However, when Fang Yue recalled how he was attacked and sent flying by the Wicked boy without even realizing and almost got killed by a single attack, he was forced to accept the fact.
"It's all an illusion! An illusion!
"I saw the Wicked's strength by myself! I'm practically a pro about Wickeds now. No one knows them better than me!"
With that in mind, Fang Yu hastened his retreat.
It was then…
Clink! Screech!
He stepped on something hard, and the screech of bent iron came from his foot.
Fang Yue looked at his foot and saw one of the fingers of the Buddha statue. The finger had been flattened into a pancake, hence it became so flat that it looked like it reverted back to the raw material.
Fang Yue's heart skipped a beat. He stiffly moved his head up and looked outside.
Outside the broken temple in the rain, a pair of pitch-black eyes were staring at him.
'F*CK!'
"Grrrr!"
Fang Yue's thoughts and the Wicked's growl went off at the same time.
Swoosh!
Immediately, the Wicked's body extended as though it had merged with the darkest shadows. Its head extended ceaselessly into the broken temple with its terrifying mouth open.
The Wicked was approaching him rapidly.
"F*CK!" Fang Yue cursed out loud. Panicking, he brandished his hands in the air mindlessly.
The fighting techniques and the secret to battling...everything was forgotten at that moment. The only thought he had in mind was, "Don't you come near me, Wicked!"
In his panicked state, Fang Yue believed that this would be his end, but then he suddenly tapped on something with his right hand, and he felt like he activated something.
Bang!
In the very next second, something flashed in front of him, and a loud explosion went off from the left side of the broken temple.
[-72]
A red damage number appeared in the air.
"W-what happened?" Fang Yue stared at the space in front of him. It was empty, and the Wicked boy was nowhere to be found.
He then turned to the left.
A large hole had appeared on the left side of the temple wall. Through the hole, Fang Yue saw a deep trench on the yellowish ground with a tiny figure lying down at the end.
It seemed like something had been sent flying by a tremendous force, breaking the temple wall and dragging a deep trench on the ground before stopping at the end.
Kakroom!
Rumbling thunder shed light over the scene.
Fang Yue saw the Wicked boy at the end of the trench with his head turned 180° backward. All his seven apertures were bleeding black while his ears had turned as sharp as an elf's and looked nothing like human.
However, the look on his face remained vivid, and he was in evident shock.
[-1]
[-1]
[-1]
Damage numbers popped up above the Wicked boy though it was not as frequent as the poisoned Fingereater's. The frequent damage numbers might be a sign of a concussion.
Crack!
The Wicked boy tried to turn his head around with his hands.
[-16]
[-12]
[-17]
After losing some HP, he managed to turn his head back and looked at Fang Yue.
Under the flash of the rumbling thunder, both Fang Yue and the Wicked boy shared a similar expression; they were both confused and stunned.
As the thundering flashes faded, the scene returned to darkness.
Fang Yue was the first to regain his senses.
"My palm strike…is powerful! But what technique is this? I don't remember learning any kind of palm techniques! Is this why they call being formless the best form? If I don't have a fixed form, others won't be able to defeat me! They won't!
"I get it now, system! I get it!"
Fang Yue confidently provoked the Wicked boy with his finger.
"Come on, you b*stard!"
Grrrr!
A loud growl later, the Wicked boy dashed forward swiftly. He was so fast that Fang Yue failed to lock on to him. As a result, he panicked and unconsciously put his arms in front of his chest.
Bang!
Something rammed into his arms.
As Fang Yue's body quivered, a damage number popped up above his head.
[-5]
[System notification: Congratulations on a successful Block!]
Fang Yue was once again surprised. "What just happened?"
An instant later, [Night Breathing] managed to regenerate the 5 points of damage he received from the impact.
The Wicked boy was also stunned. He stared at Fang Yue blankly. He failed to understand how Fang Yue was able to perfectly block his attack despite being rammed over earlier.
"That's it?" Fang Yue grinned when he regained his senses.
Then, he slapped the Wicked boy.
Thud!
[-85]
The tremendous power sent the Wicked boy to the ground, embedding his head into the tiny crater created upon impact.
However, Fang Yue did not stop there. He avoided the Wicked boy's nails that aimed for his stomach and jumped on his back. He then slapped the Wicked boy repeatedly.
"Wicked, eh?"
Bang!
[-35]
"A Boss monster, eh?"
Bang!
[-32]
"Do you know what an Almighty Dragon is?!"
Bang!"
[-75]
"Garbage! Who gives you the permission to look at me?!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
[-33]
[-73]
[-83]
[-73]
The Wicked boy was losing HP rapidly. He was on his last breath when he tried to fight back, but Fang Yue slapped him on the head.
[-120]
The last slap pinned the Wicked boy on the ground and it no longer moved.
[Congratulations! Player Nightdawn has eliminated Newborn Wicked. Control + 1, Block +1, Lifespan +2 hours.]
"It's dead? That's it? Garbage little monster! Trash!"
Fang Yue got up while cursing the little monster, but deep inside, he was afraid. His hands were still shaking even after the Newborn Wicked had died.
"Finally, it's dead! F***! On second thought, this b*stard seems to have quite the HP. He must be an Elite monster, but is that really all I get for killing it?"
After getting the reward for killing the Fingereater, Fang Yue was no longer interested in such a menial reward.
Then, the Newborn Wicked's body burst into black flames, frightening Fang Yue.
The black flames burned for a while before leaving a pile of ashes and charred cloth behind. It seemed like the Wickeds reverted back to ashes upon death.
Fang Yue felt annoyed because the Fingereater's ashes had been eaten by the Newborn Wicked.
"Let's see what the ashes are for."
[Insight Vision]
[Name: Black Ashes]
[Description: Remains of a Wicked. Has many uses.]
[Remark: Awesome! You've killed a Wicked!]
"Wait, that's it? It says the ashes have many uses but it doesn't say what for."
Fang Yue stared at the pile of ashes, but [Insight Vision] did not provide any further information. That was all [Insight Vision] could glean from the pile of ashes.
"That's it? This is a Human-level skill? Garbage!"
Despite the description, Fang Yue bagged the ashes with the remains of the Newborn Wicked's shirt and tossed it into his empty inventory.
He then reflected on the battle he had with the Newborn Wicked. He seemed to have understood how Control and Block worked.
Control was simple. It was about controlling the strength in his body.
Block was also straightforward. It was about removing the incoming force with a force of your own. In simple words, blocking an attack.
However, he must perform a blocking stance or action to negate the incoming force. Otherwise, it would just be another attribute with numbers without any actual effect.
Similar to how he had been rammed by the Newborn Wicked earlier and was sent flying, it removed a chunk of his HP instantly.
When he performed the blocking stance or action, the attribute would come into play, negating the incoming force to minimize the damage.
Similarly, if he attacked using Control's attribute on a defenseless target, the damage would be transferred to the target by 100%.