Boom!
The man who called himself Cain was like a whirlwind. His bladed arms moved wildly and his body and qi supported them. As long as Atlas was within a few ters of him, he was practically dead.
[Counterflow] worked as long as Atlas could properly place his hands, but if he was just a few centiters off, they would be cut off without rcy.
Atlas didn't want to take that risk, as he already knew where it would put him. His battle strategy was to make distance and use range to his advantage.
'He is a body cultivator. Rather than using his qi to connect to the Dao, he has wholeheartedly put his focus into his own body.'
He was practicing the Dao of tal, but it was only a ans to an end. He was rely waiting until body cultivation could properly stand up against energy cultivation before fully switching.
Body cultivation was an incredibly hard but rewarding path. As Atlas faced the first person who was truly pursuing it, he saw how far the path could take him.
'Is he at Bone Forging?'
Bang!
He jumped into the air and pushed against the cave wall. Still mid-air, he mobilized qi to attack the enemy.
[Fla Lance Volley]
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Surprisingly enough, the flas weren't doing any damage. The piercing power of the fla lances damaged the bone armor under Cain's skin, but the flas could do nothing to them.
Atlas was stalling for an opportunity. Every ti Cain approached him, he used similar patterns to chip away at the bone armor and weaken it.
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He was able to use similar patterns and keep the majority of his moves hidden because of how Cain fought. The man was far too confident in himself, and that was exactly the thing Atlas was going to use to take him down.
Bang!
He landed and used [Counterflow] to redirect the incoming blades and stomped his foot into the ground again
The earth shattered, but Cain didn't lose his footing. He jumped forward to attack, knowing that Atlas wasn't going to move.
He was right. Atlas didn't move. He pushed his arm out and slamd it against Cain's exposed bone armor. As the blades swung, aiming for his throat, he let loose one more strike.
[Hidden Fla Lance]
The air between them heated, and in the next mont, they were both being thrown back by an explosion.
Booooom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Atlas heard the secondary impacts following Cain and pinning him down. He got up off the ground and dusted himself off before approaching once more.
The other man still had that look on his face like he was thoroughly enjoying this situation. The stress from all of Atlas' previous attacks wore down the bone armor until it was ready to be destroyed by one final direct impact. Now, the internals of Cain's body were fully visible.
"Should I give you what you wished for?"
Atlas' eyes were cold. He kneeled down and put his hand into the other man's chest, grabbing a hold of his heart.
"It would be quite easy for , don't you think so?"
Despite being on the edge of death, Cain didn't falter.
"You passed."
He spoke with a grin that didn't match his current state.
"From now on, we're going to play a ga."
Atlas tightened his grip. Cain quickly grabbed his arm before he continued.
"Not so fast. Listen to what I have to say first."
Atlas didn't really have a choice. Cain looked to be almost dead, but the strength he used to grab Atlas' arm suggested otherwise. That was a strength that could only be possessed by soone whose vitality was untouched.
His current state was rely a facade.
"You're a fun guy, you know. You're a guy so fun that I'm not willing to end it here. I want to see how you squirm when you aren't in control."
He sat up, pulling Atlas' hand away from his heart.
"So, we'll do this. I am going to chase you from now on. No matter where you are or what you're doing, I'm going to find you and we are going to fight. The ga ends when you either escape or kill . What do you think?"
"Why would I entertain your nonsense?" Atlas growled.
"Well, that's because I can be very helpful to you if I want to, Atlas."
That was a na he should not have known. It made Atlas imdiately hostile, but he was not given the chance to do anything.
"If you win, I'll give you sothing you don't know you need yet. If you lose, you die. If you refuse to participate, I will kill one thousand people for every floor of this Tower that you ascend."
"I could just kill you now and end it," Atlas said.
"But you can't, can you? Actually, do you want to hear a joke?" Cain imdiately responded.
"I…"
He put his own hand in his chest and tore his heart out.
"...was never actually here."
As he grinned wildly, his body turned to ash. The heart in his hand was the only thing that remained, but it exploded into a burst of blood soon enough.
"Tsk."
Atlas clicked his tongue.
'A corpse puppet, huh. I was fooled.'
The person known as Cain was real, but that was not his body. Now that it was gone, Atlas had no way of finding where he truly was.
'This is going to be a pain.'
Having a maniac chasing him along with the assassins from Dusk would be tiring, but if he used it to his advantage, Atlas could also use Cain to get Dusk off of his back.
The tower was filled with interesting people. So were good and so were bad. So had grand ambitions while others rely wanted to act out their desires.
Among them, there was no small number of madn, and Atlas' first encounter with one happened to put him in the eyes of soone who had a far larger reputation than he currently knew.
Perhaps it was because he didn't know his enemy that Atlas could proceed so calmly.
He stood up, allowed his injuries to heal, and waited as the sap of the Caridian Flesh Tree dripped into a vial that he prepared.
Only after he had three vials of the substance did he withdraw from the tree, and at that point…
'They're almost here.'
He could hear the screeching of the fleshy beast. Its body was still one of the four walls of this cave, after all. Atlas and Cain accidentally attacked it several tis during their collision.
Combined with the work of those on the outside, the fleshy beast was almost dead.
Atlas looked at its back and then turned to the Caridian Flesh Tree.
'This is useless to , but it is extrely valuable for demons.'
Rather than leaving it here, wasn't it better for him to take the entire tree for himself?
'I can save it until I've made the Demon Heart Pill and then sell it for quite so money.'
Much went wrong in this secret realm, but, in the end, Atlas got exactly what he ca for.
Now, to move on…
All he needed to do was escape this realm and finish the 25th Floor's actual trial.
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