Second World

When Jack got close to the draconian he was chasing, he used his Inspect.

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Long (Fist Lord, level: 67)

HP: 17,248/17,248

Guild: World Maker

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Peniel informed Jack that Fist Lord was a first-class special class.

Jack used Wind Slash to stop his target. Five wind energies crisscrossed from different directions.

Before the wind energies reached Long, Jack saw Long's body become blurred. Jack thought that something was wrong with his eyes, but then Long's blurry body swayed weirdly. All of Jack's five wind energies just passed by Long without hitting him.

"What the…?!" Jack couldn't believe what he saw.

"I'm not aware of that kind of skill," Peniel uttered.

"It's not a game skill!" Jack said.

The Wind Slash only slightly halted Long. The gap between them didn't reduce much.

Jack used Time Realm then. The spell didn't only slow Long and speed Jack up, it also created a barrier along its edge, imprisoning every hostile within its domain.

Long was already by the Time Realm's edge when it was cast. He sensed the barrier and had no choice but to stop. He then put a palm gently onto the barrier.

Jack saw a ripple radiate on his Time Realm's barrier where Long's palm touched. A second ripple appeared, a third. It became more and more at a rapid pace. Jack could sense the mana that was forming the Time Realm's barrier trembled and became chaotic. The barrier then shattered.

Jack was in disbelief. The barrier was supposed to be able to resist damage equal to 200% of his HP. But from the mana he sensed, he knew that Long didn't break the barrier the normal way. Long broke the barrier by dissolving the mana that formed the barrier. The guy was not only a martial art expert. He was a mana manipulation expert!

Even though the Time Realm's barrier was broken, Long stopped long enough for Jack to come into his melee range.

Long sensed Jack's approach as he stepped out of the Time Realm's AOE. He turned back abruptly. As he did, Jack sensed a spike in mana intensity from Long. Long's palms multiplied and a lot of eastern dragons materialized around the draconian. These eastern dragons, numbered eighteen, headed to Jack.

Jack's hands also exploded into countless slashes. Ninety-six sword lights met the eighteen dragons.

Even though Jack's slashes far outnumbered the dragons. Each of the dragons carried with it a wave of energy that swept the many sword lights. Not only were the dragons block Jack's slashes, but the impact also created a powerful shockwave that pushed Jack back.

Each collision between Jack's swords and Long's palms forced both sides back. Long utilized the knockback force and widen his distance from Jack.

Jack was very shocked. It was not strange for Long to be pushed back by his attack, but for him to be pushed back as well. His strength stat from three special classes should far outmatch Long, not to mention he was in his beast form. Yet, he did sense the mana manipulation from the palm art just now was exceptional. He didn't believe someone possessed such a high level of martial art aside from his grandfather. Not to mention, this draconian appeared to be not that much older than him.

Jack didn't let this thought stop him, he executed Swords of the Braves and cast Tracing Beams at the same time. Ten golden swords and thirty thin beams with a targeting system chased after Long.

When all these projectiles approached, Long's fists shone with dark light. It was Dark-infused Fist. Battle monk's Ki-infused Fist that had been modified with a dark element seed.

Long punched at the first golden sword that came at him from the side. His body was pushed by the impact. His other fist also punched rapidly at the beams that arrived. These beams similarly pushed his body as well.

Long used Infinite Lightning Punches. His two fists punched at a rapid pace and struck all the swords and beams that arrived. The random trajectories of the golden swords and tracing beams should have kept Long unbalanced due to all the knockback effects. But aside from those first few impacts, Long adjusted his position so that each impact now pushed his body to the back. He was utilizing the two skills' knockback effects to push him back further.

Jack was dismayed. He was hoping his skills could stop Long from moving further away. Instead, Long took advantage of the skills' effect and created more distance.

After punching all of the golden swords and tracing beams, putting a large gap between him and Jack as the result, Long turned around and ran again.

Jack flapped his wings. He was not going to let this expert escape him. If he could apprehend this man and take him out of the board, it would be a great blow to World Maker.

However, before Jack could advance much, he sensed a great energy coming at him from below. He stopped his advance and flew back just as an image of a gigantic flaming axe slashed where he would have been. A familiar orc jumped up and landed on a roof in front.

"A… Abasi…?" Jack said after recognizing the orc.

Jack then noticed the orc warlord's level was 75, which surprised him as the last time he saw Abasi, he was at level 66.

He then realized something. "You… You are that draconian's companion?"

Abasi simply sneered at the question. He swung his giant axe, creating a flaming cyclone.

'Damn! He just went and used AOE skill here,' Jack uttered in his mind. He had refrained from using such a skill for fear of damaging the building and hurting the people inside or below the building.

The cyclone was very large and it was about to engulf Jack. Jack used Brave Slash. The slash cut through the cyclone and the ranging flame dispersed.

"… You have gotten stronger," Abasi uttered.

"So are you," Jack said.

"Who dares make a ruckus in the city!!" A voice called from down there. Some soldiers had come due to the commotion caused by the battle.

"I guess it is not time for our showdown yet," Abasi said. He then disappeared.

Jack noticed his vanishing animation was the sign of a companion being unsummoned. He looked over and couldn't see Long anymore. He flew up, ignoring the soldiers who were climbing up onto the roof.

He flew around trying to locate Long, but the guy was nowhere to be seen. Long must have jumped down to the street and hid or mixed with the crowd.

Before, when Long started dodging Jack's Wind Slash, the black dot that represented him reappeared on Jack's radar. Now, the black dot was gone again from the radar. Jack didn't think he could find the guy anymore.

Jack was disappointed. He didn't expect World Maker to have this kind of an expert. This Long person was not only an extremely skilled martial artist, but he was also good at utilizing game mechanics.

Not only had Long successfully taken advantage of the knockback effect of his Swords of the Brave and Tracing Beams to put some distance. He also used his companion token when Jack didn't notice and had Abasi summoned to a location where Abasi was hidden. He then let Abasi buy enough time before using the unsummoning feature from the companion token to bail his companion out once he was far enough.

Jack hadn't fully clashed with Long yet. But from this brief contact, it was clear that Long was a formidable foe.