Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix
Chapter 1272 - 1272: Shattered

After confirming that the others were already engaging with the undead enemies in the swamp, Rain ended the call since he didn't want them to lose their focus. He also didn't tell them what was going on on their end to help with that. It's not like they had much time to do that. After causing so much destruction in the area, the enemies finally decided to show themselves.

The remnants of the disintegrated trees and the lingering darkness began to combine, forming ominous, amorphous masses that gradually took on the shape of giant slimes. These monstrous entities, born from the melding of shadows and corrupted nature, trembled with an unsettling energy.

In a sudden metamorphosis, the dark slimes transformed once more, their forms shifting into eerie replicas of the members of Rain's group. The doppelgangers replicated every detail, creating an uncanny resemblance to Rain, Sealyn, and the others. In a matter of moments, the surroundings were filled with hundreds of these darkened mimicries, encircling Rain and the group.

The sight was disconcerting—their own likenesses twisted and corrupted, standing as adversaries. The multitude of doppelgangers cast an ominous shadow, creating an unsettling atmosphere as they awaited the impending clash between the original group and their distorted counterparts. All of them began to grin from ear to ear, and that only made things more complicated…

"Expand the vortex once more. Let's see how they deal with this," Rain said.

Sealyn and the others nodded, but soon, they saw the enemies jumping away from them while still grinning. As expected, they only wanted to annoy them, and since pride wasn't their sin, they wouldn't mind waiting until they had a favorable situation in their hands.

"This won't work. They will keep running away until we exhaust our mana reserves," Sealyn said. "Dad, it's time to take some chances. We don't have any other choice."

Rain didn't want to do that so soon… but Sealyn had a point. Besides, it would be better if he kept the enemies on their toes by forcing them to focus on him. In the end, Rain could nod.

"Take a circle formation around me and attack everything that you see approaching," Sealyn declared. "Dad, you should go and crush them with all your might. Time is of the essence."

Everyone nodded, and they followed Sealyn's orders. In the next moment, the vortex dispersed, and Rain disappeared from the enemy's sight. They raised their guard since they didn't know his abilities well, but soon they came to learn it…

As the water vortex dissipated, Rain disappeared and reappeared in front of the doppelganger horde with unparalleled speed. In an instant, he delivered powerful punches to their stomachs, causing their forms to contort under the impact. The distorted figures trembled momentarily, but instead of collapsing, they exploded into pools of dark ink suspended in the air.

Rain, quick to assess the situation, realized that the doppelgangers hadn't truly died; there was no experience gained from their defeat. Recognizing the need to neutralize the threat completely, Rain swiftly froze the dark ink with a chilling burst of his mana.

The frozen pools became suspended in mid-air for a brief moment before gravity took hold, causing them to fall to the ground like shattered pieces of shadow.

The skill Frozen Throne leveled up.

The skill Frostbite leveled up.

The skill Frozen Field leveled up.

…

The effectiveness of Rain's strategy became evident as the remnants of the doppelgangers lay motionless, their ability to reform stifled by the icy touch. The surrounding atmosphere shifted, leaving only the echoes of the encounter as Rain turned to face the remaining adversaries, prepared for the continued onslaught.

Before long, Rain saw himself surrounded by countless mana swords… it seemed that the slimes stole those abilities from the squad members… Rain had no idea what they could do combined with the power of Envy, so he didn't take any chances and just erected ice walls around him to confirm it.

At first, the attacks were easily stopped by Rain's magic. His ice magic was very high level, after all… However, the more they attacked, the more the mana swords gained power, and soon, the ice walls began to crumble.

"... I see," Rain furrowed his eyebrows.

Just as Rain had experienced with the power of wrath affecting different types of magic, he now found that the power of Envy had its own unique effects on skills and techniques. The doppelgangers, driven by the sin of Envy, not only stole the abilities of Rain's group but also seemed to enhance their power of those skills and others in an unpredictable manner.

The specifics of this enhancement were unclear to Rain, but he observed that it made them more potent.

While the stolen skills became more powerful, Rain speculated that the enhancement came at a cost. The doppelgangers were likely consuming a significant amount of mana to fuel the augmented abilities. This observation raised thoughts for Rain, as the enemies could potentially drain their mana reserves and exhaust them in longer battles… but that would be too convenient.

Realizing the urgency of the situation, Rain couldn't afford to let the doppelgangers continue their assault. In the end, Rain cancels his ice walls and disappears from the enemy's sight again.

They looked around in confusion, until they saw three of their allies having their backs pierced from behind by Rain's hands… at the same time, they froze immediately and when Rain pulled his hands, they fell apart.

The skill Frozen Throne leveled up.

The skill Frostbite leveled up.

The skill Frozen Field leveled up.

…

The enemies were very interested on Rain's high movement speed technique, so they didn't hesitate in surrounding him from all angles all in order to touch him. That was the trick of their envy power.

Still, they soon regretted that when Rain lowered his stance, and his arms began to blur… in the next moment, the monsters stopped moving in the air and then froze before falling to their deaths.