67 Vice Battle I

Aster did not normally use the memory reading effect of devouring souls but he found it useful at this moment. From memories of a thousand people, he filtered through it with careful considerations and found images of a person holding out a gun towards him.

He backtracked and connected those images to the soul that specified to do such action. It took a while until Aster eyed a general direction and smiled. "This must be where the pesky shooter died."

Aster wanted to see the face of a person skilled enough to shoot through a crowd of people. It must have taken insane skills to be able to direct a hit at him while evading the heads and bodies of swarming gang members. Gunner must have taken into account the movements of his peers and deducting what movement they did next. Bullets would pass through the gaps of whatever man was on the way and eventually reach the target that just caught it like nothing.

Unfortunately for the curious youth, he had no time for investigations as he had to disappear from the spot he is currently in with a quick and hastened jump. Aster was too far up in his jumping reach that it defied the one-second hang time rule of human jumping. Flames submerged the entire floor along with the dead people who recently lost their souls.

"Flegomenos kapnos!" Cinder was the one that issued such a silent and unexpectable attack. Other people may have no notice of such a spell but Aster's vision enabled him to see the somewhat unnoticeable tiny smoke amalgamations that floated by the floor. Along with his peripheral vision, Aster saw the cigar smoker suddenly light smoke on fire. Hence, the deployment of the Flaming Smoke spell and his dodging became happened with prior preparation on both sides.

"Batter, you know what to do!" Cinder ordered from seeing his attack fail to do anything significant to his enemy other than rendering him jump in mid-air.

"I got what you mean. Don't have to announce my movements to the enemies." The cheeky Batter reached for a metallic ball from his clothes and gave a succession of quick commands that are akin to spells towards it. "Ekrixi beizmpol. Epistrepste kai xechasate! Paratasso!"

Batter tossed the mystically glowing ball to his side as his metal bat gave it a heavy batting that propelled the ball towards the slowly descending Aster. "Let us see if you can dodge that!"

The group was far too absorbed with Batter's complex combination of skills that they failed to notice Aster's simulated flight which by the virtue of blood that served as his platform in the air. Their team effort forced him to use skills other than body cultivation. Aster eyed in concentration at the incoming deadly attack and replied to Batter's challenge. "As a matter of fact, I can dodge that."

It was cool to teleport out of the way but Aster decided to maneuver with style on the air. By readying platforms of floating blood on whenever he would step, he dodged to the side in a matter of seconds.

"Fuck!" Batter could not help himself but curse out loud. A freak was literally defying the belief of human's inability to dodge successfully in air. It was an easy feat to higher level cultivators that knew flight but seeing a young man do it was mind-boggling.

"No matter. Epistrepste kai xechasate!" The metal ball that was about to hit the weakened walls unnaturally changed its trajectory and returned towards Batter. Its motion was also used smartly so that it would hit Aster by his back.

'Oops! Would not want to get hurt with that.' Aster commented in his mind while he did an unnecessary backflip to not get hit by the sinister back attack.

"Tsk! I will just fuckin' do it all over again." Batter got irritated by the acrobatics in mid-air and batted again on the metal ball that had already returned to him.

CLANG!

The clanking of the two material objects echoed to the whole factory as Batter gave it all that he got. In a repetitive manner, Aster just evaded and Batter would hit and recall his long-distance method of attack.

CLANG!

"Epistrepste kai xechasate!"

CLANG!

"Epistrepste kai xechasate!"

The same process went on over and over again while the remaining effects of Cinder's Flaming Smoke had already dispersed. Charred corpses that smelled like burnt barbecue was what assailed the onlookers.

Aster eventually descended while Batter grew berserk with his every batting exercise. "Are all of you just going to stand there? Do something you damned twats!"

Rat was annoyed at him while also annoyed at Aster because he thought that such an exchange would tire the fellow out. 'Why is this brat still standing from all of that mana he wasted from floating in the air?'

"Tank, both of you do your own thing? We will cover whenever we see the right time." Ganda was on a battle state as he commanded with a gay voice. "With your teamwork, we can surely bring out a lapse in his abilities. Pretty Face, Cinder, follow his movements, and spot any abnormalities!"

The ones that were mentioned nodded and Tank moved down from the platform while he gave out a yell of battle. "Bring it on!"

"Chytefsimo edafos!" The muscular man gave out a punch on the ground as he called upon an attack and spell called a Moldable Ground. Tanks stayed squatted on that ground punch position as the floors in front him were waving and behaving like the unstable surface of the sea.

The entire factory floor was affected that the waves tossed and turned the corpses. Aster was also wobbling around as he praised the military muscular guy they called Tank. 'What a greatly efficient mana skill! He is actually a ninth-level Initiate earth cultivator and the sheer control he has on his mana and the skill had even somewhat terraformed a large area. The spell actually gave him the ability to deploy a spell that is equal in magnitude to a high-level Expert ranker.'

Tank was still mumbling a chant as his sweat became heavier and heavier. Batter took this chance to increase the pace of his metal bat and ball combo.

The metal ball flew straight towards Aster's torso and he thankfully slipped from having his sense of balance jammed from the waving ground.

Before he could fall completely, he had to dodge the metal ball that was on its deadly return. He was forced to displace himself with Space Skip and evade a deadly hit.

"Ekrixi beizmpol!" On that very spot, Batter reiterated his earlier chant and called out an explosion on his metal ball. He thought that the target was completely off guard and laughed. "Be blown to bits, you fucking bastard!"

"Batter, you are not done yet! He used a space skill to get out of the way." Ganda informed him of his egotistic blunder to shut his premature celebration. "Multiply your attacks. We will get him with this strategy."

"Fuck you, Ganda!" Batter harshly replied. "Why do you have to fucking order me around with a yell? The brat would fucking know what we are planning."

The ponytailed man reprimanded the gay man with pink hair. Batter eventually reached for three other metal balls he hid by his boss' rat chair. Rat was irritated by his blatant disrespect of property but he had no time to care for that.

He gave out the same spell combo and the three of them glowed mystically. "Ekrixi beizmpol. Epistrepste kai xechasate! Paratasso!"

"Batter, why are you reprimanding me when your attacks and spell pattern is just the same?" Ganda burst back in annoyance as the ponytail man just increased the same spell count to three.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Three quick succession strikes were sent out but the trajectory was not straight towards Aster. It was a three-pronged curving shot that would be hard for an enemy to follow through.

"Hehe! It is not the fucking same you, gay man!" Batter grinned in retort as he looked towards his proud work. "Will the brat survive my ingenious use of a much-acclaimed sport?"

Aster was too distracted from regaining his footing and just wanted to float back in the air but he was not careless enough to not be able to notice the three attacks heading his way in weird attacking directions.

He now knew that the balls had a bombing mechanism that can be triggered e en without making contact so he muttered in his head. 'This ingenious if I did not know the exploding mechanism. I would have dodged it in close distance to show off my body locomotion but that would just be a dumb show of arrogance.'

Aster just used Space Skip to escape to the furthest distance he could have from the metal ball's hit point.

Batter did not use his Baseball Implosion at this moment because he noticed that the secret explosion would not do him any good anymore. "Shit! Shit! Shit! It is all your fault, Ganda!"

"No, you are doing good. Do it... again." Ganda shushed this time in a hushed voice. "Do you two get what I mean by this?"

Cinder and Pretty Face squinted their eyes and nodded because they knew what he meant. Tank was preoccupied with his Moldable Ground spell and Batter could only follow along.

The recalling mechanism of the metal balls coincidentally timed their return and Batter just batted away in triple succession.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Aster teleported again from his spot and the vices deduced where he would reappear next. Pretty Face was quick with his attack as sharp blades came flying out of his sleeves. "I think I got him!"

Unfortunately for the pretty boy, Aster teleported again before his blades could even connect. This time, he teleported towards the air and he regained his bearing from too much dizziness on the ground. He grinned towards the group and said in his thought. "These guys should know that I could hear even their hushed voices but that would be crippling me instead. This is too much pressure from facing great fighters and the best counter is to keep trump cards handy.'

Aster was having fun with facing such a strategic battle but what made him wrinkle his brows is Rat's inaction. 'The man is clearly panicking but he is surely insisting on him being a boss character. Oh well, a boss fight it is.'

"Tank, do your thing!" Ganda gritted his teeth and issued another command. The stationary Tank followed his orders and issued another attack. "Pylones apo to dapedo!"

Pillars from the Floor is the ground molding attack that he issued. It is literally forming a pillar of stone and cement from the waving ground.

They all thought that Aster's floating strategy would be felled from this ground melding.l but he just dodged the stone pillars that emerged directly underneath him. His speed was lesser than what he has on the ground but it was still faster than the stone pillar's attack.

Aster really had formed respect from seeing Tank manipulate solid ground like it was moldable clay. He also came to realize the secret behind the muscular man's unnatural spell casting of skills that required great volumes of mana.

It must have been a one-time skill akin to a forbidden or self-destructive mana gathering. The influx of mana coursing Tank's meridian is realms above his body's limit. The more he uses it, the more destructive it gets to himself.

'This guy is too much out of place. He would have better served some military group from his selfless service. It is a shame that he landed himself in this den of rats.' Aster commented in his thoughts while he maneuvered in air. Platforms of blood appeared and reappeared from wherever he stepped.

"Well, I think I am being too passive here." He eventually voiced out and it made his enemies become fearsome and serious.

They were almost shitting their pants from seeing him treat their attacks like nothing. What more could they do if he dishes out those inexplicable methods of murder?