Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 165 - 157 VS Great Success Rank 5

Chapter 165: 157 VS Great Success Rank 5

This movement method exceeded my expectations.

On the other hand, I at least foresaw "He will likely try to close in on me suddenly," and had thought about how to handle it when the time came. Despite the feeling of being caught off guard, I still reflexively used my own method.

I used Flame Transmission to move a hundred meters away, and then immediately saw him burst out from the Shadow Transmission Gate at the original spot. Following that, the Shadow Transmission Gate behind him exploded completely.

Countless shadow particles, akin to gravel, scattered like a hailstorm throughout this airspace, enveloping an area with a radius of a mile. One of the shadow particles near me quickly expanded into a thin, person-sized Teleportation Door, through which he disappeared and launched another attack.

Now, constantly shrouded in Shadow Entanglement, he could skip the action of "sinking into the shadow" and leap directly out of a Shadow Transmission Gate!

I used Flame Transmission again to move two hundred meters away, and as expected, he opened another Shadow Transmission Gate near me at high speed to get closer. This airspace had become his domain, and this domain was expanding rapidly. No matter how I fled, as long as I was within its coverage, I was destined to be pursued.

I could have teleported out of this airspace, but he could simply repeat the previous steps to trap me again. Of course, if that happened, I could just teleport to a faraway place, even somewhere he couldn’t find, but this wouldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t attack the Zhu’s mansion later.

Besides, on a personal level, I wanted to settle a victory or defeat with him.

Countless teleportations on both sides had taken us beyond the realm of speed, moving from point to point. Under the perception akin to overlooking a huge chessboard, we became like two paired, frequently flickering ghosts in the high sky— bright as fire, I, and he, shrouded in darkness, repeatedly clashed.

This close-quarter combat completely put me at a disadvantage, and I would occasionally get hit by him. While I wasn’t incapable of hitting him, each time my attacks would be redirected by his armor into thin air.

If he was relying on speed and movement to dodge my hits, I could at least try several more times, but with this method in play, I felt a sense of dread.

In one breath, I unleashed the Fire Sea, trying to destroy all the shadow particles in this airspace, but even those particles "Portalized," becoming indestructible objects.

I had to find a way to break this "Teleportation defense mechanism."

I did have some ideas.

One method was to use an attack that "does not pass through physical space," like a metaphysical attack, for example, a "curse," or directly attacking the causal concept of the opponent; or use spatial attribute attacks, after all his defense was also on the spatial level, so spatial attacks should also be effective.

However, I could not use either of these methods. The causal concepts around me weren’t twisted, so I couldn’t take advantage of them to perceive the metaphysical layer; and I didn’t have spatial attribute skills, although Flame Transmission seemed like Space Transfer, it was really just breaking myself down and reassembling in a distant place.

Is there any other way? Classic scenes like this defense skill that absorbs the power of others, being infused with an overwhelming amount of external force to the point of explosion could be an example, but the Teleportation Door Armor he’s connected to isn’t a stingy spatial pocket, it’s genuinely another dimension. I probably couldn’t blow up another dimension even if I became so powerful that a Fireball could explode the Solar System.

The pain was piling up in my soul as the number of his attacks increased.

I could understand his logic; although each of his attacks couldn’t cause significant harm to me, even until now, the impact he had inflicted on me was probably less than the burn I had given him earlier, but as the counts added up, I would eventually lose. This also confirmed that the Portal Armor truly had no sustainability limit, and he believed he could endure this long-duration combat.

As time passed, he hit me less and less.

He finally realized something was amiss.

"...Have my movements been read? No, this is..."

"What’s wrong? You seem to be slowing down. Are you tired?" I said, "Do you want me to give you some time to rest?"

"Ridiculous!"

He seemed hesitant, but his attacks didn’t falter, coming wave after wave like a violent storm.

As much as I’d like to say I was evolving from an ignorant newbie to a sharp-eyed veteran in high-frequency combat, regrettably, that wasn’t the case. Of course, my experience fighting enemies had accumulated, but not to the extent that I could read his actions.

The reason he was hitting me less wasn’t that he had become sluggish, it was purely because I had become faster.

This was the first time I had faced such a challenging opponent. Because of this, I could clearly feel my blood heating up and my heartbeat accelerating. For the first time, I felt that this was not the one-sided slaughter of the past; I was truly competing against someone.

As my spirit entered a better state, my flames burned ever more fiercely.

My flames are my spirit.

Until now, this power had been like silt dormant beneath a lake’s waters, and now, stirred up by this Great Success Rank enemy, the silt began to rise, slowly releasing its true potential.

The amount of flame that constitutes the body of my Elemental incarnation determines my speed and strength, as well as my consciousness processing performance. As the power surging within me increased, my reflexes were also significantly improving.

We were moving in a point-to-point manner, but the actual attacks still had to be executed by ourselves. Originally his attack speed was just good enough to keep up with me, and with his skill, it made it difficult for me to handle. But now, he was gradually being left behind by me.

However, this level of ability was not enough.

Even though I could dodge all his attacks, it only placed me on the same level as him. The fact that I could not harm him would not change; at best, we’d be stuck in a deadlock.

My thoughts inevitably turned back to "breaking the situation with force." Indeed, I couldn’t burst the Shadow Dimension connected to the Portal Armor, but what I really should be targeting was not the Shadow World but the Portal Armor itself.

As long as the mana was powerful enough, it could twist the laws of nature, as well as absurd superpower mechanisms. This was not only my personal experience but also a formal theory condoned by Zhu Shi. Even if the Portal Armor was different from the ordinary monsters’ Shadow Teleportation Gates and could not be disrupted by the disturbance of external offensive mana, there was a limit. If the strike I delivered was powerful enough, perhaps I could forcefully crack his armor.

I could sense his mana fluctuations, vigorous like a strong wind that never ceased. Suddenly, I became curious. He should be able to sense my mana fluctuations as well, so...

What did he think of my mana fluctuations?

During a brief moment of contemplation, I released my power to a certain degree.

At last, he couldn’t even touch me.

"This—" he exclaimed in surprise.

"You said earlier that I lacked the skill to match my strength, right?" I said. "But what are you planning to do if my strength is this immense?"

Immediately, I no longer used Space Transfer on myself but hovered in midair, with the palms of my hands facing each other, and a small Fireball emerged between them.

Almost at the same time, his fist came again, shattering my skull.

I paid it no heed, focusing instead on the Fireball, channeling all of my current power into it. Then I compressed it, compressed, and compressed again. The Fireball maintained a small volume, but the energy accumulating inside it increased, becoming like a Miniature Star.

He didn’t just stand there watching, but unleashed a roundhouse kick that shattered my upper body, and my arms lost their support and fell downwards. However, the Fireball remained in place, continuously accumulating and compressing power. His hindrance was futile. My spirit had fused with the ambient heat; the manifested Elemental body’s destruction was irrelevant and did not interfere with my charging process.

Seeing this, he swung his fist again to smash the Fireball that resembled a Miniature Star.

And just as his gauntleted hand was about to touch the target, it was as if he suddenly realized something, quickly withdrew his hand, and rapidly retreated to a distance, watching the Fireball with extreme caution.

"...By the way, you seem to have a formidable sixth sense," I let my voice echo through the space, "So, can I interpret your action as... this move is actually effective against you?"

While talking, I reconjured my Fire Element body next to the Fireball, holding the little sun in my palm.

Light twisted around the Fireball, and it almost seemed as though even space itself was about to be burned through by the ultra-high density flames.

"..."

He did not speak but instead took a cautious and confrontational stance.

Perhaps this move wasn’t truly effective, and he was just on high alert for my unknown actions. The practical outcome would prove its effectiveness.

Compressing power to this extent was almost the limit for me at the moment; the problem was how to hit him next. Without his troublesome sixth sense, he might have foolishly taken a hit from the super Fireball; but now that he was on alert, it would be difficult to strike him.

I also couldn’t transport my super Fireball directly to him. Once the super Fireball is disassembled, I would have to start the charging process over again.

Maybe I should play it as a counterattack. While he attacked me, I could smash this super Fireball directly into his face. As long as I could break through his Portal Armor, I could try attacking his soul directly. Next time, he would not be able to escape from being incinerated by me.

He stood in the distance, observing me, seemingly pondering how to exploit a lapse in my attention.

Suddenly, he disappeared from his spot.

This was his Shadow Transmission, he was about to strike!

Instantly, I concentrated, readying myself for a counterattack. However, after waiting for a long time, he did not reappear.