“Bang!”
Linley was knocked flying back, and his head felt dizzy yet again.
“How is this possible? How can someone possibly have such a freakish ability?” Linley didn’t dare to believe it. Even when dealing with Fain or Desri, Linley hadn’t had such a hopeless feeling. He couldn’t attack his opponent, but the opponent could easily attack him? What the hell was this?
“Osenno, don’t believe your own lies.”
Bebe’s voice rang out. Linley turned to look at Bebe. Bebe’s little eyes were staring at Osenno. “Others are unable to attack you? If four people simultaneously attacked your four bodies, tell me… would they be able to attack you?” Bebe seemed to be quite familiar with this technique.
All four Osennos were wielding that black katana.
“It seems you understand this technique?” Osenno laughed coldly.
“Of course. Don’t forget. I am a darkness-element magical beast.” Bebe’s body suddenly flickered, and then split into two as well. The two Bebe’s stood there in mid-air. Osenno was stunned as well, and Linley was also awestruck.
The Barker brothers were watching all this from below.
“What the hell?” Hazer looked at Gates.
Gates shook his head, lost. “This battle isn’t one in which the likes of us can get involved in. Let’s just watch.”
Linley flew towards the two Bebe’s, while Bebe said to Linley, “Boss, there is a relatively basic darkness-style attack known as the ‘Stealthwalk Technique’. Once the Stealthwalk Technique reaches an extremely high level, it can be transformed into the Shadowshape Technique. The Shadowshape Technique causes one’s body to merge with the shadows themselves. However… there is a level even beyond the Shadowshape technique which is known as… the Shadowshape Doppleganger Technique. This is something that only Saints can train in.”
“However, Osenno’s Shadowshape Doppleganger Technique is more powerful than mine!” Bebe said.
“So this is known as the ‘Shadowshape Doppleganger Technique’?” Osenno frowned.
“You didn’t know?” Bebe looked at Osenno.
Osenno was silent. In truth, while Osenno had been training in the Elemental Laws of Darkness, he slowly managed to develop this ‘Doppleganger Technique’. As for its name, he had casually decided to simply call it the ‘Doppleganger Technique’.
Shadowshape Doppleganger Technique.
The basic underpinning of the Shadowshape Doppleganger Technique was to create a shadow from another shadow, and then allow the real body to change position at any time from amongst the shadow-bodies.
Just then, when Linley had attacked one of the dopplegangers, Osenno had switched places with one of his other shadows, and then when he attacked Linley, he had switched back.
This technique was very powerful, but in the face of the Godrealm technique of Deities, it was still useless.
“Bebe, when did you learn this technique?” Linley asked mentally.
“Darkness-elemental magical beasts are born knowing some darkness spells and special attacks. Only upon reaching the Saint level was I capable of utilizing this Shadowshape Doppleganger Technique. Unfortunately, I’m not as good at it as Osenno,” Bebe said resignedly. Magical beasts were born with some special, magical skills. The more powerful the beast, the more powerful the magic.
Linley secretly sighed as well.
“And so what if you know it? You will still die!” The four Osennos moved at the same time. The target… Linley! The four Osennos attacked together, and Linley quickly flew back… one against four, how could he fight them? He could block one, but the real body would then be in one of the other three.
If he fought head on, he would definitely lose!
“Shkreee!” As Linley retreated, the two Bebes screeched fiercely as they charged forward.
The two Bebes were freakishly fast. The two Bebes engaged in a wild battle against those four Osennos, but since Osenno could choose between those four shadow dopplegangers, he could dodge much more easily than Bebe.
“Bang!” The two Bebes flew back.
“Bebe, quick, come over to me. Listen to my order.” Linley was currently standing in one of the streets of the prefectural city of Sherry. Standing on the ground, his head was upraised as he stared at Osenno in mid-air, quietly awaiting Osenno to come over.
Bebe was somewhat puzzled, but he still flew over towards Linley at high speed.
“Boss, what do you want to do?” Bebe asked suspiciously.
But when Bebe heard Linley’s mental response, his eyes instantly lit up, and he once more scurried atop Linley’s shoulders. Linley and Bebe just stood there on the ground, staring up at the four Osennos, not afraid at all.
“Hrm? What trick do you have up your sleeves?”
Seeing how confident Linley was, Osenno was rather suspicious. But when he scanned the area with his spiritual energy, he found that Linley and Bebe didn’t have any backup at all, nor were there any apparent traps. In addition, for someone like him, an expert who trained in the Shadowshape Doppleganger Technique, how could he be afraid of a trap?
“Hrmph.” Osenno sneered coldly. No longer hesitating, the four Osennos simultaneously charged down towards Linley!
66
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Linley wielded the adamantine heavy sword in one hand, and Bloodviolet in the other. He stood there in the middle of the street, and Bebe was on his shoulders, not moving. The man and the beast stared as Osenno charged over, but when Osenno reached within ten meters of Linley, he suddenly paused.
There was a plot here!
Osenno stared at Linley, who seemed brimming with confidence. He grew a bit nervous.
“What sort of nasty trick does this punk have up his sleeve?”
“What, are you afraid?” Linley, his two swords in his hands, stared at Osenno. “If you are afraid, then just roll the fuck out of my city. It’s fine. I won’t chase you.”
Linley’s words made Osenno so angry, he could vomit blood.
“Chase me?” Osenno secretly cursed Linley in his mind. It was clear and apparent that he, Osenno, had the advantage. But Osenno was born cautious. He truly began to wonder if Linley did indeed have some sort of nasty trick up his sleeve. But seeing how confident Linley was looking, Osenno suddenly thought, “Wait, can it be that Linley is just pretending to be like this to try and scare me away?”
Osenno carefully inspected Linley. “If Linley really had some sort of ultimate attack, he would’ve used it long ago. Why feign weakness? In addition, if one has an ace up one’s sleeve, one wouldn’t be so blatantly self-confident. Being this confident is as good as telling someone you have a technique lying in wait.”
Osenno laughed coldly in his mind. “What is true is false, what is false is true. This punk is trying to play me. I refuse to believe he is able to wound me.”
“Why are you hesitating, Lord Praetor? What happened to your usual awe-inspiring presence and decisiveness?” Linley mocked coldly.
Osenno stared at Linley’s dark golden eyes. He sneered, “Punk, I still…” Halfway through his words, the four Osennos simultaneously attacked Linley with terrifying speed. But right at that moment…
“Rumble…”
Within a hundred meters, the land quickly became covered with a layer of earthen light, and Linley and Bebe’s body became covered with it as well.
Instacast – Supergravity Field, rank seven!
A Supergravity Field of the seventh rank would cause the strength of the gravity affecting one’s body to instantly quadruple. This gravity wouldn’t just impact the muscles; it would also affect the organs and the blood vessels. Even powerful opponents would be slowed when suddenly affected by this.
To a Saint, if you threw a boulder weighing ten thousand tons at him, he would easily shatter it with the flick of his finger, not harmed by it at all.
But the Supergravity Field was different.
For example, the quadruple gravity wasn’t something as simple as jus
t adding a few hundred tons of weight. It could cause the flow of blood in a person’s body to slow and make breathing more difficult… weak people, under a quadruple gravity field, might even die in an instant. Even Saints would have their physical functions impacted.
“Kill!”
After instacasting the Supergravity Field as well as the nullifying magic on himself and Bebe, Linley charged forward towards Osenno with Bebe by his side in a simultaneous attack. One Linley and two Bebes arrived at the four slower Osennos.
The adamantine heavy sword once more chopped down, while at the same time, Bloodviolet chopped through the air as well.
“Bang!” Osenno was knocked flying, and all four of the Osennos merged into one. A hint of blood could be seen dribbling from his mouth. He had dodged Linley’s attack, but he wasn’t able to dodge the two Bebes attacks.
Linley didn’t hesitate at all, charging directly towards Osenno, but Osenno instantly transformed into four people as well, while at the same time, his body began to emit a large amount of black flame. The ground around him was burnt to nothing, and Linley’s Supergravity Field was wiped out as well.
“I didn’t expect you to have this sort of technique.” Osenno stared angrily at Linley. “However, this technique of yours is useless.”
“Useless?”
Linley stood on the ground confidently.
The four Osennos once more charged forward at high speed, while at virtually the same instant, Linley’s surrounding area once more appeared to be covered by that earthen light – Supergravity Field of the seventh rank!
The four Osennos paused slightly, and then, with a ‘Bam!’, the black flame began to burn, once more wiping away the Supergravity Field. Osenno’s eyes were filled with fury. “It is useless, Linley. My body is fully capable of getting accustomed to this level of Supergravity.”
“Bebe, let’s do it.”
Linley and Bebe both charged towards Osenno, while at the same time, Linley once more cast the Supergravity Field. Only this time… it was a Supergravity Field of the sixth rank!
Osenno had already been prepared for quadruple gravity, but when he suddenly became affected by double gravity instead, his movements couldn’t help but falter a bit.
“Bang!”
Profound Truths of the Wind – Tempos of the Wind. Bloodviolet seemed both ‘Fast’ and ‘Slow’, and that spatial edge appeared on the edge of Bloodviolet. The edge of the sword chopped down directly towards Osenno, and was actually able to cut through his infernal flames, sending him flying back once again.
A wound had appeared on Osenno’s chest.
Osenno had dodged Linley’s adamantine heavy sword and the attacks of the two Bebes, but he had been injured by Bloodviolet.
“How can it be so powerful?” The look on Osenno’s face changed.
Just then, he had nowhere to run. Because all four of his shadows were attacking Linley, Linley naturally attacked two while the other two were easily attacked by the two Bebes, who was faster than them. No matter what, he would end up taking a hit.
He didn’t dare take the adamantine heavy sword head-on, and he didn’t want to take a hit from Bebe’s claws either.
In the end, he had chosen Bloodviolet.
However… that Bloodviolet sword seemed to be even more formidable than Bebe’s claws by a whisker.
“According to our intelligence, the attacks of that violet sword aren’t very powerful though.” Osenno couldn’t believe it.
Indeed, when he dueled with Haydson, Linley’s ‘Tempos of the Wind’ was not too powerful. But now that he had broken through to a higher level of comprehension towards both the ‘Fast’ and the ‘Slow’ aspects of the Elemental Laws of the Wind, then combined them in his ‘Tempos of the Wind’, the power had been raised by far more than just one level; it was raised by at least two levels, or even more.
“Osenno, didn’t you want to kill me?” Linley seemed very arrogant.
Attack!
The demonic-looking Linley and the enlarged Bebe charged wildly towards Osenno. As they did, Linley instacast the Supergravity Field again, filling the area once more with that earthen glow.
“Bang!” In the blink of an eye, Osenno’s infernal black flames once more wiped away the Supergravity Field.
But for Linley, this sort of low-level technique was something he could use a hundred or two hundred times without exhausting his mageforce. And more importantly, Linley had the Coiling Dragon ring and only needed to use a sixth of the mageforce to begin with.
Supergravity Field of the seventh and sixth ranks. Linley was using them on a rotational basis.
“Not good.” The constantly changing gravitational power caused even Osenno’s attacks to become less coordinated.
The Supergravity Field of the sixth rank increased gravity by two times. There was a big difference between it and the Supergravity Field of the seventh rank… these two spells with huge differences in power caused Osenno to constantly be unable to get accustomed to the local gravity. It was as though an ordinary person, when walking, would suddenly feel gravity disappear, and then he would have to walk while weightless. He wouldn’t be used to it.
Same line of reasoning.
Sometimes, Supergravity Fields weren’t necessarily the stronger the better.
With no way to dodge, Osenno was struck viciously again by Bebe’s two claws and was sent flying. With a crunching sound, Osenno’s rib had broken… this time, Osenno didn’t fly into the air, nor did he dare to go closer to the ground. After having learned this lesson, Osenno didn’t dare to get near the ground again as he remained in mid-air.
“I didn’t know that different Supergravity Fields could be used at this level,” Osenno said.
He had been badly hurt.
After being struck by Linley’s adamantine heavy sword and the Bloodviolet sword, he had then been struck twice by Bebe’s claws now.
“Bebe, let’s charge. He’s badly injured and not in great shape.”
Osenno didn’t hesitate at all. His four shadows instantly flew at high speed towards the south, paying no attention to Bebe who was behind him. Perhaps Bebe would be able to catch him, but he could change between the four shadows nonstop. He had no reason to fear Bebe.
But if Linley were to charge over…
Perhaps Osenno would be the one to injure Linley instead. After all, in mid-air, Linley would not be able to utilize the Supergravity Field. His speed would then be inferior to Osenno’s. Wasn’t he just asking for trouble if he did that?
At this time, Barker and his brothers came running out of the city governor’s mansion.
“That Osenno escaped.” Ankh sighed.
“His Lordship and Bebe beat Osenno so bad he ran away.” Gates was excited. The brothers carefully inspected the streets in front of the city governor’s manor, and instantly, they were speechless. The bodies of the six Angels had already been frozen into blocks of ice.
Near Linley’s position, the ground itself was a full meter lower.
In addition, another meter of earth had been burned by Osenno’s infernal flames and destroyed by it. Linley was currently at the end of that depressed patch of land.
“Lord.”
“Lord.”
Barker and his brothers ran excitedly towards Linley, while Linley transformed back into his human form. With a flip of his hand, he withdrew a robe from his interspatial ring. Bebe landed on Linley’s shoulders, and Linley let out a long sigh.
“Lord, we won,” Barker exclaimed excitedly. The other four stared at Linley with excitement as well
A hint of laughter was on Linley’s face. He stared towards the south. “We didn’t truly win. What a pity. The attack power of each strike of my ‘Rippling Wind’ isn’t powerful enough. If it was more powerful… I would be able to hold off Osenno by myself.”
The Rippling Wind could instantly create ten million swords.
It was the absolute peak of speed, but each attack wasn’t too powerful. If Linley were t
o use this attack against the four Osennos, he wouldn’t be able to harm them at all. Instead, he would be the one to be wounded.
“Tempos of the Wind and Rippling Wind are two different concepts. There is no way to merge them. The only thing I can do is infuse the ‘Rippling Wind’ with the insights I have gained into the ‘Fast’ aspect of the Elemental Laws of the Wind. By then, the power of the ‘Rippling Wind’ would increase by another level.”
Linley still remembered Higginson’s sword technique.
It had been so fast that it had distorted and folded space itself, and it carried a terrifying penetrative power.
If Linley was able to reach that level and use his Rippling Wind technique, then the equivalent of countless ‘Illusionary Void Swords’ would attack his opponents. Although the attack of each sword would still be a bit lower, it would be incredibly powerful nonetheless.”
“Me too,” Bebe muttered. “If my Shadowshape Doppleganger Technique could reach the level of splitting into four shadows, I would be able to fight him by myself.”
Barker and his brothers stared at Linley and Bebe, the man and his magical beast. They were speechless.
“Lord, you aren’t even thirty yet. Yet you are so powerful,” Barker finally said loudly.
Linley and Bebe glanced at each other, then laughed.
Good point. One couldn’t be too greedy.
Linley was on the fast track to understanding both the Elemental Laws of the Wind and the Elemental Laws of the Earth. He wasn’t like some people who were bottlenecked or stuck. He should be overjoyed.
“Barker, immediately send people to reclaim the Sherry Duchy. Here in the prefectural city of Sherry, most likely those soldiers won’t face a single bit of resistance.” Linley was quite confident. After that massive battle with the Angels and the battle just now, who in the prefectural city of Sherry would dare to resist?
“Yes, Lord.”
Baruch Rising_Book 3 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 52
