The First Store System

Chapter 1552: Ancient Glorious City(23)

Combining one-fifth of the stone seemed to have broken some limit as pressure erupted out of nowhere.

Aakesh was knocked backward, and the stone forcefully left his grip. Aakesh stabilized himself and pounced forward, grabbing the stone fragment once again.

An intense pressure weighing several universes at once attacked Aakesh, sinking him deep down the road.

Aakesh gritted his teeth and persisted, and finally, a minute later, things returned to calm. Several of his veins had ruptured, which resulted in him getting covered in blood.

His strong physique immediately worked, and the ruptured veins began to recover while the blood around him vaporized. A few minutes later, Aakesh had fully recovered, ready to proceed forward.

Even though he was getting stone fragments after defeating the creatures, he still searched one building after another since he didnʼt want to leave the challenge up to fate.

A few minutes later, Aakesh entered a three-story building.

Whoosh!

The moment he stepped foot inside, a chilly wind attacked him. He immediately stepped backward, and the chilly wind disappeared as if it were Aakeshʼs illusion.

Aakesh activated the defense skill and walked inside.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The shield around Aakesh began to crack, unable to handle the power of the chilly wind. Aakesh immediately enforced the ability with several new barriers. It kept getting destroyed, and Aakesh would keep restoring them.

Since it was the first time he was facing anything like that in the city, Aakesh knew the building was different. The shield around him kept cracking and restoring, while he looked around trying to find the stone.

He failed to find anything on the floor, so he looked at the stairs climbing to the higher floors. He didnʼt waste time and climbed it, reaching the second floor. He was cautious at that time, so he had already enforced the shield around him with several more layers.

Aakeshʼs caution didnʼt disappoint him, and a chilly wind attacked him. Ten layers of barriers disintegrated in no time. Aakesh immediately acted and enforced the defense before the wind could directly reach him.

A similar phenomenon as the first floor played out and Aakesh tried to find the stone. He was again disappointed, so he set his target at the stairs.

Before climbing to the last floor, he tripled his layers of shields and then walked up the stairs.

Boom!

An explosion-like sound rang the moment he sat foot on the third floor. It wasnʼt a blast, but the sound was caused by the wind. Over half the layers around him were instantly destroyed, and the other half was on the verge.

Aakesh showed his quick channeling capability and created ten times as many layers as compared to the number of destroyed ones. He had a purpose for doing that since before him, stood a small tree not bigger than his waist.

The chilly wind was caused by the tree and the eerie spirits around it. Aakesh sensed a dangerous feeling from the tree. It wasnʼt sentient, but it still seemed like the toughest opponent of that day.

Since Aakesh didnʼt fear death due to the system, he calmly rushed toward the tree, trying to end the battle as quickly as possible. The sword had already been in his hand since the beginning.

Clang!

A metallic sound rang after the sword clashed with the tree. A small dent appeared on the blade, showing the toughness of the tree.

Cry!

An eerie cry suddenly rang in Aakeshʼs ears, freezing him on the spot. The spirits around the tree cheered up when they saw their attacks working. They immediately pounced on Aakesh, trying to make him one of their own.

There were more than twenty spirits, with their cultivation varying from early to peak True God.

Boom!

Suddenly, an explosion rang as the spirits reached Aakesh. The tree wasnʼt sentient and it could only attack with the help of the spirit, so Aakesh decided to employ the help of the spirit and successfully baited them to himself.

The immunity characteristic of the skill was a huge help to Aakesh since the spirits didnʼt expect Aakesh to attack like that.

Screech! Cry!

Several mental attacks rang at once, thinking that Aakesh wanted to kill himself so that he wouldnʼt become a spirit. They werenʼt afraid of dying since as long as that tree was there, they would get reborn an unlimited number of times.

The attack wasnʼt destructive enough to kill all of them at once. Many of them survived, but the injuries they received were severe.

Before getting reborn, they wanted to kill Aakesh, only to see Aakesh rushing toward them with the sword. He was unscathed from the blast.

In less than a moment, Aakesh had cut off the survivor spirits, leaving only one alive. But with another attack, it also died.

Aakesh then stared at the tree. He was aware of the treeʼs spirit-spawning ability, but he already had a plan in his mind.

He rushed to the tree, and three of the twenty spirits had already respawned. Before they could think of attacking, the stone fragment appeared in Aakeshʼs hand. He then threw it at the tree.

An intense pressure suddenly erupted, and cracks started emerging on the treeʼs body. It survived an onslaught over the minute, but in that time, it was unable to spawn any spirits, and the three survivor spirits were already killed by Aakesh.

The fragment failed to destroy the tree, but it created more than enough opportunity for Aakeshʼs victory.

A beam of black light gathered around the tip of his right index finger, and he released it, aiming at the gap formed by the fragment.

Boom!

In less than a moment, Aakesh had bombarded every gap with a beam of [Apocalyptic Blast]. The tree survived due to its strong defense and vitality, but Aakesh had already prepared for it.

Aakesh took back all the energy required to maintain the shield barrier and put more than two-thirds of his remaining energy reserves into the attack.