GDK 607: Tactics
Seeing the punch shoot towards him, his three bodies were compromised by a chilling aura, Han Shuo’s heart remained unwavering as he calmly sought for a way to neutralize the dangers.
All three bodies simultaneously retreated in three different directions. The spaces between them grew ever vaster. When that extraterrestrial fist, which had seemingly congealed the coldness of an entire winter, was close to arriving on Han Shuo’s avatar of destruction, an idea suddenly popped into his mind.
The avatar of death rapidly retreated and was instantly transported far from the ice-cold barrier. Meanwhile, Han Shuo’s main body stopped retreating, returned, and whooshed towards the being from behind him. The space ring on his finger gave a faint flash and three beads shot towards the being that occupied Tiana’s body at lightning speed.
Rumbles…
Deafening explosions erupted from the three beads. The ice barrier was instantly shattered by the intense blasts.
The simultaneous detonations of the three Pearls of Annihilation sent shockwaves that were more than enough to reduce the barrier to shards. The formless, dense swarm of Soulpiercers contained within the Pearls of Annihilation were launched at the entity.
Demonic Arts were distinct from any elemental energy or edictal forces of this world. Even this midgod found himself rather discomposed at the attack. He was unable to completely dodge the dense drove of Soulpiercers and caught at least a couple of them.
The Soulpiercer was vicious. As soon as it entered a victim’s body, it would immediately attack his soul like an unforgiving evil spirit. The victim would already be ripped to bits before he could catch the slightest gasp of breath.
“Huh?” The being cried out in surprise for the third time. He was obviously astonished by the fancy attack methods of Han Shuo’s.
The man sensed the threat to his soul as soon as the Soulpiercers entered his body. That punch which was supposed to land on Han Shuo was halted just an inch away. He had no choice but to put all his attention into eliminating the Soulpiercers’ threat.
The Soulpiercer could easily serve any average expert with extraordinarily destructive power. Those weaker ones would even be annihilated by the corrosion of the Soulpiercers. However, from the experiences Han Shuo gained in the Abyss realm, the soul of a godly expert was truly powerful. A soul that had fused as one with the elements was not something that the Soulpiercers could annihilate.
The mightier the soul, the greater the affinity and compatibility to the element. Thus, the less time it would take to get rid of the Soulpiercers.
Han Shuo was well aware of this principle. Therefore, as soon as he saw that the man had abandoned attacking his avatar of destruction and retreated, all three of Han Shuo’s bodies again got into motion and charged at the man while he was in the middle of purging the threat of the Soulpiercers.
“Despicable!” shouted the man coldly. He did not dare to confront the attacks of the three Han Shuos directly and hastily withdrew, much to Han Shuo’s surprise.
“Despicable? Hehe, these are called tactics. Not that you would know anything about that!”
“You are the despicable one. As a midgod who’s been around forever, just to kill a small little lowgod, you have absorbed the power of faith from all the disciples here and possessed the body of the most devout one. Are you not despicable?”
“That’s why you don’t call others despicable when you are unworthy of calling others despicable!”
The three Han Shuos rushed towards him in attack, each of their mouths spewing words of ridicule. The continuous barrage of insults had left the man speechless.
The three Han Shuos finally arrived beside him. Showing no trace of politeness, that man had absolutely no way of unleashing his full power, especially not with Han Shuo’s main body and his avatar of destruction as the main assault forces and his avatar of death releasing auxiliary necromancy magic and boundaries without end.
Originating on a distant material plane, he could only unleash a small portion of his energy by manifesting through Tiana’s body. And now with the Soulpiercers attacking his soul, and the constant disturbances from the necromancy magic, in addition to being besieged by the other two Han Shuo clones, this being began to appear somewhat weary dealing with all this at the same time.
Han Shuo had never cared for established standards and was most fond of delivering heavy blows when his enemy was in their most helpless state. Obviously, there was no exception in this battle. The three Han Shuos were fixed on the man in their midst, overwhelmed by the uninterrupted assault from demonic arts, necromancy boundaries, and edicts of destruction.
The being who had appeared calm and cold ever since he manifested finally showed signs of weariness. His two hands that constantly wove ice barriers started to grow feeble.
It was not possible for a soul to manifest on a distant material plane via a medium for extended periods. And the longer it dragged on, the more disadvantageous it was. Han Shuo was very clear about this fact after obtaining certain memories from the original owner of the skeletal staff.
Once it was clear the man was utterly exhausted, he pressed harder with his attacks, absolutely not giving him a chance to hit back. He planned on using this opportunity to completely exhaust the man’s divine energy.
The man was sullen. He had truly never met anyone with attacking tactics as despicable and relentless as Han Shuo. Had it not been for the exotic energy still stirring up his soul, he may not have been so passive. Unfortunately, after Han Shuo’s sneak attack, he was left without the luxury of time and could only look on helplessly as he was turned into a rifle target with no opportunity for a punchback.
However, what agitated him more than anything else was the never-ending mockery and snarky remarks. Three Han Shuos, three mouths. His superiority in numbers had not only reflected in his attack methods, but also in his ability to perturb the enemy’s mind.
As he launched attacks, his three mouths continued to spew their venom uninterrupted – greeting his ancestors, mocking him for his incapabilities, and telling him how he’d look after his death, attacking him psychologically over and over again. This kind of torment was simply unbearable to most people.
With his demonic arts up to the Nine Changes realm, Han Shuo’s body, heart and consciousness had achieved a state of absolute peace. He spoke calmly. His verbal attacks were increasingly varied and creative.
“Silence!” The being glared at Han Shuo in agony and yelled, “You are a lowgod yourself. How could you be so abhorrent?”
The three Han Shuos were taken aback and kept silent for a while. But soon after, the three blabbering lips continued with even more malignity. They totally disregarded the being.
I have two more mouths than you. I’d be a fool not to take this to my advantage! Han Shuo sneered. Based on that man’s reaction, it did seem that his tactics were effective.
Bump! Bump! Bump! Han Shuo’s attacks landed on an ice barrier.
Suddenly, blinding lights began to burst from Tiana’s body. Her body rapidly shrunk as it glowed. It was as though all the energy in her body was being absorbed by her bones.
Boom! The sound of an explosion came from Tiana’s body. Several hundred ice-cold arrows violently emerged in all directions. Some of them fell on the three Han Shuos, who were caught off guard.
The hundreds of frosty arrows were fast and ferocious. They also contained a harrowing amount of divine energy. As the three Han Shuos had surrounded the being, pressing in hard, all three Han Shuos were struck by the frosty arrows, resulting in varied extents of damage to his three bodies.
Han Shuo’s three bodies soon felt the frosty aura. That frosty aura was not just targeting his bodies but also attacking his soul as though wanting to freeze Han Shuo to death.
Creak… Creak…
The unsettling sound of freezing emerged from all three of Han Shuo’s bodies. Solid ice covered them in an instant and they quickly became sparkling ice sculptures. His faces of taunting, cursing, and sneering was frozen in place, making him appear rather comical.
By then Tiana had diminished into nothing more than a bloody bundle of bones. It was as though her skin and flesh had been absorbed by her skeleton. It was a gory scene.
A pair of stone-cold, pitiless eyes ferociously stared at the three Han Shuos as the entity said in a fidgety manner, “I have had enough of your voice, now shut up forever!”
With a wave of his hand, three icicles of the width of a broadsword appeared out of thin air and separately shot at the three Han Shuos at lightning speed. They pierced through the ice on Han Shuo’s bodies and ran straight through their chests.
“Huff… Puff… Huff… Puff…” The being in his inhuman body was heavily panting for air. It seemed that the three Han Shuos had consumed too much of his divine energy and he felt rather fatigued.
“What is this thing? How could he have three bodies? He also uses energy of unknown origin. This guy is truly eccentric!” the man talked to himself as he panted, staring at Han Shuo.
“Luckily he will be done for soon enough and this mission will soon complete. However, a lot of divine energy has been exhausted. Not much was gained on this trip,” he continued mumbling to himself in a low voice. The remaining flesh on the bloody skeletal body was slowly freezing. He seemed to be recovering some divine energy before dealing Han Shuo’s souls the fatal blows.
All three bodies of Han Shuo’s were stuck by the frosty arrows. The frosty aura of incredible might had instantly frozen his limbs and body. Following that, three icicles pierced through all three bodies, causing different degrees of injuries to his three bodies.
Although his bodies were frozen still, his consciousness remained intact and his mind calm.
Had it been another god, it would surely have been very difficult to make a comeback after receiving such repeated attacks. After all, their divine body was the root for them and it would be very difficult to budge after such heavy injuries.
However, not one of Han Shuo’s three bodies were anything ordinary. The destruction avatar was formed from the Demonslayer Edge. The death avatar was formed using the skeletal staff. Han Shuo’s main body cultivating in demonic arts had a physical body that was basically indestructible. How could they be compared to an ordinary body?
Therefore, although all three bodies of Han Shuos were completely frozen, he had not lost the ability to counterstrike.
Just as the man thought that Han Shuo was powerless and was silently recovering his divine energy in preparation of dealing Han Shuo’s souls the final blow, a creaking soul came from Han Shuo’s avatar of destruction.
The man was alarmed and hastily turned his head to look. He immediately cried out in shock of the scene before him.