Chapter 193 - The Second Level

Adeline bowed her head to the Deity once more after he introduced himself to her. "It is an honor to see you face-to-face, Dragon Immortal."

She didn't know the name of her Deity because no one else had mentioned his name to her before, not even her own father. They would all worship an unknown Deity during their main festival that fell in the winter season. And they would refer to him as the Dragon Immortal while offering their prayers. So Adeline felt very lucky to have known his name.

A faint smile appeared on Azriel's lips. "Finally, it looks like you remember how to address me." Azriel gently touched Adeline's head with his palm to acknowledge her way of showing respect towards him and asked, "Are you ready for the second level?"

"Yes, Dragon Immortal," Adeline replied while still bowing her head to the Deity. And soon after those words left her lips, she felt a strange force on her head and she went flying all the way to the end of that large arena. She hit her back on the wall and landed flat on her face.

Adeline swiftly jumped up on her feet. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt because of the wall padding and fighting mats that covered the entire arena.

Adeline looked at the middle of the arena where the Deity was standing just a second ago. But he had already vanished from there. She looked around the arena but he was nowhere to be seen. And she whispered to herself, "What the… has the second level begun? Then where is he?"

She tried to measure the distance which she had just flew. And she could tell that she had at least covered the distance of the training ground back at the Palace. "I just felt a gentle tap of his finger on my head, and he threw me this far… I should be more careful."

Adeline pressed her back against the wall so that the Deity could only attack her from the front. She didn't want to get tricked by him again. However, the Deity was not showing himself.

But she didn't let her guard down. She knew that he was waiting for her to make some stupid move and he would attack her again out of nowhere.

At the next moment, her eyes fell on a few specks of Golden dust that was floating towards her at a great speed. And when those dust were very close to her, out of instinct, she dodged. Subsequently, a crack was heard on the wall.

Without wasting time to check the wall behind her, she ran from there and stood a little far away.

"Not bad!" she heard a pleased voice of Azriel and quickly turned around to face him.

Azriel floated towards her while holding his hands behind her back. Adeline prepared herself for the next attack from the Deity by holding out her fists in front of her face. She had a very serious look on her as if this was going to be her last fight.

Azriel landed on his feet and copied Adeline's posture. He smiled at her and said, "Why don't you show me some of your moves? Show me what you got. I want to see if you can defeat me in hand-to-hand combat or not."

But Adeline was not going to be tricked by him again so she said instead, "I know I am not capable of defeating you, so I am going to have to politely decline that offer, Dragon Immortal. However, I will try my best to defend myself from any attacks that you throw at me."

Azriel chuckled and nodded his head, "Not bad! Do not provoke the enemy that you know for sure that you cannot defeat. But this is the test so you are going to have to face me anyway. I won't go easy on you."

Then he leaped and covered the distance between him and Adeline in the blink of an eye. And he swiftly threw a punch on Adeline's face.

However, Adeline was already expecting some kind of attack from the Deity so she was able to dodge the punch in time and took a few steps back to create a distance between them again. But she failed to take into account how tall he was and she ended up getting a push kick on her stomach.

Impressively, she was quick enough to catch Azriel's leg so that she wouldn't go flying towards another wall. It did hurt her stomach though. She left the hold of his leg and swiftly stepped to the side and waited for him to throw another attack on her.

Azriel, on the other hand, was fascinated by what she could do. Though she had just been kicked by him, she was still able to stand straight without showing any signs of pain on her face. And he thought to himself, "Am I missing something here? The pain resistance that she just showed was almost inhumane. Should I have checked her memories more thoroughly rather than just searching for her fear?"

Azriel was now interested in testing her strength to the fullest.

He came at her again and this time, he threw a barrage of punches and kicks. Adeline successfully dodged most of them but still, a few of them got through. She got hit on her cheeks thrice, and she got a kick on her stomach and another one on her thigh.

Azriel stopped for a moment and stretched his arms and neck, and said, "You dodge the attacks pretty good when I am holding back almost 99.9 percent of my power. Let's see how you do at 99.8."

Adeline's soul almost slipped out of her body when she heard that. "Holding back 99.9 percent... and I was barely hanging… just how formidable is he?" She tightened her fists and was ready to face even more powerful attacks from the Deity.

Azriel immediately began to throw a barrage of jabs and hooks mixed with some side kicks and hook kicks.

The speed at which the attacks were coming was increasing. Adeline was using every cell in her body to dodge the attack from Azriel. She had to catch up with Azriel's speed and block the attacks that were coming at her if she was to come out unscathed from this level.

However, it was getting difficult for Adeline to keep on dodging the attacks constantly. She had to be so focused on Azriel's every movement that she couldn't even afford to blink her eyes. She would lose if she would blink.

And she thought to herself, "My stamina is declining already and I can't keep this up forever. If I don't break from the attack soon enough then I am done for. What shall I do? Should I go for offensive instead so that I can trick him and escape him for a bit? I need some time to breathe!"

Adeline closely paid attention to his attacks so that she could find a spot to throw her own attack. She noticed that he was following a pattern. And she noticed that he would stay still for half a second right after throwing a hook kick to her head.

She waited for him to throw the hook kick again and when he did, she blocked the attack with her arm and the moment he placed that foot back on the floor, Adeline stepped forward and surprised him with an uppercut.

Azriel had not expected Adeline to attack at all and he was stunned by that attack. His head jerked back a little causing a lot of Golden dust to fall from his hair.

Seeing him unmoving, Adeline seized that opportunity to punch him on his face and throw a kick at the side of his waist. Then she ran a little further away from the Deity and began taking deep breaths in.

Azriel was still stunned. He had never got this powerful punch and kick from any human before and to think that a kid actually managed to make him flinch was enough to send a shiver of fear down his spine. He was not afraid of Adeline but he was afraid that maybe he had been slacking off a little too much that even a human was able to sting him.

And something very bizarre happened in that arena.. Adeline's eyes suddenly turned red and she went into a state of trance.