Chapter 31: Eternal Cloud Sect 2

"How weak."

The tall and bulky disciple grinned. It looked like he was overjoyed by the fact that he could beat up his opponent easily. He then followed through,

"Earth Warrior!"

He activated his ability to protect himself with the earth element. A solid-looking armor had wrapped around his body.

Allen Stryka pulled out his right fist immediately. He did not encounter any resistance when doing so.

Perhaps the tall and bulky man had no plans on impeding his movements. Presumably because he deemed the young man as someone who could not pose a harm to him.

Allen moved away. He distanced himself in order to have more room to maneuver against whatever the disciple was about to do.

But this was only a fake-out. The tall and bulky man was just baiting the young man to distance himself.

Because his plan was to increase the momentum of his attack after covering the space between them.

"Taste the power of the Eternal Cloud Sect! Die!"

The disciple rushed forward. He initiated a tackle while being covered by an earthen armor.

How nostalgic.

Allen smiled wryly as he thought to himself. He remembered how those mutated rats had tackled him over and over.

They were brutal. Unrelenting. And yet filled with hopes of him getting stronger.

Compared to those, this tackle in front of him was a fake imitation.

"Like I'd lose to that kind of attack!"

The young man roared. He kept his distance while the armored disciple kept on chasing him.

All the while, he was also charging up his own counterattack.

Allen had already locked on the soul energy signature of the tall and bulky disciple. He was now able to determine the vital points of that so-called earthen warrior.

[Fire Fist: Raging Smash]!

He directed the charged up flaming fist towards the left flank of his target.

The armored disciple seemed to be unperturbed by this attack. Perhaps he was thinking that the puny fist would not penetrate his sturdy defense.

And that would be correct. If not for the minute flaw that could be found on his armor. It was technically unnoticeable in the naked eye.

But with the help of [Life Detection], the vital point was revealed.

They really do know about my second skill.

Allen nodded to himself. He had now verified his suspicion. Why else would he be tested in a fight against someone with a concealed weakness in the first place?

Since the cat was already out of the bag, there was no more reason to keep it a secret.

That was why he did not hesitate to use his advantage anymore. The additional cultivation time he had on the past days had made him stronger than before anyway.

The gap in power between him and a normal Tier 1 ability-user was now huge. And although he was yet to encounter a Tier 2, he was quite sure that he could now avoid a hit or two from such a person.

Make no mistake though. That did not mean that he could now take on a higher-realm individual. Nonetheless he could probably survive a Tier 2 attack. Hopefully.

And once he completed his third skill, the advantages he had would further increase. By that time, Tier 2 or not, he would be confident enough that he could make an escape on such an enemy.

BAM!

The charged-up flaming fist made contact. The Fire element detonated upon touching the armor of the disciple.

The damage broke through his defenses. His ability was beginning to crumble.

"You! And You!"

The lady who was named Etena pointed out on the other disciple behind her. She made sure to point out who she wanted to talk to this time.

She seemed annoyed for some reason. She then ordered,

"Take that down!"

"Yes, elder!"

"Consider it done, elder!"

This Etena was still acting too high and mighty. And those two additional disciples were only helping her boost her already enormous ego.

Be that as it may, the two appointed disciples came forward. The first one was tall but skinny. He declared,

"How dare you hurt our brother! Die! Wind Pathfinder!"

The second disciple agreed on the statement. He was short but bulky. He roared,

"Indeed. Water Caster!"

The skinny disciple had ran forward to tackle Allen. The young man was about to counter the approaching enemy.

Unfortunately the latter was able to dodge the punch easily.

The skinny disciple probably had the ability to increase his movement speed. He then unleashed a roundhouse kick.

Allen might not be able to catch up in terms of speed. But he was already quite familiar on dealing with fast attacks.

Nolan's second form was definitely faster than the skinny kick. Hence there was no reason to be taken aback by this level of speed.

True enough, Allen was able to avoid the kick. He then positioned himself to dish out a counter punch.

He might not be able to move that fast. But he could still make it up by anticipating where the incoming attack was heading.

He had now learned the importance of making counters.

A type of fighting technique where the person connects a retaliation attack after a successful evasion.

This was an advance method of combat where the user could easily turn the tide of battle towards his favor.

However, the energy attack of the short disciple was about to hit him!

The attack looked like a water fountain that was bursting upwards. It then moved towards the direction of its target.

"So troublesome!"

Allen cursed. He had no choice but to cancel his attack. He then stepped away to avoid the water fountain.

In spite of this, the water-based ability kept on chasing him. He soon decided that the best way to stop the attack was to stop the caster.

He ran towards the short disciple. The latter was preparing to guard against the incoming opponent.

But then the skinny disciple flanked the young man from the opposite direction.

"Let's go!"

Allen gritted his teeth. He was forced to face against two opponents at the same time.

[Fire Fist: Pugilism]!

The young man ignited both of his fists. His plan was to allocate each fist against the two disciples.

He also made sure to focus his attention to these two new soul energy signatures.

Block. Parry. Block. Block.

Allen was now driven into a defensive stance. He could guard against the two disciples' attacks. But at the same time, he could not land a hit of his own.

In addition, he had to avoid that incoming fountain of water from time to time.

That was when he noticed that the bulky disciple from before had stood up. He seemed to have regained his vigor as he fixed his stance.

"Elder! Please allow me to reclaim my pride!"

The disciple pleaded in a hoarse. He seemed eager to redeem himself. He was even beating his own chest.

Was he some kind of a gorilla?

On the other hand, the lady named Etena hummed indifferently. Perhaps she did not care if the disciple had any pride or not. She simply ordered,

"Whatever. Go! Take that down!"

"Yes!"

The bulky disciple roared with excitement. He was rushing towards the young man once again.

Allen had spent some time to further cultivate his second skill. That was why he could now focus on more than two soul energies while engaged in a combat.

But that was still not enough to prepare him against the bulky disciple's abrupt return. After all, he was not expecting the latter to recover quickly.

And now he was caught in a dilemma where he had to shake off these two disciples before the incoming tackle hit him.

In addition, he had to evade that annoying fountain of water as well!

"Move away!"

Allen roared. He decided to take down the weaker one between his two opponents.

And that was none other than the short disciple!

The logic here was actually simple. The skinny disciple possessed the Wind element. This was at a disadvantage with the young man's own element.

Which would mean that the skinny disciple would always have his guard raised. A single hit could probably take him down after all.

On the other hand, the short disciple had the Water element. This advantage would presumably have made him complacent.

Since he could take on a few hits against fire.

Hence even if he saw the young man approaching, he would not have raised his defense that much. Compared to what the skinny disciple would have done ay least.

And that to the fact that between the two, the short disciple had the lower amount of soul energy.

A further proof of this was the fact that he could only conjure a single fountain of water.

"Take this, Raging Smash!"

Allen unleashed his charged-up attack. He had also improved this technique during his cultivation period. This had now enabled him to charge up quicker than he coule before.

BAM!

The explosive fist detonated in the face of the short disciple.