Listen While Reading: 09. The Abandoned (Battle)

—–

The Android girl was naturally shocked when I told her she could just do that to learn how to fight very easily and quickly.

“I-Is that true? Can I do it like that?” she wondered. “But wouldn’t that be like cheating?”

“Not at all; it’s just how your body is,” I said. “I am sure you recorded what happened in some internal camera; even your own memories should work; reproduce them within your mind and then try to imitate movements automatically.”

“I-I’ll try then!” she nodded. “Where’s the next foe at?!” She looked around.

“Wait, let’s not draw attention yet,” said Wai Tian. “Let’s leave this guy over here; he’s unconscious, but let’s quickly go hide again. We have to ambush them.”

“Yeah, I agree; they’re strong and tricky; we can’t go head-on against them; we need to play a bit dirty.” Ying Shen nodded.

“True…”

The Immortals ended up being within a middle ground between “not as strong as originally” and “actually just as strong as they are,” which makes them a genuine threat we can’t confront alone, but that might be realistically possible to defeat if we take our time.

We got twenty-four hours though, and if we get attacked by more than two of them, we could be in real danger of death by then, so we have to be extra careful and take our sweet time.

My plan is simple: knock out all the immortals, which are roughly thirty in total; there might have been more, but I think that’s all of them in this simulation.

And then once they’re all knocked out, go all-out against both Venerables using their techniques against them and knock them out… or try.

The mission itself was quite deceiving with its requirements, and I think it might be possible to reshape it as long as we interact with the characters themselves.

It’s worth giving it a try.

If push comes to shove, we’ll retreat and try again.

“Alright, I’ll take the lead.”

I quickly decided to use some of my plenty of Skill Points and get some Skills that would be quite useful for this situation. I had a Skill Shop after all, and although I dislike using Skill Points to purchase Skills when I can learn them, this time I wasn’t learning any.

[You have exchanged 50 Skill Points and purchased the [Stealth (B): Lv1] Skill!]

[You have exchanged 50 Skill Points and purchased the [Camouflage (B): Lv1] Skill!]

As much as I was learning Martial Arts right now, Skills that don’t cost Mana to use still take effect, and I can also replace Mana with Ki, which I have plenty of at long last.

It’s time for some quick Skill Fusion.

Ding!

[You have exchanged 50 Skill Points to combine the [Stealth (B): Lv1] and [Camouflage (B): Lv1] Skills!]

[You have decided to sacrifice both Skills in the fusion, saving Skill Points in the process and making the resulting Skill stronger.]

[You have created the [Presence Suppression (S): Lv1] Skill!]

—–

[Presence Suppression (S): Lv1]

[Skill EXP]: [0/10.000]

A Unique Skill created by the Fusion of the [Stealth (B): Lv1] and [Camouflage (B): Lv1] Skills.

Channel your Inner Ki and generate an Aura of pure Emptiness that encompasses your body, suppressing all matter of energies, sounds, and noises that your body could produce. You can expand this Aura and grant it to nearby allies by spending more Ki. To maintain this Aura active, constant usage of Ki is required.

The length in which the Aura can expand increases by 5 Meters with each Skill Level. While using the Presence Suppression Aura, those below its effects also receive a bonus to their Movement Speed, Dexterity, and Critical Hit Percentage Rate of 100%.

When you strike a foe that has yet to detect you, you can deal an additional 200% Damage for the first time, ignoring 50% of their Defenses.

Once you attack, the Aura will be dispelled automatically, with a Skill Cooldown of 10 Seconds.

Level Bonus (1): Enhances the Bonus Effects of the Skill by 25%.

—–

Oh, it was pretty good! I already had my gauntlet’s Void Veil for camouflage; this Skill doesn’t make me completely invincible though, and it is only a superficial technique that can still be detected if we are seen.

Nonetheless, the Void Veil has a short duration, and it can get into a long cooldown of 30 seconds on quick fights; that’s an eternity I can’t easily afford.

Therefore, to not use the Void Veil right away, this skill is perfect; I can share it with my friends too, and its cooldown is 10 seconds after we strike.

“Alright, I got something pretty good.”

FLUOSH!

An invisible aura surged from my body, as I felt like I was spending a few points of Ki every second.

I expanded the Aura around my body and then everyone behind me, making them as stealthy as possible.

With this, we moved.

It didn’t take a few seconds for us to find another “prey,” a Komodo dragon immortal, this time from the orthodox faction; his robes were white and gold.

His Aura was strong, and he seemed slightly wounded, resting over the grassland.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“This is our chance; move! Ying Shen, take someone with you for the second surprise attack.”

“Got it.”

Ying Shen quickly took Fang Shuan this time, while Wai Tian and Zero One remained by my side.

“Hahh… Hahh… Those damned demons! When will they learn their lesson?” wondered the Komodo dragon man, sighing. “Hah, my empress is still fighting against that wretched demon! I must-”

With my gauntlet in my hand, I loaded it with Ki and unleashed a martial art technique in that very instant, hitting his head with full force. I knew he was tough to be able to take it anyway.

“{Heavenly Dragon’s Fist}”

My ki erupted from my body, moving towards my gauntlet, made out of powerful and incredibly tough materials, and further reinforced with the eye of a Void Ruler.

The result? Outstanding.

“ROOAAR!”

The furious roar of a dragon arrived at the same exact second my fist crushed his head into the ground, and my Ki Aura exploded as the stealth ability deactivated in that very moment.

BAAAM!

However, the man’s head was already planted on the ground; he quickly started to free himself. I knew he was going to be right, but that must have hurt a lot anyway.

“RAAAH!”

With a furious roar and without saying a word, he quickly freed himself from the dirt his head had been planted into and quickly smashed the ground with his palms.

“{Heavenly Mountain Arts}: {Fists of Earth}!”

The ground below him shook; giant fists made of earth surged at the same time as he pushed his palms towards me, slamming me with the strength of half a mountain.

CLAAASH!

“Ugh!”

That gotta hurt; a bone broke for sure.

I hit the ground, rolled around it, and quickly unsheathed Gram.

I imbued him with my Ki again, and Celestial and Demonic Energies fused together, creating Demonic and Celestial Ki.

“{Thousand Blades}: {Heavenly Demon’s Claw}”

SLAAASH!

I imitated the mighty claw of my master, the Heavenly Demon, with my own sword technique, swinging the blade down and slashing both of the giant palms made of stone. Several more slashing attacks emerged at the same time, and explosions of black and golden light erupted.

BOOOM!

“You bastard demonic cultivators! To dare strike me in the head while I was resting! Do you not have any pride as a warrior?!”

The man rushed towards me, materializing a giant mace made of stone out of his own hands and slamming it down towards me.

“Take the mighty punishment of heaven!”

CRASH!

I barely managed to evade that strike as I activated the Seal of Frenzy, my body overflowing with energy as a result, yet Hope kept me from going absolutely nuts.

“What’s that…?! Demonic Ki?!”

As he glanced at me in disbelief, Zero One and Wai Tian struck from behind, their presence suppression auras still in effect, actually.

“{Tempestuous Blazing Wild Charge}!”

Wai Tian overflowed with flames, rushing down and hitting with tremendous force. At the same time, Zero One did the same thing, but her body instead released blue lightning. The double attack made the Komodo dragon man scream in agony, vomiting blood as he fell head-first into the ground.

BAAAM!

“Ugh…! GRAAAH!”

However, he stood up again and quickly unleashed the fury of earth, several spikes surging around him as he moved his hands upwards. I could sense his Ki and Spiritual Essence melding together into these fantastical techniques.

“Careful!” I said, as I evaded the attacks and slashed them away using Gram. “Aim, take a sword form!”

I summoned the Death Apostle Aim, as usual, as he quickly took the form of a golden katana, blazing with demonic lightning.

“Finally some action! Let me cut anything, hahahaha!”

The Komodo Dragon saw in disbelief as I charged forward, my Aura transforming and constantly fluctuating; within me there was the power of the Heavenly Demon’s Seals and the Heavenly Empress Hope, all while combined with my own Skills.

I activated two more Skills that required Mana, replacing it with my plentiful reserves of Ki, [Thunder Queen] and [Spectral Body].

For a few seconds, I temporarily became a being made of pure lightning, moving within an instant to his range and then striking him down with several weapon slashes, vertically and horizontally, overwhelming him and cutting through his tough skin and scales.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

“Uuuaaaggh!”

As he was being cut down and electrocuted, the Komodo Dragon kept fighting, rushing towards me and reinforcing his body with stone armor, punching my body several times.

BAAAM!

Shadows surged behind him in that moment. Ying Shen and Fang Shuan appeared. The golden emperor used the [Phantasmal Light Chains Of Magic Sealing] Skill first, wrapping chains around the cultivator and then unleashing a storm of attacks using his [Golden Dragon Spear Techniques].

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

Ying Shen, in the other case, used the [Absolute Stealth: Surprise Attack] and [Abyssal Shadow Fox Assassination Arts] Skills in conjunction with his supreme techniques, unleashing a storm of cutting shadow winds against the cultivator.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

The Komodo dragon panicked as he was bleeding all over his back, quickly touching the ground again to slam it with his hand. Giant fists made of stone surged, punching Fang Shuan and Ying Shen away by surprise.

CLAAASH!

Fuck, I think that even if wounded, he’s tougher than the fox.

Alright, whatever, unleash the beasts then!

“Violet! Snow! Shiro!”

The three Familiars were summoned using my [Summon Friend] Privilege, as I had left them in the back for emergencies only. The moment I summoned them, Auras of Power covered their bodies. The Privilege also increased their stats when summoned, although only slightly.

“KRIEEH!”

Violet became several times large, swinging his venomous scythes down and piercing through the tough man’s scales, poisoning him in the process.

SLASH!

“AWOOO!”

Snow unleashed a storm of icy winds, slowing down the lizard’s movements, perhaps even more than other living beings because it was a cold-blooded being.

FLUOSH!

“Agh! I-I can’t move?!”

As he was shocked to find his body had been temporarily frozen, even more binding chains of holy light were conjured around his body, further immobilizing him and weakening him.

“Just go to sleep already!”

Wai Tian roared, kicking the man’s head down, and then Zero One did the exact same thing, blazing and electrifying kicks breaking several of the Komodo dragon’s fangs before he dropped into the floor, rolling and conjuring spears of stone against them.

“DIE, YOU DEMON SCUM!”

With a furious scream, he tried to impale both girls by surprise!

ZAAP!

However, within that single split second, I appeared as a woman made of lightning, cutting down the stone spears with my two swords, and then kicking the man down.

CRASH!

He was still conscious, gritting his teeth; he was about to unleash something else.

However, Ying Shen and Fang Shuan showed up, using their bodies and powers to push the Komodo dragon man down one last time.

“Gang on him!”

Without hesitating, I called the girls, and they attacked without wasting a single second. Wai Tian, Zero One, and I kicked the poor man’s head a dozen times until he finally lost consciousness.

“Ugh… Aahh…”

I felt so bad…

“This is the worst… We struck down an honest and innocent man,” Fang Shuan sighed.

“This is just a simulation…” Wai Tian said. “It doesn’t matter anyway, Fang Shuan. Think about the mission.”

“I agree,” I nodded. “And we didn’t kill him anyway; we stopped him from pointless slaughter, that’s all! Now, to the next target, hurry!”

We didn’t have any time to waste; we started picking cultivators one after another nonstop. With our developing abilities and the great challenges each bastard brought to us, we had to push ourselves constantly while improving upon our techniques and finding ways to use them properly or in combination with others.

Zero One in particular learned how to imitate and perfectly copy techniques by using her records of the fights and reproducing them into her own body, an idea I had given to her. Like this, she went from an unexperienced and afraid fighter into a confident master of many techniques.

Indeed, it was like cheating.

She copied all of Wai Tian’s fists and kicks, all of Ying Shen’s dagger techniques, and all of my golden dragon techniques; although she couldn’t copy them one hundred percent, she fused them with her unique electric powers, coupled with her tough and heavy metallic body, making her a lethal martial artist.

Eventually, after twenty hours of fighting without end, where sometimes we had to face two or even three cultivators at a time…

It was finally time for the grand finale.

Everyone had healed fully thanks to my Hope Flames and Shiro’s healing techniques.

We were ready to take upon the last two big bosses.

RUMBLE!

As this entire fight went through, they weren’t even paying attention, only engaging in an endless battle between light and dark.

“I will never yield against a fiend like you!”

BAAAM!

“And I shall never lose against such an amateur like you!”

CRAASH!

We looked into the skies, our very last challenge for this floor.

At the beginning, we were doubtful, afraid, and confused.

But right now, after fighting so much and gaining so much battle experience…

We felt oddly confident.

“Let’s finish this…”

—–

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep