Chapter 1711 (1/2)
Not that Randidly had much time to inspect the various aches and Nether clogs throughout his body after Tellus finally spurted all the way into the Alpha Cosmos. He couldn’t even address the gurgling whine from his stomach. No sooner had the planet vanished than he looked up to find Velio Dunn barreling down toward him.
“Ten minutes starts…. Now…!” Velio cackled as he loomed a few meters above Randidly. This time Velio repeated the same attack that he had used against him during the first inspection of the Elite Squad. The one that had nearly collapsed the entire underground area. Velio mentally reached up and seized upon that massive bastard sword and each detail of the motion was so perfectly polished that it was almost impossible to visually distinguish between the two arms hanging at Velio’s side and the one reaching up for the sword.
Randidly watched it all happen without moving. At the moment, his muscles were only now starting to ease from their horrible, extended tension. His stomach bubbled uneasily as Tellus sank deeper within the Alpha Cosmos. His Nether Core was spinning wildly but barely producing any energy; he had drained it almost completely to steady the Nether Ritual earlier.
Not exactly ideal circumstances for this meeting… Randidly’s lips twisted. But strangely, he felt happy as he observed the imagined blow of Velio Dunn whipping through the intervening space, sheath still intact over his Engraved sword.
For so long, since he had been ambushed and driven deeper into the shaft beyond his ability to survive, Randidly had feared finding himself in exactly this situation. So many of the long bouts of training he had gritted his teeth and endured had been to prepare for exactly this. And now that he was in this moment, with Velio’s attack heading toward him…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 404!
This strike knocked the wind out of Randidly and made him realize that for all Velio’s flaws, he had gone ease with his cheap shot by using solely his physical body with the first blow. Compared to that, the potency of this image was overwhelming.
Even worse, Velio pursued the tumbling Randidly immediately. Randidly immediately scowled. You two-bit villain, where the hell is your monologue?!?
His bones aching from the first strike, Randidly raised his arms and kept them tight against his sides in a defensive posture. The image of the sword within the sheath smashed left, right, down, left, down: upon Randidly’s waiting form more and more abuse was heaped. Each moment Velio produced another concrete image that crashed into Randidly and set it teeth on edge.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
“What a pleasant experience!” Velio boomed with a gleeful smile on his face. But his expression quickly turned sharp as he effortlessly barraged Randidly with the image strikes. “You… you’ve certainly toughened up a bit since I saw you last, eh? Look at you, enduring when a single one of these pushed you to the brink of death the first time that we met! How am I supposed to feel, seeing you like this?”
BOOOOM! BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOM!
Randidly’s forearm fractured. Metal was scraped off his left arm from the force of Velio’s blows. But each second that passed allowed his heartbeat to quicken and his Nether Core to release waves of energy that reinforced his physical body. The strikes ‘massaged’ away the knots within Randidly’s muscles. His Uncommon Metabolism was able to barely keep abreast with the damage Velio unleashed. Every second allowed him to stabilize the positively stuffed sensation of his Alpha Cosmos and return to his peak state.
Influence +10!
Influence +10!
...
Just… endure it… block… block… Randidly’s eyes narrowed to slits. Already he had accumulated over 40,000 Influence, and it was still rising. At the same time, all three of Randidly’s images were swirling together, steadily physicalizing across his body as his mental energy returned. And in the depths of the Grim Chimera-
BOOOOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Velio moved quickly behind Randidly and slammed one of his image slashes against his back. Randidly catapulted forward and Velio materialized in front of him. He barely had time to reinforce his guard before another imagined strike smashed directly through his trembling arms and partially caved in his chest cavity. He felt a rib puncture his left lung
Congratulations! Your Skill the Yyrwood Flesh of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 394!
Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 405!
“But you know…” Gradually, the smile was slipping off of Velio’s face. He rolled his shoulders and flapped his arms as Randidly stabilized himself in space, watching him with narrowed eyes. “Somehow… the fact that you have improved so much, so quickly… really pisses me off, you know? Someone like you… someone who foolishly reinforces your body… should just die.”
Influence +10!
The pressure within Randidly’s chest was easing finally down toward manageable levels just as his recovery popped his ribs back into place and patched over his lung. His muscles were still a bit stiff from the aftereffects of the process, but his freedom of movement was steadily increasing.