112 Too Good! (1/2)

[Do you think I'm letting you two get all the points?]

Van rotated Scattering Smoke Steps and appeared behind the 8th rank beast just at the same time the twins did. They immediately launched the offensive. Wind qi whipped through the air and sliced the air around the Midnight Oil Scorpion.

Enraged, the demon beast stabbed its tail forwards with flickering movements. Afterimages of its tail appeared in the air. The twins were kept on their toes as they dodged the lightning-fast attacks from the Scorpion. As they fought, the twins realised that the 8th rank Midnight Oil Scorpion's shell was particularly resistant to spiritual power.

Van looked at the glossy exoskeleton and licked his lips. His red hair floated behind his back as he burst forwards.

Red and blue lights rotated in his palm.

Then he clenched his hand!

[Thermocycling Fist!]

A hair-raising screech split the air as a massive crack formed in the exoskeleton of the Midnight Oil Scorpion.

Cordelia clenched her teeth. She hated that she couldn't just kill him and eliminate him from the competition right this second. He was like an annoying fly that wouldn't stop buzzing around and ruining her mood. Worst of all, he kept stealing her thunder and making her look bad.

Daphne was looking at Van with complex eyes.

[How is he able to damage it so easily when me and Cordelia combined are struggling to make a dent?]

In fact, the reason that the twins seemed to do so little damage compared to Van was due to the characteristics of the Midnight Oil Scorpion. Like the Brown King Ant in Threadspinner Town, it possessed an exoskeleton that was resistant against both spiritual and physical attacks. Adding the fact that it was in the 8th rank, any 7th rank cultivator would struggle against the Midnight Oil Scorpion.

However, Van was not 'any' 7th rank cultivator. He had a move that was the absolute bane of any hard-shelled demon beast - Thermocycling Fist! This self-made fist used the opposites of extreme cold and extreme heat to crack the impenetrable exoskeleton of these types of demon beasts.

With this one fist, Van grasped the weakness of the Midnight Oil Scorpion!

One might be tempted to scoff and say Van was 'just lucky' to have a skill that countered the strength of this 8th ranked Midnight Oil Scorpion.

However, do you think Van would have allowed the demon beast to attack the giant crystal if he hadn't calculated it all clearly in his heart?

Of course not!

Van pressed his advantage. Copper light emanated from his body as he used his fists to pummel the crack.

The 8th rank beast immediately turned its attention to Van. The agile and fearsome tail flickered through the air.

Van immediately disappeared and the tail was unable to pierce him. He reappeared several metres back.

The 8th rank beast stared at him menacingly.

Cordelia saw that the scorpion was now using its tail to protect the crack in its exoskeleton and frowned. She and her sister specialised in long-range spiritual attacks. However, they had already seen that their spiritual attacks were somewhat weakened by the resistant shell of the demon beast. The problem was that close combat was not their forte. If they got in close to target the crack in the Scorpion's shell, they would definitely suffer losses. Their only option was to just keep slinging powerful attacks at the demon beast in hopes of breaking through its defences.

While the twins hesitated, Van dashed in again.

The enraged scorpion suddenly stabbed its pincers into the ground. The earth trembled and then giant boulders shot out of the ground and shot towards Van.

Van lightly floated up. His image flickered as he stepped through the air as if he were made of hazy smoke. The boulders were easily evaded.

A heavy and forbidding axe suddenly appeared in Van's hand.

The black scorpion screeched. The glinting tip of its tail was like a snake that coiled and whipped around in the air. It jabbed forth!

[Heavy Axe Art!]

A heavy and immense aura suddenly flooded the battlefield as Van gathered the power into his axe. In his mind, the silently rotating black sun appeared once more.

Shk!

A shiny segmented object fell to the ground.

The Midnight Oil Scorpion screeched in agonised pain.

Its venomous barbed tail disarmed, Van nimbly avoided its pincers and attacked its broken exoskeleton.

Cordelia and Daphne realised at this moment that Van was about to steal the points for the 8th ranked beast right in front of their eyes. Angered, Cordelia pointed a slender finger towards Van's unprotected back.

”Wind Bullet!”

Jet warned Van and the red-haired youth was able to activate his body cultivation just milliseconds before the air bullet hit his back.

A trace of red appeared at the corner of Van's lips.