Pretending To Be A Boss
Chapter 893 - 55: The Duel Atop the Sacred Mountain_2

The conversation between Tang Xian and the Judge left the surrounding people utterly perplexed. Yet, given the circumstances, they were in no mood to ponder it deeply.

Because standing before them was an apocalypse-level creature. Though the Judge was no longer at its peak and its wounds had not fully healed, it was still the strongest being in this world.

Yuan Wu and the others were already prepared for battle at all times.

Tang Xian looked down silently. After a few seconds, he lifted his head and said:

"If I am no longer who I am today, do you still have a chance of winning?"

Fear began to slowly seed itself in the Judge's heart.

If the human before him was no longer the man he thought, then he could only be the Lord of Eden.

The truth of this statement was hard to discern, but its implications were profoundly unsettling. Tang Xian's demeanor left the Judge wavering in doubt.

It was during this moment of hesitation that Tang Xian made an attack gesture—a single sweep of his hand.

The beast-formed Tang swiftly enveloped the Dark Raven. In the next instant, the Dark Raven flashed like black lightning. In the blink of an eye, the Dark Raven drew its blade and severed the massive shackles that bound Junlin.

No matter how distracted the Judge might have been, in its eyes, the black-clad youth wearing the bird-beak mask moved too slowly.

But it couldn't stop him, as an unfamiliar, peculiar energy had encased it.

A terrifying slicing force seemed intent on tearing it apart.

The Judge frowned; it had not anticipated that such an attack would come not from Tang Xian, but from a mere human youth.

Outside the energy that fragmented everything, frost suddenly appeared. An imposing ice wall rose, encircling the Judge.

At the same time, golden light condensed in the palm of Bai Mansheng, who stood in the Nuwa Emperor's form. This golden radiance poured down on Junlin.

Junlin then noticed that his wounds were healing at an astonishing speed.

The entire rescue mission was completed in the blink of an eye.

Yuan Wu enacted the Mirror Eye to trap the Judge.

Tang Feiji isolated the Judge with the ice wall.

The Dark Raven wielded an enigmatic blade to sever the shackles, while Tang protected the person closest to the Judge.

Bai Mansheng immediately treated Junlin, restoring him from a critical state to one ready for combat in the fastest time possible.

Junlin spoke little, as every second counted at this moment.

He spread his wings, intending to leave as soon as his strength returned. But then, he suddenly realized that Tang Xian and the others had no intention of leaving.

[Do you seriously mean to confront it?]

"Did you think I came here just to rescue someone and bolt?"

[The Judge is incredibly strong.]

"I know."

Junlin said no more.

Having fought the Judge himself, he didn't believe this group could stand against it.

But since Tang Xian didn't leave, Junlin abandoned the thought of retreating from the battlefield.

...

The battle had already begun.

Yuan Wu was limited in how many times he could use the Mirror Eye. The first use of it struck the Judge by sheer chance when its guard was down. But how powerful was the Causality Domain?

Energy that should have been capable of ripping space apart was instead disassembled by this domain.

Unlike the elemental forces exuded by myriad beasts, which the Causality Domain could deconstruct into pure Soul Crystal energy for absorption.

For example, the ice wall encasing the Judge was converted into absorbable Soul Crystal energy, while the Mirror Eye's grievous assaults on its body were reversed due to the Judge reabsorbing the energy from Tang Feiji's attacks.

However, the energy from the human in tyrant mode belonged to an entirely different power system. Although the Judge couldn't absorb it, it could still neutralize it, rendering it harmless.

Yuan Wu's Mirror Eye couldn't be sustained indefinitely.

Blood began to seep from his eye sockets.

What was intended to be a one-strike lethal move, capable of instantly killing any beast, had now become an ongoing effort against the Judge.

This was the ultimate skill, one that could instantly kill even calamity-level creatures. But even so, Yuan Wu couldn't bear the immense strain.

The ice wall dissolved, and Yuan Wu's deteriorating physical condition caused him to instinctively shut his eyes.

In that fleeting moment, the Judge stepped out of the Mirror Eye's spatial confinement. In the very next breath, it was right before Yuan Wu.

[A human with such ability deserves death!]

Tang Xian hadn't anticipated that the Mirror Eye would prove completely ineffective against the Judge.

Of course, he wasn't going to let the Judge kill Yuan Wu.

When the Judge was pulled into the Mirror Eye's domain, Tang Xian had already entered his talent-burning mode.

Among everyone present, only Junlin, Tang Xian, and the Dark Raven could match the Judge's speed.

The Dark Raven's black blade sliced out a flurry of moves with over-the-top names.

Meanwhile, Junlin and Tang Xian reached Yuan Wu's position immediately.

[Reckless fools!]

The Judge's arm radiated with metallic light.

It bore the destructive traits of the Gold-Breaking Beast's Golden Shatter and Iron Fragment ability!

As the God of Causality, the Judge could disassemble all energy derived from Soul Crystals into its most primitive form and then absorb it entirely.

But this was merely the defensive aspect of the Causality Domain. Offensively, it could restore Soul Crystal energy into various attacks hailing from myriad beasts.

Like at this moment, its arm had transformed into what resembled the sharpest killing instrument in the world, akin to the Gold-Breaking Beast's destruction!

With apocalypse-level Golden Shatter and Iron Fragment far surpassing that of the Gold-Breaking Beast.

In one clean, golden slash, Junlin's wing and left arm, and Tang Xian's right arm, were severed.

Both Junlin and Tang Xian were thrown backward.

The two beings closest to apocalypse-level in power found their combined defenses shattered by the Judge's instantaneous attack.

However, Tang Xian fared slightly better than Junlin.

When the Judge severed his arm, Tang Xian, already in talent-burning mode, showed miraculous regenerative abilities. Like a demi-human, his body healed immediately.

Junlin's recovery rate paled in comparison.

Only when Bai Mansheng's healing techniques reached him did Junlin's severed wing and arm begin to restore. Yet even then, his recovery abilities fell far short of Tang Xian's.

[Annoying pests, too many of them!]

Aside from Yuan Wu, who posed a direct threat, there also remained the life-restoring Nuwa Imperial Snake.

The Judge had already identified its priorities: eliminating this man and beast first.

Then, in the next second, its speed slowed.

While the Judge advanced to attack Yuan Wu and was stopped by Tang Xian and Junlin's joint efforts, it failed to notice the enemies closing in from behind.

The Dark Raven's slashes dissipated into nothingness before its eyes.

Yet, one strike managed to land.

There existed creatures in this world with limited combat abilities, but capable of endlessly weakening their foes. Zang Lin was a prime example of such beings.

However, as a Beast God, the Judge was naturally immune to such effects. Only one exception remained.

Turning its head back in disbelief, the Judge stared at the black-clad, bird-mask-wearing boy. Furiously, it exclaimed:

[You are its successor! It still lives?!]

The Dark Raven could understand the Judge's words, but he ignored them. Seizing the moment of the Judge's rage, he launched into a series of combination strikes: Demon-Slaying Unmatched Style, Extreme Gale Devil-Slaying Slash, Selfless and Demonless Swordsmanship, Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique—all executed relentlessly.

Junlin, who typically held disdain for defeated foes, had always looked down on the Dark Raven. Despite them being equals in strength, Junlin believed the Dark Raven to be inferior to Tang Xian by several levels.

But before his eyes, Tang Xian and Junlin could not even approach the Judge, while the Dark Raven's seemingly less powerful techniques provoked an unprecedented look of wariness from the Judge.

Slows, dazes, poisons, rotting, bleeding, confusion.

Of Junlin's melodramatic combination strikes, only one was enough to touch the Judge.

And with just that one light touch, the negative conditions spread like a plague finding fertile ground.

Tang Xian recalled something the Xuanniao had once said.

"Among all the Beast Gods, the Fallen Knowing Bird is probably the weakest and most enigmatic, but apart from the God of Destruction, it causes the highest damage to mechanical tribes."

Seeing the Dark Raven's strike and the Judge's terror-stricken face, Tang Xian finally understood why.

At this moment, Yuan Wu's other eye had locked onto the Judge.

Tang Xian and Junlin both realized—this was the exact moment to slay a god!

(There may be a hiatus tomorrow. This holy mountain showdown won't be dragged out. Writing battles isn't my forte, so it'll end quickly—and the plot will take a major turn afterward. I'll need to think about the big boss's appearance, as it will have a rather unique unveiling~ I have to figure out the upcoming storyline.)