Above The Sky
Chapter 419 - 419 389 Spirit Energy Rocket Punch 14

419: 389 Chapter Spirit Energy Rocket Punch (1/4) 419: 389 Chapter Spirit Energy Rocket Punch (1/4) In the dark valley, one side was shrouded in ice crystals and violent rain, while the other leaned against the fickle aurora.

Ian raised his sword, and a hazy white mist spilled out from the gaps in the alchemist’s armor, but it wasn’t the chill one might expect.

Instead, it was the steam of intense heat.

Contrasting this, behind him, structures made of ice continuously swelled, ultimately forming wing-like frameworks.

The true chill, mixed with essence, erupted from them, turning the surrounding raindrops into brilliant ice crystals illuminated by thunder.

A moment seemed like eternity, until Ian swung his sword forward in a feint, shattering the frozen tranquility.

In an instant, all the previously motionless ice crystals started to spin.

They formed a long chain of ice in midair, hurtling toward where the young man’s sword pointed—noisy and ferocious, like a miniature hail storm.

Facing such a grandiose assault, Baron Leyan’s pupils slightly dilated, bizarrely shaped like multifaceted stars, his inscrutable gaze piercing through all illusion and substance.

Boom!

He pushed off the ground, sending up a huge spray of mist.

Baron Leyan suddenly lunged forward, not retreating but advancing, plunging right into the eye of the storm Ian had conjured!

And right as he dashed into the hail, a transparent water blade, seemingly made of nothing, suddenly cleaved through the surrounding cold mist.

It held enough force to cut through steel, landing on the very trajectory where Baron Leyan might have dodged, causing mud to splash everywhere.

The man seemed oblivious to this, accelerating his mad dash forward, his eyes locked on Ian who was once again assuming his sword stance and had drawn his weapon.

A truncheon-like armor-piercing long spike, three fingers thick and 1.2 meters long!

Thud, thud, thud—as he ran, Baron Leyan’s body expanded, hardened, with a layer of armor resembling rock from the mountains forming around key areas of his body, and the right arm gripping the spike was covered with an indestructible layer of rock armor.

He charged like a war chariot, ferociously rushing toward Ian.

Then, he thrusted with all his might!

Boom!

With this thrust, even the tip emitted a piercing sonic boom—the magical beast prototype of the ‘Rockwood Whitestag’ was extremely adept at using its singular sharp horn and strong muscles to launch tremor-filled charges.

Faced with such a forest sovereign’s charge, not even a Sharp Claw Tiger could escape, let alone a Sub-Dragon which had to flee in embarrassment!

Such power from this thrust could completely penetrate armored alloy!

Compared to the brute strength unleashed by the baron at that moment, Ian, who still had the physique of a 14-year-old boy even though he was also at the Second Energy Level, seemed like a kitten before a giant tiger.

But kittens have their advantages, too.

As steam erupted around him, Ian nimbly dodged to the side and slightly behind.

But it was just a dodge—instead of fleeing, he grasped the perfect distance for a counterattack, and at the very moment when the long spike lost its momentum, his Coldlight Longsword flashed, stabbing at Baron Leyan’s armpit and waist from the side.

But the baron’s reaction was not a bit slower.

He twisted his body, bringing back the once exhausted long spike with his waist’s strength, sweeping it upward to firmly block Ian’s thrust.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

As both fighters drew closer, the moment the intense close combat began, three distinctly different clashing sounds reverberated.

As a pure ‘Fairy Bloodline’, also at the Second Energy Level, Ian’s strength was ‘inferior’ to Baron Leyan, and how could he compare to an adult Sublimator who had practiced for many years?

Yet even so, in the solid collision of the weapons, he never once suffered a disadvantage.

Indeed, Baron Leyan’s weapon, the armor-piercing long spike, had transformed from decay to magic, mimicking the Rockwood Whitestag’s charging thrusts.

He unleashed a series of martial arts moves that became phantasms invisible to the naked eye, each one a different angle and method of attack.

Slashing, sweeping, vibrating, stabbing, drilling—the magical beast’s innate methods of attack could not compare to his skills.

The trajectory of the long spike in his hand was like a stormy sea from all directions, and with each thundering wave, came a lethal move.

Yet Ian’s swordsmanship was incredibly intricate and precise.

Every strike of his Coldlight Longsword precisely intercepted the power points of Baron Leyan’s attacks, stymieing his offense and preventing him from continuing.

And he would immediately seize this chance to launch his own attack.

Be it a direct pierce or slicing the edge, or even a counterlift that hardly resembled swordsmanship, he always managed to bring his blade close to the baron’s neck, wrists, and waist—vital areas which forced the opponent to retreat and defend.

“On the surface, you summon a great clamor, calling down a hailstorm, yet your swordsmanship is so intricately vicious, you’re almost crafting your own style!”

Leaping backward to create distance, the man couldn’t help but utter words of admiration.

So young and yet at the Second Energy Level, with exceptional skills close to the Great Knight Level, the opponent truly was a genius.

No wonder he dared to venture alone, seeking his own trace.

This young knight indeed had the strength!

But in the end, he was still too young.

Technique only mattered when strength was equal, and his admiring voice rang out like a church bell—that wasn’t just casual talk, but the way to stimulate the ‘Shockwave Bag’ within his body!

Baron Leyan’s chest vibrated visibly, the shockwaves spreading through his body, gathering in his right hand.

At this moment, his knees bent, his right hand tightly clutching the long spike at his waist, ready to spring forth, his entire posture seemingly rife with openings.

But upon seeing this, Ian’s gaze flickered, and instead of pressing forward, he immediately pushed off the ground, retreating rapidly backward!

But the attack had already arrived.

Baron Leyan gathered the shockwaves throughout his body into the Armor-Piercing Long Spike in his hand, and then his feet suddenly trembled, causing the ground within a dozen meters around him to shake violently, giving rise to a layer of misty water mist!

The Rockwood Whitestag is a powerful Magical Beast that can grow to the Third Energy Level, and it even has the potential to advance to the Fourth Energy Level, similar to the ‘Ritual Master’ advancement of the Mountain People.

It possesses a rock-like single horn unlike the usual Magical Beast of the deer kind as well as a combative nature; the ever-sharpening and hardening golden rock horn, in conjunction with its explosive speed, is enough to pierce through all armor.

Once it reaches the Second Energy Level, the ‘Vibration Sac’ lurking in its body can make this dozen-meter-long behemoth emit a shockwave roar that drives away the carnivorous animals around it.

But how can Magical Beasts compare with the wisdom of Humans?

The Vibration Sac, originally only used for producing shockwave roars, was transformed into a Sublimation Organ capable of creating massive mechanical waves, turning its intimidating howl into an indestructible force!

Boom!

Power surged through his waist and legs, transforming the man into a human cannonball, lunging at Ian with fierce velocity, further amplified by the still-vibrating Armor-Piercing Long Spike at its tip.

At this moment, the baron was like a lance capable of piercing through city walls and penetrating dragonscales!

The sheer air pressure brought forth by his charge was enough to blow an ordinary person away; Baron Leyan had already predicted Ian’s trajectory, and this strike would completely pierce through him!

But he had somewhat underestimated Ian’s control over the Fairy Bloodline.

Hum!

Cold air spread out, and the rainwater on the ground had already solidified without notice.

A layer of smooth frost had stealthily spread across the ground in all directions during the close combat between the two earlier.

This was not real ice formed by cold, but the result of Essence Manipulation of natural phenomena and material changes.

With the ice formation, large amounts of high-temperature steam were also swirling around Ian.

All Water Series Sublimators must master the control of evaporation, condensation, and the manipulation of fluids, which was originally difficult to control when one was a Wave Singer.

But now, he had the Minor Abyssal Jade as an even more advanced Essence Organ, and the crystal on the front of the young man’s chest was glowing quietly.

Just as the Baron Leyan’s Long Spike was about to collide with the young man and penetrate his chest, Ian suddenly changed his steps.

His entire body slid to the side as though he had no inertia at all, as if the ice layer itself was carrying him.

The Armor-Piercing Long Spike had indeed collided with the outer layer of the Alchemist’s Armor, but after shattering the layer of firm ice on its surface, Ian’s figure glided swiftly away with the force of Baron Leyan’s thrust towards the distant ice!

— It was force redirection!

And at an extremely high level!

Not only that.

As Ian swiftly retreated, he crushed a vial of Alchemical Potion and scattered it on the ground.

The potion transformed into several strands of cold air lingering in place, then followed the cyclone generated by Baron Leyan’s charge to coil around him.

Crack, crack, translucent ice blossoms, crystal clear and semi-transparent, began to form and extend at the joints of the baron’s hands and feet, becoming increasingly heavy.

The man looked at his limbs in astonishment, and his movements immediately slowed.

“Clever— Frost Trap Elixir.

I thought this thing only worked when smashed directly onto someone!”

Speaking out, he activated the Shockwave Bag inside his body to produce vibrations and shatter the ice crystals that were still forming on him.

Baron Leyan lifted his head; his blue multi-sided star-shaped pupils, the ‘Forest Eye,’ locked onto Ian who had disappeared into the darkness: “But do you really think that I chose this place for the Ritual on a whim?”

“Hm?” Ian frowned upon hearing this, Leyan’s words making him cautious, but he could not immediately find any ambush or trap around him.

No traps, mines or explosives, huh?

And no Men in Black lurking around…

He had been vigilant about that.

But soon, with the Fairy’s all-encompassing perception, he knew that the real anomaly was coming from the ground!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Strands of vines or roots, abnormally grown and driven by the Essence, suddenly emerged from the underground and wound towards the young man’s legs and waist.

These were ‘Hunter Vines’ from South Ridge, a carnivorous plant capable of killing wild boars and deers.

But Ian released cold air, freezing these moist and watery plants, before leaping up rapidly and escaping the area where a dozen tendrils and roots were flailing chaotically.

— Baron Leyan intentionally used his speech to distract Ian’s attention; otherwise, with the perception of the Fae, he would have noticed something was amiss as soon as the vines began to creep!

But before Ian could catch his breath, he realized that the speech as well as the vines were all Baron Leyan’s bait; his true lethal move was not these Hunter Vines that couldn’t even touch the young man’s shoes!

Boom, boom!

A pitch-black shadow broke through the dark curtain of rain, carrying an extremely sharp Armor-Piercing Long Spike, charging toward the young man!

“What the hell is that?!”

Even Ian, with his high level of culture, couldn’t help but exclaim in shock at the bizarre thing flying towards him; it looked like a hand…

No, it was a hand!

It was indeed a hand, the very Spirit Energy left-arm earlier shaped from the rainwater and mud by the baron’s children to solidify for Leyan!

That hand, clenching the Armor-Piercing Long Spike, zoomed towards him at a breathtaking speed!

The young man exclaimed, “Rocket Punch?!”

The correct answer is Spirit Energy Fist!