Chapter 208 In Hot Waters (Part 2): Being Underestimated
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Shin squinted his eyes as he looked at Immortal who was currently looking at him in a leisure manner. And after a few moments of observing his opponent, Shin inhaled deeply to regulate his breathing while also starting to get ready for the incoming fight.
First, he fused the Sun and Moon clones to transformed them into the Eclipse Clone. And immediately after that, he fused the new clone with himself to strengthen himself further.
'Equipment Skill (Mask: Nephilim's Gemini Mask): Spirt Fusion'
'Equipment Skill (Mask: Nephilim's Gemini Mask): Spirt Possession'
After that, he tightened the grip of his left hand at the sheathed sword before taking a single step forward to face Immortal sideways while putting his other hand at the hilt of the sheathed [Yamato].
Shin was planning to take the initiative on this fight since he was clearly in the disadvantage. Especially that he was going to face one of the Peak-Gods of the game. So, he couldn't be a little stubborn now at planning to experience his opponent's strength, it was because he would die miserably if he did.
Well, that was what running on Shin's mind at the very least. Yes, it was just a thought. It was because a bunch of shadow arrows were already coming towards him when he was about to make his move.
And before he was able dodge on any direction, Shin saw that the arrows suddenly moved in a strange way and create an attacking formation that covered all of his retreat path. And given that he was forced with no other choice, Shin immediately used an escape skill without further ado.
He enfolded himself with a silver light before turning his body into an illusionary figure. Then he started moving to dodge the incoming shadow arrows, but instead of dodging on any other places to have a good look at his opponent, he chose to dodge by moving forward.
'Slayer Skill: Moonlight Steps'
Swoosh!
Then Shin passed through the barrage of shadow arrows with that movement skill of his without having any problem just like before. And with that move, he was also able to shorten his distance away from Immortal by 10-meters.
And since Immortal was more of a magical class player, what Shin currently had in mind was to get near him as soon a possible. And when he managed to that, might be able to have a little upper hand on this battle.
Given those thoughts, Shin used the movement skills that he had on his arsenal that had the greatest range, without even thinking twice.
'Basic Combat Technique: Second Drive'
'Equipment Skill (Lower Armor: Megimi's Shadow): Death Travel'
Then Shin suddenly disappeared at the end of his charge before reappearing at Immortal spot. But at the same time that he materialized at that place, the latter was already nowhere to find. What's more, the thing that gritted him was a bunch of bone spikes that were shooting up from the ground.
'Grand Necromancer Skill: (Modified) Bone Spikes'
The timing and execution of the skill was too perfect for Shin to do any kind of dodging maneuvers. Even executing a movement skill to avoid it was currently impossible. And with that, Shin was forced to do a counterattack head-on.
He quickly gathered the residual water/ice elemental Mana that were left on his body from the previous 'Moonlight Skill', towards his sheathed sword. And without further ado, he quickly pulled his sword out from being sheathe before swinging it forward while also releasing the power of the Silver Moon gathered on his sword at the same time.
Then a silver crescent sword Qi left the [Yamato] and flew towards the incoming bone spikes that were shooting towards Shin.
Shing!
'Class Fighting Style: Lunar Flash'
Bang!
Then the sword Qi immediately shattered the bone spikes without having any kind of resistance when the two come in contact with each other. But even if that was the case, Shin still didn't let his guard down even for a brief moment. In fact, he even activated a defensive buff the moment his feet landed on the ground.
He enfolded his body with a bunch of Sword Qi to protect his mind and body for the incoming threat that he suddenly felt.
'Extra Skill: Swordsman Resolve'
And Shin was right at doing this. It was because the moment he was done at activating that skill, the fragments of the shattered bone spikes that were floating in the air suddenly pointed their sharp tips at him before started raining down at his body.
'Grand Necromancer Skill: Sudden Rain'
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Metallic sounds were created after those bone fragments came in contact at Shin's body. Fortunately, he was fast enough to activate his defensive skill in time or else his body might get pierced by these bone fragments.
And Immediately after blocking the surprise attack, Shin quickly flipped the sheath of his sword to shift his grip on it in a forehand-grip manner before transforming it into a straight sword with a narrow blade and sharp edges.
'Legacy Skill: Mondi's Style: Conviction Form'
And on the next moment, Shin quickly covered his body by another bunch of Sword Qi over the previous one before charging at Immortal while trusting the [Piercing Thorn] forward.
'Extra Skill: Sword Rush: Thrusting Dash'
Swoosh!
Immortal, on the other hand couldn't help himself but smirked at Shin when his saw that the latter was charging at him. In his eyes, Shin was just rushing at his opponent in a reckless manner. 'Is this the guy that the War God put his trust into? He really seems disappointing.'
After that, Immortal summoned another bunch of arrows that were made of dark energies before arranging them in a fan shape fashion behind him. Then he simultaneously sent them all at Shin with a single thought in his mind.
'Grand Necromance Skill: Cursed Arrows'
Shin got a little confused at Immortal actions when he saw that the later still sent a bunch of attacks even if he knew that it will not be effective at time, especially because of his defensive buff skill that gave him some immunity against any kind of skills for a few seconds.
But Immortal shouldn't be that dumb to do any kind of useless things. And given that, Shin did his next move based on what was his instincts were telling him. He immediately canceled his first charge and halted his dash while pulling back the [Piercing Thorn] at them same time. And Immediately after that, he used the momentum of his previous dash to swing his other sword toward his front while taking a little sidestep to do a diagonally charge forward.
'Extra Skill: Sword Rush: Slicing Dash'
Swoosh!
With that quick maneuver, Shin was able to dodge all of the curse arrows. And when Immortal saw that, he slightly raised one of his eyebrows and muttered to himself. "Interesting. That was a good reaction and response, unfortunately you can't escape from my grasp that easy."
Then with a single thought in his mind, Immortal controlled his cursed arrows and made them to curve in the air before chasing after Shin.
And when Shin saw that, he couldn't help himself but frowned his eyebrows since the speed of those arrows were much faster than him. Left in that position, he immediately canceled the charge once again before pausing for a brief moment as if he was waiting for those cursed arrows to reach him while facing his back at them.
But before those cursed arrows managed to land at his body, he suddenly took two consecutive steps forward before quickly jumping high in the air with a forward back-flip. And with that, he was able to dodge those cursed arrows with a very narrow margin.
But those arrows were not done yet, because the moment they brushed past Shin from below, they suddenly curved upwards and pointed their tips at him before suddenly raining down at him.
But Shin was kind of expecting that, and that was why he quickly covered his body with the power of the Black Sun the moment his feet landed back on the ground. And once those cursed arrows rained down at him with at great speed, he also quick rush forward to dodge the attack.
'Slayer Skill: Sunlight Movements'
Du! Du! Du! Du!
And since Shin timed his movements perfectly, those arrows failed to chase after him because they already landed on the ground since Immortal failed to failed to change their trajectory in time.
Unfortunately, even if that was the case, Shin still found himself in a slightly difficult situation on the next instant. It was because after avoiding those cursed arrows, bunch of giant bone spikes suddenly shot up from that ground and either attack Shin directly or blocked his path to prevent him from moving forward.
'Grand Necromancer Skill: (Modified) Bone Pillars'
Even if the 'Sunlight Movements' gave him an immunity against any CC-Skills and prevented him from getting any kind of damage from offensive skill, some physical entities could still stop his advance.
Shin immediately canceled his charge by forcefully halting his steps. Then he swiftly released the power of the Black Sun that was enfolding his body before quickly gathering the water/ice elemental Mana from the air and transforming it into the power of the Silver Moon.
But before Shin was able to execute an anther 'Moonlight Steps', the bone pillars in front of him suddenly parted ways giving a path for a beam of black light that was rushing towards him.
'Grand Necromancer Skill: Pillar of Darkness'
And when he saw that, Shin immediately abandoned the idea of executing the 'Moonlight Steps' since his instincts were telling him that this incoming beam of black light have an ability that could still hit him even if his was in his incorporeal form.
With that, Shin immediately transferred all of the accumulated power of the Silver Moon towards the [Yamato]. Then he swung it to the left in a horizontal fashion while simultaneously releasing the accumulated power of the Silver Moon and creating a crescent sword Qi that extended forward before cleaving the black beam of light in half and destroying it completely.
'Self-Created Skill (Personalized): Full Moon Slash'
Boom!
Shin didn't make any kind of movements after that and tried to wait at what was going to come next. But strangely enough, Immortal didn't make and kind of moves either.
And when that the residual energies from the collision of powers, Shin saw Immortal standing few distances away from him with a calm look at his face. And before anything else, he heard the latter said. "You will never be able to defeat me with your current form. You should use all of your strengthening skill to boost yourself up before we resume the battle."
It didn't mean that Shin had no plan to use his other buffing skills earlier it is just he didn't have enough time to do so, since Immortal attacks were a little too fast and continuous. But now that this Lich God was giving him enough time to make some preparations to do all of those, he couldn't help but become a little suspicious of his thoughts.
And when Immortal saw that a little confusion and wariness from Shin's movements, he couldn't help but release some chuckles and said. "Don't get me wrong. It is just I am really curious why the War God put a lot on trust on you. He is even doing his best to force me in the corner. And from those movements that you display earlier pique my interest a little, so I want to see what you can do more. But If that is what you got then you are really a big disappointment."
Shin couldn't help himself but squinted his eyes at Immortal after hearing those words. But even if he was still a little suspicious at the latter's real intention, he couldn't refuse such a good offer in his current situation.
Given that, he started setting up everything he could to strengthen himself further for this upcoming round 2 of their battle. And this time, he was really planning to go all-out.
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