Chapter 279: What Kind Of Defense Is This?

Chapter 279

Meanwhile, back in the training realm, Alex met the abomination head on, and the ground between them exploded.

Its front legs came down like two fury black spears of death. But Alex having already anticipated that attack slid to the side, causing one leg to smash instead into the earth where his head had been a heartbeat earlier.

Strangely enough, instead of a massive crater or something to form from an impact of that caliber? The ground where it touched turned gray, then dry, then crumbled into dust, as if hundred of years had passed in a second. That was it’s decay ability.

"Not bad, but you’re going to have to put in more effort if you want to kill me."

The abomination as if understanding it was being mocked answered with a shrill screech. It’s multiple eyes remain fixed on him as what looked like a greenish blackish mist rolling out from it’s carapace suddenly thickened.

In no time the strange mist spreaded across its entire body, forming a dense layer that covered the gaps between its dark red plates. Even the sharp points of its long legs became wrapped in that decaying haze.

’So that’s how you want to play,’ Alex thought while watching the abomination unleash a strike.

With insane reflexes and a broken hand to eye coordination, Alex ducked under a second leg and drove a fist brimming with power into the monster’s front plates. The punch landed with a boom that rolled across the red plain, causing even the abomination to screech and slide back by a few dozen meters. But when Alex pulled his hand away, he couldn’t help noticing that his knuckles were wrapped in a thin layer of greenish blackish mist that was trying to eat into him.

It was only after taking a portion of body recovery water that the mist faded and his hand turned as good as new. Then he frowned. That punch just now had barely scratched the damn thing. And as for that greenish mist leaking out from its armor, it was not just any kind of weapon. It was basically like a second skin itself.

And by second skin he meant the type of skin that erodes it’s opponent whenever they striked at it in close combat.

’Close combat is a bad idea,’ he decided. ’It’ll just end up rotting me before I break through. But I have to say the creatures decay ability is quite versatile. Sigh. If only it were a beautiful female Awakened instead of a monster.’

[One second I’m gone, and you’re already thinking of cracking monster cheeks]

’Say that one more time and I swear I’ll ban TV for a year.’

["..."]

The creature moved again, sweeping two front legs toward his head in a crossing motion. Alex was forced to focused back on the fight and bent his knees and flipped backward, narrowly avoiding the first strike before twisting sideways just in time to escape the second. While he was still in mid-air, he raised one hand and released several frosty petals.

Deathfrost Bloom.

The inky black petals spun through the air like tiny blades of death, leaving trails of cold black mist behind them. They struck the abomination’s body in quick succession.

However, the moment the Deathfrost Blooms touched the greenish blackish mist surrounding it, their icy edges began to wither almost immediately. The cold energy weakened, then disappeared as though something were eating away at the very ability itself. A few petals broke apart, while the rest dissolved without leaving so much as a scratch.

Alex landed lightly and clicked his tongue.

"So the decay mist can erode even Deathfrost Blooms too? That’s troublesome."

He had expected the creature to possess some resistance, but watching Deathfrost Bloom disappear so easily was still a little annoying. It seemed that simply throwing his skills at the monster would not be enough. He needed to understand how its abilities worked before choosing the right way to deal with it.

It was at that moment the abomination finally opened its mouth, causing several strands of dark green webbing to shoot toward him, spreading through the air like a net. Alex shifted his weight and darted to the side. The first web struck the ground where he had stood, spreading across the rocks and making them turn grey before they collapsed into a pile of dust.

Another web came from the creature’s mouth, followed by a third and fourth.

"You’re a spider, so naturally you have webs. How original."

His voice remained casual, but his body moved with incredible speed, dodging each and every strand by the narrowest of margin, sometimes leaning away, sometimes stepping over the webbing, and sometimes even straight up changing direction in the middle of a sprint. The creature kept firing, trying to cover every possible escape route, but Alex’s speed had become too fast for its attacks to catch even his afterimages.

In no time hundreds of afterimages appeared across the battlefield.

To the abomination, it must have seemed as though several versions of Alex were moving around it at once. Every time it aimed at one, the figure vanished, and another appeared somewhere else. Which unfortunately for the creature, caused its webbing to strike empty ground again and again, leaving a growing mess of decayed rock behind it.

Alex suddenly disappeared using void step, before reappearing into existence five hundred paces away. The distance gave him a moment to observe the creature, which was already turning its body toward him.

"Okay, let’s try something new."

He slowly clenched his right fist and felt as a strange heat gathered around his knuckles. Pure Crimson flames with no other color except crimson itself appeared over his skin, curling around his fingers like living ribbons.

Despite the insane heat which was already affecting the surrounding area, The flames themselves did not burn him. Instead, it was as though the very heat itself seemed to flow through his hand without causing even the slightest bit of discomfort.

Alex looked at the flames with interest.

World Erasing Fire. This was Claire’s ability, but he had never used it himself since he copied that ability from her. Staring at the flame his drifted to when Claire unleashed her power against the Bone Demon General’s army. Back then, she had shaped her crimson flames into a massive tornado, drawing everything caught within its reach into a swirling inferno.

If he could reproduce that technique, it would be a good way to test the ability’s destructive power.

Alex raised his hand and focused. He imagined the flames spreading outward, gathering into a rotating column before rising into the air. He tried to make the fire twist around him as the center, building the shape of a tornado in his mind.

The flames trembled and for what felt like a brief moment, they seemed to respond, but the shape quickly fell apart. The fire scattered across his fingers and returned to a loose layer around his fist.

"That’s strange. I can release the flames, but controlling their shape is another entirely different matter."

He frowned and tried again, this time focusing more carefully on the movement. Yet before he could make another attempt, a heavy pressure rushed toward him.

The abomination mad with anger had crossed the distance.

Its enormous body was suddenly above him, with several legs raised high. Alex’s eyes widened slightly before he immediately used Void Step and vanished into thin air just as the creature’s limbs crashed down.

BOOM!

The impact shook the entire ground like an earthquake. When the dust settled a gigantic crater stretching across the rocky landscape for nearly three miles, formed beneath the abomination.

Alex appeared at a safe distance and stared at the destruction.

"Good Lord."

He looked at the crater again, then glanced toward the sky.

"Thank God this is the training realm. If that thing had done this outside, I’d have a lot of explaining to do."

He could already imagine the damage such an attack would cause in the real world. Even if he could survive it thanks to his newfound durability, the surrounding area would be completely destroyed. He had no intention of testing his new strength in a populated place and turning an ordinary fight into a disaster.

The abomination slowly pulled its legs out of the crater with its red eyes glowing through the dust, and the mist around its body grew much more thicker than before. It seemed irritated that its attack had missed.

Alex rolled his shoulders.

"Well, I couldn’t make the fire tornado. But that doesn’t mean I can’t still use the flames."

He raised his right hand again, and the crimson fire gathered around his palm. This time, he did not try to shape it into anything complicated. He simply focused on releasing its power in one direction.

A dense wave of crimson flames burst from his hand and swept across the battlefield like a burning tide, swallowing the rocks in its path. Because of the attack the temperature rose sharply to a high degree as the flame advanced swiftly.

Sensing the incoming attack, the abomination reacted immediately and turned it’s body, before pushing its legs against the ground as it attempted to escape the approaching wave. The creature clearly sensed that whatever this attack was, it was more dangerous than the earlier black frost petal shaped shards.

Alex’s lips curled.

"Oh, no you don’t. You’re not going anywhere."

Using Void Step once more, Alex figure vanished and in the next instant, he appeared to the creature’s left and released another wave of crimson flames. Before the abomination could even think of changing direction, Alex teleported again, appearing on its right and sending a third wave across its escape route.

He repeated the movement with frightening speed, using Void Step to cover the distance between each position. Soon Crimson fire spreaded out from four directions, forming a burning enclosure around the giant spider. The waves advanced toward one another, leaving the abomination with fewer and fewer places to move.

The creature screeched and looked toward the sky which Alex noticed and smiled coldly.

"There it is."

The only escape route left was above, so the abomination lowered its body, then launched itself upward with all eight legs. The force from just its jump alone was enough to shattered the ground beneath it, sending a storm of rocks into the air as Its massive body rose above the surrounding attacks, and for a brief second, it seemed as though it had successfully escaped the trap.

But Alex had long since already anticipated that move.

He appeared directly above the creature. If a monster could feel fear then this one just did, because the first thing it saw when it looked up was him waiting in the air with crimson flames gathered along his raised arm, just waiting to be released

Looking down at the creature, he coldly said.

"Caught you."

Then with a wave he brought his arm down and watched as a massive crimson flames in the form of a slash tore through the air, descending toward the abomination with terrifying speed. The creature’s black decay aura surged upward in an attempt to block the attack, but the flames struck it head-on.

One had to know that for the very first time since this battle started, the strange mist did not erode the incoming ability. Or more like, it couldn’t withstand the unfathomable blazing heat of World Erasing Fire.

The crimson fire burned straight through it as though it were burning away the very substance from existence, clearing a path through the protective aura before reaching the monster’s body.