The hobgoblin cos my way again with even more speed than before, and the hot radiation coming off her hamr slams against my right arm as I block just in ti.
The exact sa sensation washes over .
Upon impact, Celia's barrier blocks the entirety of the blow's force, but once the wave of white energy washes into , an imnse pressure sends flying backward again.
I'm sent skidding across the rocks and don't stop flying backward for another 200 ters until I hit another pile that halts my montum.
As it washes through my mind, the sa subconscious, experienced defenses kick in, and the entirety of the blow escapes my body like wind passing through.
It hardly leaves a trace, other than the sa tingling sensation vibrating all over my flesh.
It fades within a few seconds, except in the center of my forearms, where I was hit. The tingling lingers.
I raise that sa arm again to block the third incoming hamr strike and am thrown flying in another direction, helpless to stop myself until I hit more piles of black stone capable of halting my montum.
As the warm white energy fades again, my forearm tingles and stays warm even longer than before.
I'm too slow to block the next exchange, and I'm hit directly in the stomach.
There is no difference, other than the tingling, warm feeling staying in the place of contact even longer.
The feminine hobgoblin's voice rings out as I get up from the ground after this hit.
"Who are you? A new tax collector from the Lord?"
Before I can even answer, I'm hit again, but I block it with both of my crossed arms this ti.
Her voice echoes through the green fog before I even land.
"We still have three days before our paynt is due, and he doesn't make deals with humans, so I'm inclined to believe you're from another faction!"
I'm struck again, and my montum shifts straight down into the ground.
Extrely dense pressure pushes down on my chest, and I'm unable to stand as I see the green-skinned woman standing over with her hamr pressed against my chest.
A stream of hot white Ether cos out from the weapon and holds down.
The energy disperses out the sides of my body, but my chest becos hotter and hotter while the hobgoblin's sharp amber-colored eyes stare into mine.
"You should be dead by now... what kind of Avatar is this...?"
All it feels like to is a hot pressure pushing down. My mind is completely protected, not even registering this as an attack.
My constant self regeneration, and pure density of my actual body in this upper realm makes the thin pulses of ether radiating through my actual flesh negligible as well. 𝑅
While the force she's exerting is too intense for to move freely, I could lie here all day if needed...
I finally reply in a calm tone.
"I have no idea what you're talking about... I was on my way to the Citadel, and I fell down here. Whatever you're accusing of, I'm sure we can talk this out and clear it up."
In the back of my mind, I prepare to open up my telepathy link with Ember, as if this monster on top of has any other plans. And if there is a Lord stronger than her they say they're following, I may actually need help...
The constant flow of hot white pressure stops coming from her hamr, and my body is instantly able to move again.
I reflexively sit up when she pulls the hamr from my chest, and the warmth flowing through dissipates, leaving only a tingling rectangle where her hamr was last.
This ti, it takes far longer for the tingling to leave...
I feel an odd pulling sensation from my subconscious to hyper-focus on the area, and the sensation of warm energy in my body pooling up from seemingly nowhere covers the area full of residue.
A thin wave of white energy washes over my chest beneath my barrier, then flows back into seemingly nowhere.
All of the tingling stops, and I question whether I just imagined that or not.
A blaring voice rings in my ears while a hamr is pointed at my face.
"Don't play with ! State your na, faction affiliation, and your business here before I make you wish you never tried to steal from our mines."
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My mind is still occupied by the internal energy I just summoned and the similarities of it to the tis Ember has created undetectable pockets of space to pull random items out. Also, he has used healing magic that doesn't give off any mana or divine aura.
Before I can connect the dots any further, I'm hit in the chest by another hamr blow.
"Are you even listening to ? I've got a quota to et, I don't have all day. I don't care if you're a Lord—if you don't state your faction affiliation, I have every right to kill you right here."
As I'm sent flying back again, I replicate the sa feeling I used to heal right after I was hit by this hamr, and before I even smash into a rock pile 70 ters away, I'm completely healed and my body is totally rid of the foreign white energy.
It triggers an idea in my mind while I see the hamr coming for again.
As I turn to block, I let the warm flowing feeling cover my arm as if I were trying to heal a nonexistent tingling sensation.
The faint white glow summons in a raw form, washing over my forearm at the mont the hobgoblin's hamr makes contact.
While I was expecting sothing interesting to happen, the heavy hamr slams against my purple barrier all the sa, and an intense wave of white energy overpowers the white glow I produced with ease.
I'm sent flying back just like any other strike but have a wide smile across my face, as I've instantly healed the contact point, and it feels as though the warm energy I summoned is still present in my arm.
With even more ti before the next attack cos, I take a deep breath and focus, trying to summon even more using the sa subconscious, instinctive feeling.
When I'm struck, an even denser layer of white energy covers my arm, but it still isn't enough to do much.
Despite this, I'm positive I'm onto sothing here.
She yells at while raising her hamr.
"Last chance! You can surrender and leave us alone, or die with your stubborn silence!"
While I could easily do as she says and leave, I'm on the brink of a breakthrough and can't pass up being hit by this hamr just a few more tis.
I don't say a word and focus on summoning even more wisps of faint, warm Ether from the depths of my consciousness to cover my right forearm and block her next strike with over three tis what I did before.
On impact, I feel the dense warmth in my arm pulse, and a tight pressure allows to consciously brace for impact.
Even so, the intensity of the hobgoblin's hit is too strong.
I'm sent flying back again and again, over half a dozen more tis, over a full kiloter back from where our fight started.
"This was your doing! It's a sha to kill a Lord with a planet of their own. Your people will be without a ruler, but I must protect my own..."
She yells while colliding with again.
Now, when her hamr hits my arm, with almost ten layers of my Ether covering it, a dense white vibration of colliding pressures ripples through on contact.
The Ether doesn't even make it to my mind, nor the rest of my body. It is solely concentrated on the single point I've spent ti protecting.
Yet, I'm still overpowered and flung back into the endless green fog.
I expect to collide with another rock pile, but instead, I feel the sensation of weightlessness again.
She really ant it when she said this was her last warning.
I'm sent flying over a deep circular pit.
I couldn't see or sense it before, as it was too far away, but now that I've been pushed into it, I can't sense the floor and realize it's a long way down...
Not only that, but I see the angry green woman following with a faint streak of white light coming off her hamr, chasing down.
Images of her pinning to the floor earlier co to mind, and if she gets in that position again, it will most likely be far tougher to get out.
Plus, the fact that she jumped in after makes believe the bottom isn't too far away.
I grit my teeth and concentrate on the only defense I have, allowing as many wisps of warm white energy in my consciousness to cover my armored arm as I can.
By the ti I hit the ground with an echoing thud, my mind has gone completely into a focused state, trying to channel and rember everything I've felt of this strange divine Ether substance.
I think about the tis during this battle I've used it, and also the ntal pressure I've employed back on the human world to subconsciously block intimidation attacks.
The warm sensation that flows like a wave out from an invisible space in my mind flows out to cover my arm in a silky white energy far denser than it was when I started to fall.
I have fractions of a second to brace myself on the floor of this pit, another 500 ters below the surface, but raise my arm to block. When I do, the black rocks beneath my feet rattle as a crater is ford, similar to when I fell from the sky.
I feel the impact ripple throughout my whole body, but also feel the Ether defenses I've created pulse and ripple back.
My eyes widen with excitent as I see the hobgoblin stuck in midair above , slamming down with both hands grasping her hamr tightly.
Her expression turns from anger to surprise extrely quickly too, as I'm not the only one sent flying back from this attack.
Both of us receive equal blowback after this collision.
I'm forced deeper into the impact crater below, and she's pushed back, flying across the rocky ground.
I can't help but let out a laugh while watching her fly back. Simultaneously, the raw, unstable white energy barrier around my arm disperses outward off my body and into the atmosphere.
Now, with a mont to breathe, my Ether senses pick up over a dozen more hot energy signatures in my general vicinity, deep under the black rock we're standing on. One of them is less than 10 ters in front of .
Breathing heavily, I climb out of the small crater and walk forward toward the hobgoblin who is equally out of breath but still looking at with eyes ready to kill.
While I could continue to fight, my initial curiosity is satiated. Now, if I want any friendly relations with this clearly intelligent monster, it's ti for damage control.
I raise both my hands.
"Hey, hey. I give up. Let's call it a draw, alright."
She doesn't look convinced, as the last ti I said sothing similar, we started fighting again seconds later.
However, I stop walking after a few steps and begin digging through the heavy piles of black rocks on the floor, throwing the useless ones behind .
"This is what you're so angry about, right? I didn't an to steal anything; I didn't know anyone even lived down here..."
I let out a sigh as I grab another one of those black stones, about half the size of my palm, with tiny white cracks in it, leaking trace amounts of Ether.
Then, I raise it in front of myself, showing the monster that is still charging up her hamr for another attack.
"There are tons of these things down here. I don't know why you'd even be so pissed off about taking one in the first place. Here, all yours."
I toss her the rock I just pulled from about a full ter below ground level, and it falls right in front of her.
The eyes of anger, confusion, and battle-ready focus turn to shock when she takes them off and looks down at the stone I've thrown her way.
There is silence between us for a full five seconds before she looks back up at .
"How...? How did you find that Ether Stone so easily...?"
I raise an eyebrow, as right now, I'm positive there are many more all around us.
"What do you an...? You can't sense them?"
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