CHAPTER 34: CHAPTER 34: RYOMA V LIAN’ER PT2

The disc of ice started producing more shards of ice which bombarded the vicinity—Ryoma slicked into the shadows, maneuvering from the unrelenting attacks that Lian’er dished out.

The entire battlefield was turned into a graveyard of ice.

Lian’er’s eyes darted around observing where the man might be. Having experienced the ability to merge with shadows, she could predict the path a shadow user could take and even track them down in a manner similar to precognition—she saw Ryoma emerge from the shadows of the ice shards and commanded the dragon on her construct to attack the old man.

Ryoma saw the dragon approach and gritted his teeth. Shadow travel needed time, and the dragon would arrive before he could command his shadows to allow him to dissolve into them—but the situation was not as hopeless as he thought. He crossed his fingers and Neuro-Qi flowed in his body bringing forth his next technique.

TEN DIRECTIONS: SHADOW GARDEN

His shadow split up and from within large dogs appeared—The two large dogs had black and white fur with the marking of darkness and light on their forehead. They howled to the wind sending out a rippling shockwave that destroyed the ice and the dragon with ease. The dogs then growled, their eyes gleaming red as they looked at Lian’er.

The woman in mention watched with a curious eye at what had just happened. Having spent a month in Sunderfall, she knew there existed trashbeasts—creatures made from a phenomenon unexplainable by technology and then there were Mecha beasts, the highest form of technological advancements. The dogs were not in any of the category which made her raise an eyebrow.

Her analysis was cast aside as she was forced to jump from the buddha as one of the dogs bit through the Ice, crushing her construct in one attack.

That’s bad, I shouldn’t get bit. She thought as she landed on the ground.

ICE MAKE: DEEP FOREST EMERGENCE

Lian’er’s left hand formed a fist and she slammed it into her right hand which was an open palm releasing a wave of ice from their midpoint—the wave of ice created massive roots of ice which spread out in all directions, flattening and freezing everything in their path.

Ryoma and his dogs jumped on ice after ice avoiding the roots—he looked at the black dog and it howled sending out another shockwave which tore through some of the ice roots but the number of the ice roots made it impossible to stop them. The white dog’s eyes glowed and sparks of purple lightning flashed around it and it released the lightning omnidirectionally destroying some of the roots.

THOUSAND NEEDLES OF DEATH

Lian’er was not done, as she gave the ice roots another attribute and made them shoot out a myriad of needles that honed on Ryoma and his summons.

SHADOW BALL

Ryoma called upon the shadows and brought them around him creating a sphere of darkness and shadow—the sphere covered Ryoma and his summons protecting them from the attack and with one change in command of the ability, the shadow sphere released sharp tendrils of shadows which sped to Lian’er.

Lian’er dodged shadow after shadow using the ice as a cover up. She slightly smirked as the shadows reached just an inch away from her—they had a range in which they were confined in. Enhanced eyes calculated the range between her and the sphere of darkness.

She cracked her fingers. She had seen quite enough of the cultivation skill to replicate it—Lian’er took a deep breather and focused on her goal, the shadows began to move as she willed them applying the same concept as Ryoma, the process took less than five seconds and she was already grasping how the skill worked.

Ryoma let down the shadow sphere and his eyes widened. "Impossible—" He was shocked at what he saw, she was mimicking his cultivation of shadows and darkness. "—You should be confined to only Ice unless..."

Lian’er chuckled. "You catch on fast, ice is not my cultivation skill but mimicry is."

She dashed forward—the shadows rising and coming along with her creating massive thorns that spread around her.

BOOM!

The shadows from both Lian’er and Ryoma collided forming a cloak of shadows that was covering the sky.

The dogs rushed to attack Lian’er sending out purple lightning and a shockwave blast, but the latter merely raised her hand and created a barrier of Neuro-Qi which absorbed the attacks. She could not get a breather as Ryoma appeared before her and struck her with his palm making Lian’er cough blood and fly away.

She guided herself midair and landed on her feet—A bloody smirk appeared on her face albeit wider. Her blood was pumping and that made her want to give all her best to the man and she was going to.

Ryoma appeared before Lian’er again, his palm already pushed forward for maximum damage—the latter twisted her body to the side allowing the attack to pass her, her hand held Ryoma and the earlier attacks she had absorbed were released into Ryoma obliterating his entire hand—from the shoulder all the way to the wrist.

The old man gained some distance to nurse his wound only to find Lian’er in his face—she punched Ryoma sending him crashing into the large roots behind him.

The dogs jumped into action and the white one swiped Lian’er with its palm sending her crashing into the ground—the black one followed after slamming its paw on the woman.

Lian’er caught the paw and wobbled to her feet. "You mutts!" She let out a warcry and the pushed the dog off of her throwing it way.

She molded the existing ice into spikes that pierced through the two dogs making their blood rain down on the land turning the whiteness of the ice into a blood bath.

Her attention returned to Ryoma and a sword of ice came into existence from the massive roots that were besides her. She held the sword and ran towards Ryoma fading in and out of sight from her sheer speed.

The two got locked in a deadly fight of swords—ice sword met shadows covered swords and shockwaves capable of annihilation buildings spawned with each attack delivered.

Ryoma was starting to get tired—the consistent blocking, parrying and evading were sapping away his stamina despite him boosting it with Neuro-Qi—his opponent did not seem bothered she was consistently pressing on her attack forcing him into a defensive position.

Shadows wobbled around them and they created a massive construct around Lian’er and Ryoma got his desired breathing room.

"You aren’t escaping that!"

Lian’er inside the shadow construct was forced to kneel as the gravity had changed and it intensified. The ice she was kneeling on croaked and shattered as she was being dug further into it. Damn... I got careless

The situation she was in, was not that difficult for her to escape—she opened her reserves even further allowing her Neuro-Qi to flourish in massive quantities revealing her true might—the might of a Cybercultivator on the verge of breaking into Enlightened Realm II, her eyes glowed with power and she slowly got to her feet.

Neuro-Qi coated her exterior and it slightly reduced the gravity strain on her body—she swung her hand, reaching into the shadow construct and tearing through it causing the construct to shatter into millions of pieces.

"What kind of monster are you?" Ryoma questioned, his eyes not believing what he had seen.