Chapter 17: Hermes
“This material attack is so powerful!” Linley was shocked. “Even the Redrock Lord back then wasn’t this monstrous with material attacks. Just a strike from a distance pierced right through my body.” Linley had always been confident in his Dragonform defense, but today, that single punch had shaken him.
The burly man’s eyes were filled with rage, his golden mane of hair whipping wildly.
“You dare to harm me, Hermes? Die!” A deep voice echoed in Linley’s mind as the golden giant’s right leg lashed out—
A golden-yellow aura flowed along his thick right leg as it kicked out, causing space to ripple like the surface of water. The power in that kick, before even touching Linley, made him sense danger: “If that punch, even from a distance without direct contact, was that terrifying, then if this kick actually lands…”
Linley didn’t dare hesitate.
“Blackstone Space, maximum repulsive force!” Linley willed it, and a powerful repulsive force acted upon this terrifyingly strong being named Hermes.
At the same time, with a “crack!”, Linley’s steel-like dragon tail slammed hard against the ground, using the rebound to retreat sharply!
“Pfft!” Hermes’ kick missed.
“Boom!” Even though it missed, a golden-yellow wave of light detached from his right leg and shot toward Linley. This material attack was too fast! It wasn’t affected by the Blackstone Space. Its speed far exceeded Linley’s escape velocity. But having learned from past mistakes, Linley was prepared this time.
Linley’s divine sword, Shadow, swept over in a flash.
Seeming slow yet fast, the flat of Shadow’s blade struck that golden-yellow wave.
“Bang!” A violent collision. Shadow was knocked back, slapping against Linley’s body. At the same time, the dragon scales on Linley’s right hand, which held the sword, cracked open, and blood seeped out.
“Swoosh.”
Linley used the momentum to retreat rapidly.
“Too monstrous!” Linley cursed inwardly. “That punch’s force, even through a divine artifact, cracked the dragon scales on my palm. Besides Beirut, there’s another freak like this among the planes!” Linley remembered seeing Beirut dare to catch a Sovereign artifact with his bare hands.
His strength was unimaginable. And this golden-haired giant seemed not far behind.
In the distance, Bebe’s eyes went wide. Without hesitation, he turned into a blur, shooting toward the golden-haired giant while urgently transmitting mentally: “Boss, retreat fast! I’ll hold him off!”
“Bebe, don’t waste time. Let’s go! We can’t stop him.” Linley transmitted back.
At the same time, Linley accelerated his escape, and Bebe had no choice but to follow.
“Trying to run?”
The golden-haired giant glared at the fleeing pair and stomped the ground hard. “Bang!” “Bang!” Each step was like a meteor striking the earth, propelling the giant to his maximum speed as he chased after Linley and Bebe.
“Boss, that big guy is still chasing us!” Bebe exclaimed.
“His speed increased.” Linley glanced back. When this golden-haired giant had chased the Death God Puppet earlier, he hadn’t been this fast. Clearly… this Hermes was enraged to the extreme.
“It’s fine. Once he enters the Blackstone Space area, he won’t catch us.” Linley said confidently.
And it was true!
As soon as the golden-haired giant ran into the Blackstone Space, he felt the powerful repulsive force. Speed was never his forte, and even though he pushed himself, he could barely match Linley and Bebe. But trapped in the Blackstone Space, he was far slower than them.
Linley and Bebe fled ahead, quickly widening the gap.
This forced the giant to leave the Blackstone Space again. Once outside, his speed surged, and he could catch up again.
In short… they maintained a distance of about five hundred meters.
“Boss, this big guy keeps chasing us. What do we do?” Bebe asked anxiously. “Should we use Sovereign power?”
“Not yet.”
Linley was reluctant to waste a single drop of Sovereign power; they weren’t in danger yet.
“Bebe, from a few hundred meters away, this Hermes can see us clearly. Let’s go underground and flee through the earth. He won’t see us and will have trouble finding us.” Linley transmitted. Unless necessary, Linley wouldn’t easily use Sovereign power.
“Underground? Good.” Bebe agreed.
“You two won’t escape!” An angry roar echoed through the sky.
“This dumb brute, roaring like that—doesn’t he fear attracting others?” Bebe transmitted angrily.
“Bebe, I think Hermes probably doesn’t care if others come. He’s not afraid of your God Eater, so he likely has a soul-defense Sovereign artifact. And look at his material defense. This guy is impenetrable. His only weakness is poor ranged attacks and weak soul attacks. Alright, let’s go underground!”
Linley and Bebe, at the same moment, dove straight into the earth with a “swoosh.”
Linley also retracted the Blackstone Space, making it impossible for anyone on the surface to detect their location.
“Hmph, fleeing underground?” The golden-haired giant sneered.
Then—
He raised his leg and stomped hard on the ground. A thunderous vibration followed, and a golden light spread from the stomp, rippling across the surface in all directions.
“There!” The golden-haired giant’s eyes lit up.
He dashed sharply to the left, then stomped again, sending another golden wave into the ground.
Fleeing underground, though hidden from view, was slower due to soil resistance.
“What kind of trick is that?” Bebe clearly felt the golden energy spreading through the earth like water waves, reaching both him and Linley. But the energy wasn’t harmful.
“Boom!”
A violent tremor came from above.
“He knows our location.” Linley said urgently. “Underground, we can’t escape his pursuit.”
“Boss, what do we do?” Bebe was getting anxious.
“There’s one more option. If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to use Sovereign power.”
Just then, a golden vibration wave broke through the soil, shooting downward.
“Not good.” Linley’s face changed.
“Bang!” Bebe punched it in anger.
“Bebe, are you okay?” Linley asked worriedly.
“I’m fine. The attack is strong—my fist is numb—but I’m not hurt.” Bebe transmitted. Linley breathed a sigh of relief and had to admire Bebe’s defense, which was said to surpass divine artifacts.
Since reaching Highgod, only the Sovereign-level Netherworld Fruit Tree had seriously injured Bebe. No one else could even scratch his skin.
Unfortunately, Bebe’s attack power was too weak, even compared to Linley. Only his innate divine ability could threaten Commander-level beings.
“Bebe… let’s go to the surface!” Linley said quickly.
This Hermes clearly had a way to track them. Staying underground just made them targets. Linley and Bebe arced upward, bursting out of the earth.
“Haha, you finally came out.”
The loud laughter rang out as the golden-haired giant’s figure closed in.
“So close!” As soon as they surfaced, Linley and Bebe saw the giant less than a hundred meters away. Startled, Linley immediately activated the Blackstone Space, pushing the giant back again, using speed to widen the gap.
“Damn it! This annoying thing again, just like Rescind’s. I hate it!” The golden-haired giant roared in fury.
He was furious.
This Blackstone Space kept him from getting close to Linley.
Just then—
“Huh?” The golden-haired giant’s eyes widened.
Linley, while running, suddenly turned around and stared at him. Behind Linley, a massive, coiled Azure Dragon phantom appeared. The dragon’s golden eyes coldly fixed on Hermes, and a dragon’s roar echoed in his mind.
Innate divine ability—Dragon Roar!
In the region of Hermes’ soul, time slowed down.
“Huh…” Hermes was stunned. In his vision, Linley and Bebe seemed to accelerate dozens of times, vanishing from sight in an instant. It wasn’t that they had sped up—he had slowed down dozens of times.
Finally, the Dragon Roar’s effect ended.
“Dragon Roar? The Azure Dragon clan’s Dragon Roar? What bad luck.” Hermes rubbed his big nose. “But my speed is too slow. With that Azure Dragon kid’s gravity space repelling me, even if I use Sovereign power, I’d barely match his speed under that repulsion.”
Hermes shook his head.
In a straight chase, Linley and Hermes were close in speed, with Hermes slightly ahead when pushing hard.
With Linley’s Blackstone Space and Hermes using Sovereign power, they were still evenly matched.
“But I’m not good at speed anyway, so there’s no helping it!” Hermes shook his head. “The best plan now is to beg a Sovereign to forge me a long-range attack Sovereign artifact, like a javelin. Then, with my attack power, who could withstand it? This is my third time in the planar war, and I’m still three Commander badges short… If I push hard, maybe I’ll gather enough military merits by the war’s end.”
Hermes shook his head and strode away.
“Hey!” As he left, he shouted into the distance, “You guys hiding over there, if you’ve got the guts, come over here!”
“Hermes, looks like you failed again, huh? Haha…”
Laughter came from afar, then faded away.
“A bunch of cowards.” Hermes muttered, then left.
A male youth and a purple-haired, purple-robed girl watched. The girl chuckled, “Hey, you two saw that, right? Some people actually lost their minds and provoked Hermes. Don’t they know he’s one of the top powerhouses in the Earth Plane?”
“Probably those two aren’t familiar with many Commanders,” said a silver-haired youth with three black horns on his head, smiling faintly.
“But those two managed to fight Hermes and survive—they’re not weak. Too bad we came late and didn’t see where they fled,” added another youth with dazzling golden hair and eerie silver-white eyes. “Let’s leave this place. Getting tangled with Hermes is a real hassle.”
The three slipped away quietly.
In a patch of tangled grass, Linley and Bebe lay resting.
“Boss, where did that monster come from? Your full-force sword strike only cut his face, but his punch easily tore through your body.” Bebe transmitted.
“It’s because my body is strong enough,” Linley said with a self-deprecating laugh. “Bebe, you don’t understand. When that punch pierced my chest, there was also a strange vibrating energy, like it wanted to shatter my whole body. Luckily, my Dragonform body is much tougher than the Death God Puppet. Otherwise, I’d have ended up like it—my whole body collapsing.”
Linley shuddered at the memory.
“Sigh, boss, in this planar battlefield, while we can handle many Commanders, there are also plenty we can’t. This time, we got lucky because he was slow. If we run into a real powerhouse next time, we’ll be in trouble.” Bebe frowned.