Chapter 1286 The Greatest Variable
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Swoosh!
The blazing trail behind Shin formed a beautiful line in the air along with the dissipating embers that it had. The point where Shin previously stood and where he was right now were connected by this blazing trail, showing the spectators an amazing scene.
But Asmodeus and Lilith did not have the time to appreciate this scene as they were the target of the skill that Shin had used.
Lilith instantly canceled the advanced spell that she was trying to cast and instead summoned multiple layers of magic barrier to block the incoming attack while Asmodeus positioned himself in front of her and placed his sword horizontally in front of him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The magic barriers did not last even for a second as they instantly collapsed in front of the blazing tip of Shin's sword. He then continued moving forward and reached Asmodeus immediately before their swords collided.
The tip of the [Yamato] pressed on the surface of Asmodeus' sword, creating sparks that flew in different directions as they ground against each other.
Shin slightly raised his brows as he was impressed with the timing that Asmodeus had. The latter perfectly timed his block and accurately read the trajectory of the incoming attack, making the surface of his sword properly block the tip of his opponent's sword.
Moreover, his stance was also very firm and steady, which made him withstand all the heavy force behind this attack.
Not waiting for the opposing side to properly hold his ground, Shin quickly retracted the [Yamato] while swinging his other hand which now holding a majestic greatsword. The surface of its blade was filled with engravings of magical runes which were releasing a thick and heavy flow of earthen and metallic energy.
'Legacy Skill: Mondi's Style – Judgement Form'
'Elemental Spirit Possession (Metallic Earth): Summit Shaper'
Boom!
The surrounding ground felt like sinking as this greatsword appeared, especially when Astaroth fused with it.
The air, which was already too heavy to withstand due to the scorching heat and suffocating temperature, had become heavier.
Asmodeus had felt that his body was turning sluggish due to the sudden heaviness of the atmosphere. He also felt that the gravity within a certain radius around Shin had become stronger, which made it hard for him to do whatever he wanted.
Bang!
With a heavy step, Shin's foot sank into the ground and sent gravel and broken fragments of earth into the air.
Then he swung the greatsword with a force filled with heaviness of earth and toughness toward his opponent.
'Perfected Four Symbol Scripture: Divine Yellow Dragon – Mountain Crusher'
It was the same move that he had used earlier, but executed differently and carried a much stronger force and denser elemental energy.
Swoosh!
Asmodeus' face suddenly turned ugly as he saw the descending greatsword. Not only did it carry an unstoppable force, but it also exerted a heavy pressure that was pressing on him during its descent. This pressure prevented him from moving his feet.
Adding the sudden increase of gravity, trying to retreat would be close to impossible!
Fortunately, he was not alone. Lilith was already preparing her spell at that moment and ready to unleash them. But when she saw Asmodeus unable to move his feet and realized that it was already too late to cast a protective spell to save, she redirected her target and hit her partner instead.
She skillfully controlled the power of her spell and greatly weakened it before firing it to the land beside Asmodeus, blasting him away in the process.
Bang!
It was because of this action that she was able to save her partner from being cleaved in halves by Shin's strike.
Boom!
An explosion quickly erupted right after the greatsword landed on the ground, sending shockwaves in every direction, and splitting the earth with a deep fissure.
A cloud of dust quickly swallowed Shin due to the strong impact, which also hid him from the side of his opponent.
Lilith suddenly had a bad premonition when she saw that spread cloud of dust, so she quickly waved her scepter and teleported away from her current location.
Puff!
But right after she appeared in her new location, she heard a soft puffing sound coming from the cloud of dust. When she raised her head to look over, she saw a huge hole in the middle of it along with the flashing silhouette that was heading toward her direction.
Looking closer, she saw an exquisite rapier that magically appeared on Shin's hand, swapping with the majestic sword that he was holding earlier.
'Legacy Skill: Mondi's Style – Conviction Form'
'Elemental Spirit Possession (Blood): Blood Thirster'
Shin did not have any energy control regarding the blood elemental mana, but this form of the sword was perfect for the 'Conviction Form', so he rather used this possession to have a proper boost in stats when using a rapier.
Moreover, this did not mean that he could not use his other energy application and breathing technique along with it. He could just combine them and produce a better result.
Shin could not do this before since his body could not withstand the reaction the two different powers would cause after fusing. They were different from the powers of the Brilliant Sun and Abyssal Moon since he had the Yin-Yang Breathing Technique for them.
But it was different now. With the stats that the Tier 3 Class provided him, he now had a suitable vessel to withstand this kind of energy manipulation.
Swoosh!
The rapier was suddenly lit ablaze as he used the Solar Breathing Technique, controlling the fire elemental mana in the surroundings and fusing it with it. Then he stabbed the rapier forward right before Lilith's foot touched the ground.
'Perfected Four Symbol Scripture: Celestial Vermillion Bird – Pheonix Talon'
Swoosh!
The pupils of Lilith contracted as she stared at the rapidly magnifying tip of the sword right in front of his eyes while it was heading straight to the middle of her brows.
Whoosh!
But before the rapier could even reach her, Asmodeus suddenly arrived and swung his sword upwards, redirecting the course of the stabbing rapier.
Clang!
Puchi!
It was able to graze the forehead of Lilith, but it did not deal that much damage as she avoided the fatal strike.
Ta-ta!
Without further ado, she quickly used another teleportation spell to disappear from this spot and reappear in a different location.
In the meantime, Asmodeus released a demonic flame that enfolded his entire being along with his sword while planning to exchange blows with Shin.
Shin welcomed the gesture and flipped the rapier in his left hand transforming it into an ordinary-looking longsword.
'Legacy Skill: Mondi's Style – Meteor Form'
Then Astaroth suddenly fused with it, transforming its appearance into a smaller version of the greatsword that he was holding earlier.
It was a similar Elemental Spirit Possession but with a version that used the longsword as the main medium. It was a version where the dominant force was the Mental Element instead of Earth.
'Elemental Spirit Possession (Earthen Metal): Summit Shaper'
With the [Yamato] on his right and the [Summit Shaper] on his left hand, Shin executed a series of slashes that instantly filled his opponent's vision.
'Myriad Transformation Swordsmanship: Infinity Edge'
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Inspired by the previous combat techniques that he had created along with the real version of it from the 'Yin-Yang Swordsmanship', Shin had recreated this sword technique and integrated it with his new system.
And since he already had the experience of creating a personal combat technique within the game, creating a new one was not much of a problem, much less using his previous technique as its main model and incorporating it with his new swordsmanship.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The metal flashes and blazing trails produced by his series of attacks quickly overwhelmed Asmodeus despite his absolute utilization of his best combat techniques and sword skills within the game.
He was forced to constantly retreat while exchanging blows with Shin. It was clear that he was losing his footing as the battle continued. It would only take a few more exchanges before he lost.
Fortunately, Lilith had his back. Whenever he was about to lose his footing or about to get killed by a final strike from Shin. She was able to save her partner at the most crucial moment by suppressing Shin with her spells.
With her assistance, Asmodeus was starting to regain his footing and was able to get back to his rhythm.
Even if Shin tried to target Lilith first, Asmodeus would always appear at the right moment, saving her in time.
Even if Shin tried to shake Asmodeus off, Lilith had enough combat prowess to exchange a couple of blows against him in a melee battle. Moreover, Asmodeus also had a couple of range spells that he could throw in a distance, which was also perfectly timed that Shin had to drop the idea of chasing after Lilith and block them instead.
With this battle, Shin had a rough idea of how these two fought. One of them acted as a supporting character whenever one was trapped in a difficult predicament while the other had enough strength to either hold their opponent or stick to them when needed.
With all of these, the battle was forced into a deadlock once again.
Shin did not expect that these two would give him this much trouble when they fought together. He must admit that he had underestimated them greatly, but that did not mean that the two could relax either since they were starting to feel the pressure from Shin as the battle progressed.
It might be their imagination, but they felt that Shin's fighting style was gradually getting stronger and becoming more polished, which was giving them more pressure as time went by.
Little did they know that they were right. Shin was indeed polishing his fighting style and swordsmanship, which made him forget his initial plan of finishing this battle as soon as possible.
He did not have the time to try this battle style, where he was constantly using Mondi's Style and different breathing techniques along with his Elemental Spirit Possession, during his Class Promotion Quest.
It was because it was forbidden to rely on his Elemental Spirits during that time.
He only had the thoughts and theories inside his head but did not have the time to put them into practice.
Now that he had gotten the chance to use them in actual combat, Shin could not help but feel a little addicted. He wanted to thoroughly polish them and further perfect his self-created swordsmanship, the Myriad Transformation Swordsmanship.
He was starting to enjoy the process and got engrossed in this battle.
And as he grew stronger, Asmodeus and Lilith started to see what kind of monster this person was.
That time when Mammon was fighting Shin, he once said that Shin was a 'monster close to perfection'.
This pair might not know what Mammon had said during that time, but he could feel the same feeling that he had at that very moment.
"A monster close to perfection," mumbled the two at the same time while also picturing a certain person that their leader once described.
They knew that 'he' was not Shin, but they could not help themselves but compare him to 'that' person.
"We can't let him progress more!"
"We have to hinder him as much as possible!"
Thought the couple after exchanging glances with each other. They fully understood that Shin would become the greatest variable that would hinder the great plan of their leader, they had to take him down at least once and continuously hunt him until he could no longer get back up on his feet.
The problem was that Shin was already strong enough to protect himself against any of the members of the Pandemonium Troupe.
That was unless the top five leaders made their move personally.
They just hoped that those leaders would immediately realize how much of a threat Shin was to them and their entire organization.
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