Chapter 72 - You Never Learn, Do You?
Aldrich Ward's eyes widened when he felt an ominous pressure narrowing down on him. The dense jet black lightning bolt packed with chilling ethereal energy was closing in on him before he could even properly perceive it.
"ARGHHHH!" A hoarse scream of pain escaped from Aldrich Ward's mouth just as the lightning bolt struck him on his chest as jet black lightning streaks spread all over his body, which sent him flying for fifty meters!
He didn't even have the time to dodge nor completely block it as he didn't expect such a fast and strange attack from Damien.
Just as one's combat prowess would increase with the help of ethereal arts, Damien's combat prowess would also increase when he uses his ethereal arts while his Undying Wrath is active.
"Ughhhh…" Aldrich Ward groaned with pain as his body coiled on the ground.
He felt as if his entire body was struck by lightning and thrown into a chilling abyss. His skin was charred with black wisps of smoke emanating from his entire body and his hair and clothes were completely singed.
He saw that his ribs were broken from the explosive force of the lightning bolt when it hit his chest and the skin on that spot was completely blackened with all his blood vessels ruptured.
He could barely move his body and felt that his limbs were completely numb and paralyzed. Thankfully he was able to protect his ethereal core from complete harm.
But his mind wasn't distracted by the pain but by the fact how Damien was suddenly able to have the upper hand and most of all he wondered if he just got struck by a bizarre lightning bolt. He couldn't believe that the person in front of him possessed the legendary lightning elemental seed.
However the injuries and the pain on his body told him otherwise. He sensed that the attack behind the eerie lightning bolt only carried the ethereal aura of a level one Nascent Ethereal Realm.
He squeezed his eyes shut and made sure his soul energy was stabilized in his soul plane and hoping that his spiritual perception was not playing tricks on him.
He sensed Damien slowly coming over to him as if he couldn't even bother to strike him while he was down.
"Uhhh…"
Aldrich Ward let out a grunt as he focused all his ethereal energy on his limbs and tried to slowly get up.
He felt Damien's gaze as Damien stopped a few feet away from him. He slowly stood on his feet and lifted his head to look at Damien.
"You...who are you and why are you targeting me?" Fear started to emerge in his heart thinking that Damien was probably toying with him. He couldn't make any sense of who Damien was or his ethereal arts at all.
He couldn't understand how the stranger was involved with him or his son. Deep in his mind, he had already started to believe that his son was already dead, probably killed by the person standing before him.
His eyes shook and his hands trembled thinking about such thoughts.
But he doesn't remember ever provoking someone with strange ethereal arts and a lightning elemental seed. He wouldn't even dream of provoking someone like that when he himself is coming from a small sized family.
"Are you thinking that you have never met someone like me? In a way, you don't know me but still you do." Damien saw the shock in Aldrich Ward's eyes and guessed what was going through his mind.
"Even if you didn't show me your face, I know I have never met anyone like you nor have I ever seen a lightning elemental practitioner. But that won't stop me from making you tell me where my son is." Aldrich Ward bellowed though he knew that he was no match for Damien's ethereal arts even though his cultivation was higher.
However, Aldrich Ward still wanted to bet on his superior cultivation hoping that the previous clash of fists was Damien's full strength.
"Heh, you don't have to try so hard. You will know everything you need to know right before I kill you." Damien scoffed.
Aldrich Ward didn't say anything but circulated his ethereal energy to the maximum.
"HAAH! Mountain Smashing Move!"
Aldrich Ward using his ethereal skill, struck first; with both his fists clenched; his body leaped up and violently crashed down towards Damien. Even though he suppressed his injuries and pain to a certain extent with his ethereal energy, it still made his injuries worse as getting hit head on with Damien's lightning bolt was not something he could easily recover from.
He felt as if the spot where Damien's lightning bolt had struck him was rotting and there were no signs of even natural healing or blood clotting! It was as if the flesh on his chest was degenerating bit by bit.
When faced with the enormous force of Aldrich Ward's attack, it kind of seemed as if it could smash mountains; however, jet black lightning streaks started crackling around Damien's body as he acted quickly.
"Mirage of Myriad Phantasms!"
A barrage of fists smashed upon Damien's body but Aldrich Ward was surprised to see that instead of seeing him getting smashed, Damien's body simply dissipated away into thin air as if he was never even there in the first place.
"Looking for me?"
Aldrich Ward turned around hearing Damien's mocking and was shocked to see that Damien was already behind him.
"You...you…"
'Did he just use a movement skill?' Aldrich Ward was yet again stunned seeing Damien execute some other bizarre skill. His hopes of defeating Damien were looking bleak. In fact, he was already having a premonition that he was going to die at Damien's hands.
But Aldrich Ward gritted his teeth and again lunged towards Damien as he executed his trump card, "Die!!"
Aldrich Ward's face revealed a frightening savageness, and his explosive roar reverberated around a few dozen meters.
"The Overseer's Mirror Fists!"
Damien saw only a single shadow of a fist heading toward his right side and just as he was about to dodge towards the left, the fist instantly switched over to his left side.
Damien had just activated his Mirage of Myriad Phantasms and he didn't expect the shadowy fist to suddenly switch its trajectory in the direction he was going to dodge. With no other choice, he growled as he instantly poured out all the ethereal energy within his body to protect his body.
*Bang!!*
A loud sound was heard as the spectral fist ruthlessly smashed on Damien's left ribs dispersing the protective layer of ethereal energy around his body. Fresh blood wildly spurted out and his body was sent flying from the tremendous force. He flew a distance of over fifty meters and crashed heavily on the ground.
'Crap...the same spot again.'
Damien spit out blood as his facial expression became pallid. His ribs had not even fully healed after injuring them during his fight against Igor. And now he was ruthlessly hit on the same spot again which fractured them completely.
"You never learn, do you?" Luna's critical remark sounded in his mind.
She continued, "Just because you want to toy with your enemy for revenge, it doesn't mean they would just keep watching. They have their own trump cards which they won't use right from the get go. I told you fighting cultivators is not the same as fighting mere commoners in this world. You shouldn't toy with your enemies unless you have absolute power and control over the situation. He is coming, now finish him off instead of playing around."
Damien didn't say anything since he knew he yet again committed a blunder and realized that fighting cultivators was way different than how he fought humans in his previous world.
Even though he knew he shouldn't take his enemies lightly, his mindset of facing his enemies hadn't completely changed. Since unlike his strength level in this world, he was the strongest man in the world in his previous life.
But now Damien's mindset had already started to adapt to the new world and decided that just like Luna said, he shouldn't take any chances unless he is confident of having absolute control over the situation.
After all, his inherent ethereal strength was weaker than Aldrich Ward and it was a risk for him to face him head on.
Damien saw Aldrich Ward coming over and knew he needed some time to recover and use his ethereal arts. Without wasting any further time he called out mentally, "Doggy!"