Chapter 1342 (2/2)

Congratulations! Your Skill Innate Violence (Ru) has grown to Level 197!

Illym spun smoothly out of the way of his strike and crouched down, bringing her blade around in a cut that was slice open Randidly’s stomach. But the practice in forcing together Innate Violence and the inspiration of Ignition Essence was starting to bear some fruit; Randidly’s eyes glowed emerald as he saw that shape of her reaction a split second before it occurred.

He brought his knee brutally up, slamming it into the pommel of her sword before she could bring the blade around. Illym’s eyes tightened and instantly Randidly had to endure a blast of scalding heat. Illym’s image seemed to raise its head and roar. Even with the presence of his Nether suppressing her image and Ignition Essence acting as a buffer, Randidly’s skin dried and cracked in a second underneath the onslaught of that heat.

But it was bearable.

Congratulations! Your Skill Stigma of the Lifeless Phoenix (L) has grown to Level 263!

Illym hopped lightly backward, opening up some space for her monstrous image to do its work on ripping away at Randidly’s Stamina. And already he could feel himself tiring underneath the overwhelming assault of the image. But today was a day where Randidly had to face the knowledge that the first threats were coming to Earth, sooner than he expected, aiming to cripple his world.

Whether it was necessity or simply fury, Randidly did not back down from pushing himself to his limit. As it had when Randidly had first heard the news, the flames of Ignition Essence quivered and then began to shrink. And as they did so, they released a frightful heat that warped the air around Randidly’s body.

Standing on the boundary area where the two heats intersected, Randidly’s entire body seemed to warp and sway. It was honestly a little similar to the result of using too much Nether.

Left and right, Randidly threw out Talon Strikes as soon as Illym set her feet enough for Randidly to pin her down. The first she blocked with her arm, the second she deflected with the blade, and from the third forward she dodged the blow; she learned very quickly that Randidly’s Nether Brawn was an area that he completely suppressed her. Her feet were light and sure as she continued to maintain some distance.

Wave after wave of heat battered against Randidly’s body.

In addition, her movements were increasingly fluid as she began to match the pace of his assault, but Randidly forcefully ripped through air resistance to increase the speed of his attacks. His body began to steam, not because of the scalding images, but simply because the friction between his body and the air had reached a ridiculous level. Randidly lashed outward and Illym hastily retreated across her room. The heat between them continued to rise.

Of course, the room wasn’t infinite in length. It was ostentatiously large, of course, but perhaps only ten meters from the point that they had started to the wall. But it truly was a contest of who could hold out for longer. Even with Nether Brawn and a ridiculous amount of Stamina fueling him, Randidly felt his vision beginning to fade away at the edges. Ignition Essence continued to grant him flashes of inspiration on Illym’s responses, but now all he could react with was instinct.

Higher cognitive function was beginning to fade in the face of that pounding heat, and the quality of his Skills and images and Nether were not entirely at fault.

Because even as Randidly fought against the oppressive heat of the image, he could also feel the slowly growing headache as this projected experience deviated further and further from what originally happened. It was still mild now, but with him forced to deal with both of these forces…

Clang!

Illym’s heel finally hit the back wall of her room, meaning that she could no longer dodge his Talon Strikes. So she brought up her blade and knocked it away with all the force that she could muster. Her arms shuddered and Illym grimaced as she was forced to clash with Randidly directly.

Trails of steam lingered after Randidly’s arms as he physically ripped them back into a ready position and unleashed another few Talon Strikes. He finally had this chance. He wasn’t going to miss this-

When Ignition Essence screamed out in warning, Randidly didn’t hesitate. But he hadn’t been able to completely shrug off the exhaustion from these few frantic seconds of assault. As Illym’s sword began to glow cherry red, Randidly was just a second too late in pulling himself out of the way.

Congratulations! Your Skill Innate Violence (Ru) has grown to Level 198!

Randidly’s right hand hit the ground in a spatter of blood before rolling across a pair of smoldering foot impressions he had left on the ground. His expression was miserable as he looked down at his metallic left hand and the stump of his right arm. Fucking seriously? Couldn’t my metal arm get cut here?!?Just…

“Damnit,” Randidly whispered to himself. True, he was improving in combining Ignition Essence and Innate Violence, but that wasn’t enough. He hadn’t figured out how to resolve the paradox of Ignition Essence or had an idea about its form. And although Randidly was improving some of his lessor physical Skills, how much would that help against Kaan Swacc-

“I get it now.”

Randidly looked up sharply. Illym kept her blade pointed in his directions, but her shoulders relaxed as she stared at him. “You are here seeking strength. To test yourself against me. Heh. And to think that I… well, no matter. Consider that hand the price you had to pay to for interrupting my business.”

“I…” Randidly blinked rapidly. The headache from the mental exhaustion of using the Dreamcatcher of the Long Night was slowly growing.

Illym shifted her stance and inserted the still glowing tip of her sword into the floor in front of her. Then she looked him up and down with critical eyes. “So, do you want it? Advice on how to become strong.”

The headache grew worse. Things were deviating very quickly.