A battle erupted between the two, and with every exchange, Licirius was shocked again and again.
Sylas seemed to have no care for the fact he was facing off against hard steel with his flesh and blood. He had noticed before that the Scorned Wraps might have a minor boost to his Constitution—just 10%—but it had two oddities.
One, it seemed to be able to uphold its rules no matter the target. Even treasures that should be far beyond it in Grade were burnt to ash the moment Sylas touched them.
And two…
They seemed to be indestructible. No matter how hard Sylas punched, no matter how sharp the target, there wasn’t even the slightest nick on them.
So long as Sylas could withstand the pain, and his bones could withstand the impact…
These Scorned Wraps might very well be the only armor he needed.
Of course, the gap between his Constitution and Licirius’ Strength was too wide to be so boldly meeting it like this. However, not only did Sylas have the support of his Aether skin, but he was also using Basic Aetherflow.
His Aether skin could withstand 200 Damage on its own, weakening Licirius’ potent strikes by up to half before they even touched his fists. Then, his 170 Constitution was boosted to almost 190 by his Scorned Wraps before Basic Aetherflow boosted it by yet another 60%.
His Aether flowed smoothly, replacing the broken Aether skin with every strike, and every reverberating impact made Licirius’ wrists quake. It wasn’t yet to the point of pain, but Licirius could feel that, somehow, every strike was growing in power.
To him, Sylas was a decent fighter, but he was still lacking in several aspects. However, by the time they had exchanged dozens of moves, Sylas had already begun to incorporate some of Licirius’ battle sense into his own movement.
Licirius’ heart couldn’t help but shake. When did the humans gain such a person?
‘Sylas Grimblade, that…’
PA! PA! PA!
Sylas’ tendons exploded like a rain of firecrackers. He suddenly sidestepped Licirius’ spear, feinting a punch that Licirius overreacted to. Then, he ducked beneath Licirius’ spear and rolled to the other side, his steps moving with a deathly fluidity. He looked more like a boxer doing rope work than he did someone fighting out a battle of life and death.
He vanished into Licirius’ blind spot, causing the latter to panic and swipe out wildly, but that only opened up his torso to Sylas.
Sylas uncorked a violent uppercut right into Licirius’ liver. The spearman found all the air being forcefully ejected from his body as his ribs cracked and fractured.
It was just a single lapse in judgment, yet Sylas capitalized on it with the speed of a veteran in battle.
Sylas had been internalizing Licirius’ battle style from the very start, taking and learning from him what he could. What he hadn’t expected was that that process also allowed him to ease himself into an understanding of Licirius’ style. Before he knew it, he even felt like he knew what would happen before it did.
Licirius coughed up a mouthful of blood, hurriedly using the momentum of Sylas’ punch to retreat further.
Sylas didn’t seem to notice, punching out as though Licirius was still right before him.
Unlike ignorant opponents, Licirius didn’t assume that Sylas would miss. Instead, his hair stood on end.
PENG!
A fiery green fist suddenly appeared before Licirius’ face. Even though he had been ready, it still wasn’t enough.
Licirius felt his nose crack and his face almost fracture. Any stronger and even his skull would have collapsed beneath the strength.
With a sudden roar, Licirius sent out a pulse of Aether in all directions.
Sylas punched out again, but to his shock, his telekinesis wasn’t working as well anymore. He had been able to allow the previous fist to appear right in front of Licirius, but this one only appeared a single foot from his real fist before shuttling forward like a ranged attack.
Obviously, this time, Licirius was more than ready. He swung out his spear and shattered the fist, looking toward Sylas with a malevolent look in his eyes. Blood flowed down his nose and down his chin, dripping into the water below.
Then, taking Sylas off guard, he actually turned and ran.
Though Sylas was surprised for a moment, he wasn’t slow to react. He rushed after Licirius, but found that the latter was too much faster than him.
Sylas’ eyes narrowed and he communicated with the Basilisk King. He couldn’t possibly allow this man to run.
Before, he could only settle for killing Azrael with a trick. But this time, since he had the strength to fight Licirius, how could he not capture him and question him?
Of course, he knew that he had only managed to capitalize on a small lapse. Licirius certainly wouldn’t make such a mistake so easily again. And now, he was also prepared for his telekinetic Basic Aetherflow.
However…
What did that matter when Sylas still had such a trump card he had yet to use?
Scales suddenly erupted across Sylas’ body and a tail formed from the small of his back.
His Speed suddenly exploded.
When Licirius looked back, his eyes couldn’t help but widen.
There were many rules restricting those in System Cities, and for the most part, they were in the dark about the happenings in the outside world. At least outside of their own immediate territories, they weren’t able to play a game on as large a scale as the human powers could.
Before, Licirius didn’t think that this would matter much, and he was arrogant beyond belief before he laid eyes on Sylas. But now, he definitely wished that he would have had such an ability. If he had, he would have recognized the name Sylas Grimblade immediately.
Licirius found their separation being cut in half in an instant of time, and in another blink, Sylas would really catch him.
Gritting his teeth, he realized that he had no choice.
He put his spear away and brought out a badge of sorts. He crushed it and in the next instant, there was a wild fluctuation of space before he vanished.
Sylas came to a hurried stop, his brows furrowing.
He had actually managed to escape.
Just as Sylas was about to see if there was anything he could do to remedy the situation, the region changed again. The fluctuations of space warped and Sylas’ heart skipped a beat.
