Chapter 1020 Third State
It wasn't just Lady Nurla who realized Valefor's superior battle experience; Sir Mugim understood it better than anyone. After all, he was the one facing the monster.
After failing to land a strike twice, Sir Mugim acknowledged he could not overpower Valefor with speed and power. The person was not only strong in cultivation but also possessed superior battle experience.
As such, he had to revise his tactics; he couldn't look down on the person.
Bang!
Sir Mugim stomped his feet, launching himself at Valefor again, seemingly using the same approach. But as the distance between them shortened dangerously, he made a hard break with another powerful step and redirected his path.
Bang! Bang!
Sir Mugim utilized a profound movement technique to leave behind an afterimage and reappear at Valefor's side, aiming for the ribcage with a Corkscrew punch.
However, Valefor twisted his body to evade the blow. At the same time, he wrapped his arm around Sir Mugim's extended arm, intending to lock him in place for a follow-up punch with his other hand.
Unfortunately, he foresore the situation and quickly retracted his extended arm before it was caught. At the same time, he also threw out three rapid fists, two real and one feint, at Valefor's head.
Alas, Valefor also dodged the two real fists by tilting his head left and right. He narrowly evaded the blows each time and could feel the sharp breeze brushing against his face.
Swoosh!
Sir Mugim quickly retreated some distance after failing to land a single blow. His eyes narrowed on his opponent. Indeed, his opponent has already mastered the state of minute subtlety.
In fact, Valefor's state of minute subtlety was at a level higher than his. While Sir Mugim had only entered the initial stages, Valefor had already mastered it.
Where on earth did such a strong person find so many tough battles to refine his body and sense to reach such a high battle state? Was the land truly that chaotic?
But even if the surface was filled with wars, he found it hard to believe that there were many opponents around Valefor's level to help him improve in battle. The surface people were never that strong.
In fact, Valefor's existence was an enigma to him.
Meanwhile, Valefor stared at Sir Mugim with both interest and disdain. He was originally angry at Vaan, but his complaints quickly disappeared when he found out who he was facing. Continue your journey on My Virtual Library Empire
He didn't expect to find such great opponents in Pangea.
This planet, which he had looked down on as a low-level realm, had surprised him time and again. It was truly a box full of surprises, very different from the one in his timeline.
Nevertheless, while Valefor was happy to find an opponent around his level to fight, he was also disappointed. The opponent was still lacking and not quite up to his standards.
Perhaps only a real Divine Lord could push his limits.
"Is that all you got?"
"Hmph!"
Sir Mugim snorted at Valefor's cheap provocation.
Naturally, he was far from using all of his power. However, Valefor's capability was a mystery to him. Since he decided to face him seriously, he wouldn't attack him blindly like he did before.
He had to measure his opponent's strengths and limits before he could find the right moves to defeat him.
Although Valefor's body looked no different from an ordinary human's, he had seen how his first strike did virtually no damage to him. As such, he had no choice but to treat on a similar level to his superior dragon physique.
"Not attacking anymore? Then, it's my turn."
Valefor suddenly lunged toward Sir Mugim, surprising the latter. Sir Mugim did not expect Valefor to be proactive so suddenly. It made him re-evaluate his opponent.
When Sir Mugim saw Valefor's hands covered in black-red flames, they immediately gave him a dreadful feeling. The destructive power of those black-red flames could seriously harm him.
As such, he chose to dodge them.
However, he did not expect that when he sidestepped Valefor's lunge, the latter would suddenly twist his body sideways to face him at the same time, as if predicting his movement.
In that instant, Sir Mugim's instincts screamed with danger as Valefor's forward-thrusting palm strike changed into a horizontal swipe.
With so little time to react, Sir Mugim protected his body with divine energy and braced for impact.
Bang!
Valefor's Asura Flames shattered Sir Mugim's fragile divine barrier and smashed into his right shoulder.
Sir Mugim's expression instantly paled as several golden scales shattered and the tyrannical black-red flames seeped into his exposed flesh. At the same time, the impact threw several hundred meters away.
Even after a building broke his flight, Sir Mugim did not recover immediately. He desperately utilized divine energy to extinguish the tyrannical flames that invaded his charred flesh.
He wanted to flush out the foreign flames, but it proved far more strenuous than he anticipated. In fact, it made him realize the gap between him and his opponent.
Valefor wasn't just as strong as him or slightly stronger than him; he was a lot stronger! This person was at the same level as the Celestial Dragon King!
Nevertheless, Sir Mugim had no time to worry about this realization. The tenacious and vicious flames prolonged his agony. Eventually, even his steel nerves would bend under the torment of searing pain.
"Arghhh!" Sir Mugim cried in pain as he rolled on the ground pathetically.
"Sir Mugim!"
Lady Nurla's pupil contracted as the situation took a sudden change for the worse. She never imagined that someone as tough as Sir Mugim would weep in pain.
What were those black-red flames?
Just like Sir Mugim, Lady Nurla quickly realized Valefor was much more powerful than they had imagined. However, it wasn't Valefor's cultivation and strange fire that shocked her.
Even when experts were at the same level, they could still vastly differ in combat power due to their battle sense.
An expert who achieved the state of muscle memory was superior to his peers who haven't. However, a master in the state of minute subtlety could still make an expert at the state of muscle memory seem like a child.
Unfortunately, their opponent was neither an expert in the state of muscle memory nor a master at the state of minute subtlety. There was actually a third and higher state – the state of foresight.
The first state was the mastery of one's body, the second state was the mastery of one's surroundings, and the third state was the mastery of one's opponent. Together, they were the three states of battle sense one could achieve.
If Lady Nurla wasn't wrong, their enemy had reached the state of foresight.
It was the state of reading one's opponent's movements and predicting their future actions. While it didn't sound all that difficult, it was much harder to put into practice since there was very little time to think in battle.
Who would have the time to study their opponent's energy circulation path, specified muscle contraction, breathing, and eye focus, among other things?
Furthermore, accurately predicting the next move was only an entry-level mastery of the state of foresight. The real challenge was being able to predict multiple steps ahead.
Although Lady Nurla didn't know if Valefor was at this level of mastery, she at least believed that he had achieved the state of foresight. That fact alone was enough to give them despair.
After all, it would mean that nothing would work on their opponent. All their moves would be seen through.
'This person can't be beaten!' Lady Nurla concluded.@@novelbin@@
At first, Valefor was quite patient with Sir Mugim because he believed the latter could improve his battle sense. However, once he deemed the person provided no benefits to him, his cruelty and malice began to spill out.
When Lady Nurla sensed Valefor's dreadful and bottomless slaughter aura, she was alarmed and horrified. It made her see her own death if nothing was done to change the situation.
Suddenly, Lady Nurla directed her attention to Vaan, who had been quietly observing from atop the building in the distance. He resembled the one fighting Sir Mugim.
'A Puppet Master?' Lady Nurla suddenly thought. Her eyes sparkled with a flash of insight and understanding.
She immediately figured out that Valefor was just a construct or puppet created and controlled by Vaan. It was the only reason why Valefor could look human yet possess such indestructible defense and power.
Furthermore, she figured Vaan wasn't moving because controlling Valefor required most of his attention and mental energy.
'The puppet might be strong, but the Puppet Master should be weak!' Lady Nurla figured.
If she could capture or disable the Puppet Master, the puppet would lose all combat effectiveness.
Suddenly, Lady Nurla immediately shot in Vaan's direction with an explosive burst of speed, intending to seize him or even kill him if necessary. Her gaze was sharp with focus, but she couldn't hide her confident smile, as if she had Vaan all figured out.
Peng!
Alas, reality hit Lady Nurla harder than she could have ever imagined. Her claw-like grasp smashed into an invisible yet indestructible barrier. Her dragon nails broke, and her fingers all bent in weird directions.
"Ahhh—!" Lady Nurla screamed.
Although she was no stranger to pain, having her nails peeled off was still a horrible feeling to experience. There was a reason why people used it as a torture method.
"Hm?" Vaan glanced at the Dragonoid woman calmly before asking, "Are your fingers getting itchy?"
Lady Nurla instantly glared at him hatefully, thinking he was making fun of what happened to her fingers.
"Damn you!" Lady Nurla cursed.
What do you think?
Total Responses: 0