Chapter 398: Day 825 – Delaying Tactics

Chapter 398: Day 825 – Delaying Tactics

While I used Air Burst to quickly clear the swamp North of Heaven, the Divine Empress had a similar skill, probably a barrier skill that she used to kick off of, to keep up with me. So I didn’t gain any time and she was still closing in.

I had been hopeful, but she was clearly matching my energy use, since she was most likely evaluating our last fight and would bombard me with skills to wear me out. At least she wouldn’t be able to rush up easily and just blow me away anymore.

That deterrence was incredibly useful. She had to take me seriously now after I had blown away one of her arms. The fact she was all healed up with no curse damage, was bull shit in my mind. Whatever meta-points she had, they were probably related to healing or curse damage.

I was kicking myself mentally for forgetting what ones she had picked and the Avatar telling me about them. Why not help me out right now Avatar? Distract her for a bit, for me, why don’t you? I didn’t waste my breath.

I was mentally exhausted and physical exhaustion was beginning to creep in after all this running. My feet ached, from timing the ground kick offs as quickly and efficiently as possible. I had to keep my movement rapid, which meant kicking off the ground much more rapidly than I normally would.Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Entering the city, I raced for the plaza. I had already planned out the order I would purchase everything in. It needed to be done instantly. Purchase everything right into a pack. Hopefully the Almighty System would let me get away with something like this.

I reached the plaza and slammed my hands down on a pillar, purchasing a restoration. Then a pack with food and flasks filled with water. I then purchased a second pack with flasks filled with a lantern, lantern oil in flasks, and a lighter. I quickly put on the first back on my back and the second pack I put on the front of my chest.

It took about thirty seconds from start to finish and I immediately set off again for the Southeast wall of the city. I wasn’t going to be leaving through a gate. The Divine Empress was right behind me, closing in. I did note that she skipped getting a restoration to close in on me more quickly.

I had been hoping she would do that inside the city. She would catch up to me around the wall. That was exactly what I wanted. My feet also felt a lot better after that restoration, which was a huge plus. Mentally I was still drained, but I was not going to stop running until I was in that tower safely.

The wall was just in front of me. I used Air Burst three times to get to the top. The Divine Empress leapt after me into the air. I tossed off my packs on the top of the wall and went right for her in mid-air. There was a momentary look of confusion as I spammed Air Burst to close the distance.

That hesitation cost her dearly. She should have reversed course instantly, but her single minded focus was something I could exploit. Air Burst. “Aqua Sphere”. Force Wave. Two barriers formed in front of me, but she was too late.

Fighting monsters and people were different. She might be a genius at hand to hand, but I was a genius in using skills. She was hit with another frontal blast of annihilation energy and went tumbling towards the ground.

I didn’t let up for a second and pursued her. She slammed into the roof of a building, it cratered slightly, but the roof didn’t break. Air Burst. “Aqua Sphere.”Force Wave. She dodged backwards but was she was still hit slightly.

That was the problem when you weren’t fighting peer level human opponents. The monsters only had so many tricks. While the higher level ones might be stronger, they might not be smarter until another threshold like the level 3 level 4 one was crossed.

Those golems were definitely level 5 based on their energy and they didn’t seem that much smarter than the previous golems. They couldn’t track me in the air. I hadn’t stuck around, and I had juked the one attack, but they didn’t seem smarter.

At least that was my impression, but I could be wrong. Still, I felt I was on the right track with how the Divine Empress fought. She probably just trained with monsters. So, while she had a good understanding of skills, she probably never fought an aerial battle or really considered it.

Changing directions was not simple and she kicked off her barriers. By not giving her time to think, she defended herself. While that might work almost all the time, it would not work against an annihilation attack. Dodging instead of defending was always the superior choice. But she wasn’t a dodger.

That wasn’t a real flaw, but more of a subtle flaw a melee fighter would have. They had to train to get close and deliver their attack. They couldn’t hesitate, since hesitation was death. Fighting monsters would only reinforce this.

It had taken me a long time, but I had finally gotten an understanding of the Divine Empress’s personality and it had allowed me to repel her twice. But that was the limit of my success. Now she would be careful and realize I had exploited a flaw in her combat style.

If she was anyone else, I wouldn’t even give them credit for realizing so quickly in a chase like this. But she was the Divine Empress and like I had already realized her combat IQ was monstrous. She would adjust to deal with me at a range. Possibly throwing things and feints to exhaust me now. Thinking she would do anything else, wasn’t giving her credit for how vicious and unrelenting a fighter she was.

Even with an arm blown off and the front of her body wrecked, she had still wanted to fight me in melee combat. That kind of tenacity was frightening. She was unrelenting in every sense of the word. Which is what made her so effective as a Body stat focused fighter, but also left flaws.

I doubted she was thanking me, but I am sure she appreciated the harsh lessons I had imparted upon her. It was just incredibly annoying, how she just wouldn’t give up on chasing me. I understood why, but lady, Divine Empress, take a nap or something. Old people need naps, right?

If I was in her shoes, I probably wouldn’t give up either once I had a target I hated in my sights. That was the mistake I had made with the Ritualist. I had learned that lesson and it was clear that the Divine Empress had learned that lesson as well. Or I just had pissed her off so much, that she couldn’t think about anything else but getting her hands on me.

I used Air Burst to help cross over the stretch of swamp and then turned East. The Divine Empress was still on me, about twelve minutes behind. Her energy was a beacon to let me know she was there. This is the kind of situation where some stealth skills would have been nice.

Just disappear and juke her to throw her off my trail. Too bad it wouldn’t work. Not with how many stats I had and her Sense stat. If I had no stats, it would have been much easier to hide in the city from her and would have been a real possibility. Well now there was only one hope left to lose her.

I looked at the tower in the distance. It was time to climb.