Reaper of the Martial World

Chapter Book 8: 106: One (1)

Book 8: Chapter 106: One (1)

The two sentinels surged forward, weaving back and forth.

Their style had completely changed once more. Before, they fought as though they were ignoring the other completely. Now, they had suddenly become a tag team that had worked together for countless millennia.

Their pattern suddenly became relentless and bestial. Dyon’s will to crush them emanated forth in full force. It almost felt as though they were facing a savage subhuman, a man willing to devolve himself into depravity to eat their hearts.

The abrupt shift shook Nine to her core. Before, she had felt pressure, but she had never felt danger. She could tell that Dyon was stalling for time, but she didn’t understand exactly what the reason was.

She lost count of the number of times she wanted to run and leave Ten and Eleven behind. However, her pride was growling at her from a hidden depth within. This also didn’t consider the fact she didn’t even know if she’d be capable of running even if she tried.

Up to now, the battle had moved through several hundred kilometers, but it seemed like there was no end in sight. No matter how far away they moved, the perpetual cold qi and lightning toxins always found their way to them.

At the same time, whenever they tried to move toward the Jafari Clan treasure, they were shut down by the Immortal Puppets.

Much like Ten, Nine was certain that the reason Dyon wasn’t continuously using the puppets was because there was a heavy price to pay for their use. But, it was impossible for her to gamble on exactly what that price was. Dyon knew he only had two minutes remaining after days of fighting, but Nine had no way of knowing this!

The sentinels continued to weave in out. Suddenly, it became difficult to tell exactly which was which.

Nine gnashed her teeth, trying to block the way of the sentinels along with Eleven. This illusory foot technique, it was the first time they had seen it. Just how many techniques could a single puppet use?

In that moment, the sentinels weaved once more, causing a shift in the currents. One sentinel’s sword became a tower shield, while the other became a long flexible spear.

Dyon never made use of them, but he had known for a long time that shields were an available weapon in his pagoda. What Nine thought couldn’t possible get more annoying had skyrocketed to a new level in an instant.

One sentinel acted as a tank while the other leisurely prepped and shot forward with its spear at the best possible openings. Though, the image of a 20-meter-tall sentinel using a 3-meter-tall shield was a bit odd. Unfortunately, unlike his other spirit weapons, Dyon couldn’t afford the drop in ability that would result from blowing up the size of the shield.

Injuries began to accumulate along Eleven’s sturdy black body and chips began to crack along her long, knife-like claws.

‘Not only do their techniques seem to change endlessly, but even the abilities of their weapons do!’ The gritting of Nine’s teeth seemed almost louder than the clashes of the battle. She had never witnessed such a thing in her life.

Dyon’s tower shield spirit had a heart wrenching [Echo] ability. With every strike levied against the shield, it would absorb 10% of it and reflect 30%, leaving 60% to barrel its way through. However, the devastating part was that after 10 absorptions, the wielder of the shield could activate [Echo], sending out 10 strikes.

If this was all, maybe it would be alright. However, this wasn’t all at all. If [Echo] wasn’t interrupted by another attack hitting the shield, each successive [Echo] would grow more powerful. The first would be 100% of the cumulation of 10 absorptions, the second would be 105%, the third 110%. Eventually, the tenth strike would be 145% of the accumulated 10 absorptions!

This might be hard to grasp, but to put it in simple turns, if Nine hit the tower shield ten times and failed to interrupt the [Echo] that followed, she would have to suffer the equivalent of 145% of her striking power!

Unfortunately, Nine learned this the hard way.

Her rage got the better of her. Seeing the sentinels hiding behind a turtle shells, several days of accumulated anger bubbled over.

Completely enraged, she wanted to bash the shield into pieces. She and Eleven had spent several days in their humanoid beast forms. Though they weren’t mentally fatigued like Dyon, their bodies were tired. The neurotoxins coursing through their veins only made matters worse.

She was frustrated. She hated the fact someone was playing with her life as though she was a puppet on a string.

In retaliation, her fists and kicks flew toward the shield. She felt the 30% reflection, but she didn’t care. 30% of her own power wasn’t enough to shake her. She would break them out of this turtle shell.

Eleven lurched forward, hoping to use this opportunity to reach the second sentinel. Unfortunately, this was when the first [Echo] was activated.

Nine was completely caught off guard. The first [Echo] didn’t just reflect the average power of her last ten strikes, but it also widened the range of the already obscenely large tower shield. It was already a meter and a half across in width and almost three meters tall, but it suddenly expanded, increasing its width to more than 5 meters and blasting both Nine and Eleven backward.

It was at that moment that Dyon’s eyes flashed. ‘[Retrace].’

An immortal puppet appeared in that instant. However, its target wasn’t Nine or Eleven. Instead, it was the heavily injured Ten they had been protecting!