Chapter 8: Crisis, Layers Upon Layers!
“An upper-level god!”
Linley was like a gliding bird, sliding along with the frenzied sword energy. At the same time, the black mithril heavy sword naturally appeared in his hand. With a light yet heavy motion, he swung it backward toward the sword shadow—an earth-yellow sword shadow several meters long shot out.
Pulsating Element Attack!
This was a material attack that fused ‘Earth Element’ and ‘Earth Pulse,’ with Earth Element as the main component and Earth Pulse as the supplement.
This was the opposite of ‘Void Sword Wave,’ where ‘Earth Pulse’ was primary and Earth Element secondary.
“Bang!”
The two forces clashed, and the frenzied energy recoiled onto both sides. Linley used the force to escape even faster, while the golden-haired youth who had burst forth was forced back a few steps. He stared in surprise at the fleeing Linley: “Such a powerful sword strike! A middle-level god, yet possessing such strength!”
This golden-haired youth was not angered but delighted.
Killing a middle-level god demon usually didn’t motivate upper-level gods much, but now this upper-level god had found motivation. With that single sword strike, Linley had earned his serious attention.
“Swoosh.” With a light tap of his toe, the upper-level god shot through the air like an arrow from a bow, chasing after Linley at extreme speed.
Linley, fleeing ahead, had already unleashed his fastest speed, but the enemy behind was drawing closer: “This upper-level god is incredibly fast. And it seems he’s a wind-element upper-level god.” From the attack and his instincts, Linley guessed the opponent’s element.
“Haha, running?”
As the golden-haired youth pursued at top speed, his left hand casually grasped the air.
“What is this?” Linley’s face changed drastically as he fled. His body felt as if countless fine threads were binding him. Though he could still move, there was a sense of restraint, and his speed dropped by nearly half!
“It’s the Wind Space profound mystery!” Linley realized instantly. He had seen Delia use this move often against others, and now he was caught by it.
“Damn it!” Linley’s heart grew anxious. “This upper-level god’s use of this move is far more powerful than Delia’s.” He understood that attack power was also tied to divine power. The same profound mystery, when executed with different levels of divine power, yielded different effects.
In the blink of an eye, the golden-haired youth was less than ten meters from Linley.
“You can’t escape!” Laughter rang out. A peculiar wave covered Linley, slowing him further. Linley’s heart jolted: “It’s the upper-level god’s divine domain!” He had long known that facing an upper-level god was extremely dangerous.
Though there was a chance to win, it was slim.
“In terms of profound mysteries, this golden-haired youth is already an upper-level god, mastering the nine profound mysteries of the wind-element laws. I can only hope he hasn’t fused them.” Linley knew his only chance to win was through soul attacks!
“Void Sword Wave—I absolutely cannot fail.”
Since encountering the golden-haired youth, Linley had been fleeing without using ‘Void Sword Wave.’ He dared not use it recklessly; he had to seize the right moment for a one-hit kill. Otherwise, given their speed difference, the opponent could easily kill him with material attacks.
So…
If he didn’t use his ultimate move, fine. But if he did, it had to succeed.
“It’s either you die, or I die.” Linley gritted his teeth and kept trying to escape by any means.
But with the restraints of ‘Wind Space’ and ‘Divine Domain,’ plus his naturally slower speed, Linley could only manage about thirty percent of the opponent’s speed. With such a gap, the outcome was already decided unless something unexpected happened.
“Sss!” Linley came to an abrupt halt, his face pale as he stared ahead.
Before him, behind him, and above him, over a dozen ‘golden-haired youths’ appeared. The golden-haired youth had split into nearly forty clones, completely surrounding Linley.
“Now things are even worse.” Linley grew frantic. “Nearly forty clones—which one is the real body? Bebe isn’t here, so I can’t tell. What should I do?” He gripped his black mithril heavy sword, watching his surroundings warily.
The golden-haired youth, now in nearly forty clones, encircled Linley.
“Haha, you think you can escape from me? Your speed is far too slow,” the golden-haired youth sneered.
Linley remained cautious, watching him.
“Haha, time to die.” The golden-haired youth snorted dismissively, and then all nearly forty clones struck out with palm blades simultaneously. The palm blade shadows instantly engulfed Linley, leaving him no choice but to endure!
“He’s underestimating me too much.” Linley sneered inwardly.
Clone technique—one of the nine profound mysteries of the wind-element laws. These clones carried the aura of the original, making it hard to distinguish the real body from the fakes. It was a great escape skill, but in terms of attack, it was lacking.
The clone technique was mainly for fleeing or dealing with weaker foes.
After all, a clone’s strength was far inferior to the original’s.
An upper-level god’s clone was only slightly stronger than a middle-level god.
“Hmph, a single clone’s attack isn’t strong, but over thirty clones attacking together pack a punch. And among them is my original’s palm blade,” the golden-haired youth thought confidently. “This guy is just a middle-level god.”
“Pfft!” “Pfft!” “Pfft!”
In an instant, a barrage of palm blade shadows struck Linley. He took thirty-eight blade strikes, dodging fewer than ten.
Of the thirty-eight strikes that hit him, twenty-seven landed on his ‘Pulsating Armor.’ The palm blade shadows shattered directly, leaving the armor covering his body undamaged. But the twenty-eighth strike—the one from the original—hit him.
“Pfft!”
The Pulsating Armor split open. Linley’s chest was slashed open with a gruesome wound nearly piercing through it, blood gushing out and white bones exposed. The strike that broke through the armor’s defense was the golden-haired youth’s original attack!
The golden-haired youth was shocked by the defense of Linley’s ‘Pulsating Armor.’
“An upper-level defensive artifact?” the golden-haired youth sneered. “Too bad you’re a middle-level god. Even with an upper-level defensive artifact, you can’t use it well.” He was dismissive.
“Sss~” Linley’s divine power surged, quickly repairing the wound, and the Pulsating Armor on his surface restored itself in a flash. As long as his divine power wasn’t exhausted, the armor could be instantly repaired.
“Defensive artifact?” Linley sneered inwardly. “This is the real body!”
From the attack, he had instantly identified the original.
“Healed?” The golden-haired youth was stunned. He realized Linley wasn’t using a defensive artifact but material defense.
“Haha, good material attack and good material defense,” all nearly forty clones spoke in unison. “But what a pity.” With that, the clones merged into one. Whether they merged or not didn’t matter much to Linley, as he had already pinpointed the real body.
The golden-haired youth, far faster than Linley, easily changed directions and closed in.
“This brown-haired kid has strong material attack and defense. I’ll have to kill him with a soul attack,” the golden-haired youth decided. “I don’t believe a middle-level god’s soul defense can be that strong!”
“Perish!” The golden-haired youth struck out with his sword indifferently. As the sword shadow emerged, space vibrated strangely, emitting a low hum.
Linley narrowed his eyes: “My only chance!”
“Hum~” Linley’s black mithril heavy sword swung out as well—his strongest move: Void Sword Wave!
“Clang!” The sword shadow collided with Linley’s black mithril heavy sword, producing a crisp sound.
“What’s happening?” Linley’s face changed. His Void Sword Wave charged straight into the opponent’s mind without resistance, but the opponent’s attack carried no soul power.
“Huh?” Linley sensed something wrong. “It’s a wave!”
A peculiar wave entered his mind, first striking the soul defense main artifact—the ‘transparent scale-shaped membrane.’ The wave shattered upon impact.
Linley withstood it. But the opponent—
“Ah!” The upper-level god staggered, letting out a low roar.
Even though he was a self-achieved upper-level god with pure soul power and strong defense, facing Linley’s fused two-profound-mystery ‘Void Sword Wave,’ his soul trembled, and much of his mental energy nearly dissipated.
He fell into a daze.
“Die!” Linley roared, striking out with another sword.
The black mithril heavy sword slammed into the dazed golden-haired youth’s head.
“Boom!” The golden-haired youth’s soul could no longer hold out, and he collapsed with a crash.
“Swoosh!” A figure suddenly fled from the corpse. “There’s more?” Linley’s eyes bulged, and he instinctively swung his sword—
Another Void Sword Wave!
“Bang!” That figure also fell.
Only then did Linley slump down in exhaustion.
Having unleashed three consecutive ‘Void Sword Waves,’ his mental energy was nearly depleted. By the last one, his head was splitting with pain.
“I was too tense. That golden-haired youth’s clone was just a lower-level god clone,” Linley muttered, glancing at the divine clone with a self-deprecating smile. “At least this bastard is dead.” He collected the golden-haired youth’s space ring, divine spark, and artifacts.
Then, enduring the splitting headache, he ran several hundred meters away, found an inconspicuous spot, and immediately took out a violet crystal.
“Void Sword Wave consumes too much mental energy.” Linley stored the violet crystal in the ‘Coiling Dragon Ring.’ The ring immediately refined it, and streams of golden mist surged into his soul sea. The dried-up soul sea began to replenish its soul power.
“Whew.” The splitting pain eased, and Linley let out a long breath.
“Facing an upper-level god is still very dangerous,” Linley reflected on the battle. “If that golden-haired youth had used his speed and material attacks a few more times, he could have killed me.”
He quickly assessed the fight.
“Self-achieved gods are nurtured by the laws of heaven and earth, their souls transforming and gaining strong defense. That golden-haired youth managed to withstand one of my ‘Void Sword Waves’ without dying. I need to be more careful in the future.” Linley grew more vigilant.
Linley had narrowly escaped death, but other demons weren’t so lucky. For a middle-level god to defeat an upper-level god was no simple feat!
Linley had fused two profound mysteries, which was rare among middle-level gods. Most importantly, he had a fragment of a ‘soul defense main artifact.’ Otherwise, how could his soul have withstood the golden-haired youth’s attack?
“Big brother isn’t here, and Bebe isn’t either.”
Nis was filled with panic. She crept cautiously through the desert castle. She had already spotted a demon’s corpse, a clear sign that this place was full of deadly traps.
Silently, a wall behind Nis rippled, and a gaunt, cold-faced man emerged.
“This little girl will do. I’ll kill her first,” the cold-faced man thought. He had already slain three middle-level god demons, who were utterly helpless against him. Watching Nis ahead, he smiled coldly. “Let me end your life.”
The cold-faced man suddenly charged at the unsuspecting Nis.