Ever since Bai Zemin evolved his skill Blood Manipulation to the Second Order, he had never been forced to give his 100%, let alone rely on the second activation of that skill. After all, not only did his enemies not have the qualifications to make him give his all, but it was also not worth the terrifying consumption that the second activation called Crimson Flame had.
While Crimson Flame was a second activation worthy of being a skill in its own right rather than a secondary skill as the ability to increase physical attack power and magic attack power by 20% was terrifying, the glaring downside was that Bai Zemin needed to end the fight as quickly as possible or deactivate the skill every few periods to allow his Stamina to recover a bit and thus prevent his body from collapsing due to the enormous burden.
Even with him losing 50% less Stamina thanks to the passive effect of the second activation called God of War's Possession of the skill God of War's Will, the consumption of Crimson Flame was still terrifying.
Therefore, by the time the greatsword was ringed by bright crimson flames, Bai Zemin did not dare to waste a single second more and with a loud stomp charged forward.
He raised his sword high into the sky and with a dragon-like roar slashed fiercely downward as if to split the heavens.
The atmosphere rumbled and the earth split even before the sword touched the ground. But even then, Glineira did not retreat.
She stabbed forward at a speed that Bai Zemin's eyes could not follow and then took a quick step to the right as she retreated.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A huge crater over a kilometer in diameter appeared before Bai Zemin as the concrete floor seemed to disappear only for the next instant to reveal the scorched earth that was hidden beneath the material. Flickering lightning flashes spread everywhere and crackled in an area several hundred meters in front of him like greedy snakes looking for something to devour.
BANG!
The resulting shockwave struck Glineira's body and even though she had retreated at the first moment, her posture was still shaken and her chest suffocated. She dared not stay any longer and in fear of being hit by such a horrible attack, she jumped high into the sky as she began to mutter a magic spell.
A one-inch bloody wound appeared on Bai Zemin's right shoulder but there was no blood in it as the flames had burned his flesh completely. Although his Rank 2 armor had diminished a good portion of the enemy's attack power, Glineira's full power and spear technique perfected after countless battles to the death were beyond what his Bloodthirsty Wolf Full Body Armor could withstand.
Bai Zemin ignored the pain and as if he had lost his reasoning he slashed with his sword crosswise to his right. Even when the weight caused his body to lean to the side and his right hand almost broke, he gritted his teeth and just relying on his senses tried to find the enemy.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The skies hadn't stopped rumbling when another explosion completely shook the giant city as if a deluge threatened to hit and destroy everything.
"Great Lightning!"
Glineira shouted from the skies as she saw the massive shockwave surrounded by bright lightning flashing towards her from the ground.
The red clouds were tinged with gold and a magical circle over 400 meters wide appeared below them. A thunderous explosion shook the foundations of the city again as the world seemed to be tinged in gold.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
The crimson lightning shockwave and the golden lightning met in mid-flight, canceling each other out at the same time after booming out in an explosion of a magnitude that surpassed all previous ones by a wide margin.
Bai Zemin, who was standing on the ground, was fine. He simply raised his greatsword above his head and covered himself from the resulting shockwave as he knelt on his left leg and supported the weight by reducing the gravity around him x15.
However, Glineira, who was in mid-flight, was not so lucky.
She felt as if an intergalactic ship had hit her body and like a comet passing through the atmosphere, she flew backward several kilometers while spitting blood.
BANG!
She slammed into the ground fiercely and felt her whole body writhe in pain. However, the pain was something she was already used to so it didn't take her more than a brief moment to get back on her feet.
When she looked ahead, her pupils trembled at the sight of countless blood arrows floating in the sky and her sense of danger was triggered when she heard her enemy's voice echoing in the distance:
"DIE!"
Glineira didn't lose her breath and instead made her preparations.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!….
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!….
…
Even before hitting the ground, the blood arrows seemed to break something as the bang sound resounded loudly everywhere as they flew in Glineira's direction.
The number of blood arrows was so large that even if she wanted to get out of the affected area it would be difficult to do it unharmed even with her Agility!
"You underestimate me too much, boy." She muttered under her breath and with a swift movement began to spin her spear before her at lightning speed.
The speed at which she was spinning the spear soon reached a point where flames spread in a circle around the immediate surroundings and Glineira standing behind had a composed expression as the blood arrows struck the fire shield.
The blood arrows immediately exploded as they came in contact with the flames and not even a drop of blood fell to the ground. The hissing sound echoed as clouds of burning vapor rose into the sky and partially covered the view of what was happening in the area; only a bright crimson spot could be seen from the outside; it was the place where Glineira was standing.
Bai Zemin also had no hope that a blood attack could stop Glineira. He was very clear that this woman of the asura race was in a sense the nemesis of his Blood Manipulation skill as she seemed to be able to use fire magic and lightning magic; magics which were perfectly the counter to his blood skill.
His goal was to give his enemy no time to think and no time to rest. Therefore, as Glineira defended herself from the blood arrows, Bai Zemin rushed towards her fearlessly and while raising his sword high he roared again like a beast that had lost its mind.
Glineira waved her spear in a wide diagonal arc and the flames spread like a dragon flare, evaporating all the remaining blood arrows in the blink of an eye. Then, she looked at her enemy's face and expression with indifferent eyes.
The crazed expression on Bai Zemin's face, as well as the red veins in his eyes, made her think that he had probably activated some kind of skill that increased his power in exchange for losing his ability to reason clearly; this kind of skill was very normal and even among the asura race there were several who possessed such abilities that granted in exchange for taking something in return.
"That's not a smart decision." She muttered and with a simple but extremely effective move, she managed to make the enemy's greatsword slide along her spear and hit the ground while Glineira jumped backward, getting away from the shockwave as fast as possible.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Again, the city rumbled and the ground sank even deeper.
At this point, the southern part of the city was beginning to collapse despite having the total size of a small country on Earth.
While retreating, Glineira stabbed with her spear again and a small wound appeared on Bai Zemin's body. His flesh immediately burned and pain immediately assaulted him, but he didn't let this show in his expression and as if he had really gone mad he charged towards her and slashed up and down again.
* * *
Boom!!!
Booooom!!!!
Boooooooooooooom!!!!
….
The thunderous explosions echoed everywhere and even from over 100 kilometers away Shangguan Bing Xue could hear them. Occasionally, an explosion more terrifying than the previous one caused the earth beneath her feet to shudder gently.
She stared into the distance with anxious eyes, and no matter whether she was sitting or standing her heart was beating like crazy. She had clenched her small fists so tightly that her knuckles turned completely white from the poor blood circulation.
Around her were thousands of corpses; they were asuras who had tried to reach Earth but had encountered her and were slaughtered mercilessly; they were all frozen to death or decapitated.
Shangguan Bing Xue had been hearing terrifying explosions for over 30 minutes now and she correctly estimated that a really powerful existence must have crossed Bai Zemin's path; powerful enough to hold him for so long and to force him to unleash himself completely; powerful enough that he did not have time to divert his attention.
But naturally, Shangguan Bing Xue had no idea that all the asuras in the nearest city had been mercilessly slaughtered by Bai Zemin; from children to the elderly, none were left alive.
The asura she had killed were warriors who happened to be in the vicinity and decided to invade the other world upon encountering the Cosmos Gate. None of them dared to approach the city where those terrifying explosions came from.
At this point, Shangguan Bing Xue could no longer obtain any extra stats regardless of how much Soul Power she absorbed until she completed her breakthrough mission. However, she had already become at very least twice as powerful as when she arrived in the Oblon world so she was truly satisfied with this ride; the only thing that left a somewhat bitter taste in her mouth was that while she managed to be of help to that man, she failed to achieve the level of support she had hoped to attain.
"You better get back, you little scoundrel. I still have yet to give you a good beating for taking advantage of me." She muttered in a whisper and unconsciously touched her lips.
* * *
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
Bai Zemin swung his sword for who knows what number of times and the already ruined city finally reached a point where the southern walls completely collapsed even though they were never the main target.
His chest rose and fell as a look of weariness shone in his eyes; a look which did not escape Glineira's sharp eyes.
It had been about 2 hours since the battle to the death between the two had broken out. During this time, Glineira was more and more surprised by the power, and above all, by how terrifyingly high the Stamina of the young man she faced was.
However, it seemed to be that the weight of the giant weapon finally took its toll as Bai Zemin did not immediately lift it as he had been doing so far. Besides, seeing as how the crimson red flames surrounding the sword had long since disappeared, Glineira assumed that her enemy was at the end of his string.
She sighed and shook her head as she felt it was a shame to end such a talent. She had already realized that the young man before her was only 20 years old, something that honestly terrified her. For the past two hours, she tried to befriend Bai Zemin and tried to get him to join the asura race by promising him beauties and honor; however, he did not seem to be listening and only attacked as if he were a beast without intelligence.
So, since it was not possible to subordinate him, Glineira had to kill him; she could not allow someone so terrifying and with a limitless future linked to the Soul Record to grow any further. Therefore, she covered herself with golden lightning and charged forward, taking advantage of the fact that her enemy was down.
Bai Zemin tried to raise his sword, but his hands seemed to fail him as he failed to move it more than a few inches.
Just then, Glineira's spear appeared before him, and before he could react, his chest was pierced. The power of Glineira's spear was clearly much less compared to the beginning of the battle and her legs and arms were shaking violently as she struggled to keep her grip firm; this was the result of the lightning from option 2 of Bai Zemin's greatsword constantly numbing her body.
However, far from rejoicing at finally managing to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy, Glineira's expression changed when she saw the young man before her suddenly explode into countless sparks of blue lightning.
Only the giant sword was still there and it fell to the ground noisily, awakening Glineira from her surprise.
Bai Zemin, who had at the last moment used the skill Invisibility and at the same time used the second activation of the skill Lightning Movement to create a clone, emerged from the shadows behind the warrior of the asura race and with his gauntlets punched fiercely forward.
He had even made the clone take up his sword so that everything went perfectly! That was precisely why 'Bai Zemin' could not lift the sword; because it was a clone whose Strength was incapable of lifting such a weight!
Just as Bai Zemin's fist was about to strike Glineira, he heard a chuckle followed by mocking words:
"I was waiting for you to stop pretending, kid."
Then, 'Glineira's' body burst into a blaze of fire after receiving Bai Zemin's powerful blow. As for the real one, she appeared right in front of him an instant later and with a beautiful sly smile stabbed forward at lightning speed.
"You see?" she said with a happy smile. "The feeling of piercing flesh and muscles is different after all."
Bai Zemin did not need to look down. The sharp pain being transmitted to his brain from his chest was more than enough to tell him that the woman before him was more cunning than he believed.
* * * * * * *
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