Chapter 682 - 682: How to deal with enemies from all sides (part 6)
“I see, it makes sense, for a second there I was a having a hard time believing someone like her actually achieved something decent”, said Lyn as she nodded in agreeance to Daimon’s answer, to which he said.
“If she was the real deal, forget about having to resort to a different type of energy, she would have been able to kill most people within the same major realm, relying only on power equal to the early stage of said realm and a single type of energy”.
Daimon has seen what being able to use powers of another path, does to the original path of someone talented over time before, in two different cases to be exact, but let’s not get sidetracked.
“Well, you two aren’t included in the “most people” category, but either way she wouldn’t be losing by facing two people a whole major realm lower than her”, added Daimon after a second.
‘Unless the opponent was a monster like you of course’, mumbled Eve from within Daimon’s mind.
“What did you say!”, listening to the masked silver haired youth calling her a downgraded imitation, as well as Lyn casually looking down on her like usual, made Claire see red.
Because the jealous expression she expected to see on Lyn, due to her newly acquired power, not only didn’t appear, but she now seemed to disdain her even more.
As a result, the black-green nether that was mixing with the green-blue energy that was cladding her body, suddenly skyrocketed.
“Crack!”, the ground below Claire’s feet cracked on the spot, her legs exploded in black-green nether, and the next second she had disappeared from plain sight, which made Lyn frown.
“Upwards…”, while the sky-blue haired girl still managed to communicate her prediction of Claire’s next movement, she was a bit too late and Arianna also lacked the time to properly react.
“Piercing Thrust!”, accompanied by Claire becoming visible once again, a few meters above Arianna, a large black-green stream of nether descended upon the wolf eared girl.
Of course, Arianna didn’t depend on Lyn to fight, they were working together to face their opponent after all, so while a bit late to dodge, her hair, wolf ears and tail dyed of a bright red color as a giant red wolf manifested with Arianna as its origin.
“Booom!”, the descending pillar of black-green nether reached the wolf instantly and after a second of resistance, it pierced a hole where it landed, coming out at the other side to then continue its way into the ground, leaving a deep perfectly symmetrical circular hole into it when it disappeared.
It’s worth mentioning that before Claire’s attack ended, the giant red wolf which had a “wound” on its back and stomach, had already gotten away and that wasn’t all, Lyn wasn’t standing in her previous position too, she had appeared above into the air, near Claire, with her right fist cladded in a blue energy ring.
“Clang!”, Lyn’s punch was met head on by a blue-green energy arrow that was shot by Claire’s left hand, the attacks clashed a few meters away from Claire, exploding at contact, producing the sounds of metals colliding as the green-blue energy tried to pierce its way through the sky-blue energy shockwave which disrupted its advance.
Ultimately resulting in a cloud of energy out of which Lyn came out the next second, as for Claire she had appeared next to Arianna, by the time Lyn landed on the ground after the previous clash.
“Humph!”, softly snorting at the fact that Claire apparently thought she was easier to deal with, Arianna who was inside the giant red wolf, used its right paw to claw at Claire who thrusted the black corroded chain she was using as an improvised spear thanks to her nether.
Sparks and a screeching metallic sound were produced as the red wolf’s claws collided against the spear, or more accurately the black-green nether that was enveloping it, which made it seem as if the wolf’s claws couldn’t even reach the black corroded chain.
Of course that wasn’t the case, what happened is that Claire’s both nether and energy had the property of piercing and thus it pushed even the air in front of it creating a stream of pressure on its way as a side product, which was basically the Keran’s Shooting Narwhal’s race main property.
That being said and while being the one from which that originated, which is why besides the pressure part, Claire race’s energy also had defense destroying properties, the physical impact aspect of it was lacking.
But Claire was now making up for that by having awakened nether that focused on pure physical power, it wasn’t battle aura though, it’s just that nether at its early stages is not divided in mana or battle aura form and it can develop into either of them depending on its user and the base used for it, Claire just so happened to be going in the battle aura direction, but she isn’t there yet.
That’s why Daimon said that she is a mere downgraded imitation, because he is sure she has awakened nether since some time ago and yet she is stuck in that state up to this day.
While both Jasmine and the nelapsi girl reached that point within the same day they awakened it, Sarah doesn’t count because she was directly able to use nether battle aura since she awakened it, and what’s more she can use the mana form too, as she has proven to, back at her fight with the Lords when she stole their nether, among which there was Reed’s which is mana.
That doesn’t mean she is like Daimon who can use both pure mana and battle aura, in her case it’s more because nether doesn’t have such a clear and firm division between the energy and physical aspects, like normal mana and battle aura have.
It needs further investigation, but Daimon’s theory of the cause behind of it, is that nether’s most important aspect is the emotion imbued into it, so with high enough talent and interpretation of their base, a nether user might be able to cheat its way through that limitation.
Of course, we are talking about someone on Sarah’s level when it comes to nether understanding and manipulation talent and as the Lords showing regret of not having done their utmost best to kill her back when they could, suggested, that’s not a normal occurrence.
Anyway, as much as Claire hacked away at the potential of what she could have become, it is also true that she has indeed obtained and integrated a strong physical aspect to her powers, through her nether.
“Piercing Spear”, and as a proof of the previous, she thrusted the corroded chain which remained straight due to her nether, forcing Arianna and the giant wolf backwards on the spot.
‘That’s closer to a martial art than a spell’, thought the werewolf girl as she felt the strong pushing force that was being distributed through the body of the giant red wolf, ultimately sending it flying backwards.
The giant wolf safely landed on the ground a second later and before Claire could continue her assault on Arianna, she was forced to retreat by a sky-blue colored ring which suddenly appeared in her way, to then explode.
“Booom!”, a giant shockwave made Claire click her tongue, she placed the corroded chain which she was using as an improvised spear in front of her, in order to block the impact of the shockwave which allowed her to come out unscathed even though it happened too close to her, though as a result she was forced back into the distance.
As for the culprit behind of the previous, Lyn who came out of a sky-blue colored flash that landed next to Arianna, casually said.
“You noticed it too, right?”, to which Arianna nodded in response.
“Yeah, she tried really hard to cover it up, but the fighting style she is using with that annoying nether of hers… resembles yours”, mumbled Arianna.
“Mm, people say that imitation is the sincerest form of admiration, but it sure is displeasing to see that traitor copying the basics of my fighting style”, mockingly said the sky-blue haired girl, making Claire who was about to charge at her to get angry due to embarrassment.
Those two’s conclusion was right, though her weapon of choice back then was a bow since her base was that of a mage and she focused in wide area middle and long ranged energy attacks, as the arrows of energy she was using to fight Arianna and Lyn at the start of the fight, suggested.
After she awakened her nether, she needed to make adjustments to her fighting style, because she wanted to become proficient in close combat too, and for that she went on and adapted the basics from Lyn family’s fighting style, which unlike Claire’s does indeed cover all, close, middle and long range.
Claire thought that she had hid it really well, but how could she trick the youngest Throne candidate and probably most talented ever when it comes to combat, member of the Alabaster Horned Dolphin race.
Speaking of the alabaster dolphin princess, seeing the clearly embarrassed expression Claire’s face after getting caught, Lyn didn’t forget to kick her when she was down.
“What, did you think that just because you are using a “spear” to make it look as if it was created with your piercing attribute in mind, I wouldn’t notice it, it seems like the information those White shark bastards have about mine and Pheli’s families is really lacking”.
“After all, depending on the situation imbuing our attributes in weapons besides gauntlets for punches or leg armor for kicks, becomes available either at a high enough level, or from the very beginning”, she said while stealing a gaze in Daimon’s direction.
‘I guess the sister race from which Mellie and Annete descend can do so from the beginning, while Lyn’s race requires them to reach a certain realm and mastery over it, before being able to adapt their attribute for weapons that aren’t in direct contact with their bodies’, thought Daimon.
Lyn herself affirmed that unlike the crystal dolphin race, her alabaster horned dolphin race focuses in using their own “rhythm” against others, instead of analyzing the one of others, which is interestingly similar to how the knight path compares with the mage one, and it also aligns to the fact that all the combat-focused members of Lyn’s race are knights.
“So, how do we deal with her?”, asked Arianna to the sky-blue haired girl, to which Lyn shrugged in response.
“No need for any complicated stuff, there is a reason as to why no knight of my race uses any other type of weapon until the later realms, even I was still in the process of learning other weapon arts, it’s annoying that she chose a spear like myself, but I guess that’s because is easy to go from the explosive fist style to a spear one”.
“She is just a poor imitation, so there is no way she has gotten past the delay of imbuing her weapon with her attribute, that’s why she is wasting all that energy to clad it in an excess of it all the time, she was just faking to be bragging about her higher realm to cover that up, but in fact the longer the battle drags on, the more at disadvantage she’ll be”, she said.
Claire who listened to the previous, trembled due to anger, no matter what she did, her tricks were easily seen through by Lyn and what’s worse she was being looked down by her once again.
“That’s enough!”, since all the tricks she tried were seen through, then she no longer put focus on that, instead Claire decided to stop holding back, and so the combination of energy and nether that was cladding her body, went from only reaching a few centimeters away from her skin, to expand a few meters around her in every direction.
“Crack!”, the moment Claire moved, the ground below her instantly exploded, her speed surpassed Lyn’s current capacity to predict her movements, however Arianna didn’t need to be told by anyone that she was being targeted.
Which is why the moment Claire started throwing a fit, her hair, wolf ears and tail had already dyed red and the giant wolf started manifesting around her, just in time for the enemy to use the black corroded chain as a spear and thrust it at pointblank towards the giant red wolf.
“Boooom!”, alongside the right front leg of the red giant wolf being blasted away due to the direct impact of Claire’s attack, the now incomplete wolf was sent flying into the distance a few hundreds of meters before Ariana managed to use the claws on the remaining frontal leg to stop her retreat.
That being said, through the now thinner areas of the giant wolf, Arianna who had a red trace of blood coming out from the right corner of her mouth, could be seen, however she ultimately had tanked Claire’s attack head on and only received a little wound due to it, which resulted in Arianna mockingly smiling at the enemy.
She could do so, because accompanied by a low sizzling sound, the blood trace evaporated and the missing right leg of the giant red wolf, was back in a fraction of a second.
But now wasn’t the time to be surprised by Arianna’s recovering capacities, Lyn who didn’t miss the opening created by Arianna drawing Claire’s focus, appeared in front of Claire, this time both her right and left wrists had sky-blue energy rings around them.
“Damn it!”, just like Lyn had previously stated, Claire had trouble going from her close combat fighting style to her original one, so the delay in between allowed Lyn to approach her, while diminishing the amount of time Claire had to counterattack.
As a result, Claire had no other choice but to make use of her biggest advantage over those two, the larger reserves of energy that came with a higher realm, to release a large wave of green-blue energy that intercepted Lyn’s punches.
“Boooom!”, the shockwave produced by Lyn’s attacks and Claire’s piercing energy, produced a thunder-like sound that reverberated through the vicinity, this time the energy clash had a shorter duration though, and while Claire was forced backwards due to it, Lyn had to retreat all the way to where Arianna was.
“Hahaha that’s more like it, just die and get out of my way for once and all!”, exclaimed Claire as she turned into a giant sphere of black-green nether and green-blue energy which shot towards those two.
“Clang!”, however very much unlike what Claire expected, the moment she blinked, instead of piercing though both Arianna and Lyn which was her purpose when she used such a large amount of both nether and energy, she found herself stuck in place.
What’s worse is that it took her a moment to realize what was going on, because she didn’t recognize the clashing sensation, that came from the point where her energies were colliding with the enemy, as it didn’t feel like neither the wolf’s claws nor Lyn’s explosive punches.
“What the hell!”, she wasn’t the only one surprised, even Daimon couldn’t help but feel interested at the current scene, because the right paw of the giant red wolf had a sky-blue ring wrapped around it, and that’s what stopped Claire’s advance.
Not for long though, but unlike the previous clash, both the giant red wolf and Claire were forced back for the same distance, and as if that wasn’t enough, the mouth of the giant red wolf opened and the voice that Claire wanted to hear the least came out of it.
“What were you saying?”, of course that was just a rhetoric question to purposedly annoy the hell out of Claire, because at the same time sky-blue energy rings appeared on the four legs of the giant red wolf, and the next thing Claire knew is that the giant red wolf had appeared in front of her, to then open its mouth.
“Awoooo!”, a combination of the giant wolf releasing a stream of red energy through its howling, and a sky-blue energy ring which appeared around the wolf’s neck, making the howl also produce a huge blue shockwave, hit Claire who barely managed to thrust the black corroded chain with both of her hands, frontwards.
“Crack!”, the result was both the black corroded chain and the ground in a hundred meters in front the giant red wolf, immediately cracked and were then reduced to pieces of debris that flew in the same direction as the shockwave which engulfed Claire, dragging her a few hundreds of meters away into the distance.
That being said, the giant red wolf immediately dissipated revealing the two girls that were inside of it a second ago.
“Phew, did you have to be so savage, I could barely maintain it enough for the combined technique to somewhat work…”, said Arianna whose hair, wolf ears and tail returned to their original color while she tried to catch up her breath.
“Oh, come on don’t act like a boring old woman, our abilities turned out to be surprisingly more compatible than what I expected, so I simply got a “bit” too into it”, casually said Lyn as she shrugged, which made Arianna’s right eyebrow twitch on the spot.
But before she could scold Lyn for completely disregarding the limit she told her about, they were interrupted by a loud angered scream as the giant pile of debris that resulted from the previous attack, exploded.
“Aghhhh!”, the tone behind of it was both pained and angered, for a good reason, Claire who didn’t manage to completely react in time had bruises on her arms which she used to protect herself, but she still missed her right cheek, so she looked as if she had been slapped right across the face.
And seeing Lyn giggling at her the very moment she became visible; it became obvious that it was the sky-blue haired girl’s doing.
But the literal slap she took to the face, wasn’t the worst part of it, no, the worse was the figurative slap she took to the face, because unlike her who had to waste a large amount of energy to project the physical focused nether on something that wasn’t in direct contact with her body, Lyn just demonstrated to be able to pull it off while being at the Lord rank, and after having spent countless years fighting to regain her freedom, unlike her who had it easier thanks to the help of the Lords.
“The most ironic part about the conflict that your family initiated is that if it was solved through a duel between representatives of the young generation, like you guys wanted, whoever your family would have chosen would have been long dead at this point”.
“The Vallmery didn’t reject it in favor of us, but of you, after all, unlike other members of my family, I have been able to project my attribute on other things besides my body ever since I became a knight, the only limitation is that the object in question has to be incredibly tough or it will break from the inside, even my battle avatar would take damage from doing so which would make Pheli scold me, so I don’t like to use this roundabout method”, she said to then gaze at Arianna as she added.
“Who would have thought, that I would find someone capable of manifesting something with a structure similar to a battle avatar, but with an energy base instead of battle aura, that also doesn’t transfer any damage to its creator even if it’s damaged from the inside”.
“The fact that the wolf being destroyed doesn’t have a negative repercussion on me, besides losing some of the energy used for it, doesn’t mean you can purposedly be a brute, you know”, said the werewolf girl as she softly snorted.
Claire was so embarrassed that she felt as if her face was itching, or at least that’s what she thought before she realized that it wasn’t just her face, all the parts of her body which were exposed had a tingling sensation, which then spread to the rest of her body.
“What the hell is…”, while in the middle of wondering what was going on, Claire’s body was engulfed by a bright yellow sphere of energy, which then took the form of a tiger closing its mouth, she really was having a bad day with animal-shaped techniques.
“Storm Tiger Seal”, accompanied by the voice of a certain little tiger girl that just returned to this battlefield, the tiger head shaped sphere of bright yellow energy exploded, spreading arcs of electricity all over the area where Claire was standing a second ago.
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