Chapter 1221 (2/2)

Yes, that’s the word. Routine. She’s slowly coding in this excellence in fighting into her body as routine… That sort of mental discipline is admirable.

Meanwhile, Randidly spun around mid-air, turning his back on the rapidly recovering avatar, to hammer Sulfur’s huge fist toward it in a backhand blow. Although it easily blocked the attack, it was still flung to the side, directly toward Vualla’s position.

Vualla’s punch forced the avatar in front of her to retreat backward and she had plenty of time to smoothly transition into sending a calm punch toward the avatar that Randidly had sent her way. It recovered enough to block again, but even Randidly shivered at how sharp and incisive the image of Vualla’s punch was becoming.

Her fist had held all the same naked threat that a spear thrust would possess. The piercing purity of her attack was horrifying.

Yet Grim Intuition surged to life with a hurried warning as the avatar that Vualla was punching at exploded in a wave of almost one hundred of those thing blasts of white fire. The avatar vanished and left in its place an artillery strike that aimed for all of Vualla’s vital points with a buzzing intensity. Instantly, her gaze sharpened. Twisting sideways to present a smaller target, Vualla’s left arm flicked out left and right. Her jabs were so strangely sharp and delicate that she managed to harmlessly guide dozens of these lightning blasts away from her body.

Activating Man is Proud But the Chimera Takes, Randidly accelerated forward and smashed into the side of the other avatar, who was attempting to move and strike at Vualla’s back. The avatar reacted in time to blow the strike, but after it absorbed the momentum of the lance, Acri’s tip split open into its three heads and entangled the avatar’s limbs.

Yet even with her masterful reactions and without having to worry about the other avatar, Vualla wasn’t able to dodge all of the blasts. Nine ripped through the remnants of her ragged armor and cut into her flesh. Randidly’s eyes narrowed as he watched those blasts veer around him and head back toward Ileot himself.

Not sending them to attack again, huh…? Just taking it for yourself. And you didn’t blow this one up on me because you’ve already seen how I can take my own Aether back from your blasts...

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Detection has grown to Level 180!

Randidly felt a small shiver of fear as those blasts were reabsorbed into Ileot’s body. His available Aether surged upward, immediately becoming almost double the amount with which he had started this portion of the battle. Then he snapped his fingers again and conjured two more avatars next to him, dropping down to almost exactly as much Aether as he possessed when this started.

Now with the aid of three of those dangerous avatars.

Vualla, for her part, didn’t respond at all to the dozen or so small holes the blasts opened up in her body. She simply punched at the avatar that Randidly had entangled with Acri, triggering it to explode in another explosion of white fire beams. But this time, Vualla was ready. Although the power of her attacks wasn’t improving much at all anymore, Randidly could clearly see that the sharpness and the speed of her punches was growing.

This time, all of the beams were knocked away; not a single one scratched Vualla.

Immediately afterward, Randidly and Vualla exchanged a glance. Both accelerated toward Ileot at the same time as those two new avatars came downward to meet them. Gradually, the distance between them and Ileot was narrowing. The drop of condensed Aether that Randidly held in his chest continued to slowly pulse with power. He flexed his right hand, feeling the fractured bone itch as it settled back into place.

Again, Vualla led the way. Her speed shot upward as she applied that strange image of sharpness she used in her attacks to her movements. Perhaps it was because she was in an area governed by Nether, but she pierced through distance in a physically impossible way. Grinning, Randidly allowed her to shoot forward and once more wove together the Nether Ritual to create a World Tree that would function the same as those blue veins.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Ritual (A) has grown to Level 122!

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Ritual (A) has grown to Level 123!

From the way that Ileot’s eyes tightened, he recognized what Randidly was doing almost immediately. For the first time in a while, almost twenty white flames flickered to life around him and then shot downward to Randidly to try and distract him from his Nether Ritual. But with the experience that Randidly had from his previous use of the ritual, he completed the working much more quickly. After only a few seconds, Yggdrasil reappeared and spread its branches and roots throughout the surrounding area.

In an instant, Randidly flickered and appeared far to the left, nearer to Ileot but not so close that Ileot could pounce toward him before he could react. Perhaps responding to his emotions, the drop of liquid Aether shivered in anticipation.

All I need is one shot. Randidly narrowed his eyes. Vualla continued to accelerate forward, somehow slipping past the first avatar and unleashing a sharp punch at the second. It leaned backward, but very smoothly Vualla shot upward and stomped on its shoulder. The avatar tumbled downward back toward some of the debris from the old battlefield.

Like an azure comet, Vualla surged upward, her eyes intent on Ileot Swacc.