Chapter 1069: Dogfight
Before the battle began, Rhode thought that he wouldn’t have any difficulty dealing with Ca.s.sidy. The reason was simple. Even though she was one of the six Deity Wardens, she was only a soul fragment and not her original self. On the other hand, Rhode had awakened as the Void Dragon and after fusing his power with the other four Creator Dragons, he was over level 120, while Ca.s.sidy was just over level 90. If they were to have a serious battle, just the difference in level was enough to squash her. Therefore, although Rhode was rather worried back then, he didn’t take it to heart. But he couldn’t be blamed. Looking at his level with three-digit numbers, it would be illogical if any player were to act cautiously against BOSSes with tens of levels lower than him.
But in reality, he realized that he had underestimated the situation after engaging in battle with Ca.s.sidy.
In the Dragon Soul Continent, there were different types of BOSSes. Players could defeat most of them as long as their strength was enough and patterns were mastered. For instance, the Dark Dragon might seem powerful, but as long as there were enough players with sufficient level and strength, there wouldn’t be any problem defeating it. But apart from that, there was another type of ‘special’ BOSS. This type of BOSSes might not be powerful in strength, but if players failed to find the corresponding way to defeat it, it would still be useless even if they possessed the strength to destroy the world over a hundred times. The twin dragons were the model representative. And now, Rhode was unfortunate to find out that Ca.s.sidy was also one of them.
s.h.i.+ng————!
The iron plate that was ma.s.sive enough to be used for teppanyaki brushed against Rhode and brought along strong, violent airwaves. But to him, this wasn’t the most lethal. With his current level and defenses, Ca.s.sidy couldn’t even hack through his skin even if he stood there and exposed his neck to her. The most dangerous problem wasn’t her damage output. Instead, it was her ‘power of contrast’ that gave him the most headache.
During their first clash, Rhode was caught off guard and almost suffered gravely. He initially tried to resist her attack, but discovered that his strength was perfectly reflected by her. It felt as though he didn’t stop the attack, but turned the blade around and tried to commit suicide instead! Not only that, but he also couldn’t determine the focus of Ca.s.sidy’s attack with her power of contrast. Every time he brandished his sword to retaliate, he felt as though his strength was instantly restored to its original state like two magnets repelling each other. No matter how Rhode switched up his attacking style, he just couldn’t deal effective damage to Ca.s.sidy.
Fortunately, he was one of the Creator Dragons and Ca.s.sidy’s power of contrast wasn’t too effective on him. But what he needed to do now wasn’t to avoid Ca.s.sidy’s attack. Instead, he had to find a way to defeat her! In the current situation, he wasn’t able to find any of her weaknesses. This was why he could only choose to tussle with her while observing for any weaknesses.
Swish——!
Ca.s.sidy missed her attack and her body trembled to the mighty force. However, the sword in her hand suddenly slashed skyward as though it had hit something elastic in the ground, flouris.h.i.+ng toward Rhode from the opposite direction. Rhode evaded her attack swiftly, but he knew that this wasn’t the end. Ca.s.sidy brandished the sword at him again and along with her movements, the blade air from when she rotated the sword coalesced into a long whip that lashed forward and caused several trenches on the ground. Looking at this scene, Rhode grimaced slightly. He raised his sword and dazzling blade lights appeared in midair, merging into a large, omnipresent net that pounced on her fanatical attack. But as soon as the net of light collided with Ca.s.sidy’s attack, it disappeared to nowhere in the blink of an eye. Rhode turned around and dodged Ca.s.sidy’s follow-up attack quickly in a trail of afterimages.
How troublesome.
Rhode knitted his brows at the flas.h.i.+ng blade air before him. As he evaded the surging energy, he felt a bone-chilling wind brus.h.i.+ng past him. Then, the wind turned blazing hot at the very next moment, before transforming into a heavy, mud-like matter and a roaring whirlwind. Rhode had to face continuous attacks from four elements and it was absolutely deadly.
But… this still wasn’t Ca.s.sidy’s true power.
Rhode sharply realized that Ca.s.sidy was just as his younger sister had described: a soul fragment—her usage of the ‘power of contrast’ was only on the most basic level. She didn’t need to consider too much and was only using the ability instinctively. If she were another Deity Warden, perhaps she would have already controlled the battle. Rhode had witnessed the battle between Alice and Balende. When a true Deity Warden engaged in battle, she would choose to use her ability to control the battle. Balende was unknowingly manipulated by Alice’s ‘power of history’ and this formidable legendary general simply became a monkey in her hands who couldn’t escape no matter how hard he tried. In the words of the players, battling against Deity Wardens was as though having the Deity Warden cast an irremovable and extremely terrifying ‘debuff’ on them at the start. Not only that, but there was also a countdown timer and players were at an overwhelming disadvantage. However, Ca.s.sidy’s power wasn’t like that at all. Although she possessed a certain degree of control over the battle, the ability wasn’t within her control and was only through her instincts. The same went for her attacks. Therefore, to Rhode, although it was tough for him to face her attacks, it wasn’t the most important point. In fact, Rhode could activate [Self-Affirmation] and kill her instantly if he wanted to. But it was a pity that this young lady wasn’t supposed to be killed.
But since Ca.s.sidy relied solely on her instincts and wasn’t using her power consciously, Rhode had some ways to deal with her.
I’ll give that a shot.
After dodging Ca.s.sidy’s attack again, Rhode scanned her from head to toe. At this moment, she no longer looked like a timid, little rabbit like she had before the battle began. Instead, she was a hungry, ferocious wolf pouncing on its prey. Although her attacking routine was simple, Rhode knew clearly that if it weren’t for the protection from ‘Order’ as a Creator Dragon, he could simply be killed by just one slash of her blade. His attributes restored the presence that was contrasted by her. Based on this, it made sense that Marlene and Alice refused to do this job.
Alright then, I will need to rely on myself next.
Rhode clutched the sword at this thought, gazing at the young lady. Then, his body suddenly trembled in twisted ripples of air and three illusory shadow clones emerged from him, dispersing to both sides.
Fantasy Daybreak!
Fantasy Daybreak was no longer the half-a.s.sed swordsmans.h.i.+p that he casually created in the past. Every Creator Dragon had their unique battle skills and the same went for Rhode. After becoming the Void Dragon, he realized he had more accurate control of s.p.a.ce and Fantasy Daybreak was also taken up a notch. If it was said in the past that the shadow clones he created were just ‘defective products’ made from spiritual powers through the system, right now they were true, identical clones of himself. The only difference between them was that the three clones were projections of him in the spatial plane of existence. It was similar to when Rhode saw his other self in the Wheel of Fate back then. However, it was only the projections casting the sword skill and wasn’t his true self back then. Besides, it also wasn’t similar to in the game. Right now, the individual shadow clones represented the different thoughts Rhode had when unleas.h.i.+ng this swordsmans.h.i.+p. For instance, attacking with a straight thrust of the sword was a great move. But it would also be a good idea if he could ambush by slas.h.i.+ng the sword horizontally to restrain the enemy’s movements. Of course, normal swordsmans.h.i.+p could never reach this perfection. But Rhode’s Fantasy Daybreak broke the obstruction of s.p.a.ce and reached a perfect and harmonious unity!
s.h.i.+ng! s.h.i.+ng! s.h.i.+ng!
In the blink of an eye, the three shadow clones surrounded Ca.s.sidy entirely, slas.h.i.+ng three dazzling blade rays from their swords. They staggered and coordinated to seal off her retreat at the same time. Facing this sudden change in situation, Ca.s.sidy’s expression remained unchanged. She snorted and flourished her sword abruptly in retaliation. Along with her movements, the three shadow clones suddenly became distorted and began to fuse by a mysterious force.
At this moment, Rhode finally struck!
“Summon!”
Facing her retaliation, Rhode trembled slightly. But he raised his sword, pointed at Ca.s.sidy, and snarled. Then, the entire world before him changed instantly!
The sky, earth, and everything from before disappeared. All of it was enveloped in pitch-black darkness and only dots of starlight flickered around them. It seemed as though Rhode had thrown Ca.s.sidy into outer s.p.a.ce at this very instant. Upon realizing it, Ca.s.sidy revealed a fl.u.s.tered and stunned expression. She realized that the power she counted on the most was slowly vanis.h.i.+ng!