Chapter 1142 (1/2)

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Avoidance (L) has grown to Level 219!

Randidly’s quick step backward carried him out of the orbit of Zauna’s wild swing. But she followed up with a surprisingly agile stride that brought her follow-up blow back on a rumbling path toward Randidly’s side. Truly, although her image wasn’t particularly complex, the exceeding level of detail meant that Zauna was quite capable.

Randidly’s eyes flashed. I could directly suppress her with Stats now that I have a body… but that misses the point. I’m her superior. It’s time I demonstrate that.

The Chimera Weeps, but Man Mourns.

Using his AOE ability, Randidly lashed out with a dozen quick strikes with Acri. The air hummed with the speed and intensity of the viper quick strikes. The blows cut shallow gashes in Zauna’s arm and torso, but the real damage it did was to bleed momentum away from her own heavy swipe. Randidly could see from the tightening of her eyes that she understood what was happening, but she had already committed too much of her power to the strike; she couldn’t quickly adjust her position to cope with his concentrated thrusts.

Randidly’s metallic left arm came up and physically caught the attack. Even with the loss of power from his flurry of strikes, Zauna’s punch still carried with it enough moxy that the metal of his limb groaned from the strain of stopping it. That had Randidly’s eyebrows up, but he supposed it was only a matter of time before the metal he had managed to create on Earth would begin to show wear.

The foes on the frontline were simply much more difficult to handle than those he had in mind when he made the limb. So far Randidly hadn’t needed to really address the issue when he fought from afar, but soon...

It was why he had kept the limb as far away as possible from Nether. Mostly, it was just the fact that his images had been a much more adolescent stage when he was on Earth. After the struggles of handling the frontlines here and the Great Rift, they had a sort of weight and depth to them that dwarfed what he had previously.

As the images he used to make the metal was much more shallow, any sort of image you could find on the front line could damage them. Even Zauna’s, who didn’t possess a body, was a threat.

Not like I could make any sort of changes here though… Randidly’s eyes flashed as he flexed his metallic arm and threw Zauna two steps backward. He lowered Acri’s tip toward Zauna’s chest. I suppose I could visit the Alpha Cosmos and see how feasible it would be to create a passable foundry there… Besides, I wanted to visit to see about creating something akin to a Nether Prince for myself from that world…

Man is Proud, but the Chimera Takes.

Congratulations! Your Skill Man is Proud, but the Chimera Takes (L) has grown to Level 185!

Even as Randidly began to explode forward with a level of acceleration that was likely only possible with Chimeric Avoidance suppressing wind resistance, he could see that Zauna’s eyes flashed as she understood what was about to happen. Her image flowed down around her, condensing into a tight ball of power in the exact spot in her chest that Randidly was aiming for.

Admirable reaction time, Randidly admitted. Still...

In this case, Randidly knew that it was possible to use his Control to adjust the angle of his thrust and impact another location on Zauna’s torso. It would be a less vital spot, but he could bypass the strength of her image entirely and do significant damage. Due to the short split second that would pass between the adjustment and the impact, as they were so close, Zauna wouldn’t be able to adjust no matter her sharp reactions.

Yet this was just a spar. Randidly didn’t truly want to kill her.

Just demonstrate why he was the one in charge. His thrust shot forward toward Zauna’s condensed image.

BOOOOM!

Zauna was blown backward like she was a baseball hit by a major leaguer’s swing. She zipped and bounced across the ground until she crashed and blew apart a large stone that had jutted out of the ground its entire existence just for this moment. And it was a blessing that she hit into that, because afterward-

BOOM!

...she crashed into the tall wooden fence that had been erected around Commander Terith’s camp. With the additional deceleration of hitting the stone, she simply cracked open the timbers and rolled a short distance further into the camp. Several soldiers rapidly rushed out of their tents, fearing another Nether attack, but when they found Zauna’s form struggling to stand, they could relax and shake their heads at these foolish fellow soldiers.

Chuckling, Randidly walked over and helped Zauna to her feet. “You took that well.”