Chapter 45: Stuck
Blood flowed down from Su Xiao's brow. In just the first exchange, he had nearly been pierced through the skull.
Cyan Steel Shadow energy radiated outward from Su Xiao as the center point, dispelling the darkness within a dozen meters. The Ancient God Nigadi stood a few meters away, holding a spear of light, slightly lowering its head to look down at Su Xiao.
With a booming crash, the stone slabs beneath Nigadi shattered. Fully clad in exoskeleton and in its combat state, it was virtually unstoppable.
The next instant, Nigadi appeared in front of Su Xiao. This wasn't due to speed, nor was it a spatial ability. Instead, a new 'Nigadi' had replaced the one a few meters away. Though the principle was unclear, the fact remained.
The spear of light was swung, emitting a terrifying howl. Su Xiao stepped forward, his long blade slashing diagonally.
Clang~
The blade cut through Nigadi's neck. Its head flew up, and the headless corpse slowly toppled to the side, but the spear of light in its hand vanished.
The moment he made that slash, Su Xiao immediately turned sideways. The spear of light struck from behind him, grazing past his side and slamming into the ground with a crash.
Stone fragments scattered. Su Xiao leaped sideways mid-air. As soon as he landed, the Nigadi a dozen meters away slowly faded away. A sense of crisis came from all directions.
Nigadi was, of course, not dead. What Su Xiao had beheaded was one of its clones—no, it should be called an avatar. A flesh-and-blood avatar that should have existed only in dreams.
Nigadi's strongest ability was not close combat, nor was it the Light-Erasing Domain. It was its manipulation of dreams.
Due to Nigadi's power, this palace had two sides: 'Inner' and 'Outer.' The 'Inner' was the real world, and the 'Outer' was the dream world.
Nigadi manifested an avatar in the dream world, then used its own ability to pull that avatar out of the dream world and into the real world.
This made Nigadi's avatars appear and disappear unpredictably, while its true body remained seated on the throne, overlooking everything below. It was quite the display of style.
The Ancient God Nigadi chose to reside on this isolated island because, from here, it could control everything through the dream world without exposing itself to danger.
Inside the hall, Cyan Steel Shadow energy surged across the ground around Su Xiao, continuously dispelling the surrounding darkness. Releasing Cyan Steel Shadow energy at this frequency consumed mana at an alarming rate. In just a few seconds, it had drained over 800 mana points.
If the Light-Erasing Domain wasn't lifted, his mana would be depleted in less than three minutes.
Though Su Xiao didn't fully understand the principle behind Nigadi's ability, he had roughly figured out the pattern. The true location of Nigadi was temporarily unknown, but it was likely still seated on the throne. Those avatars that appeared out of nowhere weren't using spatial abilities; they were suddenly 'walking out' from somewhere.
This 'walking out' process was interesting. It felt like something emerging from nothing.
While staying alert to his surroundings, Su Xiao's mind raced. After 0.53 seconds of thought, he considered a possibility: this palace had a 'dual structure.' One layer was the real world, and the other was the 'Nightmare Realm.'
Su Xiao could deduce this because Nigadi had an ability called 'Despair·Dream.' Nigadi could likely control dreams or create them.
Thinking of this possibility, Su Xiao stomped the ground. A small stone flew up, and he caught it in his hand. He carefully sensed his surroundings. As long as he wasn't in darkness, his perception wouldn't be affected.
What was being judged was Baha. This was good news. Baha had spatial abilities and could escape the Light-Erasing Domain at top speed. Once that happened, the surrounding darkness couldn't be maintained.
Just as this thought crossed Su Xiao's mind, Baha suddenly appeared a few meters away from him. Their eyes met.
"Damn!"
Baha cursed under his breath and vanished using his spatial ability. Clearly, within the Light-Erasing Domain, he lost his sense of direction.
Su Xiao held the stone in his hand, carefully sensing his surroundings. Two seconds later, that feeling of 'emerging from nothing' appeared behind him. Nigadi had manifested another avatar in the dream and was pulling it into the real world.
Su Xiao flicked the stone in his hand, sending it flying behind him. Almost simultaneously, the spear of light thrust toward the back of Su Xiao's head.
Pop~
It sounded like something had shattered. Su Xiao tilted his head to dodge. The spear of light flew past his ear and embedded itself in the wall a hundred meters away.
Had Nigadi's avatar been shattered by a stone? Given the difference in their strength, that was impossible.
The avatar wasn't destroyed by the stone. The avatar was something from the dream world. As it was stepping out of the dream, a real stone struck it. This created a conflict between reality and illusion.
Nigadi was powerful, but it couldn't overpower the rules of reality and illusion. When the two came into contact under specific circumstances (the moment the avatar left the dream and touched a real stone), the illusion returned to nothing. The dream palace Nigadi had created shattered completely, and everything returned to normal.
In battle, not only supernatural items could be used as weapons. With the right timing, even a stone could break a god's power. Fighting required using one's brain, not just charging forward and competing with the enemy over who was stronger or faster.
The darkness in the hall suddenly dissipated. Baha had escaped the range of the Light-Erasing Domain.
The hall returned to normal. The Ancient God Nigadi sat on the throne at the far end. The spear of light flew back to its side.
Thin gray mist seeped from the air holes in Nigadi's faceplate. It was somewhat angry, after all, its noble ability had been broken by an ordinary, unremarkable stone.
Nigadi stood up from the throne. Its pale, bone-white right arm gripped the spear of light. Its pitch-black left arm raised, aiming at Su Xiao. Then, nothing happened. The Annihilation Domain did not appear.
What Su Xiao feared least were judgments. He had a whole set of abilities that could nullify them.
Nigadi was momentarily confused. Then, its pitch-black left hand clenched into a fist. Everything around seemed to become illusory. It was going to drag Su Xiao into the dream and make him know the terror of nightmares.
An awkward scene unfolded. Su Xiao, with half-lidded eyes, looked at Nigadi. He had just endured a barrage of judgments, feeling utterly unperturbed. He even felt he could withstand a dozen more.
Nigadi looked at Su Xiao in confusion, then at its own left hand. As the God of Nightmares, it had failed to drag its enemy into a dream.
Boom!!
Like a thunderclap, the sound echoed through the hall. Su Xiao vanished from his spot, and only then did the ground beneath his feet rapidly cave inward.
Su Xiao suddenly appeared in front of Nigadi, his long blade slashing downward.
Clang! The blade was blocked by the spear of light. In terms of raw strength, Nigadi was stronger than Su Xiao.
Nigadi flicked the spear of light upward. A tremendous force came from Su Xiao's hand. He crouched low with all his might and kicked upward.
Bang.
A shockwave spread. Nigadi was sent flying backward by Su Xiao's kick. This wasn't a contest of strength. The parry and upward flick with the spear of light had exhausted Nigadi's old strength, and its new strength hadn't yet emerged. Being kicked by Su Xiao at that moment, it naturally couldn't withstand it.
With a crash, Nigadi slammed into the stone throne behind it. If a certain deceased goddess had seen this, she would definitely have said, 'Well done.'
The moment it hit the throne, most of Nigadi's body went numb. There was disbelief in its eyes.
Pfft!
The long blade pierced Nigadi's chest, but it didn't care. Its large hand reached forward, aiming straight for Su Xiao's head. However, Su Xiao seemed to have anticipated this and had already tilted his head.
Su Xiao pressed his left hand against the spine of the Dragon-Slaying Flash, pushing the blade downward. The edge began to cut through Nigadi's torso. Nigadi's body was extremely tough, especially the exoskeleton on its surface.
Thump~
An energy pulse erupted. Su Xiao felt an impact rushing toward him. He crossed his left arm in front of his face and flew backward. Just as he was about to land, through the gaps between his fingers, he saw a spear wrapped in gold and black energy thrusting toward him. It was the Ancient God Nigadi throwing the spear of light.
Nigadi's timing for throwing the spear was vicious. It was precisely the moment Su Xiao was about to land.
A slash mark passed by. The spear of light was struck by the blade, its trajectory immediately deviating. Su Xiao raised his left arm, and the spear passed under his armpit, embedding itself into the ground behind him.
Nigadi stood up from the throne again. If it won today, it would definitely dismantle this damn throne.
The Nightmare God Nigadi wasn't skilled in close combat, but that didn't mean it was weak. Its abilities were the kind that, if you didn't get hit, you were fine. But if you did get hit and couldn't break free quickly, you were as good as dead. Examples included the Light-Erasing Domain, Dream Avatars, Nightmare Descent, and the Void Realm.
Unfortunately, so far, none of these abilities had successfully judged Su Xiao.
Nigadi somewhat looked down on technique-based abilities, but now, those very abilities had it completely stumped. Blade techniques cultivated the mind. So-called dreams were essentially illusions evolving into reality.
Nigadi wasn't incapable of forming a dream world. If it could drag Su Xiao into the dream world, Su Xiao would be dead for sure. Within the dream world, Nigadi was nearly invincible.
Unfortunately, Nigadi couldn't drag Su Xiao into the dream world. Because Su Xiao's inner strength was powerful enough to astonish even an Ancient God like Nigadi.
Blade techniques use a strong body to nurture the mind. When the mind is strong enough, so-called dreams are merely illusions.
Nigadi was stuck. It had already formed an illusory dream world, but when it was about to drag Su Xiao in, the process of 'illusion' evolving into 'reality' got stuck. It was extremely uncomfortable.
It was like this: normally, an enemy's mind was the size of an apple. With Nigadi's physique, with a glare and a bit of effort, it could just 'swallow' it. But Su Xiao's mind was like a steel ball the size of Nigadi's own head. This wasn't something that could be 'swallowed' with just a glare and a bit of effort.
To 'swallow' Su Xiao into the dream, Nigadi would first have to tear open its own 'chest' to force him in. But by then, would it still be as powerful within the dream world as it once was?