Chapter 392: Scrap
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
Seven Kills could sense that this skill was going to be impactful, so he trained his focus. He had made his decision. He was not going to face it head-on. He would evade it if he could, and if he couldn’t, he would try to neutralize its power as much as he could.
“Wait a minute…it does not look like he’s aiming at me.” As his opponent came closer to the ground, Seven Kills realized that Xiao Tan was going to land more than ten meters away from him, and he did not need to move to evade the attack. Xiao Tan also just realized that problem. Mantra of Heaven and Earth Inversion only affected the gravity on himself, and it was not actually flying. To put it plainly, he was ‘falling’ vertically into the sky. The wind and his posture might slightly change his landing spot, but these two factors alone were not enough to change his trajectory greatly, much less to accurately target a person.
Hmm. This is different from what I thought. Xiao Tan made some quick strokes in the air, as if he was trying to ‘swim’ toward Seven Skills. However, that was useless. Furthermore, even if he really succeeded, Seven Kills would only need to move away to avoid Xiao Tan, who was falling straight down. Finally, Xiao Tan had no choice but to give up on his attack. When he was about 10 meters above the ground, he activated the mantra twice, adjusted gravity twice, and landed safely.
Seven Kills was confused. He stood ten meters away and looked at Xiao Tan. What in the world is the kid doing? What’s the point of flying so high and then coming down? It’s not just to show off, right? And why hasn’t the curse ended? What is this thing’s effect?
This is disappointing. Xiao Tan sighed as he stood there thinking. Unless the scenario placed me inside a large chimney, the chance of this skill hitting an opponent is close to zero. It has to be combined with some sort of homing skill.
He was feeling quite annoyed too. If the skill description wasn’t so mysterious, I would have learned the supporting skill beforehand instead of trying it out in the middle of the battle. Now where does that leave me?
“Erm… Brother Wang, have you had your fun?” Seven Kills spoke. “Are you just trying to show off what you have accomplished in the past month?”
Xiao Tan laughed bitterly. “You saw it yourself. It’s nothing worth showing off.”
“Is that so?” Seven Kills’ expression changed. “Then that’s quite disappointing.”
“If we’re comparing disappointment…You have no idea how dejected I am feeling at the moment,” Xiao Tan replied weakly. Xiao Tan had his own expectations of the Mantra of Heaven and Earth Inversion. After all, he had trained so long to finally learn this skill. He thought it would be amazing, but it was much less interesting and much less useful than he thought.
As they say, mindless words can cause offense. When Seven Kills heard what Xiao Tan said, combined with his actions and tone, he interpreted it differently. It took on a different meaning.
“Oh?” Seven Kills said, then guffawed. “Looks like you have great confidence in yourself. You believe I am no longer your match?”
“Huh?” Xiao Tan was confounded, and he expressed it clearly. But for Seven Kills and the thousands of watchers, that ‘huh’ sounded like an affirmation.
“Wonderful! Then I shall expect great things from Brother Wang!” Seven Kills said as he disappeared. At that second, Xiao Tan’s battle instinct told him two things: one, the opponent was behind him; two, he had to use his illusion to avoid this hit.
Pew!
Seven Kills’ punch lunged forward and pierced through the spine of the person before him. However, there was no sound of bone breaking and blood squirting. His fist phased through his opponent’s body.
“The same trick will not work on me twice!” Xiao Tan’s voice suddenly appeared behind Seven Kills. Indeed, Seven Kills used the same tactic that he used to kill Xiao Tan in the preliminary—the combination of Shadowstep and Bone-Shattering Fist. He once used this combo to kill many players, and it worked most of the time. Honestly, even if the opponent knew what he was up to, it was not easy to deflect this attack.
First, Bone-Shattering Fist was a skill that could only be blocked from the front. If the skill came from the back, it was impossible to block. For players like Xiao Tan who were weak on defense, being attacked from behind was like the attack landing on their physical body. And Shadowstep was a teleporting move. It enabled Seven Kills to appear behind an enemy’s back within twenty meters. It exhausted 100 Sorcery Points, and the CD is half an hour. These two skills made up a very classic combo. Used complimentarily, they could cause serious damage. But Xiao Tan successfully evaded this combo.
When Seven Kills used Shadowstep, Xiao Tan used Ephemeral Shade. At the same time, his real body somersaulted backward. Seven Kills used his combo without hesitation. He teleported, even though the figure before him flickered suspiciously. From experience, he knew that the first thing that would enter his sight would undeniably be his opponent’s back. By then, Xiao Tan had already moved behind him. At that moment, the blade bounced out from the sleeve and reached for the neck.
But Seven Kills did not fall for it. It was as if the man had eyes on his back. As his fist missed, he pushed his body forward. He lowered his head and avoided the slash from the sleeve blade.
“Humph…Do you think you are Saint Seiya?” Seven Kills scoffed and derided Xiao Tan for what he said earlier. He was able to react so fast because he predicted from the start that Xiao Tan would not fall for the same trick twice. Even though it was hard to tell why Seven Kills would have that foresight, that was what he felt. It was instinct—instinct that could not be rationally explained. He had no idea how Xiao Tan broke his combo, but he was sure that Xiao Tan would be able to do so. His opponent’s ability and confidence were hard to explain, but it was definitely real. Sometimes, it was more reliable than his trust in his friends.
“Go to hell!” Without waiting for the next moment, Seven Kills went for the next strike. His leg lunged backward like a scorpion’s tail. This time, he still failed to make contact. Xiao Tan used a very simple method to block the attack.
“Indeed… I am Saint Seiya.” When Xiao Tan spoke, his arms had slid under Seven Kills’ armpit, and he gripped Seven Kills in a vise.
“What is this…This pose…Could it be the legendary…” Seven Kills was shocked. “Rozan Shō Ryū Ha?”
Xiao Tan guffawed. “The way to stop a close-combat fighter, other than to snipe them, is by using a binding skill. You have no chance to deal damage anymore!” He announced as he activated Mantra of Heaven and Earth Inversion. He wished to carry his enemy into the sky and then drop him. But to their surprise…
After the skill was activated, neither of them flew into the sky. They stood where they were. Even though Seven Kills felt a force that dragged him upward, the force was not strong enough to pull him off the ground.
Damn. He weighs heavier than I am. Xiao Tan realized this very serious problem. Shiva had considered this tactic before, but the premise of this tactic was that Xiao Tan should know how to fly. In the reality though, that was not the case. The mantra could only inverse the effect of gravity on the player, including the clothes and armor they were wearing, and the outside world, but it would not influence the other players the user came into contact with.
Therefore, Xiao Tan’s Plan B failed as well.
“Your flying technique is quite interesting, but it does not seem like it can support much weight,” Seven Kills said coldly. He laughed, slowly turned his head around, and was shocked by Xiao Tan’s appearance. “What the! Why is your hair standing straight up like that? And it looks like the blood is going to your head…”
“Actually, I am a super Saiyan.” Xiao Tan tried to bluff to hide his embarrassment.
“Hah…Who are you trying to trick?” Seven Kills scoffed. “If you’re a super siayan, you would have transformed into a giant gorilla under the full moon.” At that moment, all the viewers had the same thought. Wait. That is not the point, is it?
But Xiao Tan replied, “That’s because I have already severed my tail.”
This is a whole load of bull cr*p, but how has he considered that detail as well? Seven Kills thought.
“Ha…Such nonsense!” Seven Kills stopped trying to make small talk. He growled and made his move. He came from a military background, so he was able to break Xiao Tan’s stranglehold on him. Seven Kills bent his knees, lowered his body’s center of gravity, and then lashed out his right leg to do a sweeping kick. But the kick missed.
Xiao Tan was still in reverse-gravity mode. He only needed to jump to evade the attack.
From the perspective of an outsider, Xiao Tan was floating while squatting down, and his arms were still restricting Seven Kills’s movement.
“Laughable.” Seven Kills still couldn’t move his arms, which were locked before his chest, but he could push them upward. He thus raised both of his arms and grabbed behind him, trying to grab at Xiao Tan’s head. Xiao Tan suddenly changed tactics. He pulled back his arms and moved to grab Seven Kills by his arms instead. Then, he used the mantra again and pressed both of his knees on Seven Kills’ shoulders.
With this back and forth, Seven Kills’s arms were pulled upward, and his shoulders were pressed down by another person’s whole weight. The joint from his scapula to his forearm was in danger of being dislocated. Seven Kills was a pugilist. If his arms were decapitated or broken, the match would be practically over for him.
“This is getting interesting…” Seven Kills gritted his teeth and tautened the muscle of his arms. He believed the strength in his arms was more powerful than the force Xiao Tan could gather from his entire body.
That was the truth, and Xiao Tan knew it. He did not want to engage in a battle of brute force with Seven Kills, so he suddenly let go. The sleeve blade glinted as it went for his opponent’s temple.