Chapter 343 — Shi Jin vs. the Void Emperor

"I know," Shi Jin nodded. At once the Ice Dumpling on his shoulder—Eleven—gave an "awoo" and leapt down, growing step by step until it stood over a meter tall, bursting out of its Ice Dumpling combat suit, eyes fixed on the Void Sandalwood and brimming with fighting spirit.

The Void Emperor's pet beast!

Sometimes Shi Jin found himself wondering whether this fight really counted as himself versus the Void Emperor.

Facing a legendary emperor's pet beast, Shi Jin drew a deep breath, wanting Eleven to first test just how far the two sides could push each other; the rest could wait.

"Oh?" At that, the Void Sandalwood looked at Eleven in surprise—something about this bear seemed not so simple.

But it did not pay it too much mind.

Because Shi Jin was far too young—absurdly young—the youngest of all who had come to challenge it these past days; though that little girl who had come to mess around did not, in the Void Sandalwood's view, count as a challenger.

"Are you also one of those Sequence, Sequence-whatever types?" the Void Sandalwood asked.

Clearly it had chatted with challengers over these days, and had actually come to know a thing or two about the outside world.

"Yes," Shi Jin nodded.

"What rank?"

"Eleventh," said Shi Jin.

The Void Sandalwood sighed. Another weakling.

"All right, let's begin," said the Void Sandalwood.

Those were the words Shi Jin had been waiting for. As the Void Sandalwood spoke, out on the field, Eleven's eyes filled with ferocity—the moment to test the results had come!

"Awooo!!!" Eleven roared, opening with a full burst of power!

BOOM!!!

An incomparable, terrifying intimidation radiated from Eleven.

Beyond that, with a roar, a formless white radiance of flame, like an erupting volcano, burst from Eleven's body, which was steeped in white light; within the towering flames several meters high flickered crackling blue arcs of lightning, as Eleven entered its Edge state!!

RUMBLE!

Amid thunder and flashing lightning, in the blink of an eye Eleven's body swelled to three or four meters tall, entering the Edge form of the Jiuli War Beast. This form was its true appearance; and now Eleven went further still, rousing the metal and lightning power stored within its body!

It could not store hundreds of millions of energy value inside itself the way Ji Feng could, but the power Eleven stored could be channeled into strengthening its own body, which made all the difference. With a thunderous roar, in an instant, Eleven's energy value soared to thirteen million.

This state did inflict some damage on Eleven, but thanks to his formidable physique, his Overlord Body Armor, and his Undying Golden Body, that damage was minuscule, close to zero.

And this was still not Eleven's limit. He simply chose not to burst forth any further; the current state was the most comfortable and the smoothest to handle, and the moment for an all-out explosion had not yet arrived.

"This intimidation--" At that moment, Void Sandalwood, who had been somewhat underestimating its opponent, changed its attitude. It was not that the energy Eleven had unleashed was especially strong; rather, this intimidation, this max-level wave of intimidation, abruptly reminded it of the Void Emperor's principal beasts.

It had not seen intimidation of this caliber for a very long time. Eleven might not have the strongest energy fluctuations among all the opponents it had faced before, but he was absolutely the one whose intimidating aura was the most intense.

For a moment, Void Sandalwood's mind was affected, but fortunately, as its transcendent-level intimidation wrapped around its whole body, it immediately grew serious.

"You attack first," Shi Jin invited.

"Oh? Are you sure? If I attack first, there won't be an afterward," said Void Sandalwood.

In all its previous challenges, it had merely been humoring the challengers. If it truly wanted to end a fight, taking the initiative to attack would take only a few seconds.

"You Jiaqi... really are a likable one." Shi Jin grinned. What kind of temperament was this, for the Void Emperor's beasts to be so full of themselves? Exactly as Lu Yan and the others had described--so arrogant. But he liked it.

"Come on."

"In that case, let's see just how thick your defense is."

Void Sandalwood looked at Eleven's thick armor, then revealed a bloodthirsty grin, and its body vanished outright!!!

In that instant, Eleven, in his Edge state, could not locate the enemy even with his super-vision. He only felt a tremendous threat surge into his mind; at that moment he seemed to foresee the future, and a chill ran through his entire body!!!

There was no time to dodge at all!

Swish!

A ray of light, as if breaking dawn out of darkness, swept past and cut straight across Eleven's chest. When its black blade, wrapped in the super-tier skill Spatial Slash, struck the enemy with the power of space, Void Sandalwood had already predicted the outcome.

Without question, this Jiaqi's armor would shatter in an instant.

His entire body would suffer an irreversible, massive blade wound; he would lose the ability to fight outright and need to be dragged away for emergency treatment.

So it thought--but the next instant, Void Sandalwood froze.

It could feel its black blade frantically cutting through something, yet the astonishing thickness of that something left it dumbfounded.

"Eee-eee-eee-eee-eee..." At that moment, one Bean Bear after another, formed by the combined skill of Clones plus Bean-Soldier Conjuration, was embedded in Eleven's armor like flat tattoos. Every Bean Bear used Impregnable Fortress and Hardening, layering the effects onto Eleven's main body and coordinating with him in defense.

Bean Bears tattooed on the body--give it up for the panda man!

Krak!!

Against the max-level legion defense skill, Spatial Slash first shattered the golden membrane of Impregnable Fortress, reducing its power by one degree; then it shattered the black hardening layer on Eleven's body, reducing its power once more.

Void Sandalwood's terrifying strength indeed made Eleven and Shi Qimo realize, in but an instant, that it had shattered the strongest defense formed by several of Eleven's skills in succession. Moreover, the spatial slash was still cutting deeper; the next step would bring it directly onto Eleven's own armor!!!

Fortunately, a body tempered by Hundredfold Tempering and Iron Tendons and Steel Bones was no joke, and with Eleven's physique, already comparable to a divine dragon's, Spatial Slash finally could go no further. It stopped there, leaving only a long, shallow wound on Eleven's armor; before it could continue, the innermost layer of Overlord Body Armor absorbed the damage.

At the same time, because of the Overlord Body Armor, Eleven felt no damage or impact at all; his body and mind could still react freely.

"ROAR!!!!" Having taken head-on the Spatial Slash that no beast had ever survived before, Eleven let out a thunderous roar. His hardened iron fist, one beat behind Void Sandalwood's attack, was wreathed in white void-quake matter and smashed straight at the Void Sandalwood before him!!!

Although Eleven's Void Quake skill was currently only at the proficient level at best, it was a dual-type skill of metal and space. With the boost of Hardening, with intimidation wrapped around it, and with Eleven layering max-level Gigantification onto the void-quake fluctuations, this originally proficient-level super-tier skill instantly became no less powerful than the Spatial Slash from before. It descended with a thunderous crash as Void Sandalwood's pupils contracted.

At this moment, Void Sandalwood truly was stunned, for this was indeed the first time--the first time its attack had ever been blocked.

Ever since it had begun guarding these ruins, even when it encountered the beasts of the Void Emperor's children, no one had ever dared to take its Spatial Slash head-on.