Monster Paradise

“So fast!”

Lin Huang’s pupils narrowed slightly. Sword8’s attack was no slower than Sword9 in terms of speed and Sword9 had specialized in rapid speed.

In the blink of an eye, Sword8’s figure was already in front of Lin Huang.

Just as Lin Huang swung his sword to intercept the attack, he saw blue veins suddenly bulge out aggressively on Sword8’s sword-wielding right hand and her muscles rapidly swelled up. Her arm, originally only about 50 centimeters in length, expanded to over a meter long in the blink of an eye. Her arm and its knotted muscles were as thick as Tyrant’s, if not even more so.

Even more bizarre, however, was that her sword speed did not increase—in fact, rather strangely, it seemed to slow down slightly.

The instant he saw this unusual change, Lin Huang seemed to sense something. He had initially readied his sword for a Thunder Eclipse attack against his opponent, but he abruptly switched from attack mode to defense instead. The blood-red sword gleam in front of Lin Huang condensed into a looming mountain over a hundred feet high.

“Mirror·Unmovable Mountain!”

Like the thunder touch from the rapid speed sword skill, Mirror was the general designation for Lin Huang’s defensive-type sword skills. The name came from the Dark Mirror Monster Skill.

This series of defensive-type sword skills were purely Sword Dao skills, however, and had nothing to do with Dark Mirror.

The truth was that from the moment he entered the Trial until now, aside from skills that could directly assist in his sword skills, Lin Huang had not utilized any of his other Monster Skills at all.

For one, his main purpose in entering the Trial was to improve his Sword Dao ability, so he had avoided the use of abilities that had nothing to do with Sword Dao. For another, he had not yet encountered an opponent strong enough to force him to use skills unrelated to Sword Dao.

Much earlier during the Competitive Trial when he first encountered Sword23 and Sword29, Lin Huang had been defeated, escaping from the room guarded by the two of them. Even then he had maintained the attitude that this was a Sword Dao battle, and had not used any divine abilities and skills unrelated to Sword Dao.

Right as Lin Huang changed his tactics, the gleam from the battle sword in Sword8’s hand had already reached him.

The next moment, with a loud noise, the black gleam that extended from the broken sword collided with the huge red mountain in front of Lin Huang.

The point of impact where the black sword gleam and the red mountain had collided instantly turned deepest black. At the same time, Lin Huang also saw cobweb-like fissures on the surface of the Unmovable Mountain.

Less than half a second later, the Unmovable Mountain that Lin Huang had expended such massive amounts of divine power to build collapsed completely under the assault of the black sword gleam.

At the same time, Lin Huang felt a terrifying wave of titanic force traveling through his sword blade; the next instant he was sent flying like an uncontrollable artillery shell.

‘In one move she instantly switched from rapid speed to force-type…so the force-type has the momentum and attack power that’s close to that of her rapid speed.’ Lin Huang immediately discerned his opponent’s attack methods.

He had not expected that Sword8’s little bit of force-type would turn out to be such a terrifying level of skill.

Sword8’s rapid speed was almost at Sword9’s level, but what one had to remember was that Sword9 specialized in rapid speed. In this force-type attack, Sword8’s strength and attack power had completely exceeded Sword10’s by way more than a level and had exceeded Lin Huang’s current attainments in force-type by more than a hair.

‘This lass’s overall skill level is clearly much higher than Sword10. If she isn’t lying, her rapid speed sword skills should be higher than mine…’ For Lin Huang, this was not good news.

“On no, I’ve used too much strength!”

Sword8 gave a sudden shocked exclamation from the other side upon seeing Lin Huang flying backward.

Lin Huang did not know whether to laugh or cry when he heard that.

He was not sure if his opponent’s words were sincere or if they were intended as mockery.

He flew back a distance of several dozen kilometers before he felt the force of impact decreasing. Only then did Lin Huang use his feet in the air to break his momentum. After sliding several dozen meters through the void, he finally stabilized himself.

“Hey, are you okay?”

At that moment, Sword8’s voice was heard suddenly and her figure appeared less than 100 meters in front of Lin Huang.

Lin Huang looked at her, fully alert.

“I’m okay.”

“I’ll use a little less strength, otherwise you won’t be able last for an hour,” Sword8 suggested.

“No need, you can use the normal level that you used just now,” Lin Huang shook his head and rejected the proposal.

“But… I only used seventy percent of my strength, which is not my normal level…” Sword8’s voice was a little faint. “So should I use seventy percent or a hundred percent?”

“A hundred percent,” Lin Huang was slightly stunned for only a moment before he answered, “I need enough pressure so I can find an opportunity to break through.”

“Okay; you mustn’t die.” Sword8 was worried.

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Lin Huang responded, expression blank.

After a brief conversation, the two resumed fighting.

Despite being fully psychologically prepared, the ensuing battle was much more difficult than Lin Huang had expected.

As Sword8 said, she had not used her full strength earlier. She had held back, not only in force-type but also in her rapid speed. In reality, her rapid speed sword skill level was higher than that of Sword9. Lin Huang could not gain an advantage with his rapid speed either.

What dumbfounded Lin Huang the most was not his opponent’s overwhelming skill in force-type, but her overwhelming rapid speed sword skill.

Sword8 had mentioned previously that her main cultivation direction was rapid speed; she was not lying at all.

Lin Huang’s rapid speed was the strongest of his three Dao Sword paths, but Sword8’s rapid speed was more than a level above his own.

She was skilled in at least one million types of sword skills; in terms of usage and depth of various sword skills, she was even better than Sword10.

Originally Sword10 had mentioned that if he ever encountered Sword1, Sword1 would find a way to counter all of his sword skills. Lin Huang felt the exact same way now that he had met Sword8. No matter what sword skills he used, his opponent countered them easily.

If Lin Huang’s Sword Dao had not elevated to ultimate True Martial Level and Sword8’s Sword Dao had been capped at early-stage Martial Level according to the Trial rules, he would have been defeated long ago.

In the battle with Sword8, Lin Huang was overwhelmed by her in almost every way. He only managed to get through it by virtue of his slightly stronger rapid speed and even stronger Sword Dao.

The battle continued for countless rounds to the point; Lin Huang could not even tell how much time had passed.

Suddenly, Sword8 sheathed her weapon and retreated from the battlefield.

“It’s been an hour—you’ve qualified!” Sword8 beamed at Lin Huang happily; the impression she gave was as if she had been the one who passed the level.

“Thank you!” On the contrary, Lin Huang’s face showed no trace of jubilation. He merely nodded and asked Sword8, “Can you be my sparring partner for a few more days?”

“Okay, okay! No one has played with me for a long time!” Sword8 did not hesitate; with a very happy expression, she agreed.

“Then let’s continue!”