Fin didn't move as the staff crashed against her barrier. Slapping Monkey quickly pulled back, seeing that his attack was unsuccessful. She had tried to do the sensible thing. She really did. Her hands were forced. Anyone would understand that. Right?
Yeah, totally. It wasn't like she had been looking for a challenging fight. Nobody would be able to blame her for what came next. In the blink of an eye, Fin was covered in her whole equipment. In addition, she equipped a little gadget Seth had made on the road.
Slapping Monkey backed off a little, his eyes darting over the items that had appeared on her body and toward his sect, where his people were crushed by the giant tree. His attention was back on her when a group of golem knights appeared in the vicinity. She could almost see his white mane rise with tension.
“You guys make sure nobody above lv.70 escapes,” she instructed the golems loud and clear, so even the sect leader heard what she was saying. She couldn't neglect her mission just because something came up.
“You wretch!” Slapping Monkey exclaimed and attacked, incensed by her words. As the golem knights followed her command and ran toward the sect to spread out and surround it, the sect leader charged into the air, chasing the golems to stop them.
This might have worked against other members of Minas Mar, but Fin blocked his path with explosive speed. Four big, transparent fairy wings were spread out behind her, supporting her human-sized figure in the air.
“Ah, ah, ah. You got me in the mood, so take responsibility now,” she exclaimed and smashed the Frost Moth Dusters against each other, releasing a wave of mist.
“Out of my way, beast!” he exclaimed, and they engaged in a rapid trade-off of moves tumbling through the sky.
...
“Dog under the Bridge!” Shield.
“Rising Beggar!” Shield.
“Descend of Gratitude!” Shield.
He used various cudgel techniques in rapid succession to drive her into the corner and defeat the wretch. His disciples and martial brothers needed him. However, every strike was stopped by the invisible shield she covered herself in and countered with terrifying fist strikes.
Slapping Monkey managed to barely dodge her counters, but his rags were ripped he kept collecting superficial bruises. To think a sub-human had risen to such levels...The beast surpassed his expectations and kept up with his techniques, while his attacks could break through the layers of shield she surrounded herself with.
He had to cool his head and take this seriously. If he didn't approach this with reason, it would only stretch out the fight. The longer he was kept here, the more of his brothers fell. He took some distance, his eyes focused on the opponent.
The fist technique, although basic, was good. They displayed a high mastery of the basics of unarmed combat. Cultivators who took fist techniques to such heights were rare. Few chose to focus on this path, as artifacts and high-grade techniques were hard to come by
What worried him was the aura of the artifacts that suddenly appeared on her. His senses told him that they were all high earth-grade or heaven-grade. This was so inconceivable that he was inclined to doubt his own divine sense before believing it.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“Not bad, although I can't see your level, your strikes compare to the power of a lv.150 humanoid boss,” she spouted gibberish before charging at him again. Slapping Monkey smirked and stabbed forward with his cudgel.
“Donkey Rod-Extend!” he commanded and poured true essence into the staff. Covered in a yellow aura, the staff grew in length at incredible speed, crashing through the shields she covered herself with- and breaking them. The tip of the Donkey Rod aimed straight for her head.
The girls glowed in a silver aura for a moment, evading the rod with unprecedented speed. Then she countered with an incredibly powerful strike, which he barely managed to avoid. Was it an effect of her artifact that allowed her to dodge?
“Oh, it extends? Can it also become more girthy? That weapon might actually fit me way better than you...” she taunted. He didn't react; if anything, his thoughts only became colder.
Slapping Monkey decided to take a moment to observe her objectively. She was hiding her power. Ordinary attacks and techniques only left cracks in her shields. The cracks would mend after a short time, too.
If he layered his strikes, hitting the same spot in quick succession, he was able to break through one or two layers. Using the extending power of his cudgel, he was able to ascertain there were 4 layers of shields surrounding her.
Meanwhile, her fist came at various strengths. The lowest were comparable to the fist techniques of a Nascent Soul, despite being purely physical strikes. Others carried the aura of a foreign power, some of which were the strongest fist strikes he had ever faced. And she was not bound to using her fist, as she kept shooting invisible walls at him, like extensions of her fists.
He actually feared for his precious cudgel if he kept blocking those head-on. After over 100 exchanges in a matter of barely two minutes, he decided that he had seen enough and decided to unleash his domain. It was the only way to end things quickly.
“Domain of the Obscure Beggar,” he said calmly, creating an invisible bubble around himself that twisted the laws of the world in his favor. The opponent backed off when he activated his domain, but he used short-distance teleportation to appear right beside her.
The moment she entered his domain, the light in her eyes slightly dimmed. He had severed his will to defend himself. In his domain, everyone experienced the destiny of a beggar and the despair of being powerless. They become unwilling to resist. The cudgel descended to crush her head. In the last moment, he saw her try to evade like earlier, despite his domain taking away any will to resist! But it was too late!
CRACK!
The Donkey Rod smashed her head, and it was covered in cracks. For a moment, he was satisfied by the cracking sound, when he realized that this was very different from the sight and feeling he remembered of crushing heads.
Then he was hit by a strike more than ten times as powerful as anything he had seen from her before. However, he had severed the malice of the world. In his domain, all attacks were simply alms he accepted. The energy simply helped him recover. Still, it was enough to help her escape the range of his domain.
“Whoa...!” she exclaimed, pressed for any more words except, “ <Void of Hada> <Void of Hada> <Void of Hada!” she exclaimed the moment she recovered her senses, and a field of dark bubbles appeared around him, distorting space and causing massive explosions. However, in his domain, no harm existed.
Looking at her, he found the cracks on her head were already mending. She was actually covered in a skin-tight invisible barrier he had failed to notice before. But why had it protected her? She was not supposed to have any sense of self-preservation in his domain. Though she did seem to have a certain resistance to his domain...
“There is no point in attacking. Your attacks don't work,” he said coldly, as he appeared beside her. He wanted to grab her face and charge her into the ground below, but she actually managed to avoid him and flee his domain in the moments it took to affect her.
“Heh, don't expect that shit works on me twice, “ she said, lightly panting. He was struck by several invisible punches from afar. It seemed she had learned to keep her distance now. It was pointless on her part. Ignoring the attacks, he circulated his energy and charged at her again.
This time, he would not let her escape.
