บท 60: Attacked by a Strange Man
In the various ruling families of the territories, some skills were passed down to family members to set them apart from all the other families. As gaining elemental power had nothing to do with hereditary but was something gained randomly, there were diverse element wielders in the ruling families of the territories.
Due to this diversity, they developed sets of skills, considering the essence of the skills instead of the elements one wielded. With enough understanding of the skills, one could use them with any elemental power without changing the core of the skill itself. They referred to these skills as Esoteric Deviant Arts.
Princess Lorelei could not deal with the rampaging August, so she settled for using her Esoteric Deviant Arts to put him out of commission. While her movements around August seemed random, she used her frost elemental powers to keep him in check while preparing to unleash her attack.
"This ends here."
<Azeria Esoteric Deviant Arts: Dead Target; Atomic Explosion>
Above the ice crystal surrounding August, a frost ball the size of a football is suspended as a deadly aura emanates from the frost ball. Lorelei swung her blade, and following its trajectory, the frost ball descended towards August at b. Not waiting to be obliterated by the attack, he unleashed one of his own to counter the incoming one.
Green flame burst forth as bloomed lotus-like flame appeared around him. Flames shot out of the petals towards the oncoming frost ball. The heat and power of the lotus flame were on a different level from before. Like the princess, he also used his Esoteric Deviant Arts.
<Copernicus Esoteric Deviant Arts: Lotus>
The flame and frost ball collided, resulting in a giant explosion akin to a miniature atomic bomb. August struggled to stop the full brunt of the attack but ran out of strength and was pushed down by the explosion. A mushroom cloud of frost loomed where he was.
Lorlei's attack, which was a compression of elemental powers to a high degree and setting it to explode, was so strong August's, which was meant to continuously release elemental powers, was unable to keep up with the explosion rate, which resulted in his defeat.
Lorelei staggered and panted heavily, sweat dripping from her smooth, oval face. She fell to her knees and supported herself with her sword. "That attack sure drains my strength a lot compared to the others; it's over now." She murmured and placed her head on the hilt of her sword.
The mushroom cloud cleared, and August lay unconscious in a hole several meters deep, blood flowing from his arms.
Many roared to cheer her win, while others just stood stunned by what they saw. They expected her to lose from the beginning, as they had higher hopes for August due to his feats. This match, however, taught them just how unpredictable the world can be and that there were no absolutes in a battle.
In a hunting territory, a being in black obsidian-like armour with green vines creeping on it approached a small blue tent. Its deep green eyes looked for the entrance and went in without an invite. It had a halberd strapped to its back and carried a giant shield on its right arm; the Calamity Being infiltrated Terasphere with another to kill Lin in the ranking bout.
Startled by his entrance, a fiery orange-haired man jumped up from his bed and manifested a Bo staff in his hands. He had a slim build with a dragon tattoo all over his torso and arms, making it look like a shirt. He pointed the staff at the being who entered as he looked keenly at him with his red eyes.
"Who are you?" he demanded. The being ignored his questions and just gazed around the tent. He stabbed his shield into the ground and put his hands on it. "You are the one fighting Lightning Inferno Sovereign in the first match of the main bout, correct?" he asked.
"I will answer your question when you answer mine. Now tell me, who the hell are you?" the orange-haired man asked again with a cold, condescending glare while releasing all of his aura. For someone to trespass his tent and still act in that manner was nothing short of infuriating.
"Wow, wow, wow, relax! I'm not here to fight, but that's some dangerous aura you got there. I am here to make a deal", the being said with a mocking grin. Noting he was being mocked made the orange-haired man even more angry. He had had enough of the b@#$%^&* the man was spouting.
"I don't make deals with dogs. Now get the hell out of my tent", he sneered as a strong gale blew away the entire tent. He gathered air at the tip of his Bo staff and used it to blow the being away. The being struck a tree and broke it before hitting the floor, raising a lot of dust. As the dust cleared, the orange-haired man realised the man had his shield on his chest, the exact place he had attacked. Visible skid marks were on the floor.
His eyes widened in surprise. "When did he…?" he looked at the being getting up from the rubble. "That was some fast reaction. I didn't even notice when he picked up his shield. My attack certainly bypassed his shield, so when did he get the chance to pick it up. I do not like this", he frowned as he looked at the approaching being.
"I thought we could do this the easy way, but you don't seem to appreciate it, so we will have to do it the hard way", the being said, unstrapping his halberd. "To think the people of this layer are this strong. Hehehehehehehe! This should be fun", he launched at the orange-haired man with such ferocity that one would mistake him for a wild beast.
His halberd came down with a swift swing towards the man's head. The man blocked it with his might, but his knees bulked as the attack was too strong for him to remain on his feet. The ground cracked as he struggled up, pushed the halberd away and retreated a few meters.
"To think you blocked it, that is interesting. I'm starting to like this place. Hahahahahaha!" the being exclaimed and launched at him again. Attack after attack without pause. He attacked the orange-haired man so fiercely that he could not counterattack and had to solely defend.
"Is this guy crazy? Where the hell did such a person come from? Since when did the territories have a peak ranked quint this strong? Enough to push a ranked 20 (peak) quint like myself into a corner. If it goes on like this, I would lose. I must create distance and keep him at bay with my staff."
He jumped back, and like a ball bounced between walls, he bounced around in the air as though it were a trampoline. While moving like that, he was fast enough to sneak in attacks at the being who was now stationary. He knocked the being around for a while and then struck him from above, which sent it flat into the ground.
Once the being got up, he repeated the same tactics, but, unfortunately for him, his opponent got used to it quickly and just as he was about to deliver the final blow as he did before, the being dropped his halberd and punched him in the tummy, which sent him barrelling away. He struck the ground with a loud bang, raising a cloud of dust and destroying some trees around.
The orange-haired man coughed up blood as he struggled to his feet. "This guy is a monster." He gritted his teeth and prepared to attack again, but what happened next made him lose all hope of winning. Several vines formed vine-like trampolines in the air around him.
"You…" the being pointed at him. "You manipulated the air like a film and used it to bounce around like you did. Am I right?" The orange-haired man's face fell as he looked at the being in horror. "Don't tell me… Is he planning on replicating what I did with these vines?"
"Looking at the look on your face, my guess must be right then. This truly is interesting. I must give it a try", the Calamity Being said, jumping onto the vine trampolines. Like the orange-haired man, he bounced around on the trampolines so fast the man could barely notice where he was.
Just like the orange-haired man did, the being knocked him around several times and with a final blow to the face, the man was buried in a meter-deep hole. He flinched for a bit and then seized to move. He was out cold. "Phew! That was interesting. If you were a tiny bit stronger, you would have been able to defeat me. Well then, shall we proceed with our trade?" he said and dragged the man away by his feet.
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