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Chapter 277: Prince's Combat Method
Its red and silver body, like steel, like flowing water, had patterns etched upon it that seemed to pulse with the vitality of light and life. Although it was only life-sized, it was enough to make the demons of darkness shudder.
This was especially true for the demon Saraka, who had a previous encounter with Ultraman.
The demon's pupils contracted, its terrified expression like that of a startled rabbit as it continuously muttered, "It's him, it's him, it's really him." In that instant, its mind was almost completely filled with the urge to bolt, yet at the same time, reason told it that running was pointless.
No one could escape from this thing.
"Alright, stop your whining. It's embarrassing."
The demon Tisak shot it a disgusted glance before turning to Orin Vale.
"Ultraman, heh. Before I came here, I was thinking we might get to meet."
"Interesting, I was thinking the same thing." Orin Vale glanced around. "But it feels like something is missing. Is Belial not here today?"
Before entering, Orin Vale had already used his super-senses to scan the area, discovering the presence of these two demons. In that moment, he felt a pleasant surprise, like reuniting with an old friend, but when he took a closer look and saw that Belial was absent, he was somewhat disappointed.
By now, he felt he and Belial were more or less old acquaintances, and he strangely missed the demon a little.
Of course, the other party most likely didn't feel the same.
"Belial is a coward. It refused to ever come to this Dimension again," Tisak snorted. "But let me be clear, I'm not a weakling like Belial or Saraka."
"Hey, I'm right here!" Saraka yelled.
Tisak shot it a disdainful look. "I said you're a weakling. What about it?"
Its posture made it clear it had no intention of sparing the other's feelings, not even face-to-face.
The demon's face flushed red. "A-a-are you insulting me?"
Tisak didn't hesitate. "Weakling, trash, a complete scrub, the disgrace among our father's children..."
Saraka trembled with rage. It glared at Tisak for a moment, thought long and hard, and finally gritted its teeth as if it had made a decision with great courage.
It then waved its claw, unleashing a burst of magic power.
Then, the pair of sharp demon ears on its head vanished into thin air.
Orin Vale: "..."
Tisak: "..."
What kind of move was that?
So the idea was, "If I don't have ears, I can't hear the insults"?
Orin Vale had to admit, this act had set a new low for his perception of demons...
Tisak snorted and stopped insulting its teammate, apparently feeling it was beneath it to argue with such a creature. It turned, its expression grim, as a transparent ripple of magic power spread out from it.
The next moment, the floor beneath Orin Vale's feet suddenly transformed. Countless enchanted spikes composed of unknown elements shot up from the ground, launching a surprise attack from below.
The attack was launched extremely quickly, silent and stealthy, making it almost impossible to avoid. Of course, speed is a relative concept. The instant the magic power reached his feet, Orin Vale sensed it. His light-quantum brain instinctively accelerated his thoughts, allowing him to clearly see the spikes slowly extending from beneath his feet.
With a light flicker of his body, he had already vanished by the time the field of spikes erupted.
Tisak's pupils shrank.
So fast! Just as I'd heard!
But it had heard its brothers' descriptions and had long anticipated this enemy's extraordinary abilities. It had already prepared its next move before the first one even landed.
The next moment, immense dark magic power erupted from its hands. Like a raging fire bursting into a magnificent flower, endless darkness and heat were split into countless pieces, transforming into a torrential rain of projectiles that filled the air and exploded in all directions!
Prince's Combat Method!
Tisak's thinking was simple. If the enemy was too fast to track, it would just compensate with overwhelming firepower. A barrage so dense it seemed not even water could seep through spread out in all directions, threatening to engulf the entire room in an instant.
Of course, this move obviously didn't have a friendly-fire protection option like in some games. Since it was a screen-clearing AOE, it was naturally an indiscriminate bombardment.
And so, from amidst the barrage, Saraka's frantic shouts could be heard.
"Hey, watch where you're aiming! This is your teammate! Teammate! Friendly fire, ouch, holy shit that fucking hurts—"
Of course, Tisak completely ignored it.
Perhaps it felt that for such a good-for-nothing teammate, it wouldn't matter if it was blasted to death.
This line of thinking wasn't necessarily wrong, but it relied on one premise.
Namely, that its screen-clearing offensive couldn't be too much slower than the enemy's speed... and at the very least, it had to be able to break the opponent's defense.
However, in Orin Vale's eyes at this moment, the threat level of the demon's Prince's Combat Method could be rounded down to basically zero.
Two months ago, this move might have made him a bit more cautious. Now, however, this screen-filling light pollution felt to Orin Vale like playing a game of Raiden with a bullet-time hack active. There was absolutely no chance of failure.
How are you supposed to get hit by a barrage that is almost stationary?
Oh, right. And it was the version with the infinite life cheat activated.
Because even if he was hit, his defense couldn't be broken.
Orin Vale floated leisurely, weaving slowly through the barrage that was almost stationary in his perception. He casually reached out and plucked a single magical projectile suspended in mid-air.
At this moment, Tisak was frozen mid-shout, eyes wide and mouth agape. Even the sound emerging from its lips seemed to be infinitely stretched along the axis of time, like a tenor's high note that went on forever.
Orin Vale added a little something to the projectile he held. He injected light energy into it, and the chaotic ball of magic instantly became dazzling. Light and darkness seemed to conflict within its spherical shell, like an out-of-control reactor about to explode.
And this was the reaction from Orin Vale's perspective.
He could clearly feel that in the normal flow of time, this ball of magic would have exploded the very instant he injected the light energy.
He dodged the obstacles, passed through the barrage, and flew to the demon Tisak's side, casually stuffing the slowly exploding orb of light into the demon's mouth.
Time resumed its normal flow.
Tisak's own magical projectile detonated in its mouth like a hand grenade. The upper half of the demon's body, from the waist up, was blasted to ash, with not even a speck remaining.
Only after Tisak was effectively bisected did the remaining projectiles it had fired continue along their trajectories. But all Saraka saw was the sky full of projectiles popping one after another into brilliant flashes of light and shadow, without causing the slightest bit of damage to the Great Hall.
Logically, that round of bombardment should have instantly reduced the entire building to dust.
Yet, they were still here. Tisak's final, full-power, screen-clearing AOE hadn't even kicked up a speck of dust.
"Can't have you two making too big of a scene, can I?" Orin Vale's figure seemed to flicker for an instant before reappearing in front of Saraka as he spoke calmly.
"After all, to the people outside, all that's happening in here is a devout Believer receiving instructions from the son of a God. It wouldn't be good if the Great Hall was blown to bits, now would it?"
In an instant, Saraka realized what had just happened.
Just now, in that split second when the screen-filling magical projectiles had erupted outwards.
This guy, in that infinitesimally short moment, had flown into the trajectory of every single projectile and intercepted them all.
The moment it comprehended this, the demon's limbs turned to ice, its entire body feeling as if it had been plunged into a frozen cavern.
Just how fast was he?
(end of chapter)
Its red and silver body, like steel, like flowing water, had patterns etched upon it that seemed to pulse with the vitality of light and life. Although it was only life-sized, it was enough to make the demons of darkness shudder.
This was especially true for the demon Saraka, who had a previous encounter with Ultraman.
The demon's pupils contracted, its terrified expression like that of a startled rabbit as it continuously muttered, "It's him, it's him, it's really him." In that instant, its mind was almost completely filled with the urge to bolt, yet at the same time, reason told it that running was pointless.
No one could escape from this thing.
"Alright, stop your whining. It's embarrassing."
The demon Tisak shot it a disgusted glance before turning to Orin Vale.
"Ultraman, heh. Before I came here, I was thinking we might get to meet."
"Interesting, I was thinking the same thing." Orin Vale glanced around. "But it feels like something is missing. Is Belial not here today?"
Before entering, Orin Vale had already used his super-senses to scan the area, discovering the presence of these two demons. In that moment, he felt a pleasant surprise, like reuniting with an old friend, but when he took a closer look and saw that Belial was absent, he was somewhat disappointed.
By now, he felt he and Belial were more or less old acquaintances, and he strangely missed the demon a little.
Of course, the other party most likely didn't feel the same.
"Belial is a coward. It refused to ever come to this Dimension again," Tisak snorted. "But let me be clear, I'm not a weakling like Belial or Saraka."
"Hey, I'm right here!" Saraka yelled.
Tisak shot it a disdainful look. "I said you're a weakling. What about it?"
Its posture made it clear it had no intention of sparing the other's feelings, not even face-to-face.
The demon's face flushed red. "A-a-are you insulting me?"
Tisak didn't hesitate. "Weakling, trash, a complete scrub, the disgrace among our father's children..."
Saraka trembled with rage. It glared at Tisak for a moment, thought long and hard, and finally gritted its teeth as if it had made a decision with great courage.
It then waved its claw, unleashing a burst of magic power.
Then, the pair of sharp demon ears on its head vanished into thin air.
Orin Vale: "..."
Tisak: "..."
What kind of move was that?
So the idea was, "If I don't have ears, I can't hear the insults"?
Orin Vale had to admit, this act had set a new low for his perception of demons...
Tisak snorted and stopped insulting its teammate, apparently feeling it was beneath it to argue with such a creature. It turned, its expression grim, as a transparent ripple of magic power spread out from it.
The next moment, the floor beneath Orin Vale's feet suddenly transformed. Countless enchanted spikes composed of unknown elements shot up from the ground, launching a surprise attack from below.
The attack was launched extremely quickly, silent and stealthy, making it almost impossible to avoid. Of course, speed is a relative concept. The instant the magic power reached his feet, Orin Vale sensed it. His light-quantum brain instinctively accelerated his thoughts, allowing him to clearly see the spikes slowly extending from beneath his feet.
With a light flicker of his body, he had already vanished by the time the field of spikes erupted.
Tisak's pupils shrank.
So fast! Just as I'd heard!
But it had heard its brothers' descriptions and had long anticipated this enemy's extraordinary abilities. It had already prepared its next move before the first one even landed.
The next moment, immense dark magic power erupted from its hands. Like a raging fire bursting into a magnificent flower, endless darkness and heat were split into countless pieces, transforming into a torrential rain of projectiles that filled the air and exploded in all directions!
Prince's Combat Method!
Tisak's thinking was simple. If the enemy was too fast to track, it would just compensate with overwhelming firepower. A barrage so dense it seemed not even water could seep through spread out in all directions, threatening to engulf the entire room in an instant.
Of course, this move obviously didn't have a friendly-fire protection option like in some games. Since it was a screen-clearing AOE, it was naturally an indiscriminate bombardment.
And so, from amidst the barrage, Saraka's frantic shouts could be heard.
"Hey, watch where you're aiming! This is your teammate! Teammate! Friendly fire, ouch, holy shit that fucking hurts—"
Of course, Tisak completely ignored it.
Perhaps it felt that for such a good-for-nothing teammate, it wouldn't matter if it was blasted to death.
This line of thinking wasn't necessarily wrong, but it relied on one premise.
Namely, that its screen-clearing offensive couldn't be too much slower than the enemy's speed... and at the very least, it had to be able to break the opponent's defense.
However, in Orin Vale's eyes at this moment, the threat level of the demon's Prince's Combat Method could be rounded down to basically zero.
Two months ago, this move might have made him a bit more cautious. Now, however, this screen-filling light pollution felt to Orin Vale like playing a game of Raiden with a bullet-time hack active. There was absolutely no chance of failure.
How are you supposed to get hit by a barrage that is almost stationary?
Oh, right. And it was the version with the infinite life cheat activated.
Because even if he was hit, his defense couldn't be broken.
Orin Vale floated leisurely, weaving slowly through the barrage that was almost stationary in his perception. He casually reached out and plucked a single magical projectile suspended in mid-air.
At this moment, Tisak was frozen mid-shout, eyes wide and mouth agape. Even the sound emerging from its lips seemed to be infinitely stretched along the axis of time, like a tenor's high note that went on forever.
Orin Vale added a little something to the projectile he held. He injected light energy into it, and the chaotic ball of magic instantly became dazzling. Light and darkness seemed to conflict within its spherical shell, like an out-of-control reactor about to explode.
And this was the reaction from Orin Vale's perspective.
He could clearly feel that in the normal flow of time, this ball of magic would have exploded the very instant he injected the light energy.
He dodged the obstacles, passed through the barrage, and flew to the demon Tisak's side, casually stuffing the slowly exploding orb of light into the demon's mouth.
Time resumed its normal flow.
Tisak's own magical projectile detonated in its mouth like a hand grenade. The upper half of the demon's body, from the waist up, was blasted to ash, with not even a speck remaining.
Only after Tisak was effectively bisected did the remaining projectiles it had fired continue along their trajectories. But all Saraka saw was the sky full of projectiles popping one after another into brilliant flashes of light and shadow, without causing the slightest bit of damage to the Great Hall.
Logically, that round of bombardment should have instantly reduced the entire building to dust.
Yet, they were still here. Tisak's final, full-power, screen-clearing AOE hadn't even kicked up a speck of dust.
"Can't have you two making too big of a scene, can I?" Orin Vale's figure seemed to flicker for an instant before reappearing in front of Saraka as he spoke calmly.
"After all, to the people outside, all that's happening in here is a devout Believer receiving instructions from the son of a God. It wouldn't be good if the Great Hall was blown to bits, now would it?"
In an instant, Saraka realized what had just happened.
Just now, in that split second when the screen-filling magical projectiles had erupted outwards.
This guy, in that infinitesimally short moment, had flown into the trajectory of every single projectile and intercepted them all.
The moment it comprehended this, the demon's limbs turned to ice, its entire body feeling as if it had been plunged into a frozen cavern.
Just how fast was he?
(end of chapter)
