground, wounded and exhausted, Priam’s image was absolutely divine. Against the backdrop of that devastated landscape, he floated without a speck of dust on his clothes, exuding an aura of flawless perfection, nobility, and sublime majesty. It was as if a sovereign were standing before them.

Among them, Dandara kept her eyes fixed on that figure. Her gaze was completely different from everyone else’s—not merely reverent, but filled with an intense, profound glow and complex emotions, as if she could see through that perfect facade and into the very depths of the soul of the man she loved.

Gradually, the dark clouds in the sky began to be pierced by the golden light of the sun.

Everyone’s bodies were severely wounded. They had no energy left at all, and the endless exhaustion threatened to make their minds collapse.

Anyone else would have lost the will to resist in the face of the heavens’ destructive fury—a force that would normally drive warriors into despair, where all resistance was useless, and all that remained was to wait for death.

But everyone’s hearts were fixed upon that unshakable pillar above them, the strength that had supported them and safely guided them all the way to the end.

"You can relax," Priam’s voice sounded soft and calm.

Then... it was as if everyone’s switch had been turned off simultaneously. They closed their eyes and collapsed to the ground, falling into a deep sleep in perfect sync.

The only one who didn’t immediately lose consciousness was Dandara. She felt a gentle breeze wrap around her body, making her float delicately, until Priam appeared right in front of her and caught her in his arms.

As she felt the warmth of his embrace, an indescribable wave of warmth and comfort flooded not only her exhausted body but her very soul. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, burying her face against Priam’s chest and completely relaxing, while a sweet smile appeared on her lips.

Priam let out a soft sigh as he held her. Dandara loved falling asleep in that peculiar way, tightly clinging to him and pressed against his body—and deep down, Priam deeply enjoyed that almost symbiotic closeness between the two of them.

Adjusting her comfortably, he calmly walked over to a nearby rock and sat down.

When he closed his eyes and focused his perception on the Heart of Life and Destruction... a brilliant, vivid glow appeared in his eyes.

Priam had absorbed practically 75% of all the monumental energy unleashed by the world’s laws during that baptism of lightning.

At that moment, he possessed a simply immense amount of accumulated thunder of life and destruction. And the most impressive thing wasn’t just the sheer volume of this energy; even after consuming it all, the world’s own essence contained within those thunders would remain inside him.

Because of this, he would now be able to replicate and generate some of these energies on his own, without having to passively rely on the world’s laws to obtain them.

’Now this is what I call efficient farming... and, thanks to my divine luck, I have hundreds of Paragon Arts for them to learn. Each of them should be able to master at least two. Not to mention the other thousands of soldiers that make up the faction.’

Priam felt his heart race at the prospect of the future. The world’s laws were truly generous, feeding him in such a luxurious and magnificent way.