【Deceased. Consumed 1 year of longevity. Perfect Resurrection.】
The darkness lasted for only an instant.
Ethan snapped his eyes open and bounded off the ground.
Burn marks from the emerald-green light still lingered on his newly regenerated skin, and his clothes hung from his body in tatters.
Roly's short staff paused.
She tilted her head, her ethereal voice carrying a hint of surprise. “Resurrection? No wonder you could block my ability. Interesting.”
She pointed the short staff forward once more.
Light poured forth.
This time, Ethan's body swayed slightly after his resurrection.
He propped a hand on his knee, his chest heaving violently as his breathing grew rapid and shallow.
His face was deathly pale, devoid of any color, and fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.
Roly took in his appearance.
“So it doesn't come without a price.” Descending slightly, she hovered two meters off the ground and looked down at Ethan. “Resurrecting once must take a massive toll on you, doesn't it?”
Ethan grit his teeth and raised his right hand.
Several wood pillars erupted from the sand, shooting toward Roly in a crooked, erratic path.
Roly did not even bother to dodge.
The wood pillars disintegrated on their own two meters in front of her, shattering into a flurry of sawdust.
She raised her left hand, splaying her fingers as an emerald-green light flared in her palm.
A beam of light struck Ethan squarely in the chest.
His body exploded once more.
【Deceased. Consumed 1 year of longevity. Perfect Resurrection.】
Ethan scrambled up from the ground, supporting himself with his hands on his knees as he gasped for air.
His fingers were trembling, his legs were shaking, and he looked as if he might collapse at any moment.
“Heh.” Roly landed in front of him, bending down to pinch his chin and force his face up. “And here I thought you were so resilient. It seems your resurrections are limited as well.”
She released her grip and stood up straight.
“I will ask you one more time. Submit, or die?”
Ethan looked at her face.
A mocking smile was plastered across her pale green face.
Her amber eyes reflected his disheveled, pathetic state.
The corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.
He splayed the fingers of his right hand.
Emerald-green light burst from his palm.
Vines erupted from the sandy soil, wrapping upward from beneath Roly's feet.
Flying Leaves poured from his palm, sealing off her escape routes to the left and right, while wood pillars thrust out from the ground, aiming directly for her chest and abdomen from below.
The triple assault arrived at the exact same instant.
Roly's figure vanished.
She reappeared atop a piece of rubble thirty meters away, her smile still lingering. “Still refusing to die—”
Boom!
The rubble beneath her feet exploded.
Vines shot out from the cracks in the rubble, wrapping around her ankles.
Roly glanced down, and as emerald-green light surged from her body, the vines disintegrated on their own.
But the moment she raised her head, a wood pillar was already right in front of her face.
She leaned sideways to avoid it.
Flying Leaves swept in from behind her.
She teleported again.
Vines burrowed out from every inch of the sandy soil, Flying Leaves poured relentlessly from his palms, and wood pillars thrust out continuously from the ground.
Wave after wave of attacks rushed forward like an endless tide.
Yet, infused with the World Consciousness, Roly's movements were incredibly fluid and graceful.
She constantly shifted through the gaps in his attacks. With a light tap of her toes on the gravel, her body glided sideways to the left.
With a twist of her waist, she slipped through the gap between two wood pillars. With a slight tilt of her head, a Flying Leaf grazed past her pointed ear.
Every movement was so precise it seemed as though she had predicted the trajectory of every single attack in advance.
Ethan appeared to her right, throwing a downward punch.
Roly raised her hand, holding her short staff horizontally before her.
Fist collided with staff.
Emerald-green light erupted.
Ethan was sent flying backward, spinning a dozen times in midair before crashing onto the gravel.
He rolled over and scrambled to his feet, splaying the fingers of his left hand as Seed Bombs shot from his fingertips.
Roly swept her short staff horizontally.
The Seed Bombs were simultaneously extinguished in midair.
Ethan raised both hands once more.
Vines, Flying Leaves, wood pillars, Seed Bombs.
It was useless.
Infused with the World Consciousness, every one of Roly's movements carried a trail of emerald-green light.
The light constantly drifted from her body, dragging faint green trails behind her.
She wove through Ethan's attacks, her posture as relaxed as if she were taking a stroll.
Ethan's attack frequency began to drop.
It was not because he was running out of mana, but because he simply could not land a hit.
He watched Roly's constantly shifting figure amidst his barrage, watched the emerald-green light drifting from her body, and watched her effortlessly dodge every single attack in midair.
“Damn it,” he spat through grit teeth. This is the first time in my life I actually have to run.
The moment that thought flashed across his mind, Ethan's gaze shifted.
Run?
“Like hell I'll believe it,” he sneered, his lips curling back. “How much World Consciousness can a native like you actually withstand?”
He slammed both hands down.
His attack frequency suddenly surged.
Roly continued to weave through the attacks.
Her posture remained graceful, and the emerald-green light still constantly drifted from her body.
But Ethan was waiting.
He was waiting for her limit.
Three minutes later.
Roly's movement speed slowed by a fraction.
The change was so subtle it was almost imperceptible.
When a vine grazed the hem of her robe, her dodge was delayed by a mere fraction of a second.
Ethan's Combat Instinct caught the change immediately.
His grin slowly widened.
His attack frequency surged once more.
Another minute later.
Roly's attack frequency had noticeably dropped.
The light shooting from her short staff had dwindled from a torrential downpour to a light drizzle, the emerald-green light on her body had dimmed, and the trails of light drifting from her grew increasingly thin.
“Heh,” Ethan's voice rang out with absolute clarity amidst the explosions. “Native, it looks like you're at your limit.”
Roly's expression finally cracked.
For the first time since the battle began, an emotion other than cold detachment appeared on her face.
A flash of frustration flickered in her amber eyes, her lips tightening into a hard line.
She stared at Ethan for half a breath.
Then, she turned and fled.
Emerald-green light exploded beneath her feet as she transformed into a streak of light, bolting toward the depths of the ruins.
Ethan froze for a split second.
But his body was already in hot pursuit.
The reaction driven by his Combat Instinct was faster than his conscious mind. Stomping hard, he blasted two deep craters into the gravel, launching himself after Roly like a cannonball.
The two figures sped through the ruins, one closely tailing the other.
Infused with the World Consciousness, Roly glided with the grace of an ethereal fairy.
With a gentle tap of her toes on a collapsed stone pillar, she floated forward hundreds of meters.
Emerald-green light constantly drifted from her body, trailing a faint green wake behind her.
Her short robe fluttered wildly in the wind, and her long, pointed ears pressed flat against the sides of her head.
However, as an Amons native, her three-meter-tall frame and pale green skin made the comparison to a graceful fairy fall rather flat.
Ethan, on the other hand, was entirely different.
He had no elegant movement techniques whatsoever.
With every step he took, the gravel beneath him exploded into a deep crater.
He rampaged through the ruins, smashing through collapsed stone walls, splintering half-buried wooden beams, and plowing directly through piles of rubble.
His speed relied entirely on raw, physical explosiveness.
The muscles in his legs unleashed a level of power far beyond that of ordinary men, making the ground shudder with every single stride.
Rate on N.U.
