The veins on Elder Thunder's head started to twitch upon hearing Gale's mockery.
"You are spouting too much nonsense for someone who is about to die." Elder Thunder glanced at Gale and readied himself to use [ Thunder Art - Rain ] to kill Gale once and for all.
"HAHAHA," Gale laughed out loud like someone who had gone insane. This stupefied Elder Thunder as to what was the reason for Gale's sudden burst of laughter.
Gale looked at Elder Thunder's stupefied reaction and said with a big grin. "Do you really think you can know me very well just from a few clashes and talks? You're wrong… Even I don't know myself fully, and what you are trying is just idiotic to me."
"So, I will let you have the honor of showing you one of my few sides." Gale took out the blood essence ball of Nakal from his storage ring.
Elder Thunder had seen that earlier but didn't focus on it much. But now that he looked at it carefully, he was beyond dumbfounded. He felt that if he could absorb it somehow, he could advance in leaps and bounds. His eyes flashed with greed; however, he was unsure if he could take that in one go. 'This potent energy…'
Elder Thunder wasn't able to finish his thought process when suddenly he saw Gale gulping that ball in one go. His eyes widened in shock at Gale's abrupt action. 'He will die.'
He wasn't quite right, but he wasn't off the mark.
In the past, Gale refined the blood essence slowly; he never took it all at once, knowing his body couldn't handle it - especially the ones with the most potent energy.
Just after the blood essence ball entered his stomach, a reaction occurred that burned his entire body and turned him red like a tomato. His body writhed with pain, but he endured it by gritting his teeth.
Then, flashing a smile on his face, he looked at Elder Thunder, who was giving him a weird look. "Hey, are you thinking I am trying to kill myself? Then I am sorry to bring you bad news, but I am not. I am going to kick your ass like this."
Gale vanished from his spot and came beside Elder Thunder in a split second.
Elder Thunder was a bit surprised by that, but not so much. 'His speed increased just a fraction.'
He easily swatted away Gale's spear thrust and went for killing blows.
Because he was in pain, Gale wasn't able to move his body properly and got injured from time to time. But Gale was able to heal those injuries at a faster rate because of the massive amount of blood essence.
Elder Thunder pondered silently as it happened right before his eyes. 'Am I helping him process through that massive amount of energy faster? But if so, then I can't injure him, and I can't even watch him process through this silently. It seems I have to strike a killing blow here and now.'
Elder Thunder used [ Thunder Art - Rain ], creating heavy injuries all over Gale, but that was still not enough to finish him. He became a bit stumped, as he felt he was slashing the hardest object in his life that wouldn't be cut down that easily.
Gale's injuries got healed again, this time almost taking away the redness all around his body.
'This little demon is making me use my las-' Elder Thunder wasn't able to finish when…
Puchi-Bam
Gale inserted his spear just a little into Elder Thunder's stomach, which was later blocked by a strong shield made of his spiritual energy.
"Tsk, don't tell me you have only that move as a finishing blow." Gale's dejected voice could be heard in Elder Thunder's ears, who was healing his injury while looking at Gale with a weird expression.
Elder Thunder asked Gale with heavy confusion. "How did you become so strong suddenly? I wasn't able to react to that. I can see your cultivation realm didn't increase despite refining that potent energy. What did you do?"
Gale cracked his neck and then said, "Why are you sounding like a boomer? There are so many ways to increase my strength. I don't have a limited imagination like you."
Elder Thunder gritted his teeth again in anger. He didn't know why he went to ask him these questions; perhaps it was a greedy desire in his heart to learn about these mystical treasures.
" [ Thunder Art - Heavenly Tribulation ] ." Elder Thunder shot toward Gale like a heavenly thunder, coming to punish Gale for his sins.
Gale used [ Burning Heart - Second Form - Killing God's Thrusts ] to block that attack.
BANG
With his newly found strength, Gale was able to tackle such a burst of attack that was full of energy without getting infrared. But the force behind that sends his body flying backward.
Gale was about to get his footing when he saw Elder Thunder had already arrived before him. 'Don't tell me this is a continuous, chained attack!?'
Only that could explain why Elder Thunder's next attack shot Gale's already-flying body further back.
Elder Thunder tossed Gale away toward the walls as Gale could only defend himself in such a barrage of attacks.
Finally, Gale's body shot toward the wall like a cannonball. He shifted his body in the air, wanting to use his feet to cushion himself against the wall.
BANG
But that failed miserably, as a crater appeared on the wall just the moment his feet touched it. However, he was at least able to slow down his flying momentum. He looked at Elder Thunder, who was coming at him at a rapid speed while bleeding all over his body.
Gale quickly ran his thought process in full throttle. 'The power behind his attack is increasing, and his speed too. Fortunately, I am much stronger than before, and his bleeding is affecting him too. But, I think I can't defend against this next attack properly. I might get seriously injured.'
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