Chapter 1038 (2/2)

Randidly relied on Chimeric Avoidance to endure the blast of cold and then ripped holes in the Judgment’s armor with several rapid strikes by using the Chimera Weeps, but Man Mourns. Then he lowered his spear and prepared for another Man is Proud, but the Chimera Craves from point-blank.

The Judgment’s dark eyes blinked as it considered its shattered armor. “You… why aren’t you frozen?”

“I avoided it,” Randidly said lightly. Then all his weight and momentum blasted forward in a piercing strike.

Despite how quickly the attack traveled forward, the Judgment somehow had the wherewithal to let go of one of his hammers and simply bring around one of its paws to try to seize Acri out of the air. “Chilling Grasp!”

But of course, Acri was not a normal spear; it easily flexed out of the way and avoided the Judgment’s hasty grasp. Although Acri’s strike was now out of the picture, Randidly still possessed the overwhelming forward momentum to strike at the Judgment and he wasn’t about to waste this chance. His emerald eyes blazed with the thrill of the fight.

For a split second, Randidly’s left hand flexed to reveal a thin triangle of darkness that had been previously hidden there. But then Randidly’s hand closed as he forcefully dismissed the Skill. No, better to not reveal it now in case someone is watching. My usage of Nether should be saved for an emergency.

Instead, Randidly unleashed a Talon Strike empowered by Catalyst of Agony while simultaneously casting Reach of the Jade Slag behind the Judgement. Randidly’s palm slammed against the Judgment’s face even as he was forced to rely once more on Chimeric Avoidance to not get turned into an ice statue just by touching the damn thing’s furr. The fucking boost the System was giving the Judgement was no joke. It seemed like the Judgment had some passive defensive Skill that was similarly empowered.

Then the Reach of the Jade Slag ripped into the Judgment’s back, staggering it further. Randidly followed up with several sharp thrusts with Acri.

But the Judgment had seen these strikes before and wove its body back and forth to avoid the worst of the attacks. When it pulled back, its torso only had three shallow gashes that were rapidly freezing over. Then it raised its hand and pointed at Randidly “Flash Freeze.”

Howling, Randidly spun away and clutched his right hand. Acri, covered in a layer of ice almost a foot thick, clunked to the ground. Randidly hopped backward to open up some distance while he tried to restore feeling to his right hand. But the Judgment lowered its shoulders and dashed forward with the intention to take advantage of his weakness.

“You know, my Skill Level for that Skill is barely a hundred. Yet with the System’s support… heh, this might be more enjoyable than thought. Let’s see how long you can manage to ‘avoid’ me.”

Randidly gestured sharply. “Infinite Fingers of Yggdrasil.”

If one root froze in the Judgment’s obnoxious Domain, a second shot up to take its place. If a dozen froze, a hundred would come surging upward. If that wasn’t enough, Randidly threw a thousand jagged and thorn-covered roots upward. His Mana hummed with activity as he spared no expense to buy himself some time to recover. Tingling spikes of sensation were only now coming back to his right hand as the blood flow sluggishly continued to move through his veins.

“White Out.”

Thousands of roots were frozen into crystalline statues in a single moment. Even Randidly, standing behind them all, released a shuddering breath as Chimeric Avoidance barely managed to weasel his body out form being physically frozen solid. Snow began to heavily fall around them. Winds whipped up at the sudden drop in temperature.

Randidly grinned darkly down at his bare toes. Hopefully, I don’t get frostbite.

The Judgment strode up to Randidly. Briefly, Randidly considered trying to open up some distance again, but that would likely draw another blast of an overpowered Skill. Instead, he stood still and let the Judgment approach.

“You really won’t go peacefully?”

Randidly just smiled.

After shaking his head, the Judgment pointed at Randidly. “Flash Freeze.”

All Things Succumb, Yet Time Whirls the Earth.

For a split second, Randidly was another version of himself, one that burned with an internal fire. The image in his chest was the molten core of the world, a thing of industry and ash and avarice that could never be satisfied.

Roaring, that version of Randidly forcefully endured the Flash Freeze and took a step forward.

But in the next moment, Randidly was back to himself and the Judgement was blinking in surprise and opening his mouth to speak. “White-”

Randidly smashed his Willpower against the Judgments, activating Eternal Cravings of the Wraith to suck away Stamina, Mana, and breath from the Judgment. Of course, stopping it from calling out the Skill wouldn’t do anything. But the forceful taking was enough to distract it into canceling the Skill.

Which left Randidly time to run the Judgment through with Acri, who immediately trilled in pleasure. It was at that point that the Judgement ignored its wound and brought both of its hands smashing toward Randidly’s temples. One hand held a golden hammer, but the other simply twisted into a claw and ripped upward.

Randidly flexed his previously numb hand and used it to launch a Molten Fang of the Pariah toward the Judgment’s hand. His attack destroyed his opponent’s momentum, but it also left his right hand encased in ice. And Randidly’s left hand…

Looking over, Randidly could see the energy in the Engravings of his shoulder failing as the cold grew too intense. He could only watch as the golden hammer shot closer to his temple.

Grinning, Randidly twisted and spat out blood than immediately froze into a small pebble-sized bit of red snow that smacked against the Judgment’s nose. His body was still trembling from the first activation of All Things Succumb, and Randidly didn’t want to push things too far. All he wanted to do was have a bit of fun before he was sent to the battlefield.

And if he also learned a bit about how the System could empower Skills, that was a convenient bonus.

The hammer struck the side of Randidly’s head and brought with it ice, submerging Randidly into the wide darkness of unconsciousness.