Battle

After chasing him for some time, Wien came to an abrupt halt. He turned and swatted away the Bala that was about to hit him, while gathering Spiritual Pressure in his right hand. Lightning flashed, accompanied by sharp cries like birdsong.

Lightning Strike!

He swept out his right claw, wreathed in Lightning, and blasted a large number of Bala and Cero apart. Dust billowed through the air, completely concealing his body.

Seeing this, Pairomon and the Pseudo-Adjuchas Hollow Beasts with him also stopped. They dared not advance and waited quietly for the dust to settle.

At their level, recklessly charging into a haze without knowing where the enemy was would be courting death. So even if Pairomon sensed Wien fleeing again, he would only charge after him once he had made sure there was no ambush.

But this time was different. Once the dust settled, Wien was still standing quietly in the air, with no intention of retreating any further.

"Hmph, you stinking reptile, finally done running?" Seeing that Wien was no longer fleeing, Pairomon stopped chasing him and took up a battle stance. "What, have you decided to accept your death?"

"Do you really think... I'd be afraid of a few worthless nobodies like you?" Because of the position he had taken while fleeing, Wien now stood higher in the air, while Pairomon's group hovered some distance below him.

"Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish!"

Wien's words were full of disdain as he looked down at the five Pseudo-Adjuchas Hollow Beasts. He slowly raised his left hand, and the Rift-Splitting Greatsword gradually took shape from Reishi. Once the greatsword had fully materialized, the pale gold Spiritual Pressure around him rose with it.

For a moment, pale gold light shot into the sky, instantly suppressing the Pseudo-Adjuchas across from him. Only Pairomon had instinctively raised his own Spiritual Pressure just before it struck, allowing him to withstand Wien's suppression.

"Th-this is really Spiritual Pressure a Mid Rank Pseudo-Adjuchas can possess?" The sensory-type Hollow Beast that had just used his ability to drag Wien out of concealment was now so suppressed he could barely breathe. He struggled to raise his head and look at Wien above, who seemed like a demon god descended upon the world, his heart full of fear.

If his lord had not still been standing in front of him, he might already have turned and fled.

"We underestimated this guy. Although he's only a Mid Rank Adjuchas, the quality and density of his Spiritual Power are too high. Spiritual Pressure like this is almost comparable to a peak-level Adjuchas." As Pairomon felt the Spiritual Pressure radiating from Wien, which matched his own and even faintly suppressed him, his heart tightened.

Unfortunately, he no longer had a chance to seek help. He could only unleash his Spiritual Pressure with all his might, hoping that Pseudo-Adjuchas from other regions near his territory would sense it and come to his aid.

"Everyone, raise your Spiritual Pressure to the limit! This bastard won't be easy to deal with!"

"Yes, my lord!" The four Pseudo-Adjuchas obeyed, each unleashing his own Spiritual Pressure to contend with Wien. Although one could not overcome him, when all five Pseudo-Adjuchas released their Spiritual Pressure at once, Wien's pale gold pillar of Spiritual Pressure began to look unsteady.

"Five at once is a little dangerous, but how can I break through my limits without taking a few risks?" Wien merely smiled at having his Spiritual Pressure suppressed and casually flourished his sword. He stepped forward and used Void Flash Sonído to swoop down on the five Hollow Beasts below. He was so fast that, aside from Pairomon, none of the remaining Hollow Beasts had time to react.

Using Void Flash to appear before Pairomon, Wien raised his greatsword and smashed it down toward Pairomon's mask. Pairomon immediately channeled his Spiritual Power and raised his arms, using the hardest part of his body to block Wien's attack.

But the force of the attack Pairomon expected never struck his guard. The greatsword suddenly and strangely vanished an instant before it touched him, leaving only the hilt in Wien's hand.

"Aaargh!!!"

An unexpected scream came from behind Pairomon. He looked back and saw that the Pseudo-Adjuchas Hollow Beast who had just locked onto and tracked Wien had been cleaved in two by a single sword strike. Blood sprayed into the air and spattered Pairomon.

In front of the Hollow Beast, a faintly glowing spatial rift had yet to close completely. Behind him, a pale gold sword arc continued flying into the distance.

Dimensional Slash!

Wien's feint had worked wonders! He had struck the virtually undefended Mid Rank Pseudo-Adjuchas with a sword arc infused with a great deal of Spiritual Power, killing him in a single blow! The moment the Hollow died, the purple glow around Wien gradually faded and vanished.

Concealment could take effect again.

Giving Pairomon no more time to react, Wien seized the moment he was distracted and used Void Flash Sonído again. He left behind an afterimage unique to Void Flash to confuse Pairomon's vision, while he himself appeared beside another Hollow Beast with an alien appearance and a half-human body.

The brilliant light unique to Space-Splitting Slash fell, striking him squarely.

Unfortunately, because his opponent was already on guard, the blow failed to kill him outright. It only broke through his defenses and wounded him. The two forearms he had used to block the attack were severely injured by Wien's sword.

"Despicable!" Pairomon knew he had been tricked. In just an instant, he had lost another subordinate. He turned and used Sonído, raising his fist to smash it at Wien, only for Wien to dodge again with Void Flash.

"Die!" Pairomon smashed both arms into the air, sending a huge orange-red ripple racing toward Wien. Wherever the ripple swept, even the air gave off muffled bursts.

Earth-Splitting Shockwave!

It seemed Pairomon's shockwave attack against the ground could also be used in midair.

But Wien was not going to stand there foolishly and take the hit. The air beneath his feet suddenly stopped supporting him, and he fell toward the ground. The shockwave, however, seemed capable of tracking him and followed him down.

Just as the shockwave was about to hit Wien, he vanished again. Instantly appearing beside the wounded Hollow Beast with an alien head and human body, he drove his sword into his chest like a phantom. The shockwave tracking him failed to turn in time and struck the ground, raising a massive shockwave. Even the ground was blasted with enormous cracks.

Shadowless Strike Flash!

That was not the end. Wien also opened his mouth and fired a pale gold Cero point-blank into the Hollow Beast's head. In an instant, the beast's head was separated from his body, and not even his mask remained, obliterated directly into the air.

Hummm!!!

The two remaining Pseudo-Adjuchas hurriedly attacked Wien, sending two Cero flying toward him.

Having just finished an attack, Wien had yet to recover his strength. He turned and barely managed to block the attacks with his greatsword, but the explosions from the two Cero still injured him.

The smoke cleared. Wien shook the blood from his arm and forcibly bent his right claw, twisted out of shape by the explosion, back into place.

The next second, the Rift-Splitting Greatsword vanished from Wien's hand. He raised his left hand and aimed it at the three Pseudo-Adjuchas before him, a pale gold light flashing in his eyes.

In an instant, dozens of spatial rifts opened around them at once. With the three Pseudo-Adjuchas at the center, countless Bala rained down like a storm, stirring up waves of Spiritual Pressure.

Bala: Ethereal!

Bala poured out from every direction like raindrops, but the destructive power of Bala did not seem sufficient to easily inflict serious injuries on Pseudo-Adjuchas. The three within their range kept their Spiritual Pressure steady and tensely dealt with every Bala flying toward them. Though their trajectories were extremely strange, that did not prevent them from defending correctly.

But...

Bang!

A Bala struck one of the Pseudo-Adjuchas squarely in the back, making him stagger.

"It hit me? How?!" The Pseudo-Adjuchas who had been hit was stunned. He had clearly blocked every Bala he sensed, so how had he still been hit?

Bang!

Before his astonishment had faded, the other Pseudo-Adjuchas beside him was also hit by a Bala. Although the explosion was not powerful enough to kill him, it still caused some injury.

For comparison, if the damage of a Bala used against Wien back then by Ira Yammy, who had forcibly risen from the lower High-Level Hollow stage to the peak of Gillian, was one, then the damage of an ordinary Initial Pseudo-Adjuchas Bala would be about twenty.

And the damage of a Bala Wien used with his refined Spiritual Power would be at least fifty. Of course, that value also depended on the enemy's defenses. Against a lower Hollow, it would mean instant obliteration, but against the Adjuchas before him, Wien was already satisfied that it could cause injuries.

"No, something's wrong!" After a barrage of Bala, Pairomon noticed something amiss. With his abilities, no matter how densely packed the Bala were, he should never have made a mistake and been hit by them. Yet a few Bala had struck him squarely.

It was those few attacks that made Pairomon realize it was not that he had failed to dodge them, but that he had not sensed their existence at all!

"That's not right, he really does have a second ability! He can suppress the Spiritual Pressure given off by his Bala!"

"Correct, but unfortunately there's no prize!"

Hummm!!!

A muffled burst rang out in the air again, and a colorless Cero shot from a strange angle toward one of the wounded Pseudo-Adjuchas.

The high-density Cero pierced straight through the Pseudo-Adjuchas's body. Clearly, he would not survive.

While using Bala: Ethereal, Wien had also used his ability to begin gathering a Concealment Cero. But controlling multiple abilities at once divided his attention, and even with his abundant Spiritual Power, Wien could not fully control them well.

Using Bala consumed Spiritual Power, and activating the spatial properties to combine them into Bala: Ethereal required him to divide his attention to control his spatial ability and establish the coordinates. At the same time, Wien also had to use some of his attention to conceal the Cero he was gathering.

Dividing his attention this way had caused some of Wien's Concealment ability to accidentally mix into the Bala, creating Bala: Hidden Kill. That was why Bala had struck the three Pseudo-Adjuchas without their knowledge.

Fortunately, before the three Menos Grande realized what was happening, his Cero, at a level slightly weaker than Gran Rey Cero, had already finished forming. The sudden strike had indeed taken out a Pseudo-Adjuchas, making the setup worthwhile as far as Wien was concerned.

And now, only two enemies remained.