Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Flustered, she had fired several rounds of <Void of Hada> and barrier punches earlier, but they were all ineffective. Fin was thoroughly spooked by the sudden mental attack of the cultivator's domain. She had goose bumps all over her body and felt like gagging just remembering it.

It had felt like being thrust into a cold pool of negative emotions as she shared the despair of a beggar, and it forced her to feel empathy for this guy. She had been unable to move, because she felt like defending or counterattacking this “pitiful creature” was a sin.

She wanted to throw up at the thought of feeling that way for a piece of shit like this guy. To make matters worse, if it wasn't for her set having its own ego and automated effects, this might have been it. Fin was now thoroughly pissed. This guy needed to be punished.

The chosen of Bez realized that she had to take this seriously. The first thing she did upon regaining her bearings was giving her the full set of raid buffs. She paid special attention to her mental resistance. It was thanks to 'Conviction of Beashaz' that granted 50% immunity to mental effects that she was able to resist. Despite that, she was still barely able to react... but it would be different next time.

Meanwhile, the fairy kept her distance and used her own technique of firing barriers to test the waters and buy time. This time, she was attentive enough to notice the system notifications that rang with every hit against his barrier.

<Ding! Your attack has been negated. Malicious energy had been absorbed.>

The guy's domain was not only able to make her feel really bad for trying to kill or even resist him, but absorbed her attacks at the same time! She wasn't even able to harm him when she was in the right state of mind to try.

“There is no point in attacking. Your attacks don't work,” the sect leader said arrogantly. Again, he blinked right beside her, and a wave of emotions that were not hers washed over her. His hand was about to grab his hand when she used <Speed of Arke> to escape the grasp and the domain.

“Heh, don't expect that shit works on me twice, “ she said, having barely managed to resist the effects of the domain. She was panting from the burden of the mental attack. How was it so powerful?

She had clearly raised her Mental Resistance. Her status even displayed that it had reached 95%. Despite half being negated and 95% being resisted, it was still hard to just evade. It made her question how she managed to counterattack earlier.

It felt like there was more to the domains of cultivators than met the eye. Fin even started to doubt the power of the system, something she had never even dreamed of before. Like, maybe the display was wrong, or something...

Suddenly, Slapping Monkey charged at her. He didn't teleport. He charged with incredible speed, even faster than her own when using the <Speed of Arke>. Instinctively, she created barriers around her. A trained reaction brought to the surface by having faced a crippling helplessness earlier.

Nothing intricate that fit her like a glove, but the basic bitch ball-shaped sphere to stop a charging beast. Layer over layer over layer, big enough to fit a party and stop him from reaching her. It was her defensive instinct, trained from decades of fighting in dungeons without the support of super awesome gear.

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The sect leader crushed through 4 of her 10 hastily erected barriers, which killed his momentum and gave Fin time to evade another dip by charging away. However, as she evaded the attack, a question appeared in her mind that drove the panic away.

Why did the barriers work?

...

Slapping Monkey was filled with some satisfaction. When he charged at her, her confident, almost arrogant look turned to one of panic and fear. Like a squirrel that was surprised by a cat, he would end this now and go save his brothers-!

Tong! He crashed face-first into an invisible wall, interrupting his thoughts. The wall broke, and the next slap hit Slapping Monkey's face. He had not expected her to be able to create such big shields in this short of a time.

But it didn't stop him. He pushed more energy into his movement technique to keep going. He crashed through the shield as if there were paper walls. By the time he cracked the fourth wall, the sub-human was almost within his domain, but she barely managed to flee again.

His chance was gone. And so was the expression of a frightened prey. Slapping monkey noticed a malicious glint in her eyes when she faced him again after increasing the distance. This was not the look of helplessness or despair. What was going on?

“The system told me that your domain absorbed malicious, but obviously it doesn't absorb defensive power! So as long as I-” Stressing his recovered essence, he teleported right beside her, avoiding the bubble shields. His hand on her face interrupted her monologue, and he did what he intended to earlier.

Face in hand, he pushed her down at full speed. The bubbles popped as he rammed into the ground, and he finally smashed her skull into the forest floor. An explosion of dust raced through the forest, as his attack formed a vast crater with his opponent buried in the center.

Earlier, he had wanted to save some of his energy to fight the tree and intended to finish her easily. He had not expected the barriers. But now, she was starting to figure out his domain. he didn't know how, but it didn't matter. He had to destroy her before she could figure out anything more.

“Descend of Gratitude!” he gave her no chance to recover. The Donkey Rod, filled with his power and concepts of his technique, struck her abdomen. The world was evil, and his world forced it to be honest. He had no qualms about hitting an opponent on the ground and felt no shame in it.

Again and again, he pummeled the barrier protecting her. Her lips kept moving in silent pleas and lamentation of despair, until the barrier finally broke. The Donkey Rod struck her soft flesh, eliciting a pitiful scream from her.

“<Benediction of Bes>” she muttered with blood on her lips, and a bright light suddenly exuded from her body, covering the crater and forest in a pale, golden aura. He was in the middle of performing his finishing strike when the foreign energy fell on him.

“Gah!” he exclaimed inadvertently as it felt like acidic needles were piercing his skin. In moments, his skin began festering, and wounds opened everywhere. He was shocked, but not panicked. This just meant he had to finish it now, before she realized his weakness. True Essence channeled through the Donkey Rod as he struck down with the might to crush a mountain.

DONG!

It sounded like a massive bronze gong was rung as the Donkey Rod filled with all his force, smashed into a golden cover that protected the winged woman. To his shock, he witnessed her wounds heal at incredible speed.

While he was suffering the disintegration of his skin, she had completely recovered from her wounds within a moment. He made a split-second decision and took his distance, escaping the burning field. He channeled his power to heal the raw flesh covering his body. If she had noticed and found his weakness, that would have been the worst possible-

“Haha! I get it now! You are like an undead!” she suddenly exclaimed, calling him a ghoul out of nowhere. “Time for payback, asshole- <Regeneration>!”