Chapter 86 - A Difficult Situation
Meanwhile, in the other battlefields ...
"This time it will be different bitch, get ready. I will make you regret making me lose face at that time. Meteor Hammer."
A big hammer came down at high speed from the top and went crashing to the ground where there was a girl with beautiful blue eyes and blue hair. This girl was Lian, who dodged the blow with her incredible speed and agility. However, the enemy's offensive wasn’t over.
Duan Long had predicted her dodging and moved ahead to hit Lian. In his hands, he was grabbing a second hammer, equal to the first one.
"Intent of the Hammer, Bone Crusher Strike."
"Ribbon Intent, Metal Hardening."
Lian's silvery-white silk ribbon collided violently against Duan Long's hammer. The blow was so strong that it generated a loud bang. But even with that, in the end, the apparently fragile ribbon was able to withstand the hammer's attack. That allowed Lian to emerge unscathed from the dangerous situation in which she was.
"B*tch, do you think it's over here? Even if I hate to admit it, thanks to you, I could understand my flaws, and now that I've filled them, I'm unbeatable. Attack her, Hammer Number 1!"
The first hammer that had crashed to the ground levitated in mid-air and with high speed, headed towards Lian, catching her by surprise. The young girl was sent to fly several meters, and when she landed, she spat out a handful of blood that had come up from her mouth, staining the grass of crimson.
"Ahahah, through an imprint made with my blood within the formation engraved on my hammer, I can command it from a distance in this way. Now I can attack without even having to move, even if the only flaw is that this method quickly consumes my spirit power. But it isn’t a problem. You will be crushed meat before this happens."
*
Xing was facing the only female member of the Tree Sect group, Tian Yaling. The young woman was using a sword and a shield, imitating Ren's type of fencing. Only, the shield wasn’t a wooden shield created by her spirit power, but a standard metal shield.
Her sword was the most unusual part, though; in fact, it was shining with a strange purple glow as droplets of a peculiar liquid descended from the blade. As soon as these droplets came into contact with the ground, a small curtain of smoke was formed. Below that smoke, the grass was melting on the ground.
Tian Yaling, unlike Ren or Duan Long, had the Law of Poison as an innate element. By imbuing her sword with her spirit power, she was capable of generating a potent acid poison. That poison not only increased the damage inflicted but left part of the liquid to corrode the flesh of her enemies.
Unfortunately for her, her opponent wasn’t a human but a spider of one meter and a half long.
With her eight strong legs, Xing was rushing throughout the battlefield. Her legs had been covered by her spiderweb, thus negating the acid poison of Tian Yaling.
Even if the young female martial artist's sword came into contact with her legs, all that that poison could do was corroding the spiderwebs that covered them. Xing then had only to remove the spiderweb that was eroding and weave another to cover the exposed parts.
"Shit! Damn spider, I'll melt you alive in my acid and take your spirit core."
‘I'm sorry, but my big brother would never forgive me if I had my spirit core taken away.’
Obviously, all that Tian Yaling heard was a series of incomprehensible noises. But even if she understood what Xing had said, she wouldn’t have given it much importance given the difficult situation she was in.
*
Not far away, even the second member of the Frozen Sect, Li Na, was having a hard time. Like almost all members of the Frozen Sect, she possessed the Law of Ice. She was, therefore, able to create small stalactites and throw them like daggers and freeze the flesh of the enemy if she came into contact with their body. Yet her every move was thwarted by her adversary - a black snake with golden patterns measuring one meter and a half in length.
Ye was charging unconcerned by the icicles coming toward her. None of those little icicles were sharp enough to leave a crack in her scales. Not to mention that she couldn't feel the frost al all when in contact with Li Na's hands.
It must be known that the users of the Metal Law were the least versatile martial artists of all because they didn’t possess flashy moves of various types like the other laws users. All they had to do was pour out their spirit power into their bodies and temper them day by day so that it became stronger. Not surprisingly, users of the Metal Law were often direct and straightforward people who didn’t like to waste time on machinations or things like that.
However, it wasn’t enough to pour one's spirit power into one's bodies; otherwise, anyone could do it. When one wanted to carry out this process, it was necessary to ingest small quantities of a particular substance.
Users of the Metal Law, therefore, had to undergo a further test called the Possible Assimilation Test. It was because increasing the understanding of the Metal Law meant increasingly changing one's body into the chosen substance. It was, therefore, essential to choose something that didn’t cause an allergic reaction or rejection.
Furthermore, although it was called the Law of Metal, it wasn’t only metallic substances that could be assimilated, but it covered a broader category. The difference in the type of assimilable material was also synonymous with the future potential of the Metal Law user.
Although the hardness of one's body was determined by the amount of training spent in enhancing it, assimilating certain materials instead of others would generate an advantage over the rest of the Metal Law users. Consequently, a unique market was created where to buy or sell metals and other hard substances for users of the Metal Law.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Fortunately, Ye had understood the Concept of Digestion, thus being able to assimilate any type of substance. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much choice on Rainbow Island, and in these recent months, she had mainly digested Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Her body had, thus, become even harder than before.
But since the spirit beasts were known for the power of their bodies, Li Na didn’t notice that the Law of Metal gave this hardness. She just thought instead that it was an innate characteristic of that particular species of snake.
*
Regarding the other personal disciples of the Flower Sect.
Ying Yue was fighting against Sun Xiulan. Both had the Law of Water, and their ability to use it was similar. However, they had different approaches to the battle.
Ying Yue brandished a long stick of refined wood with which she threw close shots, trying to get close to her opponent. Sun Xiulan, on the other hand, was better suited to medium-to-long-range combat, throwing attacks with her fan. Consequently, she was doing her best to keep her distance from the young woman of the Flower Sect.
Instead, Mei was holding a one-handed sword, and floral petals were continually floating around her, originating from her spirit power. Her petals were being consumed by the shards of ice produced by her enemy, Zheng Yawen, who also wielded a one-handed sword.
But if these two fights could be defined as elegant and beautiful to look at, on the opposite side, two completely different matches were taking place, full of ferocity and brutality.
Li, brandishing two twin swords, was hurling slashes after slashes in the air, generating blades of wind. All to prevent the flames from overpowering him. His opponent, Wen Guiying, held no weapons. But by exploiting his elemental fire-type essence, he was continually producing flames from his hands as he laughed like a madman.
Cao Su and Zan instead were having great difficulty with Chang Huan. He had evoked four bodies with a humanoid appearance. Initially, they were human, but Chang Huan had modified their bodies after their death, adding parts of spirit beasts. So he created horrible-looking humanoid creatures.
But regardless of their appearance, what mattered was their strength. These, since they were simply corpses, felt no pain, and had no brakes like ordinary martial artists. Chang Huan, using a unique formation produced with his own blood, was remotely maneuvering the four corpses with perfect synchrony, providing them with his spirit power.
Only by the fact that he could command and supply four bodies at the same time with spirit power, it was a convincing demonstration of his nickname, Genius. Moreover, unlike the other martial artists of the five big sects, he wasn’t on the sixth stage but the seventh stage.
*
"Not at all, the real fight is about to start now."
Hei's words sounded sincere and full of fighting spirit. They weren't a bluff, which caused Ren to be alerted. He didn't understand how Hei could remain so calm in this situation.
‘If I lunge too hard with the spear, it will be caught by the branches that come out of the shield. At the same time, I cannot count on the defense of Spider Carapace because those sharp roots can easily penetrate my spirit power. So if strength and defense don't work, then I just need to go faster.’
Analyzing his current situation and moves at his disposal, Hei formulated the battle plan.
‘Spider Run + Snake Run. Phantom Snake Spider.’
Combining the quick sprints of Spider Run and the elusiveness of Snake Run, Hei began to move in a circle around Ren. His goal was to find the right timing to hit where the shield couldn't get.
"Ahahaha, if you're looking for my blind spot, you're off the road. With my shield, I can easily parry even if you attack me from behind."
It was true. Even if Hei took him by surprise from behind, it was enough to extend the branches of the shield as temporary protection. Instead, he could trap him again in that way. So it was to his advantage that Hei tried to attack him from behind.
Hei didn’t respond with words but with actions.
‘Snake Whip + Snake Fist.’
Using his spirit power, Hei displaced the bones of the shoulders up to those of the wrist. He left intact only the bones of the hands. Snake Whip was a technique that allowed him to increase his range with extreme speed attacks. Snake First, in turn, was an attack that used speed as a base to hit the enemy precisely at specific points.
Using them at the same time, Hei could, therefore, launch even faster attacks and remain at a greater distance than before.
Peng, peng, peng
Shots in succession were pounding Ren on all sides. Hei's footwork technique had proved more insidious than expected. Even if he could follow his movements with his eyes, he couldn’t clearly distinguish his arm movements. Therefore, he was always late in parrying with the shield. As soon as the roots arrived, Hei had by now withdrawn his arms and moved elsewhere.
Slowly, but inevitably, the aura covering Ren's body was thinning. Neither of them knew how much spirit power was left to the other, and it was this unknown factor that scared Ren.
‘I can't risk turning it into a fight of endurance. I have to attack, even at the cost of draining my spirit power.’ Ren thought to himself, not confident at all that he had enough chances to continue like this.
If it had been a 60% chance, maybe he would have risked it. But the odds were 50%, or even less. Penetrating Roots consumed much spirit power, given their effect that ignored the defense of the enemy.
"Splinter Storm."
Directing his shield towards where Hei was about to move, suddenly, a myriad of very thin splinters came out of it, which were thrown at high speed in a straight line.
Seeing the wood splinters flying to where he intended to go, Hei stopped his movement by sticking the toes of the ground to get an immediate braking. Then he changed direction.
But unfortunately, Ren's technique wasn’t so simple. It was enough for him to move his shield to direct the storm of splinters that came out from there.
‘Even if they don't hit me at the moment, at the same time I can't attack. And I can't go on in circles endlessly.’
When Hei was thinking about how to react to his opponent's new move, Ren directed the sword at him and said, smiling, "Splinter Storm."
As before, splinters of wood came out from the weapon. Only, this time, they were coming out of the roots glued to the blade of the sword.
With two wooden splinter storms that simultaneously attacked from different directions, Hei resorted to Snake Hair, placing them in front of him like a shield. Now his whole vision was blocked by his hair. He couldn't even leave a gap in his defense because the splinters were tiny, and they would surely get into that gap.
‘But it's not a problem. Snake Tongue.’
By sticking his tongue out while a strange liquid covered it, Hei was able to feel Ren's presence again through his smell. With the release of the meridians and the use of the Poison Law, he was no longer bound to his sisters to activate Snake Tongue or Spider Hair. However, from time to time, he allowed them to bite him and inject him with poison as a sign of affection from them.
Remaining in his place while defending himself from splinter storms, through Snake Tongue, Hei smelled Ren approaching as the power of the splinters increased. He probably wanted to take advantage of the fact that he couldn't move to get closer. Then he would attack again with his sword, by using his penetrating root technique while binding him with the branches produced by the shield.
‘However, unfortunately for you, this is just what I want. Spider Hair.’
By activating Spider Hair, Hei began to feel his hair vibrating from the noise produced by the crash of wood splinters against his hard metal hair.
‘Ignore all that noise, focus only on the noise produced by Ren's movements.’
Slowly, Hei excluded all the useless background noise and focused only on what interested him. Now he could perceive Ren's movements as if he was seeing him with his own eyes.
‘I'm sorry for you, Hei, but it's the end. This time I will attack with the more powerful version of Piercing Roots. The only thing you can do is pray that you survive the blow because regardless of your defense, this is a move you can't block.’
Thus, when only a few steps to reach the number one of the Flower Sect were missing, Ren canceled both Splinter Storms and prepared to make his final move.