Calm Wanderer
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(AKJ) Chapter 84 - Overpowered Healing Factor
🕑 Added 2024-09-26 09:11:05 +0000 UTCMolvograd, Molkovia, Earth.
Demian's P.O.V.
A split-second later, the Golden Blades made contact with Bryn’s Golden Jade Shield. Despite having their descent impeded slightly in the process, it did not make much difference to anyone else but the Mikhailovs as their speed was still extremely high. To be more specific, an average Peak Chi-Gathering rank would not even be able to spot the attack before he/she died, let alone capitalize on a split-second delay brought by Bryn’s Elemental Shield. However, for the young redhead and Demian, not only did that delay give them more time to use other Spells or Techniques, but it also wasted one-third of the Energy contained in that attack, leaving them with ‘only’ two-thirds to deal with.
During that momentary delay, his senses picked up a powerful burst of Energy coming from Brynhild’s body before the latter suddenly jumped toward the Blade Formation flying down in their direction. She then released her Fist Technique, creating sharp and heavy Elemental shock waves in the Spell’s direction. From the Aura she emitted, he estimated that she would be able to deal with the Elemental Blades relatively easily, prompting him to change his focus to the other two Spells following behind the first. Although he could potentially survive a hit from those two, he would most likely be crippled while the people behind him would be thoroughly obliterated, except for Seraphine and Adeliya, the latter being protected by the former.
With his Mental Power operating at maximum speed, what happened next followed his expectations. As soon as the redhead’s fist neared the Blade Formation, those shock waves filled with Elemental Energy spread through the Formation before those Blades started disintegrating slowly. It lasted until they all disappeared, leaving only a few weak Elemental shock waves hitting the Earth Spell behind the destroyed Metal one. ‘Now!’ Demian shouted inwardly while jumping as hard as he could toward the huge Meteor barrelling in their direction and passing his plummeting cousin on his way up. ‘Not being able to fly is really annoying when dealing with that kind of Spell!’ He realized while his body sliced through the air without being impeded much due to his deployed Elemental Field.
At that moment, the gaseous Elemental Energy accumulated in his right fist’s Spiritual Channels had formed into nine layers and was on the verge of turning liquid, something that was normally impossible for a Chi Gathering Cultivator to achieve, even through the use of Techniques. The immense strength radiating from his fist brought a surge of confidence to his heart, reducing the threat he felt from those powerful opponents. ‘I can do th... Fuck!’ As his body swiftly rose in the air to meet the enormous boulder falling toward him, his Senses picked up a huge amount of Wood Elemental Thorns appearing all around the Meteor and locking on his body. ‘That piece of shit is trying to ambush me!’ He cursed inwardly while readying himself to receive Danilov’s sneak attack.
As the Elemental Shock Waves coming from his Tidal Fist hit the Earth Elemental Boulder, his own body was struck by those Elemental Thorns, the latter piercing through his Tier 1 Protective Gear and Grey Suit as if they were made of paper. While using his incredible mastery of his own body to keep his heart and head from being perforated, he succeeded in whittling down the Meteor to one-fourth of his previous size, lowering the damage he would receive by a lot. Although the danger coming from that Spell was much lesser, the Thorns did a number on him, turning his body into a gory mess, due to the numerous bleeding holes scattered everywhere on his body but his head. To make things worse, all of his injuries were invaded by the enemy’s Wood Energy, weakening his healing factor by a great amount.
Objectively, his current injuries should have taken his life instantly or at least cripple him thoroughly before taking his life. It was to the point that Demian doubted that even Foundation Building Cultivators could survive such injuries with their innate Healing Factor. Maybe by using some strong Healing Spiritual Pills? Whatever the case, he had none of those. Instead, he had something much better: His Physiology Perk! In the past, he had already evaluated his Perk as extremely powerful from the quick Cultivation speed he experienced despite his previously terrible Innate Talent.
However, it seemed that calling it Heaven-Defying may have been more accurate. Indeed, in a split second, right before what was left of the Earth Meteor struck his injured body, more than half of the Wood Elemental Energy lingering in his wounds was swept up by something invisible to his senses and disappeared completely. At the exact same time, his external injuries healed completely, leaving only the blood still dripping down his skin that partially hid his recovery from his enemies’ Soul Sense. Only his internal wounds were left, but those were already in an Elementary stage of recovery. Naturally, rapid and thorough healing was just a secondary benefit from his Perk, the main one being constant and balanced power growth. And indeed, he could feel his cultivation growing to the point of being on the verge of reaching the Peak of the Seventh Level. Not only that, but even the barrier separating his Special Physique from reaching the High Elementary grade had signs of loosening.
‘Does that mean I’ll grow quicker in battle? So I was right when I thought a few months ago that it was a Perk for masochists...’ He thought wryly while feeling a mix of happiness and bitterness. His self-pity did not last long, though, as the Boulder collided with his forearms he had instinctively moved in front of his chest right after he was pierced through by those nasty Thorns. The power behind the Spell having decreased by a lot, he escaped the fate of having his bones crushed into powder. He thus only ended up with some razor-thin cracks on his arm bones, leaving his ribs intact. Naturally, the kinetic energy behind the strike was still strong enough to throw his body to the ground at breakneck speed and create a few-meter-deep pit with his body lying at the bottom. A brief wave of dizziness washed over his mind from the shock of his fall compounded by the severe blood loss he incurred.
Luckily, the light-headedness lasted only an instant before being swept up by his Healing Factor. While standing up and exiting the pit, he made a quick sweep with his Spiritual Will, spotting Bryn dashing toward that dangerous female Cultivator with heavy Killing Intent. As for the Chi Gathering Cultivators, their perception still had not caught up with the First Metal Attributed Spell, let alone the rest. With a glance to check on Seraphine’s and Adeliya’s safety, he then followed suit and dashed toward Danilov with his Water Gliding Technique activated.
Despite Pietr being the most dangerous of the two male Cultivators, Demian believed that targeting the weaker one was the best course of action. After all, not only did Valentin Danilov have a weaker Cultivation Base, but he also seemed to have used most of his Converted Wood Elemental Energy when he attacked him with that previous Thorn Spell. From the man’s Aura, he should still have some Metal Elemental Energy, though. However, that still meant that any subsequent Wood Spell he threw his way should be weaker by a great margin. As for Metal Attributed Spells? They would still damage Demian less than if he were to be struck by any of Pietr’s Earth Spells.
‘Get the weakest first, then the stronger guy.’ He analyzed calmly while the distance between himself and his target was shrinking at lightning speed, to the point that even Danilov seemed to have trouble reacting in time. Naturally, as a Foundation Building Cultivator, he was still able to whip up a Metal Attributed Tier 1 Spell to counter him. Unfortunately for the guy, those fluctuations coming from his materialized Golden Blades did not scare Demian. Instead, the latter was sure that his Nine-Layered Tidal Fist would destroy the Metal Spell thoroughly before hitting Danilov and crippling him. However, that would only happen if no outside element were to interfere.
Regrettably, there was indeed someone who opted to interfere, hindering him from wounding the enemy. With his Spiritual Will constantly sweeping around him, he immediately noticed the Elemental fluctuations coming from below his feet. Unfortunately, he was too slow to avoid the surge of soil instantly covering his lower body before hardening as quickly. The maneuver rendered him completely immobile from his waist down, making him almost lose control over the Elemental Energy powering up his Technique because of the sudden speed change. With some luck and a Mastered Proficiency in this particular Technique, he was able to regain control over his Tidal Fist after a brief moment. However, that was all the time Danilov needed to finish materializing an enormous number of Metal Elemental Blades all around him and send them flying toward his body.
‘Fuck that Pietr guy! Bullying me just because I’m weaker than Bryn!’ He cursed inwardly as he recognized the owner of said Earth Spell. However, his timing was perfect, rendering him incapable of pursuing his previous attack as he was forced to defend himself instead. ‘Here we go again...’ Despite his reluctance, he had to resign himself to the unavoidable pain and injuries. After all, he estimated that destroying the restraints on his legs would take the equivalent of two ‘units of time’ while those Blades only needed one to penetrate his body. The upside of his terrible situation was the fact that his internal wounds had fully healed, leaving no Wood Elemental Energy inside his body. His strength had also increased slightly after the ordeal, meaning that the more injuries he received, the stronger he would become. Unless his body did not have enough time to repair itself, obviously.
Naturally, he also had to protect his vitals or he would just end up dead after one attack. He thus bent down his upper body and curled his arms to cover his head and upper part of his chest as best as he could. He also circulated some Elemental Energy to activate a Body Protection Technique focused on his upper body. An instant later, he sensed those sharp Elemental Blades piercing through his skin, before slashing through his muscles. They only barely stopped and dispersed after slightly puncturing his organs.
Although his head and heart were saved from any injuries, the rest of his body was in a pitiful state with almost his entire skin gone, leaving only some shredded muscles and ligaments with his bones and organs visible to the naked eye. Paradoxically, only the latter held up against the powerful Spell, although his arm bones and ribs had thin cracks all over, and every organ of his was bleeding slightly from puncture wounds with the sole exception being his heart. Since his Divine Sense was still scanning everything around him, he noticed the triumphant look on Danilov’s face as soon as Demian’s looks changed from inhumanly attractive to a corpse-like state from the outside.
Sadly for him, Demian had his Perk, which meant that his current injuries were actually lighter than his previous ones, despite looking much worse. After all, from what he could tell so far, it was much easier for his Perk to restore his skin and muscles than his bones and organs. As for Mind injuries? That was an area he had no experience or knowledge in. However, he had an inkling that his Soul Shield may be able to protect him from those, although the degree of protection was unknown.
In any case, an instant elapsed and the previous gory mess that was Demian’s upper body started healing at a speed slightly faster than for his previous wounds. The cells on the surface of his body divided so quickly that his skin reappeared almost instantly while the muscles and ligaments below his newly recovered skin could be seen moving to not only knit themselves back together but also grow the missing parts destroyed in the attack. At that point, the young man lowered his arms, and while sporting a cold smile, he looked into Danilov’s horror-stricken gaze and uttered in a calm tone. “It’s my turn now.”
Once the last word left his lips, his injuries had completely healed and his cultivation had reached the Peak of the Seventh Level. Although his Physique did not improve qualitatively, he still sensed that it seemed to be more... refined, which grew his physical qualities slightly even without breaking through to the High Elementary Grade. Nonetheless, if he continued receiving those kinds of injuries, it was just a matter of time before he took that step. The reason for his confidence was the fact that he noticed a certain correlation between the Foreign Elemental Energy disappearing from his body and his power growth. ‘I don’t know if I’m right on that one, but if it’s true, that would make me not only unkillable but also a growing nightmare to my opponents. Unless I get one shot by someone much stronger than me.’ He briefly analyzed while punching the rigid soil encasing his lower body.
Because Pietr’s strength was higher than his, one strike was not enough to destroy it completely. The upside was that his attack wasted four-fifths of the Energy contained inside the Spell, displaying how much his recent breakthrough improved his combat prowess. The boost was definitely much greater than normal cultivators’ sub-level breakthroughs since those people cultivated Spiritual Energy while he automatically converted it into Elemental Energy instead, skipping a whole Rank in the process.
From the moment those two enemy Foundation Building Cultivators ambushed him together to his second punch aimed at the hardened Earth blocking his lower movements, barely a few instants passed, although it was enough for Pietr to form another Rain of Golden Blades Spell and throw it his way. Although weaker than that woman’s first attack, it was still much stronger than the one Danilov just threw at him, making it potentially lethal to Demian, even if he perfectly protected his vitals.
With a solemn look, the young man knew that he could not afford to ignore that attack even if he was close enough to finish Valentin with a punch. ‘Can’t he just let me kill that useless guy for the Entity’s Sake! It’s not too much to ask, is it?’ He exclaimed inwardly, knowing perfectly well that it was exactly because Pietr did not want him to dispatch Danilov that he kept striking him when Demian was about to succeed. To be honest, the young man felt a mix of frustration and admiration toward that man‘s use of the most appropriate Spell at the most appropriate time and for the most appropriate situation. It was a humbling experience for him whose cultivation foundation was much higher than almost everyone else he met so far, which created a subconscious feeling of superiority in his Mind. ‘Even average Cultivators can be dangerous if the difference in Cultivation Stage and Combat Experience is too high.’ He realized quickly, removing all his subconscious arrogance and replacing it with caution.
As an instinctive reaction, Demian Circulated his Elemental Energy to simultaneously activate his Water Shield Spell, materializing a bunch of them all around his body, his Flux Dispersion Technique since it was his best Protective Technique and his Tidal Fist up to the Ninth Layer. His focus was almost entirely on the Metal Spell, with only a sliver of his Spiritual Will locked on Danilov in case of any unexpected event. That was how he noticed the Wooden Spell materializing pseudo-Elemental Roots filled with thorns around Demian’s legs similar to Pietr’s previous locking Spell. Naturally, the use of ‘normal’ Spiritual Energy to create them rendered them pretty much useless against the young man. After all, he only needed to use his Tidal Fist twice to rid himself of his previous restraints and they came from someone much stronger than Danilov.
‘Forget it! Since he won’t be able to damage my body heavily, I’ll just deal with Pietr’s attack. Then, it’ll be that useless guy’s turn.’ He thought as his previous concerns were vanishing. What replaced it was excitement at the idea of growing stronger while fighting with his life on the line. While an anticipatory grin surfaced on his face, the Blade Formation finally struck his Water Shield.
