The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 797: Absolute Upperhand

Meanwhile, Gao Yang and Sir Jiang were fighting.

Gao Yang had had the absolute upper hand since the fight started. In theory, Gao Yang would’ve had a fifty percent chance of defeating Sir Jiang in a fair one-on-one duel even before comprehending Absolute Defense.

Sir Jiang’s spatial abilities were unpredictable and everchanging, but Gao Yang could dodge all the attacks with Teleportation as long as he kept his distance and focused on detecting threats. And with Double, Gao Yang could swap between his true self and the double to greatly increase the margin for error.

Moreover, Sir Jiang couldn’t use his spatial power without limit. Spatial Magic, Spatial Blender, and Heartstealer all cost quite a lot of energy. If Gao Yang offset every one of his offensive moves with a teleport, a war of attrition would benefit Gao Yang.

And now, Gao Yang had Absolute Defense, while Sir Jiang had lost an arm and exhausted much of his energy.

Truth be told, the fact that Sir Jiang had managed to mitigate most of the explosion by distorting the space around him shocked Gao Yang. He was absurdly strong for a pride monster.

Still, Gao Yang now had an overwhelming advantage over Sir Jiang. It was a familiar situation, only their roles were reversed.

While Gao Yang would like to go all-in to kill Sir Jiang and avenge his companions, he activated Psychic Armor to impose absolute rationality on himself so that he would make and execute the most optimal decision like a machine.

Gao Yang and his double moved around Sir Jiang quickly while throwing fireballs. Missing an arm, Sir Jiang knew that he couldn’t identify Gao Yang’s real body, so his only choice was to use Spatial Blender to cover a large area. Even so, Gao Yang dodged the hits easily with Teleportation.

With his wealth of experience, Sir Jiang knew that Gao Yang was exhausting his energy and waiting for an opening to make a lethal move.

So he faked an opening, turning around with a slight delay.

As expected, Gao Yang made a move. He teleported to Sir Jiang’s back and used Fire Punch.

Spatial Displacement!

Sir Jiang used his skill and swapped their places instantly. Gao Yang’s punch ended up hitting the air, while Sir Jiang appeared behind Gao Yang.

Clenching his right fist, Sir Jiang used Spatial Blender from an extremely close range.

Countless vortexes that distorted space surrounded Gao Yang. And countless holes burst out all over his body. He didn’t even scream, for it was merely his double.

Sir Jiang had predicted the countermove. He sensed Gao Yang’s real body sneaking up on him from the back.

With no time to turn around, Sir Jiang tapped into his energy and used Spatial Displacement again.

Instantly, he swapped places with the one behind him, and again, he used Spatial Blender.

It took a great toll on his body to use four spatial abilities in a row. It should be nigh impossible, in fact, but Sir Jiang had a hidden ace that allowed him to do so.

What awaited him wasn’t his victory, however. His eyes twitched as he realized that he had fallen for a trick.

What he had swapped places with wasn’t Gao Yang, but a translucent golden shield—it was one of the moves Gao Yang could make with Absolute Defense.

Gao Yang hadn’t used a small fireball as bait because its energy state would be different from him. When it approached Sir Jiang, Sir Jiang would be able to roughly tell what was behind him based on the slight current and change of temperature even in an urgent situation.

A solid energy shield about the size of a human body, on the other hand, felt similar to a human when quickly approaching Sir Jiang. It would be difficult for Sir Jiang to tell the difference in a split second.

Moreover, Gao Yang had pulled the move of distracting Sir Jiang with a double before making a sneak attack with his real self, which was a trick he often utilized. That helped fool Sir Jiang into making the wrong call.

The moment Sir Jiang’s Spatial Blender tore the golden energy shield to pieces, Gao Yang flashed to his side from the back.

His fist collided with Sir Jiang’s face.

Sir Jiang’s thin, frail body flew off its feet and slammed into a charred rocky wall of the underground ruin before bouncing and falling to the ground. Growl. Before Sir Jiang could even get to his feet, a fierce fire dragon hurtled toward him near the ground and devoured him, rushing further to the rocky wall behind him.

Boom!

The fiery explosion cast the whole battlefield in red.

A few seconds later, the light died down. A ten-meter-wide charred ditch was left on the ground, and a cavern was burned into the rocky wall, turning rock into magma.

Unfortunately, Sir Jiang still lived.

The moment the fire dragon devoured him, he had distorted space to the limit and escaped from the clutch of death at the price of losing his calf and a chunk of his waist.

He reemerged thirty meters away.

He spat out a mouthful of blood. The energy route in his body was completely damaged, and he had exhausted his energy.

The black clothes he wore were all rags now. His face was covered in burns and gore. And he was missing his entire left arm and right calf.

He struggled to stand up like a tattered strawman abused by a murder of crows.

Gao Yang eyed him coldly, feeling no sympathy or pity for the pride monster.

It even occurred to him that killing Sir Jiang swiftly would be too merciful and end.

However, Gao Yang didn’t have the time to enjoy his revenge. Two powerful enemies awaited him—Azure Dragon and Six Rime.

He quietly tapped into his energy and directed it, readying his last attack.

“Ha...” Sir Jiang’s voice came out hoarse and broken like a leak of air. “Had I known you were the Divine Scion, I would’ve killed you that night back by the Li River.”

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”

Gao Yang said that for Sir Jiang and himself.

Suddenly, he frowned. Something was happening in Sir Jiang’s body...no, on his chest.

Gao Yang got a better look. Blinding gray-blue light flickered on Sir Jiang’s chest. His rugged body flew into the air and stopped once he was three meters off the ground.

“I know you hate me, Gao Yang, but I can’t die yet... My answer is the right one. It’s my duty to turn in the answer sheet...”