When I compare the ridiculous incident of trying to strike my friend's Capital Spaceship's energy shield with an Avalanche Impact, which of course failed, I reflect on my current state.
The difference is vast. In my current state, the bar is set very low. As a Champion-ranked battle mage, I can easily shatter a Magic Shield despite my Arkium quality being significantly lower than in my previous life.
After launching Avalanche Impact at Liang Jianwei's Magic Shield, the effect wasn't as spectacular as usual, just a loud shockwave. However, it did break through his Magic Shield and hit his body. Although his body wasn't destroyed, he was sent flying. I prepared to take a new stance.
'I won't let you pull off that earth element ninja move again. Especially with hand signs!'
After Avalanche Impact, I focused on gathering Arkium in my legs. I shifted my stance by stomping my feet again.
'Gallean Mystic Path, Gallean Stance!'
This movement is the initial position indicating readiness and concentration, with legs apart and body upright in balance. It helps to spread or transfer Arkium throughout the body or to other parts. Even though it lasts less than 2 seconds, it is enough for the next move. Then I lowered my body, ready to unleash the explosive power I had gathered.
'Gallean Mystic Path, Mach Momentum Dash!'
With the explosive strength in both legs after quickly gathering Arkium, I dashed towards Liang Jianwei at high speed.
Mach Momentum Dash is a sprint-type move in the Gallean Mystic Path, combining incredible speed with high explosive power. When executing this move, the user gathers momentum as fast as a jet plane accelerating to Mach speed, with energy increasing as they run. If you perform this move over a relatively short distance, the impact of the subsequent attack on the target will be tremendous.
I quickly sped towards Liang Jianwei, who was still tumbling on the ground. I couldn't pummel him repeatedly while he was rolling, only kick him hard, and I didn't want that.
I activated Short-range Telekinesis, still in overheat mode, on Liang Jianwei's body. Due to overheating and not being cooled down, it had the side effect of energy wastage upon activation and suboptimal performance. But I knew this, and I did it on purpose. More precisely, I knew exactly the outcome of this suboptimal performance.
The effect was that I couldn't pull something with telekinesis but rather something like this. Liang Jianwei, who was tumbling, suddenly stopped mid-air, leaving him exposed for me to pummel. I immediately launched an attack.
'Gallean Mystic Path, Avalanche Assault Barrage!'
I struck and kicked Liang Jianwei repeatedly at incredible speed.
Avalanche Assault Barrage is an attack move in the Gallean Mystic Path, combining strength and speed in a continuous, unrelenting barrage, similar to a powerful avalanche in the mountains. Each strike alternates between punches, kicks, and energy attacks performed with extraordinary speed and force, creating a flow of attacks that overwhelm and exert immense pressure on the opponent.
Avalanche Assault Barrage not only attacks directly but also creates environmental effects that hinder the opponent's movements and limit their space.
I attacked Liang Jianwei, who was floating in the air, continuously driving him further away due to the impact of my strikes. Then, I sensed something unusual from my right. A gust of wind rushed towards me. Naturally, it had no effect as I was currently filled with Arkium flowing intensely throughout my body.
'Unable to touch the ground, you even managed to mount a futile counterattack, huh? And it seems Liang Jianwei is quite tough even after my assault. Hmm, then... Avalanche Impact!'
And yes, the final move of Avalanche Assault Barrage is Avalanche Impact. I created it after executing Avalanche Impact while thinking about combining it with Short-range Telekinesis. I thought the Avalanche Impact would be lethal and cool as the final attack in a series of strikes. So I made Avalanche Assault Barrage as the setup for the cool final move.
With another loud sound, I struck Liang Jianwei's stomach, sending him flying and tumbling. I hit him so hard that he was thrown farther than the previous Avalanche Impact. However, this time, his response in stabilizing his body was quicker, and he immediately assumed a crouching position with both hands on the ground while being dragged back as his feet braked on the ground.
'Damn, that ninja stance again!'
I immediately executed the fifth move, Mach Momentum Dash. I ran swiftly towards Liang Jianwei to prevent him from summoning an earth wall. But, I was too late, even though I was moving at the speed of sound.
Three layers of stone walls with Chinese opera mask carvings emerged from the ground. There was a faint red hue on the walls.
'For some reason, I feel this is harder, and besides, it's made of stone now. If so...'
I braked with my feet and turned my body to the right while the braking momentum hadn't stopped yet.
My titanium gauntlet transformed. More precisely, I added a new shape. I formed a blade from the base of my forearm after the elbow extending 30 cm past my hand. And the blade was made of titanium. I just felt I could shape it now. As it formed, as usual, a metallic sound clashed.
Feeling the three-layer stone wall was quite hard, I used a destructive move.
'Gallean Mystic Path, Weapon Series, Rift Edge Slash!'
With a sharp and powerful motion, I executed Rift Edge Slash. My right hand, equipped with the gauntlet and blade, swung swiftly, slicing through the air with a sharp friction.
When the trace of my sword slash touched the first stone wall, I felt a strong vibration. An energy trace forming a sword slash was visible, creating a rumble that shook the surrounding ground. Then a 'Rift' formed in the air, separating and splitting the stone with tremendous power.
'At my current level, I'm sure I can only cut through the three stone walls and not reach Liang Jianwei's body. But still, Rift Edge Slash is one of my favorites to this day.'
Rift Edge Slash is a sharp weapon attack that creates a 'Rift' or cleft in the air as the weapon passes. It's akin to slicing through the space in front of the user with the trail of the slash. This not only produces a dramatic visual effect due to its destructiveness but also causes significant physical damage to the target.
As the dust began to settle, I saw that the three-layer stone wall had been horizontally split into two, leaving a cleft from the slash.
Since the split stones hadn't fallen yet, I used another deadly move to pulverize that damn wall. Since I felt it was harder than ordinary stone, possibly imbued with magic, Avalanche Impact wouldn't suffice.
After the rightward slash, I took advantage of my body's direction to perform Gallean Stance, facing the already split stone.
Accelerating the spread of Arkium with Gallean Stance within me, I felt the tension filling the air around me. Quickly, an electric field formed in both my hands through the triboelectric effect between the metal atoms intensified with the aid of Arkium and Quantumorph Artisan.
The friction between these metal atoms caused them to lose or gain electrons, creating positive and negative charges. This electrical charge formed an electric field around my hands, storing electrical energy that could be released. As the electrical energy accumulated, I promptly executed my move. This process happened very quickly with the help of Arkium.
'Gallean Mystic Path, Hammerbolt Hit!'
As I threw a cross punch, all the electrical energy gathered in my right hand. With all that powerful electrical energy, the electric field could create a conductive path through the air by ionizing air molecules, allowing an electric current to flow. This conductive path formation could trigger lightning. And this time, the visual and sound effects were quite dramatic.
Blue lightning bolts flashed wildly, and the impact of my punch struck the stones very quickly. Due to the strong lightning strike, the temperature created was very high, causing physical and chemical changes in the stones. As a result, the stones shattered.
Again, due to my Arkium quality, Hammerbolt Hit was not at full strength. It only allowed me to break the stone into large chunks.
Large chunks of the stone wall with the mask faces scattered due to the additional impact of my punch wave.
At that moment, I could see Liang Jianwei holding a spear behind the three layers of stone.
'Damn it! Where did he get that spear from? I didn't sense or see him running to get a spear!'
Sensing something was wrong, I immediately activated Mach Momentum Dash towards Liang Jianwei, who was preparing to launch a follow-up attack with his wind magic.
I jumped and used the large chunks of stone still in the air as stepping stones to avoid Liang Jianwei's wind magic attack.
I successfully dodged all of Liang Jianwei's wind magic attacks from his spear with skillful acrobatics. Feeling the momentum, I accelerated with the final step on the stone chunk. With the explosive power gathered in my feet, I dashed quickly towards Liang Jianwei.
'Shit!'
Suddenly, the spear blade was already poised in front of my face.